Amazingly this is the 25th episode for Matt Smith
and in the way that I have counted the stories it is the 225th
story.
It really doesn’t take very long for the creepiness factor
to star showing in this episode. Even before the titles place the shots of the
different part of a hotel make it look like they are in the hotel from The
Shining. Nick Hurran (director) loves this set and in particular the spiral
staircase because he seems to use it at every opportunity.
The minotaur creature is the monster of the week and is so
old it doesn’t know its name and the Doctor does a mercy killing which isn’t the
sort oft thing that is seen in Doctor Who. Towards the end its revealed that
they are actually on a spaceship and a distant relation of the Nimon (from The
Horns of Nimon). I was never quite sure whether we should be feeling sorry for
it or scared of it because I never felt convinced about it either way.
There is a nice picture of a Sontaran called Commander Halke
and it lists his fear and that is simply Defeat. That is the theme of the story
and its about fear and faith. There is a room in the hotel for everyone’s fear
and there is even a room for the Doctor. That raises an interesting question as
to what the Doctor fears. The Doctor goes into his room (obviously number 11),
but we don’t see it and instead just hear the cloister bell. There is one room
that have a group of giggling young teenage girls and a room with some weeping
angels. There are pictures of a Judoon, Cat Nun from New Earth and I’m sure
that fly thing from Planet of the Dead. Trying not to be fearful isn’t the
easiest thing that you can do and yet this a great
David Walliams guest stars in this episode. Walliams is best
known for Little Britain, swimming in the Thames for Comic Relief and most recently
a judge on Britain’s Got Talent. He plays Gibbis who is from a planet that gets
invaded and I chuckled when he talks about being a town planner and making a
layout easier for an alien invasion.
The thing about this episode is that whilst the characters
were good and the directing was quite good from Hurran. The actual plot wasn’t the
greatest and the good idea of the plot isn’t really developed as well as it
could have done.
The ‘departure’ of Amy and Rory is handled quite well. I am
not quite sure what led this departure but the scene where they go their separate
ways is quite nice but it was never going to be a permanent end because it’s a rather
drama free scene and so it’s clear that it’s a similar attempt to create drama
like when Tegan ‘left’ at the end of Time-Flight. This is a story that has its
moments and is better than the stories in the first half of series but I don’t think
that its quite as good as The Girl Who Waited. Next Up is the return of James
Cordon. 
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