31.08: The Hungry Earth

[Lenny]

The most ambitious drilling project ever reaches far below the Earth's crust - but the ground is fighting back.

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What's this? Half an hour later and no thread?! Terrible!

Anyway, I'm currently downloading the BBC HD broadcast for watching after tea. I'm quite looking forward to it - the writer for this double is Chris Chibnall, who is one of the chief writers for the spin-off series Torchwood. Not only has he got the experience, but he's penned some of Torchwood's better episodes.

 

[nebsmith]

Yes I was surprised at how long it took a thread to start too.

I liked this episode,particularly the interrogation scene, loved the little sideways look the doctor gave when asked " What would you give up for your cause ".
And that was a truly bad place to leave Amy, about to be vivisected. Thats the nastiest cliffhanger I can remember.

 

[Mary Hoffman]

That's two in a row I've liked. Woo-Who!

Mary

 

[Lenny]

I have to say that I found it to be distinctively "meh". If anything, it felt like an episode from the RTD era... which is probably because Chibnall did write the odd double for RTD.

The special effects weren't great, and the SF just didn't do it for me this week. The idea of drilling as far down as possible is nice, but why in the middle of a Welsh nowhere? They're just stereotyping Welsh miners...

I also realised how family friendly it is, too - the little kid being snatched and the way his mother ran out, found the headphones next to the hole (far too obvious) and broke down over them. Tragedy all the family can enjoy...

And the underground set... c'mon! Seriously? Such a blatant set... what's wrong with using a different corner of their favourite quarry? Surely they can hollow out some caves or something.

The one thing I did like was the blue grass... but even that special effect was a bit off. The patch the Doctor took some from was nice, but the view of the graveyard had a feel of CGI to it. CGI for blue grass? Just apprehend some yobs, steal their spray-paint and do it the old-fashioned way!

I'll reserve final judgement until the end of next week, but currently I'm not enjoying it particularly.

 

[Foxbat]

Didn't particularly like this one either. Some snappy dialogue but, other than that, it's the usual cliched story of Man and his technology awakening a force/enemy (delete as required) through his blundering...... blah blah blah.........zzzzzzzzz.

 

[thaddeus6th]

Missed the first half of it.

What I saw I rather liked. Bit nostlagic (I was too young for the earlier encounters with the previous owners of Earth, but had a couple of Dr Who books about them).

I still don't like Rory, though he is less annoying than he was.

 

[Dave]

I have to say that I found it to be distinctively "meh"...

Me also, though my reason for not replying earlier was that I just watched it. Given the nice weather and number of barbecues, sports events, and such, going on, that probably explains the lack of replies, rather than boredom.

The idea of drilling as far down as possible is nice, but why in the middle of a Welsh nowhere?

That was explained by the Blue Grass as showing some kind of mineral rich vein anomaly. The Doctor said something vague about that only being a bait to encourage them to drill there, but then it later turns out that the drilling was undesirable by our subterranean dwellers. It was a bit of a muddle really and very sloppy.

...it's the usual cliched story of Man and his technology awakening a force/enemy (delete as required) through his blundering...

It was that too, and not even original within the Doctor Who universe. Someone has "drilled too far into the Earth" on several occasions.

...I was too young for the earlier encounters with the previous owners of Earth, but had a couple of Dr Who books about them...

Well at least they are calling then 'Eocenes' or 'Homo-Reptiles' now. Silurians was so wrong both in geologically and evolutionary terms.

The underground city was more like 'Fungus the Bogeyman' than what I might have expected from Silurians though. I wonder why Cwmtaff didn't miss other objects stolen by the Bogeymen and instead only had dead bodies taken?

 

[Talysia]

I'm going to reserve judgement until I've seen the second part, but I didn't find last night's episode to be as good as the others. There were some nice moments, and some good dialogue again, but on the whole it just didn't grip me the way some of the others have. Mind you, I've been distracted of late... I might watch it again at some point and see if my opinion changes.

 

[Tillane]

The Doctor said something vague about that only being a bait to encourage them to drill there

Actually, he said the opposite - the minerals causing the blue grass were a warning to keep away. Which made precious little sense, really: I mean, who was supposed to be able to understand such a warning?

Anyhoo. I didn't think it was the worst of the series (they're going to have to go some to make an episode worse than Victory of the Daleks, IMO), but not particularly good, either - or even particularly interesting. As has been said before, the plot was pretty unoriginal and threadbare: the whole "drilling too far" thing put me in mind of The Impossible Planet/Satan Pit episodes, except I have a feeling this won't be as good.

The one thing that hasn't been mentioned, and which I'm sure will play some part in the next episode was the appearance of future Amy and Rory in the distance right at the start. Must have some sort of importance, otherwise it's a really odd bit of throwaway.

 

[PTeppic]

Must have some sort of importance, otherwise it's a really odd bit of throwaway.

My general assumption (albeit one I usually forget until something from the beginning is used at the end) is that nothing on screen is irrelevant. It's been edited to death already, so everything said or seen means something.

 

[Ursa major]

On the whole rolleyes, I rather enjoyed this episode, give or take the 'why drill here' issue.

The idea of drilling as far down as possible is nice, but why in the middle of a Welsh nowhere?

I can only hope** that those in charge of the drilling were lying.



