Review: Doctor Who – 6×6 – The Almost People

Almost interesting

In the UK: Saturday 28th May, 6.45pm, BBC1/BBC1 HD. Available on the iPlayer
In the US: Saturday 28th May, 9pm/8c, BBC America

Hey ho. Another episode of Doctor Who has aired. Can you tell I wasn’t enthused by this episode either? Let’s face it: it’s basically a tribute two-parter to the movie Moon, isn’t it? And that’s probably the best that can be said for it.

While Matt Smith playing himself twice was fun, the whole thing didn’t make a lick of sense (when did the Doctors swap? Which Doctor went mental on Amy? If the real one, why? If the fake one, doesn’t that disprove the entire rationale the Doctor gave for why he was doing what he did? And why did the Doctor then go and kill (spoiler)fake Amy if the gangers are real and conscious, etc?). Any kind of interesting moral issue as to who has ownership of a life was swept under the carpet by having only one person from each pair remaining by the end. Having the TARDIS just magically stabilise the gangers was a time-saving cheat. Rory was a moron. Amy looked suspiciously bigoted. There was no real tension. The CGI was awful. The photography was very flat and washed out.

Not the worst episode or two-parter of Doctor Who ever, but really just not worth the effort.

However, the last 10 minutes was at least interesting, given that it finally gave us an explanation for what has been going on with Amy the whole season. I’m wondering if the Cybermen have a baby-creation programme. That might be entertainingly bleak. No sign of the Silence though. Although I might have forgotten if there were.

Your mileage may vary so leave a comment below or a link to your own review

Author

  • Rob Buckley

    I’m Rob Buckley, a journalist who writes for UK media magazines that most people have never heard of although you might have heard me on the podcast Lockdown Land or Radio 5 Live’s Saturday Edition or Afternoon Edition. I’ve edited Dreamwatch, Sprocket and Cambridge Film Festival Daily; been technical editor for TV producers magazine Televisual; reviewed films for the short-lived newspaper Cambridge Insider; written features for the even shorter-lived newspaper Soho Independent; and was regularly sarcastic about television on the blink-and-you-missed-it “web site for urban hedonists” The Tribe. Since going freelance, I've contributed to the likes of Broadcast, Total Content + Media, Action TV, Off The Telly, Action Network, TV Scoop and The Custard TV.