Dinosaurs on a Spaceship Reaction!

By Christian Cawley, September 14, 2012 - Doctor Who - no comments

So, what did you think of Dinosaurs on a Spaceship? What did everyone else think of it?

A respectable 5.5 million viewers tuned in over a very hot and sunny weekend to attract 26.2% of the available audience. It won’t set the world on fire, it’ll probably increase by 1.5 to 2 million when the delayed viewing figures are added, and don’t forget that iPlayer doesn’t count in final viewing figures, despite its increasing importance.

Reviews for new Doctor Who episodes appear almost everywhere online. Fortunately some sites are better at reviewing than others. TVOvermind is one such online destination, and their coverage of Dinosaurs on a Spaceship was a fair mix or recap and commentary. Of particular interest is the look at how Amy and Rory have been changed by the Doctor.

The episode also evened out it’s time showcasing how much of the Doctor now resides in Amy and Rory. Amy’s bit with the computer room, and finding the proof of another ship and genocide of the Silurians, at almost the same time that the Doctor gets the same answer from Solomon, shows the growth in the character without her overshadowing the Doctor who is and always should be the “meat” so to speak of each episode.

It’s also worth you taking a look at this review for details the real bones contention of Series 7 so far – not the Doctor’s dispatching of Solomon (of which more later) but the mysterious forgetting of River Song (not a mention by Amy, Rory or the Doctor) and the fact that the supposedly forgotten Doctor can be contacted by psychic paper.

Meanwhile, it’s a most unwelcome return for Gavin Fuller, who somehow continues to be employed as The Telegraph’s Doctor Who reviewer. As a so-called fan, he’s been remarkably critical about the series in his coverage, almost to the point of… well, I wouldn’t like to call Gavin “stupid” but he’s certainly been guilty thus far of missing the point. This week’s excuse for a review (low ratings, low word count, critical thought substituted for insults) awarded the episode 2/5 stars, and while there is little in the piece that can be quoted without telling you something you already know, the following commentary on Solomon’s dispatching is relevant:

This showed a harsher side to the Time Lord’s character; yes it is not the first time he has knowingly been responsible for someone’s death and Solomon was probably getting his just desserts, but given the Doctor’s ethical stance, such instances can sit uneasily within the viewers.

Like most other reviews, IGN (a gaming website, Mr Fuller) outdoes the previous review by not only highlighting the darkness that pervades the conclusion of the episode but also the developing relationship between the Time Lord and his current best friends. As for the creation of his gang…

Equally, the Doctor’s flimsily justified decision to form a ‘gang’, served little purpose other than to inject some conveniently timed plot devices when needed. Yet while ‘Neffy’ and Riddell paled in comparison to last week’s spunky guest star (well, have YOU been able to stop thinking about Oswin?), Rory’s Dad (The Fast Show’s Mark Williams) was brilliant.

But what about you? What did our readers think of Dinosaurs on a Spaceship?

A vast 73.16% voted the episode as “Dino-tastic” in our post-broadcast poll, while 22.11% voted for “not bad”. Just 4.74% of respondents disliked the episode, which in out book makes it a bit of a hit!

Meanwhile comments and discussions from our readers can be found in our own review by Patrick Riley, while The Valeyard has also shared his opinions.

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About the author

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A long-term Doctor Who fan, Christian grew up watching the show and has early memories of the Graham Williams era. His favourite stories are Inferno, The Seeds of Doom and Human Nature (although The Empty Child, Blink and Utopia all come close). When he’s not bossing around the news team, Christian is a freelance writer specialising in mobile technology and domestic computing, and enjoys classic rock, cooking and spending time in the countryside with his wife and young children. You can find him on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.