Little Storping-in-the-Swuff

I haven’t written individual episode reviews for most of Doctor Who. I did feel moved, half way through last night’s episode, to post something along the lines of “Wow. More like this please.” But I then since that was all I felt it was necessary to say, it didn’t seem worth the bother.

Well, due to popular demand, I’m going to have to say a little more than that.

After the previous double in the Alien/Event Horizon Hollywood space epic genre, here’s an episode that not only goes to the other extreme with a very English romcom feel to it (very Anorak of Fire), but in which also the brilliant editing allows the writer (“The Master” – Russell T. Davies) to shrug off the constraints of the Doctor Who formula most effectively. Not just the non-linear narrative, but the subjective first-person video diary narrative and the almost schizophrenic cutting camcorder->Doctor Who->camcorder->Elton John->ELO….etc.

Marc Warren and Shirley Henderson were great, it was packed with playful gags (some very funny, with superb timing… such as the epic musical build up to the Bella Emberg “she lives at number…” line) and it had a great soundtrack. The affectionate digs at the fans were spot on (which of us doesn’t know a Doctor Who fan called Colin who has every episode on tape? – I know I do). Jackie Tyler in full on seduction mode was petrifying and hilarious, with Camille Coduri then handling the change to the desparate-left-behind thing most effectively. Okay, so on the niggles front, we get more unsubtle Torchwood/Bad Wolf references crowbarred in,
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and (though I don’t want to be uncharitable here) the moster did look a bit like it had been designed by a 10 year old. Although this last is understandable, given that it was. Also I was disappointed that, given its romcom status, that we didn’t get the full on happy ending, although at this point in the season’s arc I can see why. The biggest problem with the episode will be for the kids, since the humour and style were perhaps too sophisticated to be accessible, and it certainly wasn’t very scary: what was there for them? And funny though the final gag was, I have to admit to being a tad shocked at hearing this in a “family” show!

Anyway, in short, I loved it. It was a very clever episode, but it clearly wasn’t to everyone’s taste. In fact, it’s a bit of a marmite episode, and has already been described as the worst episode ever (so not just worse than Aliens of London/World War III, but The Happiness Patrol, The Web Planet etc. as well). So I’m now going to don my tin hat and get under the table…

…okay, the comments on this post are now on.

Major spoiler, hence no title!
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The story so far: Series 28 of Doctor Who has followed a similar template to Series 27, making an almost complete episode against episode matching possible, as reported previously. The Satan Pit did not disappoint, well, at least in comparison to The Long Game, for could we really expect it to have matched the Bolero fuelled brilliance of The Impossible Planet? In fact of all the two parters so far, the only one whose conclusion did not fail to live up to the promise of its opening was the sublime The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances from the pen of Steven Moffat.

Anyway, here are the scores updated to include today’s result:

Round one: Introducing the New Doctor
Rose vs. The Christmas Invasion.
Result: 1-0 to the new guy
Round two: This is the Future
The End of the World vs. New Earth
Result: 1-1 draw
Round three: Victorian Wales/Scotland
The Unquiet Dead vs. Tooth and Claw
Result: 2-1 to Eccleston
Round four: Back to the Present
Aliens of London/World War Three vs. School Reunion
Result: 2-2 draw
Round Five: The Old Enemy Audio Play Remake
Dalek vs. Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel
Result: 3-2 to the Ninth Doctor
Round Six: Space Station Crew Against Mysterious Controlling Enemy
The Long Game vs. The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit
Result: 3-3 draw
Round Seven: Mid 20th Century Faceless Menace
The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances vs. The Idiot’s Lantern
Result: 4-3 Eccleston

Father’s Day (series 27) and The Girl in the Fireplace (series 28) are still on the bench, and there are another 2/3 stories in each season still to play (series 28 has one extra episode – the Christmas Special). Fans wait in suspense for the final playoff in a month’s time…