NuWho Rewatch: The Beast Below
Apr. 15th, 2015 08:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
purplecatWhen I first viewed The Beast Below, I assumed that Amy's observation "very old and very kind" was intended to be a manifesto for the Eleventh Doctor, much as "never cruel or cowardly" was used as a manifesto for Benny Summerfield. However, much like the concept of Doctor Who as Fairy Tale I'm not sure it really stuck.
We are still in Doctor Who as Fairy Tale land here. The Beast Below is riffing on the concept of London as a fairy tale landscape, with its fairy queen walking disguised among the commoners. I suspectsir_guinglain may have a better grasp than me of the evolution of this idea. It's prevalent in modern Urban Fantasy, but its also clearly perceptible in Gaiman's Neverwhere and I suspect in a number of earlier Children's books - Carbonel perhaps? The idea is underscored by the children's rhyme that frames the story.
I think The Beast Below also joins a group of Doctor Who stories where the world building is ambitious but falls apart because of the parallels it is trying to draw to our own lives. I'm thinking of Gridlock here, and also Paradise Towers which we were watching on the Randomizer in parallel to this. Their societies don't quite make sense and are a little too subsumed to the point, here I think that communal decision making can allow a communal abdication of responsibility. It's a shame because there is a lot to like about The Beast Below. It gives the impression it knows what its doing. It's a good story for both Amy and the 11th Doctor, the guest cast are engaging and the central plot is well constructed. It's just it gives me the itchy feeling at the back of my mind that "this all doesn't quite make sense".
We are still in Doctor Who as Fairy Tale land here. The Beast Below is riffing on the concept of London as a fairy tale landscape, with its fairy queen walking disguised among the commoners. I suspect
sir_guinglain may have a better grasp than me of the evolution of this idea. It's prevalent in modern Urban Fantasy, but its also clearly perceptible in Gaiman's Neverwhere and I suspect in a number of earlier Children's books - Carbonel perhaps? The idea is underscored by the children's rhyme that frames the story. I think The Beast Below also joins a group of Doctor Who stories where the world building is ambitious but falls apart because of the parallels it is trying to draw to our own lives. I'm thinking of Gridlock here, and also Paradise Towers which we were watching on the Randomizer in parallel to this. Their societies don't quite make sense and are a little too subsumed to the point, here I think that communal decision making can allow a communal abdication of responsibility. It's a shame because there is a lot to like about The Beast Below. It gives the impression it knows what its doing. It's a good story for both Amy and the 11th Doctor, the guest cast are engaging and the central plot is well constructed. It's just it gives me the itchy feeling at the back of my mind that "this all doesn't quite make sense".