The Power of Three (3304/704)

[GodAtum]

Why do aliens always try to wipte out humans? Surely the Shakri should be trying to kill Cybermen or Daleks?

Same thing with the Silents (grey aliens) try to take over the Dalek or Cybermen empires?

[Quizziard]

A nice enough episode. An interesting mix of "enemy of the week" very thoroughly mixed up with the series arc of "good-bye Ponds". "No series arc", yeah right, Mr Moffat. But perhaps the arc was too heavy for the week's story: the Shakri was light-weight and too many silly errors (such as the cardiac recovery).

[MasySyma]

The episode was slow, useless, and boring. This season has only had one decent story so far (the premier). Who is either fantastic or dreadful lately.

[The Flyattractor]

Why do aliens always try to wipte out humans? Surely the Shakri should be trying to kill Cybermen or Daleks?

Because in the DWU Humans are LITERALLY the cockroaches of the universe? Name 1 story since the "New" series started that didn't envolve humans.

Same thing with the Silents (grey aliens) try to take over the Dalek or Cybermen empires?

Hell. Shakys should be HELPING the Cybers or Daleks for that matter. Its not like the apperantly don't have the same goal.

[Ian-S]

"good-bye Ponds". "No series arc", yeah right, Mr Moffat.

hehe pretty sure he said no two parters, and some hack took that to mean arc.
There is a subtle arc, most obvious bit is the lighbulbs, but there's other stuff, like the out of place/time comment in the 1st episode.

Also is is just me, or have the opening titles got darker throughout this series?

[Cold Fuzz]

The Power of Three was definitely one of my favorite episodes since the beginning of the Eleventh Doctor's travels. The character building was superbly executed, with many wonderful moments shining throughout the episode. The character building though, did come at the expense of the plot, which left me scratching my head and thinking, "What, that's it?"


Positives (and there's a lot of them!)

• The Doctor montage and the comparison to real life. I empathized with how real life seemed like drudgery.
• Brian Williams. He's quickly become one of my favorite recurring characters. Since encountering the Doctor, he's become open to new ideas but my goodness he can be obsessive about them.
• The Cubes. Small, curious-looking, innocuous--the perfect shape and color. There's something primal and archetypal about them. It all goes back to the idea of a child and a closed box. Give a little kid a box and they start thinking: Is it a present? Is it a puzzle to be solved? What's inside exactly? It's a shape purposely designed to provoke curiosity. Using the Cubes is a brilliant choice by writer Chris Chibnall.
• Kate Stewart. Ah, she's definitely one of the highlights of this episode. Like with Brian, I took an instant liking to her character and Jemma Redgrave's nuanced performance was a large part of this. She displayed a wonderful thoughtfulness and yet also possessed a strong command presence. I really hope we see more of her.
• The new UNIT. I have to go on record and say that I strongly dislike RTD's treatment of UNIT in the past. The Tenth Doctor's condescending smugness to Colonel Alan Mace and other UNIT commanders seemed unnecessarily antagonistic to me, especially in light of the good history past Doctors have shared with UNIT. I'm glad Chibnall, Moffat, and the other powers that be decided that the Eleventh Doctor would have a much better relationship with UNIT than the Tenth Doctor.
• Amy & Rory. I liked Pond Life's glimpse at the companions' everyday lives and this episode wonderfully explored that angle. That scene outdoors when the Doctor explains Amy & Rory's significance to him was brilliant writing and acting. Here's some perspective on just how important they really are. He's traveled with Amy since he was in his early 900s and he's now 1,200. I believe they are the only companions to have taken up 300 years of the Doctor's life. I think they are also the only companions where the Doctor's travels have occupied 10 years of their personal timelines. This does beg the question though, if 10 years have passed for the Ponds, what year is it on Earth during the first appearance of the Cubes? Amy clearly said that though 10 years may have passed for them, that certainly wasn't the case for Earth.
• Murray Gold's score. Murray has scored another winner. His exploration of more electronic music worked well here, in my opinion, and followed in the exotic direction of scores for episodes like The Girl Who Waited and The God Complex.
• The Doctor of course. I loved his lack of patience and utter inability to sit still. Extreme hyperactivity is a quirk that definitely works well for this incarnation of the Doctor. I also loved the fish fingers & custard, especially how pointed to the idea of the Doctor being the originator of Yorkshire pudding.

Negative (and there's only one)

• The resolution. The Shakri are uncovered and then the whole crisis is solved with a wave of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver? Come on, Chibnall. As I writer, I know you can do better than that! The episode's slow burn as a buildup combined with the abrupt resolution doesn't work.

