‘KILL THE MOON’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

The Moon with the Twelfth Doctor, Clara and Courtney

This ‘Doctor Who’ episode by Peter Harness is probably my least favourite from Series 8. I felt very dissatisfied with the story’s premise in the episode and the conclusion of how things were resolved.

In the episode, Ellis George as Courtney Woods, one of the Coal Hill school pupils, joins the Doctor and Clara on an adventure to the moon in the year 2049. She previously appeared in ‘The Caretaker’.

Not meaning to disrespect Ellis George and her character as Courtney, but did there seem to be a point of her appearing in this episode? Courtney joining the Doctor and Clara feels rather tagged on.

I mean, okay, I get that Courtney is meant to appeal to the younger audience watching ‘Doctor Who’. But after this episode, Courtney doesn’t make a return appearance and didn’t have an impact on me.

The episode was filmed in sunny Lanzarote of all places. Lanzarote was where they filmed the story ‘Planet of Fire’ back in 1984. I like how the production team used Lanzarote to be the moon’s setting.

It’s difficult to imagine that whilst the cast and crew were filming the moon scenes, it would’ve been hot and sunny. CGI and lightning helped to disguise the fact that it’s the moon and it is cold in the vacuum of space.

The monsters in this episode are a species of spider-like creatures called Spider germs. I couldn’t help be reminded of the Cractids and the gloomy atmosphere from ‘Cobwebs’ when I watched this story.

Saying that however, the Spider germs didn’t seem to be that threatening and have an impact on me. They may have attacked Peter Capaldi’s Doctor and killed people, but they weren’t that exciting.

I’m afraid I found the moon turning out to be an egg and hatching an alien creature inside a ludicrous and silly idea. Terrance Dicks also felt the same, saying so at the ‘Valiant 2015′ convention.

Hermione Norris guest stars as Captain Lundvik, the leader of a shuttle crew visiting the moon. When Lundvik discovers that the moon is actually an egg, she demands to know how they’re to kill it.

Now this is where my problem for ‘Kill the Moon’ comes into place. Apart from it being slow-paced and not very exciting, the story comes across as being mean-spirited concerning the moon as an egg.

When Clara asks the people of Earth to help decide whether to ‘kill the moon’ or not; they all switch their lights off to say “No!” This depicts humanity at its worst and perhaps most selfish with this crisis.

Jenna Coleman as Clara stands out for me in this episode. Clara is forced to make a hard decision for the future of the human race. The Doctor cruelly abandoned her so that she can make the decision.

At the end of the episode, there’s a scene where Clara gets very angry with the Doctor. The scene shows Jenna Coleman’s brilliance as an actress and also highlights her relationship with the Twelfth Doctor.

But this also depicts the inconsistent development of Clara’s character. Clara should be grateful that the Doctor had faith in the decision she made. But instead, Clara complains that he abandoned her.

I know the Doctor’s alien and that his ‘twelfth’ persona was undergoing development at this stage. But did Clara need to be so upset and angry with the Doctor, even after they saved the moon itself?

I liked that last scene when Samuel Anderson as Danny Pink comes in to check on her. Clara tells Danny what happened and she’s finished with the Doctor. But Danny isn’t convinced that Clara means it.

‘Kill the Moon’ is not a favourite episode of mine from the Peter Capaldi/Twelfth Doctor era. Whilst it features a great performance from Jenna Coleman as Clara, this episode felt mean-spirted and the concept was silly.

The DVD/Blu-ray special features for this episode are as follows. There’s an audio commentary with director Paul Wilmshurst and first assistant director Scott Bates. And there’s the ‘Kill the Moon’ – Doctor Who Extra’ behind-the-scenes featurette.

‘Kill the Moon’ rating – 4/10

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The previous story For the Twelfth Doctor was ‘A Long-Way Down’ (TT) ‘Citation Needed’ (TS) For Clara was ‘A Long-Way Down’ (TT) ‘Citation Needed’ (TS)	The next story For the Twelfth Doctor is ‘Citation Needed’ (TS) ‘Mummy on the Orient Express’ (TV) For Clara is ‘Citation Needed’ (TS) ‘Mummy on the Orient Express’ (TV)
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