Emma Talks Nerdy About: Doctor Who: "Journey To The Centre of The TARDIS"

WARNING: THIS REVIEW HAS SPOILERS

In the storied annals of Doctor Who apart from The Doctor himself there is perhaps no greater mystery than the TARDIS. One thing that always been on my wishlist as a dyed in the wool fangirl (and I suspect a fair few other fanboys and girls lists too) has been "show me more TARDIS!" As much as I love the many varied console rooms and the occasional glimpse of a companions bedroom or a corridor here and there I've always wanted to see the many rooms that reside in an supposedly infinite spaceship. The closest we've got before this episode was the Fourth Doctor adventure "The Invasion of Time" where were The Doctor dragged some reluctant chums round a corridor and an old hall several times while trying to evade Sontarans.  So when "Journey To The Centre of The TARDIS" was announced this was perhaps the most exciting episode on paper as the hopes of seeing something really cool within the TARDIS depths built up.

Unfortunately this episode for me was distinctly average and the promise of some awe inspiring TARDIS moments evaporated as the show wore on. This could have been an episode of virtually any space based sci-fi show as the action was mostly, and infuriatingly for me, confined to dull corridors and the console room. Also being distinctly unhelpful to the average tone of the episode was the deeply bland and forgettable scripting. Stephen Thompson's script was workman like, bland and uninspiring. You got the impression that Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman were trying their hardest to deliver to their usual high standards but even they couldn't make this script sing. Say what you like about "The Rings of Akhaten" but the script managed to give you dialogue moments that made you smile and taught us more about The Doctor and Clara. If our regulars were struggling then the guest trio of Ashley Walters, Mark Oliver and Jahvel Hall were drowning. Their characters were insignificant to the point of disappearance and seemed to be there purely to cause The Doctor problems for long enough to get the story to 45 minutes and not much else.

In fact I would have much preferred it if this had been a two hander between our regulars. I wish that we had seen some more of the TARDIS's personality coming through, unlike "The Doctor's Wife" we learn nothing new about the Old Girl and that's a really unfortunate oversight for me, I would have liked more exploration of the TARDIS seemingly disliking Clara if nothing else.I must say that despite my misgivings there were some elements to enjoy here, the visual effects were outstanding, I really liked the TARDIS being captured by the salvage vessel and the exploded engine in the white room, the bits of the TARDIS that weren't corridor were intriguing, who knew The Doctor had apparently nicked the telescope after the events of "Tooth and Claw" and that book on the Time War, what I wouldn't give for a look inside those pages! The TARDIS defending itself with looping corridors was a nice element. The monster effects were great, bringing to my mind the climax of  Danny Boyle's "Sunshine".

Despite the good on display my ire towards this episode must be directed at that literal reset button ending, while I generally don't mind stories where time loops back on itself, this is a time travel show after all, the erasure of some pretty massive character development for Clara and The Doctor. The end scene with Tricky and Gregor implies that our heroes seem to retain some memories of events but for me the character of Clara desperately needs some movement forward, these revelations about her from The Doctor and her apparent discovery of his name should have a ton of impact and have her questioning everything but now it's all been reset. What was the point? I would dearly love the super intelligence given to her in "The Bells of St John" put to work as she tries to work out just what it is The Doctor is keeping from her. I'll emphasise again that I'm absolutely fine with time loops but this just wasn't clever enough or witty enough. Moffat has got us all used to elaborate timey-wimey plotting so when someone makes something as ordinary as this it comes as a let down. So, my verdict? An average sci-fi pot boiler with the added disappointment of missed opportunities. Must do better next time.