sobrique | Last Night's Dr Who (In which there by spoilers) (Reply)

The episode in question is the Ice Warrior on the submarine. And it's made me think a bit - it was an improvement on the previous episode, but ... it was still 'Doctor begs Ice Warrior not to kill every body'.

There wasn't really a great deal of peril - although thankfully his magic wand didn't get too much of an outing either.

But I think it's reminded me that - in my mind - the very best Dr Who is told in horror stories, with a bit of sci-fi enabling the creepy. A small cast, a reasonable expectation that the Doctor _would_ win (or a least survive) but not being quite sure which amongst the rest of the cast was actually going to make it. (Including companions, as whilst they had altogether more plot immunity, it wasn't complete).

So I think they missed a trick - I think last night's episode would have been much more interesting if they'd done it ... well, actually almost entirely stealing the plotline from 'Alien'. Ice Warrior escapes, goes postal, most people die, noble hero in the crew tells the Doctor to GTFO before he scuttles the ship. (Which lets face it, had basically crashed into a cliff and was in the process of toppling off and sinking anyway).

Don't get me wrong, I do quite enjoy the occasional 'I am the Doctor, don't mess with me' soliloquies, and once in a while a plot that does include saving the rest of the world too. But I also think it's generally better storytelling to concentrate on a small group of people who you can develop as characters. And a plot where you're fairly sure the Doctor will save the day, but you're not nearly so sure there'll be any other survivors - and you're interested in those survivors - is a lot more interesting.