Doctor Who Season 6 Episode 11

See, this is where user reviews can't quite cope. People tend to love things or hate things, with very little nuance in the middle.

But this episode wasn't bad, was it? Certainly not hate-worthy. And it wasn't perfect, either, I'll get into why in a minute. So we're bound to uncomfortably parse through the positives and negatives here and present an overall appraisal.

So why wasn't the episode perfect? Well, it wasa bit visually overloaded with camera tricks, crooked angles and creepy quick montages. Nothing wrong with using those resources, really, and I was actually enjoying them, finding a touch of "Castrovalva" here and there with the nonlinear layout of the hotel, but there's can be too much of a good thing, and this episode did cross that line.

The acting was also not all there, with some of the younger supporting actors not quite delivering in their multifaceted roles. They weren't... bad, but there was room to impress, and impressed I wasn't. See how this is a hard one to dial in for a review?

Anyway, on to the good. For the second of three episodes in a row, the overarching plot is out, and classic Doctor Who storytelling is in. I just love that. I love that we were thrown a bunch of interesting side characters, that some died, some survived, some got to be brave, some got to do bad things without actually being evil. Those shades of grey and the fact that death is a frequent outcome are what has always made Doctor Who one of the least patronizing shows for kids and young adults out there.

Oh, and the core concept of the episode wasn't too bad, although I do hate it when sci-fi clichés like "your worst fears realized" or "monsters that feed on specific emotions" are thrown in. For all the clever metaphors and striking imagery, the inner mechanics of the plot were a bit lazy.

I did like to see some of the drama that fueled the early seasons of the reboot come back, too. While I'll admit that the Doctor's moral conundrum of whether to risk the lives of his companions or to live on as a sad, lone old man was a run to the ground a bit during the last part of Tennant's run, I was not comfortable with how radically it had been abandoned these two seasons. It's one of those background noise touches that keep long-standing characters in pop culture going, and I do appreciate a nod to it here that has actual repercussions on the plot.

So, overall, not a clear cut episode, but one that was more than worth the watch. This season has been so much better than the previous one so far, and the second half of it has been better than the first. I really hope they can wrap it up in a satisfying way without falling into the pitfalls of the first season finale, but it's been a good run regardless.

Yes, it probably needs to be said that this had some similar elements to Night Terrors: an alien badly needing something from humans; a creepy house/hotel setting; and Amy needing to be saved yet again. But that's where the points in common end, because this was a far superior episode in every way (as reflected by people's ratings).

First, the comic presence of Little Britain's David Walliams as a cowardly rat-faced alien was priceless, as was his acting. This comic turn by Walliams provided a welcome contrast to the suspense. In fact, the acting of all of the supporting cast was very good.

Second, the Doctor had to work hard in this episode like a manic Sherlock Holmes to figure out what was really going on. The fact that it took him nearly the whole episode to do this was not surprising and not that unwelcome either. It gave us a sense that the Doctor doesn't have all of the answers to hand and needs to struggle through situations, along with the rest of us, before the proverbial light bulb switches on. Yes, this seems very familiar, but it is his signature style/modus operandum, so I am not that bothered with the sense of deja vu that that brings.

Finally, the closing scenes between the Doctor and Amy were moving - a feat which this season's writers appear to have pulled off time and time again - leaving me feeling emotionally satisfied and excited to see the next episode. This season has been my favourite so far.

This was a pretty good episode, tense, intriguing and not overly-confusing, although I felt that the actual reasoning felt a bit rushed over and if you blinked you'd have missed it.

My only problem is with the final scene, which I felt to be pointless. Now don't get me wrong, it was very well done and fitting, but it felt pointless in the fact that it's obvious that both Amy and Rory will be back in the next episode, if not, the episode after. I feel they could have trimmed it down to accommodate the explanation of the concept more.

TheMinotaurwas great and it was nice to see the Weeping Angels briefly again, it's just a shame that since Flesh and Stone I no longer find them very scary. Walliams' character provided some excellent comic relief, good show, although I feel that Rita's death could have been done better.

Aside from that, it was a pretty solid episode and one which I could happily re-watch again and still legions above many episodes of the RTD era.

I found this to be another of the rather surrealistic and somewhat boring episodes. Maybe some people enjoy these but to me they tend to indicate the writers are reaching for material. The basic synopsis is that the Doctor, Amy, and Rory arrive at a holographic hotel to save some people, earthlings and aliens, from an alien entity that feeds on people's "faith" through a monster creature it has captured. The Doctor meets another group of "victims" recently kidnapped as food for the alien and brought to the hotel. The alien has to manipulate the victims psyche so that the victim places their faith in the alien at which time the creature under its' control will subsume the victim's faith as food for the alien whilst killing the victim. Those of no faith are relatively safe from the alien. The setting is a holographic hotel simulating a hotel on earth with various living creations in the different rooms that psychologically stimulate the intended victim to place their faith in the alien. The plot plays out rather surrealistically in the hotel and the Doctor reasons with the alien's captive creature, who resembles a Minotaur, to discover what is going on. While I may be shot down in ratings, as another reviewer was, I found this a bit tiresome and believe the writers were reaching for material. There are many excellent Doctor Who episodes but I simply found the plot and setting very contrived so I rated it only a 6.5 this time.

