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Sometimes being a Doctor Who fan is a bit like being a parent: Obviously you are very fond of – indeed, love – your little one, but every time he/she/it does something you have two fingers crossed and a high-pitched little voice in your head going ‘Please don’t let me down, please don’t embarrass me and please don’t disgrace the family name. Please be good,’ over and over again.
But, deep down, you know you’re – metaphorically speaking, that is – going to find he/she/it has done something really rather unpleasant where really rather unpleasant things shouldn’t be done. Or eaten the neighbour’s cat. Or something like that. In short, you are doomed to be disappointed, and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.
Which brings us on to Let’s Kill Hitler, or as it was originally titled, ‘Let’s Come Up With An Absolute Humdinger Of A Title, One That Has The Potential To Take on That Old Philosophical Chestnut About Whether If One Had a Time Machine One Should Go Back And Kill One Of The Most Evil People Who Ever Drew Breath, And The Implications of That For The Flow of Time, And Tackle It In A Saturday TV Programme For Kids, Like, And Then Not Bother To Do Anything With It’. (Or LCUWAAHOATOTHTPTTOTOPCAWIOHATMOSGBAKOOTMEPWE-DBATIOTFTFOTATIIASTPFKLATNBTDAWI for short.)
I don’t want you to run off with the idea that I didn’t think it was any good (if only because the last time I did that I risked ending up under a Whovian fatwa. Honestly, if you think the Krauts were bad you should try upsetting some of the Doctor Who faithfull), but it really wasn’t very good, was it?
Steven Moffat’s name was on the title, and as usual narrative sense and logic were immediately thrown out of the window. Let’s Kill Hitler went down the predictably unpredictable route, and not long after the Tardis crashed into Hitler’s office in the centre of Berlin (alerting absolutely nobody), Addy was locked in a cupboard and forgotten about. I felt cheated.
I’m not saying there wasn’t anything in the episode to enjoy – I imagine Alex Kingston’s breasts will be given their own spin-off series at some point – and I did like the Teselecta, the little people piloting the human-shaped robots from inside (Moffat clearly read The Beezer’s Numskulls cartoon as a boy) , but, honestly, what a wasted opportunity.
And considering who he was, Hitler appeared to have put his entire security operation in the hands of Group 4. Never has a head of state – and a paranoid lunatic at that – had less security. There are parish councillors in south Shropshire with better protection than the Fuhrer. And the Berlin restaurants weren’t much better. Surely if somebody had gone in, shot up the place and forced the clientele to run outside in their underwear, someone in authority might just have – you know – popped his head around the door to see what was going on?
I suppose Steven Moffat’s too powerful now, but somebody somewhere in the bowels of the BBC really does need to take him to one side and tell him a few truths about what he’s doing to the series. It’s great that he’s bursting with ideas, he just seems to have lost his grasp of what makes a coherent narrative. It’s – dare I say it – getting a bit silly. Absolute power and all that…
So on to next week which, judging by the teaser trailer, appears to feature mini-Mick Hucknalls frightening some poor child. It certainly looks interesting.
Let’s hope Moffat didn’t write it.
By Andrew Owen
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Well you know full well Moffat hasn’t written next weeks – you’re to much of a fan boy to feign ignorance. So that’s a cheap shot.
Sure it was flawed. I’ll pass on the morality tale wasted because in the post 2005 era that was never on the cards really. I did half hope for a bit of a tale where The Doctor took time travelling amateurs who mean well morally (but are still criminally stupid) from the future to task – and had to face facts he’s guilty too. Nicely setting up the “somethings can not be rewritten.
Instead, we had well.. An hour with the Ponds.
It was funny. Too much didn’t stand up well though.
I can’t buy that the “current” Ponds didn’t twig about Melody. Good god how much River nuances were in that girl!. Had we had a two parter Mels would have been a bit more credible leaking out clues about her early childhood, clearly signposting she has a sinister gameplan. Instead we get the rushed regeneration conversation.
I don’t buy the Doctors regenerations were disabled. Again a serious plot point thrown in in such a way it suggest a hurried explanation to make the story stand up – because we dont have much time to tell this. If we come back to that later in the series I will feel its introduction was poorly executed. If we dont – it’s a cheap stunt.
I liked the subtle nod to the “first 15 hours of regeneration” idea RTD introduced. Hated that River had to do a “Superman II” and effectively become human. I can JUST accept her change of heart – I can’t accept the almost casual manner in which she did so. Unless she was still rather naive about her regeneration skills. But shes not , she has obviously been coached by he Silence. Nor the logic behind why it takes all of them, besides convenient plotting – once again.
Again we get a hint that The Doctor is viewed as a war criminal. But the Justice were not convincing in selling the idea they will be coming for The Doctor in April 2011. Ok thy are cool professionals but a confrontation was missing in the script between The Doctor and the Justice.
Essentially I think there was a bigger two parter involving a bit more of a Hitler farce. Maybe expanding on hitherto unknown assasination attempts (Justice essentially forgot about Hitler) and giving much more time to explore The Justice and River’s objectives regards The Doctor without playing any future hand too early.
