Like the Master, I can't resist a ticking clock and relentless 'race
against time' narratives are easy to make compelling. However, they can
have minimal rewatch value, as I commented on when I rewatched "42". I
was not particularly impressed with Stephen Thompson’s script for his
previous story, "The Curse of the Black Spot" but I was extremely
impressed by "The Reichenbach Fall", his script for Sherlock, so I was
intrigued as to what he would cook up for his second effort. Thankfully,
Thompson has remembered something very important – if your story is
going to be a runaround, make sure that the things being run to, with
and away from are interesting. The mythos of the TARDIS is intriguingly
explored – the oft-mentioned TARDIS swimming pool (which appears to be
the size of the Sea of Galilee) the intriguing library with liquid books
in bottles, the tree-like architectural reconfiguration system and we
finally get to look into the Eye of Harmony. There are monsters lurking
in the TARDIS and their true nature makes them all the more chilling.
After the running around and the ensuing catastrophe, there is a big
friendly reset button to be pressed, of course and, I must again state
that there are no inherently bad plot devices, just bad uses of them and
if you can't play with the structure of time inside the TARDIS, then
where can you play with it?
Matt Smith continues to be as mercurially electrifying as usual and
Jenna-Louise Coleman continues to delight as Clara and the story has us
finally trusting Clara, if still not understanding who or what she is.
The supporting characters, the VanBaalen brothers are simply drawn, yet
very effective – of course Gregor would attempt to steal a circuit,
putting the whole enterprise in danger, of course he would exploit his
younger brother's accident to take control of the company. It is things
like this which make the apparently contrived plot points work, and a
far cry from Guy Crayford's eye. Since Grange Hill and his days
as 'Asher D', Ashley Walters has progressed in leaps and bounds as an
actor to match his natural charisma and he makes Gregor thoroughly
believable. Jahvel Hall also does fine work as Tricky although I’m not
so convinced by Mark Oliver as Bram. Oliver's uneven performance apart,
Mat King makes a fine début behind the camera making the story tense and
scary. The production values are astonishing, with the set design being
fully up to realising Thompson's concepts, the awe inspiring Eye of
Harmony being only one highlight. The monsters are a very simple piece
of design that, presumably, didn’t eat up too much of the budget – yet
they do exactly what they are supposed to do with great effect.
A wise man once said, "The kids want Narnia, not the wardrobe". However,
the TARDIS is one hell of a wardrobe and, whilst it isn’t as brilliant
as the previous ‘wardrobe story’, "The Doctor’s Wife", "Journey to the
Centre of the TARDIS" is boldly imaginative and exciting and certainly
merits a rewatch or two.
NEXT "The Crimson Horror"
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