Doctor Who Episodic Coverage: “The Robot Revolution”
“The Robot Revolution” Has A Ton Of Story To Tell
“The Robot Revolution” has given me a bit of a theory about Doctor Who as a series—at least lately. I don’t think its runtime allows it to satisfactorily run two simultaneous plotlines well. Something’s going to give.
And, because this is us getting a whole new character who was (presumably) going to spend the rest of the season with, the correct choice was to focus on that. We get a lot of strong scenes establishing Belinda’s personality and well-considered dialog that makes her feel unique.
This also applies to her overarching plotline. Maybe this has happened before in the much, much older Doctor Who seasons, but I’ve never seen a companion who travels with the Doctor against their will. Belinda wants to go home, right now, and understands the risk of being with the Doctor, but cannot do so. I have a feeling that—for the sake of the status quo, and to keep the story fun—Belinda will pretty quickly fall into liking the adventures, but it’s still a different dynamic and can offer new story ideas.
The Season Might Change Up Character Dynamics
But I’m not reviewing the season right now, I’m reviewing “The Robot Revolution.” And that part of the story is paced terribly. So many things are thrown together, interlocking with one another, but we don’t really get time to understand them. It’s the kind of sci-fi plot that summarizing actually improves it. I like the concepts a lot. It’s a bootstrap paradox, where the causality is impossible, but still makes sense. Belinda is kidnapped because she mentions the name of her kidnapper. And the whole planet falls into a brutal war because that kidnapper is an awful, toxic person who doesn’t value other people’s lives. Even the silly naming convention of the planet helps highlight both the paradox and the themes of obsessive control.
But there’s also a whole revolution happening in “The Robot Revolution.” There are the months that the Doctor was on the planet, playing double agent. There’s that whole every-eighth-word thing that I am sure—but haven’t checked—gets ignored unless it’s setting up a cool reveal. And yes, those individual scenes are cool, but I feel like this episode should’ve been a two-parter if it wanted to tell this sweeping of a story. I like interesting worldbuilding. I like time travel minutia. I like the concept of a human nurse needing to help out alien patients. Let us learn about Belinda in depth, and have a cool science fiction story. It is very possible to do both with more room.
“The Robot Revolution” Is Trying To Do Too Much
At least the science-fiction visuals were excellent. I’ve got minimal complaints there. The sets mostly looked good. Besides the outside shots and the rocket. I actually don’t know what locations were CGI and what wasn’t. The giant robot suits—except maybe the swiveling faces—were excellent practical effects. Seeing so many big, lumbering suits walk around and gesture really sold the idea of this being a losing war against a powerful enemy.
But the true standout in this department was the robot makeup for AI Generator. I cannot imagine the amount of time it took to get the actor into that setup. The teeth being visible threw me off a little, but it was otherwise incredible work.
In the end, that’s what I would call “The Robot Revolution”: incredible work—but shoved into too tiny of a package. There is an art to implication, to getting across a lot of history and character without outright saying it, and this episode is strong in that department, but not strong enough. The actors did all they could and did so well. The set designers did all they could and made some amazing locations. Even single lines of dialog evoked so much through signifiers. But the series can’t rely on that trick. I am excited for the season, but I hope the next episode doesn’t have the same issue.
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