Story: Lux
Written By: Russell T. Davies
Length: 45 Minutes
Year: 2025
The Doctor plans to get Belinda home by landing sometime on Earth and using a device to pinpoint 2025 and then pull them in like a fishing line. The land in 1952 Miami, and the Doctor is immediately drawn in to a theater that is suspiciously locked up. Months ago a creature was unleashed there, a cartoon character came to life and trapped all 15 people in film. The Doctor investigates, discovers the creature is another Harbinger (like the Toymaker and the Maestro), this one being Lux, the God of Light. Like last year's "The Devil's Chord" this episode takes something I am a big fan of, then the Beatles and this time the movies, and doesn't do anything particularly interesting
I don't think I am the biggest fan of these Harbinger characters, or at least I don't really like their episodes much. Maestro was over the top and when they did a full-on musical number I began to actively dislike the episode. Also the Beatles could not have been more poorly cast. Anyhow, this episode has Mr. Ring-a-ding, a sort of old school cartoon character who is brought to life, and I think a big part of the failing of this episode for me is that Mr. Ring-a-Ding doesn't work. They try to do the Fleischer animation style but it looks too modern maybe. I dunno. Also cartoon characters from the golden age of animation rarely sung full musical numbers like this guy does. And the song feels absolutely like a last minute job to me. They were meant to have a silly song and no one in the production remembered to write it until the last minute.When I was a kid there was an episode of the show "Are You Afraid of the Dark" in which there was. theater where a Nosferatu like monster is able to leave the screen. This has stuck with me for years even though I am sure if I watched it now it would feel more silly than scary. Anyhow my point is this wasn't as effective as that. And I am a huge fan of movies and going to the theater, so an episode where the premise is around that should be targeted towards me...but the episode is more interested in breaking the fourth wall than actually doing something clever with its premise, at least in my opinion.
NEXT TIME: Return to Midnight
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