Review: The Power of Three

The Power of Three Review

 

Immediate Reaction

Credit where it’s due – Chris Chibnall has managed to stretch Doctor Who’s format in a fresh new direction. The idea of an invasion that lasts a year, forcing the Doctor to take the slow path lends the episode a sense of magnitude lacking in others that take place in a more condensed timeframe. Chibnall has in two episodes eradicated all fears that his writing isn’t up to Doctor Who standard. The Power of Three is his best effort so far, and I would look forward to any future contributions from him.

For three quarters of its duration, The Power of Three is an engaging mystery framed within a beautiful investigation of just how the Doctor and the Ponds work as a relationship. It sheds new light onto how companions view the Doctor, painting him as a force of nature who disrupts normality and leaves his friends unable to rejoin the real world without difficulty. We’ve seen this difficulty in Sarah Jane Smith in her spin-off series and here that theme is put firmly under the microscope.

There is a beautiful scene just outside the Tower of London where the Doctor explains why it is he keeps running. It’s not, as Davros once claimed, because he is scared of looking back, but more because he is scared of missing out on the wonders the universe holds. The Doctor’s speech here rivals any justification the series has ever offered for his desire to travel and in many ways gives us the definitive reason.

The episode is packed to the rafters with little moments of pleasure. The fan-pleasing references are weaved into the narrative nicely, from the teasing mention of the Zygons (who are long-overdue an onscreen return)to the salute that the Doctor offers  Kate Stewart, poignantly referencing his parting gesture to the Brigadier in so many of his past incarnations. The revelation that Kate is the Brigadier’s daughter provides the series with a great way of preserving Nicholas Courtney’s legacy and honouring him. Now we need to see Clyde and Rani in some way to honour Elisabeth Sladen in the same way.

The standout character is again Brian, whose thoughtful ways and diligent approach mark him out as one of the great companions-who-never-was. He is as endearing a creation as Wilfred Mott and I sorely hope they can find some way to bring him back, although I get the growing sense that after next week, there’s no way back for the Ponds.

As I said at the top, The Power of Three is most of a brilliant story. What lets it down is the slightly fluffed resolution to the whole cube mystery. The Doctor’s recognition of the alien force behind the invasion and the way he is able to destroy the spaceship with no resistance whatsoever comes too easily. What happened to the two cube-mouthed orderlies? They seem to just vanish. It’s also a shame that Steven Berkoff wasn’t given more time, as he is one of my favourite actors. He creates a great impression in short space of time. Maybe availability was the issue. After all, he’s a very busy actor.

As a last hurrah for Amy and Rory, the story shows them at their best, resourceful and brave and able to carry on the Doctor’s work in his absence. Their decision at the end not to give up travelling with the Doctor is going to cost them dearly though, and I have a horrible suspicion about how next week’s Angel spectacular will pay out.

We’re in uncharted territory for modern Doctor Who, with four successes out of four. This season is shaping up to be the best in a very long time, and The Power of Three continues Doctor Who’s rich vein of form. Another good ‘un, I reckon.

 

'And with dress sense like that, you must be the Doctor.'

 

 

 

 

Considered Opinion (After Second Viewing)

 

Sadly for The Power of Three, it’s the first story of Series Seven that in part doesn’t stand up so well to a repeat viewing. That’s not to say it’s not good. Far from it, Three is packed with sparkling dialogue, laugh-out-loud moments and a surprising amount of heart. So what’s changed my opinion of The Power of Three then?

The main criticism of the story, and this is in no way the fault of Chris Chibnall, is that the first half is virtually a rerun of The Lodger, with Rory and Amy replacing Craig as the hapless foils for the Doctor’s impatience with being trapped in one place and one time. The structure of both stories is almost identical at times, and Three suffers greatly from being the later of the two tales. Matt Smith clearly enjoys the fish out of water stories, but The Power of Three is the third time in three seasons we’ve seen the Doctor having to blend in and try to be normal, if you count Closing Time alongside The Lodger. Despite Chibnall’s best efforts, that particular plot idea is starting to get a bit stale.

I think Chris Chibnall knew this, and that’s why we get a great interlude in the middle of the episode when the Doctor whisks Amy and Rory off to celebrate their anniversary and inadvertently runs into trouble on two separate occasions. It’s telling that for some viewers, the off-screen adventures are actually better than the one we are watching, particularly the Zygons under the Savoy Hotel.

 

'Bit of a shock. Zygon ship under the Savoy. Half the staff imposters.'

 

Adding to this seen-it-all-before feeling is the reuse of celebrity cameos for the first time in an age. Russell T Davies used them effectively to ground Doctor Who in reality, but Steven Moffat’s vision for Who is much more based in fairytale imagery, so the cameos in this case, although nicely observed and portrayed, are slightly out of step with current Doctor Who.

