 | Doctor Who - The Rebel Flesh |
The Rebel Flesh
Series 06
Story 05
21 May 2011
The TARDIS is swept in the wake of a solar tsunami, causing it to crash land on a Earth in the 22nd Century. A mining operation housed in a 17th Century monastery is using cloning technology to mine for precious acid when another attack of solar radiation overloads the clone birthing chamber and the harnesses used to control the dopplegangers, giving the clones a semblance of life. The monastery is in danger of becoming the battleground for a strange war between the original humans and their copies if the Doctor cannot stop it in time.
The staff of the monastery are mining dangerous acid (for unknown reasons) which is far too hazardous to do, even with protective suits, To make the job easier, they are using clones made from a mass of material called 'the flesh.' The flesh takes on the form, personality and memories of each of the miners, but they are not regarded as sentient, more as equipment. By strapping into a harness, the operator can direct the clone, or 'ganger' in its duties, thus removing any risk from getting eaten alive by deadly acid. Jimmy, Buzzer, Jennifer, Dickens and Foreman Cleaves are contractors mining the acid and shipping it back to the mainland. They accept the absurd situation of operating a clone rather than a forklift very easily, and are suspicious of the Doctor's warnings that the solar storm will play havoc with their instrumentation.
The Doctor seems to know a lot about 'the flesh' and clearly did not arrive at the monastery by accident as he had led his companions to believe. He has obviously steered the TARDIS to the monastery for a reason and that becomes evident when the facility is struck by the storm in full force, disrupting the 'ganger' operating system and putting everyone inside out cold for an hour. When they awaken, it is unclear what has happened until the Doctor wearily explains. The 'gangers' have obtained sentience and independence. No longer reliant on an operator, the clones believe that they are just as real as their original counterparts. Confused and disorientated, the 'gangers' are attempting to sort themselves out.
When two of the facility crew are revealed to be gangers and not actual people, the situation gets tense. Foreman Cleaves and her crew take the initiative to sort out the many leaks sprouting around the monastery and find the missing Jennifer who has not been seen since the incident. Rory, being a sensitive male nurse, takes to the care of the fragile clone of Jennifer who just wants to be allowed to live. The others are not so easily swayed, despite the Doctor's claim that he can gets everyone home via the TARDIS. When the TARDIS falls deep into the island due to an acid leak, everyone realizes that they are stranded.
Cleaves decides that there is no option but to exterminate the rebel flesh, just as one would swat a fly. When she manges to kill a ganger of Buzzer, things get very bad indeed. No longer confused, the gangers are now fighting for survival. The monastery becomes the battlefield of a war that the Doctor was attempting to prevent. To make matters worse, when the surviving members of the facility wall themselves up in the chapel for safety, a ganger of the Doctor is revealed. The flesh has been scanning the Doctor and asks that the others trust him, just as the rebellious gangers are banging at the doors outside, lusty for violence.
Author Matthew Graham is primarily for two things; the magnificent creation of Life on Mars and writing the dreadful 2006 Doctor Who adventure 'Fear Her' (the one with the scribble monster and the Olympics) In the Rebel Flesh, he has shaken off the albatross of his previous Doctor Who script. The Rebel Flesh is not brilliant or perfect, but it knows what it is doing and never strays from the point or attempts to be post-modern or clever as some other BBC Wales Doctor Who stories have. It is telling a science fiction/horror story about evil clones in an ancient setting and for all that, it works beautifully.
There are some strange plot points that don't make much sense to me, such as why anyone would want to mine acid, where it is coming from and how it is being used. So far it could have been anything, but in the script it needed to be something dangerous, so why not plutonium? I dunno, it just bothers me that so many of the new Doctor Who adventures joyfully skip over details like this. It may get explained in the second part, but I'm not holding my breath. Also, the make-up of the gangers is impressive, but the CGi looked terrible. When the ganger of Jennifer stretches first her arm and then her neck, it looks downright silly and took me out of the drama. However, the guest cast is very strong, featuring Marshall Lancaster (Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes) and Raquel Cassidy (who had worked with Smith before in Party Animals).
The design work and costuming is top notch, the acid-proof armor looking sleekly futuristic. There is a bizarre dependence on contemporary props and such that I find unambitious with Nu Who and it appears a few places here, in the microwave oven, phonograph and other bits and bobs. It's not too much of a loss, but I remember a time when everything in a Doctor Who story was specially made and designed to look futuristic and surreal, from chairs to cameras and clothing. I take this as reluctance on the part of Steven Moffat to risk emulating classic Who, a program that he attacks for its rubber monster and 'wobbly sets.' For a program as expensive as Who is, I expect more. Take a risk, man!
The theme of the story seemed to involve xenophobia and a fear of technology seeping through the future culture. I quite like the moments in the Rebel Flesh when Rory gets to empathize with the ganger version of Jennifer even though it morphed and tried to smash his head in. Even some of the other contractors seemed keen on hanging out with their ganger to see if they could get over the surreality of it. Only the gut-instinct fear of the other as portrayed by Foreman Cleave causes the situation to erupt. Obviously keen to regain control of her facility, she is threatened by the gangers, especially when her clone starts tut-tutting her for acting so predictable.
I am also quite interested to see where the story is going as the Doctor has some secret knowledge of the situation on the island as it transpires and also bears the burden of responsibility somehow. As it is unclear where 'the flesh' came from, perhaps it was left on Earth by the Doctor in an unseen adventure?
It was comforting to see a return to storytelling rather than enigmatic half-tales or bombastic spectacles as we have seen so far this year.
This could all go pear-shaped next week, but in the meantime I'm satisfied.
The early publicity for this story pointed out that it was heavily influenced by the film Blade Runner and was also very similar to a story from the Troughton era. Viewers were also promised a chilling tale that would get their attention. I can agree with most of those statements. I'm not sure if The Rebel Flesh was evocative of the Troughton era specifically, but it certainly felt more like a classic Doctor Who story than any other since the 2005 reboot. The adventure was somewhat sophisticated, featured a base under siege by monsters and the Doctor was using his wits to solve the situation. He was also the only real voice of reason, even though it seems like no one will listen to him.
I know that I am in the very very small minority that did not enjoy last week's episode, The Doctor's Wife, but Rebel Flesh was more my kind of story. An interesting setting, an at least somewhat dramatically gripping plot and some clever ideas thrown in. I hope next week holds up this level of quality.
Next Time: The Almost People
watch?v=oIWXP-_-4cA
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