Yeah there wasn't a lot of plot, which was a shame. I loved the opening montage though, and the solution was a lot better than last week's. The supporting cast was underused on the whole though, which let it down.

That wasn't a bad episode, quite enjoyable to watch, and less characters been used, I loved the array of different aliens in the episode, reminds me of Quark's Bar in Star Trek, DS9. 9/10

 

Next week's episode looks a bit dodgy all set in a submarine

It was more like the Restaurant at the End of the Universe from Hithchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy which has the added advantage of a Dr Who link.

I found the episode pretty average and the Doctor's speech before he fed the God was cringeworthy. I liked the Clara-related stuff though.

Viewing figures for the series so far:

 

Asylum of the Daleks - 6.4m (o/night) / 8.3m (final)

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship - 5.5m (o/night) / 7.57m (final)

A Town Called Mercy - 6.6m (o/night) / 8.42m (final)

The Power of Three - 5.5m (o/night) / 7.67m (final)

The Angels Take Manhattan - 5.9m (o/night) / 7.82m (final)

The Snowmen - 7.6m (o/night) / 9.87m (final)

The Bells of Saint John - 6.18m (o/night)

The Rings of Akhaten - 5.5m (o/night)

It was a bit of a BORE to be honest. I love Clara, I loved the stuff with the parents found it all interesting, it was nice to see new aliens but the story was DIRE. Singing? Ok but that much? No clear idea of what was going on and an overly soppy ending which has unfortunately become a DW trademark. Very much a FILLER if not for tge scenes with Clara's backstory.

I watched it back late last night, and noticed that there are a large amount of plot holes. And it seems like there must be an awful lot of deleted scenes. The scene where Clara was waiting to be collected by the Doctor, and then it suddenly cut to her being in the TARDIS, and them mid-conversation - that was all too quick. And I think the Vigil must have been in more scenes than just the two that they were in on-screen, because the way they were forgotten about was sad. :(

It was an alright episode. The best part was at the start when you saw all the aliens moving around the market.

 

I still can't really warm to Clara. I just don't find her believable.

 

1. The Angels Take Manhattan

2. The Snowmen

3. Asylum Of The Daleks

4. A Town Called Mercy

5. The Rings of Akhaten

6. The Bells of Saint John

7. The Power Of Three

8. Dinosaurs On A Spaceship

Edited April 7, 201312 yr by Sabrewulf

Ooh, rate ^_^

 

1. The Snowmen

2. The Power of Three

3. The Angels Take Manhattan

4. The Bells of Saint John

5. The Rings of Akhaten

6. A Town Called Mercy

7. Asylum of the Daleks

8. Dinosaurs on a Spaceship

It seems odd there would be a lot of deleted scenes. Going by what did make the cut they must have been truly awful to not make it.

Hmm, not the greatest of episodes. I liked the final 15 minutes a lot but the setting was very underused and as much as they tried to make the aliens look real they all looked like misshapen sacks for the most part.

 

Seems odd that the leaf is dealt with so quickly also, and we're no closer to finding out who Clara actually is.

I did like the barking alien. That was the sole 'ok' part.

It seems odd there would be a lot of deleted scenes. Going by what did make the cut they must have been truly awful to not make it.

There were a lot of deleted scenes from The Curse of the Black Spot, too - namely the scene where the Boatswain was taken by the Siren.

I thought that was pretty DIRE to be honest. There was no real point to any of the aliens, the fact the thing was behind glass also bugged me. The singing malarchy was pointless. Let's face it there was no real plot of any substance. I've seen better pyramid sets on Crystal Maze.

The aliens looked like something from TOS of Star Trek, which given it was nigh on 50 years ago is not a compliment. It was an ok episode, but total filler. The kind of thing I would have hoped to avoid with only having 8 episode this series. I enjoyed it and it was quite good fun but it lacked a strong narrative and I don't think the characters were really given enough TO DO, again.

Doreen (the monster that Clara bought the moped from) reminded me a lot of Dorian when he wore the mask in The Mask.

There were a lot of deleted scenes from The Curse of the Black Spot, too - namely the scene where the Boatswain was taken by the Siren.

 

My point was that so little happened in the episode there can't have been loads of deletion based on the fact the episode was SCRAPING THE BARREL as it was and anything removed may as well have stayed in. There was that little actually going on.

Have to say that these last two episodes have been a big pile of meh with a great big Amy Pond shaped whole in the cast. I'm finding the new girl seriously dull. Distractingly so. Somewhere along the way they've forgotten to put in anything to care about. The Vigil were a great opportunity for a strong new monster/race but they were so quickly and summarily dismissed as you wondered why they bothered to put so much effort into designing them.

I also spent much of the episodes thinking that Matt Smith just gets better at playing the role but maybe he should leave now before he gets branded the actor who finally killed The Doctor.

 

However I am still looking forward to next week. Premise wise it doesn't come much more Who. Trapped on a Russian nuclear sub at the height of the Cold War with a very large and dangerous looking Martian on board that is most likely Hell bent on starting WWIII. Should provide all kinds of tension, paranoia, claustrophobia and of course the long overdue of one of Doctor Who's top 5 classic monsters

My point was that so little happened in the episode there can't have been loads of deletion based on the fact the episode was SCRAPING THE BARREL as it was and anything removed may as well have stayed in. There was that little actually going on.

True. I think the story served more of a purpose to explain Clara's history rather than have a story about the Rings of Akhaten itself. It was just the Doctor showing Clara somewhere awesome to show her how good travelling with him can be. But I do agree that a story is essential, because it wouldn't be worth watching otherwise, and it did lack in some places. There was a story underneath all of the running around, etc - but it just wasn't resolved as good as it could have been, and as others have said, it was leading up to nothing.

 

The pre-titles sequences normally set up the whole story. It did exactly that for The Bells of Saint John, and the fact that the whole of the pre-titles sequence for The Rings of Akhaten was about Clara and her past, shows that it really was a bigger focus than the plot itself. Disappointing, yes, but the scenes with Clara's mother and father were executed perfectly.

It was definitely an episode that was designed to establish Clara as a companion. The setting was very good and designed very well. The Vigil would have been very creepy if they were used more so I'm a bit disappointed by that as they were the highlight of the episode for me.

 

I don't really like Moffat's decision to not have any two-parters as I would have liked to see a two-parter of this episode as it felt like more plot points could have been added but weren't because it would have felt very rushed otherwise.

I don't really like Moffat's decision to not have any two-parters as I would have liked to see a two-parter of this episode as it felt like more plot points could have been added but weren't because it would have felt very rushed otherwise.

Totally agree with you there. Whilst it's a decision made purely to inject more variety into the series - he's employed only a select few writers, some who have written more than one episode. Dinosaurs on a Spaceship or The Power of Three (the latter especially, given it was all resolved a bit too quickly - and we barely met the villain before he was defeated) could have been two-part episodes, both being written by Chris Chibnall. The same applies to The Rings of Akhaten and Hide which could have been two-part episodes, both being written by Neil Cross, and Cold War and The Crimson Horror, both being written by Mark Gatiss.

And Moffat opting not to have two-part finales is very strange. The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang was excellent. The Wedding of River Song was good, but not as excellent as the Series 5 finale - and the upcoming Series 7 finale is obviously going to have a massive revelation which will keep us hanging until the 50th Anniversary, but is it all going to happen too quickly?