Today is the start of Tennant’s final series and it’s the return
of Donna Noble. It is also the 30th series of Doctor Who. One of the
inevitable but annoying things about new Who is that they started from series
one with Eccleston so today’s episode starts the fourth series whereas to
people like me it’s the 30th. When this episode aired on April 5,
2008 it was Tennant’s 832 day as the Doctor and overtakes Peter Davison and
Sylvester McCoy in the longest Doctor list. At the moment he is just 127 days
behind Patrick Troughton and 157 days behind Colin Baker.
There is a slight change to the theme tune where it goes a
bit more rock and I like it. Just thought you should know that.
When it was announced that Catherine Tate would be returning
to the show there were a lot of people not wild about the idea. I knew that the
Donna Noble that would appear in this series wouldn’t be the one that appeared
in The Runaway Bride because no one would put up with that for thirteen weeks.
It would be a toned down version of Donna but one that would utilise the comedy
aspect of Catherine Tate.
Donna’s dad was supposed to appear in this series like he
did in The Runaway Bride but sadly passed away during filming and so was respectfully
replaced by Bernard Cribbins and RTD cleverly implies that Wilfred Mott who we
saw in Voyage of the Damned is actually Donna’s Grandfather. Bernard Cribbins
is the best thing about this series. If Captain Jack can get his own series
then why can’t Wilfred Mott. From the moment he appears on screen, I find
myself feeling happier, he is a positive on screen presence. A great moment
comes when he sees the TARDIS in the sky and sees that Donna is with the
Doctor. His reaction is fantastic and is worth watching again and again.
This series is one that is more light hearted than the
previous one and its quite evident from the very beginning with the music that
is used and the fact that for a large part of the episode the Doctor and Donna
miss each other even though they are in the same building and sometimes the
same room. In fact it’s around 20 minutes before they see each other and even
then the Doctor is outside a window and Donna is looking through a door window.
When they spot each other it’s a mix of excitement and bemusement. It’s quite
funny and is made better when they look and realise that Foster is watching
them both.
The fat that comes from people is clearly designed with
merchandise in mind. They are cute and cuddly and make squeaking noises when
talking. The villain of the week is Ms Foster who is played by former Corrie
star Sarah Lancashire and it’s a good performance but it’s not the greatest.
She is a nanny for the Adipose family and that is all she is but at the end of
the episode she is about to board a ship that looks like it has come from Close
Encounters of the Third Kind. Don’t get me wrong, it looks visually impressive
but it’s hard not to make the comparison.
There’s a great moment when the Doctor is talking in the
TARDIS and then stops realising he is on his own and just stands there looking
quite lonely and it’s a fact about the character that he needs someone to
travel with to just interact with not just save.
There is a start of talk about missing planets and bees. This
is very subtle start to the story arc for the series but the main talking point
from the episode is the return of Rose. Her first appearance since Doomsday
although its fair to say she has never really left cause her presence was felt
throughout the previous series. It was a good moment to be fair because Rose’s
face is hidden when Donna is talking to her and then Rose disappears into the
distance. This has been an ok episode, its not been the best opening episode because
I think the light hearted tone of the episode is something that doesn’t quite
work that well. There are things to like but it is one of the weakest Doctor
Who episodes of the new era.
Watching the NEXT TIME trailer I realised that two familiar
faces and names appears and so tomorrows episode is going to be interesting.
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