Dinosaurs on a Spaceship

Another week and another episode of Doctor Who and its sad to think we’re nearly half way through this series already. Mind you if the first episode is anything to go buy we are certainly going to get quality if not quantity. From the epic scale of last week’s asylum of the daleks we have a definite change in tone this week.

The episode starts off with the Doctor gathering together his gang, he has a gang now, it’s new. A bit of a rag tag band made up of Queen Nefertiti of Egypt who is apparently terribly well known by everyone except me, a bit of bounder type in the shape of John Riddell big game hunter and Rory’s Dad Brian and of course the Ponds. Big yes. Brian wasn’t meant to come but the Doctor didn’t phone ahead like a normal person.

Straight away this episode has a very different feel from its predecessor most episodes of Doctor Who in the modern era have comic moments in them but this episode turned it up a notch. We have neurotic robots played by Mitchell and Webb, the doctor riding on the back of a dinosaur and lots of banter between all the main characters. So whereas last weeks episode was more of a plot heavy adventure this was light and frothy family romp served up at a superfast pace and I loved it.

The overarching plot is simple, there is a huge space ship the size of Canada shaped like a giant plant spore is hurtling seemingly uncontrollably to earth and will hit, if not stopped, in 6 hours 19 minutes. Down on earth there’s a futuristic vision of India with missiles set to target said ship should it get to close to the planet for comfort. Oh and there’s a few dinosaurs on board.

The key to what made this episode so enjoyable for me is the relationships between the members of the cast. Pretty early on the episode the gang of six is split into two groups of three with Amy, Riddell and Neffi in one and the Doctor, Rory and Brian in the other. Amy really steps into the Doctors shoes in this episode, taking charge of her team, pushing buttons and even referring to Neffi and Riddell as her companions. She showed for the first time in a while that she has learned from her time with the Doctor. She actually works some very important things for the story out. Like the fact the ship they are in is Silurian and it’s an ark from just before the dinosaurs went extinct.

Meanwhile the Doctor, Rory and Brian have been teleported to the engine room. Though at first it appears to be a beach but is actually an engine run by wave power. Also looked remarkably like bad wolf bay. The chemistry between Smith and Darvill is even more appealing than between Smith and Gillan. The off screen relationship between the two really comes through and they were on good form this week, they even had a little kiss. Also the excellent relationship between Rory and his dad definitely has legs. It’s a shame they don’t have any time to grow it. This means we’ll be robbed of more “what sort of man doesn’t carry a trowel?” moments.

After being chased by some things that aren’t kestrels they manage to get themselves into the safety of a cave. This is where the robots enter, played by Mitchell and Webb of peep show fame. For the most part I thought they were fun, very Douglas Adams it was only the line about a bit of oil coming out that made me cringe a little. On the whole they could have been so much worse and I really liked the design, kind of reminded me of the armour the aliens where in the fifth element.

The robots take our trio to their leader, a very dark and mysterious character known only as Solomon. At first it appeared he may know the Doctor but later on we discover he is only interested because he is injured and in need of medical help. A shame really, for a fleeting moment I wondered if we were looking at a new incarnation of the Master. Instead what we get is a very dark and evil character partial to genocide and the killing of innocent animals. A space pirate for want of a better name he stole the ship from Silurians murdering them in the process. Add that to the killing of a very friendly triceratops and it makes for one very angry doctor.

Solomon is the very antithesis of the Doctor putting a value on everyone and everything. Except of course for the Doctor, his scanners don’t seem to be able to find a record of him. This might be another sign that he’s done a good job stepping into the shadows. Solomon takes an interest in Neffi valuing her even higher than a ship load of formerly extinct dinosaurs. Though the Doctor is never going to let him have her she makes the decision for him by volunteering to go with him. With rest of the team reunited, the Doctor hatches a plan to save the day.

Now teleported into the main control room of the ship the gang have to find a way to fly the ship away from its collision course with earth. Rather conveniently the only way the ship can be flown is by two people with the same genetics. This means it is down to Rory and Brian to save the day while the Doctor finds a way of getting the freshly launched missiles off their tail. To do this he does something very undoctorish. Trapping Solomon in his own ship, leaving the device the missiles are seeking on board and blasting it out to space. Big boom. Personally I don’t have a problem with what he did but it’s definitely a change in the character we’ve seen a few times in the Smith era.

Though not as good as Asylum of the Daleks this episode is still thoroughly entertaining. Very much an episode to come back to again and again when you want to just relax and watch some great Doctor Who. It’s crammed full of funny lines and a great repartee between the characters. Though this is also the closest the show has come to making me cry, the death of Tricie was completely heartbreaking. If the current trend of quality continues then we are looking at the finest series of Doctor who in the shows (nearly) fifty year history.

Asylum of the Daleks

As promised I’m dedicating today’s blog to series opener of Dr Who and what a way that was to kick it off. They promised us five 45 minute films and if AofD is anything to go by they are going to deliver that and more. The hardest thing about writing this is knowing where to begin. From the very first scene you knew that they had kicked up a gear or two from the last series. Starting on Skaro meant I was on board straight away as the Doctor meets with a mysterious woman inside a giant dalek statue. I love the dalek puppets, for me it was the first time the daleks have been scary in the whole of new who. The fact they could hide amongst people in plain sight gives them a great extra dimension.

