5x02 The Beast Below (Grading/Discussion) (SPOILERS!)

[Count Zero]

Spoiler: plot synopsis from BBC web site

Amy Pond takes her first trip in the TARDIS when the Doctor whisks her away to the distant future and they discover Britain in space. Starship UK houses the future of the British people as they search the stars for a new home. But when Amy explores she encounters the terrifying Smilers and learns a deadly truth inside the Voting Booth...

So, the new episode is almost here. I'm slightly skeptical but I'm hoping for a pleasant surprise.

 

[captcalhoun]

apparently, the Doctor's got a powerful message for the electorate...

 

[Count Zero]

I really like the idea of a 'starship UK' but the trailers ultimately left me cold. Well, let's see how it plays out in the episode.

 

[Maestro]

I hope the theme music remains the same as last week... absolutely awesome, and continues to upset the same people.

 

[Count Zero]

Yeah, me, for example. But I'm sure we'll get to hear it for the remainder of this season.

 

[DimesDan]

Has anyone else been suffering signal problems over the last twenty minutes or so?

 

[Captain Shaw]

Not too sure on this episode i don't no why just found it a bit boring i expected more from it.
If there was only one star whale what happened to Scotland?
And how did the rest of the world fly off?

 

[scnj]

I sense after the ending we'll be seeing more from Starship UK in the future, which is good as it's definitely an interesting concept. The only problem I had was the revelation of who the woman was. I feel it could have been handled a little better.

 

[Geckothan]

I thought it was an improvement over last week in terms of plot, but when it ended I was a little disappointed. I thought they could have done a much creepier story with the set up (the smilers looked scary as hell). I thought Smith and Gillan were excellent, though.

 

[Piper]

Disappointing. It felt like a rushed first draft, belabouring its points and leaving lots of gaping holes (if there's only one whale, what about the other countries?). If Amy could figure it out that quickly a second time why didn't she when the truth was first revealed to her? And how exactly does her solution negate the Doctor's problem with her that she tried to cover up a heinous crime for him?

The Doctor turning a sentient being into a vegetable? Nah.

Poorly paced - the middle was actually terribly boring - and oddly edited at times. Concerningly, after loving Matt last week his "anger-acting" wasn't very strong here.

There were lots of lovely ideas and concepts, but it didn't come together at all for me.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

Good stuff all round.

 

[EJA]

It was okay, nothing too special really if you ask me. Felt a little bit confusing and muddled in parts. The Smilers started off as quite scary and evil, but in the end they didn't really do much at all. Also, is the exodus from Earth in the 29th century intended to be the same one referred to way back in the Fourth Doctor story The Ark in Space, where Earth was abandoned for about ten thousand years? If so, that's a major blunder in continuity, as many past stories depict Earth as still inhabited and powerful in the timeframe this story is set in. Mavic Chen was the Guardian of the Terran Solar System in the year 4000 (The Dalek's Master Plan), and there were still plenty of nations existing on the planet by the beginning of the 51st century, as we know from The Talons of Weng Chiang. Is Earth mentioned at all in Planet of the Ood, set in the 42nd century?

 

[captcalhoun]

i loved it. i thought Liz Ten was awesome. i'd rather have her on the throne than EIIR. "I'm the bloody Queen! Basically, I rule!"

 

[wamdue]

there are some odd points, if the adults all choose to forget how do they know why the kid is crying?

I dont quite have a handle on the 11th Doctor yet, I wonder if the Doctor can live up to Amys view of him. (see Confidential).

not sure why the Star Whale was not more angry at the UK for doing what its done, I liked the idea of the queen finding out over & over again, but I wonder how the residents of Spaceship UK see her, do they see her as the same queen for those 200 years, if so why do they not mention that too her. She also had a bad habit of turning up exactly when needed. I know there is some debate about the 11th Doctor & guns, but its a case of "I dont like guns, expect when someone else using them is about to get me out of a tight squeeze"

Missed the Queen Vic part of the set, have to say watching Confidential so much effort & money goes into locations like that, but its something that you totally miss on screen. Same was true of markets in previous episodes.

All that said it still feels cheap, at no time did I believe we were on a spaceship or that the different rooms were joined together, it was pretty clear what something was in the real world.

All the Winston Churchill stuff at the end, looking forward to the episode, but this episode must of have come up way short.

 

[Pat]

I hope the theme music remains the same as last week... absolutely awesome, and continues to upset the same people.

I don't know about the standard broadcast, but watching and listening on HD, the Dolby Digital 5.1 sound on the theme has definitely been remixed from last week. I have to say it's considerably improved, and dare I say it, actually quite good!

 

[EJA]

Here's how I would have written the episode: The Doctor and Amy arrive on Starship UK to uncover a conspiracy where all the homeless, useless and unwanted people are snatched away by the Smilers and sent deep into the bowels of the ship, where they become components of a vast techno-organic creature made up of thousands of human bodies, which acts as the main power source for the vessel. Liz Ten is the rightful Queen, but she discovered the truth just before she was due to inherit the throne, and so was forced to become a fugitive. At the end the Doctor manages to disconnect the gestalt creature from the body of the ship so it/they can at least travel freely in peace; he leaves Starship UK adrift in space, so the people on board still have a slim chance of survival.

Oh, and I wouldn't have set it in the third millennium AD either.

 

[Skellington]

Very good episode. Matt Smith again gives give a confident and robust performance as the Doctor, and there was once again some very good dialogue, eg the Doctor's quip about doing what he does best (staying out of trouble - badly).

 

[Geckothan]

I thought they had toned the theme down a little bit this week, but I A/B'd them on iPlayer and they both sound the same. Maybe the new theme is just growing on me.

 

[The Badger]

If Amy could figure it out that quickly a second time why didn't she when the truth was first revealed to her?

The first time she learned the truth she didn't know about how the whale reacted to children. That was the crucial point.

there are some odd points, if the adults all choose to forget how do they know why the kid is crying?

They may have forgotten about the space whale but they still know they are living in a police state with disappearances. That is, after all, what Mandy was crying about, the loss of her friend.

 

[Iasius]

What now? Do they have to keep feeding people to the whale? And if the whale didn't eat children why did they continue to send them down there?

I thought the ep was a bit uneven. Some of the time I felt a bit bored, but then something else came along that renewed my interest.