If ever an episode could epitomise how wonderfully bonkers the whole concept of Doctor Who is, then Kill The Moon has to be up there with the best. The sheer implausibility of the idea that the moon could in fact be a gestational egg preparing to hatch might not have sat easily with Kit Pedler or Chris Bidmead’s scientific focus, but Doctor Who has more often than not been science-fantasy rather than science-fiction. Imagination is the key to unlocking the brilliance of this idiosyncratic story.
From the outset of the story the Doctor is shown up as being distinctly lacking in creativity and belief. Devoid of the necessary prerequisites for a furtive imagination he simply does not “get” the human race. The concept of being special is alien to him, at least in the way that Clara frames it. Having self-worth just for existing and defining your uniqueness in the person you are and not in what you can do or achieve, is a focus of our post-industrial age. It is a belief that Clara as teacher feels for and seeks to inspire in her pupils. Courtney matters because she is Courtney. The Doctor on the other hand thinks this is all “bananas”. The Doctor’s solution to the awkward realisation that Clara has a point and that Courtney has been made to go off the rails by his dismissive remarks is to focus on giving her something to do. “How’d you like to be the first woman on the moon – that special enough for you?” The fact that she might already be special does not even enter his mind.
The Doctor’s propensity to misunderstand and misjudge human emotions is made all the more stark by the irony that he is almost beside himself with excitement upon discovering that the moon is unique “I think it is the only one of its kind. I think that is utterly beautiful.” He can identify with the alien among us and yet be so unfamiliar with what makes us human. Perhaps that is why he feels he needs to step out and leave the teenager, astronaut and school teacher to decide the fate of the whole planet. But the Doctor does like to put us humans to the test; use his companions as little experiments of his to see if we can make the right decisions. The Doctor lies to empower and motivate his allies or to goad and trick his enemies (from the relatively small matter of getting Sarah through the vent in The Ark In Space to demolishing Amy’s trust in The God Complex). The Doctor has always been let off the hook but the most interesting feature of Peter Harness’ first Doctor Who script is the way in which Clara calls him to account.
In this story we see a tragic deterioration in Clara’s relationship with the Doctor. In the old days, just one line would tell us everything (e.g. Tegan’s “it’s stopped being fun” Resurrection of the Daleks) but now we expect more in order to fully invest in the characters. Jenna Coleman steals the final scene even from the impeccable Capaldi with her heartbreaking realism, this is the point at which we realise that we truly feel for Clara. A subplot to this adventure is that of Clara searching for a Doctor whom she can still believe in, but gradually loosing faith. When he jumps into the amniotic fluid she reasons that yes he will be back, because he said he would. But when he takes leave again in the TARDIS, now she is not so sure. In truth she is cutting her strings from her alien hero so that even if he did come back it would never be the same again.
The Doctor is at times so out of kilter with his human companions that he almost comes across as nasty. His lines in this story are certainly among the harshest and most haughty we’ve heard – “womankind” “everythings dangerous even crossing the road” “I can help you as a super intelligent alien who flies in time and space.” Most shocking of all, the human instinct to save the children and women first is turned on its head by his suggestion that Courtney be the first to die, followed by Clara and then himself. However, such is the subtlety of Capaldi’s performance that we sense there is more behind this mask of indifference. Capaldi’s occasional childlike expressions and gestures reveal a vulnerability that suggests that his apparent callousness is a character flaw and not a mark of evil. And fear, how well does Capaldi show fear – even in the sound of his breath inside the space helmet as they entered the Mexican’s base, enough to sent chills down the spine quite apart from any spider germs. Not many actors could pull off a hero who hovers so close to the edges of madness and wickedness without triggering a backlash of protesting viewers. One wonders whether Capaldi would have got away with so much more than Colin Baker back in the day.