It’s one thing to be arc ridden as this series is – and I have reservations on that. Another to handle important developments so slightly the whole thing is in danger of no longer standing on its own two feet.
It was too short: the comedy suffered (instead of some good Douglas Adams style ideas given room to breathe we went for just one liners), opportunity for pathos and character enhancement with all four leads was thrown in the bin. So was most of a good sub-plot tale about time travel, it’s privileges and responsibilities and further exploration of “who are the monsters” in the bigger picture.
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Why wasn’t it just titled ‘Let’s lock Hitler in a cupboard’ and we could all have saved ourselves the bother. This series is really
disappointing.
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‘Let’s kill Hitler’ is an amusing catchpenny title (even more so considering how much time Hitler was on screen); ‘Let’s lock Hitler in the Cupboard’, less so.
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I agree with the general theme of all you’ve said. It was entertaining, but among other things, I do fear how Moffat tends to graze deeper issues that should be profoundly impacting the characters, and sometimes the situations, but then races off, leaving the issues where they lay as if they weren’t there at all. Like when it comes to Amy and Rory’s seeming lack of passion about their child’s welfare.
I also one hundred percent agree that is was difficult to wrap my head around River’s abrupt change towards the Doctor. I can understand her possibly having reservations, but to suddenly go from killing him to wanting him to live, does seem very odd. The one thing I’m able to make this acceptable with, is her having been brainwashed. The brainwashing by the Silence which can also erase memories/create blank spots, might have really messed with her brain and I can definitely see where it might cause some serous conflicts with herself like this.
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I think though, according to the time line, she was brain washed, escaped and regenerated in the back alley where she scared the homeless guy, and transformed into a toddler and at that point she became Melody, Amy and Rory’s childhood friend, who “raised” her on all the Doctor stories. But I need to watch it a few more times to be sure.
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Moffat writes or edits stories in short hand; he knows what’s going on so they tend to rush or omit key points someone not familiar with the story needs or has to offer by him/herself. His pacing is atrocious, far too rushed. I like the actors but sometimes his plotting and characterization make no sense even after things have been revealed.
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I hate to say this, because I have loved what Moffat has done up until the end of A Good Man Goes To War, but I agree. Let’s Kill Hitler was the biggest disappointment of the new series…probably the only disappointment in my opinion. I mean great explanation of what happened to River between the little girl and the River we know but far too much was just thrown in. Oh by the way, here is our criminal best friend we never mentioned before but have known all our lives, here are people we never heard of before that serve justice to war criminals throughout time, here is Hitler…let’s throw him in a closet, I’m The Doctor and I changed into a tux for no reason at all. I’m hoping they touch on all of those things in next few episodes…strangely I want an explanation for the tux the most…does it have something to do with the wedding when he was wearing it last time? or did he actually just decide to throw it on…just to look good when he died. I think the time travelling “let’s kill war criminals” people should have been the main story with the river regeneration being the back story because that part seemed really dragged out(like they tried telling 10 minutes of story over 30 minutes) while the other was like they tried to fit a full episode worth of story into just 10 minutes. Overall I was quite disappointed but I think there is still a chance that this episode will seem a lot better once the rest of the story is told
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Unflattering shot of the programme – Matt lying dead in his formal Evening dress.
From that angle, in that gear, a dead ringer for the Elephant Man..
Moffat needs a Lew Grade: “Right that’s great… now double the length!”
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I’ve enjoyed Dr Who for years, but I’m finding this whole River Song business to be just too convoluted and slow-moving. Last night was no better and, as some of the other reviews on the web say, was a wasted opportunity.
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As a long-term Doctor Who fan, I can assure you there’s no Fatwa on pointing to Let’s Kill Hitler and saying, “it’s not very good, is it?”. A succession of “this is really cooool!” moments does not make for an engaging episode, but does make for a Steven Moffat script. Woeful.
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Just a quick correction to the above review. The Numskulls strip was actually in the Beano, easy mistake to make
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My husband and i have been really looking forward to this and last night after we put our little boy to bed. we got into bed ready for mummy and daddy time. We prerecorded both x factor and doctor who. We started with the trash (x factor) and moved on to the tv gold with a bathroom break inbetween. I wish i could convey the excitment and anticipation this caused in my 27 year old system.
We were not disapointed. The twists and turns were fantastic. The dialogue was average to good and Alex Kingston is still my absolute role model. I hope to look like her when i grow up.
The pressure put on doctor who is stupid. It is not a life changing Documentary it is the finest quality saturday night family entertainment. If you want a more tense atmospheric serious time travel/space paraphanalia/emo drama then watch Torchwood (its not for kids).
I loved it My husband loved it and i am sad that i only have five more episodes to watch this year.
Also Steven moffat is a genius and you ought to lay down before him and be grateful.
What have you got to say about that?
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I have to agree with the comments – I have been gradually cooling to the new series: I record the episode rather than watch because so often you have to repeat bits, not just to try to understand what is going on, but to hear the dialogue which is so often delivered at break neck speed! The plots hardly are worth the name, and story-telling is abandoned for special effects and the “wham bam” factor. Is this a result of seriously shortened attention spans these days?
