DOCTOR WHO STORY GUIDE
Regular site contributor Chad Moore has begun his own personal journey through the entire series of Doctor Who, starting at the very beginning. Alan Siler watches shows sporadically and reviews in no particular order. Together they will chronicle the entire run of Doctor Who. Use the menu at the left to select a particular story, and the menu to the right to jump to a different page.
"The Christmas Invasion" 1 episode (25 Dec 05)
Written by Russell T. Davies
Directed by James Hawes
David Tennant - The Doctor
Billie Piper - Rose Tyler
Review by Chad Moore
The story picks up directly after the Children in Need mini-episode (which I, sadly, haven't seen—here's hoping it'll be included on the 2006 series DVD set) with the Doctor's regeneration failing and Rose trying to come to terms with his sudden change of appearance.
It's become somewhat of a tradition since "Spearhead from Space" (the Third Doctor's début) for the new Doctor to either be unstable and/or needing time to convalesce. The drawback of this, however, is that the Doctor is ultimately sidelined for most of the action—but I won't complain too much as David Tennant looked so adorable in those jim jams.
Rose's reaction to the new Doctor reminded me of Ben and Polly's way back in "The Power of the Daleks"; essentially playing the viewer's confusion and ultimate acceptance on screen. I do wish there had been more angsty Rose-tending-to-the-Doctor scenes, but I loved the fact that the minute she asked for help, the Doctor was up and into the action.
Harriet Jones (the charming MP from "Aliens of London") makes a welcome return as the newly elected Prime Minister. I couldn't help but smirk at Russell T. Davies' sly aside when Harriet refuses to let a certain US president turn the impending alien invasion into a full blown war.
And the aliens themselves? The Sycorax were pretty darn scary! Their asteroid-like spaceship was fantastic, as were the menacing shots of it hovering over London. Also, their subjugation of Earth using humans with A+ blood was chilling—particularly the scenes of "hypnotised" humans waiting to jump from high places all over the world.
Harriet's televised plea to the Doctor was something that's never been done before. The fanboy in me couldn't help but wonder how many of the Doctor's former companions living in contemporary London would see the PM's message (Ian and Barbara, Dodo, Polly and Ben, Victoria, Liz, Jo, Sarah Jane, Harry, and Tegan)—that is, those not up on their roofs!
I adored Rose's confrontation with the Sycorax leader; spouting dialogue from her first meeting with the Doctor and naming off all the aliens she's met. But the best part was her reaction when she realized the TARDIS was working properly again, and then the Doctor appeared in the doors. Classic!
Like Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant makes you accept him as the Doctor with ease. He has a certain bit of Patrick Troughton's playful mannerisms and energy, but when he gets serious, my gosh, he's electric. And how cute was his wink-and-a-nod flirting with Rose?!
The Doctor's done a fair bit of swashbuckling in the past (notably "The Sea Devils", "The Androids of Tara" and "The King's Demons") and it was awesome to see Tennant's Doctor swash his buck with such aplomb. "The Empire Strikes Back" moment when his hand gets chopped off came as a surprise, but the Doctor regenerating a new hand even more so. That's never happened before!
The climax was fantastic with the Doctor's defeat of the baddies and Harriet Jones ordering the retreating Sycorax's destruction. She makes a few references to Torchwood (the spinoff series starring John Barrowman's Captain Jack) and makes a good point about the Doctor not always being around to help...but I haven't seen the Doctor so thoroughly disgusted by someone's actions in a long time.
The TARDIS wardrobe room! It was great to finally see another TARDIS room in the new series (love, love, love the winding staircase). There were some cool nods to the past (Tegan's coat, a Fourth Doctor-like scarf) and a wink to viewers when David Tennant picked up his Casanova costume. I even spotted that Harry Potter Gryffindor scarf!
The ending was super sweet with Rose and the Doctor in the snow (or ash from the blown up Sycorax ship!) ready for new adventures.
"New Earth" 1 episode (15 April 06)
Written by Russell T. Davies
Directed by James Hawes
David Tennant - The Doctor
Billie Piper - Rose Tyler
Review by Chad Moore
David Tennant's first full season as the Tenth Doctor begins with a tale which mixes aspects of Resident Evil, Shaun of the Dead and other zombie genres with a sequel to 2005's "The End of the World".
