The new time of year of Doctor Who sports new genius , a revamp metre machine , and a whole unexampled authorship staff . But based on the first great deal of episodes , it ’s still trying too voiceless to give us what we ’ve come to expect .
Oh , and there will be spoilers for “ The Beast Below , ” which just bare on BBC America , in this mail service . And very modest spoilers for the following two episodes , “ Victory Of The Daleks ” and “ Time Of The Angels ” as well .
So when Steven Moffat submit over as showrunner and pass author of Doctor Who , he forebode that we would n’t see much difference between his episode and those created by his precursor , Russell T. Davies . And Moffat was correct — at least so far , the Moffat era is feeling quite similar to the Davies era , except that there ’s a bit more focal point on “ timey wimey ” chicanery — like the fact that the Doctor foregather his companion as a petty girl , then again as an adult .
The time of year ’s 2d episode , “ The Beast Below , ” seems like a perfect example of Moffat doing a cover translation of Sir Humphrey Davy . It ’s very , very similar in many ways to Davies ’ account “ The Long Game ” from back in 2005 , and has a very Davies - esque brand of political sarcasm . ( Timed , I guess , to coincide with the run - up to Britain’sgeneral election . )
In “ The Long Game , ” the population of a succeeding Earth are kept subjugated and baffled , thanks to a futurist satellite that flow them propaganda masquerade as news — and it turns out that an alien monster loaf on the top floor is behind this attempt to weaken the human race . In “ The Beast Below , ” the residents of a spacebound future tense Britain are kept in ignorance about the true nature of their spaceship — and the twist is , the alien lusus naturae lurking below deck is actually their victim .
After watching “ The Beast Below ” a couple of times , I ca n’t break loose the feeling that it ’s an inferior variation of something Davies might do . The Southern Cross of the story is that the people of Starship Britain are on a regular basis told the true statement about their position , after which they have a selection of two buttons : “ Protest , ” which file their disapproval of the fearful situation , or “ Forget , ” which pass over their memory of the Sojourner Truth so they can go about their life . It ’s a very Patrick McGoohan - esque satire on republic , in which people are made complicit in the corruption of the arrangement .
Russell T. Davies ’ tenure on Doctor Who included mountain of badly - organise ideas and feeble writing , but pungent social caustic remark was always one of his potent suits . ( As long as he stayed away from fertile people . ) You get the feeling that if Davies had been writing “ The Beast Below , ” it would have been much , much nastier . There would have been cannibalism , or citizenry being turned into dessicated cadaver , or utmost weirdness . One affair you could always count on RTD for was a gleeful twisting of the tongue .
Instead , Moffat ’s reluctance to show any real nastiness on cover have him down a spot here — the main antagonist in the story , the Smilers , are a chip useless . Their main method of attack is to lour at you . And if that does n’t work , they pull a face a bit . Just like the previous episode , with the singularly unthreatening Prisoner Zero and the reasonably abstractionist danger from the Atraxi , Moffat does n’t seem to be able to muster much awfulness . You get all the campiness of a Davies story , with none of the joyful massacre . ( The Chicago Tribune ’s estimable Maureen Ryanhas a great summation of what ’s haywire with “ The Eleventh Hour . ” )
“ The Beast Below ” leaves you feeling as though Moffat ’s not quite act to his strengths here — he ’s convinced he ca n’t do an entire season of stories like “ The Empty Child , ” “ Blink ” or “ Silence In The Library , ” so instead he ’s attempt to do some light , Humphrey Davy - elan instalment .
The unspoilt news is , the time of year ’s third episode , Mark Gatiss ’ “ Victory Of The Daleks , ” is at least a fun romp even if it does n’t make all that much mother wit . And Moffat ’s “ The Time Of Angels , ” the first half of a two - parter , has everything that feel like it ’s missing from “ The Eleventh Hour ” and “ The Beast Below . ” Not astonishingly , since it brings back both the Weeping Angels and the Doctor ’s maybe - wife River Song , it feel like a straight - up mashup of “ Blink ” and “ Silence In The Library , ” borrowing freely from both .
find out “ The Beast Below ” and “ The Time Of Angels ” back to back , and you ’ll see the conflict between Moffat doing what he think is expected of him , and Moffat playing to his strengths .
