"Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" -- My Thoughts

[earlgreytea68]

I loved this episode. Thank you, Chris Chibnall. My expectations were incredibly low, as I have never enjoyed any of Chibnall's other episodes, but this was tremendously fantastic. I love Doctor Who for two things: those moments when it breaks my heart, and those moments when it's so over-the-top and insane that you can only laugh and say "What is going on?". This episode managed to have both characteristics, which is a rare feat indeed. 

What I Liked:

• The entire gang. I like what they're doing with the idea that the Doctor does go off and have other adventures without us watching. It's a different Doctor, this Doctor. He doesn't have one companion who sticks with him for a linear period of time, he flits in and out of people's lives, and I feel like they're getting that point across nicely. And I like that they've skipped us ten months in Amy and Rory's timeline, because it helps avoid what would undoubtedly be awkward working out of their divorce issues. The whole "gang" idea especially works here because I loved every single member of the gang, I would have all of them back as companions in a heartbeat. The best episodes of DW are the ones populated by a bunch of people you'd accept permanently on the TARDIS. The worst episodes are the ones where you can't even remember the secondary characters. This was definitely in the former category. And, even though I don't give her her own bullet point below, let it be known that I adored Nefertiti, especially in her last scene with Solomon. She was AWESOME.  


• Lestrade. I know he had some kind of other name on this show, but whatever, he was totally just Lestrade the whole time to me and he was, like Nefertiti, AWESOME. And also incredibly hot. What was with all those layers?? (I have a thing for men in layers, it's clearly linked to my Puritan heritage.) And then there was the part where the Doctor asked him to watch out for dinosaurs ("I was rather hoping you'd say that." "No killing any.") and he hands Rory's dad his gun and TAKES OFF HIS COAT BECAUSE HE MEANS BUSINESS OH MY GOODNESS WHAT WOULD MYCROFT SAY. And that part at the beginning, when they first see the dinosaurs, and he flips his knife sexily and is like, "I could take one of them." LESTRADE, I LOVE YOU SO MUCH. THEY ARE DINOSAURS, YOU ARE NOT TAKING THEM WITH A KNIFE, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU, I LOVE YOU. There was seriously so much to love about him. His "I propose retreat. Perhaps forwards" in the T. Rex nest. His conversation with Amy about how she must have gaps in her education because she hasn't heard of him. The fact that he removes his hat when he finds out Nefertiti is who she is and again when the dinosaur is killed. I just loved him in all his walking innuendo-ness. I was SO SCARED he was going to die, you have no idea, I was, like, watching between my fingers by the end, I was so stressed out about it. But it all turned out okay. The only thing that gave me pause was that I was like, "Lestrade, what is your accent?" 


• Rory's father. He, like everyone else, was AWESOME, but that makes total sense, because Rory is awesome, so he clearly has some good genes ("Spelling it out is hereditary, wonderful."). I love that he accepted all the craziness with such relative ease. Even his "I'm not entirely sure what's going on" at the beginning is so calm. And he's so quick-thinking, with the golf ball solution to the triceratops problem, and pointing out to the Doctor that he and Rory are the same gene chain. He won infinity points from me for calling the Doctor Arthur C. Clarke. Ha! AND THEN he got that moment where he sat with a sandwich and a cup of tea and watched the Earth, and I got all teary-eyed and sniffly and stayed that way through the shot of all the POSTCARDS of him seeing the world. Oh, my God. When DW gets emotion right, it really gets it right. Can we have Rory's father on the TARDIS forever and ever and ever? Because I loved him.   


• Which I suppose brings us to Rory. I continue to adore Rory. Rory is just the best. I actually feel like he's the Watson to the Doctor's Sherlock ("Isn't it obvious?" "It's sort of the opposite of obvious."), and this show needs a Watson type character to be the practical one. I love that this episode gave me so much of just Rory and the Doctor, because they're kind of my favorite combination. The part where the Doctor frantically jumps up and down to shout that he has a Christmas list and Rory gives him that exasperated thumbs-up in response? OMG, I laughed so hard. And I love how capable Rory is, how much the Doctor clearly really likes him ("Awww, so clever! I missed you, Rory!"). I mean, Rory grasps that the waves are powering the spaceship immediately, I was so impressed by that. And the way the Doctor just kind of says "Be ready" to him during the whole Solomon thing. Like, he doesn't need to explain anything, he knows he can depend on Rory to just be ready, for anything. And then there's Rory tending to his father and threatening the machines. There was no way that Rory was not awesome in this episode but then, Rory's usually nothing but awesome.


•  "Well, there's so much to discover. Think how much wiser we'll be by the end of all this." / "Are dinosaurs flying this spaceship?" "Don't be ridiculous, they're probably just passengers." / "Six hours is a lifetime. Well, not literally a lifetime, that's what we're trying to avoid. And we're all very clever!" / "Is that a kestrel?" "I do hope so!" / "That's the plan, amendments welcome!" / "I'm a Sagitarrius. Probably." / "Guys, come on, comedy gold!" I thought Matt Smith's line deliveries this episode were spot-on. He took lines that might not have even been intended to be hilarious (like the "I do hope so!" line) and made them that way. 