Overall, this is one of the strongest Eleventh Doctor episodes. Even if someone doesn't know what's coming for next week, the episode by itself does strongly suggest that Amy & Rory's final days with the Doctor are upon them.

[Asgard Flu]

I was dissapointed with the episode to be quite frank. The start of the ep was great, the cubes turning up was fantastic and something different. In the end though the doctor solved it all in one episode with his sonic screwdriver. This could have been epic, could have been a new big bad for the series, I was honestly expecting this to be at least a two parter episode. In the end it was a huge let down.

[Sealurk]

Just started rewatching it today - actually I'm amazed it's taken me that long.

First off, Amy's response to Rory's line about soldiers and pants... I had actually forgotten her "love a squaddie/roman" lines from a couple of seasons ago. Nice callback, Chibnall.

Kate's line about UNIT adapting and evolving actually seems to fit with how the Tenth Doctor reacted to UNIT in The Sontaran Stratagem. They would have to continually change and modify themselves in order to deal effectively with any number of threats they can imagine, and the ones they can't. So I'm guessing UNIT went through a somewhat dark phase without the Doctor, and they're only now heading back to being what they used to be.

When the Doctor is telling Brian (possibly my new favourite character) what happened to all his other companions, he seemed somehow older and more tired than we've seen him in a while... having people around keeps him youthful and invigorated and perhaps more importantly, distracted, never stopping long enough to reflect.

I did love the sheer number of generally very well handled references to past Who characters and references. They didn't feel forced, but instead rather nicely integrated and brought up.

The Eleventh Doctor does get some superb speeches/monologues, all equally well delivered by Matt Smith. I do like the 'One Corner' speech, and his line "I'm not running away from things, I'm running to them... before they flare and fade forever".

This time around I paid more attention to the music a bit more and noticed some superb pieces that I really hope make it onto the soundtrack album.

Anybody else think that when the Doctor says "how to destroy a human: go for the heart" it's what other species bear in mind when dealing with us? I had an odd flashback to Silence in the Library - "Daleks, aim for the eyestalk. Sontarans, back of the neck". It's also telling that perhaps it has a double meaning.

Talking of hearts... does the Eleventh Doctor have his hearts in different positions relative to previous incarnations? I could have sworn both Nine and Ten at least had them on opposite sides of the chest cavity, yet with Eleven one appears to be lower than the other. Regeneration defect perhaps?

The final act needed a bit more work - how convenient that Rory's hospital was one of the focal points. Also how (unless I misheard) a third of the human population may have died or been incapacitated and it's barely remarked upon!

Still, grumbles aside I really enjoyed this episode. With Pond Life, Dinosaurs on a Spaceship and The Power of Three, Chibnall seems to have hit his stride in terms of Who episodes (42 was passable and The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood was fairly decent), and he does seem to know how to write genuinely fun stories this season.

[Gen. Chris]

Okay, my question is, where the hell was Torchwood? It took place over months, and there was never a reference to the team?

Or was/is there something else occupying the team.

By the way, I'm only in the first season of Torchwood, so don't go spoiling anything. I was just curious about that since it would seem logical that Torchwood would have been there.

[Blencathra]

There is a reason why Torchwood doesn't do anything but as you haven't watched it all and don't want to be spoiled then I'll say no more.

[Gen. Chris]

Ahh...well okay. So there was a specific reason, then?

[knowles2]

Spoiler:

Not sure what you on about, Jack was still around an so were serveral Torchwood personnel, an they were the ones that called in UNIT to oversee the securing of the Virgina. If anything now that a scientist is running UNIT, an Torchwood is depleted you would expect the two groups to work even closer together.

[Quizziard]

Watched it on the repeat. I guess sometimes it doesn't take 20 minutes of really complex stuff to undo the entire alien plot, you just press the "Off" switch. We're so used to the complexity, we forget that occasionally that it's not always the applicable result.

Anyway, what bugged me about this episode is UNIT and their scientific-led approach. Sadly, the writer would appear to either not be a scientist/engineer or has really dumbed it down for the kiddiwinks. Testing to +/-200C. You can do that in the kitchen at home (if you're a gastro-chef): hardly Earth shattering. Dropping from a helicopter: not exactly precision science, when there are many commercial places who can do pressure and shear testing (as, for example, would be done with aircraft parts).

[Coco Pops]

This was one of the very so so episodes for me as far as I am concerned. It started off very well had a great build up then it's all undone in the final act by waving the frelling sonic around.

SOMEONE PLEASE BAN THE SONIC from any future episodes please........Writer's crutch

[maneth]

I think this should have been a two-parter with a longer and slightly more complex resolution. Just waving the sonic screwdriver felt like a deus ex machina resolution to me...