Stories Television Doctor Who (2005-2022) Doctor Who S5 Episode: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 The Beast Below 1 image Overview Characters How to Watch Reviews 1 Statistics Related Stories Quotes 4 Transcript Overview First aired Saturday, April 10, 2010 Production Code 1.2 Written by Steven Moffat Directed by Andrew Gunn Runtime 45 minutes Time Travel Future Tropes (Potential Spoilers!) By Royal Command, Political commentary, Spaceship, Post apocalyptic, Amnesia, Human Colony, First TARDIS trip, Environmental Message, Propaganda Story Arc (Potential Spoilers!) Crack in time Location (Potential Spoilers!) Space, Starship UK UK Viewers 8.42 million Appreciation Index 86 Synopsis For Amy Pond's first trip in the TARDIS, the Eleventh Doctor brings his new companion to the 33rd century, where all of the United Kingdom's citizens (apart from the Scottish) live onboard Starship UK, searching for a new home amongst the stars as the Earth is being roasted by solar flares. However, the Doctor soon finds something amiss onboard the vessel. The citizens appear to fear "the smiling fellows in the booths" and ignore crying children. What is going on? What secrets does Starship UK hold at its depths, and who is hiding them? Soon, the Doctor is forced to make an impossible choice. No matter what he chooses, death is the only outcome. Watch Watched Favourite Favourited Add Review Edit Review Log a repeat Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Owned Save to my list Saved Characters Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith Amy Pond Karen Gillan Smilers Space Whale Liz 10 First Appearance Show All Characters (5) How to watch The Beast Below: Watch on iPlayer Blu-Ray The Complete Fifth Series [Steelbook] The Complete Fifth Series DVD The Complete Fifth Series DVD Series 5: Volume 1 Blu-Ray Series 5: Volume 1 Reviews Add Review Edit Review Sort: Newest First Oldest First Most Likes Highest Rating Lowest Rating Username (A-Z) Username (Z-A) Spoilers First Spoilers Last 1 review 24 April 2024 · 321 words Review by 15thDoctor Spoilers 6 This review contains spoilers! A fantastic premise with a challenging ethical dilemma at the heart of it, dealt with in a child friendly way. There is a moment where Amy and The Doctor doubt each other before Amy makes the decision The Doctor wasn’t able to. I loved the Winders and how they loomed over this future British society at every level, stopping people from questioning. I liked the aesthetic even though it was done on a budget, the ideas were strong enough that they carried through even though it looks a bit cheap. I do think something went wrong in the production when trying to realize the geography of the space whale and the spaceship at large. It gets quite confusing with the small tentacles, brain and teeth on what is a dense, country-sized animal. The impact of this is that the story that’s being told isn’t quite the one you’re seeing, so you have to use your imagination a bit. I also think they re-state the similarities between The Doctor and the star whale one too many times, I think they could have reigned that back a bit and we would have still gotten the point. I get the sense that Moffat thought there was a little more drama to this then there actually was. The intrigue was good, but after a whole episode of building up the mystery, when you find out the resolution there are not actually that many layers to it. I still feel though, that this is impressively separate from what came before. It is such an exciting and modern take on Doctor Who which has an incredible energy to it. It feels like they are pushing what they can do with the show, the tone of the show, what it can look like. It feels like it has moved on 5-6 years, not 1 year since 5 the last incarnation. It still feels new 13 years later. Like Liked 6 Open in new window Statistics AVG. Rating589 members 3.47 / 5 Trakt.tv AVG. Rating1,300 votes 4.02 / 5 The Time Scales AVG. Rating197 votes 3.40 / 5 Member Statistics Watched 1291 Favourited 67 Reviewed 1 Saved 2 Skipped 0 Owned 9 Related Stories Doctor Who S5 • Episode 12 The Pandorica Opens Rating: 4.12 Story Skipped Television Reviews(2) More Actions View Sets Close Related Sets Set of Stories: Doctor Who (2005-2022) Set of Stories: Eleventh Doctor Add Review Edit Review Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Save to my list Saved Quotes Add Quote Link to Quote Favourite AMY: One little girl crying. So? DOCTOR: Crying silently. I mean, children cry because they want attention, because they're hurt or afraid. But when they cry silently, it's because they just can't stop. Any parent knows that. AMY: Are you a parent? DOCTOR: Hundreds of parents walking past who spot her and not one of them's asking her what's wrong, which means they already know, and it's something they don't talk about. Secrets. They're not helping her, so it's something they're afraid of. Shadows, whatever they're afraid of, it's nowhere to be seen, which means it's everywhere. Police state. — The Beast Below Show All Quotes (4) Open in new window Transcript Needs checking [Class room] (A city is flying through space, stuck on the back of a giant shell with a Union Flag painted on it. The skyscrapers have illuminated names down their sides - Yorkshire, Devon, Kent, Essex. The second R in Surrey is broken. The school bell is ringing for end of classes. The children file out except for one red-headed boy who is still sitting at his desk. The Auto-teacher is praising them as they pass.) COMPUTER: Well done, Mabel. Well done, Alfie. Good girl, Tabitha. Very well done, Ranjit. Good girl, Chloe. Well done, Ben. Well done, Mandy. (It is the little boy's turn.) COMPUTER: Bad boy, Timmy. Show Full Transcript Open in new window