Doctor Who Series 11 Episode 10 - The Battle Of Ranskoor Av Kolos - Review

Starring: Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole, Mandip Gill & Mark Addy

Written By: Chris Chibnall

Directed By: Jamie Childs

Gone are the days of thirteen or even twelve-episode runs by the looks of things, as we now come to the end of Series 11's truncated run. It's obviously a shame to have less 'Who' than we've had in the past, and it can be put down to various reasons, be it funding difficulties with the BBC or the generally more time-consuming job of producing quality series of television compared to ten years ago. Regardless, here we are with the finale, 'The Battle Of Ranskoor Av Kolos'. With this and 'Tsuranga', it seems Chris Chibnall's a fan of wordy episode titles huh? 

Responding to multiple distress calls, the TARDIS arrives on the war-torn planet of Ranskoor Av Kolos. The planet is enveloped in a psychic field that gradually attacks its inhabitants and alters an individual's perception of reality. Landing in the wreck of a spaceship, the Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yaz encounter a pilot with amnesia, unable to remember his own name. Helping him to recover his memory, he informs the TARDIS team that his crew have been kidnapped and are being held prisoner by a familiar foe...

As the credits rolled, I came away from 'The Battle Of Ranskoor Av Kolos' with one burning thought... there wasn't a battle in that. Bit strange that, isn't it? But while we wait for trading standards to come and investigate Chibnall for false advertising, let's backtrack a bit. 'Ranskoor' starts off with a pretty sturdy foundation - a planet that psychologically attacks you, a ship captain that can't even remember his own name as a result, and his crew have been kidnapped by a mysterious being. Before any of this is introduced, the very first scene of the episode takes place 3,000 years prior, introducing us to the Ux - an immensely powerful duo-species with strong religious beliefs. Normally I'd advise against opening an episode with two robed figures going on about something the viewer is unfamiliar with, as often it'll only alienate your audience. But in this case, it's a decent enough setup for the Ux's role later in the story. All in all, it establishes a decent framework for the rest of the episode, and then we learn who exactly has kidnapped Paltraki's crew... a certain Tzim-Sha, better known to the Doctor as Tim Shaw. 

There had been a little speculation fluttering around that Tzim-Sha might return at some point, but I think the moment he actually reappeared caused a resounding meh to echo across viewers. I must admit I'm pretty conflicted on his reappearance too. On paper, I think it could be a really good idea. One of the reasons I've enjoyed Series 11 a lot is it's decision to opt for a different status quo, and not rely on things like the Daleks, the Cybermen or the Master to prop it up. Unlike past seasons, it hasn't been coasting on nods to the past and extending that approach to the finale is something I can thoroughly respect. Introducing a new villain earlier in the series, responsible for the death of a companion's wife too, and then bringing them back for a reconciliation in the finale is a wonderful idea... in theory. In execution, it falters quite a bit. One of the more obvious reasons for this is something I brought up in my review of 'The Woman Who Fell To Earth' - Tzim-Sha is just not an interesting enough baddie to prop up a finale. He was serviceable in the series opener, but just isn't finale material. In that review of 'The Woman Who Fell To Earth', I compared him to Prisoner Zero in 'The Eleventh Hour'. 'The Eleventh Hour' is generally very well regarded, but I doubt much of that is because of Prisoner Zero and I imagine we'd all be sorely disappointed if Zero had come back as the main baddie of Series 5's finale. Prisoner Zero is the kind of villain best suited to a new Doctor's debut - not especially interesting but allowing enough room to focus on introducing a new Doctor. The same applies to Tzim-Sha, and yet here he is and all it takes is ten-fifteen minutes between declaring himself a god, to Graham shooting him in the foot causing him to tumble over. 

Tzim-Sha's return also creates a rather weird problem for Graham in particular. When the TARDIS team learn that he's on the scene, Graham vows revenge and tells the Doctor that he'll kill him if he gets the chance. Given Tzim-Sha is responsible for his wife's death that's an understandable reaction, and it's not surprising that the Doctor of course objects to it. The problem is that coming just one week after 'It Takes You Away', which dedicated a sizeable chunk of its runtime to Graham letting go and having to move on from his grief, to go from this state of acceptance to being out for revenge in such a short space of time feels jarring. Watching 'It Takes You Away' and 'Ranskoor Av Kolos' back to back only highlights this problem further. Worse yet, it doesn't really amount to anything - Bradley Walsh plays the material well, but it hardly comes as a shock that Graham eventually spares Tzim-Sha. 

