Rate "The Beast Below"

I quite enjoyed it, I liked the subtext the most. Although there were bits that lost me and I was watching this episode without the laptop so I'd have been really lost had I been messing about on the web at the time.

Rich Flair wrote:Why were they sending the kids down to to be eaten by the whale, when they knew that the whale wasn't eating them?

It was in the script.

Interesting people comparing The Beast Below to Gridlock. I didn't like that story either! Although The End of the World is still fab. Can't beat a bit of Britney - maybe that's what was missing.

At least missing a bit of Soft Cell!

Should have used the opening to Muse's "Uprising".

I think it was an well rounded, if a bit slow, story worth 3/5,
BUT the last 2-3 mins make it 4/5.

Can't wait for next week!!!

I see this as The Moff's desire to do his own version of The End Of The World. Not a bad thing, but it drew too far back in scale to completely pull it off. I did like some of the little blink and you miss it touches: the Magpie Electricals sign in the background, and the little crack developing on the Starship UK at the end of the story.

So I'm with the Carey and Zoltar camps in declaring it a solid 4, and the hook at the end is more than enough to have me eager to get to next week's story.

Did I watch a different episode from you guys or something? There were lots of jokes!

One of the best was "We're checking all the water in the area. There's an escaped fish." Said completely deadpan

Lucy McGough wrote:One of the best was "We're checking all the water in the area. There's an escaped fish."

I think you may have put your finger on the problem right there*...

Well, I thought it was hilarious

Lucy McGough wrote:One of the best was "We're checking all the water in the area. There's an escaped fish."

I quite liked the line "this isn't going to be big on dignity" just before the whale snot hit them.

OK... 3/5.

The Smilers were a nice design, an interesting concept and not remotely scary.
They were there because Doctor Who has to have monsters.

They had the guy who played The Demon Headmaster in, and gave him nothing to do.

Liz 10 had a bit of a V for Vendetta thing going, and they didn't capitalise on that either.

There were no jokes because this story isn't funny, but Matt Smith's delivery of certain lines raised a smile and lightened the mood a little. So that was OK. In fact it was all OK. But not much more than that.

I'm really enjoying Matt Smith and Karen Gillam. I look forward to seeing what they do with the next few stories.

I thought it was excellent, meself. (Come on, who's my friend? I'm the second person to give it 5/5)

Then again, though, I'm completely alright with "nothing happening". A neat concept, a stunning-looking alien landscape, a few nice lines and a regular cast that have effortlessly ticked Stanmore's boxes, I don't give a monkey's knuckle that it lacked a certain level of adventure...

stanmore wrote:I thought it was excellent, meself. (Come on, who's my friend? I'm the second person to give it 5/5)

Then again, though, I'm completely alright with "nothing happening". A neat concept, a stunning-looking alien landscape, a few nice lines and a regular cast that have effortlessly ticked Stanmore's boxes, I don't give a monkey's knuckle that it lacked a certain level of adventure...

It was me who gave it top marks..

Spoiler:

Review now up on the blog. A really interesting episode, not perfect, but sizzling with ideas. Far from dull.

http://cathoderaytube.blogspot.com/2010/04/doctor-who-series-5-beast-below-review.html

Patrick wrote:

Lucy McGough wrote:One of the best was "We're checking all the water in the area. There's an escaped fish."

I quite liked the line "this isn't going to be big on dignity" just before the whale snot hit them.

Didn't like the fish line. I am with those who thought it was a bit low-humor, and, though I did like that Jonah scene--it wasn't snot. I also did not think that the crack was subtly done. (The one on the TARDIS oscilliscope last week was fine.) I hope we're not going to have a crack/Silence teaser in every single episode; surely every 2-3 eps should maintain the idea until the finale?

I... am left a bit meh. I suppose I want to care a bit more but the guest characters seemed hollow (I think the acting was fine but they had nothing gripping to say or do). Amy's fleshing out character-wise, but I don't quite feel the Doctor's magic (and rarely his hearts, even) this week.

The smilers did... so... utterly nothing. Can someone with kids weigh in on whether they had a different take on them?

I must say I really really want one thing to stop: the "hold all the action while we explain this stuff with weird flashbacks" moments. Whether understanding why Rory snapped pics of Prisoner Zero or why the Star Whale did (his?) thing--it's got to happen in the flow, without pulling away from the story like that. It's okay once, but annoying twice. It's either lazy storytelling (shortcut to the reveal) or simply a result of a plot that wouldn't naturally fit into the time or genre or something. And possibly insulting, as if we can't work it out ourselves, and/or can't deal with any ambiguity at the end.

