This episode features The Doctor accidentally being stuck on contemporary Earth with the TARDIS going into a dematerialisation loop with Amy trapped inside it. There is a localised time loop and strange goings on in a flat and the downstairs neighbour to that flat is looking for a lodger. The Doctor arrives as the lodger seeking to investigate and his new flatmate Craig is trying to build up courage to ask his female friend to become his proper girlfriend.
The episode is great fun and mostly is comedic but it does also have quite involving romantic aspects and a little bit of creepy drama on occasion.
There are large elements of this which you could liken to soap opera or a sitcom in that it involves the every day lives and love troubles of Craig (played by James Corden who is now a successful actor in Hollywood films and chat show host on American TV) and Sophie (Daisy Haggard). Strangely I do not see criticisms of this episode for being 'too soap opera' whilst I see a lot of 'soap opera' accusations against other episodes which feature less of these everyday life elements.
Anyway, I am one of the fans who is perfectly happy to have ordinary life "soap opera" aspects in Doctor Who provided it is done well. Therefore, I have no problem with this episode for those elements because it is done to nice comedic effect.
The episode is a bit of an oddity: The "attempt to build a TARDIS" by a mysterious alien and the ability to cause time loops and dematerialisation loops was odd and unexplained.
The set-up of the Doctor as a lodger is odd but interesting.
The headbutt memory transfer is odd and silly.
One of the oddest bits is the Doctor conversing with a cat who he is able to understand. The idea of a cat explaining what has been going on to the Doctor is funny but really has no place outside a pure comedy show. It was revisited in later episodes with babies and horses talking to the Doctor. Yes it is amusing but it isn't really what I want from Doctor Who personally, I prefer more 'hard sci-fi' with a bit of logic rather than comedic fantasy. So the headbutt and the cat aspect are little bits I am not so keen on.
The way the alien threat was stopped could have been better. Basically it is a 'love conquers all' idea which was similarly used in Victory of the Daleks and later in Closing Time. It seemed a bit too contrived to me really.
Those factors add up to detract from the episode a bit for me but there are a lot more good parts that I enjoy: Corden and Haggard are engaging and their love story is involving enough.
The banter between the Doctor and his new friends is amusing.
The script from Gareth Roberts has lots of nice touches.
It is fun to see the Doctor in a very different situation.
There are some really funny scenes.
So I really think the positives outweigh most of the little grumbles I have and this is a very solid episode.
My Rating: 8/10.
The episode is great fun and mostly is comedic but it does also have quite involving romantic aspects and a little bit of creepy drama on occasion.
There are large elements of this which you could liken to soap opera or a sitcom in that it involves the every day lives and love troubles of Craig (played by James Corden who is now a successful actor in Hollywood films and chat show host on American TV) and Sophie (Daisy Haggard). Strangely I do not see criticisms of this episode for being 'too soap opera' whilst I see a lot of 'soap opera' accusations against other episodes which feature less of these everyday life elements.
Anyway, I am one of the fans who is perfectly happy to have ordinary life "soap opera" aspects in Doctor Who provided it is done well. Therefore, I have no problem with this episode for those elements because it is done to nice comedic effect.
The episode is a bit of an oddity: The "attempt to build a TARDIS" by a mysterious alien and the ability to cause time loops and dematerialisation loops was odd and unexplained.
The set-up of the Doctor as a lodger is odd but interesting.
The headbutt memory transfer is odd and silly.
One of the oddest bits is the Doctor conversing with a cat who he is able to understand. The idea of a cat explaining what has been going on to the Doctor is funny but really has no place outside a pure comedy show. It was revisited in later episodes with babies and horses talking to the Doctor. Yes it is amusing but it isn't really what I want from Doctor Who personally, I prefer more 'hard sci-fi' with a bit of logic rather than comedic fantasy. So the headbutt and the cat aspect are little bits I am not so keen on.
The way the alien threat was stopped could have been better. Basically it is a 'love conquers all' idea which was similarly used in Victory of the Daleks and later in Closing Time. It seemed a bit too contrived to me really.
Those factors add up to detract from the episode a bit for me but there are a lot more good parts that I enjoy: Corden and Haggard are engaging and their love story is involving enough.
The banter between the Doctor and his new friends is amusing.
The script from Gareth Roberts has lots of nice touches.
It is fun to see the Doctor in a very different situation.
There are some really funny scenes.
So I really think the positives outweigh most of the little grumbles I have and this is a very solid episode.
My Rating: 8/10.