Rate and Discuss: The Power of Three

[SiHart]

Tonight the world is Cubed... but what does it all mean?

What did you think of The Power of Three?

[Alex]

Ah, it didn't really do it for me this week. By no means a bad episode, I just didn't find myself that involved with it. There were nice moments, Kate Stewart especially, but I just didn't find myself gripped for it. I think I would definitely have enjoyed it more if I didn't know the Doctor's travels with the Ponds is end in a tragic way, which certainly offset the more whimsical moments for me.

6/10.

[Andrew Curnow]

I really enjoyed the setting up, the mystery, the investigating.... The actual 'explanation' when it came was a bit rushed and lame as was the 'solution' (and confusing - surely there was too long a time for the people who suffered cardiac arrest in the first wave, for them to then be resuscitated by the Doctor tweaking the second wave?).

So I loved most of the episode, but not so impressed with the pay off. Nice to see Kate (Lethbridge-)Stewart though, must admit I'm not normally a great fan of that actress but she was very good in this!!

Not sure the title was all that appropriate either??

[J.R. Southall]

Well, Chris Chibnall has written the best two episodes of the series so far ... IMHO, of course.

[Dave Tudor]

Brilliant, that's what that was. Funny, touching, intriguing, scary - I have to agree with Mr Southall, Chibnall has indeed written the two most enjoyable episodes of the series so far. And I never thought I'd ever say that!

Matt Smith was just superb, and Karen Gillan too was wonderful - they played off each other beautifully and on tonight's performance, it makes it all the more tragic that their journey together is about to come to an end. Arthur Darvill was also great, and Mark Williams has been fantastic as Brian - such a shame that he (probably) won't be in the show for much longer, just as we were getting to know him. Why couldn't he have been introduced sooner?

Jemma Redgrave gave a pleasing, dignified performance as Kate Stewart, and what a delightful touch that she should be The Brigadier's daughter. I had no idea that this should be the case, despite knowing her surname, until The Doctor spelled it out. A fitting tribute to Lethbridge-Stewart's legacy, and I imagine that this isn't her last appearance. Elsewhere, the appearances of the likes of Sophie Raworth, Brian Cox and Alan Sugar lent humour and urgency to proceedings, as well as bringing back fond memories of the celebrity cameos of the RTD years.

My only criticism was that the ending was rather underwhelming, with The Doctor hurriedly reversing the effects of the cubes: I was not even totally convinced by the idea of The Shakri's plan to wipe out the human 'vermin', even if those scenes did have a distinctly old series feel. Also, Steven Berkoff was somewhat underused as the alien and overall the climax was slightly rushed which was a shame considering the carefully measured and well-scripted build up, with its clever symmetry with the prequel 'Pond Life'.

Despite these quibbles, I really enjoyed 'The Power of Three': in fact, I think it was my favourite of the season. This has been an incredibly strong run of episodes and I look forward to next week's closer. On tonight's evidence, though, I don't think I want the Ponds' journey to end just yet.

[Larry]

7/10 pretty average stuff - would of liked to odf seen more of Steven Berkoff, I thought it was quite amussing that even with all that make up on his face that mole/spot that he has on his forhead was still very visable




and loved the fact Kate, was the Brig's daughter.

[Junkyard]

A good, but not great episode. I have to agree with some previous comments. Matt, Karen and Arthur all gave great peformances. Brian was an absolute gem and Jemma Redgrave was a pleasant surprise as Kate (Lethbridge) Stewart. More of this character please BBC! But...the climax and the resolution were rushed. Steve Berkoff was also under-used. In this case the new format worked against the script; 45 minutes did not seem long enough but I don't think this would stretch to a two-parter. 7/10

[Dino]

I went out to a friends and had all sorts of difficulty concentrating when I came back to watch it. A good cup of tea later and I was able to watch it properly.

