by judderman on Sat May 31, 2008 3:32 pm
Another Stephen Moffat creepshow. Nice zombie riffs.
Not entirely pleased with the Vashta Narada; the idea that the human fear of the dark, with all its primal, monstrous, demonic and elemental manifestations, is ultimately down to a swarm of bees was a bit of a missed opportunity. Anyone who has read William Gibson's "Hinterlands" knows that fear of the dark can be far better done in scifi. It's strange how few scifi writers have realised that space is infinite dark.
As usual, Moffat did something that few Dr Who writers ever do and employed time travel as a plot device. I liked the idea of a future companion interacting with a past Doctor, especially since it almost made it mandatory that the eternally hot Alex Kingston will show up again at a later date.
The one thing that this episode lacked was a standout performance from a new guest star. Empty Child had John Barrowman, Girl in the Fireplace had Sophia Myles, Blink had Carey Mulligan. Alex is great, of course, but she's already well known. None of the other secondary characters made an impact, though Talulah Riley, I have to admit, is hot.