Responding to numerous distress calls, the TARDIS crew face an old foe threatening the universe using the power of two powerful misled beings.
On the barren planet Ranskoor Av Kolos, two beings, Andinio (Phyllis Logan) and Delph (Percelle Ascott), discuss the latter being "ready" after 17 years of training.
Delph is unsure as learning gave him doubts about the world, but Andinio says learning makes you realize how little you know, and the world is an experience. She finally convinces him and he uses a power to begin forming something from rocks nearby, but she stops him when a figure suddenly appears nearby. We cut to 3,407 years in the future, as the TARDIS crew wonders about nine distress signals they picked up from the same area of Ranskoor Av Kolos. Due to the planet having a powerful psychic energy that causes massive changes to the brain, the Doctor hands out neural balancers, warning the others not to lose them. They travel to a ship on the planet, where they face the gun barrel of a terrified and confused man (Mard Addy), who asks if "they" sent them. The Doctor reminds him they can't have been sent by whoever is on the planet, since they just arrived. The man doesn't know if there are other crew members, and as they search, he says he should've left, but didn't because he can't even remember his name. After stating he knew it before going outside where there was a battle, he again lifts his blaster, having suddenly forgotten the Doctor. Realizing the planet is affecting the man, the Doctor again tells him they just arrived, and offers a neural balancer. The others find a computer system that reveals there are others and this man is the commander; the Doctor is surprised to find the ship is in perfect condition. The man remembers his name is Paltraki, and as the Doctor urges him to let the balancer work slowly, a message comes through and he hurries them to the side. Andinio appears onscreen, demanding what Paltraki took from "the Creator," who then shows himself; the crew is surprised to realize it's Tzim-Sha. The Stenza orders Paltraki to return what he took by nightfall, or else the remaining crew will die; two are left after he kills a woman, Umsang (Jan Le), onscreen. Paltraki recalls they actually "recovered" something, looking at a crystal with something buzzing inside. The Doctor finds it's incredibly dense with a complex stasis lock, and though Paltraki wants his crew back, he knows he can't return the crystal. Ryan finds a mapping device with a mission briefing, and they decide to retrace Paltraki's steps. The Doctor notices Graham seems focused on finding Tzim-Sha, and to her surprise, she finds she can lift the dense crystal easily. They leave with equipment, and Paltraki says the sickness Ryan experiences outside is how his condition began. Graham requests a moment with the Doctor, explaining to her that if it is Tzim-Sha, he'll kill him if he can. She warns against doing so, noting he can't travel with her if he does, and that he'll be the same as the Stenza, but he stands by his decision.
Paltraki struggles to remember anything from before the battle, but Yaz reminds him not to push as they get to graveyard of ships, which Paltraki calls the "Vanquished." He points out a large floating structure through the mist, which is their destination.
The Doctor pulls out the borrowed equipment: comms, grenades, codebreakers, and a bomb; Ryan protests since she wouldn't allow weapons in the past. Once it's all passed out, the Doctor has Paltraki and Yaz investigate his old goal and Ryan and Graham find the crew, refusing to take Graham to find Tzim-Sha with her. As leverage to learn the crystal's importance, the Doctor puts grenades on it, and though Paltraki doubts it being a smart move, she says it's a precaution. As the Doctor scans for an entrance, the building beams everyone inside, and Paltraki urges them to hurry quietly since they are apparently known about. Ryan confronts Graham about wanting to find Tzim-Sha, but his granddad says that while kind, Grace was tougher than them combined and would've wanted him to. When Ryan urges him to not ruin the team they've created because he's angry, Graham starts to rant but is interrupted when Sniperbots show up. They narrowly escape death, while elsewhere Andinio halts the Doctor. Though refusing to say why she didn't prevent Umsang's death, she reveals she's an Ux, a species the Doctor says appear in twos on only three planets, with vast lifespans. She asks about the battle, and Andinio replies that they defended "the Creator;" the Doctor remembers that the Ux are faith-driven dimensional engineers. Andinio says the building is a shrine and demands the crystal, and is shocked that her "Creator" knows the Doctor when he demands she be brought to him like she wants.
As his memories suddenly return in droves, Paltraki remembers his first name, Greston, and his home Stebble; he finds "Earth" to be a strange word.
