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Doctor Who Season 7 Episode 4

The Power of Three

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AIRED: Sep 22, 2012

8.6

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Episode Summary

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The Doctor moves in with the Ponds while investigating millions of small black cubes that have invaded Earth but seem harmless.

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Doctor Who "The Power of Three" Review: Time Travel and Other Drugs

This was my favorite episode of the season up until the end, which seemed a bit rushed and tacked-on.

By Emily V. Gordon, Sep 23, 2012

Fan Episode Reviews (5)

a bored doctor is not boring.

6.0

By kyravon, Oct 21, 2012

Positives: Dr., Amy & Rory trying to live 'normal' lives. The doctor trying to entertain himself. Rory's dad is pretty funny. A new Leffbridge-Stewart character introduced.

Negatives: Rory & Amy had plenty of time to rescue the other humans on the spaceship before it blew up - and yet they just left them there & watched the doctor wave his screwdriver around.

Using the "sonic screwdriver" to um, reverse worldwide heart attacks The "sonic screwdriver" should never be used as the solutions to episodes, that's just lazy!

They called it the power of 3 yet they kept featuring Rory's dad which would kind of make it 4.moreless
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The pun it hurts.

8.0

By JDML23, Oct 14, 2012

I actually really liked this one. The plot holes aside (people don't just get back up again after their hearts stop for minutes and minutes), the humor of this episode really sold it to me. Seeing the Doctor's frustration at an alien thing which doesn't do anything but sit there really made me laugh. And his excitement when it began flying and shooting him really reminded me of how much the Doctor is a sucker for dangerous situations.

Dad Pond was lovely. The Ponds were awesome. And they brought in UNIT! Yay!moreless
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Still Getting Back on Track

8.0

By skostur082591, Sep 29, 2012

I love Doctor Who and I realize that I have a tough love mentality when it comes to viewing episodes. It's tough love, you understand. Many episodes in this series are not only 'good DW stories', but great drama in general. I've been having some issues with this current series, as it has not taken off the way I would have wanted it to.

The series opened with 'Asylum of the Daleks', a fairly middling episode which was saved by a great ending twist. We then took some planet sized steps back with the mostly embarrassing 'Dinosaurs on a Spaceship'. This episode certainly featured a low point of the entire series since it started up again in 2005: riding a triceratops like a camel. Seriously. Not Matt Smith's worst episode (that would go to 'Curse of the Black Spot') but it was getting there. Then came 'A Town Called Mercy', which was mostly solid despite Smith's Doctor making some questionable character choices based on his past. (Not sure about how he initially handled finding out about Jex by leaving him out to die without hesitation. Smith's Doctor never really seemed like this ever, but eh.) Still, a fairly solid episode, but nothing too fantastic yet.

So, here we are with 'The Power of Three'. The episode continues the move in the right direction for the series but it fails to really get a spark going. The idea of the boxes landing from the sky was done quite well, and their malicious intentions were kept in well shrouded mystery. I'm still waiting for Rory and Amy to exit the show once and for all, so observing them having their 'choose' conversation was quite intriguing. Where this episode fails (like some other DW episodes) is the ending. This episode takes place over the course of 9 months, but The Doctor is able to fix the situation in roughly a minute. It doesn't KILL the episode, but it takes a whole lot of the impact away. Before you even know it, the alien spaceship is a fireball and The Doctor is saying his goodbyes to Unit once more. Perhaps there was more to the episode, but it had to be cut?

Still, 'The Power of Three' is a step in the right direction. I still want a GREAT episode out of this first half of series 7 though. The Weeping Angels return (once again) next episode, and their past presences brought some of the great Doctor Who stories to our televisions (Blink, Time of Angels & Flesh and Stone). I'm excited for the next episode, but I just hope Doctor Who can get its edge back before the half-series finale.moreless
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Home Invasion

8.5

By sh811a, Sep 25, 2012

After two episodes I personally didn't think were entirely up to speed (for me anyway), this episode gives the season a little gas again. What I like about this episode is for once actually seeing the Doctor having his feet on the ground for once, but also getting a glimpse of contemporary reality with Amy and Rory.

I like how all three at first have a little trouble coping with contemporary reality, Amy and Rory see how their time away from earth has affect their living sittuation, from little things like unwashed clothing and even spoiled food, to even the big things like their careers and time with friends. The Doctor stays for a few days with the case of the cubes which of course is the Maguffin of the episode, it was funny seeing how restleless he was not having anything to dowhich of course gave both Rory and Amy unintentional grief, he should think of buying a video game concole. A funny moment was seeing what activites the Doctor did to help himself think and pass time as we see him paint the entire fence, do chores in the yard and house, and juggle a soccer ball all within one hour which is impressive by human standards.

But we see that as Amy and Rory have spent a little less time with adventures with the Doctor their lives do get better. Amy as we see helps one of her friends out by attending a wedding as a bridesmaid, so she's starting to become a little more soically active again. And Rory has a slight promotion in his career, so he's close to not being a scrub anymore.

One moment I thought was really funny was one medical case Rory had where a wheelchair bound kid accident has his foot stuck in a toilet. That moment looked like something out of the TV show "Childrens Hospital" from the case's absurd nature but really showed that Rory's career is anything but dull, as if he could have a show of his own.

