(735) Utopia

Utopia is the first in what is technically a three parter and it sees the return of the Master. It also sees the return of Captain Jack Harkness. He returns by literally running and screaming at the TARDIS. I think that Jack is the one that sends the TARDIS to the year 100 Trillion. I commented that 42 was the last story to be directed by Graeme Harper but I was wrong.

Derek Jacobi starts as Professor Yana but becomes the Master. It's hard to believe that he would appear in Doctor Who although having seen him in a rather unfunny ITV sitcom it's not as surprising as it once was. Yana is trying to help people find Utopia. It's good to see Yana knowing that he is the Master although he doesn't know it. Not only does he not know it he doesn't even know that he’s a time lord. There is a gradual build up to when Yana becomes the Master and the fob watch from Human Nature becomes more relevant. The message from the Face of Boe in Gridlock becomes important as well.

I will confess that I didn't put the you are not alone line and Yana together until it was pointed out to me. It's quite clever how things that have featured in this series have led to this episode. The story arc for this series has been better than the previous series.

I thought that David Tennant was ok in this episode. There were a few moments where the Doctor was a bit too arrogant for my liking. I know an argument could be made that he is always arrogant but it's more noticeable in this episode.

There are two groups. There are the humans and then there are the future kind. The humans are a rather sorry group of people who are at the end of the universe and seem to be not far from the end. It's somewhat of a shame that the Doctor is essentially the one that sends them to their doom without realising it. 

The future kind are rather good as they seem to be rather stupid but aggressive. It's not quite clear to me why they are determined to stop the humans from leaving which is perhaps the only aspect of the story that doesn't quite work for me.

It's quite good how sometime has passed and there has been a whole load of Torchwood stuff since then. The flirting gag that was used quite often during his original time on the show is back and used a few times. There is a bit of an issue between the Doctor and Jack. The Doctor doesn't really like he idea that Jack is basically a fixed point in time. That is why the Doctor left and didn't try to find Jack.

The episode really shifts a gear when Yana opens the watch. This is where I think that Graeme Harper’s direction. The incidental music is really good and it's very distinctive. The drumming sound is very good and the fast tempo is a nice change to most of the new series episodes.

John Simm’s brief appearance as the Master is rather fun and energetic. Like Jacobi, it's surprising that John Simm agreed to take on such an iconic role. Simm is a very good actor and it feels like some credibility has been bought to the role.

I thought that this was an episode of two halves because the pre-master story was interesting but not the meat of the story. The actual meat of the story is what I found more interesting and this is where the finale really gets going. The performances were good but I think that the best is yet to come.