Doctor Who - The Rings of Akhaten (Some Spoilers)

Doctor Who - The Rings of Akhaten

Review by Ken Parker

This has got to be one of the oddest Doctor Who episodes ever. At times I was thinking that this was turning into a horrible idea but then something would change my mind. First off, we don't have lots of characters running around yelling at each other and flirting with one another. This is another simple story which allows the characters of the Doctor and Clara to bond even more. Their chemistry is really working and this is just going to make every future episode better.

Some spoilers

The story is fairly alien. We see a religious society who believes that one of their gods is in a temple on a nearby asteroid. It is their religion that creates special people who sing songs in order to keep the god happy and asleep. The people of this religion are very much in thinking that thoughts and memories and experiences of stories make up the back bone of their religion and it is this story telling that appeases the gods through singing. The Doctor and Clara are just here to see it and Clara, for the first time, is seeing things so different and fantastic. Her child like wonder is portrayed beautifully by Jenna Louise Coleman.

Clara meets young Merry who is to become the next singer for the god but Merry is frightened that she will mess up. Things do go wrong and it would appear the god is waking. The Doctor and Clara are now trapped inside the temple along with Merry but the being that is waking is not the god. The god is much larger actually. And he is not a god!

I feel that this story is going to take heavy criticism for basically the idea is so odd. The idea is that these people sing to their god and now that the god is waking up, it will destroy everything. It is a hard concept and I think that is what makes this story interesting. It is such an alien way of life that we have not seen anything quite like it before. In the end the Doctor attempts to feed the god his memories, thinking that it would be too much for the god to handle. It is up to Clara who takes it a step further and gives the god a symbol of things that could have been, a much bigger dinner for the god who can't take it.

The story will also grow criticism because the fighting against the god is basically a bunch of people standing around thinking and singing. I think, and I hope I am wrong, the general public would rather see weapons like missiles or temporal cannons. This story is more like a play, basically happening in one or two settings which also makes it different.

The writer has also tipped his hat at the movie Blade Runner with a couple of references which fit in nicely – well, at least one of them did.

I will say a couple of words about the sonic screwdriver. It has now become as integral to the Doctor as Captain America's shield and Thor's hammer to their respective users. The sonic screwdriver is being used more than ever and it appears it will be even more important next week. I don't really like that but am becoming used to it and it doesn't appear to be helping him that much. It is less a magic wand than more a tricorder, giving him information and ruling out ways to escape, etc.

There are some excellent moments with Clara and Merry and I like this. We actually had no other major characters and so thank you writer Neil Cross for allowing us to get to know Clara. It is also great to not always be reminded that there is something up with her. She didn't keep repeating her catch phrases of run you clever boy or souffle girl. We don't have to be reminded all the time that we will deal with that soon

enough with plenty of returning characters and plenty of silliness.

Speaking of silliness, the Doctor had some moments from time to time. The barking communication bordered on bad, but for the most part this half of season has been relatively serious with enough light comedy and eccentricity to make it one of the better ones. Next week we have “Cold War” and is it possible that this season's good episodes will continue? Oh yea!