Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10
Cast: Matt Smith, Jenna-Louise Coleman, Michael Dixon, Nicola Sian, Emilia Jones, Chris Anderson, Aiden Cook, Karl Greenwood.
As the Doctor’s obsession grows over the mystery of Clara Oswald, the audience is taken through relevant moments in the latest companion and her parents’ lives and it all boils down to chance. As with most things in life it is the everyday random happenings that can lead a person one way or another in time, with the Doctor around though those things are really never that simple and after all he sees, the Doctor states that she is impossible.
Impossible or not, it is difficult to find fault with the latest companion, a girl who just wants to see something awesome, after all who wouldn’t want to be shown that when offered a trip by a mad man in a box. As she waits patiently for the Tardis to turn up outside her door and for the Doctor to make good on his promise to pick her the following day after the events that took place in the Shard, there is little hint of suggestion that the answer the Timelord seeks is not going to be easy or much to his liking. The suggestive smile as she realises that the Tardis has landed owes more to than the thought of excitement, there is something lurking underneath…and the prospect is not only dangerously thrilling but enticing and can only spell bad times for The Doctor ahead.
With Clara’s choice of awesome being defined to seeing the inhabited worlds of the rings of Akhaten, there is more than the odd graceful nod to Star Wars as every conceivable design of non-humanoid never used by the makers of the series come walking out of the make-up department and on to the set, unusual, exotic, perhaps even slightly barking but none the less a great opportunity to add more colourful aliens to the rich tapestry of the Doctor’s life.
That aside and taking into account the superb special effects used by the team on this particular episode, it didn’t reach the high points of the series so far. Big and clever doesn’t always make good viewing. Some incredible nods the Doctor’s past life, the reference to his grand-daughter Susan would have older fans hugging themselves in delight, Clara, the very superb Jenna-Louise Coleman is playing an absolute blinder and has already surpassed many of the companions seen so far since the programmes return but the main villain of the piece came across as less demented, less terrifying version of the Beast used in David Tennant’s era of Doctor Who and it seemed to be treated as one of the less shocking enemies of the Doctor since Peter Kay donned the green suit…unconvincing and slightly disappointing.
Special effects may add so much to a story, some great lines add to the aura and mystique but if the enemy isn’t believable, the plot, no matter how beautifully scripted, can fall down and give a ho hum attitude to the fans.
Ian D. Hall