The Rings of Akhaten
Story 233, Episode 792, Series 7 Episode 7
Doctor: The Eleventh Doctor
Companions: Clara Oswald
The Doctor gives an all-time speech and we meet a beautiful alien civilization despite the Clara vibes still being off.
The Review
This is a good point to fit in Rain Gods, and I think the River/Clara parallels are important. Both are women who are a mystery to the Doctor, but there is a big difference: River knows things about the Doctor he doesn’t know yet so the relationship still feels equal. Here, Clara doesn’t know anything about the Doctor but we open with him stalking her timeline as she grew up. Not only is Clara disadvantaged to the Doctor, but to the audience too. So, despite how cheerful, empathetic, and down for adventure Clara is, the qualities that over time would confirm her as in my mind the show’s best companion, here the whole relationship just feels wrong. Instead of the usual Doctor and companion discovering themselves, Clara just feels undercooked. Compare her to the Amy of The Beast Below and there’s no contest on who feels like the more complete character.
It’s a shame, because this had a chance to be an all-time episode. We get a Star Wars-esque assemblage of aliens which is just a lot of fun, and a beautiful setting of civilizations on rings surrounding a massive sun. The Doctor and Clara arrive as the young Queen of Years sings a traditional lullaby, but we quickly learn that she gets sacrificed to satisfy an ‘old god’. At first we think it’s a mummy in a glass case, but it turns out the old god is the massive sun, a parasite that feeds on stories and objects of emotional value. The image of the Doctor standing up to the massive sun is beautiful, and he tries to satisfy it by offering up all his history. In a good twist, what does it in is an old leaf Clara has that led to her parents meeting each other because it contains infinite possibilities that destroy the old god. This episode has its detractors, but it’s just about classic Doctor Who, beating the day by a speech. It definitely has some of the most memorable visuals.
The Rings of Akhaten is a beautiful story on paper, but a bit of a struggle because of the still weirdness with Clara.
8.75/10 The Clara situation holds back what had the potential to be an all-timer
Reviewing Doctor Who from Start to Finish 