The Eleventh Doctor interrupts some Pizza, Booze, Telly in this incredibly polarising episode of NewWho
I’m the bloody queen of Egypt, mate!
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Ten months into his Pond-fast, The Doctor has saved the people of Egypt and solicited the services of Queen Nefertiti and über-violent, macho big game hunter, Riddell, to join him on his travels, when he swoops in out of nowhere and picks up the Ponds after all.
The Indian Space Agency has detected an enormous Ark In Space falling to Earth and is busy readying its patented 24th century can’t-turn-off-the-locking-system missiles to blow it out of the sky.
How many Ponds does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Well, more than two, it seems, because the Doc has abducted Papa Pond himself, Mr Brian Williams, and together they now find themselves riding domesticated dinos down dusty corridont’s.
Honestly, I feel pretty meh about this episode. A watered down Jurassic Park with a faint dose of Wrath of Khan at the end. “Doctoooooorrrr!”
I did like two things, both having to do with Rory. He says he looks out for cool nursing supplies wherever he goes and collects it in case they need it later. This is absolutely wonderful, and it fills my mind with delightful pictures of Amy and the Doctor running around excited by all the new things to see, while Rory is actually shopping. “Hello, yes. What is this? Excellent. I’d like three of those.”
The second thing I liked in this episode was the Doctor kissing Rory, and then wiping Rory’s face off.
1.3? Maybe if I’d never seen dinosaurs on screen before, it would be higher, but… we did just have pterodactyls a couple episodes ago in The Wedding of River Song.
Though I liked the part where Queen Nefertiti said the Silurian was beautiful. So I’ll change my rating to 1.4. But three moments of, “Oh, I liked that,” is not enough to stave off the dinosaur boredom.
Things I Liked:
• The title: we got what was promised on the tin.
• The whimsical miss-mash of dinosaurs, space stuff, and and ye old stuff was all kinda fun. Reminded me of the whimsy of the Seventh Doctor’s (under appreciated) first season.
• Space Walder Frey!
Beefs:
• The reason the Arc had no weapons was because the Silurians were an “a species so full of hope”. What the hell are you on about!? The Silurians have always been armed to the teeth and super aggressive. In previous adventures they kidnapped, poisoned and dissected innocent people, deployed dinosaurs as weapons and planned genocide against humanity. Just because they have a legitimate territorial claim (and inexplicably helped the Doctor in ‘A Good Man Goes to War’) doesn’t make them less dickish than humans.
• Did the interior of the Arc look Silurian? I thought it should have been more squishy.
• Why is the Doctor hanging out with Riddell? Why didn’t Riddell say “Clever Girl” during the Raptor attack?
• Brian Williams = wannabe Wilfred Mott?
Question: Brian’s postcard from ‘Siluria’. Did he go back in time to when Earth was ruled by the Silurians (and thus called Siluria), in which case I’d love to see that adventure. Or is this a new planet called Siluria, which misses the whole point of the Silurians being competitors to humans?
Summary: mostly inoffensive.
Rating: 2.7/5 sleepy Silurians being jettisoned into the blackness of Space. HaHaHa!
The good:
Brian Williams was the best thing about this episode, I loved how he didn’t want the doctor to take him back in time to see a loved one or change a past event… he just wanted to sit and eat his lunch and gaze at the Earth below.
The bad:
The Mitchell and Webb robots weren’t funny.
The dinosaurs never felt threatening or dangerous. Even when they were fending off a pack of raptors there seemed to be absolutely no suspense or risk.
This episode fumbled with a very ham-fisted subplot about sexism that ultimately goes nowhere. You’ve got the straw man game hunter up against two wise and independent women. Ultimately nothing really comes from this subplot and it’s executed in this clichéd “women can shoot guns too!” sort of way that introduces more stereotypes rather than breaking them.
The tender moment of between Amy and the Doctor seemed out of place. It’s one thing to keep a story arc developing, it’s another to have the Doctor say, in lieu of absolutely nothing, “Let’s pause the episode while we discuss the through line of the series”.
My main problem with this episode is how the Doctor got contacted. At the end of last season he said he was going to fly under the radar. Apparently it’s still really easy to contact him though and lots of people other than Amy, Rory, and River clearly know he’s alive.
It’s just a typically bland Chibnall script…
I’ll rate it a 1.3/5
Hello podcast / dogpresent friends! I give you my assorted thoughts, followed by extremely random rating.
This I can dig. Running. Snappy dialogue. Characters we don’t have to know much about. Nefi is basically a better Liz Ten. Riddell is the ‘I’m God’s gift to everyone’. We all know the Ponds, Silurians, and Dinosaurs (in general, not the Henson ones).
“Never had a gang before.” Actual bs.
Tegan Nyssa Adric
Strax Vastra Jenny
Ian Barbwire Susan
Rory’s Dad says -Tell me where we are!
Doc sticks out his tongue.
Do the robots remind anyone else of the Flight of the Conchords?
Non-consensual Rory Doctor kiss? Eleven is kinda bad at boundaries.
Amy to Riddell- “I’m easily worth two men. You can help too if you like.”
That pair of scenes with Rory and his dad showing off their particular skills sets to each other is quite nice.
Better title: The Silurian Ark
(It’s Ark Week)
Contributions from Tracey from America’s Husband:
It’s Harry Potter day on set.
Simultaneously it’s feature-a-future-Doctor day, as the villain also appears as Doc 1 in that Christmas ep.
Chibs, this story seemed ok??
Rating: P O N- K E N, Leon!