Once again, refreshingly, the potential shortcuts of the new series - the TARDIS, the Sonic and the Psychic Paper all play second fiddle to everyday items, on this occasion a yo-yo (ala Tom Baker) and a disinfectant spray. It was a lovely throwback to the days of Tom and Peter in which a scarf, a jelly baby or a cricket ball could be a useful prop. The use of the spray by Courtney is part of another favourite dramatic device of this series – the use of childhood experiments. How many of us played that game to see how long we could stay under water before having to breathe? How many of us used household implements like spoons to enact sword fights? How many of us made our broken toys the special ones? How many of us tried zapping moths, daddy long legs or other unfortunate bugs with air fresheners and the like?
Some viewers have complained that Capaldi’s accent has been hard to understand or that the incidental music has been too invasive making dialogue difficult to hear, however this reviewer has never had such a problem. Only once have I needed to pause and rewind in order to correct what I’ve heard. I had no idea that germ in Scottish could sound like jam to an unfamiliar ear such as mine. Apart from this moment, Capaldi uses his voice to great effect and the Scottish accent adds a fitting harshness of tone with the added ability to suddenly become playful in a Billy Connolly-like manner. Capaldi has some fantastically Doctorish lines such as in his description of the spider germ as a unicellular lifeform and the description of his very Time Lord sixth sense failing to work correctly when faced with little decisions that can have such major impact. Those who have found the incidental music distracting will no doubt have been pleased by its minimalist use this time around.
Imagination allows the most remarkable and implausible of stories to become believable within the unique worlds of Doctor Who but even so there are times in Kill The Moon where the boat has been pushed out so far it has become a little too image driven. This is true when it comes to Clara giving the planet the decision on whether to abort the baby or let it live. The option to turn off the lights if the answer is abort which a nice image on screen is quite ridiculous even within the creative broadness of Doctor Who. But on the other hand it looked good….in fact that is one thing that can be said of this episode, it looked incredible. The decision to film in Lanzarote really paid off with the remarkable landscapes and physical features creating one of the best realised worlds ever to grace the shows illustrious history. The moon looked wonderfully black and white highlighted by the colours of the space suits and the red nodes on the spiders. But the most pleasing scene of all was back on earth with the team looking up at the hatching creature. Capaldi delivers his lines with an authority and intensity that suggests that here the Doctor is finally showing his appreciation for the human race and it’s ability to reach out to other worlds. The viewer is reminded that we face that own choice on a daily basis - to look down or to look up, to be defeatist by considering our own inadequacies and lack of self worth or to be inspired by the gifts of others beyond our immediate experiences. It is part of the Doctor’s own DNA, the reason for his restless wanderings.
The supporting cast as befitting their acting credentials were top of the draw, with Hermione Norris making her long overdue entrance alongside returnee Tony Osabo. Her focus on destroying the threat to preserve the earth and on using the vast haul of weapons was one that surprisingly did not receive condemnation from the Twelfth Doctor, given the growing conflict between him and Danny Pink. The two Semi regulars as Danny and Courtney were again far more satisfying than we’ve become used to in past recent series, with the one scene featuring Danny Pink brilliantly played again.
Overall the episode is one of contrast most notably that between the everyday realism of Clara’s world, with its occasional cursing (swearing on Doctor Who by a teacher!) and the much needed glass of wine at the end, and the Doctor’s world with is dramatic interventions and careless risk taking in order to make a difference. But of deeper significance perhaps is the contrasting movement in Clara and the Doctor’s perception of each other. If Clara is losing trust in him, then the Doctor is growing in his faith in her “I had faith you would always make the right choice.” The sad reality of Danny Pink’s line to Clara that her anger means she hasn’t quite finished with the Doctor is that the inevitable outworking of that anger is about to play out in forthcoming episodes so that one day soon she will leave him and all that anger behind. That will be a sad day not just for the Doctor but for all of us who have come to love Clara and admire Jenna Coleman’s remarkable performances. Cool animatronics aside it was Coleman’s moving and very human portrayal of the hurting companion that will have captivated viewers the most. And she is hurting not through love denied, love scorned or love lost…. but through the knowledge that the Doctor, who owes his very life to her impossible interventions, has failed to respect even those he chooses to save.
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