Review by RCR contributing editor, Hayden Black, follow him on Twitter @HaydenBlack!
Can we talk coincidences? In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the two protagonists who’d just been thrown out of an airlock into deep space without spacesuits were scooped up by a passing spaceship and saved at the odds of two to the power of 276,709 to one against. Phew, eh? I guess we can double those odds seeing as how this week’s Doctor Who opens with four people transported into deep space without spacesuits. How are they going to survive? I can only bet that new showrunner Chris Chibnall is going to do something truly stunning and original to buck those odds. Right?
Wrong. Unfortunately for those of us who still like having something resembling even the basics of reality in their scifi, Chibnall’s idea for saving them all involved two different spaceships that just happened to be speeding by at that very moment, both of which were involved in a high-speed chase where winner takes all – and yet both of them took the time to stop and use up valuable energy to pick up the Doctor and her gang. PHEW, eh?
But how will the gang – now on two different spaceships – reunite? Well fortunately for them, there are more insane coincidences to come – like when one of the spaceships crash lands on a massive planet, coming to a stop about two feet away from the other. PHEW again, eh?
This week’s Doctor Who looked lovely (it was shot on location in South Africa) but was marred by a weak storyline filled with characters running through corridors (and Chibnall told us there’d be no references to previous Who? Pah!), crap looking aliens (schmattes that could talk but only at sundown), and coincidental references to last week’s Stenza. Remember the blue alien with all the teeth in its face? How ironic then that thus far, this season has had no bite.
The gang had to make their way through desert terrain while avoiding weaponized generic robots, angry handkerchiefs (The Remnants), and more lens flare than a JJ Abrams wet dream – but a sense of tension was nowhere to be found because we’ve seen this all before. And not just in other TV and films but in Doctor Who. Repeatedly.
The show ends with the Doctor and Co reuniting with the TARDIS that just happens to show up with barely hours to spare before they all die. PHEW again, eh?
The three new companions seem about one too many (take your pick; I’m not in love with any of them yet) – and Ms. Whittaker herself seems to be taking her time finding the character. There’s loads of banter – more banter even than in the great Banter-fest that takes place on the planet Banter in the constellation of Bantersaurus – but Whittaker’s manic delivery doesn’t feel real. It feels written.
Now having griped about the story there were some lovely moments. The new opening title sequence is a throwback to the very first one in 1963 but lovingly updated. The theme tune is a touch more militaristic than before but sounds great. There was the return of the upgraded TARDIS (it now makes cookies!) that looks quite fancy and crystally (those Etsy folks are gonna LOVE that). There was also the welcome return of Venusian Aikido, something that began in 1971 with Jon Pertwee’s Doctor.
I’m looking forward to next week, when the Doctor and Co meets Rosa Parks. I just hope there are fewer coincidences and a touch less lens-flare.
About Dr. Who
Still reeling from their first encounter, can the Doctor and her new friends stay alive long enough in a hostile alien environment to solve the mystery of Desolation? And just who are Angstrom and Epzo?
The further adventures in time and space of the alien adventurer known as the Doctor, a Time Lord/Lady who can change appearance and gender by regenerating when near death, and his/her human companions.
WATCH MORE
The Thirteenth Doctor: http://bit.ly/TheThirteenthDoctor
Regenerations: http://bit.ly/DWRegeneration
Title Sequences: http://bit.ly/DWTitleSequences
Review by Hayden Black
Hayden Black is the award-winning British star/writer/producer behind Goodnight Burbank (“Better than 99% of the stuff on TV” – USA Today”), the first-ever scripted half-hour comedy series made for Hulu and then licensed – the day it premiered – by Mark Cuban for his cable channel HDNet. Goodnight Burbank and his other original online work – including Abigail’s Teen Diary & The Occulterers – have won Webby, iTunes and Yahoo awards, been viewed in the multi-millions, and taught in college courses.
