Solar Flare: Science Fiction News

World War III felt more like an old school Doctor Who episode than any previous episode from this new series. Yet it was an episode that was very firmly fixed in our time, from the references to the subtle political jokes.

It was nice to see a “running along corridors” scene in the new Doctor Who, even if it ought not to have been necessary with their current budget and vastly improved sets. I could pick at some of the plot holes, or point out the childishness of some of the jokes (lots of farting) but if you accept that this is a “family” show and intended to be watched by children, a lot of that becomes more reasonable. Less acceptable was the repeated “unzipping” scenes. It was outright creepy the first time, but was ridiculously over-used.

This story did serve as an effective conclusion to our introductory arc with Rose deciding to go traveling permanently. But unlike previous weeks we didn’t get even any additional hints about the Doctor’s past or other details of the Who universe. I don’t want them to give away too much too quickly, but hell I’m still waiting for a few more glimpses of the TARDIS interior. Please tell me that with all that money they did manage to build a few more TARDIS sets right?

This week was an okay, but not exceptional episode and has me re-thinking my previous belief that we needed two part stories. There’s no escaping the fact that my most positive reaction to this episode came when I saw the teaser for next weeks episode… Dalek!