A Lullaby of an episode (Review: 'Doctor Who' 33.7, "The Rings of Ahkaten")

This second episode sees Clara leave Earth and go to a festival on an alien world, where an old god is waking up…

 

This rather reminded me of “The Beast Below”, Amy’s second story, which took place in a similarish environment, although this one did not involve space whales. It was not as good either – so without further ado.

 

·         The introduction with the leaf and Clara’s parents was well done.

·         Matt Smith is good here as usual, but he’s not at his best and some of his Time Lord grandstanding seems a bit unconvincing.

·         Really liking Clara – she’s sweet, caring and intelligent, with a strong backstory.

·         They really threw the budget at all the aliens this week, many of whom were only seen in the background.

·         I’m assuming that moped had some form of force field to protect against hard vacuum.

·         Speaking of force fields, the sonic screwdriver should be limited in use and not serve as a get out for all situations – opening the door was enough for it this episode.

·         The main monsters were respectively CGI or spent most of an episode banging against something.

·         Was all of that singing really necessary?

·         Losing that object is going to do something interesting to the ring system – it’s got nothing to orbit.

·         I found this episode dragged considerably – some people might even have fallen asleep during it.

 

Conclusion

 

I didn’t expect much and I didn’t get much – this is a forgettable episode.

 

4/10