The first time I watched "Kill the Moon" I absolutely hated it. Worst episode of season eight, I thought. And to be honest, although it's not as horrible as I originally felt, it still is the weakest of the season.
The Doctor takes Clara and her student (yeah, the one who threw up in the last episode - - didn't exactly enter with points for her) to the moon in the near future (I forget the exact year but I'm pretty sure they mention it). They encounter a few astronauts who quickly of course start to get picked off one by one in true cliche horror fashion. It starts off as a fairly decent escape the monster kind of episode, in this case, moon spiders(?) - - yeah,I said decent, not good or amazing. Although it has its issues (mostly stupid side characters being stupid and setting themselves up to be killed), the creatures were neat and provided some good scares. I was surprised to learn that some insects can actually be killed via cleaner spray (so why they felt the need to say they were basically giant germs was rather stupid and unnecessary). But the production value was pretty good, at least.
Unfortunately it gets worse from there. The moon is an egg (sigh, see told you) of a planetoid sized moth alien and it's affecting the tides etc as the mass of the larvae grows. Then we enter the debate of whether to kill said larvae or not cause it might be a threat to Earth. At which point the Doctor exits the episode and tells Clara its her decision! What! How is that her decision?! It literally makes no sense at all.
Now, to be fair there is some quite good dialogue at this point, and it almost seems like a Roe vs Wade debate, which doesn't make a lot of sense given the context. But some interesting ideologies are raised and Clara's anger towards the Doctor is fully justified. The actress who plays the student actually does a good job and the whole cast is superbly directed to ante up the tension at this point.
But the conclusion is both anti climatic (forgivable) and baffling (not so forgivable). Basically we throw all science out the window and the moon reappears after the giant space moth hatches (no, they don't kill it) for no reason than to provide a happy ending. So while the majority of the episode is serviceable, after being dragged through the last act (one of the few I've ever fallen asleep during) the audience definitely deserves better. 7/10
The Doctor takes Clara and her student (yeah, the one who threw up in the last episode - - didn't exactly enter with points for her) to the moon in the near future (I forget the exact year but I'm pretty sure they mention it). They encounter a few astronauts who quickly of course start to get picked off one by one in true cliche horror fashion. It starts off as a fairly decent escape the monster kind of episode, in this case, moon spiders(?) - - yeah,I said decent, not good or amazing. Although it has its issues (mostly stupid side characters being stupid and setting themselves up to be killed), the creatures were neat and provided some good scares. I was surprised to learn that some insects can actually be killed via cleaner spray (so why they felt the need to say they were basically giant germs was rather stupid and unnecessary). But the production value was pretty good, at least.
Unfortunately it gets worse from there. The moon is an egg (sigh, see told you) of a planetoid sized moth alien and it's affecting the tides etc as the mass of the larvae grows. Then we enter the debate of whether to kill said larvae or not cause it might be a threat to Earth. At which point the Doctor exits the episode and tells Clara its her decision! What! How is that her decision?! It literally makes no sense at all.
Now, to be fair there is some quite good dialogue at this point, and it almost seems like a Roe vs Wade debate, which doesn't make a lot of sense given the context. But some interesting ideologies are raised and Clara's anger towards the Doctor is fully justified. The actress who plays the student actually does a good job and the whole cast is superbly directed to ante up the tension at this point.
But the conclusion is both anti climatic (forgivable) and baffling (not so forgivable). Basically we throw all science out the window and the moon reappears after the giant space moth hatches (no, they don't kill it) for no reason than to provide a happy ending. So while the majority of the episode is serviceable, after being dragged through the last act (one of the few I've ever fallen asleep during) the audience definitely deserves better. 7/10