What to do when you cast a scary-looking man as the Doctor? Make the Doctor a scary man. Just as showrunner Steven Moffat applied a simple solution to the question of a modern day Sherlock, so the dilemma of a markedly older Time Lord in an age where forty is seen as a dead zone gets solved the same way. The leading man himself is a roaring success, in some scenes literally. He's as gaunt as the stick of chalk he finds on the floor but also hilarious. It's easy to forget with all the publicity concerning a journey into
darkness that Capaldi has a comedy background and his confrontation with the tramp bears the hallmarks of a 3 am altercation in a Glaswegian alleyway. Certainly this is Doctor Who as we've never seen it before.
The tone has arguably shifted. Ben Wheatley is well-suited to direct this tale of clockwork men and organ appropriation, but whether children are included in the mix this year remains to be seen. The Doctor definitely isn't approachable and there's no comfort in Madam Vastra's Paternoster Gang. Strax as always is amusing but it falls to Jenna Coleman to carry the human element as Clara. The way she raises her bark to match her companion's bite is a bit forced - at one point the Doctor mentions Amy, another spectacularly resourceful young person. Coleman is good though and Clara's fear at being abandoned to the monsters by her former hero makes for some solid sofa diving.
Despite the sea change Moffat has kept his habit of including eye-catching elements that tend to pad out the plot (in this case a rogue dinosaur) and there is the usual landslide of lines that run before they can walk. However, all in all this ushers in a spiky, thrilling and rather nasty dawn for a more grown up show and I'm fascinated to see how the trick will be sustained.
No comments:
Post a Comment