There are so many things wrong with the given explanantion:

1. They are looking to extract minerals. Why, then, were they getting so excited about the depth of the hole?
2. If they really were interested in the minerals, they be looking in the surface rocks: because it's cheaper and low costs are what mining companies are interested in; you don't have to draw your product from 21+ kms away (every centimeter of it straight up and so directly against gravity). Even they knew it should be hot (too hot, really, for ore extraction) at the bottom of the hole.
3. Where was there any evidence of the sampling of what they were drilling? If I was looking for ore, I'd want to know the moment I found something of a quality worth extracting.
4. If they were trying to drill through the crust (and I know they didn't give this as a reason), why do so in a vaguely mountainous area, where the crust is deeper than many other places on the Earth's surface?

** - The trouble is, if they were drilling based on some other anomaly (suggesting that there was something strange down there), where is the back-up? Where are the equivalent of UNIT or some private defence organisation? (If either of these turns up, I'd have liked a hint that this might happen.)

 

[Perpetual Man]

My main barometer for episode is Perp jr, who at his ripe old age of 19 months is turning out to have his own Doctor Who expertise. (Obviously episodes have to be vetted - we can't have him watching something that will scar him for life). Mostly he does get bored after a few moments apart from anything with the Daleks in... that being said he sat riveted through the first 20 minutes of this one and seemed to be enjoying it. Things changed halfway through and we had to turn it off. It seems he has a thing for Amy (!) and he did not like seeing her pulled into the ground...

For myself I enjoyed it, but in a very nostalgic way, it had a feel of older Who about it and it's taken me this long to comment, because I could not really make up my mind about it, nothing stood out and made me think I hated it, nothing grabbed me and made me think wow.

My main thought was that it was a lot better than the last time the Silurians appeared on the screen...

 

[Dave]

My main thought was that it was a lot better than the last time the Silurians appeared on the screen...

Was that the time with the Sea Devils... and a Pantomime Horse?

Actually, he said the opposite - the minerals causing the blue grass were a warning to keep away. Which made precious little sense, really: I mean, who was supposed to be able to understand such a warning?

I stand corrected, though I'm going to have to watch that part again now to listen to exactly what he said. As you say, whatever he said doesn't make a lot of sense.

 

[Dave]

I ended up watching it all again with my son. I was more forgiving the second time and I liked the scenes with the Eocene - "I am the last of my kind" & "I know which one of you will kill me." I think next week looks to be much better.

On the other thing, I misheard what he said. "Those weren't trace minerals saying X marks the spot; it was a warning. While you dug down someone dug up." I thought he said, "Those were trace minerals saying X marks the spot."

 

[Brian G Turner]

I immediately forgave the Welsh element - obviously this is BBC Wales and much as they make every effort to look like they are doing things big, they are still a regional TV production company making the best of what they have.

Also, it looks like the new team are doing really well - we're becoming so demanding of the series we seem to be forgetting that it remains a family show and still has to appeal to a wide low denomination family audience - and it's doing that well, on top of appealing to the more cerebral viewers.

The episode was an interesting romp - not really very believable in parts, but all SF is challenged by that.

The really interesting part is the character development - the Amy & Rory on the hillside waving, very nice - assures the kiddies that they'll get out fine, but also leaves us wondering how the story loops back on itself - perhaps a final episode?

And the reptiles - nice to see a story where it's not all about simply defeating something else - despite the conflicts already set up, it's about lack of communication and understanding as much as anything, which has a nice appeal after all we've encountered so far.

Overall, I think when we see great episodes we'll laud them - Blink immediately comes to mind - but so far we seem to be having a generally entertaining and exciting romp with a completely new crew of producers and actors, and seems to be doing well. Perhaps we too easily forget that, because it could all have gone very wrong, but we've been eased through the transition almost to the point of forgetting it's an all *new* Doctor Who - it is simply, Doctor Who.

 

[daveac]

Missed posting about this before seeing part two

But it was a good 'set-up' episode.

Cheers, daveac

 

[TheDustyZebra]

I suspect it won't do a bit of good for me to comment at all, given that I am three and sometimes four episodes behind and am studiously avoiding the threads for the ones I haven't seen--thanks, btw, for numbering them in their titles so I know where I'm at!

Anyway, I just have to say--seriously, humanoid reptiles from 300 million years ago (did I hear that right?) come out of the hole in the earth and they speak English with an Irish accent? Hmm....

I don't quite know what to make of this episode--I like them all, some more than others, but I don't have the history to compare them to, or in some cases just to know what the enemies are about.

Have to wait till next week to make up my mind. It did scare my son, and he said he's never going outside again. I didn't think it prudent to point out that the hole that took Amy was actually *inside*...

 

[tangaloomababe]

Whilst not my favorite episode to date, it did nevertheless scare me!!! I freeked out a bit when something started drilling up. The suspence was great. I agree with Brian's comments to, we cannot expect "great" episodes like Blink every week. The show is entertaining, the new new doctor and his companion/s are likable.
Actually Matt Smith is shaping up as one of my favorite doctors, he is quirky and just a little odd at times, well most of the time.

 

[Ursa major]

I agree about Matt Smith being good in the part.

I also approve of the changes to way The Doctor is being written. Yes, the Tennant doctor was - by being superhumanly capable but still failing to do the impossible - a more poigant character, but there was a downside: The Doctor would know what needed to be done (whatever the challenge) but the outcome could still be unsatisfactory. The former lessened the tension, the latter often damped down the satisfaction. The Doctor was being asked to Play God, with all that entails. Fine for an occasional insight into his character, but I'm not sure the format could really take too much of that approach. (Torchwood could; it's just a shame that it took until the last, 5-part, season to hammer this home. But at least they did.)


I much prefer the new Doctor's muddling through. It makes him appear more human, even while he is being protrayed, in other ways, as being more alien.