The Beast Below

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  • ListentomeListentome Posts: 9,804
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    As you know, I love the Classic series and most of the time I have no problem with the slower pace of those stories, except for The Web Planet which was mind-bogglingly slow and those six-parters which sagged mid story, especially during Pertwee's run.

    So overall I have no problems with slower paced stories overall but during Moffat's Era so far there have been far too many episodes like this where not only is it lacking in pace and energy but also in tension and dramatic emphasis as well. Sometimes it's like watching an episode of a soap at those times where not much really happens and you could skip an episode because they just fill it out with mindless twaddle and even skip an episode completely because not much happens. You compare it to Midnight; there is tons of dialogue and relatively little action, but because it is tense and and has lots of drama it works as a slower paced episode. On paper it shouldn't do but it does.

    So I think you hit the nail on the head when you said it was all in the execution. The Beast Below with a few tweaks to make it more exciting could have been a brilliant story, the potential was there to make it brilliant but it wasn't. That doesn't mean it should have been drowned out with fast, loud music or even been action-packed but it needed some pep to make it better.

    To be fair to Moffat, though, most of these types of episodes are largely confined to Series 5, which is why it is my least favourite Series so far. Season 6 improved by having more interesting episodes bar a certain 2-parter and the last Five episodes of Series 7 have improved again though it still isn't quite upto what I enjoyed during RTD's time but it's getting there.

    :)

    Good points. Series 5 still remains one of my favourites. I totally see what you are saying, but the series didn't come across that way to me at all. Mind you since it first aired I have only watched it out of order. Maybe if I did watch it chronologically again I'd feel differently about the pacing.

    I don't think there is one era or series of Doctor Who that I don't enjoy. Like you I am not keen on the length of some Pertwee stories, but I did like the 'family' feel to the Earth based UNIT stories. I guess in recent years my least favourite series is number 4. Primarily because to me it takes up until Silence in the Library for it to grab me. However, it is the series with the fewest episodes I actually really enjoy.

    Perhaps I like series 5 so much because it remedied the utter disappointment I felt from the 2009 (not so special) Specials. :D I was ready for a new Doctor by the time series 5 aired, and instantly took to Smith. So perhaps I'm more forgiving of the series faults due to that.
  • Sara_PeplowSara_Peplow Posts: 1,579
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    Thought there were two good things in this one. First is the growing bond between 11 and Amy. She saves the start whale and him from a terrible mistake. Love when she says "Gotcha" and they hug at the end. Second Liz 10 was cool.Liked how she refrencened the other royals doctor has known in his long life.Some liked him others didn't!.
  • AbominationAbomination Posts: 6,483
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    Never before has my opinion on an episode changed more than it has with The Beast Below. Maybe off the success of the previous story, or maybe just because it took me some time to "get" it, TBB was a story I initially didn't have a lot of love for, but went on to become one of my favourites of the Moffat era.

    You have to accept that Moffat isn't going to deliver something as terrifying as the Weeping Angels or The Empty Child every episode. But when the Winders/Smilers are on screen, with faces like that you do expect something a bit more sinister. They were probably the weakest and most disappointing link in an episode I otherwise came to enjoy.

    Starship UK was a wonderful setting that clearly illustrated how Series 5 was being very quintessentially British... the rural village before this, the waving of the Union Flag in the next... it was almost making too much of a point ;) Although I wish we could have seen a bit more of Starship UK and seen what made each county work, I found what we got to be mostly very well done.

    Liz Ten is a divisive character. I for one, love her to pieces. It was great to see a future monarch, and to know that there was a future monarch... given the less-prestigious role of the Royal Family these days, who's to say she wouldn't end up cockney? More so, she was a wonderful female action figure, which is something that Doctor Who seemed to lack before it got River Song as a regular and even if she did get one very duff line, she made up for it with an awesome quote ("I'm the bloody Queen mate. Basically, I rule", and she carried and balanced the fun and emotional sides of her character well... I wouldn't have objected to seeing far more of her and Starship UK...further adventures.

    Plot wise, I never appreciated what was on offer the first time around, even if the voting element was relevant to the general election at the time. With rewatches though, it's quite original for Doctor Who, and the moral dilemma in question was a moving and difficult one - it put Amy to the test for the first time, whilst also giving Smith the chance to expand his Doctor's emotional range. Unfortunately, I don't think Smith is usually particularly good at sad or angry emotion... he's too much of a chilled out big kid to make serious levels of anger ever look like anything more than a melodramatic tantrum. At this early stage this was still very prevalent and is probably the only weak link in the acting I can find. We got a nice little hint that the crack in the wall isn't finished with The Doctor and Amy either, which led for quite an intriguing finish.

    Murray Gold delivered my favourite piece of music from the Moffat era in this episode too... A Lonely Decision (linked at the bottom) is a really moving piece that suits the episode brilliantly. Presumably the producers saw the wonderful piece here, as they reused it when Rory nearly died in The Curse of the Black Spot and again when Amy's afterword is read at the conclusion of The Angels Take Manhattan.

    I came to appreciate the quaintness of this story more and more as Series 5 and 6 became massively action-oriented, and it was a nice return to normality given this was the first standard length episode we'd been given since Midnight - 10 episodes previously! With wonderful themes and a real sense of positive patriotism, this episode really grew on me with time and now is one of my firm favourites of Series 5, as well as sitting in very high regard in my opinion of the whole seven series run :)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeKDW_z0LEI
  • DavetheScotDavetheScot Posts: 16,623
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    even if she did get one very duff line, she made up for it with an awesome quote ("I'm the bloody Queen mate. Basically, I rule"

    I'd love to know what line you think is duff, because for me that quote is perhaps among the most cringe-makingly painful in the history of the show!
  • codename_47codename_47 Posts: 9,678
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    I like how the whole mystery of the episode would've been explained in the first 2 mins if the Doctor wasn't so busy looking up Amy's nightie and actually bothered to look DOWN at the starship city.

    "oooh, look, there's a big Whale underneath it, wonder what that's all about" :p

    Didn't think, so soon after Tennant, they should have an almost copycat "Doctor mad at the idiotic behaviour of primitive humans" scene, and Matt didn't pull of the rage nearly as good as Tennant did either.....
    Bit of a mis-step really but I'm willing to believe the show was just finding its feet with a new crew and a new Doctor so perhaps just sticking to what they were used to-they certainly haven't gone down that "Doctor angry at humans" road too much since either.

    A sad misstep so early in the 11ths career. Put me off him for a good while, this ep did.
    Even the Daleks couldn't save him for a bit for me.
  • AbominationAbomination Posts: 6,483
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    I'd love to know what line you think is duff, because for me that quote is perhaps among the most cringe-makingly painful in the history of the show!

    "Did he do the thing"

    We've got the same one, haven't we :p
  • DavetheScotDavetheScot Posts: 16,623
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    "Did he do the thing"

    We've got the same one, haven't we :p

    Sorry, it was the one you quoted as being great that was the one I thought was awful.

    Us Doctor Who fans; we agree on nothing! :D
  • AbominationAbomination Posts: 6,483
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    Sorry, it was the one you quoted as being great that was the one I thought was awful.

    Us Doctor Who fans; we agree on nothing! :D

    Oh really... wow, I loved that line so much.

    You're so right...imagine if we were all put in charge of making an episode together... we'd agree on NOTHING at all :D
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