Quibbles out of the way first: How much time has passed between "The Christmas Invasion" and "New Earth"? It now appears to be Spring at the Powell Estate, and Rose has had a chance to get her hair cut. Perhaps the first batch of Tenth Doctor BBC Novels take place in this apparent gap?
As much fun as it was to have Zoë Wannamaker's bitchy Cassandra back (and with a good explanation to boot!) I just didn't buy the ending (as touching and well played as it was). One second Cassandra is desperate to stay alive, then the next she does a complete 180 and just accepts death? It just seemed completely out of character to me; especially considering the lengths Cassandra went to just to survive.
Her cloned servant Chip, or "Gollum" as Rose rightly calls him, comes across as camp rather than tragic due to Sean Gallagher's somewhat misjudged performance.
Now on to the good stuff: David Tennant and Billie Piper establish an instant rapport and their infectious enthusiasm to time travel is wonderful. I've read other reviews of fans bemoaning the Doctor and Rose "grinning like loons" (to quote one) but TARDIS travel should be exciting and fun! What would they rather have them do? Emerge from the TARDIS sullen and complaining like Tegan did most of the time?
Finally we get our first bona-fide glimpse of an alien world in the "new series," and it's absolutely gorgeous! The Mill has done another excellent job in the CGI department depicting a futuristic New New York ("so good they named it twice"), hospital and flying cars zipping through the air.
The Sisters of Plenitude, evolved cats who run New Earth's hospital, are a wonderful creation. Indeed, the make-up effects are brilliant and a far cry from the puss-in-boots Cheetah People from 1989's "Survival." The three main actresses are all great; in particular the Novice, played by Anna Hope, who is simply charming despite the secret evil doings.
To cure any illness known to man, the Sisters have produced a "plague farm" of cloned human specimens; injecting them with every disease in order to find a solution. However, the "lab rats" have developed their own consciousness and are desperate for any human warmth. Unfortunately, one touch and you're dead. Quite horrific that, especially the Sisters' casual disregard for feelings they refuse to believe "the Flesh" (as they refer to their specimens) have.
The "cells" containing the "lab rats" are particularly effective, reminiscent of The Matrix, and in some ways, 1967's "The Tomb of the Cybermen".
Billie Piper is simply outstanding when she's possessed by Cassandra; mimicking Zoë Wannamaker's vocal inflections effortlessly; plus, she gets all the best lines. David Tennant, too, is great when he's briefly inhabited by "the last human"; funny without going too over the top. I couldn't help but laugh when he shoved Rose aside with a cry of "Outta the way, blondie!" His reaction to Cassandra's impromptu kiss via Rose was too cute for words.
The climax and resolution to the "lab rats" was quite clever. When the Doctor and Rose are "disinfected" upon entering the hospital, it comes across as a jokey scene; I didn't see it becoming such an important part of the story later on. The Doctor using a cocktail of all the intravenous cures in the disinfectant solution, then drawing the plague carriers to him was inspired. Again, I've read where fans question this supposed cure, but I offer up this guess: The disinfectant seeped into the skin and didn't have to be injected. Well, it works for me!
All in all, a good start to the 2006 series. Here's hoping we'll learn more about the Face of Boe's enigmatic message for the Doctor on his next appearance!
"The Runaway Bride" 1 episode (25 Dec 06)
Written by Russell T. Davies
Directed by Euros Lyn
David Tennant - The Doctor
Catherine Tate - Donna Noble
Review by Chad Moore
First impression? Incredibly silly! But enjoyable. It
had its moments, particularly the Doctor's rescue of
Donna on the motorway: a real punch-the-air-and-cheer
moment. Also the ending was very, very sweet and
poignant. Unfortunately, I didn't find the Empress of
Racnoss frightening in the least. She was just much too camp to be a
believable threat. The central idea of a planet
forming around a spaceship was lifted straight out of
the 1978 Tom Baker adventure "Underworld", while
drilling to the center of the Earth met with
disastrous results in Jon Pertwee's 1970 story
"Inferno".
On the acting front, David Tennant gave a typically
manic performance underlined with a few moments of
sentiment and charm. Although she was a one-off,
temporary companion, I quite liked Catherine Tate's
Donna Noble. She was borderline annoying, but great
fun. Sarah Parish obviously enjoyed her role as the
Empress of Racnoss, but as I mentioned earlier, her
performance came across as too OTT to be taken
seriously. Don Gilet's performance as backstabbing
groom Lance Bennett was also woeful in the extreme.
