I can't make a decent meringue!

I enjoyed 'The Hungry Earth'. I enjoyed the slower pace that a two-parter affords. I enjoyed the familiar Doctor Who territory of a handful of characters in an isolated location. I also enjoyed Matt Smith's performance. He really is starting to flesh out the character of the 11th Doctor - humour, sensitivity, indignation, vulnerability... Marvellous.

But...

They don't look like Silurians! I know this shouldn't bother me. I understand that it has been 40 years since we first saw them and television visual effects have moved on. I actually like the look of these new creatures - but they're NOT Silurians! Childish, I know - but what's the point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes?

There is another problem with the redesign. In 'The Silurians' the humans are unable to see the beauty in the creatures they discover. They think of them as animals because they resemble animals. Just the sight of them was likely to induce a state of mild neuroses or a nervous breakdown. The humans, unable to overcome their instinctive hatred of the 'unlike', set about trying to stamp them out as they would do a spider or a wasp. It is only the Doctor that can look past their exterior features and see the beauty and intelligence beneath.

These new Silurians are obviously beautiful. Obviously intelligent. For me that weakens the tension and conflict between the two races and makes the Doctor's ability to see past these external appearances all the less impressive than it was 40 years ago.

The Silurians are aware that their appearance is not entirely scary - why else would their warriors wear the battle masks?

Perhaps explanations of these changes are coming in episode two. Perhaps not.

Anyway...

Here are the current DWAS AI scores out of ten for each episode so far. These are based on our poll results and can change as more people vote.

The Eleventh Hour 8.08
The Beast Below 6.72
Victory of the Daleks 5.42
The Time of Angels 7.68
Flesh and Stone 7.25
The Vampires of Venice 6.98
Amy's Choice 7.47
The Hungry Earth 6.82

More soon,

Barry