Episode #230 : The God Complex

" I can't save you from this. There's nothing I can do to stop this. I stole your childhood and now I've lead you by the hand to your death. But the worst thing is, I knew. I knew this would happen. This is what always happens. Forget your faith in me. I took you with me because I was vain. Because I wanted to be adored. Look at you. Glorious Pond. The girl who waited for me. I'm not a hero. I really am just a mad man in a box. And it's time we saw each other as we really are."

Episode #230:      The God Complex.
Companions:        The 11th Doctor, Amy Pond, and Rory Williams.
Air Date:               17th September 2011

The Eleventh Doctor, Amy, and Rory investigate a hotel of horror where repeat business is low but the body count is high, where a mighty monster stalks the corridors and the rooms hold visions of angels, apes, and creepy clowns. Who — or what — has brought them to this place? Can the Doctor solve the mystery before the residents check out in grisly style?

The God Complex is a much enjoyable and well written adventure than the recent few. It deals with a mysterious hotel which seems to be abducting people from different planets and forcing them to face their fears, which results in their death at the hands of a powerful monster. It is a much more cerebral story but doesn't push it too far. Instead it features just enough weirdness and fun Doctor moments to make it enjoyable.

In The Girl Who Waited we saw character development for Rory and Amy. This adventure gives us some time for the Doctor. It builds upon the foundations that New Who has build with the Doctor being much more aware now of how his adventures affect his companions. He knows that his time is almost over and it is on his mind. He also has to destroy the faith that Amy has in him, much like he did to Ace in the Curse of Fenric, so that he can save her. He knows what his adventures could mean to his companions and at the end of his life he is beginning to understand the threat he is to them. Maybe I care more for the Doctor's character development than for his companions, but it seems to work for me more when it deals with the main hero.

It isn't all doom and gloom however. This episode has a lot of humour as well. David Walliams makes a great appearance as an awkward alien from a world which has been invaded more times than any other in the universe. Even the planet's national anthem is a welcome song to any invading empire.

It is nice to see a tie to a classic episode again. The monster behind this horror mystery is connected to the Nimon faced by the 4th Doctor. I've said it before and I'll probably repeat myself again, but I get a lot more enjoyment out of New Who when it does these little tie ins to the classic show.

Definitely a great episode and one worth watching.

Episode #108 : The Horns of Nimon

"Why don't you give me the gun and then I can keep an eye on myself so I don't get up to any funny business."

Episode 108:    The Horns of Nimon.
Companions:   4th Doctor, K9 and Romana.
Air Date:          Four episodes. 22nd December 1979 to 12th January 1980.

The inhabitants of the planet Skonnos have been promised by an alien Nimon that he will restore their empire to greatness if they in return provide young sacrifices and radioactive hymetusite crystals, both of which they are obtaining from the nearby planet Aneth. With the TARDIS immobilised for repairs, the Doctor and Romana encounter the Skonnan spaceship transporting the latest sacrificial consignment from Aneth. Romana is captured and taken to Skonnos on board the ship, while the Doctor follows in the now semi-repaired TARDIS. Once there, they are consigned by the Skonnans' leader, Soldeed, into the Nimon's labyrinthine power complex.

The Horns of Nimon is a story based heavily on the Greek legend of the minotaur, in this case a race of beings called the Nimon. There is even a maze, sacrifices to appease the Nimon and a hero seeking to slay the beast. From there it changes and you see how the writer has made the story their own. Sometimes these stories translate well to the screen and the Horns of Nimon is just such a story.

The Nimon themselves look a bit paper mache men in suits... on stilts, but somehow it doesn't detract from the episode. It is only when you see three of them waddling about that you begin to smirk. The concept of these creatures, that of galactic parasites devouring the energy of whole worlds before moving on and pretending to be god-like to other foolish civilisations, is nothing new but somehow it works in this one. We get something similar in a later story, The God Complex, with the 11th Doctor but not quite the same.

Another thing that makes this an enjoyable story is that almost all of the typical lines and actions of the Doctor are instead taken up by Romana. I can't think of a story prior to this where the companion gets as much excellent screen time in the classic era of the show.

The Horns of Nimon is a good story for this era in the show providing that you can get past the appearance of the Nimon themselves.