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Five Thoughts on Doctor Who’s “The Ghost Monument”

By | October 15th, 2018
Posted in Television | % Comments

Last time on Doctor Who, in “The Woman That Fell to Earth,” our time team had just been transported to outer space by The Doctor as she tried to find the location to her TARDIS. Ryan, Graham and Yazmin had been unwillingly taken along for the ride and were floating in space, gasping for air, the Doctor looking on helplessly as her and her friends look as if they were about to die.

As always, Spoilers ahead.

So here it goes, my five thoughts on Doctor Who’s “The Ghost Monument.”

1, New Theme and Title Screen

One thing that was left out of the last episode, was of course, the title sequence. This has been one of the trademark features of each episode and changing with every Doctor, (apart from the a few, who all have similar sequences). This sequence however was a throw back to the original three, with collapsing bubbles and a futuristic feel, which perfectly matched the theme music over the top. This title transported me back to when I was eight, watching Doctor Who on VHS on a Sunday morning on GOLD (UK TV Channel), I like it.

Chris Chibnall, the executive writer for the new series is a fan of the third Doctor, Jon Pertwee, which is why these new titles might seem a bit shorter than normal.

2, Here we go again

We enter the story with the team being picked up and split into groups of two, each not knowing where they are or what they are doing apart from the Doctor. Ryan is awaken from his ‘space’ sleep by his step grand-dad, Graham, who helps him come to realize that they are on their first alien space ship and have been taken in by pilot and Captain, Angstrom (Susan Lynch). Meanwhile The Doctor and Yazmin are on another ship which is being piloted, if not badly, by Epzo (Shaun Dooley), who, as Yazmin wakes up, finds the Doctor and Ezpo arguing on how to pilot the crashing ship they are on. After some arguing, which you can now see Jodie Whittaker taking control of the situation, just like the Doctors before her, but she does it with a sense of calm and to the point.

The introduction of these two characters and how they interact with the cast is interesting as there is little time for character build up. Angstrom’s group lands safely and Epzo’s crash lands, but everyone survives thanks to the Doctor. Our ‘time team’ is then reconnected and decides to follows our two new supporting characters.

3A race to the finish?

Our heroes, following the two newbies, are then lead to a tent, which inside holds the key to this week’s adventure. We are introduced to Liin (Art Malik) a Champion of a race which leads to the Ghost Monument. The Doctor and her friends found out that Ezpo and Angstorm are on the same race, pitted against each other. The Doctor then finds out that the Ghost Monument, is her TARDIS, which means: she, Graham, Yazmin and Ryan will have to follow the race’s path to get home. The only rule is: don’t travel by night as the planet they are on is dangerous, but they are not told why.

I thought this concept was interesting, to throw our heroes into a small event, which only has two competitors. We already know who our team are and introducing two new characters who already know each other, we can get a lot more character development. Throughout this episode, we have Graham and Ryan, who share a few touching moments, like bringing up Ryan’s grandma Grace’s death. On one occasion, Graham asks Ryan about calling him grand-dad and Ryan wants to call him Graham, which shows how the series will pan out. (We have yet, however, to know anything Yazmin’s family.) It will be very interesting in episodes to come, to see whether they will connect or not. Personally, I would like to see some conflict between Graham and Ryan until the final episodes.

4, Robotic and synthetic enemies

On traveling through the vast sandy land of the planet, we come to what looks like an 80’s mall covered in sand. Ezpo rushes through the ruins and accidentally actives sniper robots which start attacking everyone. After running away from the said robots, our travelers find a safe spot, where we find out that the enemies from last episode, the ‘Stenza,’ (Tim Shaw), have used the now extinct inhabitants to build weapons for them. Which does lead to a very interesting point: will the Stenza be the ‘big’ bad this season? Who knows but if they are, Chris Chibnall will have to explain why they are building weapons, when, while hunting humans in the previous episode, they aren’t allowed weapons. We will see if that is explained later on in the season.

Continued below

After escaping the sniper robots again, the group find out that the weapons the previous inhabitants created are the Remnants, (talking ripped sheets), which kill you by suffocation. The sheets speak and mention the Timeless Child. Whom might this be referring to – – the Doctor or something yet to come? As Chibnall has mentioned, we wouldn’t be seeing any of the old villains; however might we see a member of the Doctor’s family show up? Perhaps Susan, the Doctor’s granddaughter from Willam Harteall’s (First Doctor) time could show up, but only time will tell. Continuing on the villain front, the death sheets were very original but forgettable, as they were defeated very quickly, using Ezpo’s celebratory cigar to incinerate them.

5, New T.A.R.D.I.S, New time team

At the end of their tiresome journey, Epzo and Angstorm, made it to the end of the race, deciding to go into meet Liin together and claim a shared prize. After Liin reluctantly agrees, he leaves with them, leaving the Doctor and her friends on a rock, stranded.

In the distance, the Ghost Monument appears, the Doctor’s TARDIS starts to de-materialize, she walks up to to the new exterior of the great machine, stating that she has forgotten her key, the TARDIS door pops open, as if it already knows she’s come home. Ryan, Graham and Yaz all ask her how they are going to fit inside there, as we all know, it’s bigger on the inside.

As the Doctor walks in, you get a feeling of how big the new TARDIS interior is. The space lights up and shows us a very organic, crystal look that has a similar feel to the Doctor’s new sonic screwdriver, which itself glows to a bright yellow/orange shade. The shape is still familiar but it is a very refreshing feel. The rest of the group walk around and are equally amazed, being told that this is also a time machine sparks interest among the group. There are nice touches in this scene: the glee and wonder on Jodie Whittaker’s face as she is welcomed by her time traveling ship, the little glass TARDIS spinning on the console space, even the newly added cookie dispenser.

Additional Thoughts

In my opinion, this episode was on one hand a great additional introduction to the Doctor Who mythos, but also to me it felt rushed. The two supporting characters were very forgettable, and the writing, to me, seemed like this was more of an episode 1 1/2. There were a few nice touches for example; the reference to Venusian Aikido, which the Third Doctor and Twelfth have both used, plus Thirteenth Doctor’s line ‘you’ve decorated’ speaking to the TARDIS as she entered, which is a throw back to anyone who has seen an older version of the interior and who’s seeing it afresh, like Sarah Jane Smith the David Tennant-era “School Reunion.”

Rushed as it was, it did introduce us to the Doctor’s new TARDIS and the new title screen. I can only hope that next week we get a villain that isn’t ripped sheets.

Next week’s episode is called “Rosa” and will feature Vinette Robinson (Sherlock) as Rosa Parks and will be set in 1950’s southern America.

 


//TAGS | Doctor Who

Richard Pennifold

When Richard isn’t writing, he likes reading Comics, some of his favourites include “Hellboy,” & “The Hellblazer.” He lives in the U.K, and loves watching horror movies & TV Shows. You can find him on Twitter at @R_Pennifold.

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