Flatline

The “D” in TARDIS stands for “Dimension” so it is surprising that Doctor Who has not used this as the basis for adventures more often: other than the bigger-on-the-inside running gag, of course. In fact, in all of the 250 stories that have been produced since 1963, it was only really used as a main plot device in the 1964 3-parter, Planet Of Giants, where the TARDIS goes wrong and causes both the police box and crew to be shrunk down to matchbox size. Whilst it wasn’t the best of stories it’s worth digging out just to see how effective the primitive production of 50 years ago could be. Other than that it has popped up occasionally but never as the overarching concept.

The concept of Flatline initially reminded me of Edwin Abbott’s Victorian satirical novel Flatland which satirised the 19th Century class system through a world of geometric shapes. It’s one of those books that, whilst known, is hardly a household name and mainly appears to Sci-Fi and mathematics geeks (like me, I suppose). However, where Flatland was very much in the style of satirists like Jonathan Swift, Flatline is far more concerned with horror – even if it is often comic horror. Initially I thought that the way the outside of the TARDIS shank was partly a cheap gag and partly an excuse to use a TARDIS money-box as a prop but as I thought about it, that is actually how the TARDIS operates: the portal can be any size and shape it wants to be but the innards remain constant. The effect was used in reverse in another 1960’s episode, The Time Meddler, in which the Doctor sabotages a fellow Time Lords TARDIS by making it much smaller on the inside.

For what was meant to be a Doctor-lite episode it was surprising at how much screen time Peter Capaldi had in this episode – even if it was nearly all on the set of the TARDIS. In fact much of this was down to clever direction as many of his appearances were either audio only or merely showing disembodied images of his hand – the scene in which his hand “walked” the TARDIS out of harm’s way had me in fits of laughter: very much like the “Thing” in The Addams Family. Aside from the regulars, the supporting cast were largely extras in this episode with the exception of Rigsy who acted as a surrogate assistant to Clara’s “Doctor”. We were also treated to a snippet from “Missy” again who is now indicating that she was responsible for bringing Clara and the Doctor together – presumably harking back to the middle of last year’s series.

If I was to have one criticism of the episode, it would be that the realisation of the 3D characters being made 2D could have been done better. I suppose what I would have imagined is something similar to an MRI scan whereby the victim is seen slice by slice disappearing into the wall. What we did see was more of a straight flattening of the images which is probably not what the 2D beings would have perceived. In fairness, it is such a mind-bending concept to imagine what higher or lower dimensional images would be perceived like that anything would have worked. I wonder if the whole concept for this episode could be altered so we see a being in 4-spacial dimensions trying to make sense of our 3D world?

Purely for the originality of the concept I think this has been my favourite episode of what has already been a very strong series. In fact this was Jamie Mathieson’s second story after last week’s equally enjoyable Mummy episode. Hopefully we will be seeing his name again (is the speed dial set up Mr Moffat?) Next week’s episode looks intriguing – partly as it is scripted by Frank Cottrell Boyce who has written everything from children’s stories, through the gritty war film of Welcome to Sarajevo, and even the Olympics opening ceremony. From the trailer,  In the Forest of the Night appears to be what happens when I leave the garden alone for a week…