Review: Dinosaurs on a Spaceship

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship Review

 

Immediate Reaction

Any story with that title couldn’t possibly be a total failure, but I must admit that I approached Dinosaurs on a Spaceship with slight trepidation. This was mainly because I wasn’t very impressed with writer Chris Chibnall’s last contribution to the series; The Hungry Earth and Cold Blood. When I say unimpressed, I actually mean they are my least favourite episodes of the Matt Smith era. So Chibnall’s return had me slightly worried.

It turns out that I was worrying unnecessarily. Dinosaurs, whilst not an out and out triumph, was certainly a qualified success. The storyline was well thought-out and moved along at a fair pace. I especially liked the fact that the titular spaceship was Silurian in origin, although you would have thought that if Homo Reptilia were capable of interstellar flight, they wouldn’t have sent their entire species underground. Still, Steven Moffat’s creative leadership is creating an admirably coherent and consistent universe and the Silurian’s presence here reinforces that.

The guest cast were uniformly good. David Bradley in particular gave Solomon with just the right level of slimy villainy that allowed Matt Smith to show his Doctor’s darker side at possibly its clearest since his regeneration. Solomon’s murder of poor old Tricey was the emotional heart of the episode, matching the death of the Face of Boe in making you feel sad for a large piece of rubber. Rupert Graves’ Riddell was very broadly painted but this matched the script. The same is true of Nefertiti; in a way I was a little disappointed she left with Riddell at the end of the episode. I quite liked the idea of the Doctor having a properly famous historical figure as a companion.

The robots were clearly included for the kids and as such their infantile banter can be forgiven, but there was an uncomfortably misogynistic approach to both Riddell and Solomon that Nefertiti and Amy’s strength of character couldn’t hide. There were far too many sexist lines and Solomon’s threat to Nefertiti was clearly sexual and not really appropriate to a family show. The same is true of the seam of innuendo that laced the script which at times pushed too far.

The inclusion of Rory’s dad was designed us a different facet to Rory, but again this was not a complete success. However his sequence with his flask of tea, hanging out of the TARDIS door and just staring at the Earth was quite magical and matched the fairytale imagery the series has adopted of late. The effects in this moment were lovely. Indeed the effects throughout the whole episode were excellent. The dinosaurs were well-presented and just like Asylum of the Daleks, there is a sense of a production team well aware of how to spend their budget for maximum impact.

Although not coming close to the excellence of Asylum of the Daleks, Dinosaurs on a Spaceship was an enjoyable enough romp. The aim of the series to show a movie a week is paying off. It’s good to have a Doctor Who that isn’t reliant on carrying a multitude of plot elements that may or may not matter, across a long stretch of episodes. I liked the cheeky redesign of the logo on a weekly basis too. This week’s reptilian style worked much better that last week’s Dalek ‘eggs’. So, a tentative thumbs up here; Dinosaurs in a Spaceship is a pretty good episode with some good moments and some bits that I need to mull over.

 

 

Considered Opinion (After second viewing)

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship is meant to be a romp. It’s designed to appeal to all elements of a family audience. From the magnificent CGI dinosaurs to the sharp and witty script to the comedy robots to the properly evil villain, Dinosaurs has been created with the express purpose of entertaining its audience. From the few reviews I have seen, and the reaction of my family, I’d say it succeeded in its aims.

I was entertained. I smiled at the sharp dialogue. I thought the effects were top-notch. I was very impressed by David Bradley’s vile Solomon. So why do I not rate it as highly as others?

 

'What sort of man doesn't carry a trowel?'

 

I think my main reason for thinking that Dinosaurs on a Spaceship is good rather than excellent is that, at its heart, it is an inconsequential and throwaway adventure. It’s meant to be lightweight and I tend to be less enamoured by the lighter episodes than most. Maybe this makes me a misery-guts who takes Doctor Who too seriously, I don’t know. But after last week’s Dalek epic that had me talking about it for days (still am, actually) Dinosaurs didn’t get my imagination going in the same way. I watched it. I enjoyed it. And then I went to do something else.

