Finally got around to watching the latest Dr Who and it was pretty damn good. I really liked the glancing, perspective shots to make the Minotaur monster seem more terrifying at the start of the episode and then the more revealing shots later on when we began to feel a bit more sorry for it.
Some of the insanity clips (as people went mad and began to giggle or PRAISE HIM) were genuinely scary, especially the sudden one where you realize Rita is the next target.
I also enjoyed how they hinted at the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur without ever actually making it explicit. The Dr referred to the space Minotaur as an alien race that descends on more primitive civilizations and feeds off their faith. The alluded to victims managed to trap their 'God' in a virtual prison on a satellite, fed by kidnapped natives of other planets. Surely a more advanced form of the tactic adopted by the Cretans, who locked their Minotaur in a labyrinth and fed it with captured enemies?
So, a scary and surprisingly clever episode that nevertheless had some good moments of humour. Every line from Gibbis about the extreme cowardice of his race was hilarious but I felt sorry enough for him and interested enough in his rat-like desire to survive that he wasn't just a character played for laughs. Similarly the Dr's joke about abandoning Amy when he met Rita was very funny and presaged things to come.*
Great stuff, although after all these psychological episodes I'm looking forward to a more sci-fi finale and the explanation of the Dr's death.
* Now if only they'd explained the room with the sad clown and his balloon!
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