Logline
Far in the future, on a tough, brutal planet, a devastated mining colony has only one survivor. To discover the truth, the Doctor and Belinda must face absolute terror.
Written by: Russell T Davies & Sharma Angel Walfall
Directed by: Amanda Brotchie
Friend caught me watching and was actually intrigued enough by the premise to stay, but then got a little caught upnon the "Why didn’t anyone die when
spoiler
that lady turned to run to the well
?" question.
I think others have expressed well enough about the plot.
Can I just shine a light on probably some of the best set design we’ve ever seen in Doctor who? It was a little obvious they reused the dorm room a few shots but other than that fantastic. The lone girl in the circle was a fantastic shot, the well fantastic. All the gribblies and rust stains. What a joy to look at this episode was.
I was really excited to see a far future sci-fi adventure but unfortunately the episode left me quite disappointed by the end.
I think it started off great, very tense and while some things were obvious even that early on it didn’t hurt the episode.
Imo it did fall apart in the last act though.
Tap for spoiler
After it was revealed how the monster works it all became extremely formulaic and predictable. I was easily able to predict every single twist after that. Obviously someone’s going to override the captain’s authority and get half the crew killed. Unsurprisingly the monster doesn’t kill the host for some reason. To no one’s surprise it latches on to the companion so the doctor now really has to solve this problem. But as always when he can’t someone else sacrifices themselves.
Oh no, you’re telling me jumping into the well the monster seemingly floated out of unassisted from earlier didn’t kill it?
Wait, it made it to the ship? I’m shocked! Nice detail with the airlock screen showing more people than could be seen in it though.
I’d be surprised if the old lady stalking them wasn’t the monster from this episode.
Best episode of the run so far, but I still don’t buy the May 24th problem.
Can’t travel to May 24th? you have a TIME MACHINE. Go back to May 23rd and take a nap or something. Boom! May 24th!
I’m willing to withhold judgment - the TARDIS violently “bouncing off” of that date is fun - but it is a bit of a head-scratcher. Right up there with the Weeping Angels Paradox that claimed Amy and Rory.
I almost always prefer frock to gun and this episode was not for me, but I am a base-under-siege Grinch and know my limitations. This is my second-least-favorite RTD2 episode after Empire of Death, though I am thoroughly enjoying this series, even more than the last.