Don’t get me wrong. I thought Chris Chibnall’s script was very strong; his best for the series so far I reckon, and I was one of the few who thought 42 was excellent. After his atrocious Silurian two-parter a couple of years ago, the thought of more Chibnall filled me with horror. Now, after watching Dinosaurs on a Spaceship a couple of time, I’m now quite looking forward to Chibnall’s The Power of Three. That’s a major sea-change in my perception of his writing, so demonstrating how good I thought Dinosaurs was.

My main problem with his scripting was the odd mix of puerile comedy and risqué innuendo. By aiming for all demographics, this mixture of adult tone and toilet humour was unbalanced. You can either have one or the other, but both in the same story lend it a schizophrenic tone.

 

'Is that a kestrel?'

 

The characters were broadly drawn. I can see why both Rupert Graves (Riddell) and Riann Steele (Nefertiti) described the story as a comedy in various interviews. Riddell is a casual mix of misjudged sexism and big game hunter arrogance with little redeeming conscience. It’s difficult to see why the Doctor befriended him at all, let alone selected him as part of the team. Nefertiti is all about girl-power and noble self-sacrifice, the diametric opposite of Riddell. Clearly the meeting of these two opposing poles was deliberately designed to mine the comedy, but in reality neither character makes us feel anything.

On the other hand, Mark Williams as Brian is outstanding. From his bewildered acceptance of the TARDIS to his tentative suggestions as he gains confidence, Brian is a fully-rounded character from his first scene. Williams plays him with a twinkle in his eye, bringing to mind Bernard Cribbins’ much-missed and completely brilliant Wilf. It’s a pity in a way that Brian’s debut is this late in the Ponds’ time with the Doctor. His regular returns would have been something to savour. It’s only with the inclusion of a family member that we appreciate just how little we actually know about Amy and Rory’s backgrounds. Brian’s inclusion helps us find a satisfactory middle ground between the strong family presence in the Russell T Davies years and the companions with no real backgrounds of classic era Doctor Who.

Williams’ Harry Potter co-star, David Bradley, was also quite wonderful. Solomon’s introduction, injured by raptors and close to losing his legs, allowed a neat bit of misdirection as he had been waiting for a doctor rather than the Doctor. This little frisson as we thought he knew the Time Lord was a rewarding moment for long-term viewers. Solomon’s casual violence and disregard for anything and anyone gave the character a darker edge than we are used to seeing in modern Doctor Who. Although his darkness gave the story a real sense of threat, his threat of sexual violence to Nefertiti was a misjudged piece of dialogue and had no place in the story or Doctor Who for that matter.

 

'Look at the missiles. see them shine.'

 

The other major guest stars, David Mitchell and Robert Webb as the voices of the robots, were given the occasional amusing line amid the wee and tantrum jokes. Their banter diminished Solomon’s threat somewhat, and by the time we saw how nasty they could be it was too late. That said, this was probably very powerful for the younger viewers as they saw the robots they had laughed at brutally murder a defenceless dinosaur with prolonged laser fire that went on for much longer than it needed to, suggesting an interestingly sadistic side to the comical robots. The robots were obviously popular with the general viewing public, but they left me cold even though I love Mitchell and Webb’s Peep Show.

The regulars were well-served by a script that played to their strengths. Rory got to do some nursing and proved his worth to his father. Amy was allowed to show her intelligence and her knowledge and was the one who unpicked the central mystery of the story. The Doctor, on the other hand, started to reveal an edgier side to his personality – a product of travelling alone – and a growing sadness that his time with the Ponds is coming to an end. Although the line foreshadowing the departure of Amy and Rory was clumsy, hinting at their deaths, it’s in Smith’s lonely eyes that we see where the drama and tears are going to come from.

 

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship’s ten brilliant bits

1.       The Doctor, Rory and Brian have been teleported to what appears to be a beach that rather resembles Bad Wolf Bay. ‘Somebody tell me where we are. Now!?’ demands an exasperated Brian. In response, the Doctor sticks out his tongue. ‘It doesn’t taste like Earth,’ he replies. What further proof do we need? Matt Smith gets the Doctor. Matt Smith is the Doctor.

