Right, time to do this properly (for a previous attempt, go here). The Doctor takes Amy on a trip to the 29th century and Starship UK. See, in the future there are solar flares that caused everyone to pack up and leave the Earth (see also The Ark in Space and The Sontaran Experiment). Scotland got their own ship, so again KAREN GILLAN'S LEGS Amy sticks out like a sore thumb.
(Actually KAREN GILLAN'S LEGS aren't so prominently on display here, on account of the nightie she's wearing. Nevertheless, I love my running gag a bit too much to give it up.)
The Doctor insists that they can't interfere, and the very next moment he's comforting a crying child. What's brilliant is that this isn't just a little gag; it comes back at the end of the episode. Unlike RTD, who tended to craft his episodes around one or two major gimmicks, Moff likes to leave a trail of clues, Sherlock Holmes-style (appropriate, considering that other show he runs) for the characters to put together at the end. This episode is perhaps the best example of this approach, as Amy draws all the parallels between the Star Whale and the Doctor.
The Doctor puts a glass of water on the ground ("there's an escaped fish" - why oh why didn't Matt Smith land the role of Ford Prefect in any of the Hitchhiker's adaptations? He'd be perfect) and anyone who's seen Jurassic Park knows exactly what the lack of vibrations means. Um. Sorta. Anyone who's been on an airplane knows exactly what the lack of vibrations mean. It means the ship's engines aren't running.
I don't really like it when the audience gets ahead of the Doctor - it worked in "The Eleventh Hour" when we all knew Amy was Amelia before the Doctor did, but that's because it was funny how badly he'd overshot. In contrast, in an episode like "The Time of Angels," when everybody and his mum was screaming at the screen that all the statues had one head, I got annoyed. Here it happens twice (sort of) and is handled decently each time. First off, the glass of water trick: the Doctor knows what it means, just like we do. It just takes him a little while to act on that knowledge. It's not like he knows an innocent creature is being tortured at the time. The second time, at the end, we're working it out alongside Amy. Of course, we're also going "who was the genius who started zapping the Beast in the first place?" but that kind of gets ignored.
So yeah, who was the genius who started zapping the Beast in the first place? Can we throw them off Starship UK? Or did they step into that crack in the Universe, and thus nobody remembers them? (Hey, that's my new excuse for everything. Inane flirtation dialogue in The Curse of Fenric? Crack in the Universe.)
It's a great opportunity for the new stars to strut their stuff. Matt still gives off Tennant-y vibes, but I'll forgive that because I know he becomes his own character by the end of the season. I absolutely adore the "used future" feel (see the original Star Wars trilogy, Blade Runner, Alien, Firefly, and Doctor Who's own "The Long Game" and "Utopia" for more examples). The only real flaw is the premise - who the hell was the moron who started zapping the Beast in the first place? As much as it pains me to penalize an otherwise-great episode on the basis of one tiny flaw, the fact of the matter is that this flaw lies at the very heart of the story.
6 out of 10.
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