11.31: Dinosaurs on a Spaceship

In which we see the best of Chris Chibnall.

Broadcast: September 2012

Watched: January 2022

“How do you start a triceratops?”

Absolutely joyous. Probably my favourite episode written by Chibnell. Definitely the best Who-related episode with pterodactyls in it. What’s interesting watching it now is how much of Chibnall’s agenda as showrunner is on show here:

1. “This is the gang. I’ve got a gang.” The massive cast actually works here – everyone gets a role, he’s thought about what each character brings to the table in a way he won’t think through enough later.

2. Normal people dragged into adventures. Brian is a brilliant creation, with his hatred of travelling and the fact he always carries a trowel and the way he embarrasses Rory while being lovely to Amy. 

3. It’s not woke, exactly, but it is internationalist: with the Egyptian queen and the Indian Space Agency he’s clearly trying to expand the world of the show.

4. It’s clearly more interested in the male companion than the female one. It’s one of only a handful of episodes in which Rory feels more prominent than Amy. 

5. When all else fails, throw more mad shit at the screen.

It’s not perfect. Mitchell and Webb (who are both fanboys, ofc) are sort of underused but also annoying: their performances aren’t quite pitched right, they need to be bigger. (Also, why does Mitchell get twice as many lines as Webb?) Solomon is very well drawn and played, but that name, eesh: did nobody suggest that maybe giving the covetous character a Jewish name was a bad idea?

But it’s loads of fun and it manages to make the death of a CGI triceratops a genuinely emotional moment. If this had been the average standard of the Chibnall years they’d have been great.

Other things:

• I’d forgotten the massive hints that the Doctor also banged Nefertiti.

• This week, the Doctor Who logo is green and scaly.

• Talking of which, Kermit Mengele is back! Actually he isn’t, it’s the same actor playing a different Silurian, presumably because it saves making a mask from scratch. I love that the backstory here is “Silurian ark” and that, although we never see them, the Silurians were the good guys. Also, it’s the second story running fuelled by continuity. 

• Some bits that are particularly good: Smith’s delivery in the “Is that a kestrel?” “I do hope so” exchange. The Doctor’s obvious curiosity about how much he’s worth. Brian looking down on the Earth, with his cup of tea. Almost everything Rupert Graves says, he’s very clearly having the time of his life. 

• Another good bit is Nefertiti insisting that because she’s a queen she’ll decide whether her life is worth more than the dinosaurs or not, thank you very much. I love the way this bit of the plot sort of positions her as the damsel in distress... but reading her that way is the mistake Soloman’s made, which will finish him.

• The Doctor effectively kills the baddie. Which is dark. Lot of rumours in 2012 that the Doctor had been infected by Dalek nanos, and that was the season arc, but no, he’s just being a dick.

• One of the extras in the background of the ISA scenes at 36mins is biting her own lip in a hilarious example of “LOOK HOW WORRIED I AM” acting.

• The Doctor lecturing Amy on her inability to hold down a job is brilliant. He does seem to have different relationship with the Ponds than most companions, continuing to come back over a period of years.

Also, funny how David Bradley is in Doctor Who twice, five years apart, playing Doctor Who after he’d played a character who is murdered by Doctor Who.