Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10
Cast: Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole, Mandip Gill, Claudia Jessie, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Lee Mack, Callum Dixon, Leo Flanagan, Matthew Gravelle.
It is the scream of vile objectification, of trying to make someone feel superiority over you, no matter what situation you find yourself in, especially when it is concerned with the arts, there will always be someone who snidely looks down upon your choices, and shouts viciously, “Why don’t you get a proper job?”
It is an argument for the age which they might find themselves asking in desperation in years to come as automation and innovation eats away into the fabric of everyday life, we are confronted with it in shops which have taken away the human factor by installing machines for the ease of cutting down on payroll, simply place your magazine on a scanner and pay without ever having to interact with a fellow human being. Order something online and soon enough a drone will deliver it to your door, Kerblam! in a heartbeat we have placed ourselves on a kind of endangered watch list where we are thankful to the powers that be which might provide us with a job.
It all depends on how far down this road we want to travel, for some it is a utopian dream, the thought of menial tasks which automation can take care of, freeing up people to see the wonder of our planet, a dystopic nightmare in which millions are trapped, being born to serve a system which sees humanity redundant, our spirit, our basic qualities and uniqueness crushed by the steam roller of automation.
Whilst it could be argued that the seventh in the series in which Jodie Whittaker has strode in the wake of the Tardis was on the surface a flimsy affair, more concerned with creating a team dynamic than at any other point so far, it could be argued that this was the kind of story-line in which others bemoan but in which is actually quite important, socially, and politically.
The politics of debating just how far we go in making a work force one of a truly automated society is nothing new, ventured and speculated in many a work of fiction across the last 100 years, what is not so old-fashioned is the world we live in which now reflects this dreadful ideal, where we can close down shops by the dozen by just clicking on a pad and never see the joy on someone’s else face as they make a sale which could make a difference to a family, a local area, the meaning in someone’s self-esteem.
Kerblam! seeks to address the issues with sincerity, a difficult task in which Pete McTighe understands the fine line walked and the difficulty in which we find we must claim back some dignity, that complete automation is not the golden utopia in which has been conveyed.
An episode in which it was hard to stand out in, a reminder as well in which this is a very altered and changed Doctor in which we as viewers are dealing with, almost passive in her acceptance in letting even a single person die, being seen as a martyr even if they are the cause of the distress caused in which caught the attention of the Doctor and her friends in the first place.
Kerblam! could have been incredible radical but for the time and audience it is presented to, it is no surprise that it went as far as it did, without overstepping certain boundaries.
Ian D. Hall