Dinosaurs on a Spaceship Review

[Spoiler alert – don’t read if you haven’t seen the episode]

After last week’s disappointing, but nonetheless entertaining episode, it was up to Chris Chibnall to continue and amplify the little momentum the daleks gave us last time. I hardly need to say that he succeeded with flying colours.

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship has the Doctor collect a ‘gang’ from various points in space and time – Egyptian Queen Nefertiti, hunter John Riddell, the Ponds, as well as Rory’s dad, Brian (played by the amazing Mark Williams). The Doctor is investigating a gigantic spaceship that is heading towards Earth, and has only six hours to turn it around before the Indian Space Agency blows it out of the air. At first, this seems like an easy task, until the Doctor and his ‘gang’ find out what cargo the spaceship is carrying –dinosaurs.

Yep, that’s right. Those giant reptiles that once roamed the Earth are in a spaceship. In a nice bit of continuity, Amy discovers that the ship was constructed by the Silurians as a sort of Ark, carrying them and their dinosaur friends away from a cataclysm about to occur on Earth (this‘cataclysm’ was in fact the moon coming into orbit). Unfortunately, sometime between the launch and the Doctor’s arrival, the ship was boarded by the pirate, Solomon, who, upon learning of the cargo, proceeded to order his‘funny’ robots to eject the crew.

Ah, those robots. Derided by fans as being ridiculous annoying and unnecessary, I have to say that they weren’t that annoying – I merely tolerated them. Their inclusion seems only to keep in with the theme of the episode, which this week is the ‘one for the kids’. The entire episode is a romp, with fun chases, witty dialogue, but most surprisingly, lots of innuendo. No doubt that the innuendo will fly over the kids’ heads, but it did feel a bit out of place in a children’s episode.

On to the dinosaurs. Apart from being kid-pleasers, they feature very little in the episode, mainly used as the main marketing point for the episode (like the classic daleks from last week). Thisactually works very well though, as they are used to drive the plot along inclever ways – the pteranodons (not pterodactyls, Brian got it wrong) chase the Doctor, Rory and Brian to some caves, where they encounter Solomon’s robots, Tricey the triceratops is a mode of transport – and provide tension (the T-Rex andraptors) and comedy relief (Tricey).

Who doesn’t love Tricey? While his behaviour probably isn’t that accurate (chasing after golf balls like a dog), he is still pretty cute,and his death scene is nicely underplayed and touching – the Doctor strokes his head while he dies. The death of this innocent creature was caused by Solomon, who wants Queen Nefertiti before leaving in his ship. I have to say it, but David Bradley is brilliant, adding some depth to what would otherwise be a generic bad guy – killed people, wants cargo, willing to do anything to achieve goals,etc). His performance really sends home the message that Solomon is the dregs of humanity.

Rianne Steele as Nefertiti gives a solid performance for a rather bland character, but she bounces of Rupert Graves’ John Riddell exceptionally well. Riddell is charismatic and full of male chauvinism, but soon learns to respect the women in the group and treat them as equals. He and Nefertiti almost constantly flirt for the entire episode, much to the annoyance of Amy. Amy is given a much bigger part in this episode, and is forced to assume the Doctor’s normal role as she, Nefertiti and Riddell are separated from the Doctor and the Williams’ early in the episode.

Surprisingly, the episode pauses during its latter stages to focus a bit on the overall ‘arc’ of the series: the Ponds’ departure. Amy has a brief conversation with the Doctor about the increasing intervals between his visits, to which the Doctor says: “You’ll be there to the end of me.” Amy then replies “Or vice versa”, causing the Doctor to gaze sadly into her eyes, knowing that what she said is a very real possibility.

One person who has the Doctor with him until his end (well, just a bit before) is Solomon. His death scene is probably one of the most controversial of all of the uncountable death scenes in the history of Who. The Doctor carries a missile homing beacon onto Solomon’s spaceship, rescues Nefertiti (whom Solomon had captured), de-magnetises the ship and leaves Solomonto die. This action caused many fans to cry ‘Out of character!’, but I don’t believe it was.

Let’s list the crimes that Solomon commits in this episode alone (that the Doctor is aware of):

·        Genocide (technically)

·        Piracy

·        Harm to others

·        Kidnap of Royalty

·        Hints of abuse (physical and sexual)

·        Blackmail

The above list shows that Solomon is a disgusting person bymany people’s standards. This immediately puts him in the Doctor’s bad books.On top of this, when the Doctor is considering saving Solomon rather than leaving him to his fate, Solomon attempts to bribe the Doctor to secure hisfreedom. This is the final straw, and you can see the Doctor give up all hopefor the pirate. He then walks out of the room and de-magnetises the ship, indirectly killing him.

In my opinion, the Doctor’s actions were justified and not out of character, just look back through the past 32 series and you’ll find plenty of instances where the Doctor has killed in ‘cold blood’.

Just one niggle for the episode: the ISA missiles don’t havean ‘abort’ function! ????? It’s 2012 and we can remotely detonate our missiles! Has technology gone backwards by the time 2367 rolls around? And for those wondering why Nefertiti stayed will Riddell at the end - fact: Nefertiti disappeared off the record books around 1330 BC. Now we know why!

In conclusion, Dinosaurs is a very enjoyable episode, packed with chases, humour and witty dialogue. However, the episode does have some out-of-place innuendo, tolerable robots, and a few characters who could have been developed better.

Overall, I rate Dinosaurson a Spaceship

8.5 out of 10.

What do you think? Let me know in your comments below.