The Beast Below

Season 5, Episode 2, Aired
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8.4
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Location: Starship UK Date: Late 33rd Century (3295) Enemies: The Beast Below, Smilers The Doctor takes Amy to the distant future, where she finds Britain in space. Starship UK houses the future of the British people, as they search the stars for a new home. But as Amy explores, she encounters the terrifying Smilers and learns a deadly truth inside the Voting Booth.moreless
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Fan Episode Reviews (12)

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  • good episode where we get to see a darker side to the doctor.

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By alexjones555, May 25, 2011
    at first glance the plot seems pretty straight forward, some monsters called smilers are causing trouble aboard a spaceship and feeding it to some monster in the basement but as the plot progresses we learn that not everything is as it seems. The monster was not evil, it was being used by the humans for their spaceship, one might think the humans are evil, but it was either that or let them all die so you can understand why they did it. It's pretty sad at the end where we learn that the monster was willing to help them and there was no need to imprison it. We also see the doctor get rather angry at the end, up to this point he'd been pretty upbeat but here we learn he does have a darker side. good lead in to next week's episode at the end, looks like the daleks are back yet again.moreless

  • A well crafted story with great charecter exploration

    9.5
    "Superb"
    By CellBlocknutter, May 25, 2011
    2 episodes in we cannot expect anything massive, as we know there is always a build up to the big final two parter, yet this really was far more than I expected.

    It was intellegent story on many levels and to me at least it was a very fresh concept. I couldnt predict a single thing; there were genuinly good twists throughout and it felt extreemly solid. No gaps or errors and seemed thoughly well thought through on Moffats behalf.

    Matt really is the doctor! I wont praise his performance beyond saying that because thats all that matters an his style sooooo works.

    In terms of exploring the Doctor his outburst in the climatic scene was brilliant, his anger at Amy and then Amys redepmtion was fantastic. It was a very interesting side to him and you really got a sense I think for the first since the revival that you really don't mess around with the Doctor!

    Lets talk about Liz! What a Brilliant little story device. Every aspect of the Queens storyline a charecter was delightful; from the 'Kill Bill' Queen to her dark secret it was a amazingly well crafted sub charecter. The casting was spot on too.

    And let me praise them for casting the 'Demon Headmaster' - He's an excellent actor and was another credit to the episode.

    The morality issues were interesting too, as well as the underscoring theme of misunderstanding nature, humans and the Doctor.

    The new background music this year is as good as ever as for special effects, well a bit meh, but they did job I guess.moreless

  • As they settle into their new roles, the Doctor and Amy arrive in the far future on the Starship UK, where they encounter the sinister Smilers and the mysterious Voting Booths. Much better than I expected...moreless

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By Jay-Spacedust, May 25, 2011
    It's been a long wait since last week's opener for this second episode.
    To be honest, I wasn't expecting much from 'The Beast Below'. There have been several modern 'Who' stories set on "Starships in the far future", and none of them have really been favourites of mine. But to my pleasant surprise, I enjoyed this one much more than I initially expected. The Starship UK (with survivors from Earth, looking for a new home very 'Battlestar: Galactica') was an interesting setting, and well realised.

    The second episode of the Smith/Gillan/Moffat era is, in some ways, almost as important as their first outing. This story gives room for a lot of character development, and a lot of screen time to Amy (who we only met as a young adult halfway through last week's story). She spends the episode dressed in her night clothes, and gives a great performance.

    I really like that this new Doctor has a bit of a temper on him; I love his line "Nobody talk to me! Nobody human has anything to say to me today". In some weird way, I could almost feel elements of William Harntell's irritable Doctor shining through.

    This episode was completely studio bound - something which I don't always like in modern 'Who', but which worked here. It also relied relatively little on CGI effects, and this episode could actually have been made, with small adaptations, as vintage 'Who' I can imagine this being a Colin Baker story, for example.

    If I have one gripe with this episode, it is that like 'The Eleventh Hour' it is a bit stretched in the middle. I hope this isn't going to become a trait of the Moffat era, though in fairness some of the Tennant stories suffered from this too. However, things pick up for a pleasing conclusion.

    The Smilers were very menacing, and once again Steven Moffat taps into something that is really eerie. I liked the character of the Masked Lady, but, with due respect to the actress, Sophie Okonedu, I didn't feel she had the necessary gravitas for the role, and wasn't that well cast.

    One more thing, how apt was the line "Once every five years, everyone forgets what they've learnt" in the week that the General Election was announced!

