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vivdunstan) wrote2024-06-10 02:10 am
vivdunstan) wrote2024-06-10 02:10 am
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Rewatching Doctor Who: The Power of Three
Onto another Matt Smith episode, and here another written by Chris Chibnall. And like the previous one much better for me than many of his own showrunner era episodes. And I'm rather puzzled by why. Though I guess it's partly due to the tone and framing, and also such strong established companion characters.
This episode sees the Earth plagued by a vast number of little black cubes. Which the Doctor - along with Amy, Rory and Rory's dad Brian - proceed to observe over a long period. Which stretches interminably, though reflecting how the Doctor views it. But not as zippily handled as a recent Ncuti Gatwa story ( where Ruby's much longer lived "slow path" period whizzes by, but is still effective ). The domestic scenes with the Ponds are fun, and Brian is a delight. Though I found much of the episode dragged. It felt like "Yes, got the point, it's going on for ages. Now show me the fun stuff!" On plus this was the episode that reintroduced UNIT, and introduced Kate (Lethbridge-)Stewart. Which was a good addition to the series, and continues to be so through to the present day. The shift in the story to space was jarring for me, though Steven Berkoff acted his socks off. But ultimately the most powerful bits for me were the foreshadowing of Amy and Rory's imminent farewell. And some (especially in hindsight) heartbreaking discussions between the Doctor and Brian. So yes, flawed, but generally good, and why couldn't most of the stories in the Chris Chibnall era of showrunning be at least up to this standard.
This episode sees the Earth plagued by a vast number of little black cubes. Which the Doctor - along with Amy, Rory and Rory's dad Brian - proceed to observe over a long period. Which stretches interminably, though reflecting how the Doctor views it. But not as zippily handled as a recent Ncuti Gatwa story ( where Ruby's much longer lived "slow path" period whizzes by, but is still effective ). The domestic scenes with the Ponds are fun, and Brian is a delight. Though I found much of the episode dragged. It felt like "Yes, got the point, it's going on for ages. Now show me the fun stuff!" On plus this was the episode that reintroduced UNIT, and introduced Kate (Lethbridge-)Stewart. Which was a good addition to the series, and continues to be so through to the present day. The shift in the story to space was jarring for me, though Steven Berkoff acted his socks off. But ultimately the most powerful bits for me were the foreshadowing of Amy and Rory's imminent farewell. And some (especially in hindsight) heartbreaking discussions between the Doctor and Brian. So yes, flawed, but generally good, and why couldn't most of the stories in the Chris Chibnall era of showrunning be at least up to this standard.
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