Starring:
Ashley Walters, Mark Oliver, Jahvel Hall
Written
by: Stephen Thompson
Directed
by: Mat King
As the Doctor attempts
to soothe the tension between Clara and the TARDIS, a nearby salvage ship takes
an interest in the ancient vessel. A freak set of circumstances lead to the
TARDIS being left on the brink of destruction, and Clara trapped somewhere or
somewhen within the twisting, mysterious corridors. The Doctor has just half an
hour to save her and repair the TARDIS…
This really was full of promise. An episode entirely set
within the walls of the TARDIS? There could be literally anything in there!
Ok, yes. When you think about it rationally, you have to
accept that the TARDIS we saw on screen could never live up to the potential. There
just isn’t enough money in the world to bring it to life properly, and no two
viewers are going to agree on what should be there and what it should look
like. In some respects then, you could argue that this was an episode that
should never have been made. It was never going to be universally loved, at the
very least.
However, while that is certainly true, it is also true that
there is precious little imagination in this episode.
The plot, for a start, is pretty thin. An incredibly
contrived co-incidence to kick things off, a subplot about the guest stars that
wouldn’t fit on the back of a postage stamp, and a conclusion that skirts
dangerously close to deus ex machina territory, and is certainly an
outrageously blatant retcon, which renders the episode almost entirely
pointless – although in fairness, there are a lot of points which will
presumably be brought up again later in the series, most likely in the finale.
More importantly, arguably, is the fairly unsurprising
nature of the TARDIS’ interior. The library, for instance. Ok, there are a few
nice touches – the liquid encyclopaedia is interesting, especially when it
leaks and starts to talk, and it is certainly a grand room, but it isn’t any
grander than the library in any standard issue National Trust property. Sure,
it’s on a space/time ship, but we’ve seen stranger things in the show. That’s
before you even start to consider the sheer number of corridors that we see. Again,
this goes back to my earlier point. Of course there are more corridors than
anything else in the TARDIS, you’ve got to get from one room to the other after
all. It just seems a bit of a waste to feature them so prominently in an
episode with such potential.
And then there’s the guest stars. In fairness, they aren’t
given a lot to work with – as a friend of mine has memorably put it, “There are
two character traits between three people!” Nevertheless, I can’t remember the
last time the show had such bland performances. Restrained performances can be
a rare blessing, given the OTT nature of the show, but bland – or just plain
bad – is even rarer, and far less welcome.
Equally though, there’s not an awful lot for the regulars to
work with. Clara in particular is reduced to a generic companion in peril, and
while the Doctor fares better than the rest, there’s barely a single memorable
moment for him in the entire episode.
It isn’t all bad. There are, as I said, a few intriguing
hints about the rest of the series – Clara learns the Doctor’s name, although
it’s wiped from her memory by the end of the episode, and the Doctor learns
that while Clara may be a mystery, she’s an unwitting part of it at least. Most
interesting is the time rift that enables the retcon, as it’s a dead ringer for
the crack that populated series five. Only time will tell whether that was just
a coincidence, a shout out, or a deliberate hint. I favour deliberate hint, if
only in the hope that some of those lingering questions might actually get
answered this way. And the moment when the Doctor and Clara walk through the
engine room is genuinely stunning, if a touch Tracy Emin for my tastes.
Overall though, this is far and away the most disappointing
episode of the run, and probably of the last couple of years.
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