Praxeus

[purplecat]

This was probably my favourite story of the series so far. Like Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror it forms a good solid mid-season story. It didn't deliver the fannish highs of Fugitive of the Judoon or Spyfall but its story had, I don't know, a better shape to it and felt more like a thing in its own right and less like a delivery mechanism for an arc plot.

I actually have a suspicion that Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror is the better story of the two, but I have a real weak spot for companions being sent off by the Doctor to do something independent and complicated, that will take a while. It doesn't really happen very often (companions generally wander off, are forcibly separated, or sent off to do a small trivial task that then gets out of hand). Interestingly it happened with the Ryan and Yaz plot in Spyfall Part 1 and Praxeus started in media res with all the companions off doing their own bit of investigating. I wonder if this is part of why Chibnall wanted a crowded Tardis but he just hasn't been able to get it to work that often script-wise. There was an interesting article someone (probably sir_guinglain) linked to on Twitter about how splitting the cast up in this way takes some of the pressure off filming schedules.

Speaking of the companions- I'm glad Graham is taking more of a back seat this season. The character works well as a mixture of comic relief and wise-old-man, but so much of series 11 revolved around him that it feels like time for the others to step forward. I would have said the same for Ryan, but I like what they are doing with him now. In particular, I like the way that he's the companion who does most of the connecting and talking to people. Yaz always feels a bit more like the police officer she is, when she interacts with the guest cast with a sense that she's making conversation in order to understand the problem. Yaz also appears to have got a touch of the Claras - though I can't quite figure out if the way she went off on her own was just slightly clunkily written, making her seem weirdly insistent about it, or it is supposed to signify something.

Praxeus' frenetic pace, I suspect, hides more than a few plot holes, dangling threads and pedestrian character work. The poor dead forgotten alien scientist (at least I assume he was an alien scientist) on the beach may well be only the most obvious point where the story drops a thread or character its no longer interested in. While I liked the astronaut and the policeman, their story did seem to go from A to B to C in fairly straightforward ways while not quite making sense (who exactly texted the policeman the astronaut's location?).

Where I think Praxeus perhaps wins out over the Tesla story, as well as containing a trope I happen to really like, is perhaps that Tesla felt quite like traditional Doctor Who story telling while this felt like something a bit different with its more global ambition and rapid switching between locations.

I have a suspicion Praxeus may not age well on repeat viewing, and I doubt it will ever be topping series 12 polls, but I was happy.

Comments

[chamilet]

I liked it well enough, but I'm getting a tad tired of "we're killing the planet" stories. I know that well enough IRL. I don't need that in my entertainment.

[purplecat]

I was a lot happier with the environmentalism here than in Orphan 55. I don't mind Doctor Who containing messaging particularly when it focuses on things like plastic mats in the ocean that may not be widely known by your average 7-14 year old, I just really bounced of the "and the moral is" presentation in Orphan 55.

[chamilet]

I didn't mind that one as much, perhaps because it came first.

LOLOL. We pretty much have the exact opposite reaction to every DW episode! Whenever I love one and come here to read your review, you're like 'Meh'.

[vivdunstan]

I definitely preferred the environmental approach in Praxeus to Orphan 55. Much more subtly done. And I liked that it covered micro plastics.

Having said that it’s the 3rd environmentally heavy episode of the 13th Doc’s era, I think, if we include the giant spiders one for the toxic waste element. Which does run the risk of becoming a bit repetitive. Though it helps if it’s handled more subtly than in Orphan 55.

[purplecat]

It's hard to know isn't it. There's a case to be made that the climate crisis is hugely important, of great interest to younger views (which are supposed to be a bit part of Who's target market) and more widely accepted across the political spectrum than many other issues Dr Who might want to engage with - so I can see a good case for wanting it to be a key theme of your era (assuming, of course, this is deliberate and not just chance). The point where "engage with" becomes "harangue and preach" is kind of hard to judge - there were plenty of people who thought the speech at the end of Orphan 55 was precisely the kind of of direct and on the nose delivery that the current crisis requires.

[daniel-saunders.livejournal.com]

This is probably my favourite so far this year too, for the reasons you mention. It felt a bit like a McCoy story, with the story already some way along when we join it and with more independent companions being sent off by the Doctor to have their own mini-adventures. Also the environmental message wasn't as clunkily delivered as in Orphan 55.

[purplecat]

Yes, the independent companion thing was something I first really noticed with Ace (and even more so in some of the novels).

[fredbassett]

My favourite, too. Only one throwaway death that pissed me off. Sorry for short responses. Typing on phone.