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Doctor Who: Kill the Moon – what went wrong?

By James Aggas

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Kill the Moon had an initially good premise: horrific giant spiders on the moon that the Doctor needed to fight. So what went wrong?

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

Before we take a look at tonight’s episode that features spiders, let’s take a look back at Kill the Moon, and why it didn’t work as a Doctor Who story.

Back in 2014, I was really looking forward to watching Kill the Moon. Everything about it seemed to promise a great, atmospheric horror episode. One with giant spiders on the moon and the Doctor acting in a darker, more alien way.

We partially got that. We did have some strong atmosphere, particularly in the first half. We also had the Doctor acting more alien and keeping his distance. His confrontations with Clara in this episode were handled brilliantly, and gave us a lot of great drama.

It also gave us a nice little shock when he completely refused to help. By this point, we’re so used to the Doctor being the hero of the story and automatically saving the day, that it was refreshing that for once, he deliberately kept his distance.

So what happened? Why didn’t the episode work as well as it should have? Well before we get to the obvious, let’s take a look at how the episode started.

The (lack of) importance of humanity

The episode began with Clara being furious with the Doctor for casually telling one of her students, Courtney, that she wasn’t special. Right from the start, that felt off. Now, with Capaldi’s Doctor, he had been acting more distant and alien this series, and I did enjoy that aspect.

But at the same time, there’s a risk of taking it too far. It happened often with Colin Baker’s Doctor, and that’s exactly what happened here. It’s one thing for the Doctor to be rude and ignorant of people’s emotions. But telling a high school student that they’re not important? That was definitely pushing it.

Fortunately, we got some good material for the first half. We had some strong atmosphere, great moments of horror, and even little nods to the Philip Hinchcliffe era. So what went wrong?

The moon’s an egg

Yeah, that was exactly when this story lost the plot. “The moon’s an egg.” Where do I even begin with this plotline?

Now, with a show about a man/woman who travels in time and space in their magic box that’s bigger on the inside, I’ll admit, there does need to be at least some suspension of disbelief, right from the start. But at the same time, it’s important not to push that too far.

Calling a place that has been a part of our skies for millions of years and that man has even visited before an “egg” was definitely pushing it.

And then…the episode pushed it even further. Because it’s not just any lifeform, of course. In fact, it’s the only one of its kind in existence. Because if the moon wasn’t an egg already pushing credulity enough, why not make it the only one in the entire universe?

I also didn’t like how the Doctor pushed Clara into making this decision. Technically, it wasn’t her decision to make, at least by the Doctor’s rules – after all, it isn’t quite her own time period. If this story had been told in the present day, I would’ve believed that more. But this just seemed to be one more thing that worked against the episode.

The worst part: the ending

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And then we get to the end of the episode. Clara decides not to kill the baby creature, it hatches, it somehow doesn’t kill the Earth, and even lays a new egg. Because apparently, after waiting to hatch for millions of years, the creature will be ready to be a mother instantly. (Or, you know, it was just done to tie up better with both Classic and New Series continuity.)

The irony is, there are elements of a really strong episode here. Along with how great the first half is, the final confrontation between the Doctor and Clara is incredibly powerful. If a scene like that had had a stronger plot to justify it, it would’ve been even better.

As it is, Kill the Moon is an episode with some strong elements, but it’s let down by one incredibly weak idea. And that’s what makes it so frustrating. Because it’s not completely without merit, but it could have been so much more.

Because, seriously: couldn’t we have just had a story with giant spiders on the moon?

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What are your thoughts on Kill the Moon? Do you agree with these thoughts on the episode? Do you think it could have been so much better? Let us know in the comments below.

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