Kill the Moon

"There are some moments in time that I simply can't see."

Writers: Peter Harness

Format: TV

Broadcast: 4th October 2014

Series: 8.07

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, Clara

Synopsis 

The Doctor and Clara crash-land on the moon to find a base full of corpses, vicious spider-like creatures poised to attack and a terrible dilemma...

Verdict 

Kill the Moon was yet another episode of superb quality! I keep trying to find reasons to dislike the direction of the series regarding the role of the companion but the sheer story telling brilliance really is overshadowing things. Again, the tiresome and stupid 'picking up' of the companion occurred in the school which to me is just a complete waste of time. Why can't things just revert back to the Classic era, or even the Eccleston and Tennant years where the only reason we saw the companion go home was for part of the plot in the story. But here it's just needless stupidness and I really can't tell you how much I dislike it. It's a major reason my opinions on Amy have gone down after the first half of series seven. And now we have the whole ridiculousness of the relationship with Danny. Yawn. Don't care. Don't want to know about it. 

So that's the rant at the general subtle story of the series and companion direction over. It's a shame really because I adored Clara with the Eleventh Doctor but she's not up to her quality of the last series! However, as was seen evidently in this brilliant episode, the contrast between her and the Twelfth Doctor is just staggeringly good. Peter Capaldi really has brought a new slant to the character of the Doctor which I just love. I really do. Don't get me wrong, the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors were outstanding but I really hope the people who only acknowledge them as the greatest Doctors are moaning. Capaldi is bringing back the alienation and awkwardness to the Doctor. He's got a great mixture of Hartnell, Pertwee and C.Baker all thrown in and his opening series has just been quality. The setting of the moon was always going to be good as was clear with past stories set there, most popularly The Moonbase. The eery atmosphere was wonderful throughout! I'm not really sure why Courtney was a major character in the episode but she didn't put a foot wrong really and brought some humour. Clara was wonderful as usual in this episode. Now, you may think I'm contradicting myself but my above rant was at the companion role rather than Clara herself. I loved how she wanted the Doctor to tell Courtney that she was special but instead of just telling her he made her the first women on the moon! Now that's the Doctor all over. I found it quite funny how irrelevant Duke and Henry were but Lundvik was magnificent. She really was. The threat of the spider bacteria creatures was daunting and if you have a genuine fear of spiders then I can't imagine the fright this episode would give you! The design was thrillingly scary. The major concept of the plot was amazing! The moon was breaking up, in 2049. How do these brilliant writers come up with these ideas? Who looks at the moon and think, that could be an egg with a creature inside. Amazing. I loved how the Doctor reacted to discovering the truth about the moon, he really was like a kid at Christmas! And then he left the choice of the moon to humanity. I admired that. He'd saved Earth time and time and time again but at the end of the day it wasn't his planet. So he left the choice of what to do with the moon up to the human race. A teenager, an astronaut and a school teacher. Just fantastic! The consultation and discussion was intriguing and it was obvious the planet would knock out the lights. But would they really have taken the broadcast seriously? It was delivered stunningly though. And then Clara went against humanity magnificently pushing the abort switch. She wouldn't let the creature that wasn't even born yet die. But then she had a right go at the Doctor which was a big shock. I was almost in tears when Clara said she might slap the Doctor so hard he'd regenerate! I didn't get why she was so angry at the Doctor for letting the human race decide the future of their planet. It was brilliant! The stabilisers certainly need to come off for Clara. It was a knee-jerk reaction I think and I was shocked that she wanted nothing to do with the Doctor. I didn't get it but I loved how strongly she felt about it! Of course she'll come crawling back. She won't give up travelling in the TARDIS! 

Overall, a marvellous episode. It really was astounding at times. Eery excellence, conflict amongst the regulars and a beautiful moment with the moon hatching! Apologies for the ranting at the companion direction but that's not my thoughts on Clara at all. I love her! And Peter Capaldi has started in sublime style. 

Rating: 9/10