After the dramatic and epic start to the 32nd series of Doctor Who, it’s time top slow things down a bit. In the same year as Pirates of the Caribbean comes out. It seems an opportune moment for the Doctor to visit the high seas. The story is set aboard a ship which is being terrorised by a Siren who seemingly marks your hand with a black spot which the crew thinks is a curse (see what they did with the title?). The Siren is played by Lily Cole (nope, me neither) and the Siren turns out to be a medic who is trying to treat the crew and their primitive minds think that it’s a curse. I did find it funny how she got angry and when it’s revealed she’s a medic then its just that she turns into an over protective matron. Imagine Hattie Jacques with fangs.
There are a few issues that I have with this story and the first being the slow start. I know I wrote at the beginning that it was time to slow things down a bit not to this degree. It takes a while to get the story going and my interest. I also thought that Rory was badly used in this story. He gets marked too quickly and starts acting silly whenever the Siren appears. It was only when the story moved to the sick bay that Rory’s use became sensible. Another issue is with the ending, so Henry Avery (Hugh Bonneville) who is a 17th Century pirate and goes from being reunited with his son (who’s lost his mother), boards the TARDIS which doesn’t blow his mind and then starts to fly the spaceship. This last point would have made more sense if we had seen the Doctor showing Henry (or were the Silence in the room?).
The casting for this story was quite big. Hugh Bonneville (Henry) was the biggest name as he has recently appeared in the ITV1 drama Downton Abbey and the BBC4 mockumentary Twenty-Twelve. As Henry Avery, he is very good and is a believeable character. I did feel that introducing the kid was a bit of a cop-out and slightly humanised the character. Speaking of the kid he was just irrelevant. Played by Oscar Lloyd (recently in Emmerdale), the character was there so that Henry had someone to be with at the end of the episode. Lee Ross is another ex-soap star having previous appeared in Eastenders and his character was fairly standard. According to Wikipedia, Lily Cole is a model and it’s that reason why she didn’t say a word. To be fair it was actually dramatically a good reason for the Siren not to say anything because it gave the character a sense of mystery.
Just in case we were getting withdrawal symptons from last week, there were nods to that story in TCOTBS. The Cyclops lady appears in the timber of the ship when Amy wakes up and the TARDIS scanner is still trying to work out whether Amy is pregnant or not. You get the sense that Amy is going to tell the Doctor that he will be killed by the Astronaut.
Apart from my main concerns about the use of Rory. All three of the cast put in good performances. Another story and another hat for Matt Smith to try on. Thankfully it didn’t last long. Karen Gillan unusually got to do some sword fighting but apart from had to do the loving wife bit who was teary eyed over Amy possibly losing Rory.
Whilst TCOTBS isn’t the best story of the series, it’s a good single episode. Yes it takes a while to get going and they use Rory badly but everything else is very good. It’s good that they filmed on a ship as it gave the clostrophic feel that you need if your filming this sort of thing. Visually the story was also another strong one and credit should go to everyone involved. TCOTBS is sadly going to be regarded as the least favourite not because its rubbish but compared to other stories it doesn’t have the dramatic punch that other stories will have. Take next week’s episode with the curious title ‘The Doctor’s Wife’. Oh boy!!!
There are a few issues that I have with this story and the first being the slow start. I know I wrote at the beginning that it was time to slow things down a bit not to this degree. It takes a while to get the story going and my interest. I also thought that Rory was badly used in this story. He gets marked too quickly and starts acting silly whenever the Siren appears. It was only when the story moved to the sick bay that Rory’s use became sensible. Another issue is with the ending, so Henry Avery (Hugh Bonneville) who is a 17th Century pirate and goes from being reunited with his son (who’s lost his mother), boards the TARDIS which doesn’t blow his mind and then starts to fly the spaceship. This last point would have made more sense if we had seen the Doctor showing Henry (or were the Silence in the room?).
The casting for this story was quite big. Hugh Bonneville (Henry) was the biggest name as he has recently appeared in the ITV1 drama Downton Abbey and the BBC4 mockumentary Twenty-Twelve. As Henry Avery, he is very good and is a believeable character. I did feel that introducing the kid was a bit of a cop-out and slightly humanised the character. Speaking of the kid he was just irrelevant. Played by Oscar Lloyd (recently in Emmerdale), the character was there so that Henry had someone to be with at the end of the episode. Lee Ross is another ex-soap star having previous appeared in Eastenders and his character was fairly standard. According to Wikipedia, Lily Cole is a model and it’s that reason why she didn’t say a word. To be fair it was actually dramatically a good reason for the Siren not to say anything because it gave the character a sense of mystery.
Just in case we were getting withdrawal symptons from last week, there were nods to that story in TCOTBS. The Cyclops lady appears in the timber of the ship when Amy wakes up and the TARDIS scanner is still trying to work out whether Amy is pregnant or not. You get the sense that Amy is going to tell the Doctor that he will be killed by the Astronaut.
Apart from my main concerns about the use of Rory. All three of the cast put in good performances. Another story and another hat for Matt Smith to try on. Thankfully it didn’t last long. Karen Gillan unusually got to do some sword fighting but apart from had to do the loving wife bit who was teary eyed over Amy possibly losing Rory.
Whilst TCOTBS isn’t the best story of the series, it’s a good single episode. Yes it takes a while to get going and they use Rory badly but everything else is very good. It’s good that they filmed on a ship as it gave the clostrophic feel that you need if your filming this sort of thing. Visually the story was also another strong one and credit should go to everyone involved. TCOTBS is sadly going to be regarded as the least favourite not because its rubbish but compared to other stories it doesn’t have the dramatic punch that other stories will have. Take next week’s episode with the curious title ‘The Doctor’s Wife’. Oh boy!!!
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