Image Credit: BBCEpisode two of Doctor Who‘s new season found our titular hero getting it wrong, and his new companion Amy Pond daringly saving the day — on her first outer-space adventure, no less! However you feel about that turn of events, you’ve got to appreciate the daring imagination of writer (and now executive producer) Steven Moffat, who’s been responsible for some of the show’s very best episodes (“Blink,” “Silence in the Library,” “Forest of the Dead”).
In “The Beast Below,” the Doctor and Amy traveled to 29th-century Britain (detached from a decimated Earth and floating through space in search of a new home planet). There, the Doctor discovered “The impossible truth in a glass of water”: The massive, floating country/spaceship had no engine, and therefore no vibrations. The intriguing twist of this episode, though, was that the force of evil didn’t turn out to be the “beast below,” which sustained itself on a diet of “protesters and citizens of limited value,” but instead, the human beings who had enslaved and tortured said creature into serving as an intergalactic freighter. I loved how every British citizen was forced to face the truth every five years — and to vote whether to “forget” or “protest” what was being done to ensure their continued existence. And the addition of Liz Ten (guest star Sophie Okonedo) provided that extra splash of cheekiness (“I’m the bloody queen, mate. Basically, I rule.”)/late-episode gravitas (Liz’s realization of the horrible conundrum in front of her) that are hallmarks of the best Doctor Who installments.
You might argue that Amy’s realization of the Star Whale’s selflessness was a bit too hokey, but I rather liked the image of the tortured beast tenderly interacting with those irresistible British moppets. And, of course, the setup gave us Amy’s insightful parting shot: “If you were very old and very kind — and the last of your kind — you wouldn’t just stand by and watch children cry.” It’s clear the Doctor’s new companion understands the importance of the work being done in the Tardis. Whether or not that work will prove more alluring than her suspended nuptials, however, remains to be seen.
What did you think of “The Beast Below”? Are you enjoying Matt Smith and Karen Gillan as the new stars of the show? Sound off in the comments below, and to get alerted to all my Doctor recaps (and other pop-culture musings), follow me on Twitter @EWMichaelSlezak.
I personally love both Matt and Karen. I wasn’t sure about them at first, being a huge fan of David Tennant and Catherine Tate in particular, but they’re both excellent in their roles and I expect will get even better as they get used to their roles.
The beast below was a good companion-centered episode, I like Moffat in general and his writing style.
Living in Europe I’ve just finished watching episode 4 and without giving anything away I want to say that you have something truly special to look forward to in the return of the Weeping Angels, imo the best and scariest creatures ever created on Doctor Who. I’m excited for this season!
I live in America but I’ve been keeping up w/ my Who. The Angels episode was great and Moffat managed to make it terrifying once again. Can’t wait for the next episode and I hope it maintains the quality!
Episode 2 showed me how well Matt Smith could be the Doctor (I wasn’t quite sold on episode 1). Episode 3 was fun, but WOW! Episode 4 makes it. Like seriously, let there be no more doubt in Eleven or Amy, or this new series. When I’m scrambling for the second half as much as I did with the gasmask child and library two-parters, I know I love it! So if you’re still a little unconvinced, definitely hold out to watch episode 4 before passing final judgement!
Time of the Angels is AMAZING – and too good of a cliffhanger!! Is it Saturday yet?
I won’t give any details about episode 4, but it’s good, not great. It is the best episode so far this season, but that’s not saying much.
honestly, am i the only one who originally thought Matt was visually offputting as hell? Props though, he does seem to be doing very well. I love the rapid nerd dialogue.
Nah, I thought the same thing too. However, he’s growing on me due to his interpretation of the Doctor and the stories he’s working with. He’s definitely not as bad as I originally feared he would be, although I definitely miss David.
Had a tear in my eye at the end of this episode…
I’m enjoying the “new” Doctor!
I did too. I like the new Doctor a lot more than I expected to. He isn’t David Tennant but thats a good thing, I think the worst thing they could have done was to attempt to clone DT.
Even the spam like this show!
I liked it. Not the best episode ever but Smith is growing into the role of the Doctor pretty rapidly.
Great episode all around. Every companion needs to prove their worth–that they not only get the gravity of the situations they’ll be put in, but that they understand that sometimes they’re not just along for the ride, and Amy more than did that here.
I’ve been watching the episodes online, so I’ve just watched The Time of Angels. I won’t spoil, though.
I love Eleven and Amy so much! I was late to the game with Doctor Who, so I had a marathon catching up with Nine and Ten while the Ten specials were airing. Eleven is everything I could want in a Doctor. And Amy is very smart. She is a lot like Rose, Martha, and Donna all rolled into one companion.
My favorite part of The Beast, other than Liz Ten’s declaration that she’s the queen, was the “Forget” or “Protest” room. It was extremely well done and the episode had the creepiness factor that I just love in a Who episode.
I do have one complaint about the way BBC America is airing the show; they cut out the part where the Doctor is undressed and deciding on an outfit in The Eleventh Hour. It was really funny and you only saw his chest, so I guess BBC America just airs more commercials?