While reminiscing about home, he recalls that his fleet was the last one The Congress of the Nine Planets sent after others didn't return from investigating "the atrocities." He whips out his pistol to blast some Sniperbots, part of an army, and elsewhere Doctor questions Andinio, who says Tzim-Sha is the cornerstone of their faith. Andinio refuses to say where Delph is, so the Doctor says there is a lot to answer since there's a battlefield outside and she has doubt in her eyes. Andinio merely repeats her wonder at Tzim-Sha somehow knowing the Doctor. Back with Yaz and Paltraki, a room is discovered with four more crystals; Paltraki recalls how he and his crew fought their in spite of the planet's effect. While Ryan and Graham struggle after finding more people trapped in stasis than expected, the Andinio and the Doctor arrive to see Tzim-Sha. As the Doctor cracks jokes, Tzim-Sha tells Andinio to "ready him" for a new target, and she reluctantly complies and leaves. Tzim-Sha explains that the Doctor corrupted his recall device and with the DNA bombs, he was left on this desolate world, unable to leave without dying. Fortunately for him, the Ux were there as well, and as they believed him to be their god, he was able to combine his Stenza science knowledge with their abilities. Ryan and Graham worry about how long it will take to free everyone, and whether the pods will kiss the inhabitants if opened, before arguing again about Tzim-Sha. Ryan surprises his granddad by saying he loves him, begging him to be the better man, and their map tracker alerts them of Sniperbots on the move. Tzim-Sha expresses his desire for revenge on the Doctor, simultaneously thanking her for making him a god when he would have merely been a leader. She demands to know what the crystal is, and she's too busy to answer Yaz about the others, and Yaz and Paltraki are forced to hide when Andinio enters. She approaches Delph, who is trapped in a machine, and despite his pleading, uses their powers for a process Tzim-Sha says took thousands of years. The Doctor learns the fleets came to stop him because the shrine is a weapon; after the Ux saved him, they made a device capable of putting entire civilizations in stasis. As a wormhole opens in the sky Paltraki remembers that Tzim-Sha stole five planets, which are contained in the crystals, killing the inhabitants in the process. The Doctor demands that Tzim-Sha stop, but he says he is rewriting the universe's laws and that these are the consequences of the Doctor's actions. She warns him that his tech isn't stable, so the planets can't exist together like this, and bringing another would be catastrophic; he thinks she's just bluffing. As the Doctor says they can't stop the machine without possibly killing the Ux or destroying the planet, they realize the next target is Earth. The episode comes to a close as the Doctor tries to stop Tzim-Sha, and Ryan and Graham try to free everyone without the latter becoming a murderer.
This episode was full of mystery, though I was a bit underwhelmed by what we got from the Ux, despite their magnificent powers.
As Paltraki has amnesia for much of the episode, there is a great air of wonder around what exactly happened and why. Mark Addy does a fantastic job as the commander, really selling that he is bewildered after his memory loss while working as a fine addition to the team. Despite having no memory, he is quite heroic even at the start, wanting to help his teammates despite struggling to even recall their names or his. Bringing back Tzim-Sha was a great move, both as something I'd hoped would happen and something that actually explains some past events. At the end of this season's first episode and the start of the second, the TARDIS crew was left floating in space after the Doctor's attempt at teleporting to the ship failed. In the second episode, she wonders why this happened, and even the pilots don't know why the planet they were aiming for isn't in its proper place. As they learned it fell victim to the Stenza, where we first saw the Sniperbots, it could be that the alien race left the planet out of alignment after failing to catch it in stasis, as Tzim-Sha said they were never able to do. There is also a parallel to that world with how Tzim-Sha had the Ux build his weapon, as there was the message in episode 2 left by the planet's inhabitants talking about how the Stenza forced them to use their genius for destruction. This would give some unfortunate credence to Tzim-Sha's statement that his work is a consequence of the Doctor's actions, as if it weren't for her, he never would have encountered the Ux as he did. Essentially, this serves as a classic idea used for superheroes in which they, despite helping people, unintentionally create their own foes. It's not as if the Doctor could have known this would happen, however, and she couldn't just let Tzim-Sha kill someone and return to lead his murderous people. Despite enjoying how all this ties together, and impressed with the power of the Ux, I did find they were rather lacking as characters. Their situation is an obvious case of blindly following one's faith, and while there was potential in how intelligent they are, little is seen of them. Delph hardly does anything for most of the episode, and with much of the focus on the mystery of the crystals and Tzim-Sha's return, even Andinio doesn't do much. Her character for most of the episode is solely dedicated to praising Tzim-Sha or following his orders, even to a point she knows is wrong. Another good focus on the episode is Graham and Ryan's relationship and how they're still coping with Grace's death. This continues to hit Graham hard, and it's a natural reaction to want the revenge he does if given the chance to take it. He and Ryan have both grown since the start of the season, however, and an important part of Doctor Who to keep going is the idea of breaking cycles of hatred. There's no reason to think that Ryan would be over his nan's death yet, but he is trying hard to accept it, and it says a lot about his character that he's helping Graham, too. And there's definitely a true thing for Graham to consider with his desire, especially after Ryan says Grace wouldn't want him to take revenge. Why go through with something she wouldn't want that could get him killed, especially when he'd give up the chance to stay on the TARDIS? He feels he has a lot to prove, but he'd also be risking quite a lot simply in attempting to get the revenge he desires. The Ux might have been a bit disappointing this episode, but overall I enjoyed the mystery of what was happening, and as always the performances given.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorI love the entertainment side of things. Video games, tv shows, superheroes and movies are my passion and I'd love to get the news out for things I enjoy. My contact page has links to my social media, so if you enjoy what I have to say, likes, shares, comments, and follows are always greatly appreciated! Archives
April 2020
Categories
All
|