Slow burn. That’s not a phrase you usually associate with Matt Smith’s era of Doctor Who. We’re talking about a guy who crashed a TARDIS into a garden, ate fish fingers and custard, and basically lived his life at 200 miles per hour. But "The Power of Three" is different. It’s weirdly quiet. It’s about the "slow invasion."
Imagine waking up and the world is just... covered in small black cubes. They don't explode. They don't shoot lasers. They just sit there. Chris Chibnall, who wrote this before he became the showrunner, tapped into something genuinely human here: our ability to get bored of a miracle. We’re terrified for ten minutes, then we’re taking selfies with the alien threat, and by Thursday, we’re using them as paperweights.
The Year of the Slow Invasion
The Doctor hates waiting. He absolutely loathes it. In Doctor Who The Power of Three, we see him forced to do exactly that because the "Power of Three"—the Doctor, Amy Pond, and Rory Williams—is being tested by time itself. Not time travel. Just... time passing.
One day, millions of small black cubes appear globally. They are indestructible. They are inert. UNIT, led by Kate Stewart (making her brilliant first appearance in the televised series), is baffled. This isn't a "run for your life" episode. It’s a "sit on the sofa and watch the news" episode.
The Doctor tries to stay. He really does. He paints a fence. He mows the lawn at super-speed. He plays Wii. But he’s a creature of movement. Watching him try to live a "normal" life with the Ponds is both hilarious and deeply sad. It highlights the friction between the life Amy and Rory are trying to build and the life the Doctor offers. Amy says it best: it’s like having a "life" and a "Doctor life," and they’re starting to bleed into each other.
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Why Kate Stewart Changed Everything
We have to talk about Kate Stewart. She’s the daughter of the legendary Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. Her introduction in this episode wasn't just fanservice; it repositioned UNIT for the 21st century. She’s a scientist, not a soldier, though she knows how to command a room. When she tells the Doctor, "Science is the new military," it feels like a manifesto for the era.
She brings a groundedness to the episode that balances out the Doctor’s frantic energy. Without Kate, the cube mystery might have felt a bit too thin. With her, it feels like a high-stakes intelligence operation where the enemy is simply... patience.
The Problem With the Shakri
Okay, let's be honest. The ending of "The Power of Three" is a bit of a mess. Most Whovians agree. The buildup is masterclass—the tension of the cubes finally "waking up" and causing global cardiac arrest is genuinely terrifying. Then, the Doctor finds the Shakri ship, meets a holographic projection of a legendary Gallifreyan "pest controller," and flips a few switches.
Everything is fixed in about three minutes.
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Why did this happen? It’s well-documented that the production faced massive hurdles. Steven Berkoff, who played the antagonist, reportedly had a difficult time on set, leading to a lot of his scenes being cut or rewritten. It left the climax feeling hollowed out. You can feel the shift in pace; it goes from a thoughtful character study to a rushed resolution that doesn't quite earn its victory.
But does that ruin it? Kinda. But also, no. The strength of the episode isn't the villain. It’s the scenes of Brian Williams—Rory's dad—sitting on a chair for days on end, monitoring a cube. Mark Williams (who you probably know as Arthur Weasley) is the secret weapon of Series 7. His conversation with the Doctor on the TARDIS steps, asking what happened to the people who traveled with him before, is one of the most honest moments in the show's history.
The Ponds and the Choice
This episode is the beginning of the end. It’s the penultimate story for Amy and Rory, and it sets the stage for "The Angels Take Manhattan." We see them choosing. They aren't just being swept away anymore; they are actively deciding to stay in their "real" lives.
- They have jobs.
- They have anniversaries.
- They have a home that doesn't have a swimming pool in the library.
The Doctor realizes he’s "running to them before they fade away." It’s a heavy realization. For a show about a time traveler, it deals with the one thing he can’t stop: people growing up and moving on.
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Real-World Parallels
You see the cubes everywhere if you look close enough. Not literal alien cubes, but the way we handle crises. Look at how society reacts to any major global event. First, there’s panic. Then, there’s the meme phase. Then, there’s the "it’s just part of the background" phase. Chibnall nailed the psychology of the 21st century perfectly here.
The cubes are the ultimate MacGuffin. They don't matter because of what they are; they matter because of what they do to our routine. They force the Doctor to be a friend rather than a hero, and they force the Ponds to realize that they can't keep one foot in both worlds forever.
How to Revisit the Episode Today
If you're going back to watch Doctor Who The Power of Three, don't watch it as a sci-fi thriller. Watch it as a domestic drama with an alien problem.
- Focus on the background. The montage of the cubes in everyday life—in the kitchen, on the news with Alan Sugar and Professor Brian Cox—is the best part.
- Watch the Doctor’s eyes. Matt Smith plays the "boredom" with a frantic edge that suggests he knows his time with the Ponds is running out.
- Appreciate the score. Murray Gold’s music here is whimsical but carries an underlying ticking-clock vibe that fits the "slow invasion" theme.
It’s easy to dismiss this one because of the "magic button" ending. But if you do, you miss the most "human" the Doctor has ever been. He stayed for a year. He waited. For a Time Lord, that’s the ultimate sacrifice.
The legacy of the cubes lives on in the show's DNA. It proved that you don't need a Dalek fleet to make a compelling episode. Sometimes, you just need a small black box and the slow, agonizing passage of a Tuesday afternoon.
Moving Forward
To get the most out of this specific era of the show, you should watch "The Power of Three" immediately followed by "The Angels Take Manhattan." It transforms the experience. You see the cubes as the Doctor's last "normal" memory of his best friends, making the inevitable heartbreak in New York feel much more earned. Pay attention to the way the Doctor looks at the Ponds' house at the end—it’s the look of someone who knows he’s already lost them to the world, even if they haven't realized it yet.