Snaps, props and kudos for Gallifrey finally being
mentioned! Two whole seasons of the New Series
avoiding mentioning the name of the Doctor's home
planet always felt odd. What took them so long?
Strangely, when the Doctor takes Donna back to the
creation of Earth he says that he is going back
further then he has ever gone before. It is odd since
both the First and Fifth Doctors have been around
during the time of the creation of Earth and the
universe (in "The Edge of Destruction" and "Castrovalva",
respectively). He may however be referring simply to
his tenth incarnation having never gone so far back in
time, despite having done so in previous incarnations.
Good grief how I wish someone would wrench that damn
sonic screwdriver out of the Doctor's hand and smash
it to pieces! It long ceased being a sonic screwdriver
and has turned into a magic wand, or in other words an
all-purpose out for lazy writers. 80's producer John
Nathan-Turner had it destroyed for exactly that
reason!
All in all, "The Runaway Bride" could've been a better
story if the plot had been fleshed out more, and
featured a half-decent villain. 2 ½ stars for a silly
little Christmas romp.
"Smith and Jones" 1 episode (31 Mar 07)
Written by Russell T. Davies
Directed by Charles Palmer
David Tennant - The Doctor
Freema Agymen - Martha Jones
Review by Chad Moore
A very, very good start to the season! It's arguably
the strongest of the three openers since Doctor Who returned, with a strong plot, impressive monsters and
lots of good character moments. Cor! Freema's good,
isn't she? She makes an immediate impact as Martha
Jones; intelligent, feisty, warm and likeable.
David Tennant was wonderful and much less manic,
despite the bizarre slapstick
kicking-out-the-radiation moment. He's really settling
into the role now and, I daresay, looking dishier than
ever.
When I first laid eyes on pictures of the Judoon, the
Sontaran comparison was obvious and I wasn't thrilled.
But I was relieved by the final product and I wouldn't
mind seeing them make a return appearance down the
line. Their spaceships—some excellent CGI work there—reminded me of the Separatists' crafts from Star
Wars II: Attack of the Clones, and, barring a couple
of dodgy blue screen shots, the effects were good
throughout.
A coincidence or intentional? There seemed to be a
couple of homages to Peri in this episode: the
half-unconscious Doctor carrying Martha (ala "The
Caves of Androzani"), then the Doctor's welcoming
Martha aboard the TARDIS as the pair tumble against
the console ("Planet of Fire").
Of the guest stars Anne Reid (who'd previously
appeared as Nurse Crane in 1989's "The Curse of
Fenric") was very good as the Plasmavore, although it
must be said there was quite a bit of overacting from
the extras when the Royal Hope hospital is transported
to the moon. Can no one panic properly? A minor
quibble.
And Martha's family were (mercifully) less instrusive
than I'd imagined. But I hope the comedy father and
bimbo girlfriend will be toned down next time they
appear.
"The Shakespeare Code" 1 episode (7 April 07)
Written by Gareth Roberts
Directed by Charles Palmer
David Tennant - The Doctor
Freema Agymen - Martha Jones
Review by Chad Moore
While this was not quite as enjoyable as "Smith And
Jones", "The Shakespeare Code" was still a good
episode, maintaining the great start to series three.
Gareth Roberts turned in an entertaining and richly
detailed (and obviously well-researched) script, with
lots of humor, in-jokes and clever references. The
notion of the Doctor quoting Shakespeare's own words
to him almost got a little tiresome, but it would be
difficult to write a script all about the Bard and not
litter it with quotations. There was a bit of a lull
in the middle, but generally it was a strong debut,
and it would be nice to see Roberts write for the
series again.
Martha and the Doctor are both on cracking form. David
Tennant seems so much more secure and measured this
year—last year it was all wild mood swings and
sailing miles over the top. It's a shame Martha is
given very little to do here, because apart from being
a companion, I haven't really got a handle on her, so
to speak. I don't feel that I know her terribly well,
like we did with Rose. Freema Agyeman is doing a great
job though.
Of the guest cast, Dean Lennox Kelly made an unusual
choice for the role of William Shakespeare, but as a
new take on the Bard, it worked (then again, since
when has there been a definitive portrayal of
Shakespeare?). From last week's trailer, particularly
the "Shut yer big fat mouths!" line, I feared that
Kelly might play him as an unpleasant, obnoxious slob,
but thankfully I was wrong (and, I must say, that line
was actually very funny in context), and instead he
came across as a modern, sexy, enigmatic genius (and
he knows it), but one who was also thoughtful, likeable
and forward-thinking, taking such ideas as aliens and
time travel in his stride.
