DOCTOR WHO
DEMONS OF THE PUNJAB
Written by Vinay Patel
Directed by Jamie Childs
"Demons of the Punjab" - An episode from Vinay Patel that combines elements of Back to the Future, Indian Summers, and Who Do You Think You Are? as the Doctor and her companions take Yaz to see her granny.
It's a deeply sombre and tragic story that takes on big issues. The notion of homeland and of loss as the Doctor and her friends become burdened with a dreadful foreknowledge. There are monsters, Demons which are not all that they seem. I don't know why this is, but the design of them weirdly reminded me of the Nimon. A bit naff.
I loved the location work, all the filming on location looked amazing, and with the new cinematography, the quality of exploring the landscape, they used the location well. However, there was a mishap of the camera being in shot in one of the scenes.
Like with "Rosa", "Demons of the Punjab" is a story which is quite heavy on the issues it's trying to raise, although it creates good drama and provides emotional depth to the story, you do have to be in the right kind of mood to concentrate and watch it. However, there are some nice light comedy elements to balance it out.
One thing I do feel is, I'm starting to get bored with the writers making references in the script to the Doctor hanging out with loads of infamous celebrities as a means to give her credibility and make her character a little more cocky to compete with her male predecessors. Not necessary. Other Doctors have done it subtly, where I'm sure the Thirteenth doctor has made at least one name drop in all of her episodes.
Yaz was good in this story, I thought Graham was good, and Ryan. Overall good acting from all members of the cast, and I was educated a little into the history of what was happening in India at the time of which this story was set.
I enjoyed most of it, but there's still about forty-one percent of it which I don't understand. So for the other fifty-nine, it's a 6.5/10!
