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Doctor Who S11E02 'The Ghost Monument' discussion thread
Prompted by the comment just left by @Adams on the first post, I thought I'd make a topic for the next episode!
So what did people think? For those of you who weren't particularly into the first episode, did this one work better for you? (If not, no hard feelings, I'm just curious why/why not~)
I'll stick my thoughts in a comment again.
Enjoyable episode for me. Liked the new TARDIS design, particularly the little detail of having the external police call box sign above the interior side of the door, really gave the sense of dimension warping I thought.
The only thing that bugged me was how easily Epzo persuaded the race organiser to change his mind about splitting the prize at the end. Seemed like he had enough power/influence that it would take more than a few tough words from a guy about to be marooned on a death planet to be a credible threat!
That's a good point; the planet was so deadly, and they were relying on his teleport out of there. Perhaps the fact they'd survived all the challenges they'd faced on previous legs of the race gave him pause. ("If he can make it past all these obstacles, starting from nothing...")
That's probably what they were going for. Even so, you'd think the guy that can hologram himself halfway across the galaxy would be able afford a bodyguard or two (hundred).
I think it was the instant reversal of his position after one sentence that made it seem so jarring to me. If they'd had a bit more negotiation about it, or even a "You and whose army?", "This one!" sort of thing, then it probably wouldn't have stuck out as much.
Still, a minor nitpick, I'm sure I've let much bigger plot holes slide by so I'm willing to give this one a pass.
I enjoyed the first episode, so I don't think it's very surprising that I liked this one, too. A few jumbled first impressions:
I thought I heard that they weren't setting up any overarching plots/baddies, but it kind of seems like the Stenza might be featuring more. (I'd kind of like that, since the fact that they have a bunch of human trophies in stasis somewhere was sort of overlooked last episode.)
The offhand mentions of "bonus" people was concerning until the hologram dude dismissed it. (Makes me wonder what that was all about in previous parts of the race.) Maybe some folks would consider it heavy-handed, but I liked the running theme of working together and how that culminated with the end of the race.
The new design for the TARDIS was interesting! The crystal structures seem reminiscent of her new sonic screwdriver, and I liked the hexagons and the orange/blue colors.
It was... okaaay... nothing special. Not great, not awful, just okay.
I found it a bit jarring that this Doctor says things like "we're stronger together" when previous Doctors tended to be very individualistic and generally preferred to work alone.
A demonstration of the Doctor's anti-weapon philosophy really wasn't necessary, after we already got told about this last week. If we get another one of these next episode, I'm going to side with the person who said this is acting as propaganda.
I didn't feel the Doctor's authority in this episode. Last episode, she knew what she was doing, and how to do it. This episode, she just seemed to lack direction. I know that previous Doctors occasionally said they didn't have a plan when barging in, but this new Doctor seems to be making a point of it.
I preferred last week's episode.