Also of note was Christina Cole who was excellent as
Lilith. Bringing an air of dangerous allure to the
role, her captivating beauty masking evil intentions,
just a little nostril flaring betraying her true
nature. Cole pitched her performance just right, and
joins an ever-growing list of impressive young
actresses to have appeared in the New Series.
However, I don't think the Carrionites worked as well
as they should have—the idea of the witches was just
a little bit cliched. There were, however, several
scenes that worked brilliantly with them—the
drowning, and the stabbing of the Doctor. What let the
side down were the rubbery witch masks—which must
rank as the worst prosthetics seen in the New Series
to date—and the OTT cackling from Mothers Doomfinger
and Bloodtide.
Despite that, the only thing I really could have done
without was the bed scene. Firstly because once again
we are whacked round the head with mention of Rose.
Again. Come on, it's time to move on. Yes she was
fantastic, but we don't need to be reminded of her
every week. And secondly the less-than-welcome
possibility that we might have yet another unrequited
romance/love/infatuation subplot running through the
latest series. I am not against that on any principle
about the Doctor or the ethos of the show or whatever:
it is just the least interesting subplot they could
ever come up with.
The Harry Potter references were a nice touch, as
were the eerie sequences in Bedlam. I also liked the
nods to the Seventh Doctor story "Silver Nemesis" with
the "walk around as if you own the place" line and, in
the final moments, with the arrow in the TARDIS door!
Of course, I may be seeing patterns in things that
aren't there...
"Gridlock" 1 episode (14 April 07)
Written by Russell T. Davies
Directed by Richard Clarke
David Tennant - The Doctor
Freema Agymen - Martha Jones
Review by Chad Moore
An absolute gem of a story! The offbeat premise seemed
fresh and the story held together really well I
thought. There were really no quibbles to speak of,
although I can't see what stalled the Face of Boe from
opening the roof. That said, the whole idea—an
entire race living, sleeping, procreating and dying in
a traffic jam, while the more affluent wiped
themselves out, leaving the underclass trapped by an
automated system—was ambitious, fantastical and it
carried some good characterization along the way. It
also looked stunning, great CGI, great prosthetics,
great sets, great atmosphere!
David Tennant was astonishing in this episode, going
through a wider range of emotions than in virtually
any other story. I've really warmed to Tennant
recently, after moaning about him a fair bit last
year, and he was excellent here. More of the same
hopefully to come.
Martha being separated from the Doctor opened up some
nice character moments, harking back to Rose's
realization in "The End of the World" that she's left
home with a stranger, albeit one she has complete
faith in. It was also nice to see Martha give the
Doctor the "Tell me about yourself" ultimatum. I'm
really growing fond of her character, and the comment
at the beginning —"rebound"—was so right there.
The Macra were a "big grin" moment for me. A monster
that thrives off gas? They were made for the role, and
made perfect sense with all the car fumes up above. A
nice way of giving some life back to a monster that
would've been forgotten (only the hardcore Doctor Who
fans like myself would know about them, especially as
only a handful of clips from Patrick Troughton's "The
Macra Terror" still remain). Their name will live on
now though; I'm sure Ian Stuart Black would be
smiling.
The guest cast all did a fine job; in particular Ardal
O'Hanlan was very good as Brannigan the Irish cat-man,
and Anna Hope made a welcome return as the sympathetic
Novice Hame.
I liked hearing the Doctor echo his granddaughter
Susan's description of Gallifrey, the unifying hymn,
and the superb closing scenes. It says something when
as a viewer you are moved by a big old talking head!
The Face of Boe finally revealing the secret alluded
to in "New Earth" was a great moment—even though
most everyone had correctly guessed prior to this what
his secret would be—really making the end of this
season a nightmare to have to wait for!
5/5 stars from me. It was, to coin an Eccleston term, fantastic.
Review by Alan Siler
The landmark episode of Doctor Who has come and gone (the one that gives the show more episodes thant the Star Trek franchise, which held the previous record of 726), and I find that my reactions to it are terribly mixed. Which is actually nothing new for a Russell T. Davies script.
I think my problem with it is that, for the most part, the whole thing feels dreadfully derivative. Now, I realize that in modern sci-fi, its very difficult to do something completely original...everything tends to be derivaitve in some way of something. But "Gridlock" felt like a story cobbled together from a whole crop of borrowed elements from many different sources.
