Doctor Who 5/31.08 The Hungry Earth

[selenak]

Icon in honour of original Silurian episode, and because the Doctor at one particular point of this episode definitely had Brig flashbacks.



I do love both The Silurians and The Sea Devils (new Whovians: these are Third Doctor tales), and was warned to stay the hell away from the third Silurian story, Warriors of the Deep, as one of the worst Five adventures ever, so I did. Much as I love those Three stories, however, there was always one problem between concept and execution: to wit, that the Silurians only ever were given one species member who was willing to negotiate and come to terms with humans, with the rest of them completely bent on getting rid of humanity, which weakens the Doctor's main argument in both the old stories and the newest one, that the Silurians aren't monsters, simply a species just like humanity (who from their pov are the invaders) and that there should be a peaceful way to co-exist with them. I do hope Chris Chibnall won't fall into that old trap again, but the fact Amy and Lovable Welsh Dad are getting dissected already doesn't make me too confident. Speaking of Amy, I also hope she gets more to do next episode, because one "I'm so going to kick your butts!" threat scene doesn't cut it.

Otoh, so far I like Aleya; the Doctor's scene with her was excellent, as was her mind-messing with Rory, Ambrose and Mol (name?; I was going to write "Mott", but that's Wilf still influencing me) re: "one of you is going to kill me" later. I wonder how the scene with the Doctor comes across to New Who only watchers not aware of the Doctor's history with the Silurians, his repeated attempts to save them and the way these ended in war with the humans anyway, because there is a lot going on under, no pun intended, the surface in that scene; very nice acting from Matt Smith, too, who really sells the Doctor's age (again; the Dalek scene were the only time he let me down on this so far).

As Chibnall scripts go, this one is better than 42 because this time he manages to make the characters of the week distinguishable from each other and interesting. I do like Nasreen, and have high hopes for the Sherlock Holmes quoting kid being key in avoiding genocidal Silurian/Human warfare IF Chibnall & the Moff don't simply repeat the basic pattern of Silurian stories; after all, we did not see him in the room of ominous dissection.

Ambrose and the weapons in the car was when I thought the Doctor had his Brig flashback. Possibly now complete with Harriet Jones flashback. (The parallel/contrasts there was what inspired a story of mine, so forgive the extrapolation.)

Rory was endearing in waving at future selves (btw, I suspect it will turn out these aren't Rory and Amy from ten years into the future but from the next episode or the season finale), trying to help with the missing bodies.

All in all an okay episode, not as good at last week's, definitely better than the Dalek episode. Final judgment after next week's conclusion.

Comments

[monanotlisa]

I've seen this called slow or boring, but honestly, that wasn't my problem with it - the lack of Amy agency and, come to think of it, Amy in general was. I know I'm different from many other fans, but I watch this show for the companion, always, and it doesn't help this looks disturbingly like a Damsel In Distress storyline...that the Moff could still resolve with Amy freeing herself, of course. But I'm not optimistic. :/

[selenak]

As you can see from my review, the lack of Amy was a problem for me as well, but I'm more optimistic regarding the second part, because Amy is in the traditional Companion position to get to know the opposing side (for a New Who example of this tried and true story telling strategy, see Martha being captured in "The Doctor's Daughter" - that's classic, and often happens when there's a team of more than two; while Martha is initially abducted, she quickly impresses her captors with her medical skills and befriends them, which allows the viewers to get to know them through her while Donna and the Doctor are captives with the humans and get to know Jenny; at the end, Martha joins the rest of Team Tardis on her own, not because she's freed). Now, obviously the Doctor came to save her, but I know my DW, and my guess is he and Nasreen are about to be captured themselves.

The one I'm most concerned for is Rory bcause I think kindkit is right, as the nurse, and a classic life saver, he's set up for the cruel irony of being the one who kills Aleya, which will make him leave the TARDIS for now. Aside from being sorry for Rory, I also regret this because honestly, I find the Amy-Doctor-Rory dynamic so far more new and refreshing than if it's just Amy and the Doctor (also fun, but it's been so long - since Five's day, to be precise - since we had a Team TARDIS consisting of more than two people for more than three episodes).

[monanotlisa]

Amy is in the traditional Companion position to get to know the opposing side (for a New Who example of this tried and true story telling strategy, see Martha being captured in "The Doctor's Daughter" - that's classic, and often happens when there's a team of more than two; while Martha is initially abducted, she quickly impresses her captors with her medical skills and befriends them, which allows the viewers to get to know them through her

This is a good example of Who having gotten it right and giving the trope a twist - okay, I'm looking forward to the second part now.

I think [personal profile] kindkit is right, as the nurse, and a classic life saver, he's set up for the cruel irony of being the one who kills Aleya

It sounds like the kind of thing Moffat might do because in addition to what Kindkit observed, Rory seems the least likely of the three humans to kill - the other two having ample motive, from abducted family to mutant transformation - but then again, Rory is not the type of person to kill with forethought and purpose, if his characterisation so far is anything to go by: him killing Aleya would have to be in a situation that forces his hand, such as an immediate threat to Rory or another human being or a trick that has him believe her death will in some way be the only thing to save Amy.

I'd prefer that to Aleya killing herself, though - much as I like a little artificially engineered dissent in the ranks, I'd rather have the character development push for Rory, even assuming it may mean pushing him away. I'm not a huge fan of the character - don't dislike him per se, but his personality doesn't tickle my fancy, and my interest in secondary companions has generally been minimal.

Also, honestly, this is me owning my shippiness: I definitely prefer The Amy/Eleven Show. ;)

[kalypso]

Absolutely. When Who returned in 2005, one of my complaints was that the 45-minute format meant that there was rarely time for the companion to fulfil one of her/his traditional roles, viz to star in the subplot. Over several 25-minute episodes, the Doctor and companion were usually separated and reunited several times, and the information they shared when reunited was usually vital to the resolution of the plot. It seemed to take Davies & co a while to work out how to pull this off in the new format, which I think is one reason why Rose began to seem clingy. Of course, it's easier in a two-parter, and I was delighted that in this one Rory got his own subplot early on, when he gamely accepted the role of investigating policeman.

It's true Amy got less time in this episode (though the documentary did mention that they'd had to cut it down from a running time of 60 minutes) but I'm afraid I didn't mind that much. I'm in a minority, but I confess she hasn't really grabbed me since her opening episode, when I thought both Amelia and Amy were excellent.