Thank you to whoever above pointed out the star(sea-critter) source; I was wondering why some folks online mentioned it'd been done before. I suppose (not having read Pratchett) it is a plot-related improvement here, to the effect that whales/dolphins are sea mammals, are more intelligent than turtles (though turtles have the better history of world genesis mythology), and dolphins have a track record of human rescue.

Is there also a source (or work which is being imitated) for the poem? I can feel a Kipling vibe but I stopped reading that stuff...

Ooh. Didn't mean to be grouchy. I actually haven't voted yet. I just feel a bit... impatient for some more character insight.

Patrick wrote:I quite liked the line "this isn't going to be big on dignity" just before the whale snot hit them.

Yep, that was a favorite line of mine as well.

Have just watched this on Iplayer. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Gave it 4 out of 5.

It seems to me that Moffat is returning the series to the child audience--not a bad thing, in my view.

Have I seen the actress who played Liz10 in something else Who related? She seems awfully familiar? Liked the idea of the rapprochement btwn the Royal Family and the Doctor. And looks like that's the Virgin Queen question resolved, then.

Also liked the Scottish joke. I now expect that Moffat has insisted on a Scottish joke in each episode. *nods in patriotic manner*

*thinks*

Wait a minute...There was only one star whale. What's powering the Scottish ship?

We're aa deid! Moffat, ye gipe, ye've killed us all!

Aspadistra wrote:

Have I seen the actress who played Liz10 in something else Who related?

She was in Scream of the Shalka... Poor lamb.

Aspadistra wrote:Wait a minute...There was only one star whale. What's powering the Scottish ship?

We're aa deid! Moffat, ye gipe, ye've killed us all!

It's alright. You lot have escaped on the last of the star otters.

Am I alone in thinking The Beast Below to be the better of the first two episodes? It seems generally that I am in the minority, and I can sort of understand. The Eleventh Hour was certainly the episode which tried harder, and gave both Matt Smith and Karen Gillian much more to do. Yet I preferred The Beast Below, if only because it felt miles ahead in terms of its finishing.

There are similarities. Both episodes feel like they owe a lot to previous ones, The Eleventh Hour coming across strongly like Partners in Crime and Smith and Jones in places. The Beast Below owes a lot to Planet of the Ood and The End of the World. The story feels familiar, like it's fitting comfortably into the style established by Russell T. Davis. Yet none of this matters, because it's well-made and, above all, constantly keeping the viewer engaged.

The material is also used well. The revelation at the end is perhaps not quite as shocking as that in Planet of the Ood, but the Doctor's reaction is certainly more provoking, with his attempted solution being more challenging than the series has dared recently, particularly after the way The End of Time ducked out of every issue it set up. The twist was well-executed and clever, harking back to the old Rose/Doctor relationship in series 1.

The imagery was fantastic, evoking an almost comic-book feel that pervade the series further in the following episode. There's not much else to say about the episode, other than that Matt Smith continues to impress, and cemented the good impression from the previous episode. His at times quieter, more nuanced delivery than Tennant goes a long way to making the character more unpredictable and interesting. Only in one place did he wobble slightly, where his delivery of "I don't care" sounded more like a strop than an expression of deep disgust.

7.5/10

Dingdongalistic wrote:Am I alone in thinking The Beast Below to be the better of the first two episodes? It seems generally that I am in the minority, and I can sort of understand.

Yeah, you're in a very small minority at a guess. But it's an opinion that is as valid as anyone else's!

The Co=Ordinator wrote:

Dingdongalistic wrote:Am I alone in thinking The Beast Below to be the better of the first two episodes? It seems generally that I am in the minority, and I can sort of understand.

Yeah, you're in a very small minority at a guess. But it's an opinion that is as valid as anyone else's!

To be fair, on rewatching I know I underrated The Eleventh Hour. The ending just irritated me a bit. Still, I think this is still a little bit better.

I loved the revelation that they're standing on a tongue, although I reckon the perspective was a little off. The Mouth should have been bigger.

Okay, I think I've finally come to terms with the ep. And the music, so blog's up:
http://cuenotes.blogspot.com/2010/04/beast-below.html
(Website cue counts are still running behind, mind...)