Doctor Who Series 5, Episode 2: "The Beast Below
The Beast Below is the second episode of the new DW series. After last week's very well-constructed and thorougly enjoyable introduction of the eleventh doctor, this episode turns a bit darker. The doctor and Amy visit spaceship UK, where the remnants of Great Britain float around through space.
I'm usually not a fan of this type of DW episode. There've been many episode like this in the past, involving new earth, or the destruction of earth, or the doctor stuck on a spaceship. I can't quite name this sub-genre of episodes, but I can tell it when I see it. That being said, this one was quite enjoyable. This is mostly due, in my opinion, to Matt Smith's doctor. Whereas Tennant's and Eccleston's characteristics seemed quite evident and imitable from the start, Smith's doctor is more subtle. I read in a review of this episode online that the eleventh doctor is scatterbrained, and this really describes him well. At one point in this episode, he mentions that he thinks too fast, and I can see that portrayed in his acting. You feel like something's going on in his head all the time, and his mannerisms seem like he's daydreaming about something and hectic. I find it quite interesting to watch this doctor at work so far.
Amy Pond is also coming across as a very strong companion. She doesn't have the infatuation with the doctor that Rose did, at least not so far. She's also smart and strong-willed, and I think will prove to be a good match for the doctor. She really stands out in this episode, especially at the end.
The episode itself was written by head writer Steven Moffat. I really liked most of his episodes, aside from his series one two-parter. This is one of his weaker ones, which considering that this episode was pretty good, says a lot. I also liked how the ending of The Beast Below alludes to next week's episode.
The running theme of the cracks in space, which we saw twice last week, also appears here at the end. I remember Moffat saying that the clues to the bigger arc were going to be more subtle in this series, but so far, that crack seems to be pretty prevalent. Let's see how it goes as the series progresses, I guess.
Next week: The first episode of this series not written by Steven Moffat! Winston Churchill! Daleks!
I'm usually not a fan of this type of DW episode. There've been many episode like this in the past, involving new earth, or the destruction of earth, or the doctor stuck on a spaceship. I can't quite name this sub-genre of episodes, but I can tell it when I see it. That being said, this one was quite enjoyable. This is mostly due, in my opinion, to Matt Smith's doctor. Whereas Tennant's and Eccleston's characteristics seemed quite evident and imitable from the start, Smith's doctor is more subtle. I read in a review of this episode online that the eleventh doctor is scatterbrained, and this really describes him well. At one point in this episode, he mentions that he thinks too fast, and I can see that portrayed in his acting. You feel like something's going on in his head all the time, and his mannerisms seem like he's daydreaming about something and hectic. I find it quite interesting to watch this doctor at work so far.
Amy Pond is also coming across as a very strong companion. She doesn't have the infatuation with the doctor that Rose did, at least not so far. She's also smart and strong-willed, and I think will prove to be a good match for the doctor. She really stands out in this episode, especially at the end.
The episode itself was written by head writer Steven Moffat. I really liked most of his episodes, aside from his series one two-parter. This is one of his weaker ones, which considering that this episode was pretty good, says a lot. I also liked how the ending of The Beast Below alludes to next week's episode.
The running theme of the cracks in space, which we saw twice last week, also appears here at the end. I remember Moffat saying that the clues to the bigger arc were going to be more subtle in this series, but so far, that crack seems to be pretty prevalent. Let's see how it goes as the series progresses, I guess.
Next week: The first episode of this series not written by Steven Moffat! Winston Churchill! Daleks!
posted by DarthDooku at
10:45 PM
1 Comments:
hopefully hes not spastic like tennant i prefer scatterbrained more than spastic
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