'Ranskoor Av Kolos' is also even more disappointing when you look back and realize how many great ideas it has going for it, but which it fails to capitalize on. For instance the idea of a planet being able to psychologically attack people, driving them insane or to hallucinate is a great idea... that never goes anywhere because the TARDIS team all wear these neural balancers that keep them safe. Besides their first encounter with Paltraki, it never becomes an issue. There's even a point later on where the Doctor and Yaz have to take off the balancers and give them to the Ux, leaving them exposed... and nothing happens. The Doctor and Yaz feel "a bit headache-y", but there's no other negative effects. So what was the point of this? The Ux are another example of wasted potential. The idea of an incredibly rare alien species with powerful psychic abilities and strong religious beliefs is again pretty interesting. Being isolated from the rest of the universe, them mistaking Tzim-Sha for a god and becoming corrupted as they dedicate themselves to him - I love it, but rarely does it feel like the big deal it should be. This is a problem that runs throughout 'Ranskoor Av Kolos' and why I think so many people were left underwhelmed by it. Take for example the reveal that Tzim-Sha has spent his 3,000+ years of isolation exploiting the Ux to build a planet-shrinking superweapon. It takes inspiration from 'The Pirate Planet', but the fact that Tzim-Sha has wiped out five planets' worth of people and is about to do the same thing to Earth never feels like a big deal. Not even the Doctor seems any more fazed by it than any of the other villainous plans she's encountered so far. 'Ranskoor Av Kolos' just really disappoints when it comes to fleshing out all these concepts - it even wastes the talents of its guest star Mark Addy. It's great to see Addy pop up in 'Doctor Who' but now he's here, he has nothing to work with beyond his introductory scene. 

I feel at this point I should reiterate that while this finale may have stumbled before reaching the finish line, I don't hate it or even dislike it all that much. While it's a shame that Chibnall's first stab at a finale ends up being one of the weakest entries of his first series, I do still respect it, or at least what it was attempting to do. To attempt something less bombastic, to not rely on the likes of the Daleks or the Cybermen, and try to build up an original villain as a recurring monster is an admirable approach. With the tepid response this finale's been met with, I can't imagine Chibnall will be bringing back the Stenza at any point in the near-future and that's probably for the best. One thing that I wouldn't mind repeating is the lack of a story arc. Bar the companions' character arcs, Series 11 has been almost entirely standalone material and to get to 'The Battle Of Ranskoor Av Kolos' and not have to worry about wrapping up a series arc has felt very refreshing. Plus like the rest of the series, I'd honestly struggle to criticize the production quality. Director Jamie Childs has helmed several stories this year, and each has looked pretty darn impressive. The shot of Tzim-Sha hooked up to his massive life support machine looked brilliant, although it doesn't have much in the way of actual stakes to flesh it out, the latter half of the episode does have some nice bombastic moments. We've got sparks flying out of the TARDIS console, as well as that great slo-mo shot of Yaz running from a bunch of explosions - and thank god for that or I might've forgotten Yaz was even in this finale. 

And so Chibnall and Jodie Whittaker's first series comes to a close... with more a puff of smoke than a full bang. From what I've seen, a lot of people really do not like 'The Battle Of Ranskoor Av Kolos' and in this case especially, I can honestly sympathize with that. It's not just the lack of some big, epic conclusion that's disappointed people... I think to some extent it's the lack of development with much of what is here that inspires people to shrug it off. Add to that a slow first half, and this is a very flawed finale. Yet I can't bring myself to say I hate it - it's just too inoffensive for that. But hey, with an upcoming special on the horizon, maybe Chibnall can have one more stab at wrapping up his first run of the show. In the meantime, let's take a leaf from the Doctor's departing message and travel hopefully.

The Battle Of Ranskoor Av Kolos

6/10