NuWho Rewatch: Dinosaurs on a Spaceship

[purplecat]

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship is basically series 7's big dumb two-parter except that it only has one part and its completely aware of how dumb it is, and is just going for the silliness. I love it.

Since I mostly find big dumb two-parters somewhat tiresome it is a bit difficult to pinpoint why I think this story works when so many similar stories don't. I'm sure the fact it doesn't outstay its welcome helps, as do the dinosaurs. But, to a certain extent, this is worth it just for Rory's dad and so I think the key is that it is aware that it is ridiculous. It's called Dinosaurs on a Spaceship and it does exactly what it says on the tin.

We made tame layman watch this. He missed the start of series 7 first time around so we actually made him watch both this and Asylum of the Daleks. He thought Asylum was good but wasn't particularly excited by it, but he enjoyed Dinosaurs on a Spaceship a great deal even though (as a professional dinosaur type) he thought the triceratops was a little small.

Once you accept this is a silly story, there is a great deal to like here: Brian Williams; Neferti and Riddel; the triceratops; Amy with companions; I could go on.

In this context the ending in which the Doctor deliberately condemns Solomon to death is jarring and I was interested that NLSS Child instantly picked up on this - "but the Doctor doesn't do that". Tame Layman, interestingly, liked it. I think that honestly deciding to get rid of someone who was dangerous and unrepentant was better than all Ten's false choices in which he offers a route out before revealing that he has the upper hand and condemning someone or something to death. I think Tame Layman's response is more informed by the ethics of working with experimental animals. He felt that, given we have no problems seeing the Doctor condemn Daleks or Cybermen to death, we should have no compunction over him condemning even humans to death. At any rate, surprising as the Doctor's treatment of Solomon is, I don't think it undoes the charm of the rest of the story.

*Shrug* There are dinosaurs on a spaceship and, in that context, the family is very, very easy to please.

Comments

[jesuswasbatman]

I thought at the time that this was not so much a condensed New Who two-parter as a tribute to early William Hartnell stories - large parts of the episode devoted to simply exploring the environment and working out what was going on, companions with lots of actual stuff to do, and a villain who is very nasty but a threat only to the immediate cast rather than a whole planet or universe.

I thought to be honest that the Doctor killing Solomon in cold blood was just Chibnall being grimdark as usual, and that the primary explanation for it was meant to be the blatant nastiness of Solomon's barely-bowdlerised threat to rape Nefertiti.

[purplecat]

I hadn't thought of that. I think this is Chibnall's best work for the series, but I wonder if he dislikes the kind of light-and-frothy approach (even if he clearly has a gift for it) and so inserts these rather jarring, as you say, grimdark elements.

[daniel-saunders.livejournal.com]

I didn't like this at all on first viewing. Big, dumb and stupid, as you say. Also egregiously sexist and (yet) another story that thinks that sexual harrassment is funny, particularly if directed by women against men.

On second viewing it seemed a bit better, although all the flaws mentioned still stand. Dinosaurs on a spaceship don't really appeal per se, but Brian was good fun - a rare example of a new series companion parent we were left wanting to see more of. (Actually, I always vaguely wondered what happened to Amy's parents, after being recreated when the universe was rebooted in The Big Bang).

[purplecat]

I think, as big, dumb and stupid goes, this isn't bad. But it definitely has some out of place elements that it would have been better off without.