New Who Review #66

The Vampires of Venice

This story was so much fun. We haven't really seen Vampires in new who and we haven't seen any species from Saturn. This one changes that. I love the setting in Venice 1580 and the school that's changing ordinary Venician girls into Vampires so the male saturnynes can have a girlfriend. There were some really stunning shots in this of Venice from above. Messing with the weather is also something that we haven't really seen before too. Having Rory come along was a blast. I don't really like Rory but he is quite entertaining sometimes. We also learn for the first time that silence will fall. There are silence in the cracks (we will get more into this in series 6). The ending where it zooms to the tardis keyhole and then the vortex plays was so beautiful. I might be looking way too far into this but to me it's showing the tardis has the vortex inside it. Overall great story with a Beautiful setting and some good Monsters. 9/10

king rory

This is the closest to a meh or indistinct story we have had in the 11th Doctor's era so far. A few likable features pull it into the show's mid-table. I do generally feel Toby Whithouse stories (with the exception of his first, School Reunion) lack a "big pull".

Easily the best part of the story is Rory and Amy's romance. Over the first four stories The Doctor and Amy have built up a strong onscreen connection (perhaps too strong?) so it is sincerely funny and sweet seeing bumbling, fusty, funny Rory interrupt this settled dynamic. Seeing someone reduced to third wheeling with their fiancée and a polite, alien stranger is inherently hilarious! I am glad that the show put the inappropriate kiss from the episode before behind it - even if it was the starting point for this story. They style it out well.

My wife loves anything even tangentially connected to vampires (she's from Transylvania) so was a lot warmer on the baddie of the week than I was. I felt I had very little to grab onto. The fact they are almost but not quite vampires makes them a bit muddled in my view.

So the story has to rely on the characters... which luckily for Toby Whithouse make for compelling, charming company.