The obvious thing is that you have a number of holdover characters and the location from "New Earth". But beyond that, the first two characters you see, inexplicably, were modelled after the two people in "American Gothic". There's a scene where street vendors are opening up their booths for business that was suspciously reminiscent of that in "The Long Game". The Doctor tells Martha a little about Gallifrey, and his desription is based on dialogue from "The Sensorites". Martha goes through the same emotional realization that Rose did in "End of the World", that "I just went off with this man and I don't even know him" bit. Plus, there are many seemingly borrowed elements from "Paradise Towers", right down to the collection of oddball characters all living in this dangerous, enclosed environment, including the two little old ladies living together. On top of that you have the Macra, which don't really serve a purpose in the story (but at the same time they really don't have to, though it would have been nice to have saved them for a proper story of their own, and to have shown more than just their claws snapping), the final revelation of the Face of Boe's secret, and a bigger revelation to Martha about who the Doctor is and the Time War and all, which has the same feel as the Doctor's big speech to Rose at the end of "End of the World".
When you strip away all the excess, you're left with a rather interesting concept: citizens trapped on the sub-city motorway with no means of escape and no hope of rescue were actually saved from a terrible global catastrophe, and the population that they are calling out to for help has long been wiped out. And if the episode had only been about that, it could have been a really strong one. But while the other story elements aren't nearly as large, they are weighty enough to cause the main story to feel overburdoned, bogged down, and even de-emphasized. But at the same time, these weightier subplots help to mask over some of the rather large flaws in the main plot. For instance, if the motorists are sealed in the motorway, and we're told in the episode that the motorway is self-contained, then how can Martha's kidnappers join the motorway at Pharmacytown? If they can enter the motorway, how come no one down there can get out?
Then again, it had some nice moments in it. There's an interesting spin on the Doctor describing Gallifrey at the beginning to Martha. The Doctor/Martha confrontation at the end was quite lovely, and I think sets the stage for a real growth in their relationship. That whole thing is instigated by Martha in a way that demonstrates her quiet, subtle fortitude and her natural prediliction for sticking up for herself. And the daily hymn sing was a really moving scene, where you felt the heartbreak of the motorists, each with their own stories, their own lives, trying desperately to keep their own hopes and dreams alive in the face of an increasingly hopeless situation. The human spirit never gives up.
Martha continues to impress the viewer as a capable, pretty much unflappable young woman. She and the Doctor are seperated for much of this episode, so it gives Martha a chance to show her mettle on her own. She shows her strength not only in her standing up to the Doctor, but in both her resistance to and her later empathizing with her kidnappers. She's becoming a very multifaceted character.
"Evolution of the Daleks" 2 episode (21 Apr 07 - 28 Apr 07)
Written by Helen Raynor
Directed by James Hawes
David Tennant - The Doctor
Freema Agymen - Martha Jones
Review by Alan Siler
Its interesting how a different viewing experience—different setting, watching it with friends rather than alone, daytime vs. nighttime—can affect your reaction to a story. The first episode of this 2-parter I saw at an Atlanta Gallifreyans meeting with about 20 good friends. The comeraderie, the shared experience, elevated this one to a near 5-star status. the second episode I saw later at night with two good friends, and my initial reaction was considerably different.
On the whole, I really liked this one. It had many elements in it I like to see in Dalek stories: dark, dank creepy settings; a throw-back to the mood and tone of '60s Dalek stories (especially with the Daleks exhibiting moments of human-esque behaviour, like the looking about to make sure one is not overheard, which was priceless); convoluted Dalek machinations in a desperate attempt to survive; etc. But it had a good many other things that were plusses as well: the Hooverville setting and its residents were quite well executed (ha ha....that's sort of an unintentional pun); the New York cityscape was beautifully done; there were guest characters that were interesting (Solomon, Frank and Tallulah) and that you grew to care about (though certainly not in the same way or on the same level that you grew to care about, say, the mining crew in "The Impossible Planet"; Jake, Ricky and Mrs. Moore in "Rise of the Cybermen", Elton in "Love & Monsters" or especially Nancy in "The Empty Child").
