Should have been a two-parter.
The whole episode reminded me of a mediocre Stephen King story - but Stephen King at least spent ages slowly building suspense, even though the pay-off sucked.
The thing is - the suspense was great, but there should have been more of it. I know it seems weird to be asking a Doctor Who episode to be about the Doctor getting to know the Ponds and living with them together, but I honestly wanted to see that. It was getting towards the end of the episode and I was thinking "OK, the 'To Be Continued' credit will come up soon" but then within a heartbeat - it was all solved. Nothing was really explained in the end, and suddenly at the end the writers like "Oh, I totally forgot about the whole 'Rory-and-Amy-dont-want-to-do-this-anymore' thing. Um...titledrop! And that's it! I'm off to the pub.....what? No, I don't need to do a second draft!"
Spoiler (click to read)
Really? The whole secret behind the entire thing was Emperor Palpatine? (Who was just as over the top and scene chewing as the real Emperor) All that rushed yet still interesting build-up...and its that!? Its just some generic "Humanity is a pest! It must be wiped out!" that we've seen in Doctor Who many times before. Why is humanity a pest? What have we done wrong? Why was the ship on autopilot? Why target earth now when Emperor Palpatine has apparently been ancient myth among the Time-Lords - who have existed since god-only-knows-when??
I thought it was building up to something really intelligent. The cubes scanned the media and humans to work out a fatal weakness - I thought it was going to be some elaborate scheme for a load of aliens to somehow invade, like what the Daleks did in 'The Parting of the Ways' where they lurk behind a cloaking field poised right above earth. I never liked 'Army of Ghosts' because it was so obvious that the ghosts were evil and Earth was being so unbelievably stupid by letting a supernatural entity just walk around like normal - but that had a better pay-off! The secret behind the cubes didn't have to be a famous enemy, but I was expecting some big reveal at the end just before a 'To Be Continued' credit.
And - AGAIN - the writers have forgotten about balancing humour and sincerity. The humour at the start of the episode was great because there all just waiting around for these cubes which could be anything, but are not actually doing any harm. But then, when a third of the population of the world dies they still find a few wisecracks to pull. Um...a third of the population is lying dead guys! I know this is a family show, but I think the time for jokes has passed!
If anyone wants to know the definition of 'Deus Ex Machina' - just look at how the Doctor suddenly managed to save one third of the population from heart-failure (Come on writers! 'Deus Ex Machina' was old even when the Ancient Greeks used it!!)
I'm extremely disappointed. This episode had some really good parts, but it was all spoilt by the pacing and the terrible ending.
And the Stone Angels are back. Not looking forward to this after Moffat brutally murdered the Angels the last time we saw them - but, at least he's remembered that Stone Angels send you back in time rather than kill you. Oh, and just when I was about to applaud this series for keeping River Song away...she's back!! (Yes, we get it Moffat! Your being really clever by having Rivers storyline go backwards whilst the Doctors storyline goes forwards. This stopped being interesting halfway through Series 6! Either drop her for a while, or just make her a permanent companion! And everyone complains that RTD just wouldn't let Rose go away....)
