704. The Power of Three
First Aired : 22 September 2012
As a Charmed fan, the name of this episode intrigued me. As a conspiracy theory fan, I loved the black boxes. As a Doctor Who fan, there was absolutely nothing about this episode not to like. It was fun and action packed, intriguing and charming, and best of all - UNIT showed up!
The Doctor is off enjoying his own adventures while Amy and Rory are adjusting to normal life on earth. One day, millions of small black cubes arrive on earth - they appear all around the globe, all at exactly the same time. The appearance of the black boxes is talked about all over the globe, and such agencies as UNIT are busily investigating their sudden appearance. The Doctor shows up to check out the strange happenings *and* Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart's daughter Kate (who now works for UNIT) shows up to recruit the Doctor.
As nothing of note happens after the arrival of the boxes, the human population happily accepts that black boxes now litter their lives and start using them as paperweights and such before mostly forgetting about them or their sudden appearance. There are some who continue watching the boxes though, such as Rory's dad Brian and UNIT.
The scene showing the different ways people use the black boxes was awesome to watch, by the way. Whoever thought that up and dreamed it together did an absolutely amazing job!
Life goes on until one day, a year after their sudden arrival, at exactly the same time, all the boxes suddenly "wake up". They scan everything around them for information and act in self-defence hurting many. After 40 seconds, they all become dormant again.
Not long after, The Doctor and Amy are at UNIT headquarters where the Brigadier's daughter shows them a number of cubes under observation, all behaving differently.
Suddenly, the number 7 appears on all sides of all of the boxes, and the countdown is on. When the boxes all read 0 (minutes), they open to show that they are - wait for it - completely empty. Reports start coming in of people dying from cardiac arrest as one of The Doctor's hearts stops - he was hit as well. We find out that the electrical impulse that caused the heart attacks killed about a third of the world's population - all those closest to a black box at the time of the pulse were hit.
Woven throughout the story we see the hospital where Rory works. There, an innocent looking young girl with shining blue eyes sits holding a cube. She controls two "orderlies" with strange looking mouths hidden behind surgical masks who abduct patients, taking them to their space ship in orbit of earth one dimension to the left using a service elevator as the doorway. [Yes, the Cybermen also used an elevator as a transport to their base in an earlier episode. And thankfully, the two appearances are different enough that this episode's elevator transport scene works really well and still feels fresh.]
After the electric impulse injured so many people, Rory's dad Brian went with his son to help out at the hospital. Brian is - of course - taken by the strange masked orderlies; Rory follows. Catching up to the action, The Doctor and Amy also travel through the elevator portal to the spaceship orbiting earth. There they find out that the black boxes were sent by the Shakri, a race of "pest controllers" thought extinct even by the Timelords, to exterminate humanity before they spread throughout the universe like a plague.
The Doctor manages to use the ship to send another pulse through the cubes to restore all those who died back to life. The backlash of that electrical impulse destroys the ships in orbit, and geronimo - the earth has been saved, the enemy has been destroyed and the threat has been averted.
All in all this was an extremely enjoyable episode with a slightly unsatisfying ending. Seeing The Doctor trying to live a "normal" life as Amy and Rory's guest was amazing. I laughed and laughed again and enjoyed this almost final adventure with Amy and Rory. Seeing what life is like when you're a part-time adventurer was good fun too! As I'm late writing this review I've by now seen the next episode and am extra glad for the fun and good vibes The Power of Three brought to my TV screen!
 |
| Source : We Got This Covered |
The Doctor is off enjoying his own adventures while Amy and Rory are adjusting to normal life on earth. One day, millions of small black cubes arrive on earth - they appear all around the globe, all at exactly the same time. The appearance of the black boxes is talked about all over the globe, and such agencies as UNIT are busily investigating their sudden appearance. The Doctor shows up to check out the strange happenings *and* Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart's daughter Kate (who now works for UNIT) shows up to recruit the Doctor.
 |
| Source : SFX |
The scene showing the different ways people use the black boxes was awesome to watch, by the way. Whoever thought that up and dreamed it together did an absolutely amazing job!
Life goes on until one day, a year after their sudden arrival, at exactly the same time, all the boxes suddenly "wake up". They scan everything around them for information and act in self-defence hurting many. After 40 seconds, they all become dormant again.
Not long after, The Doctor and Amy are at UNIT headquarters where the Brigadier's daughter shows them a number of cubes under observation, all behaving differently.
Suddenly, the number 7 appears on all sides of all of the boxes, and the countdown is on. When the boxes all read 0 (minutes), they open to show that they are - wait for it - completely empty. Reports start coming in of people dying from cardiac arrest as one of The Doctor's hearts stops - he was hit as well. We find out that the electrical impulse that caused the heart attacks killed about a third of the world's population - all those closest to a black box at the time of the pulse were hit.
 |
| Source : Game Zone |
Woven throughout the story we see the hospital where Rory works. There, an innocent looking young girl with shining blue eyes sits holding a cube. She controls two "orderlies" with strange looking mouths hidden behind surgical masks who abduct patients, taking them to their space ship in orbit of earth one dimension to the left using a service elevator as the doorway. [Yes, the Cybermen also used an elevator as a transport to their base in an earlier episode. And thankfully, the two appearances are different enough that this episode's elevator transport scene works really well and still feels fresh.]
The Doctor manages to use the ship to send another pulse through the cubes to restore all those who died back to life. The backlash of that electrical impulse destroys the ships in orbit, and geronimo - the earth has been saved, the enemy has been destroyed and the threat has been averted.
All in all this was an extremely enjoyable episode with a slightly unsatisfying ending. Seeing The Doctor trying to live a "normal" life as Amy and Rory's guest was amazing. I laughed and laughed again and enjoyed this almost final adventure with Amy and Rory. Seeing what life is like when you're a part-time adventurer was good fun too! As I'm late writing this review I've by now seen the next episode and am extra glad for the fun and good vibes The Power of Three brought to my TV screen!
 |
| Source: CultFix.com |