Firstly, I didn't like Amy narrating. I hate this in any film, even book, because most of the time whatever troubles come their way, they are usual calm enough at the end to narrate!
I did like a bored shitless Doctor painting fences! And it was well put together.
The foreshadowing wasn't really needed.
I did have preconceptions about the episode, I thought it would have been a darker Dinosaurs On A Spaceship. It had some dark ideas, but it still had the lightness.
Anyway, I'm rambling, 8/10.

[Andrew Curnow]

One question I have, though - why were the hospital porter guys stealing humans to take back to the ship, what was all that about? And also, what was the point of the little girl?

OK, two questions!

[Utermazan]

I didn't like it much. Compared to last weeks which in my opinion was a really good story, it just seemed to not feel right. Narrating by Amy was cringeworthy (especially the pun at the end - I recoil slightly just typing about it). The filming was really irritating in the way it kept zooming around. I didn't like the Brig's Daughter bit (seems like a needless bit of continuity) and the resolution just seemed rushed. Why were there humans on the ship with the alien and it seemed a bit odd how it was ignored that they were presumably killed when the ship exploded.

However I did like the two evil nurses/doctors. They reminded me of Fury from the Deep which is always a good thing. The Apprentice cameo was amusing, and the creepy girl was creepy, even if she didn't have a point as such.

I'll give it a 3/10. Nowhere near as good as previous stories.

[Llordllama]

I really enjoyed it myself, once again we had oddles of good stuff and yet it didn't feel cramped. Okay so it DID see the return of the "sonic screwdriver solves all ills" but I can over look that as I came away with a real warm glow of enjoyment. Add in Stephen Berkov of the villain of the piece and my socks were charmed right off.

Even knowing it's the Ponds' last chance to have fun didn't spoil it for me. Although having Brian "Wonder" Cox in it probably lost it a point or two.

Doctor WHeasel's take - along with obligitory guest star (which regular viewers might be able to predict) is over here on the Tube of You.

[Larry]

One question I have, though - why were the hospital porter guys stealing humans to take back to the ship, what was all that about? And also, what was the point of the little girl?

OK, two questions!

I suppose the most logical explanation would be that the people taken back to the ship were being experimented on to find the human bodies s weeknnesses.

[Si Hunt]

Loved it, this season is the best Matt Smith one yet... Barring the resolution, which was awful - Doctor waves screwdriver & everything fixed. And since when can you bring dead people back to life?? Also it should have been called The Slow Invasion.

Si.

[SiHart]

I really enjoyed this episode, which I felt was quite strong, despite a weakish resolution. As sometimes happens, the incidental bits were perhaps more important than the main story- Kate Stewart was especially good, and it's wonderful to have the Lethbridge- Stewart family connection continuing. She was really sympathetically played, with a couple of really touching moments and I really, really help she continues in the way the Brig did down the years- a friend the Doctor meets every so often. It'd be such a shame if she didn't.

I don't quite know how to rate it, because I just liked it such a lot.

[Simon R]

It's bizzare and unheralded that this story featured a character from Downtime. There's hope for Bernice Summerfield yet!

[Darren]

2 out of 10

RTD's spirit was in this one I think. Lots of news network coverage, two pointless "celebrity" cameos in an earthbound story.

Deeply irritating for the first 20 minutes or so and entirely boring throughout. Nonsensical also springs to mind. Why do the Shakri (who we never saw, so how many are there?) have seven warp points on Earth? Why did they choose to kidnap certain humans and why and how did those two drones with the funny mouths come about? If they know that humans are/will colonise space, they must have a level of knowledge already so why waste time observing? The true nature of the threat, the source and the solutiion wrapped up in ten minutes, with the Doctor waving his sonic at a computer screen.
Terrible.

[Darren]

nd it seemed a bit odd how it was ignored that they were presumably killed when the ship exploded.

I assume that Amy and Rory were sending them back through the hospital lift/warp hole.

[duncan]

Silly in places such as Amy shocking the Doctor's heart. That part reminded me of the body swapping part in New Earth. Both actors over egged their part to the point of childishness.

Apart from that, it was mostly engrossing and I really wanted to know what the boxes were all about.

Nice to see the Zygons get a mention. One step closer to making a re-appearance?