So what let this one down? Well, first of all, the oft-referenced Pig Men. Now that's just stupid. The use of slaves goes way back in Dalek history, so I have no problem with that and in fact welcome its return.....but why pigs? Why would the Daleks go to the unneccesary step of making them pigs? If they're doing genetic experiments, why did they only use pigs? A return of Robomen (even if they were given a less hokey name) would have made much more sense, and not just because we've seen them before. I just think that taking the time to make one's slaves look like pigs is unvbelievably silly. Were the producers afraid that their audience would not be able to distinquish "regular humans" from "slave humans"? Disfigured humans would have been an answer to that and would have been far more menacing and made the slaves—not to mention the beings that created them—seem far more malignant. We know that Helen Raynor is not to blame for the pigs. She stated in many interviews that her initial draft from RTD was "it'll be Daleks, depression-era New York....and pigs!" Maybe she said that over and over in interviews to make certain the fans knew she had nothing to do with that.
Second, there's that whole ending sequence. So the Daleks take time to make Pig Men, but when they try to create a new race of Dalek People.....they just look like people?? What's that about? That was highly disappointing. Plus, that whole "transfer of TimeLord DNA via lightning" thing was just idiotic. And how many showdowns are we going to have this season that take place on the stage of a theartre?
Third...oh my gosh, I can't believe how dumb that Sec hybrid looked. Although, maybe we shouldn't be looking at that as a crappily-executed rubber monster mask. Maybe we should think of it as a loving homage to the Classic Series which had many crappily-executed rubber monster masks. No, that really doesn't work either. My main problem with the Hybrid, though, was the voice. Maybe having a different voice would have helped sell the concept. You know, maybe still have traces of the Dalek grate.
What makes the Daleks so damn scary is that they're basically German tanks...nameless, faceless killing machines that aren't really machines at all, but deranged little blobs. Because a machine would only kill because it was programmed to kill. With the Daleks, its a living creature inside the machine that decides to kill, because that's the only thing it knows. And you never see the face (or whatever) of you're killer. Completely dispassionate, utterly ruthless. In fact, the most true Dalek moment in the whole story was the unblinking eradication of Soloman after making that lovely speech. Beautiful. But once you put a face on it (no matter how distorted), once you have it leave the casing and walk around, it ceases to be frightening, or at least frightening in the way that Daleks are frightening.
So, a very uneven story, with almost equal doses of excellence and crap. I was going to cut the score exactly in half, in true Soloman style, but I've decided that the good moments do slightly outweigh the bad, so a solid three from me.
Review by Chad Moore
Hmm. I'm on the fence about this one. It all feels a bit 'been there, done that'. Not to say it's a bad two-parter or anything, but there was very little new ground covered concerning the Daleks, the Doctor, the Time War, et al. In many ways it felt like a blatant ripoff of Patrick Troughton's classic "The Evil of the Daleks" (Daleks contemplating how they've been defeated by humans, Dalek DNA transferred to human beings, new human-Daleks questioning orders, etc) mixed with a smidgen of William Hartnell's "The Savages" (Dalek Sec developing compassion after absorbing the human Diagoras).
The New York external scenes looked great, considering they were filmed in Cardiff, Hooverville was excellent, and the Empire State Building looked stunning.
Lots of kudos for the nods to "The Talons of Weng-Chiang", with the sewer tunnels beneath the theatre, and "The Five Doctors", with the Doctor seeing the familiar shadow of the Dalek on the wall, and I also felt that seeing the Dalek base glide past while he and Tallulah were hidden in the alcove reminded me of Grigory and Natasha in "Revelation of the Daleks" doing the same halfway through Part One.
My favorite scene by far is when the two Daleks dismissed the pig slaves and one admitted to having doubt. I loved the way its eyestalk turned, making sure they weren't being overheard. It was nice to see a bit of character coming through the Daleks in that respect, and highly reminiscent of the Daleks in their glorious 1960s classic series stories.
"You told us to imagine, and we imagined your irrelevance..." Probably the best line of the series so far!
Downsides, pig people? Why? If the Daleks were experimenting with hybrids, then certainly there were an abundance of rats in the sewers? I shudder to think of rat people though... Surely Robomen ala "The Dalek Invasion of Earth" would have been better. Those pig people were far too comical to be threatening, let alone be taken seriously. I mean, c'mon, how is the viewer supposed to be afraid of pig slaves in a lift? Especially when you could see them all looking at the counter thinking 'Come onnnnnn....come onnnnnnnn!'
The Dalek/Human hybrid could've been scarier. What hurt him were those silly thick tentacles writhing half-heartedly on his head coupled with that faux New York gangster accent.
