Ten months after the events in the previous episode The Doctor is now travelling with Queen Nefertiti and a large unidentified spaceship is on a collision course with a future Earth. The Doctor wants to investigate the ship before it is destroyed by Earth's defence system so he assembles a 'gang' to go with him; as well as Nefertiti he picks up Edwardian big game hunter Riddell and his old friends The Ponds. He doesn't just pick up Amy and Rory though; he also accidentally picks up Rory's somewhat bemused father Brian. Once on board the ship they discover it is carrying dinosaurs; there is no sign of whoever was actually running the ship though, nor any obvious reason for it to be heading for Earth. As they investigate they find the answers to these mysteries; they also learn that the ship has been hijacked by Solomon, a pirate, who wanted its valuable cargo but was unable to actually fly the ship. If they are to save the ship and the dinosaurs they will have to figure a way to outwit Solomon as well as avoid being killed by the creatures they are trying to save.
After last week's more serious episode the writers clearly though it was time for a bit of fun; the problem was the comedy characters, Rory's father and the two camp robots, weren't all that funny; they were just annoying... especially Brian; I was hoping a dinosaur would get him to show us how dangerous they were... no such luck though. The dinosaurs looked pretty good although if you want sci-fi with dinosaurs I'd stick with ITV's 'Primeval', even though I usually prefer 'Doctor Who'. On the plus side Rupert Graves portrayal of Riddell was a highlight of the episode and David Bradley was suitably menacing as Solomon. While I thought this was a weaker episode it is still worth watching and I have a feeling that the very things that annoyed me may amuse younger viewers... I just hope they don't ask their parents to explain a couple of slightly crude double entendres!
After last week's more serious episode the writers clearly though it was time for a bit of fun; the problem was the comedy characters, Rory's father and the two camp robots, weren't all that funny; they were just annoying... especially Brian; I was hoping a dinosaur would get him to show us how dangerous they were... no such luck though. The dinosaurs looked pretty good although if you want sci-fi with dinosaurs I'd stick with ITV's 'Primeval', even though I usually prefer 'Doctor Who'. On the plus side Rupert Graves portrayal of Riddell was a highlight of the episode and David Bradley was suitably menacing as Solomon. While I thought this was a weaker episode it is still worth watching and I have a feeling that the very things that annoyed me may amuse younger viewers... I just hope they don't ask their parents to explain a couple of slightly crude double entendres!