Last week’s Dalek
story was absolutely brilliant, so how do you follow that up? Well, this week’s
wasn’t a terrible way to do it, but it definitely didn’t reach the highs of the
Asylum. Why is it not as good? Well, because it doesn’t really seem to know
what it is.
I liked most of the aspects of this episode. I thought Rory’s dad, the silly robots and the humour in general very funny. It was a nice example of a Doctor Who story that knew how to have a bit of fun. Much as I complain if it goes too silly, this episode was a good romp. And that is kind of a problem. Not because I didn’t enjoy all of that, but when your silly bit of fun contains genocide, murder and the truly nasty character of Solomon as well, then it doesn’t fit. Don’t get me wrong I enjoyed the Silurians story and Solomon was a great villain and the continuing darker Doctor actions really appeal to me, but you can’t have these two totally different tones in the same episode. It just makes the whole thing seem a bit disjointed. It’s like having a lovely meal while on a rollercoaster, both are enjoyable, but they just don’t work together.
Also, the whole “gang” thing, I didn’t see the need. Except for a few unnecessary jokes, Nefertiti and Riddell just didn’t seem to achieve much. The jokes were funny, but did they need to be in the episode or could their time have been better used building on Solomon or Brian? Even the titular dinosaurs seemed a bit surplus to requirements in points. Although it was cool to see the dinosaurs running around, would it really have changed the story much if they’d been frozen? Not really.
Now, I may seem a bit negative here, because if you look at this story objectively, it’s basically a mess. However, if you just look to see if it was fun to watch? Well then it’s a completely different story. It’s fast paced, the jokes come thick, fast and funny and the darker moments shock you. So basically, if you’re looking for the best thought out episode, you’ll be disappointed, but just for a bit of a laugh then, you could do a lot worse.
3/5
I liked most of the aspects of this episode. I thought Rory’s dad, the silly robots and the humour in general very funny. It was a nice example of a Doctor Who story that knew how to have a bit of fun. Much as I complain if it goes too silly, this episode was a good romp. And that is kind of a problem. Not because I didn’t enjoy all of that, but when your silly bit of fun contains genocide, murder and the truly nasty character of Solomon as well, then it doesn’t fit. Don’t get me wrong I enjoyed the Silurians story and Solomon was a great villain and the continuing darker Doctor actions really appeal to me, but you can’t have these two totally different tones in the same episode. It just makes the whole thing seem a bit disjointed. It’s like having a lovely meal while on a rollercoaster, both are enjoyable, but they just don’t work together.
Also, the whole “gang” thing, I didn’t see the need. Except for a few unnecessary jokes, Nefertiti and Riddell just didn’t seem to achieve much. The jokes were funny, but did they need to be in the episode or could their time have been better used building on Solomon or Brian? Even the titular dinosaurs seemed a bit surplus to requirements in points. Although it was cool to see the dinosaurs running around, would it really have changed the story much if they’d been frozen? Not really.
Now, I may seem a bit negative here, because if you look at this story objectively, it’s basically a mess. However, if you just look to see if it was fun to watch? Well then it’s a completely different story. It’s fast paced, the jokes come thick, fast and funny and the darker moments shock you. So basically, if you’re looking for the best thought out episode, you’ll be disappointed, but just for a bit of a laugh then, you could do a lot worse.
3/5
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