It’s a fine line between using elements the series has employed successfully in the past and merely reheating old ideas, but Chibnall gets the balance right all the way through. The UNIT base under the Tower of London makes a reappearance here without a fanfare, but is really a backdrop to allow the touching conversation between the Doctor and Kate about her recently-deceased father. The reuse of the Tower in this respect is good continuity rather than unnecessary stealing from the past. It also moves UNIT along, giving them a much-needed modern face and ideology, although the grunts are as faceless as ever.

The central cube mystery is still engaging though. The little black boxes pose a very different kind of threat to Earth than we have ever seen before, and it is quite incredible to think that Doctor Who has never depicted an invasion by such stealthy means before. The revelation of what the cubes were actually doing and how they are being used to wipe out mankind is a neat one, if scientifically flawed. That the Shakri go for the heart allows Chibnall to pass comment on humanity’s biggest weakness and also its greatest strength.

 

'You just married Henry the Eighth. On our anniversary.'

 

In a way it would have been perfectly acceptable for the story to have concluded with no threat from the cubes at all, merely a huge cosmic practical joke. But instead we have an ending that has too many ideas to fit into its timeframe and is therefore rushed, trite and worst of all, morally wrong in part.

The Shakri’s role as universal tally-keepers for the universe is a new twist on alien aggressors. Steven Berkoff’s role is small but very effective and the fact that he wasn’t actually there leads me to hope that one day he can return in a much fuller role and reveal more about this fascinating new race. The Shakri’s ‘look’ is a little generic though, which is a shame.

The Doctor’s ‘one wave of the magic sonic screwdriver and everything is alright again’ scene is a weak resolution to the story, yet we must remember that The Power of Three is about the Doctor, Amy and Rory, not the actual black cube invasion, so it makes sense for that threat to be eliminated summarily. After all, there’s no complaint about similar scenes in The Christmas Invasion or indeed Human Nature/ The Family of Blood (which incidentally is my favourite modern Doctor Who story and quite possibly my favourite of all time, so that’s placing The Power of Three in very auspicious company). In all three cases, the plot is ancillary to the characters, and that’s perfectly acceptable.

What’s not so acceptable is the apparent ignoring of the fate of the other hostages on the Shakri spaceship. Rory and Amy save and rescue Brian, but there are quite clearly others in the background moments before the Doctor destroys the ship. Why didn’t Rory and Amy help them too? A simple line about them being beyond help would have solved this problem, but as it is, we are left with the uncomfortable thought that the Doctor and his friends merely left these people to die. I’m certain that wasn’t intentional, but there’s the unfortunate connotation that the TARDIS trio are a little bit self-serving here.

If this analysis comes across as nitpicking, it’s worth remembering that The Power of Three is still Chris Chibnall’s strongest script for the series so far. In any other season, this story would be near the top of the pile, instead of around the middle, but that’s a testament to the strength of Series Seven so far. And it’s worth remembering that The Power of Three contains what may be the finest scene of Matt’s Smith’s tenure to this point and possibly the greatest rationale for the Doctor’s continuing travels in Doctor Who’s nigh-on fifty year history. And it’s miles better than The Lodger ever was.

 

'Where's the Doctor?' 'On the Wii again.'

 

The Power of Three’s ten brilliant bits

1.       There are two notable celebrity cameos in the episode. Sir Alan Sugar’s is a witty use of The Apprentice, but it is the scene featuring Professor Brian Cox that’s the best. It doesn’t hurt that Cox is so personable and nice anyway; nevertheless his cameo is one of the most entertaining the series has yet produced. ‘They’re not space debris,’ Cox tells us with a knowing twinkle in his eye. ‘Are they extra-terrestrial in origin? Well, you’ll have to ask a better man than me.’ I really hope Cox is a Doctor Who fan (he is!), because his sheer delight at appearing in the series is obvious and infectious.

 

2.       Mark Williams once again shines as Rory’s Dad Brian. His quiet and careful appraisal of the Doctor and his thorough approach to the cubes bring him to the Doctor’s attention enough for the Time Lord to consider him worthy enough to be offered a place aboard the TARDIS. He gets a multitude of brilliant moments, from the realisation that he has been watching a cube on board the TARDIS for four days straight to his Brian’s Log video journal, ignoring the laughter of his son. His conversation with the Doctor is celebrated further on, but I sincerely hope his decision to encourage Rory and Amy back onto the TARDIS doesn’t come back to hurt him. I rather think it might.

 

3.       Jemma Redgrave as Kate Stewart is a prime example of the series celebrating its past and using it to build for the future. Her role is chiefly designed as the most effective way possible of honouring the late Nicholas Courtney. Yet Redgrave does more with it than that. She manages to portray a sense of quiet effectiveness and also to give UNIT a new face to lead it in future stories, in a way that Colonel Mace couldn’t quite manage in The Sontaran Stratagem/ The Poison Sky. Her highlight is the scene where the Doctor reveals he knows she is the Brigadier’s daughter. ‘Don’t despair, Kate,’ he says. ‘Your Dad never did.’ Kate reacts with pleasurable surprise as the Doctor tells her it was obvious who she was. ‘When did you drop Lethbridge?’ he asks her. ‘I didn’t want any favours,’ she tells him. ‘Though he guided me, even at the end. Science leads, he always told me. Said he learned that from an old friend.’ The Doctor smiles at this acknowledgement. ‘We don’t let him down,’ he decides. In this little exchange we get the backstory for the Brigadier that we’ll sadly never see. It’s all the backstory we need. The Brigadier gave his all until the end, and that’s how we would want it to be. He’s passed the mantle to his daughter, keeping the Lethbridge-Stewart legacy deservedly alive– let’s see her again soon.