    I'm really excited about next week's episode, 'Victory of the Daleks', which I think looks excellent. BUT am I the only one annoyed at people voting (usually a 10) on episodes that haven't even been broadcast yet?! I wish TV.com could stop this some way.moreless

  • The 11th Doctor goes a little Nuts and Amy saves the day!

    7.5
    "Good"
    By JohnnyKusanagi, May 25, 2011
    This was a very interesting episode, very similar to the previous (Season 1) episode, "The Long Game" when the Space Station satellite 5 was infested by the Jagra...Jag...J...a thing in the ceiling, however, this time, the big massive alien wasn't an enemy. Just the opposite, although it was rather funny when the Doctor and Amy were inside it's mouth and the Doctor made it throw up to escape.

    The Star-Whale as the alien was called, was more or less, a friend when you consider what was said in the episode about it volunteering to help them because it could stand to hear the Children crying. Very Touching.

    Queen Elizabeth 10, was a very nice addition to the story, very funny at times to, and even she and her "minions" the Smilers, were again not really villains. They were in the sense that they enslaved the creature and tried to harm the Doctor and Amy, but at the same time they were not, in the sense that they made a mistake. Something that is very human, whatever century you are in.

    I liked the reference to the Season 2 episode "Tooth and Claw". This episode marked the return of the TARDIS's view screen on the wall, which has not been seen since the "classic" series, something else I liked. I found the "Protest", "Forget" and "Abdicate" buttons quite interesting and I enjoyed the concept of it being Britain in space.

    Overall, I would say that this episode was not as good as the previous one for the new Doctor Who, but was still enjoyable. But...I am very looking forward to the Next One!moreless

  • The Kindness Of A Star Whale Written by Steven Moffat Directed by Andrew Gunn

    8.0
    "Great"
    By shawnlunn2002, May 25, 2011
    Poem Girl: "Though the man above might say hello. Expect no love from the beast below."

    As if an episode by Steven Moffat didn't need to be creepy enough, he had to go and have some random little girl spouting spooky stuff about a not so nice beast as well. I could've done without that being added into the atmosphere.

    First trips in the TARDIS are fun because it's either going to be the past or the future. Martha got to meet Shakespeare and Donna experienced the destruction of Pompeii in the worst way possible. Rose on the other hand got to see the end of the Earth five billion years in the future and that's sort of what Amy gets with her first TARDIS trip as well.

    Earth no longer existed by the time the Doctor and Amy had reached a certain location and the UK itself was hovering on a spaceship for its own survival. Nice to see that Britain still lives on but you don't even have to have the Doctor's deduction skills to know that something was wrong here.

    The Doctor didn't even try to conceal the danger elements to Amy either, which would've been dumb on his part if he had done so. Instead he asked her to look around and spot what was wrong with the Starship UK and even sent her to pursue a young girl named Mandy in order to get some answers about the not so friendly Smilers running the joint.

    This is certainly a Doctor who won't molly coddle his travelling companions but while Amy seemed amused by his double standards, she did exactly as she asked him as well. Heck, Amy even acted a little Doctor-esque when grilling Mandy about a blocked road and the girl's reluctance to talk about something rather scary.

    The scary thing being a beast seemed like a competent enough reason to keep the locals quiet. The episode had opened up with a young boy being sent down below because he achieved a zero, so Amy snooping around and asking questions was also going to be a trigger for the Smilers. When she got gassed by Peter and his robed mates, I was surprised with what happened to her next.

    Presented with a choice to know everything and then to choose to either forget or protest was a hell of a conundrum for anyone. By knowing what was happening with the Starship UK, Amy could either forget and let things continued the way they were going (which wasn't a good thing) or protest and get severely punished for it.

    It didn't even seem like she chose really to forget but automatically hit the button as soon as the Doctor walked in on her. She didn't want to forget. She even questioned the Doctor about it but he wasn't a happy bunny and it would take him of everyone to actually protest and suffer the consequences for it.

    Except the consequences didn't feel that drastic. Yes, both the Doctor and Amy got swallowed by the star whale (the beast being used to run the ship) but managed to get themselves out of the creature by getting it to throw up. Not the most dignified means of escaping but it's not like they had no other choice.

    Then there was Liz Ten. I have to admit that when I was trawling through spoilers all those months ago, I did assume that she was going to be the villain of the piece. She certainly was more hit woman than monarch in this episode in spite of a rather earthy performance from Sophie Okonedo. The scenes where Liz and the Doctor interacted however were some of the best of this episode.