 

2.       David Bradley as Solomon is as slimy and as malevolent a villain as Doctor Who has offered us since its return in 2005. It makes a refreshing change for the Doctor to be able to face off against a human adversary instead of a broken computer system. Bradley gives Solomon enough of a sinister edge that you really believe he will carry out his threats against the Doctor’s friends. I imagine that there were quite a few kids over the weekend who nicked their grandparents’ walking sticks and used them as swords like Solomon’s weapons.

 

3.       Mark Williams as Rory’s dad Brian finally gave us a well-rounded family member for the Doctor’s current (but not for much longer) travelling companions. His slightly spiky and curt interactions with Arthur Darvill quickly convinced that the two were related. Williams made Brian instantly likeable and not without a degree of heroism. It’s easy to see where Rory gets it from.

 

4.       Williams also gets the best moment in the episode towards the end, as he sits in the TARDIS door with a flask of tea and a sandwich, feet dangling in space, staring down at the Earth far below them. This is as lyrical an image as the series has ever shown us and fits perfectly into the fairytale stylings of current Who. The effects here are wonderful.

 

 

'Well thank you, Arthur C. Clarke!'

 

5.       Ah, Tricey the Triceratops. How can a part CGI and part rubber creation make you fall in love with it so quickly? It’s the mannerisms that make Tricey such an instantly adorable creation. From his dog-like sniffing of Brian’s pockets to the way he (she?) settles down after his exertions like a cat or a rabbit, Tricey mirrors the interactions we all have with our pets. The Doctor is clearly utterly smitten and so are we. How long before Character Options release a Doctor on a Tricey action figure or a Tricey plush? I know my daughter would want one.

 

6.       Chris Chibnall is an evil swine though. He makes us fall in love with Tricey and then has him murdered in the most horrible and callous manner that I can remember seeing in modern Doctor Who. In one scene Solomon breaks a million hearts and cements his place at the top table in the pantheon of hissable human villains. Tricey’s final moments are sold completely by the cast, and their horror at what Solomon has done is palpable.

 

7.       The pterodactyl attack is superbly done with some excellent swooping camera-work and a cavalcade of witty one-liners. The dinosaurs on a whole are brilliantly visualised. Whilst only Tricey feels solid and three-dimensional, the triceratops is the only one the characters fully interact with. The sleeping baby T-Rex is also a fantastically realised dinosaur. Who could ever have imagined that Doctor Who would ever match the effects in Jurassic Park?

 

8.       The return of the vengeful Doctor is a grim reminder of just how far the Time Lord will go if nobody stops him. It’s a reminder of the Tenth Doctor’s fall into the Time Lord Victorious and seems set up to indicate that the Eleventh is now also beginning to skate on the same thin ice as his predecessor. This path can only lead to the death of yet another Doctor...

 

9.       The Silurian ship is a thing of beauty. At no point until the reveal did I ever cotton onto the fact that the vessel was a Silurian Ark. This makes perfect sense in what we know about the Silurians, although I still wonder if giving the Silurians space travel inches them one step closer to becoming just another generic space-faring race. Still, it sets up the possibility of Silurian colonies on other planets which opens up more story possibilities for them than the single one they currently have (Man wakes up Silurian colony, the two races fight because  no common ground can be agreed, the Doctor is caught in the middle).

 

10.   Although the two robots irritated as much as they amused, their eventual deactivation by the Doctor was clever as they sang ‘Daisy, Daisy’ whilst they powered down. A lovely little 2001 in-joke, and better than that entire Kubrick snore-fest.

 

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship is a likeable romp. With the amount of balls it is juggling for so many different audience elements, it is unsurprising that one or two are not to my taste. The central hook was superb and once more Doctor Who delivered on its movie-a-week promise. That’s two good episodes in a row; can next week’s A Town Called Mercy continue that run?

 

'How do you start a dinosaur?'

 

Overall Rating: 7 ½ / 10 (Yeah, I work in halves- that's how I roll!)