The Doctor Who Mid-Week Review: The Rings of Akhaten

So here we are again for the most definitely NOT mid-week review of LAST weeks Doctor Who episode, The Rings of Akhaten.  I honestly hope this is the hardest one to review this year, because I am not entirely sure where to go with it.  I was distracted by life this week, the loss of my friend and comic/games/geek vendor of the last 20 years, but even if I hadn’t been I am not sure i would have known what to write about this episode.  Especially OUTSIDE of the spoilers.  In short this episode was pretty MEH outside of the visuals.

The Rings of Akahten

As for the visuals, this was a stunning episode.  The practical effects looked great (mostly) and most of the computer work was very well done too.  They seem to have gone out of their way to make sure these more recent episodes are very HD friendly, and show off all the colors, details and contrasts that can provide.  The new TARDIS is alive with color and motion.  The marketplace was busting with activities and creatures.

The characters were ok, if a bit two-dimensional.  The dialog was ok, and there are some things that we can bring up in the spoiler section, but there wasn’t much to set the world on fire.  Clara’s utter lack of a clue on what to say when the Doctor asks here where she wants to go is probably one of the best and easy to relate with.  Without traveling too far into spoilerville, the Doctor is still working to figure out who Clara is, and how the event that is her lives can be possible.  We learn a few things here, and ultimately it is what we don’t see that would appear to be most relevant.

Ultimately I think the episode itself wasn’t that important.  It will tie in to the ultimate resolution, but the events that we

Another Motor Bike – Sorta

saw will end up being filler.  It seems to be a growing trend where there are more “OK” episodes punctuated by episodes that carry all the arc in them.  Also this emotional stuff is getting a little much.  Yes we know you are old, and now you seem to be back into a perpetual state of near depression.  What happened to the days of monsters, running and defeating evil?  I am holding out more hope for this week’s episode.  It looks to be a good one.

ON TO THE SPOILERS!!!

[spoiler]

So the biggest thing…well one of at least, if that was supposed to be the leaf from Clara’s book at the end, it was a totally different leaf than what was seen in the previous episode.  I mean not even the same species of tree.  And besides that is

The Leaf

seems to have grown from the time her parents got it.  Maybe it is a different leaf.  I dunno.

So the parents…I think the dad’s whole “if one thing didn’t happen exactly thus” is probably a key.  I first dismissed it as a red herring, that could be said about almost any event in history, but with this girl in the equation.  I almost expect it has to be something Time Lord related.  If it isn’t I will be quite disappointed.

The TARDIS and it “not liking” Clara.  It must be the whole “open with a snap of his fingers” or something, but the Doctor sure isn’t concerned about closing the TARDIS door these days.  It somehow seems to end up closed, but he’s not doing it in any way we can see.  Also, Clara doesn’t seem to have a key or know that she needs one to get into the TARDIS.  So on the surface it seems to be reading a bit much into it to be saying it doesn’t like her.  I would imagine if she is an actual paradox though, ol’ sexy probably can’t stand her.  Even if she is simply some kind of temporal anomaly, or even a possible descendant of a rival rouge Time Lord it would be enough for the TARDIS to reject Clara.  Otherwise, maybe the Doctor should just tell her it needs a key.  And also, why wasn’t the translator working?

NEWS FLASH: THE DOCTOR HAS SEEEECCCRREEEETTTTSSS!  😛 (Which apparently a giant mind eating parasite now knows)  Also he came here with a granddaughter,

The Doctor Investigates Clara

possibly Susan Foreman?  I don’t know what the official story on who or what she really was ended up being, but I though she essentially ended up being human.  Course she

The Parents

was around before much of what the Doctor is was created/revealed.

So the most important thing that happened this episode is what was the Doctor up to when he abandoned Clara?  We know he was spot checking her history to find anomalies.  Apparently he found none.  So what was he up to?  Was he watching her? I don’t think so.  The TARDIS was still there so he didn’t take off anywhere, presumably.  Once we find out what happened during that time, it will end up being super critical I think.

[/spoiler]

Well that will do it for this week.  I’ll actually try to get the next one out closer to on time.  Please comment on your thoughts about the episode, and leave your predictions as well.  Remember to use the spoiler tags if you venture into that territory.  Till next time!