ANDREW'S
DOCTOR WHO REVIEWS 
This is another really enjoyable story, there’s some great
humour in it and a quite disconcerting enemy in the shape of the Boneless.
Jenna Coleman is superb here, effectively playing the Doctor for much of the
story whilst the real one is shrunk inside the mini-TARDIS. At the time it
still felt like she was about to leave and hook up with Danny Pink, so this
plotline is still being pushed and that does, on occasion, intrude into the
actual narrative of this tale.
A power drain starts effecting the TARDIS so the Doctor
makes an emergency landing which turns out to be in modern day Bristol. Clara
leaves the TARDIS whilst the Doctor tries to make repairs, outside she
befriends Rigsy (Jovian Wade), a graffiti artist who is part of a group doing
community service to remove graffiti from the streets of Bristol. Rigsy tells
her that people have been going missing, so Clara returns to the Doctor only to
find the TARDIS has shrunk so small that the Doctor is trapped inside.
The Doctor gives Clara his sonic screwdriver, psychic paper
and an earpiece so they can communicate, she puts the TARDIS into a backpack
and goes to investigate. Rigsy and Clara find a house where there has been a
recent disappearance and are persuading the policewoman guarding it that they
should be allowed in, the policewoman goes inside and they hear a scream. They
find the woman gone but there is a weird mural on the wall which the Doctor
recognises as the human nervous system.
The Doctor warns them that these creatures are two
dimensional beings known as the Boneless who are seeking to find a way into the
3D world. Clara attempts to lead the anti-graffiti crew through tunnels to
escape the Boneless who follow as eerily animated half-flat creatures. Clara
then gets Rigsy to paint a door on a wall to trick the Boneless into thinking
it is a real door as they have trouble differentiating between 2D and 3D. The
TARDIS is behind the painting and when the Boneless try to break through they
repower the TARDIS allowing it to return to normal size.
Finally free of his shrinking prison, the Doctor gives the
Boneless a chance to leave peacefully but they refuse and so he banishes them
back to their 2D world. He asks Clara how she felt being the Doctor for a day.
Elsewhere, the mysterious Missy is watching them, and says to herself that she
made the right choice picking Clara.
This is a pretty good piece of Doctor Who. The Boneless are
an eerie set of monsters and the idea of graffiti coming to life is another of
those tropes that the new series of Doctor Who likes doing – the every day
becoming dangerous. There are some exciting bits, Rigsy and Clara’s escape from
the house, for instance and also a lot of good humour, particularly early on
around the shrinking TARDIS.
The acting is okay from the principal three actors (Peter
Capaldi, Jenna Coleman and Jovian Wade) although some of the other characters
are a bit (ironically) one dimensional.
The other issue is the bits with Danny Pink interfere with
the storyline and are unnecessary, him being on the phone to Clara whilst she
tries to escape the house undermines that scene a bit which is a shame. This is
certainly Clara’s story and Jenna is super as the surrogate Doctor, taking
charge and investigating bravely, it still feels like they are readying Clara
to leave the show.
A well-above average story which continues the upswing in
this season, enjoyable.
NEXT UP: IN THE FOREST OF THE NIGHT
© Text copyright - Raving Loony
Productions and
Andrew J. Müller,
Roy Barton
and Shaun Runham
© Photos and Artwork - Andrew J. Müller
© Web Design and Layout - Andrew J. Müller
2022