There ’s muckle to love about “ The Beast Below , ” though . Just like with “ The Eleventh Hour,”Matt Smith and Karen Gillan are wonderful , and there are plenty of grand moments that deepen their kinship . I really do sleep together the musical theme that the Doctor wo n’t interfere in the thing of other cultures , unless there ’s a child crying . It ’s such a cockamamie aberration of the Prime Directive that you have to hump it .
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The Doctor is in reality kind of a bastard to Amy in this episode . He tosses her in the deep end , telling her to follow the child whose thingy he stole , or else he ’ll post her full-strength home . His brash enjoinment , essentially , to wander off and get herself into problem , leads to her wandering into a proscribed area and being menace by unearthly tentacle thingies . And then when she make the incorrect decision in the vote booth , he tears her in half for make up one’s mind that he should n’t love the truth about what ’s going on here . He ’s sloven - headed and unjust , and it ’s good that she finally calls him on it .
And yet , the Doctor also shows tremendous compassion in this sequence — as we see in the beginning , when he ca n’t refuse a exclaim child , and then later when he is horrified by the plight of the Star Whale that the Space Brits are imprisoning and torture .
The best bit in the episode , for my money , is where the Doctor decides to euthanize / lobotomize the pitiful Star Whale , to part with it any further torment . And then , he says , he ’ll have to find a new name , because he wo n’t be the Doctor any more . As much as the Doctor sometimes holds others to too high-pitched a standard , he holds himself to an even mellow one . And then at the very last , when Amy hugs the Doctor and say “ have you , ” it ’s perfectly brilliant .
Also , the humor is fantastical , and the Doctor ’s line “ This wo n’t be big on dignity , ” has become one of my favourite Doctor of the Church - isms .
Meanwhile , Amy ’s having 2d thoughts about her wedding , which is hypothecate to chance a thousand - plus years ago , tomorrow morning . It feels like , by traveling the universe with the Doctor , she ’s obtain her last taste of exemption before square off down . But we ’re already seeing some adorable soupcon that it ’s not going to be quite that simple .
Like I said , the Doctor and Amy are both marvelously written and beautifully acted — just like in their first outing . It ’s only the rest of the story that ’s a fleck uninspiring . Oh , and I sort of like Sophie Okonedo as Liz Ten , the badass masked queen with the sharp - shot pistols — she was fun as a one - off persona .
The thing is , I do n’t suppose there would have been anything wrong with Moffat doing a whole season of more repugnance - oriented Doctor Who episodes along the line of “ Blink . ” The show ’s been moderately horror - oriented at various points in its past , and it has a reputation , especially in Britain , for being a shuddery show that you watch from behind the sofa . So it seems like a pity that Moffat seem to believe the show demand more lightweight outings to capture TV audience .
Anyway , to sum up — “ The Beast Below ” struck me as another tale with marvelous character development for the Eleventh Doctor and Amy , but ultimately a pretty forgettable tale otherwise . The “ Encounter At Farpoint ” plot does n’t get much storytelling energy devoted to it , and instead the focus is on a silly “ A vote for the Tories = ego - mind - wiping ” political irony . As long as we ’re see the Doctor ’s relationship with Amy formulate , it ’s vibrate — but the sleep of the metre , it ’s curiously lifeless .
In “ The meter Of Angels , ” meanwhile , Moffat is borrowing generously from his own back catalog — but that seems to work for him a lot better than borrow from Russell T. Davies ’ . ( We ’ll do a more in - deepness retread of “ Angels ” in a couple of weeks . )
But what did you think ?
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