Even the Doctor as he hears about this change in their lives, gives contemporary reality one more chance and realizes standing still isn't that bad. Liked two little moments when we see Amy, Rory, and the Doctor eat fishsticks and custard together, yuck I can never do that. As well as seeing the Doctor playing "Mario Tenis" it's just funny seeing how imersed in the game he became. So as we see Amy and Rory's lives really aren't so boring or bad at all. But we see the moment when the Doctor takes Amy and Rory on a few adventures together, just seeing those clips made me wonder what those adventures were.

And of course I liked some of that mystery with the cubes, it had it's suspense as we saw each cube did something different. But also it's humor as the Doctor was in a bad sittuation where a cube has given his two hearts a cardac arrest, we see Amy save the Doc with a portable defibulator it makes sense since her husband is in the medical field so she learned a thing or two from him.

This episode had certain lesions like that things constantly changes whether your moving or standing still, you can have a balance of both adventure and contemporary reality in your life, but most importantly is simply togetherness. One of the reasons I really love the tri dynamic with Amy, Rory, and the Doctor is that it's a family dynamic and that's something the Doctor has never really had. I liked that one moment when he has a talk with Amy about his behaviour but also why he doesn't want to be out of their lives, it was touching because it's true being the Doctor can be lonely and sadly he's never really had any roots.

The only bad thing about the episode is I thought the payoff on the nature of the cubes was kinda lame when we find out what they really are for, as well as it's resolution. But as I said before I was into this episode for Amy, Rory, and the Doctor so this is something I can get past.

Overall a soild episode and of course the next one will be the final journey for Amy and Rory, hopefully they'll make it out alive but after what the doctor said about his companions fates I'm not entirely sure.moreless
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"the year of the slow invasion"

8.5

By Lccf, Sep 23, 2012

Now that's the Doctor Who I like ! There were great character interaction : the Doctor's heart-to-heart talk with Amy and his explanation for his behaviour was touching and heartfelt ( great acting from Matt Smith here ), his chemistry with Kate Stewart was interesting ... and his dialogue with Brian about the Companions' fate ( another great scene for Smith ) made me very, very worried for next week's episode. Anyway, there was plenty of mystery, plenty of humour, and that's the way it should be. The only thing I could complain about is that the resolution of the crisis was quite weak, but after such an episode, it can be easily forgiven.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Matt Smith (VI)	The Eleventh Doctor
Karen Gillan	Amy Pond
Arthur Darvill	Rory Williams

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Mark Williams	Brian Williams	Guest Star
Jemma Redgrave	Kate Stewart	Guest Star
Steven Berkoff	Shakri	Guest Star

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Episode Photos

Matt Smith and Karen Gillan in Doctor Wh...

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Arthur Darvill, Matt Smith, and Karen Gi...

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Matt Smith and Karen Gillan in Doctor Wh...

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Matt Smith in Doctor Who from "The Power...

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (0)
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QUOTES (9)
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- The Doctor: Invasion of the very small cubes. That's new.
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- Brian: What if they're bombs? Billions of tiny bombs. Or transport capsules, maybe, with a mini-robot inside. Or deadly hard drives. Or alien eggs. Or messages needing decoding. Or... they're all parts of a bigger whole. Jigsaw puzzles that need fitting together.
  The Doctor: Very thorough, Brian. Very, very thorough. Well done. Stay here. Watch these. Yell if anything happens.
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- Rory: What do you think we do when we're not with you?
  The Doctor: I imagine mostly kissing.
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- Rory: There are soldiers all over my house and I'm in my pants.
  Amy: My whole life I've dreamed of saying that. And I miss it by being someone else.
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- Rory: You said we had to be patient.
  The Doctor: Yes, you. You, not me. I hate being patient. Patience is for wimps.
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- Amy: Secret base beneath the Tower. Hope we're not here because we know too much.
  Kate: Yes, I've got officers trained in beheading. Also ravens of death.
  Amy: I like her.
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- The Doctor: I need to think, I need some air. Who has an underground base? Terrible ventilation.
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- The Doctor: I'm not running away. But this is one corner, of one country, on one continent, on one planet, that's a corner of the galaxy, that's a corner of the universe that' is forever shrinking and growing and destroying and never remaining the same for a single millisecond. And there is so much--so much to see, Amy. Because it goes so fast. I'm not running away from things, I'm running to them before they flare and fade forever.
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- Amy: And why do you keep coming back for us?
  The Doctor: Because you were the first. The first face this face saw. And you are seared onto my hearts, Amelia Pond. Always will be. I'm running to you and Rory before you... fade from me.
  Amy: Don't be nice to me. Don't want you to be nice to me.
  The Doctor: Yeah, you do, Pond. And you always get what you want.
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NOTES (4)
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- Music: Titanium (David Guetta Feat Sia Furler)
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- Kate Lethbridge-Stewart was first introduced in 1995 in the Reeltime direct-to-video production Downtime. She was portrayed there by Beverley Cressman and the character had a grandson, Gordon.
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- The logo reflects the theme of the episode: this one consists of black cubical patterns.
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- International Airdates:
  US: September 22, 2012 on BBC America
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ALLUSIONS (1)
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- The Doctor: Through the looking glass again.
  Lewis Carroll (b.1832 - d.1898), whose real name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, is best known as the author of Alice in Wonderland (1865) and its sequel Through the Looking Glass (1871). In the latter, Alice was able to go through the mirror into another world on the other side.
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