Jun 23, 2016
Answering listener requests, Tread Perilously takes a look at "The Beast Below," the second Doctor Who episode to feature Matt Smith in the title role ... and it turns out to be a pretty good one.
The Doctor and Amy land on Starship UK, where children and adults alike fear the omnipresent Smilers. But no one knows their true purpose, not even Queen Elizabeth X. As Amy digs deeper into the problem, she finds a message from herself telling her to get the Doctor off the ship. And when the Doctor determines what really powers Starship UK, he is faced with nothing but terrible choices.
Erik and Justin end up liking the episode a great deal and end up wondering why more than one listener suggested it. They also identify the obvious influence of Douglas Adams on the story and the visual cues lifted from Bioshock. Erik takes the opportunity to decry nationalism and the tendency of American schools to de-emphasize World War I. Justin decides the episode might be one of the best he's seen so far.