The latest Doctor Who Christmas Special is over and Blogtor all agree that it was one of the best Xmas Doctor Who events. It was fun, enjoyable and perfect to watch with your family on Christmas day.
The episode is now out on UK Apple iTunes but with an astonishingly low rating of 2.5 stars. Stunned? Blogtor certainly was. But it seems that customers are complaining about accessing the show on the iTunes network not the programme itself.
Numerous customers on UK iTunes store that pre-ordered a series pass are unable to access to watch Doctor Who: The Return of Doctor Mysterio or the extras and they are complaining by leaving 1 Star ratings. So the rating of one of the best Xmas specials in years is sitting at 2.5 Stars.
On a positive note, most viewers without access problems gave it a high rating.
So please don’t let the Apple store rating influence you and watch this fun Doctor Who episode. BTW there’s always this old technology called a Blu-ray disc or even more ancient tech – the DVD.
Happy New Year!!
Synopsis
In this year’s Xmas special, The Doctor join forces with a masked Superhero for an epic New York adventure.
With brain-swapping aliens poised to attack, the Doctor and Nardole link up with an investigative reporter and a mysterious figure known only as The Ghost. Can the Doctor save Manhattan? And what will be revealed when we see behind the mask?
The 60-minute special is written by Steven Moffat, Executive Produced by Brian Minchin, Produced by Peter Bennett and Directed by Ed Bazalgette (Poldark). It was shot in Cardiff at BBC Wales Roath Lock Studios.
To order your copy now click on the images below.
While I don’t consider it one of the best (it came nowhere near Last Christmas or The Snowmen) I wouldn’t put it that low at all. Now can you explain why it got such a low AI score?
Ah the AI scores. It received an AI score of 82. Last Christmas had an AI score of 82. It says it was a good episode. Not as appreciated as Stolen Earth / Journey’s End but very respectable.
The AI of 82 is exactly the average for Doctor Who since they changed the AI formula in 2013. Write a dramatic episode: 82. Write a comedy: 82. Write Daleks: 82. Regenerate: 82. Breathe: 82. A surprisingly low number of episodes *don’t* receive 82 as an AI number.
Asterisk for Christmas Specials:
82- Deep Breath
82- Robot of Sherwood
82- Listen
82- Kill the Moon
82- Last Christmas*
82- The Girl Who Died
82- The Zygon Invasion
82- Hell Bent
82- The Husbands of River Song*
82- The Return of Doctor Mysterio*
I’ve been researching AI numbers for Doctor Who, so I had the numbers at hand. Basically my hypothesis is the AI numbers are barmy and difficult to interpret as an indication of quality. I have a pretty neat little theory as to why some episodes do better than others on the AI (note: it has nothing to do with quality or even, audience appreciation.)
Thanks a much more complete message than I could type up on the iPhone. The only time that AI counts is when it swings wildly one way or the other.
In my experience people are far more likely to leave a comment on a negative experience than positive. People generally find it easier to complain. Also the number of reviews I read that give 1 or 2 stars on Amazon etc due to delivery or damaged package issues is crazy. Or due to poor download speed/issues. Followed by the otherwise was very good/excellent. As much as I can understand it’s frustrating to take a day off work to await a delivery and it not arriving until 2 days later or that your outer packaging was bashed by the delivery people or your internet is poor it’s got nothing to do with the quality of the product etc.
I enjoyed the episode. It’s been 366 days since the last episode, that’s a long time in tv land. Die hard fans will tune in or download to watch later. I tend to set it to record and watch later especially after season 9 – the times were so inconsistent. Due to the length of time between episodes more casual watchers may not be interested any more or it’s simply no longer in their radar. Hopefully some big impact marketing to hype the new series will bring people back and improve viewing figures.
The problem with the iTunes download is that people (myself included) preordered a series pass back in November. After the show aired and appeared on iTunes no one who paid for it could watch it. Apple have suggested a refund and repurchase it – but the price has tripled now. Apple say the BBC have increased the price and made the episode unavailable unless customers pay more. Most people feel ripped off by apple and the BBC over this. It just seems like the BBC want you to use their store instead since it’s been a bit of a flop from what I understand. I actually thought the episode itself was average, just average. Moffat is wasting Capaldi’s doctor on poor scripts and I cant wait for Moffat to leave. How that man managed to write Blink completely eludes me.