7/10

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

I'll excuse those of you who don't read the Radio Times or any other pre-broadcast publicity and didn't know that the character was called Kate Stewart but with that spelling it was pretty obvious whose daughter she would turn out to be. That said I'm sure Nick would've been delighted. Returning to the Tower of London base from The Christmas Invasion was another lovely touch and I hope we'll get to see that and Kate again.

Yes the resolution was rushed but the Shakri invasion wasn't really what the episode was about. In the spirit of the RTD episodes it clearly sought to emulate the real heart of the story was the relationship between the central characters. I realise that's not everyone's cup of tea and after three quite big adventure stories it almost felt out of place but at the same time it was nice to have a "Boom Town" before next week's "Parting of the Ways".

[Si Hunt]

I think the pity about things like this, small yet giant things which mar an otherwise superb episode, is that they could be fixed so easily. Just maybe two more minutes of screen time with the Doctor devising something ingenious and eccentric to defeat the Shakri. Maybe they ought to have left the Shakri as the big mean bloke, made him a villain, rather than the head of a race we never see? Because his performance and make-up really was excellent.



So just a minute or to to make the Doctor's resolution SEEM as if it were clever, would have been easy to do. It's so frustrating, the rest of it was so perfect.

That said, now that other people mention it, the weird emphasis given to the little girl and the two blokes with the cubes in their mouths were never explained either. It's unfathomable how these things getting through script control and editing isn't it?

So is an episode which seems wonderful until the last five minutes when none of it is explained/resolved brilliant because it is 90% great or rubbish because it turns out not to make sense/be resolved properly? I'm not sure.

Si.

[SiHart]

Was it just me or was one of the newsreaders Trinity Wells? Might just have been my eyes- i was very tired last night.

Oh and hooray for the Brian Cox cameo!

[Stuart Wallis]

It's bizzare and unheralded that this story featured a character from Downtime. There's hope for Bernice Summerfield yet!

I was wondering who was going to be first to mention Downtime...

I'll give this one 6/10. The Chibnall scripts have been the best so far, but they haven't been great; and it doesn't help that they haven't had any competition. The story was great when it got started, but boy did it take a long time to get started, and only a couple of minutes to finish!

It's only a niggly point this, but why call it the Slow Invasion when it was more of a Drawn-out Genocide?

Returning to the slow start (no pun intended), since most viewers a re probably aware that Amy and Rory are going next time, why draw it out in such an obvious way; and why halt the flow of an otherwise exciting and intriguing plot by sitting the Doctor and Amy outside the Tower and hammering the point home again?

Such a shame Stephen Berkoff was hardly in it. I'm almost wondering whether this was done in order to set up a rematch. Still, I'd rather have Sir Alaisdair's daughter than Amy's.

I'll rephrase that...

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

I'm pretty sure Trinity didn't appear which does seem like a missed opportunity.

As to the Shakri maybe we'll see them again one day. Being the stuff of Time Lord nightmares does give them a potential edge, almost like a whole race of Tricksters.

It is odd that they couldn't have done a bit more with the ending considering to finished episode was only about 41 minutes long as opposed to the first episode being something like 46 minutes.

[Nyder]

Yes I thought it clocked it a bit short too! A 7/10 for me. Really liked the first 40 minutes, including all the daft domestic stuff - wonderful! But has as been mentioned already, the ending did feel extremely rushed. And yes, with half the population going into v fib for that long, it would result in a lot of brain-damaged people wandering around

And I must admit, the introduction of Lethbridge-Stewart Junior did get me all dewy-eyed

I have to say I'm really enjoying this season so far. There hasn't been a clunker yet.

[Perry Vale]

8/10 from me. A solid episode, but bearing in mind the episode title, the script could have probably done with three less things in it (take your pick), as it was far too cluttered.

Sugar and Cox were nice surprises for me, as was the character of Kate Stewart.

Overall though, it felt in many places that it was going over old ground with the Doctor, and as pleased as I am to see Karen & Arthur 'back on board', the script motivations didn't convince me.