The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People

The Rebel Flesh and The Almost People
by Matthew Graham
Originally Broadcasted: May 21st-28th, 2011

The Doctor, Amy, and Rory land outside a medieval monastery in the 22nd century and discover a run-of-the-mill factory that contains something not so run-of-the-mill: Gangers. Humans have developed a way to copy themselves and in this factory, their copies turn deadly...

I was really impressed with this two-parter by Matthew Graham (creator of Life on Mars) when it aired last year. To me it felt like a story out of the David Tennant era, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. It was a nice change from the confusing time travel filled stories of the current era. This story is a really clever one. When a storm hits the monastery, it causes both the Gangers and their human counterparts to be active at the same time. The Gangers, thinking themselves to be a real being, naturally lead their life. But a certain Ganger leads the others to become deadly, and the motto of "Us or Them" is continually muttered. Graham really goes into the morality of the creation of gangers. Disused gangers are left to rot in a liquid state, fully conscious. From The Doctor's point of view, they all deserve to life together in harmony. But neither the humans or the Gangers will have it. It's Us or Them. It takes a horrific mutation from one of the Gangers to make everyone else realize that this has to end. It's worth mentioning just how creepy the Gangers in their half-human state look. Sure Daleks and Cybermen are scary, but it's these almost but not quite human characters that really creep me out! I really love Rory in this episode. He shows true caring for Jennifer, and really wants to help the Gangers. A funny line is when Jennifer says to Rory "I thought I was going to die" and Rory replies with "Welcome to my world", a reference to just how many times Rory has died in the show. Only in Doctor Who. My favorite moment in the two episodes has to be right at the beginning of The Almost People... The Doctor's Ganger is struggling to come to terms with all of The Doctor's past incarnations, and in a moment of relapse he asks "Would you like a jelly baby?" in the voice of the Fourth Doctor. I love references to the history of Doctor Who, and this was one of the more obvious ones.

Luke's Rating: 8/10