An independent, unofficial series of Doctor Who reviews and analysis from a lifelong fan of the show
The ‘moneysaver’ episodes have really been a mixed bag of delights and terrors since the series came back. They are a necessary thing- so much cash and effort goes into the finales of each series that there needs to be one or two episodes that don’t drain the resources too much. With the first series it was ‘Boom Town’. Series two had ‘Love and Monsters’ and ‘Fear Her’, and series three had ‘Blink’. Out of all of these episodes, it is by far Steven Moffatt’s ‘Blink’ that is the most successful. Utilising minimal sets and effects are available for these episodes, and as such the weight of responsibility has to be on the shoulders of the scriptwriter and the cast to pull off something compelling. With the right ingredients you have something fantastic, and the rest of the time you get episodes with some great moments that otherwise come across as filler. The time has come for this year’s cheapie entry…
Its that time of year again- the point where we get a lower budget/scale episode to minimize costs and maximise the impact of the series finale. This year we have Midnight, which has a great premise which is sadly let down by a repetitive script and an unsatisfying ending. Donna is barely in it, which tells me this was shot simultaneously with next week’s episode, which is very light on David Tennant. Okay, the basic plot is simple- the Doctor gets trapped on a bus craft while en route to a natural wonder. While trapped in the vehicle, one of the passengers is possessed by an alien entity that attempts to kill everyone. The Doctor must stop the rest of the passengers chucking the possessed woman- and himself- off the ship to their deaths. Right. Fair enough. The only problem is, this is a ten minute story stretched to 45 minutes, and the padding shows in the form of extremely annoying dialogue and a cast who have little to do but shout at each other until someone shouts louder. The best thing about the episode is the skill shown between the Doctor and Skye while Skye is mimicking everyone. A big let down after the last two weeks of perfection. We’ve served our penance now- onto the final three episodes and the stuff we’ve been waiting for! Midnight? More like One…1/10
Buckle up, everyone! Rose Tyler is back next week, but she’s not going to arrive to find everything as it was, as the Doctor appears to be dead… The next episode, ‘Turn Left’ is apparently based mostly around the Doctor’s female companions, which aside from being eye candy for Dads everywhere, means we get to see another side to the show and discover what the Doctor means to these people. It certainly looks interesting, and will hopefully be as good a build up to the finale as Utopia’ was last year.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, June 17th, 2008 at 2:16 pm and is filed under Doctor Who, TV, TV News, reviews.
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