    Most authority/regal figures take exception to the Doctor but Liz knew of the legends surrounding him and pursued him for his help whilst wearing a mask. She even made sure that he found Amy in the process and well, let's be honest; there was a nice bit of banter between the two of them if I'm being really honest.

    Liz Ten wanted so badly to know what was going on with her government and the mystery of the ship being moved through space without a working engine but it seemed obvious that she would end up being the one responsible for the very thing she was trying to bring down. Probably from the second that the Doctor seemed to pay particular attention to her porcelain mask.

    So, Liz was 250 years older than she thought she was (despite not looking it) and she kept constantly forgetting that it was her who had gotten the star whale and virtually torturing it so that they could keep moving throughout space. The dilemma the Doctor faced her might not have been Pompeii levels of bigness but there was certainly some powerful moments.

    The moments where he turned on both Amy and Liz Ten seemed to emphasise that this Doctor isn't as tolerant to human failings as previous incarnations might have been. He even threatened to send Amy back home because she had hit the forget button. Matt Smith can certainly pull of the more angrier side of the Doctor with suitable ease.

    But while Amy had made a mistake, the Doctor was about to make a bigger one by choosing to kill the star whale to save the people on board the ship. Amy spotting the obvious parallels between the Doctor and the star whale was the very thing that effectively saved everyone on board. I know the thing with both the Doctor and the star whale being unable to bear seeing a child cry was a bit tacked on but damn it, it bloody worked for the emotional impact of the scene.
    The producers of the show have been suggesting that Amy apparently understands this version of the Doctor more than he understands himself and I'm inclined to believe in. The way they said they had got each other at the end was lovely but there's still some stuff they're concealing from the other.

    Amy was able to tell Mandy that she was getting married but found herself unable to tell the Doctor and even seemed have reservations about tying the knot. Even the Doctor was evasive a bit when Amy pried him about the Time Lords but I suppose that he'll eventually give her more to go on as she'll tell him that she's going to be a married woman when they head back to Leadworth. And as for the call from a certain Winston Churchill at the end, let's just say that next week cannot come soon enough.

    Also in "The Beast Below"

    Last season he let Donna drive the TARDIS and this year, the Doctor allowed Amy to float in space while holding onto her leg.

    Amy: "My name is Amy Pond. When I was seven, I had an imaginary friend. Last night was the night before my wedding."
    The Doctor: "Come on, Pond."
    Amy: "And my imaginary friend came back."

    Amelia Jessica Pond is our new girl's full name thanks to the electorate files but they seemed unsure of her marital status. I'm guessing this is to tease things out or to highlight Amy's feelings of conflict.

    Amy: "I'm in the future. Like hundreds of years in the future. I've been dead for centuries."
    The Doctor: "Oh lovely, you're a cheery one."

    Mandy: "You sound Scottish."
    Amy: "I am Scottish. What's wrong with that?"

    Mandy told Amy that Scotland had a ship of it's own, which seemed to impress Amy all the more.

    The Doctor: "You know me?"
    Liz Ten: "Keep your voice down, they're everywhere. Tell me what you saw in the glass."

    Amy: "You look human."
    The Doctor: "No, you look Time Lord. We came first."

    In the three episodes that Matt Smith has appeared in so far, "Geronimo" has been said once in all of them.

    The Doctor (to Amy): "Right then, this isn't going to be big on dignity. Geronimo!"

    Liz Ten (to the Doctor/Amy/Mandy): "I'm the bloody Queen. Basically, I rule."

    There were some flashbacks to the Doctor and Amy's first meeting during the moment where Amy saw the connection between the Doctor and the star whale. Amy: "I voted for this. Why would I do that?"
    The Doctor: "Because you knew if we stayed here, I'd be faced with an impossible choice - humanity or the alien. You took it upon yourself to save me from that. That was wrong. You don't ever decide what I need to know."
    Amy: "I don't even remember doing it."
    The Doctor: "You did it. That's what counts."
    Amy: "I'm ... I'm sorry."
    The Doctor: "Oh, I don't care. When I'm done here, you're going home."

    The Doctor (to Liz Ten/Amy): "Nobody talk to me. Nobody human has anything to say to me today."

    The star whale was the last of it's kind, like the Doctor (except we know he's not but he doesn't).

    Amy (re the Doctor/star whale): "What if you were really old and really kind and alone? Your whole race dead, no future, what couldn't you do then? If you were that old and that kind and the very last of your kind, you couldn't just stand there and watch children cry."