The casual re-writing of established norms is also irritating, just tear up what your viewers thought they knew and start again, then tear that up the next week. Continuity is something that all long running programmes struggle with, but it would be as bad as for example “Coronation Street” suddenly introducing a story-line that Ena Sharples had been a secret natzi agent, or that Elsie Tanner was actually a pre 60′s transexual and her “son” had been adopted!
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I liked the episode, even though it was the least likable one of the lot. They could have done a lot more with the pre-River Mel, they could have done a lot more pre-story with the Justice before having them attack River (although i almost think the Justice is the organisation behind the prison which River calls Home). However I would be willing to bet a years wages that I already know what that question is that will cause the Silent to fall…not telling though…Spoilers.
Talking about Spoilers, the phrase about ‘Penny in the air’ will most likely become a catch phrase, maybe even a trope (or in worst case, a cliche)
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Love the Moffat, but you’re spot on with this review. Bursting with ideas, but inconsistent characterisation and an poor narrative ultimately.
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I feel I have to point out that the whole sacrificing River’s regenerations thing really had to be. Don’t forget that River dies in her current regeneration in Forest of the Dead, so unless she’d used up all her regenations (unlikely) already, this was one of the only ways they could have done it.
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I really have to disagree with you.
I thought tonight’s episode was one of the best. Everything has flaws and mistakes.
If i’m honest, I started watching Doctor Who when it returned in 2005, I was nine years old. I have grown up with the Doctor and Shall I tell you something:
You Shouldn’t feel like the Parent of Doctor Who, you should feel like it’s Kid, knowing that it will try it’s best to entertain you.
If you didn’t like tonight’s episode, then your watching it wrong!
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You don’t really pay much attention, do you?
Sound proof room you moron.
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Dr Who’s pacing is the exact opposite of Torchwood right now. Both have great stories/concepts but are not portraying them at the proper pace for best impact.
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Finally, someone who agrees with me, and actually has the guts to put ‘pen to paper’!
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I am surprised by the bad opinions most of the people have on the last DW’s episode. I think lots of you are being really harsh on Moffat right now.
Moffat is writing one of the most intelligent tv show on air!! The story itself is endless, he added a new mythology with River Song something that Davis didn’t.
I have never been so thrilled to watch a TV show in my whole life, I want action, romance, adventure, magic, fantastic and DW gives me all this , what do you want more? The actors are brilliant !
I am not saying you are wrong to dislike these episodes but I am glad, Tennant & Davis left. I needed fresh air and that’s what I got. Long Live to Moffat.
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childish rubbish at best. As have been all of moffats “stories”. He thinks he is so superior to the rest of us that he thinks that some of us will just mindlessly accept whatever bs he dreams up. And sadly (in some cases) that appears to be true.
Most of us have despised the disgusting ridiculous river since the beginning. Like any sane individual could believe that the dr would fall in love with this piece of granny trash is nothing short of insane. Besides always annoying. She is mentally abusive. Taunting him with knowledge of the future (important life and death circumstances) and when he demands to know whats she talking about, she smiles in that sickening way of hers and replies “spoilers”. Gross. IF someone were to do that to me, I’d slap them silly. I wouldn’t find it charming nor would 99% of the world pop.
Amy and Rory (with potential to be more) always seem to come across as 1 dimensional characters. I am glad to see that Rory is no longer treated as the Kenny of Dr Who. And yes, a real parent would not react in such a nonchalant manner.
Moffat has no idea how to write strong believable women. They are either trashy and nasty, or extremely masculine like river. These types only appeal to the worst type of people. So I really can’t respect the opinions of those who think that the male-chauvinists childish ideal of river song is smart and sassy. their opinion is essentially worthless. they are an embarrassing throw-back to the 1970′s. Just like most of Moffats cliched, predictable nonsense. Whether he writes the story or not, HE IS IN CHARGE OF DECIDING WHICH STORIES GET FILMED AND WHICH ARE NOT! So anyone giving him a pass on a story simply because he didn’t write, is just showing what an idiot they are. Unless they are under 10, Then such ignorance can be excused. The idea of monsters in the closet? Was the writer watching a repeat of Monsters Inc? LOL! Or how about the shifting rooms and “facing ones fears” bs. That writer must have been watching the 1971 Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory. or the 1976 movie ‘Murder by Death’. Or possibly the 2001 movie 13 Ghosts, for the shifting rooms cliche. And the facing your inner fears? Golly gee, haven’t seen that since an old episode of ‘The Powerpuff Girls’ not to mention several Star Trek episodes, Twilight Zone episodes, and even an episode of Power Rangers Jungle Fury. This is insane. No one (with good taste) wants to be bored to death with story ideas that are being used in CARTOONS! Really?! Thats the best these writers can do?! My condolences to those who are so easily satisfied. RME
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Childish ? Of course it’s childish, it’s a kids programme.
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Excellent review. Can anyone answer me as to why the Teselecta was even there at all? I mean it they state quite clearly they appear at the end of a subjects allotted time span and give them hell. So why the hell were they bothering Hitler in 1938?
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Stated in the episode: they time-travelled to a point in time earlier than they intended.
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