Venus in Who Genes
What a waste.
It’s not that we were all merrily lead up the garden path thinking we would see revelations about the Doctor’s past. It’s not the fact we’ve seen it before, you’d need a long memory for The Ark, or a fairly good book collection for Father Time. Even Martha traipsing round the surface of a desolate planet doesn’t grate after last years finale. The regulars are on top form, with a refreshing lack of Donna “funny” set pieces (although there is an obligatory “You’re brilliant” – methinks they protest too much) the titular guest is easy on the eye, and everyone does fairly well.
It’s just too damned short.
It’s full of great ideas, good concepts, but like (and even more than) Pompei and Ood (and I know I sound like a broken record) everything is crammed in and rushed. The story is a bit of a run-a-round, but there is so much potential; The Hath look great, but lets see more of them, why are they there, what is their history? Why was the map and other information hidden? Why is the human protagonist so much older than his clone troopers? Martha’s surface trek seems too quick a jaunt, Jenny and the Doctor seem to bond too quickly. Given what could be done, given the scope of who Jenny is and what she means to the Doctor (given Helen Raynor spent two episodes rewriting Daleks Take Manhattan with Sontarans in it) it all just seems too pat and too easy.
Because the really worrying thing is this is a setup, a quick bit of groundwork for something else later on. Mid-season is usually where Rusty starts lining up the pieces for later on (Dalek/Long Game, The Cybus Stories, Saxon references in Lazarus/42), and if so, it all seems like such a waste.
DR