The new issue of Doctor Who Magazine (#479) contains previews on episodes 9-12 of Series 8. Below are some highlights.

Note: Although these come from the official magazine, we’re spoilering just in case. Read on at your own discretion.

For the juicy details click the links after the titles:

Flatline



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Synopsis: On the streets of an ordinary council estate, the Doctor and Clara face an alien threat they can barely understand. As the creatures close in, Clara has to take charge of the spiralling situation – while the Doctor struggles with some dimensions that have become a little too relative for comfort. Episode Quote: CLARA: “Why can’t the TARDIS just translate?”

THE DOCTOR: “Because their idea of language is just as bizarre as their idea of space. Frankly, the TARDIS is confused.”

FENTON: “What makes this colleague of yours even think those monsters want to talk?”

THE DOCTOR: “I know of a race made of sentient gas who throw fireballs as a friendly wave. I know of another race with 64 stomachs who talk by disembowelling… My point being: in a universe as immense and bizarre as this one, you cannot be too quick to judge.”

In the Forest of the Night

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Synopsis: Tiger, tiger, burning bright

In the forests of the night,

What immortal hand or eye

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies

Burnt the fire of thine eyes?

On what wings dare he aspire?

What the hand dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder and what art

Could twist the sinews of thy heart?

And when thy heart began to beat,

What dread hand and what dread feet? Episode Quote: THE DOCTOR: “I’m afraid clever isn’t much use against trees. They don’t listen to reason. You can’t lie to them. You can’t plead with them. They have no moving parts, no circuits, no Wi-Fi. You wave your sonic screwdriver at them all you like and they just keep growing. This is a natural event.”

DANNY: “How can it be natural for a tree to grow in a night?”

THE DOCTOR: “Exactly what they said about the Ice Age. How can whole glaciers just pop up out of nowhere? They just did. That’s how this planet grows – a series of catastrophes. The Ice Age is over. Welcome to the Tree Age.” Other notes: Like Gardeners’ World crossed with 28 Days Later. With lots of kids.

Cottrell Boyce wanted put to the Doctor at a disadvantage, placing him in a situation where he hasn’t got any superpowers

Dark Water / Death in Heaven (Finale)

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Synopsis: In the mysterious world of the Nethersphere, plans have been drawn. Old friends and old enemies manoeuvre around the Doctor, and an impossible choice is looming over him. Death is not an end, promises the organisation known as 3W. Episode Quote: THE DOCTOR: “This is it, Clara, one of those moments.”

CLARA: “What moments?”

THE DOCTOR: “The darkest day, the blackest hour. Chin up, shoulders back – let’s see what we’re made of, you and I.” Other notes: Moffat wanted to kick people out of their comfort zone – “You think you know how Doctor Who is going to work. The bets are now off”

The story tells of what actually happens when we die, but it is still rooted in sci-fi

Death as depicted in the finale is “shocking, uncompromising, gruesome and surprisingly grown up”

“I really wanted to do a Cyberman story, and I was quite surprised that one way or another I’d never used them in any of my own scripts, except as supporting characters.”

Moffat felt he had started to turn the Cybermen into a bit of a joke at times, so “I wanted to do a proper scary one”

Moffat wrote Missy specifically for Michelle Gomez and she steals the story

A ghost story is planned for Series 9

Read the full previews and more in the new issue out today.