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
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.
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