The only thing that...maybe not disappointed but surprised me with this one is that, being written by a female author (script editor Helen Raynor) I kind of expected it to be at least as 'emotionally-driven' as the other new series episodes. But the one thing I would say it didn't do was particularly move me in that way—Lazlo and Tallulah were a sweet enough couple, but it was all a bit obvious and rather superficial; and Solomon's death was all very noble but I didn't particularly feel much over it. And that almost lack of emotion seemed to extend to that final scene, with Martha apparently unfazed and unchanged by her experience.
"Evolution of the Daleks"? More like "Decidedly Average of the Daleks".
"The Lazarus Experiment" 1 episode (5 May 07)
Written by Stephen Greenhorn
Directed by Richard Clarke
David Tennant - The Doctor
Freema Agymen - Martha Jones
Review by Chad Moore
After the slightly disappointing Dalek two-parter, this was a definite improvement. It was well written—a nice homage to "The Fly" and "Quatermass"—with great characters, and really fantastic performances. Mark Gatiss was a pleasant surprise as Lazarus—I had no idea he was that good of an actor—and he particularly impressed me as the older Lazarus, a very convincing performance.
Martha's family all seemed pretty interesting, apart from the mother, but then we're never going to like a character who's suspicious of the Doctor, are we, and I suppose she has good reason not to trust him after what she's presumably been told about him. This season's story arc—involving the mysterious Harold Saxon—has gotten off to a good start, and is infinitely less intrusive and far better than the constant barrage of Torchwood references last year.
The Lazarus monster was an impressive piece of CGI work, highly reminiscent of the Dr. Smith/spider hybrid from the big screen adaptation of the "Lost in Space" series. The finale in the church was brilliant, and the dialog between Lazarus and the Doctor was really well done—as was the way the Doctor defeated him. And the phone call at the end worked really well, with a nice foreboding tone to it.
Freema Agyeman does a wonderful set of facial expressions that totally betrays what the character of Martha is thinking, yet the Doctor is (seemingly) totally oblivious to the subtext that's going on. I'm glad that he finally recognized Martha as more than a guest, she's earned her place aboard the TARDIS.
A great, entertaining slice of Doctor Who, full of lovely quotable moments and loads of actions.
"42" 1 episode (12 May 07)
Written by Chris Chibnall
Directed by Graeme Harper
David Tennant - The Doctor
Freema Agymen - Martha Jones
Review by Chad Moore
As with "Daleks in Manhattan / Evolution of the Daleks", "42" felt like a bit of a rehash of a lot of things we've seen before. Highly reminiscent of last season's "The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit"—with nods to "Planet of Evil" ("give back what you took") and "The Daleks' Master Plan" (the airlock death scene)—the idea of "42 minutes to doom" was great, but there were a few moments when the urgency seemed to be sidelined by nice long speeches, like Martha taking forever to reassure the Doctor. BUT somehow it managed to keep me on the edge of my seat.
David Tennant and Freema Agyeman acted their socks off: to see the Doctor in such pain and admit he's scared was a very memorable moment, but not as special as the moment where he and Martha were physically separated—I'm so glad all the music was removed from that scene, because I don't think it would have worked anywhere near as well as it did. The guest cast were serviceable (for want of a better word), although the characterization of the human crew was poor.
Meanwhile, the Saxon subplot was quite interesting—so, he can track Martha's mobile phone half the universe away, in another time...not an ordinary Prime Minister then...
In the final analysis, it was pretty good, but not great. The countdown added more tension than would otherwise have been there. Excellent special effects, and the spaceship sets were great, and Graeme Harper's direction was superb (much better than his uninspired efforts last year), really gave the whole thing atmosphere. A nice little slice of new Doctor Who.
Can someone tell me why all the possessed people sought out and donned those Darth Vader helmets? Just to be scary?
Journey's End (2 episodes,
Written by Russell T Davies
Directed by Graeme Harper
David Tennant - The Doctor
Catherine Tate - Donna Noble
With Billie Piper (Rose Tyler), Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith), Freema Agymen (Martha Jones), John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper), Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto Jones), Camille Codouri (Jackie Tyler), Noel Clarke (Mickey Smith), et al.
Not only Season Four but the Russell T. Davies era proper draws to a close with this epic adventure. And not suprisingly, these two episodes sum up everything that has been brilliant and has been awful about the RTD era.