Speaking of the dalek puppets, the ginger lady in the opening scene, is she significant? It might just be me over thinking it (likely) but I just have a sneaking suspicion that Moffat never puts people in without some purpose. It’s probably just me but I wouldn’t be surprised if she turned up again this series.

After the fantastic opening we are brought back to earth with the Ponds. Karen Gillen appears frolicking to some sort of modern pop tune acting as a model not exactly pushing her range given her previous career. When Rory arrives we can see a frosty relationship between the two carrying on from the last episode of Pond Life. She signs the divorce papers before both are abducted by the dalek puppets. The flashing bulbs around the mirror were a particularly nice touch.

Soon after; we are brought in to the parliament of the daleks. A little strange to think the daleks sit around in a big room talking about dalek law, bit of a stretch but as its Moffat I’ll go with it. As I suspected the huge amount of daleks were kind of thrown away but I think it’s the sort of thing they can release images of to get the press talking while they get on with making the show. Only real disappointment is that the special weapons dalek wasn’t used at all but there was the startling image of 1000s of lights flashing as they asked for the Doctors help.

The asylum itself is a great idea; the only thing a dalek would fear (aside from River Song) is an unpredictable dalek. The nanogenes were also an excellent touch adding another element of danger. Then there was the big shock that was promised beforehand; the reveal of the new companion 5 episodes before any of us were expecting it. Have to say if this is what she will be like when she joins the show; however that happens (more of which later) she is shaping up to be tremendous. In her own words she’s a genius who’s a tiny bit sexy but no good at making soufflés. Also, praise the Moff she’s not from contemporary earth but some time in the future. Hurrah.

Down on the planet/asylum we saw a character I was sure was actually from a different episode purely based on the early trailer. He actually turns out to be a dalek puppet zombie which again was very spooky and scary. They reminded me of the vashta nerada or more what they did to people in Silence in the library. The night vision was especially creepy. Amy loses the little bracelet thing protecting her from becoming a dalek puppet.

Back to Rory and he’s in what could be described as a dalek graveyard, or what appears to be. Of course we all sat there knowing that they were going to come to life it was just a question of when. There were some brilliant scenes of Rory shushing the daleks and asking them about eggs. This was quotable and also funny. Nice bit of flirting between Oswin and Rory too showing that he was trying to move on from Amy perhaps.

Back with the Doctor and Amy and they are under attack from a number of daleks being helped out again by the voice of Oswin. One of my favourite scenes in the whole episode is where the Doctor manages to get a self destructing dalek to reverse into the rest with a big boom to destroy them all.

Finally we get Amy and Rory back together and talking to each other. Trying to resurrect there marriage. There was a lot of exposition about why they broke up in the first place. It’s something to do with how Amy can’t have children anymore since the events of demons run. Rory confirms what I’ve long suspected, that he loves Amy more than she loves him. Although she denies it I think it was clearly shown especially in the earlier parts of series 5 that she would have happily cheated on Rory. We also discover that the Doctor has rather cunningly slipped his protector bracelety thing on to Amy’s wrist. All part of the Doctors plan to get the Ponds back together I suspect.

The Doctor goes looking for Oswin as they’ve only heard her voice so far. To get there he must pass through intensive care. A room full of broken and battered daleks that all have one thing in common. They all survived battles with the doctor. They sprang to life and come to attack the Doctor and we see him looking truly scared and begging for help from Oswin the girl who somehow is able to outsmart and hack the daleks. She ends up saving him by wiping the Doctor from the daleks memories.

When the Doctor finally does see Oswin well he’s in for a big surprise as are we the audience. She’s a dalek! She’s a human that has been given a full conversion. She is suppressing this horror into a dream or fantasy that she is still human just waiting to be saved. But where would she get the milk and the eggs for the soufflés? That’s what the Doctor has been thinking about ever since she first mentioned it.

This reveal throws up a huge number of questions. Who is Oswin? How the hell does she become the new companion now? Will she carry on as a dalek or as a human? Does he go back and get her earlier in her time stream? Or is it like River Song again and she’s meeting him out of sequence? Rather superfluous to the big reveal the Doctor, Amy and Rory escape leaving dalek Oswin to “die” and teleporting back to the TARDIS. The final scenes reveal that the daleks have now forgotten who the Doctor is thanks to Oswin’s computer wizardry and the ponds are back together.

To sum up this rather rambling synopsis come review come speculation come thing. I really loved this episode. Every series opener in the Moffat era has been brilliant. I’m not sure it’s as good as the eleventh hour but it is damned close. The whole episode felt epic in scale and ripped along at phenomenal pace. The best test of any good television or film is that you never once check your watch and before you know it, it’s over. It was so so good and I cannot wait for the next episode even though I have worries that Dinosaurs on a Spaceship could go either way. Overall I think it was egg-cellent and definitely deserves 11 out of 10.