    The Doctor: "Amy, you could've killed everyone on this ship."
    Amy: "You could've killed a star whale."
    The Doctor: "And you saved it. I know, I know."

    Chronology: Over 1300 years since Amy's time and notice how during the Churchill scene we got to see a shadow of a Dalek as well. And there's more cracks in time as well.

    Although I preferred the previous episode, "The Beast Below" certainly kept us on our toes though technically the Smilers were the only real villains of the piece, even though the Doctor came dangerously close to at one point as well. As for Amy, the girl is brilliant.

    Rating: 8 out of 10.moreless
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  • TRIVIA (5)

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    • Things don't quite add up at the end of the episode. The Doctor and Amy were puked out into the ship, but at the end, the Star Whale has nothing in front of its mouth, Could the room they fell in have been ejected from the ship after the Abdicate button was pressed?

    • When the Doctor uses the Sonic Screwdriver to illuminate the inside of the Star Whale's mouth, the light coming from his Sonic Screw Driver is blue instead of green.

    • This is not Sophie Okonodo's first foray into the Doctor Who franchise; She has previously voiced Alison Cheney, companion to an alternate Ninth Doctor, in the webcast Scream of the Shalka.

    • At the end of the episode, there's a pull-back shot of "Starship UK". There's a crack in the hull of the spaceship. It's the same crack that was in Amelia Pond's house - in the location where Amelia's house was in Leadworth, England. It also was the same crack as the pattern shown on the TARDIS scanner at the end of the previous episode, "The Eleventh Hour".

    • Amy's middle name is revealed to be "Jessica".

  • QUOTES (11)

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    • Amy: (voiceover) In bed above, we're deep asleep. While greater love lies further deep. This dream must end, this world must know. We all depend on the beast below.

    • (about to be vomited out of the Star Whale) The Doctor: Right then. This isn't going to be big on dignity.

    • The Doctor: Nobody talk to me. Nobody human has anything to say to me today!

    • Liz 10: (To The Doctor) You're a bit hard to miss, love. Mysterious stranger, M.O. consistent with higher alien intelligence, hair of an idiot.

    • The Doctor: (putting water glass back on couple's table) Sorry, checking all the water in this area. There's an escaped fish. (turning back to Amy) Where was I? Amy Pond: Why did you just do that with the glass. The Doctor: Don't know, I think a lot, hard to keep track.

    • Amy: (regarding the Doctor/star whale) What if you were really old and really kind and alone? Your whole race dead, no future, what couldn't you do then? If you were that old and that kind and the very last of your kind, you couldn't just stand there and watch children cry.

    • Amy: I voted for this. Why would I do that? The Doctor: Because you knew if we stayed here, I'd be faced with an impossible choice - humanity or the alien. You took it upon yourself to save me from that. That was wrong. You don't ever decide what I need to know. Amy: I don't even remember doing it. The Doctor: You did it. That's what counts. Amy: I'm... I'm sorry. The Doctor: Oh, I don't care. When I'm done here, you're going home.

    • The Doctor: Big day tomorrow. Amy: Sorry, what? The Doctor: It's always a big day tomorrow; We've got a time machine! I skip the little ones.

    • Amy: I'm in the future. Like, hundred of years in the future. I've been dead for centuries. The Doctor: Oh, lovely. You're a cheery one.

    • Amy: So, is this how it works, Doctor? You never interfere in the affairs of other peoples or planets....unless there's children crying. The Doctor: (smiling) Yes.

    • Amy: My name is Amy Pond. When I was seven, I had an imaginary friend. Last night was the night before my wedding, and my imaginary friend came back.

  • NOTES (2)

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  • ALLUSIONS (4)

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    • Ark In Space: It is stated that the Earth was abandoned in the 30th century owing to solar flares. This is a reference to the Ark in Space serial from the classic series, which was built around the same premise.

    • Star Wars: A New Hope When HRH Liz X is first speaking with the Doctor, imploring him for help, she finishes by saying "Help us, Doctor, you're our only hope". Just as Leia did of Obi Wan in Star Wars: A New Hope.

    • Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back The last scene of the Doctor standing in front of a large window looking out to the stars and the swipe fade that begins it are reminiscent of the final scene of The Empire Strikes Back.

    • Just after Amy returns the booklet, there is a store sign reading "Magpie Electricals". This is an allusion to the televisions sales store from The Idiot Lantern.

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