For starters, every major and most minor characters from the past four years appear in this story. A bit of overkill, really. While this works very well in the first episode, In the second half Jackie and Mickey are left standing around in crowd scenes with very little to contribute of significance.
Secondly, the first half is by far the stronger of the two, with the second half indulging in comic book implausibilities, cliched plot turns so bad you wouldn't even expect to find them in the worst fanfic, childish attempts to yank the audience's collective heartstrings, and overlong scenes that simply don't make sense.
In previous RTD extravaganzas, these elements hurt (and sometimes ruin) what could have been good episodes (I'm thinking particularly of the dreadful finale of Season Three), but fortunately here the good far outweighs the bad. The bad is still bad, but the good is SO GOOD that it makes up for it.
The first episode, "The Stolen Earth", is one of the rare time that the show has gotten really close to perfect (its actually happened a surprising number of times this year). The writing, the pacing, the effects, the direction, the acting...everything here works, all the pieces fit together to create an incredibly thrilling whole that never lags for a moment. Okay, there is that really silly bit about having Mr. Smith make all the cell phones in the world call the Doctor at the same time. That was just stupid. Wouldn't only one of them get through, and then all the other phones in the world get busy signals or go straight to voice mail? It smelled far too much like having Martha walk the earth and getting every person to chant the Doctor's name at the same time. But other than that, it was a terrific episode. The Daleks felt like a threat again, seen in the reactions of the people who'd encountered them before. Plus, the Daleks get to do really sinister things in this one. The scene where they're rounding up people at night from out of their homes fits perfectly with the Daleks origins as Nazi knock-offs and felt real, tangible, and scary. And that's before they blow up an entire house simply because a family dares to walk back into it.
I really could go on and on about part one, it was so good. From the opening moments of the Doctor and Donna opening the TARDIS doors to see nothing but space and saying "We haven't gone anywhere...the Earth has!" to that amazing triple cliffhanger, everything was cooking on high heat and the excitement didn't let up for a moment. Highlights included the return of the Judoon, the scenes within the Shadow Proclamation, Donna's reaction to the apparent destruction of Earth, Rose's dismay at not being able to be in touch with the others, and the surprise return of former MP and PM Harriet Jones.
Ah yes, Ms. Jones. A character that I absolutely loved and felt cheated that they'd never done anything with her for the past few years. Finally she gets to make her triumphant return and goes out the same way she lived her life: in service to the country and people she cares about. I was so pleased that they for a minute revisited the circumstances in "The Christmas Invasion" and that Harriett still stood by her actions in that episode. She was shown to be a thoughtful, intelligent and brave woman. I salute her.
The second half, for all its 65 minutes, didn't fare quite as well. We were treated to very off-handed (pun definitely intended) resolutions to the cliffhangers, overacting in some of the later scenes, another "hollywood summer blockbuster" score from Murray Gold, and a rather harsh and cruel ending to Donna Noble. And to top it all off, we had to watch the Earth get towed back home by the TARDIS. I mean, c'mon... But there was one saving grace amidst all the comic book adventure...
Julian Bleach was an absolute revelation. His Davros was exact in every detail. For once, this didn't feel like an appropriation or a reinvention, it felt like a continuation of a Classic character into the New show. He took everything that was good about Michael Wisher's and Terry Molloy's portrayals and brought Davros fully to life. He was riveting and made the character believable. Not an easy task. The scene where Davros recognizes and remembers Sarah Jane was extraordinary.
But as good as that scene was, it sort of introduced a whole sequence of scenes where all these disparate characters 'come together' in recognition or introduction and we have a big family reunion. It got rather tiresome. They even had to go so far as to point out the resemblance between Gwen Cooper and Gwyneth the Serving Girl and to drag K9 out of a black hole for 30 seconds for no reason at all except that we're coming to the end and someone suddenly said "Shit! We forgot K9!".
Having Rose back was a bit of a let-down for me. It felt like it became the Rose Tyler Show and emphasis was taken away from Donna's story arc. After spending the whole of Season Three with Rose overshadowing Martha, it was heartbreaking to see it happen again, especially as Donna has been such a terrific character. She deserved better.
She certainly deserved better than the fate she was dealt at the end of the story. But no more about that.
Overall, this was an excellent story that suffered a few major potholes in the road, but none that kept the journey from being enjoyable and the destination fulfilling. Here's to RTD for a great—if occasionally shaky—ride for the past four years.
