It's a rare and exciting occasion to see the inner corridors and rooms of the Tardis. The Sleeping Quarters were seen in Edge of Destruction while The Masque of Mandragora introduced the corridors and the secondary console room. Later stories, such The Invasion of Time, Logopolis and Castrovalva, showed how deep and labyrinthine the ship could be. The current series has dipped its toes in the water with The Doctor's Wife and now, with Journey to the Centre of the Tardis, we get an entire episode devoted to looking through different rooms of the ship.
Seeing these different rooms is the highlight of the episode. There are numerous fan pleasing moments throughout, such as the swimming pool, the Eye of Harmony and the sound of the cloister bell tolling. There were also some great new areas such as the grand, gothic, library complete with bottled knowledge and books. In fact, the episode is full of wonderful looking locations, such as the white void with the wreckage of the Tardis engines floating inside it. It's a far cry from the brick walled location filming of The Invasion of Time. As with other Tardis stories like Logopolis and Castrovalva, there is a lot of technobabble, but it is allowed just this once.
The Tardis isn't the only thing that is bigger on the inside. People are too. The characters all have secrets that they're keeping. Gregor and Bram Van Baalen have been pretending that their brother, Tricky, is an android so that they could keep him from become the Captain. The Doctor is keeping his suspicions about Clara, and the meaning of the zombie creatures that are stalking the corridors, to himself. Clara, meanwhile, uncovers the secret of the Doctor's name in a book on the history of the Time War. Like the Tardis interior, each of these secrets is slowly uncovered.
It is therefore very disappointing when the story is resolved through a reset switch and everyone's memories of the adventure are erased. There is at least a hint that Gregor Van Baalens will remember to treat Tricky in a better manner, so perhaps the memories are still present in the Doctor and Clara's head. Then again, it still feels like a waste of time to pretend you're developing Clara when you're not. It's almost as if the adventure might as well have never happened. Since the next episode features Vastra, Jenny and Strax I had assumed that the Doctor and Clara were going back in time to the period of The Snowmen look for clues about Clara's origins. It's a wasted opportunity.
The Doctor was far less quirky this week in the face of danger. This allowed Matt Smith to show the darker side of the Doctor which has become less common of late. He was very effective because of this. His best moment was when he confessed to Clara that he is suspicious of her, finally releasing all of his pent up anxiety over her origins. This is probably the most interesting portrayal of the Doctor of Series 7B.
There is very little development for Clara this week, as she exists here simply to get into trouble in the Tardis. The scenes of her screaming at the zombie creatures and having to be rescued by the Doctor almost harked back to the "classic" era companions. But not in a good way. She seems to know nothing about her other selves and thinks she is just an ordinary girl. The focus on mystery over character development is starting to hurt the character. My favourite moment is when she becomes scared of the Doctor.
The Van Baalen brothers are refreshingly banal villains. Where many Doctor Who villains want to take over the universe, they just want to sell scrap for a living. It was also nice that they were a family,creating a more interesting relationship between the characters. Gregor, played by Ashley Waters, is the bastard, tricking his younger brother. Bram displays less personality while Tricky is the only one who really shows any sign of compassion. I didn't quite buy the idea of Gregor and Bram convincing Tricky that he is an android. How could anyone believe they were an android if they were feeling physical pain or had to eat because they were hungry? It was a weak sub plot.
All in all this was a good episode with strong visuals and ideas, let down only by having a rubbish ending and a slightly odd sub plot about Tricky. One can only hope that the remaining two episodes will do a better job of developing the Doctor and companion relationship before the finale arrives.
7/10
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