{"id":1475,"date":"2010-06-06T19:05:03","date_gmt":"2010-06-06T07:05:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/?p=1475"},"modified":"2010-06-06T19:05:03","modified_gmt":"2010-06-06T07:05:03","slug":"big-fish-small-pond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/?p=1475","title":{"rendered":"Big Fish, Small Pond"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"beastlogo\"If The Eleventh Hour<\/em> was our introduction to the new team on both sides of the camera, then The Beast Below<\/em> is the presentation of their mission statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

About to set foot on her first non-terrestrial world, new first mate Amy Pond is given a quick briefing \u2013 something about strict non-interference which makes us worry we might actually be watching another Star Trek<\/em> spin off.\u00a0 Fortunately, she doesn\u2019t believe this anymore than the Doctor does \u2013 and he\u2019s in the midst of things before she\u2019s even had time to notice he\u2019s gone.\u00a0 When Amy asks him what he\u2019s going to do next, the Doctor replies with a far truer description of his modus operandi: \u201cWhat I always do, stay out of trouble \u2013 badly.\u201d<\/p>\n

The story after the regeneration debut traditionally gives us a clearer look at the \u2018new guy\u2019, so what can be concluded from this episode? The magnitude of David Tennant\u2019s impact on the lead role tempted me to automatically align him with Tom Baker, leaving the pleasant open-faced \u2018new boy\u2019 to fulfil the role of the next Davison.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But I\u2019m beginning to think it might be more appropriate to instead equate the often-authoritarian Tennant with Pertwee, leaving the show at an unprecedented height of it\u2019s popularity and so making the younger, unpredictable Matt Smith our new Tom \u2013 bringing something entirely unique and showing every sign of taking the programme\u2019s appeal even further.\u00a0 (Good luck Doctor 12 \u2013 you\u2019re going to need it.)<\/p>\n

\u00a0Amy has her function to perform as well.\u00a0 Initially, charming parallels can be drawn with Wendy from Peter Pan<\/em>, as she is whisked away in her nightie the night before she has to enter the adult world (as a married woman).\u00a0 Indeed, her first scene, the Doctor even makes it possible for her to \u2018fly\u2019. The traditional beginning-of-series trip to the far future has been retained, but this time the companion is more than just a wide-eyed cipher for the audience.\u00a0 Amy transgresses, but then redeems herself in spectacular fashion; saving everyone and rescuing the Doctor from a terrible mistake, all while he\u2019s busy sonic-ing up the wrong tree.<\/p>\n

And she does this because of a brilliant insight into what makes the Doctor tick which he hasn\u2019t even realised himself. Not bad for Amy\u2019s first trip in the TARDIS, when most other girls are still struggling with the concept of time travel.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Behind the camera, the new showrunner and writer of this story has his agenda, too.<\/p>\n

In the hands of Steven Moffat the eleventh Doctor is perhaps less enchanted with the future achievements of the human race (for very good reason in this instance), displaying a flash of temper which took me all the way back to the fourth Doctor tearing a strip off the Deciders in Full Circle<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Children feature prominently in most of Moffat\u2019s stories, (Blink<\/em> appears to be an exception, although Carey Mulligan has just played a very convincing 16-year-old in An Education<\/em>), something completely absent from the original series. To invoke season 18 again; Christopher Hamilton Bidmead gave us a year of beardy old men talking about the plot, whereas Moffat seems to channel our infant fears (monsters under the bed and creepy \u2018fairground clowns\u2019) and the compassionate qualities of our humanity which children inspire.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The story itself is a Moffat twister, building to a \u2018drawing room scene\u2019 at the end where everyone\u2019s true motives are explained.\u00a0 Refreshingly, the Doctor only gets it half right, leaving Amy to fill in the other pieces.\u00a0 Moffat might also be making a statement by presenting a thoroughly English colony, apparently lacking anyone of Gaelic or Celtic descent, which still insists on calling itself Starship UK.\u00a0 In this deliberately drab, Brazil-esque environment, the flamboyant Liz 10 is exactly the kind of colourful and mysterious character needed \u2013 a sort of \u2018Captain Jackie Sparrow\u2019 crossed with V for Vendetta<\/em>, saving us from the earnestness which lesser writers might have allowed to pervade.<\/p>\n

\u00a0So our new team save the children, the whale and the queen, but that persistent crack in time gets the last crooked grin.\u00a0 Is this device a throw back to early days of the programme when adventures weren\u2019t always so neatly self-contained, or a nod to our modern preoccupation with story arcs? \u2018Series Fnarg\u2019 shows signs that it may turn out to be the best of old and new – let\u2019s hope so.<\/p>\n

AH<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If The Eleventh Hour was our introduction to the new team on both sides of the camera, then The Beast Below is the presentation of their mission statement.\u00a0 About to set foot on her first non-terrestrial world, new first mate … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-series-5-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1475"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1475\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1587,"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1475\/revisions\/1587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}