“Just act stupid”

Quelle nullité. 

Il y a des bons moments mais c’est quand même surtout aux dépens du scénar’ désespérément sérieux et parce que rien - vraiment rien - ne va dans sa prod’.

Déjà on nous inflige des personnages atrocement idiots qui errent de carrières en carrières, mais il faut en plus que le propos politique soit juste digne d’un Obertone. 

On pourra alors me dire que beaucoup d’histoires de Doctor Who sont tout aussi bêtes, mais peu sont aussi bêtes que méchantes

I didn't initially get the hate for this story after watching episode one. Its very silly but I got the impression that it was a fun story for young children, with lots of exciting little touches. The Quarks for example are they are little boxes of joy and sets like the travel pods are superb.

Ultimately, my problems with this story came later. One note characters kept on beating their single note to infuriatingly unlikely levels. The Dominators themselves (Rago and Toba) are possibly the greatest victims of this. Whilst I can suspend my disbelief to the point where two men can believably dominate an entire planet, the idea that one could consistently undermine the other in the dullest and stupidest of ways and keep being let off is beyond ridiculous. I know a lot of humour was supposed to derive from this, but I would have loved Rago to destroy Toba after the first or second betrayal of trust (or vice versa). The only accolade that it could be given at this point is one of the "so bad its good" variety.

I have never known any piece of television to have such little character development; no-one changes or goes on "a journey". Perhaps this would be less of a problem if these characters had much nuance to them in the first place, but they don't. "Good guys" are almost soul-crushingly naïve and kindhearted; to the point where (despite Cully) they would almost lie down and take any invasion willingly, or make out that they are without option. "Bad guys" are pointlessly evil, seemingly without real motivation; they seem to revel in being evil.

But hey! Those Quarks are fun right?!

I enjoyed this one quite a lot. The villains felt interesting and multilayered: many villains are like a hive mind, all acting together. The Dominators aren't like that and their internal conflict is interesting and adds an extra layer to the story. Moreover, the villains motivation is a little more complex than I feel is common and it was also effectively kept unclear for a large part of the story, keeping me guessing as to what their actual intentions were which was fun, especially when I realised I'd guessed wrongly due to the appearance of new evidence.

The plot itself felt tight and kept me interested and the supporting characters felt well-written. The Doctor and is companions were also on-point.

I find barely any enjoyment in this story

I know this story is kinda bad and the political satire leaves something to be desired but i'm just so happy to be done with the torrent of base-under-siege that was season 5 that i almost don't care anymore