Series 7, episode 7 – The rings of Akhaten

Do you remember the dry leaf that had appeared in Clara’s book, the one with 101 places to visit? At the end of the previous episode, The Bells of Saint John, the Doctor asked why she was keeping a leaf, and the answer that he got was very simple: that was not a leaf, that was the first chapter. When you’ll have the chance to watch (again) The rings of Akhaten remember all these.

Also in the previous episode the Time Lord is decided to find out exactly who Clara Oswald is, and we are finding along him in this episode her short history: her parents met because that dry leaf the wind had taken from a tree on the street into Clara’s dad’s face, they felt in love, got married and had a daughter. She later had a great connection with the mother she lost as a teenager.

Do you love aliens? Clara’s first trip to outer space is full of them, as various and strange as possible, so the interactions with some of the are… not as smooth as she would like. 😀 The inhabitants of the 7 worlds orbiting around the star Akhaten share a common belief: the life in the Universe started on a planet in their own system. So they have built a pyramid shaped temple on that planet, and on every thousand years (or so), when the rings are aligned, they are keeping the Festival of Offerings.

Walking on what seems rather a bazaar Clara meets a girl, Mary, the Queen of Years, that, visible frightened, runs trying to escape from some guys chasing her. Doctor’s companion finds out that the little girl was supposing to sing their stories in front of the world and the Old God. And, as any child, she was afraid not to make mistakes. Clara tries to give her confidence, she succeeds, but she can not stay aside when the girls is taken away to the temple during the show. She and the Doctor try to save her and, eventually, they have to fight against the Old God supposed to be sleeping. The sings and the Queen of Years sacrifice were meant to keep him away, sleeping for another thousand years or so, until a new ring alignment and another Festival of Offerings.

I prefer to let you discover yourselves the way the Doctor and Clara solve this problem, I don’t want to spoil your surprise. But what’s the value of a song, of a story? What makes a story interesting and how much? Do you prefer the adventures that happen during one thousand years life (as the Doctor’s), some of them even extraordinary, or the ones you can create yourselves day by day, second by second? Do you prefer other man’s adventures or yours? When you’ll answers these questions you’ll be ready to watch this episode. 😀

Cast: Matt Smith (The Doctor), Jenna-Louise Coleman (Clara), Emilia Jones (Merry), Michael Dixon (Dave), Nicola Sian (Ellie), Chris Anderson (The Chorister), Aidan Cook (The Mummy), Karl Greenwood (Dor’een).

Director: Farren Blackburn, producer: Denise Paul, writer: Neil Cross. Series Producer: Marcus Wilson.