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TARDIS Guide

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

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.

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1 review

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.


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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

Quotes

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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.

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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.


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