• I actually really liked the plot of this episode. I loved the idea that, before whatever event killed the dinosaurs, the Silurians built them an ark to try to save them. Such a sweet idea, and in its own way so obvious, and I loved it. I thought the stuff with the transporting computer made enough sense to hang together, and I didn't see anything in the diagram Amy, Nefertiti, and Lestrade were looking at but I'm not a clever Doctor-companion so I was okay with that. And I even figured out that the only life signals the computer would pick up on were Silurian life signals. And I didn't even mind that the ship was Silurian, although I must confess that, when they first showed up, I was like, "Really, Chris Chibnall? I've so been enjoying this episode, and now you've got to go and remind me of the last time you wrote an episode and it was incredibly dull." But it turned out okay! 


• I even liked Amy in this episode and she is usually what I dislike about an episode if there's something I'm going to dislike. But she was competent and fairly clever and not annoying. I liked the part where she told Nefertiti she was a queen, I thought that was a very endearing and understandable thing for her to do (although I wish Nefertiti had told Rory about it, because Rory needs some ammunition against Amy!). And I liked her conversation with the Doctor ("I can't not wait for you."). Amy has done nothing but wait for the Doctor her entire life, and I think as a consequence she, as she says, can't settle anywhere. She doesn't really want to go back to life full-time on the TARDIS, she asks to be taken home at the end...but only for a couple of months. Amy wants both worlds, she wants it both ways, and I think what we're learning here is that you can't do that. I think Sarah Jane said something to this effect long ago, in "School Reunion," that you have to have one life or the other, you can't live with one foot always out the door. I'm very interested to see where they go with Amy. 


• Nefertiti and Lestrade. They were my total OTP of this episode from this exchange onward: "Any man who speaks to me that way I execute." "You're very welcome to try." I was like, "THOSE TWO. GET THEM TOGETHER. NOW." When Lestrade calls her a firecracker and then he gives her that delighted look and she kind of smiles back and I was like OMG TELL ME THEY END UP TOGETHER. I just adored the two of them. I giggled when Lestrade told her she needed a man with a very large weapon, because I'm sorry, it cracked me up, and then I was sad for him when he tried to save her from Solomon but couldn't. Anyway, I'm so happy he got both his girl and his dinosaur tooth in the end. And I'm even happier that Nefertiti apparently really does disappear from history, so I can believe that she ends up with a big-game hunting version of DI Lestrade. (Lestrade had chemistry with Amy, too, though. That weird bit where they're going after the dinosaurs together, and Amy's like, "Shut up and shoot," and then they're both pretty awesome? Yeah, that was oddly hot. Where did Amy learn how to shoot like that?)


• I loved the robots, I wish they could have saved them, I want them to be companions, too! When the Doctor says to Rory's father, "Why would we want to escape?" I thought he was going to continue with, "These robots are awesome!" And of course as with all things, Rory makes them better. That exchange about learning manners was hilariously adorable, and I totally respected them for being scared of Rory. If the Doctor could so easily disable them, I don't know why he didn't do it way earlier and take them along with him. They could have tended to the dinosaurs. I'm really sad they died. 


• Someone on Twitter said the tone of this episode was weirdly split between childishly giddy and adult innuendo and it's true and it somehow seemed to work for me. 


• Oh, I loved the bit of Doctor misdirection, making us think Solomon was looking for The Doctor when he was really looking for A Doctor. Oh, that was well done, Chibnall. And then having the Doctor being unidentified, so that it didn't fall into our expectations that the Doctor would be the most valuable thing aboard the ship. I liked that. 


• Solomon was truly a vile, terrible being and to me it made total sense the Doctor left him to die. This Doctor always behaves like everything is puppies and kittens and rainbows but the Doctor *is* dark and I like those moments when we still see it. Solomon had pushed the Doctor several steps too far (INCLUDING BY KILLING THE TRICERATOPS, UNNECESSARY, SHOW) and I liked that the Doctor just walked away from him at the end. 

What Made Me Go Hmm:

• They seem to be developing a classical music sort of theme this series? I mean, this is the second straight episode where music has played a part, and where the Doctor has stated that he's one of the musicians on the piece being played. When did the Doctor become a musician? It's funny because in the Chaosverse there's that one fic (I think the one after the kids all leave the nest?) where there's a music room on the TARDIS and Rose is like, "I hope a future incarnation of the Doctor likes to play musical instruments!" Apparently, you've just got to wait for the next one, Rose.  


• The Doctor doesn't seem to know that his gaps between visits to the Ponds are getting longer?


• The postcard from Siluria at the end: Is that a postcard from the Doctor? Because he went and established that planet?

What I Didn't Like: 

• The credit font stuff. Eh, I see what they're going for. I liked the old one better.

Comments

[ppyajunebug.livejournal.com]

One of my friends suggested that they should pick up Wilf and we would have a series with Wilf and Rory's dad as companions.

I want it so bad there aren't even words.

[np-complete.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes!!

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

Isn't this a brilliant idea?!

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow! That would be FANTASTIC!