Saturday, 17 January 2015

(612) Frontios - Part 4

I was hoping that the episode would do its job of ending this episode in the way that it should. However despite it working, one thing I can say is that it didn’t have the feel that this was quite the epic finale that it should have been. Don’t get me wrong, there was plenty to like about this episode but there was just something missing that I was hoping would be there. Something that is there in this episode is a bit of meat about the story of the tractators. We learn that the tractators basically lured them into a false sense of security by letting them settle for a decade before bombarding the planet with asteroids. This shows a sense that they are quite clever and are also very patient.

Bits of the TARDIS start popping up which shows that the show is starting to build to a finale. It seems like the next couple of minute are a bit of a rush job because the Doctor tries to lure the Gravis away. I actually like inside the TARDIS with bits of rock appearing all over. It adds something to the console room and it’s a shame that we return to the bright white layout. There is one shot where the Gravis appears to be nibbling on the side of the TARDIS console which I thought was quite amusing. The fact that the tractators are basically harmless when the Gravis is separated from them is quite a good idea and one that lends itself very well to the story. Sadly we don’t see the Doctor dumping it on a random world but I suppose its not really relevant to the story. The cliffhanger of the episode is suppose to lead into the Daleks’ return and so it’s a very intriguing way to end the episode and the story.
Frontios has really impressed me with just how good the performances and also the story has surprised me. I think that at the moment this may go down as one of the strongest Peter Davison stories and its definelty one of those which has changed in my opinion. After a rocky start to the twenty-first season, its fair to say that Frontios has been the first good story of the season and I genuinely didn’t think I would be writing that before I started this.

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