 

4.       The jaunts to other adventures are inspired. Taking Amy and Rory to an anniversary meal at the Savoy Hotel in 1890, the Doctor discovers, off-screen, a Zygon ship under the hotel and half the staff already replaced. We cut to the end of the mini-adventure, with the three regulars sitting in front of the remains of the Savoy, teasingly deprived of even a glimpse of the much-loved monsters. Then we see Amy, Rory and the Doctor under a bed as Henry VIII comes in. Amy has accidentally married him on her wedding anniversary, much to Rory’s annoyance. These little vignettes are fabulous and it’s a shame we’ll never see them in their entirety.

 

5.       Brian’s little talk with the Doctor reveals the heart of both characters. Brian has been quietly assessing the Doctor for a while. At the Ponds’ anniversary party, he finally corners the Doctor. ‘What happened to the other people who travelled with you?’ he asks pointedly, not making eye contact with the Time Lord. Already respecting Brian, the Doctor is uncharacteristically honest with Rory’s father: ‘Some left me. Some got left behind. And some – not many but some – died. Not them. Not them, Brian. Never them.’ That plays two ways. For newer viewers, that means Astrid and possibly Donna, whilst for older viewers that means Adric. Thank God the Doctor stopped short of naming the latter. I would hate to think of curious kids searching out his stories and discovering an alarmingly camp plank of wood in a set of pyjamas.

 

6.       The heart of the episode is the Doctor’s conversation with Amy, in front of the Tower of London. As I stated earlier, this speech represents some of the finest writing the series has ever seen, and for that reason alone Chris Chibnall deserves future episodes. ‘You’re thinking of running away,’ the Doctor states matter-of-factly. After some initial bluster, Amy tells him that the travelling is starting to feel like running away. The Doctor replies with one of the all-time great monologues. ‘I’m not running away. But this is one corner of one country in one continent on one planet in one corner of the galaxy that’s one corner of a universe that’s forever growing and shrinking and destroying and never remaining the same for a single millisecond. And there’s so much to see, Amy. Because it goes so fast. I’m not running away from things. I’m running to them before they flare and fade forever.’ ‘So why do you keep coming back for us?’ Amy asks him. ‘Because you were the first,’ the Doctor says, a sad smile on his face. ‘The first face this face saw. And you were seared onto my hearts. Amelia Pond. I’m running to you and Rory before you fade from me.’ In one screen minute we get the best explanation for why the Doctor stole a TARDIS in the first place and one of the most poignant explorations of what it is like to live for so long and love so much. Sublime writing. Completely sublime.

 

7.       The cubes all perform different actions designed to explore humanity to the fullest. So when Amy comes across the cube that blares out The Birdie Song over and over again, her reaction to it is priceless, all widening eyes and pout of disgust. The laugh-out-loud moment of the season.

 

'On a loop!'

 

 

8.       Steven Berkoff has long been one of my favourite actors. While I am slightly disappointed he wasn’t given more screen time, what we do get is wonderful. The rhythms of his speech patterns and that little laugh could only come from him: ‘The human contagion ONLY... must be el-im-in-at-ed. The Shakri SERVES the TALLY!’ Coupled with those mad, mad eyes, it’s a rich and fruity delivery by a great actor. Let’s have him back alongside Christopher Walken as another Shakri, please.

 

9.       The salute the Doctor gives Kate at the end of the story, continuing the long-held tradition, brought a lump to my throat that had a lot to do with this Doctor Whoah! cartoon from Baxter published just after Nicholas Courtney’s death.

 

 

 

10.   The direction by Douglas MacKinnon may have been less showy than Nick Hurran’s, but the use of different ways of showing the passing months was great. The letters of each month were formed from a digital clock face, the lights at a party, Christmas lights, sparkles from a cake and a camera record button. My personal favourite was the letters made from meat on the barbecue, slightly charred and browned by the heat. A lovely and easily missed touch.

 

Although my opinion of the story has dropped slightly since the initial broadcast, there is so much to love in The Power of Three. Its place in the season is to provide the final hurrah for the Ponds, before they leave next week. It sets up that finale extremely well, showing just how much the Doctor is about to lose. Amy’s departure in particular will rival Rose’s in the impact it has on younger viewers. The Power of Three takes a chance and tries to tell a fresh story. For that it deserves a lot of praise. It’s just a pity it relies in part on tropes that the series has adopted too often in recent years.

 

'I'm running to you and Rory before you fade from me.'

 

Overall Rating: 7 ½ out of 10

 

 

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!)