is the smaller, regular cast, a couple of extras and the horde that is Nicholas Briggs. Despite not meeting until near the episode’s climax, the interaction between hacker-survivor and our Time Lord is witty enough and there’s a truly heart-rending Pond moment. It’ll be a shame when Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill are no longer with the series.
Geek Syndicate
So despite a few fan-boy niggles this was a great start to the series. Not as awesome as The Eleventh Hour, perhaps but certainly no New Earth!
Episode 2: Dinosaurs on a Spaceship
Moffat’s cleverness comes through with some great ideas that are excellently realised. The Daleks’ main defence on the planet is brilliant, if not devious and twisted! A planet full of insane Daleks? Magnificent! His trademark witty dialogue also shines through with not only the main crew but also the extras. (“Do you remember who you were before?” “Yes. I’ve read my file”). And finally, we get a potential reason for why the Daleks haven’t just killed the Doctor already. Oh. And the final twisty-wisty reveal? I’m not going to say any more. But it’s a good-un. With reaching consequences for later in the series, no doubt. The writer even manages to help the Doctor’s new “Low profile” scheme out some more this episode. Great stuff. What this episode is NOT is a jumping on point. Anyone coming on board now will lose out from having not seen the last two years of the programme. One thing I do miss about Doctor Who is the standalone nature that each story used to have. Having said that, most TV shows these days have ongoing plots that need to be followed, so perhaps this is par for the course.
84
The Blurb The Time Lord is asked to stop an unmanned spaceship hurtling toward Earth, so he assembles a crack team of helpers – an Egyptian queen, a big-game hunter and the Ponds, plus one. But once on board, they are amazed to find the ancient vessel is carrying live cargo in the shape of dinosaurs. How did the prehistoric creatures get there? The Review Week two of five of this first part of the 2012 / 2013 Doctor Who series is upon us. Last week’s trail showed us what to expect: A spaceship, Queen Nefertiti and Dinosaurs. I’ll be honest up-front. The title for this one and the trail left me a little cold and with low-expectations as I was not a fan of Chibnall’s previous two-parter (The Hungry Earth and Cold Blood). Though 42 was one of the better Series three stories. Was I right to be so down on this before it even started?
As ever, I’ll try not to go into too much detail about the plot and keep this as spoiler-free as I can. To begin with, we see the Doctor at the end of a Pond-free adventure in Ancient Egypt. I like these teasers into “between the episodes” adventures that Moffat seems so fond of, if only because it helps the Who-Nerd in me to slot other media in! At the end of this adventure, an eager (in more ways than one) Queen Nefertiti forces her way onto the TARDIS as the Time Lord is summoned via Psychic Paper to another crisis. A rather large space-craft appears to be on a collision course with Earth and the Indian Space Authority are going to shoot it down unless it can be diverted within a certain time-scale. Intrigued by readings from the ship, The Doctor decides to gather a “gang” to investigate and divert the vessel. Naturally he wants the Ponds with him, along with Nefertiti, he also stops by 1902 to pick up Big Game Hunter Riddell. The ship holds more than just the titular Dinosaurs, however and two robots and a shadowy figure present some menace to our heroic pack. With the gang assembled, pretty much all the cast is here and on the whole it’s strong. Rupert Graves (Riddell), Riann Steel (Nefertiti) and Mark Williams (Brian Williams) all plow through the script with the necessary pace without overly succumbing to the caricatures that the roles they are in most definitely are. Along the way, two more comedians (David Mitchell and Robert Webb) and the suitably villainous Solomon (David Brad-