I think maybe it has more to do with how REPEAT episodes fall into the BBCA schedule. On the original U.S. premiere of the new season, BBCA let “The Eleventh Hour” run 10 minutes longer than a usual episode, and included the scene you cite, followed by an appreviated episode of GRAHAM NORTON. They probably just needed it to fit into a more modular one-hour slot for repeat airings. And yes, trims are made generally to accommodate commercials.
it’s the rebroadcast edit you saw.
I had a similar reaction to the rebroadcast edit of “The eleventh hour” – they cut out a bunch of the funnier parts of the eating scene (including “you’re scottish – fry something!”, the bacon, and the baked beans). There was also some dialogue that was truncated in the orginal crack scene, though I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what was missing.
you always lose some backstory on the rebroadcast re-edits – watch the edited and unedited versions of “Stolen Earth/Journey’s End” (DT and Donna) to really see how you can lose some meaningful stuff for time-edits. (that said, I have yet to watch “Journey’s End”, edited or unedited, without crying.)
I love the new Doctor. This episode was OK. Not among the best ever, but still a strong one for a transitional period.
I can’t wait to see more and really appreciate EW covering Doctor Who!
I watch online and also on BBC America. BBC America chopped about 20 minutes off of the “Eleventh Hour” show to fit it into an hour. You have to watch the entire episode to get the true flavor of the new Doctor and his companion~~ Loved “The Beast Below”. Moffat is totally putting his mark on this series. The series has lost nothing in the transition to new staff! Wonderful stuff!
This was better than the average 1st episode and had flashes of the depth of recent Who, but it still wasn’t really that good. Amy still looks like she only eats one small meal a week, and she really isn’t that interesting (yet) and Matt Smith is suffering from “previous actor syndrome”. What you say? It’s when the writers of a show or film series write as if the previous actor was still in the role. Think Timothy Dalton’s first Bond movie. A lot of the set ups and quips were clearly written with Moore’s style in mind and were totally wrong for Dalton. Matt Smith hasn’t had time to find his “thing”, but whatever it is it isn’t that paradoxical quiet shout of Tennant’s. When the writers / directors make him shout it is just noise; there’s no gravitas there or hint of dangerousness.
Next week’s episode is easily the worst of the 21st Century Dr. Who and is down there with some of the worst of 20th Century Who, which is pretty bad.
There’s a lot more promise in the 4th episode which finally manages to be almost as interesting / creepy as Sarah Jane Adventures which, with offense intended to quality Children’s TV, just should not be.
From what I’ve seen over here there’s a lot of division over current Who. There’s a fair number of people who like it, a whole bunch Who admit it isn’t great but are hoping it’ll get better as it moves along and then there’s people like me, my kids others who wouldn’t have even bothered watching Episode 4 if it hadn’t been for the return of the Weeping Angels and River Song. For now ep 4 has given us some hope, but only some.
There is a quality of stillness and quiet in Matt’s Doctor that you didn’t see with DT. His anger at what he saw as an impossible choice, “I’ll have to call myself something else”, was intense, but understated, and the same is true with the line, “But I don’t. Not ever. Because this is what I do, every time, every day, every second. This. Hold tight, we’re bringing down the government.”
I’m up to ep four as well, and I am really loving it.
BBC American keeps raving about how the current series of Doctor Who is getting great ratings. Imagine what their ratings would be if one of the biggest cable providers (Cablevision) actually carried BBCA.
Rant over, back to illegally downloading DW…
I think I probably would have liked this episode more if I’d cared about Liz Ten, but I didn’t, so the twist in her tale had no emotional effect on me.
I loved the episode, and although the ending was hokey, I felt it fit, especially since it matched how the episode began. I loved the creepy things in the boxes, they fit in perfectly with their eyes following you.
I also liked how Amy asked the Doctor if he’d ever ran away from something, and then he refused to answer.
One question; Did anyone else see the crack in the ship? It was just like the one in Amy’s wall. It can’t be a time paradox since other companions have done this as well, and I have a feeling it has to do with her wedding- and how the machine couldn’t find it in her record. What do you guys think?
Yea, the crack seems to be the thing for the season. It also appeared a second time in the first episode, when he firts brought Amy into the Tardis, when he was standing next to the television screen thing, there was a line in the shape of the crack on the screen.
The first half was okay, but the ending more than made up for it. It was interesting to see him get so pissed, and the parallel between him and the whale was well done, I think. It didn’t feel hokey to me.
Good catches on all those cracks. Knowing this series’ penchant for foreshadowing (all the “Harry Saxon” posters that presaged the Master’s return, for example), it’s a good bet that those cracks will be part of something larger by the end of the season.
And is it just me, or was England’s Queen easily the hottest woman ever to “wear the crown”?
I noticed the crack as well. Looks like the cracks will be this season’s “bad wolf” or “Vote for Saxon”, the big bad for the season long arc.
Matt is growing on me, for sure. Still miss DT, but I’m getting there…..
I like Matt Smith as The 11Th Doctor; he reminds me of Patrick Troughton, The 2ND Doctor, and Peter Davison, The 5TH Doctor. So please, check out the classic series too.
i think matt and karen are doing a great job so far, karen really shone in this episode.
smith, yuck!