XPost: rec.arts.drwho   
   From: blueshirt@indigo.news   
      
   - - SPOILERS - -   
      
      
      
   Okay, I'm going to go straight in... I didn't like this episode!   
      
   I found "The Story and the Engine" messy and all over the place   
   with more questions than actual answers... and it wasn't even an   
   RTD script. For me, big and bold ideas need space to develop and   
   so often we get these innovative ideas, lovely looking scenes,   
   but little depth once you scratch the surface of the story. It   
   wasn't badly written per se, we just needed more time to fill in   
   the gaps.   
      
   We have a spaceship that is powered by stories from people   
   getting their hair cut in a barber shop in Nigeria, with a brain   
   inside a heart at its core, propelled by a very big spider...   
   where's it going though and why?   
      
   Then there's the idea that "story-telling Gods" will bring   
   damage and destruction to humanity... but we don't get a lot of   
   detail beyond that. So now we've gone from fantasy to mythology   
   and gods, which seems to be the current theme of the show. It   
   doesn't take a mastermind to work out that the season finale   
   is going to be the Doctor against gods of some description...   
      
   Then when it's the turn for the Doctor's story, we get some of   
   the Doctor's past regenerations in cameos on a monitor... which   
   might upset the faithful, as RTD once again re-enforces his   
   mate's writing. This time he even doubles-down with a special   
   appearance!   
      
   Do we really need a pre-First Doctor timeline to give the Doctor   
   some emotional investment in this story though? This cameo was   
   obviously artificially inserted just for the sake of it, and   
   maybe to send a message, but for me it was unnecessary.   
      
   Joined together there is a good story in there somewhere, I just   
   thought it didn't quite come together they way RTD would have   
   hoped it would.   
      
   Ncuti Gatwa still delivers as the Doctor though and you couldn't   
   imagine many Doctors could walk through a market in Nigeria   
   hugging people and get away with it... if he does leave the role   
   after this season it will be a waste of his potential. I think   
   he has got so much more in his locker than what we often see on   
   screen.   
      
   The episode could also be called Belinda-lite, even though she   
   is in this week's episode. She is only a bit part player as her   
   character is sidelined for most of it. (Like the three men in   
   the barber shop that were there because they were there, but   
   they didn't actually have a role beyond that!)   
      
   Being positive, as I do try to be, I'll go with a 4/10 rating.   
   "The Story and the Engine" looked good but the story just didn't   
   work for me.   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)