These days, we've used to the idea of every single series of Doctor Who ending with a big finale. There's usually some game changing event like a companion departure, a new Doctor's debut or the return of an old villain. It wasn't always the case though. In the 1963-1989 run of the series, it was more common for a final story to simply be a stop. The Battle of Ransokoor Av Kolos falls into the latter category. The Tardis team is pretty much the same as the end of the adventure as thy were at the beginning.Only a couple of beats make this seem significant.
One way this does resemble more recent finales is the return of an old villain. This time it's Tim Shaw, the Stenza warrior from The Woman Who Fell to Earth. Since we last saw him, he teleported to the planet of two psychic aliens know as the Uks. With the help of the Uks, Tim Shaw has constructed an edifice which he plans to use as a super weapon. Using parts of five different planets he plans to destroy the Earth as a revenge fr the Doctor. The scheme is somewhat derivative of The Pirate Planet.
The Doctor and company get involved when they answer the distress signal and meet a man called Paltraki. Although he does not remember it straightaway he has stolen one of the planet components that Tim Shaw needs.
They are ultimately able to resolve the manner by sending the planets back to the same place. Event he Doctor refers to it as being derivative of Journey's End.
Upon finding out about Tim Shaw, Graham decides he wants revenge. This is where the lack of game changing quality brings the episode down. The rules of genre would dictate Graham does not kill Tim Shaw. Instead he shoots him in the foot. A fan seculated it might have been more interesting if Graham had actually killed Tm Shaw and he and Ryan had tried to cover it up. As it is, the ending of this arc is a little too predictable to be interesting.
The Doctor's ethics are challenged this week but not too deeply. Graham is challenging her rules on guns, but she hands out bombs without concern. There is also the interesting idea that she has inadvertently led to Tim Shaw being the creator, but it is glossed over. Jodie is great as the Doctor, and I know from Broadchurch that she can do serious. This is one episode whee a more serious Doctor was needed to make the gravity of the situation seem real.
Tim Shaw himself is alright. Having him be weakened on a life support system was interesting. Unfortunately he didn't really do anything except to exposit and walk around a lot. I had hoped that the episode would flesh out the character but it doesn't really. He is put in stasis by Graham and Ryan at the end of the episode, but it is possible he may come back in the future. If he does then they should take his character in a new direction.
The Uks are an interesting idea. Psychic aliens who have the power to manipulate matter. It's unclear why such a powerful race would think that the injured Tim Shaw was any kind of creator. They are more creators than he is.
Ryan and Yasmin get very little to do this week. Ryan is mostly there to act as Graham's conscience and reminds Graham that they and the Tardis team are a family. Yasmin gets even less, acting as a sounding board to the Doctor but not given much else.
The setting of this episode is a disappointing quarry planet. The scenes where the Uks are speaking in portentous dialogue gave some fans flashbacks to Time and the Rani. There is speculation that it will drive people mad, but when the Doctor and Yasmin remove their implants they only get slight headaches.
One thing I like is that this episode only refers to the current series. There are some callbacks to The Ghost Monument, as in the Sniperbots, who are still as useless as they were in that episode and the reference to Stenza technology.
The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos is an episode that poses a lot of interesting ideas but does not give them the depth or exploration they deserved. There are a few peppered moments. The jokes are funny. The Die Hard reference is amusing and the notion of the time travellers as family is great. It's not terrible but not the best.
Rating = 6/10
No comments:
Post a Comment