702. Dinosaurs on a Spaceship

A fast-paced and action packed episode that has the doctor "on a roll" like he was in this episode was great fun to watch. Dinosaurs on a space ship in space, with a time travelling alien doctor, humans from the past and the present, oh and a little blue box that transports everyone all around time and space.

The episode shows that Earth Defense has picked up a ship travelling towards Earth that's not responding to any hails. Before firing missiles at the craft out of self-defence, thereby destroying it, The Doctor is asked to investigate. With 6 hours before the missiles will destroy the ship, The Doctor takes Queen Nefertiti, John Riddell (an English big-game hunter), Amy, Rory and Rory's father Brian along into space to figure out if they can't  turn the craft around.

Source: SFX

What ensues is a mad and entertaining tale that leaves me with the distinct feeling that no matter how much I love and enjoy Doctor Who, I might never fully understand the show and its mad (yet amazing) twists and turns. As a "regular person", I can relate to Rory's dad Brian who is baffled by everything he sees at first - how strange yet wonderful would such an experience be! Seeing The Doctor's world through the eyes of someone who doesn't think that space travel and meeting dinosaurs is everyday business is amazing each and every time.

Behind the scenes photo | Radio Times

As the story progresses and Brian starts digging the action and the wonderful weirdness, we learn that the spaceship is a Silurian ark on a mission to rescue a number of dinosaurs from the impending meteor strike that was to wipe them all out several million yeas ago. After the Bad Pirate aka Solomon (David Bradley) boarded the ark and his lackeys killed off all the Silurians, the ship couldn't be piloted any more and headed on back to its place of origin - Earth. It's a mission of peace gone horribly wrong, and it's up to The Doctor to save the mission, the dinosaurs, the earth and the day.

I wouldn't recommend this episode to non-Whovians as it is very full-on and perhaps even too "Who" (if there is such a thing!) to understand fully for a first-time viewer, however for every Raggedy Man loving, Geronimo-screaming fellow fan, this story is a real treat and one that I definitely enjoyed. A whole lot.