The Dominators [2.0]

Zoe's first trip with the Doctor and Jamie brings her to the planet Dulkis. The Doctor believes it to be a peaceful paradise. The local tour guide Cully believes it to be a nuclear wasteland. Neither are correct. A pair of rather incompetent alien bullies have arrived to refuel their spaceship. They've hoovered up all the radiation but their final plans are far less benign.

Enslaving everyone they find – tourists, students, the TARDIS crew, etc – the Dominators plan to blow up the planet and use the resultant radioactivity to power their next flight. But they haven't counted upon Jamie's tenacious ability to keep throwing rocks at them, nor the short battery life of their service robots.

The Majesty

Majesty seems far too strong a word for this pedestrian story, but it's certainly a pleasant change to be able to watch a whole story through without missing episodes. Arguably, if you are a fan of thighs, everyone gets to show off their underpants in this show – male and female alike are all wearing skimpy, floaty attire. And while we don't quite get to see if Jamie is going commando under his kilt, Cully certainly gets an eyeful as Jamie climbs the ladder out of the bunker.

The Misery

The Dulcians are generally a pretty dismal bunch. There's a very silly conflation of pacifism based on principle and passivity based on apathy. They have a principle of non-violence, which very quickly becomes a boring, hand-wringing habit of non-activity. On the other hand, the Dominators are a pretty pathetic pair of villains – always squabbling, and with the very petty goal of refuelling their spaceships. Their Quarks are utterly forgettable as the Monster of the Week, and their constantly low batteries are horribly overused as a plot point.

Magical Moments

• The way the Quarks are not shown in the first episode is quite nice. We only see their perspective. It's a nice idea to have them sound like children, through it loses something in the creation.
• Cully's frustration with his people's reluctance to ask questions is a frustration we share. It's never quite explained why they are this way, however. The best we get is “It seems pointless to spend time looking for reasons when we have facts.”
• The Doctor tells Jamie “Just try to look stupid,” and adds with deadpan sympathy, “Do you think you can manage that?”
• The Doctor gets ridiculously excited that he has built a 'handy little bomb', leaping around the room and clapping his hands.
• The final cliffhanger is rather nice. “No need to worry. There won't be an atomic explosion. Just a localised volcano on the island”. “Yes Doctor,” replies Jamie, “but we are on the island.” “Oh my word”!

In Summary

As a story, the Dominators is as thick as my Granny's porridge. The villains are dumb, the allies are vapid, the world-building is minimal, the plot is repetitive, the whole thing takes place in a quarry and the final conclusion involves the Doctor catching an atomic bomb in his hands before it explodes. When one of the best things that can be said about the story is that “It exists” you know you are scraping the barrel.

Overall: 2.0