(608) The Awakening - Part 2

This story really doesn’t have anything going for it. Being a science fiction show it is not that surprising when non-science fiction stuff and on occasion it does it rather well. Sadly when the story cant quite make up its mind then that is when problems tend to arise and boy do they appear in this episode. It does seem like this story is more concerned with Sir George’s actions rather the Malus. Now I know that the two are connected by I think that as there are only two episodes then there isn’t really the time to split the story.

I wish we had had more of the Malus because it was quite a good creature and I think that more time should have been put aside to explain what it was and why it was there because it did seem a bit rushed. The Malus appearing in the TARDIS towards the latter stages of the episode is quite good. There is a good bit of CSO to realise this and its one of the few successes in the entire story. I honestly don’t remember how it was defeated because I was so disconnected with what I was seeing on screen that I am at a loss to explain it. The ooze coming from the Malus’ mouth is quite grim, another death which is perhaps stronger than it needed to be. Also the Trooper’s death was perhaps more shocking considering that you don’t actually get to see it.

The Malus’s destruction in the church is quite dramatic but the thing about blowing up church models is that it will never look as good as the one in The Daemons which really did look impressive and that was 12 years before this story aired. Ok so I think that on reflection this is an average story. No, forget that it’s a terrible story and just think how bad it would have been had it been four episodes long.

What makes the past two episodes even more frustrating is that Resurrection of the Daleks aired in two parts when it could have been shown in its intended four episode format. I know that this option is available on the DVD but it just shows that clear problems with the script should have meant that this story was cancelled and the Daleks story was extended but that’s all in the past and The Awakening exists but I think that the two episode format (as it is) thankfully ends but out of the three that there have been during the Davison era, this is by far the worst and that’s saying something considering how little there was in The Kings Demons.