The Ghost Monument – An Exclusive Review by Greg Bakun

“My beautiful Ghost Monument…” -The Doctor.

If you have not seen this episode of Doctor Who, please note that this article is very spoilerific and I will give away plot points to not only this episode but the entire Series 11. If you do not want to be spoiled please do not read further or read at your own risk. Enjoy!

Doctor Who celebrated quite the week! Not only did we get to enjoy the debut of Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor but so did A LOT of other people. We mean record numbers! When all is said and done, there were about 10.9 million viewers watching the series in the UK alone! So far, the new direction has been a huge success. That was all episode one, what about episode 2?

Doctor Who is now different. Really different to me. The part that is the least difficult to get past is Jodie as the Doctor. In fact the opposite. She is great. The pacing, the shots, the music is all different and it is taking a little getting used to for me. That is the fun part of a new era, for a series that is about change, anything can happen. You know, there is something special about a show that can challenge you by being different. Some don’t like it and that is OK but for the others who want to see a 55 year old series and have it turned on its head, then this is a treat!

The Ghost Monument is a bit like the great race! Yet this is the final leg on the planet Desolation and the Doctor and her companions, or excuse me, new best friends are “scooped” out of space by a pair of pilots each in their own ships. To win the race, they need to reach the “Ghost Monument”. The Doctor is extremely interested in the “Ghost Monument” mainly because it includes the TARDIS.

For this to be a race then logically there needs to be a clear winner to actually “win” the race, the only time the two pilots are not with each other is at the beginning of the episode. Why do they need to work with each other? The planet is so deadly that they need to work together to reach the end alive plus, they catch on really quickly that the Doctor is their only key to staying alive. Everyone has to endure flesh eating water, Sniper Robots, acetylene gas skies and the living tapestries that go into minds to use fear against their prey called Remnant. The teams go through it together, and the pilots jointly claim their prize.

There are parts of the episode I really like but what is hitting me over the head is that there is absolutely no conflict amongst any of the characters. If there is, it gets resolved too quickly. The two pilots, Angstrom & Epzo, get along pretty well for being part of a massive intergalactic race. They decide to take the winnings together and want the race to be declared as a joint win. That was a 2 sec conversation although Epzo tried to put up a little bit of a fight. Then, after they tell Llin they want the race declared as a joint win, he refuses. It’s only after Epzo gives some uninspired threat towards him does Llin change his mind. Ryan and Graham have a little bit of conflict mainly about Graham wanting to be respected and called Grandad. That doesn’t last either.

Look, I don’t want conflict where people die or anything. I just feel like these characters get along too well. The first two episodes are told in a very straight forward manner with no real twists. I am just hoping we get something a little better in future episodes.

The Ghost Monument is the TARDIS. This is a big deal for me in the episode. I mentioned that, for me personally, there is a lot of change that is great, but it is too much for someone averse to change, that I do need something familiar. Thus, the reveal that the Ghost Monument is the TARDIS and seeing it in the hologram was a little emotional. It was like seeing an old friend. I didn’t pick up in the dialogue being said around that scene that it would be the TARDIS but it was cool. Even more so when The Doctor and her friends were left behind by Llin after the race was declared, we hear the familiar sound of the TARDIS and it appears. It’s only two episodes since we last saw the TARDIS in “Twice Upon a Time” but it’s been almost a year and I have to admit, I got a little too emotional watching that. Then there is the interior.

I kind of wish there would be an uncomplicated version of the console room. I think the closest we got was in the second Matt Smith/Peter Capaldi console room. Maybe that is too boring? It didn’t feel like a defined shape which is fun. It just felt to me that there is so much going on in it, it is hard for me to focus. I love the way the doors are in effect the entire Police Box. That seems so obvious but never done. There are some of the other walls with metal and almost glass that are beautiful. The console itself reminds me, in a lot of ways, of the first console from the Eccleston/Tennant era.

Once again, this episode like that last one takes some time to breathe. It starts off frantic and then slows down. That’s great but I feel like the plot is pretty standard with nothing remarkable about it. It’s a story about finishing the race and the whole point is for the team to find the TARDIS. That is fine but I feel like there could be something a little more dynamic about the episode. I didn’t dislike it but I am not sure it’s one that I will go back to often.

The Doctor herself is still enjoyable. Jodie does a great job of being frantic and a little flippant. I’ve read some say that her lines and the way she reads them is a lot like David Tennant which I think is true but I like it when Jodie does it. When she does slow down, it’s really good. I particularly liked it when she told the Remnants to get out of her mind. Jodie’s Doctor is fallible and in a believable way. And although I said similar in the first episode, I really appreciate she doesn’t come into a room basically stating she is the Oncoming Storm but rather approaches like she is everybody else. She doesn’t need to state her superiority upfront, she does it through actions. She also remembers Venusian Akido!

Now what about the lack of story arcs? I remember Chibs, if I may be so informal, oh alright Chris Chibnall say that each episode stands on their own but clearly there are some arcs a brewin’! It’s clear that there is more to the Stenza (See “The Woman Who Fell to Earth”) than we (or maybe I) first thought! What I found most interesting is what the Remnants were saying about the Doctor. Calling her ““The timeless child. “The outcast abandoned and unknown.” I love it! I can’t wait to find out what all that means! For the first time, this is an arc I am really interested in learning more about.

Of course one last bit of business: the new title sequence. It a weird one in that I like it and I don’t. It sort of looks like you are submerged with water gushing all around you while someone is flashing a light down on you. The CG on this is leaps and bounds better than what we have seen over the last few years. It’s just not super engaging for me. It looks like a really high tech screen saver. The opening is better than the closing. It is interesting to note that this is the first time since the series returned in 2005 that the “sting” doesn’t open the music nor is the TARDIS featured. I like those changes. I also felt the opening theme needs to grow on me.

As it is a new era, things just need to settle in. There is so much love I have for this, let’s call it what it is, a reboot, that the I am sure the other things will just get better over time. I can’t wait to see this new vision continue to evolve.