Holistic Review: The intriguing filler bits of Logopolis blended with the infuriating bits of Time Crash.

Here I go, in broken record mode again. I get that it's "only" a charity special, but does that also make this seven-minute adventure an automatic throwaway? Short stories can be just as thrilling as novels, and I bet some of them could fit a seven-minute slot just fine. What we have here is another example of Moffat's "lazy writing" style, which is just infuriating because you know he's capable of so much more.

Now, the idea of the TARDIS materializing inside itself (or, rather, looping its interior and exterior dimensions like an ouroboros) is actually a pretty nifty one. Too bad it's already been done in Logopolis, where the concept had similarly little impact on the plot, but was at least thematically relevant. Here it's used as nothing more than a threatening-but-easily-solved gimmick. And while a space loop is an interesting concept, I don't get why the Doctor says it's worse than a time loop. In what way, exactly? At least in a space loop, particularly inside the TARDIS, you can live out your remaining days in relative comfort. In a time loop, your free will is taken away from you.

The other main contributor to the plot — such as it is — is Time Crash, the last charity special; namely, the tenth Doctor's ability to avert a crisis solely based on the fact that he remembered, as the fifth Doctor, hearing himself suggest the idea. This concept crops up several times in Space, starting with Amy reciting back the explanation she'd just heard herself give, and culminating in the Doctor helping himself to figure out the right lever to save the TARDIS:

Doctor: "Unless I find exactly the right lever to control the implosion, we're all gonna die."
Amy: "You don't know which lever?"
Doctor: "No. But I'm about to find out."
future-Doctor: (enters the room) "The wibbly lever!"
Doctor: "The wibbly lever! Thank you!"

I'm not a big fan of unresolved paradoxes, perhaps partly because they rob a storyline of its grounding in reality, and make things too convenient. If nobody actually discovers the crucial information to solve the problem, then how does it get solved? When did that information get dropped into the chain of events? Moffat used a similar device in A Christmas Carol, but in that instance, the Doctor was able to get the necessary information by popping forward in time and listening to Kazran, so it made sense. Couldn't Moffat have thought of a slightly more interesting plot than "oh no, a problem! let me magically divine the answer and everything will be right as rain!" ?

I also have a big problem with the way that this space loop, at first, is synchronous with local time; at first, when the Doctor goes into the TARDIS, he simultaneously comes out through the main doors of the console room. Before long, however, the space loop is suddenly shifted several minutes into the past, such that people enter the TARDIS before they've left it, and we're given absolutely no explanation for why this happens or what's changed. So why does the space loop suddenly start sending people back in time, other than "the plot required it"?

What brings on this calamity? Why, Rory dropping a thermocoupling. That hardly sounds like an earth-shattering incident that could all but destroy the TARDIS. It also highlights one of the other issues that I have with this story: our current TARDIS crew. Rory, of course, I love; but it's the hapless, geeky, easygoing and reassuring Rory that I like. Rory in this story is a horny clumsy oaf. On the upside, the Doctor does at least seem to have developed a degree of confidence in Rory; he seems to prefer Rory's company to a one-on-one "talk" with Amy, and the notion that he'd trust Rory with the running of the TARDIS, but not Amy, is nicely counter to expectations (even if it is perfectly in line with the old "man good with machines, woman stupid" stereotype). I guess it's just nice to see a chink in Amy's armour, and a bit of validation for Rory. Despite his weird character development, Darvill is great throughout, particularly on the line "Yeah, it just sort of happens..."

Amy is her usual self here; annoyingly self-assured, and surprisingly agreeable to the idea of slapping her husband. Her line delivery is also a bit off when Amy complains "Oh, I still don't understand" and her future double replies "Oh, you still don't." I do, at least, like Gillan's body language when present-Amy reacts to the Doctor's line "True love at last." And I must admit, I laughed when the two Amys waved coquettishly at one another.

Given that so much of this story revolves around things like Amy's sexy skirts, Rory peering up them, Rory fantasizing about private time with two Amys, and Amy flirting with herself, it seems to me that Moffat's main idea for the plot of this Children in Need charity special was "sex". Which, you know, is entirely appropriate for a children's benefit. And people accused Russell T Davies of having a "gay agenda"! If ever I saw an agenda, it was Moffat pushing Amy's sexy skirts down our throats. (wait, eww, rephrase.)

The abbreviated length of this story means that I don't have a lot to say about Richard Senior's directing (or, for that matter, Murray Gold's music), but I did like the shot of the Doctor reaching his arm out through the TARDIS doors, while the other end emerged from the TARDIS standing in the console room. It's a clever visual that Logopolis never thought to include (or wasn't able to achieve).

Minor points:

• What does Amy want to "talk" to the Doctor about? We never do find out! I can only assume that's meant to be a subtle continuity reference to series 6.

• Nicely crafted line:

  Rory: "You ever see Amy drive, Doctor?"
  Doctor: "No."
  Rory: "Neither did her driving examiner."

• This one also makes me laugh (in the midst of all the frustrated groans). Clever use of the glass floor, at least.

  Doctor: "How could it be her fault?"
  Amy: "Because it was my skirt, and my husband, and your glass floor."

• Whoops: when future-Amy enters the TARDIS, we hear the door slam (which makes everyone turn around) before she actually slams it (at which point it makes the noise again).

• Why would Amy slap Rory for fantasizing about her? Some other random woman, sure, fine... but Rory's fantasizing about his wife. She should be flattered! What's there to get offended about? Plus, any random observer would think that Amy wasn't too keen on the idea of a threesome, whereas we all know that she so would. Particularly in this case, when moments later she's overtly flirting with herself. No doubt both of her would love the idea if Rory suggested it. So what's up with the boyfriend abuse?

• Another line that makes me laugh, despite myself:

  Doctor: "Oh, sorry, Rory."
  Rory: "Absolutely no problem at all..."

• If they're all going to die should the Doctor pull the wrong lever, then why does he tell Amy and Rory not to come any closer? Surely, in a controlled temporal implosion in the console room, they won't be any safer by the door than they would be at his side. Unless he's just afraid that they'll distract him?

• Despite myself (yet again), I love that the Doctor has nicknamed one of his instruments "the wibbly lever".

• Finally, the line I've been waiting forever to hear:

  Doctor: "Pond, put some trousers on."

I recently read an interview with Moffat in which he reassured me by saying that series 5 was meant to show the viewers that Doctor Who, despite new management, was still the same program. This year, however, it's apparently going to get darker and scarier and blaze its own trail, which is exactly what I've been hoping for. So let's hope that Time and Space represent the last example of Moffat's attempts to replicate Davies' freewheeling style, and after this point we'll have a return to form of the intricate plotter and storyteller who scripts satisfyingly dense plots, rather than plots where everything slots neatly into place exactly when it's supposed to for no apparent reason.