Photos and Videos: Preview DOCTOR WHO S9, Ep. 4 "Before The Flood"

Is the Doctor dead or worse a ghost? We’ll find out tonight as last week’s Doctor Who concludes with the episode, “Before The Flood.” Read on for a sneak peek of tonight’s all-new Doctor Who airing on BBC America at 9/8c.

For the first time last week, we saw the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) and Clara (Jenna Coleman) team up for a ghost story adventure in the episode, “Under the Lake”. And from what we’ve heard, Doctor Who rarely, if ever, features a ghost story episode. As a matter of fact, the Doctor himself stated last week, “I’ve never met a proper ghost”. We knew the Doctor found this exciting when he uttered the words “wow” after coming to the logical conclusion that yes, he’s dealing with ghosts. Unfortunately for the Doctor, in his gleeful cheer about ghosts he forgot that one of the ghosts was Moran (Colin McFarlane), a co-worker and friend of the underwater mining crew. Luckily for the Doctor, Clara rescued him from his social faux pas upon reminding him to pull out his cards. Oh, THE CARDS! We so loved the cards! They are the perfect reminder for the prickly Doctor that often says the rudest things at the…well, he’s rude all the time, actually.

Seeing the Doctor sorting through cards and looking for the appropriate one to match the occasion was a very funny sight gag. The card the Doctor ended up reading to the crew stated, “I’m very sorry for your loss. I’ll do all I can to solve the death of your friend/family member/pet”. And there you have it, folks! A kinder, gentler, and more compassionate Doctor! Ok, maybe he’s not there yet, but we’re looking forward to seeing more of these little reminders for the Doctor.

In case you’re curious about the cards that the Doctor skipped over, here’s what they read:

“I completely understand why it was difficult not to get captured”;
“It was my fault, I should have known you didn’t live in Aberdeen”;
“I didn’t mean to imply that I don’t care”; and,
“No one is going to be eaten/vapourised/exterminated/upgraded/possessed/mortally wounded turned to jelly. We’ll all get out of this unharmed.”

Personally, we think that “I didn’t mean to imply that I don’t care” is probably the best quote that represents the 12th’s Doctor run thus far.

But alas, it seems that we also got excited about ghosts and skipped over a few important parts, such as why the Doctor and Clara traveled to an underwater mining facility located in Caithness, Scotland on November 21, 2119. Truth is, we don’t really know why the Doctor and Clara are there, we only know that the TARDIS brought them there. But what makes this trip strange is that the TARDIS isn’t happy about being there and refuses to travel anywhere near the ghosts. Also strange: the TARDIS won’t translate any of the words written on a mysterious spaceship located onboard the underwater facility. This reminds us of a conversation that the TARDIS (in her temporary human form) had with the Doctor had back in the sixth season episode “The Doctor’s Wife”. Remember when The Doctor told the TARDIS, “you always didn’t take me where I wanted to go”, to which the TARDIS replied, “No, but I always took you where you needed to go”? So could the TARDIS taking the Doctor and Clara be another example of the TARDIS taking the Doctor somewhere where he needs to be, even if it goes against the TARDIS’ instinct?

Now back to the ghosts, who as we find out are intent on murdering every person that’s left in the underwater facility. Their goal is to create more ghosts in order to build enough strength to beam out coordinates. What we don’t know is why those coordinates are necessary and how they’re related to the mysterious spaceship. We’re going to find the answers to those questions in this week’s episode, “Before the Flood”, as the Doctor travels back in time to find out what happened to the spaceship and how it’s connected to a remote army outpost that was flooded.

For more details on “Before the Flood”, read on for the episode synopsis provided by BBC America, followed by a video sneak peek of the episode trailer:

On a remote Army outpost, a fearsome alien warlord – the Fisher King – sets in motion a twisted plan to ensure his own survival. The ripples will be felt around the universe. Is this chain of events inevitable? And can the Doctor do the unthinkable?

Tonight’s episode, “Before the Flood” was written by Toby Whithouse and directed by Daniel O’Hara.

We also have a video of Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat discussing our new favorite Doctor Who accessory, the sonic sunglasses!

Check out a few photo sneak peeks from “Before the Flood” airing tonight on BBC America at 9/8c. Don’t forget that @WeSoNerdy is live tweeting Doctor Who every Saturday at 9 PM ET!