For me this was too similar to the episode night terrors, loads of strange things happening, with special camera angles, giving it that horror movie style feel, All to be explained within a minute at the end by the doctor without any real substance.

The whole ending with amy getting over her faith in the doctor after a lifetime of worship, because the doctor gave a little speech was a bit daft, shes bright enough to realise hes doing it to save her. therefor confirming her faith.

Really the whole you cant travel with me cos you may die has been done, only for the doctor to realise he then needs companions to keep him sane/grounded. going round and round in circles. It was done with tennants doctor going god like/ to far while alone, then being saved by a new companion

Maybe the Doctors worsed fear was this episode.

The reason i gave this a four is due to the rehash of a script, the running around afraid for thirty mins, no one having a clue whats happening only to find it was a certain malfunctioning alien/device in some form, ie night terrors, the curse of the black spot and now this, three episodes in one season all explained in the last 5 mins of the show.

The acting and effects where a 8 as usual , however for me these storylines just flop.

This was never going to have the emotional punch of last week's episode. But that's not to say this episode didn't deliver.

Last week I was skeptical as to weather the strife between the Ponds and the Doctor would continue, apparently I was wrong.
While not immediately or exactly a continuation, the Doctor's realisation of his impact on the people he drags along was very apparent towards the end. I'll be honest, I loved it.
I've gotten used to the clean slate ever episode (Excluding the finale) that the show has inadvertently adopted, so this was refreshing.

I've seen fans argue since the airing of "A Good Man Goes To War" that The Doctor should always be portrayed as the hero, which I think is ludicrous, I never saw The Doctor as a hero, let alone a pure one. He had a hand in the genocide of his own people for crying out loud, his admittance of vanity to Amy to save her life (true or not) was a compelling insight. But there is one underlying truth, "I really am just a mad man with a box",
Then he calls her by her actually name; "Amy Williams".
After this, he drops Amy and Rory off on earth with a parting gift.
Rory rushes inside their new house, as The Doctor says goodbye to Amy. And then...she asks why he's leaving and he answers "Because you're still breathing". Not sure If I love that line or not.
Because technically, neither Rose, Martha or Donna actually died. But whatever. I must say though, with such the up and down quality of Moffat's run, lets be honest, his mythology episodes are great, but the filler are not always that consistent.

Before I go, I should mention the brilliant atmosphere the episode had, it was so many things at once. Creepy, mundane, foreboding and a wee bit jovial. Hard to describe.

*spoilers*

I considered this a simply excellent episode. First, I quite enjoyed the humour the mole guy brought. As far as I can recall, there really hasn't been any main(ish) character to add a humour element to the show.

Second, the Minatour type monster. At the end when the Doctor says that little speech to it about the really old monster drenched in blood, and he groans, the Doctor says he wasn't talking about himself. I found that scene really intriguing.

Also, the Rita character. I could see her as a future companion, and the Doctor probably wanted her as a companion too, hence the 'Amy, you're fired'. Well, she was pretty much doomed since we noticed she'd make a good companion. She kind of reminded me of Donna.

Back on track. When I reviewed 'A Good Man Goes To War', I gave it a 10 simply for the ending, as I wrote the wholebeginning and the whole Doctorlegendthingwas quite boring. Well, we finally understand that. The Doctor tries to end his legend/s, like his 'saving everyone' legend by telling Amelia to stop waiting for him, so ending Amy's faith in him.

Another element that really adds a lot of suspense and intrigue is the fact that we don't see the Doctor's room, or Amy's. Well and Rory, but he doesn't open any door. Back on track again, I would really like to know what was in their rooms, and why there was a lot of focus on the 'Do not Disturb' hangar. It was focused on when the Doctor opens or closes the door, and in the end where the hotel dissolves/flattens. I speculated that the Doctor saw his death or something similar in the room, because that's the main story-focus-line going on right now. Or perhaps something to do with River Song. Also, the Daleks haven't appeared in this season yet. And I really can't remember, but I do recall something to do with Daleks in the Series 6 trailer. Perhaps they'll be in the next or final episode.

Anyway this review is getting pretty long here, so I'll end it here. I personally highly enjoyed this episode. I give 'The God Complex' a 10.

This was so entertaining and I really enjoyed it. The monster was very cool and it's another brilliant episode for series 6.

Amy and Rory are left behind unfortunately. I hope they come back soon. This episode is so good and I really enjoyed. It was better than I originally thought it would be. I really like the characters and it was just such a well made episode. Even better than last week's in my opinion

While not quite as good as last week this episode is a worthy episode of doctor who. I wasn't paticularly scared by this episode but i'm quite a hard person to scare so I won't hold the episode back for that. The storyline does get a bit confusing in places, but the ending is good and rather sad when the doctor has to get amy to give up her faith in him, it also ends on another sad scene where the doctor says goodbye to amy and leaves her and rory back at there house as he goes off in the tardis alone, is this the last we're going to see of Amy and Rory? Guess we'll have to wait and see.