The Rings of Akhaten

Hello and welcome to another post new Doctor Who episode discussion! This week the Doctor takes Clara to her first alien planet. As usual there’ll be spoilers so if you haven’t seen the episode yet I suggest you look away now!

The Rings of Akhaten was written by Neil Cross, who is based in New Zealand and wrote Luther and quite a few episodes of Spooks. The episode has split the fandom, with some absolutely loving it and some absolutely hating it. Personally I am more leaning towards the hating it side of things but there were still plenty of things to love!

First of all, the pre-credits sequence, which saw the Doctor pretty much stalking Clara’s Mum and Dad. He was making sure Clara was definitely human and normal and it seems she is. The secret of the leaf is revealed and it turns out not to be something sci-fi at all but simply a symbol of her parent’s relationship when said leaf hit her Dad in the eye. And then we discover that Clara’s mother died when she was a child, giving us some great emotional context for the new companion.

The Rings of Akhaten are an asteroid belt, full of many varying alien races. And it’s now time for alien safari- here’s all the alien races that are ‘named’ in the episode:

The story itself revolves around saving a little girl from being sacrificed to what is pretty much a god. I must mention what a brilliant little actress and singer the girl is- her name is Emilia Jones and she is the daughter of infamous Welsh choral singer Aled Jones. The currency in Akhaten is sentimental items and Clara gives up both the leaf and her mother’s ring to save the day. For once the companion has some empathy with the idea of the Doctor’s loss of his own people. And speaking of which, what an incredible speech Matt Smith gave on that subject:

“I have lived a long life and I have seen a few things… I walked away from the last great Time War, I marked the passing of the Time Lords, I saw the birth of the universe and I watched as time ran out, moment by moment until nothing remained, no time, no space, just me. I walked in universes where the laws of physics were devised by the mind of a mad man. I watched universes freeze and creations burn, I have seen things you wouldn’t believe, I have lost things you will never understand - and I know things, secrets that must never be told, knowledge that must never be spoken… knowledge that will make parasite gods blaze! So come on then! Take it!”

OK, now some things to notice in this episode. Firstly, the Doctor mentioned he’d been to the Rings of Akhaten before, with his grand-daughter. The Doctor’s grand-daughter, Susan, appeared with the First Doctor and was left in London in the year 2164 to help rebuild civilisation after a dalek invasion with her new boyfriend. Maybe she’ll make a return one day?

The Doctor claimed he had nothing of sentimental value on him, except his sonic screwdriver, but that’s not exactly true as he must still have Amy Pond’s reading glasses on him (he had them when he was watching Clara’s parents after all). The Doctor simply cannot part from them!

There wasn’t much in terms of solving the mystery of Clara in this episode, although maybe there is a clue when she says that the TARDIS doesn’t like her. The TARDIS is a living thing and theoretically could try to stop someone getting in. As it can see through time and space it probably knows the secret behind Clara and might not like it. But then again you always need a key to get into the TARDIS and Clara doesn’t have one yet. In fact she’s not really reached companion status yet and is dropped home at the end of the episode, which seems a bit odd. The part-time companion thing worked well for Amy and Rory in the first half of series 7 but it doesn’t feel quite right with Clara. Maybe next episode will see her enter the TARDIS permanently?

That’s all here for this week but join me next week as I discuss The Cold War, where the Ice Warriors are back in their first appearance since 1974- expect some Doctor Who history within it!