The Doctor Who Review | Season 11 Episode 2

Last updated on 8 January 2025

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WARNING! SPOILER ALERT! Welcome back to the Doctor Who Review, where I recap the week’s episode and give some thoughts and opinions on it. Please do not read if you have not seen this week’s episode. There are major spoilers ahead. You have been warned.

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Title: The Ghost Monument

Written by: Chris Chibnall

As we left the Doctor, Graham, Yas and Ryan floating in space at the end of Episode 001 (having just beamed up to the TARDIS but it not being there), we rejoin them in their gallivanting escapades around the universe as they’ve just been picked up by two different space ships.

Graham and Ryan find themselves on a ship with Angstrom, while Thirteen and Yas are picked up by Epzo. Both captains are confused at the lack of planet which is supposed to be be exactly where they picked the two sets of travellers up from, and we discover that the planet has been moved out of orbit and is no longer sitting where it’s meant to be sitting.

Both ships eventually land on the planet Desolation and find each other. It’s a planet full of sand, pretty much, with no life in sight. After a little wander, the party (which is now six) come across a white tent in the middle of the desert. Inside is a hologram of a man who tells them that The Last Rally of the Five Galaxies is going on; there were 94 planets competing to reach The Ghost Monument, and Epzo and Angstrom are the final contestants.

When one of them wins, they’re get an epic life-chaning prize.  Epzo and Angstrom are bickering back and forth about everything the whole episode, and who will get to the Ghost Monument first. What the Doctor realises is the Ghost Monument is actually the TARDIS, and now they all need to be in the race to become America’s next top model to reach the TARDIS.

What follows is a journey episode from A to B, through the desert, inside tunnels to avoid being outside during the night, and moving into the ruins of a huge building. In the ruins they discover sniper robots and have to avoid getting shot as they search for the Ghost Monument, and avoid being suffocated by mysterious magic-carpet Aladdin-esque sheets of dusty fabric who seem to have a life of their own.

When they finally reach the spot where the Ghost Monument aka TARDIS should be, it isn’t, but the tent is there and Epzo and Angstrom are declared joint winners and all is well. Except it isn’t because the TARDIS is still missing.

After a rather concerning moment of defeat from the Doctor, giving up way too easily, her new ‘best friends’ (as she calls them) remind her that they’ve got each other, and it’s all going to be fine. Then comes the whizzing noise we’ve all been waiting and for and in shimmies the TARDIS in all its lovely glory.

As the Doctor steps inside, she discovers that the TARDIS has had a makeover; it now looks like some sort of jagged bee hive, with new controls and a frosted-glass-looking replicate of the TARDIS itself sitting on the rather small console. It’s only then in the last scene that the Doctor tells her new companions that not only does the TARDIS move in space, but it moves in time. Dun dun dun!

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My thoughts on The Ghost Monument

Jodie Whittaker’s version of the Doctor is finally coming out properly in this episode. Episode one, The Woman Who Fell to Earth, was like many if not most first season episodes, where the Doctor is still working through the regeneration process, and you’re not quite sure what kind of character they’re going to be. In The Ghost Monument, we really get a better sense of Thirteen’s personality, which is a little Matt Smith in style, but a little less exuberant. She’s not quite as loud, but is still kind of intense, so it’ll be interesting to see how that progresses throughout the season.

I’m not 100% sure on the companions yet. I enjoy them, buuuuut they’re no Rose, or Amy and Rory. I know it’s early days, but I hope they have more character development and gain their own personalities a bit more. Right now they’re a little ‘meh’ for me.

The monsters in this episode were pretty tame, despite them being large robots with guns. The flying sheets were creepier, and they were definitely worse than the bots. The Stenza were mentioned again in this episode (think Tim Shaw from the first episode), so that’s going to be a likely arc throughout the series (despite the fact that there isn’t meant to be a big overarching theme running throughout). Speaking of which, the floating sheets call the Doctor the ‘timeless Child’ so that’ll be an interesting theme to play out, too.

The plot was very straightforward in this episode, and I think I would have liked to see more of the race with the other contestants, rather than coming in right at the end. It was quite slow going, and while it was good for characters chats and learning more about the companions, I don’t know if it did a good enough job of that to warrant the slow pace.

The new TARDIS is … well, it’s a bit odd on the inside. It’s like what a bee hive would look like if all the inhabitants suddenly turned into metal-loving engineers who like to mine crystals and display them at random around the hive. While we really haven’t seen enough of the inside yet for me to make that kind of call, first glimpses are it’s not my favourite (although it does have a biscuit dispenser which is so far the ultimate feature, and why has no one done a food dispenser before!? Eleven would have loved a fish fingers and custard machine, and Four would have loved a jelly baby maker).

The outside has had some changes too … and I’m sorry but it is looking more green than blue?! Anyone else notice that?! It’s definitely not the bright blue it has been for Eleven and Twelve, and has gone back to a more distressed look like Nine and Ten had. I don’t know if I like it. We’ll see how we go with that. The white sign on the front left has been replaced with a black one, just adding to that darker mood for the colour changes, and the handles, windows and light at the top have all had a bit of a change. It’s not bad, it’s just different, and I’ll get used to it.

The music! The intro! Segun Akinola‘s score is brilliant, and I really liked it. We’ve known about the change of Doctor Who logo for a while now, but seeing it in the opening credits like this really pulled everything together. I think it’s brilliant and I’m definitely looking forward to listening to and seeing that intro each week.

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Overall

So was it a great episode? Meh, I don’t think so. But did I enjoy it? Yeah, you bet. I loved the little remarks about the Doctor’s glasses which she gives to Graham to wear, claiming they either belonged to Pythagoras or Audrey Hepburn, and the Antiques Roadshow quip near the beginning was brilliant. It was also great seeing a whole episode with outfit, which is absolutely wonderful and I love it.

Next week’s episode: Rosa. The team head back in time and hang out in 1955 with Rosa Parks.

What did you think of The Ghost Monument? Any thoughts on the TARDIS’ new look?