(740) The Fires of Pompeii

I said that todays episode would be interesting and that is what it proved to be.

This episode sees Peter Capaldi do a Colin Baker and appear in Doctor Who as a different character before he becomes the Doctor. At this time, Capaldi was appearing as Malcolm Tucker in The Thick of It at the time and here plays Caecilius. Ironically he buys the TARDIS thinking its Modern Art. A funny moment comes when Capaldi and Tennant are talking. It’s like when Peter Davison and Colin Baker are face to face in Arc of Infinity. Karen Gillan does a Peter Purves as she appears as Soothsayer. To be quite honest if it weren’t Karen Gillan then I doubt that I would have really noticed her because all Sibylline Sisterhood are pretty much the same really. Tracey Childs also appears in this episode, she has played Elizabeth Klein in the Big Finish audios on and off since 2001. Phil Davis is an actor that I really like cause he’s always capable of delivery a solid performance in whatever he does. He chewing the scenery from the very beginning. Some people are capable of acting like they were from the past but on this occasion, Davis doesn’t quite pull it off.

Something else of interest (to me anyway) is that this story features location footage at the Cinecitta Studios in Rome where the BBC TV series Rome was filmed. It’s some of the finest location filming that the show has seen and it almost overshadows the episode. One of the positive things about this episode is that there is more than a fleeting glimpse of these sets which don’t look like a corridor in a studio set in London.

Like in previous series, the Doctor starts the series taking his companion to somewhere in the past and then in the next episode.

I like how there is a bit of conflict between the Doctor and Donna about warning the people of Rome about what happens when Mount Vesuvius erupts. It’s Donna’s turn to learn the lesson about not changing the course of history. Donna’s attempt to try and humanise the Doctor and it’s a nice twist at the end where they have decide whether to sacrifice the world or Rome. Catherine Tate’s performance in this episode is rather good and really shines in this episode where morality is at the heart of the story.

The Doctor is told that she is coming and Donna is told that she has something on her back. Both of these refer to future episode but I didn’t remember that this is where these references started and its only in hindsight that they carry more importance than they seem.The monster is the Pyrovile who are rock creatures who have lost their planet. The design is rather good although I would like to have seen more of it during this episode because it was such a good idea.  

This was a perfectly decent episode even when you take out of the picture what Peter Capaldi and Karen Gillan become. It’s a rare story where its what you don’t see on screen that makes this story enjoyable. After being slightly disappointed with the previous episode, its good to report that things have improved quite a bit and I am looking forward to tomorrows episode because it features Percy Darling from Blackadder.

(737) Last of the Timelords

I am surprised at how quickly this twenty-ninth series has gone. Whereas the previous series seemed to drag at times, this series has been a huge improvement.

The Master’s little dance bit isn’t something that we would have seen Anthony Ainley do or Roger Delgado doing that. I think that it’s something that make the Master seem more made crazier. I hadn’t realised how good John Simm is in this episode. When he’s on screen I am enjoying the episode and when he isn’t on screen then I find myself wishing he was on screen. The thing about this Master is that his plan is like his plans of old. It’s so convoluted that its almost boring but unlike his plans of old, it doesn’t get stopped at the last minute by the Master.

The encounter that the Doctor the Master have on Earth is a short, snappy but very impressive bit and to be honest all the scenes between the two of them are very good.

I thought that the Master being shot was a bit of a mistake. It would have been good if he had managed to escape like he always did. The Master refusing to regenerate (didn’t know it was an option) seems to indicate a very firm end to his character although there is always the potential for a get out clause when a mysterious hand picks up the Master’s ring.

The make up to make Tennant look old works quite well at first. It’s not quite as good as the make up he had in The Family of Blood buts it’s still good. However when the Doctor is made even older then the effect looks very poor. He looks like he has come from one of the Harry Potter films.

One of the episodes successes is that it manages to show the destruction of the world by people talking about how countries have fallen.

One of the biggest clunkers in Doctor Who history is when Captain Jack seems to insist that he is the Face of Boe. It just doesn’t work and is a little bit silly. Even back in 2007 I thought that it was a bit of a misstep.

Martha does a lot of driving the narrative in this episode. She is the one that has been on the journey around the world and has played an interesting game of double bluff because we were made to believe that she has spent the last year looking for bits of a gun. Her speech about the Doctor is a nice one because it basically tells people that the Doctor is the hero, not her. It’s weird to think that for most of the episode, the Doctor and Martha don’t meet. It’s not until the end that they are in the same scene together. It’s frustrating that Freema Agyeman leaves at the end of this episode because she has been a breath of fresh air after the rather staleness of Billie Piper.

The goodbye scene between the Doctor and Martha was really well done. It was an exit that made sense and worked and is one of the stronger exits for a companion.

Like Doomsday, this episode has a cliffhanger for the Christmas Special and this time it’s more epic. The Titanic somehow manages to crash into the TARDIS leading to a WHAT from Tennant like he did in Doomsday. This has been a better episode than I thought. In my mind I had previously thought there was far more sentimental nonsense but actually it was all in proportion. The story with the Master ended at the right time and the departures of both Captain Jack and Martha were given the right amount of time.

Last of the Timelords is a good end to the season which has been consistently strong. I think that the next series (and Christmas special) is where the Tennant era goes downhill a bit. But maybe things might be different.

(736) The Sound of Drums

The sound of Drums is the penultimate episode of the series. The pre-title scene is very good because it basically sets everything up in just a couple of minutes. The Master has called himself Harold Saxon and has become Prime Minister. His first proper scene with his cabinet is very god and shows a wonderful example of how borderline mad he is. That scene is memorable because he gases everyone and the camera moves in towards him as he is tapping the glass four times. 

The first conversation between the Doctor and the Master is the best thing of the episode. It is what people had been waiting for and it came at just he right time. An ex platoon is given about what happened to the Master and how he got out of the predicament that he was in during the TV Movie. He hid from the Daleks during the Time War which essentially shows him to be a coward or it could be seen as a typical fight for survival. John Simm is very good and manages to play the Master.

Lucy Saxon is an interesting addition to the story because it's clear that the Master doesn't really care about her but is just using her. I thought her best scene was when was talking to the reporter. The reporter has worked out that Harold isn't the man he claims to be and seems to be about to spill the beans before going back to normal and revealing that Saxon is lurking in the room.

Sharon Osbourne, Busted and Ann Widicombe all make cameo appearances in what has become a regular tradition. I can't say that this bothered me because it was quick and was relevant to the story (sort of).

The Toclafane are a new creation. They are a interesting creation although they don't serve a purpose outside of his story. It would be wrong of me not to mention the scene with the Teletubbies. It is a lovely nod to the 1972 story The Sea Devils where the Master is watching the Clangers. It is a scene that I have been looking forward to since I saw the Clangers scene because it was clearly written as a nod to that story. 

Martha is quite different in this episode because her family are in danger. She isn't the fun and nice person that she has been for the previous eleven episodes but becomes rather nasty to the Doctor although it's not easy to blame her. It could be argued that her parents and sister being locked up by the Master is Francine’s fault. What was the point of getting Reggie Yates in the episode? He makes one very brief appearance and then is never seen or heard from again. I think that his casting has been one of the biggest mistakes since the show returned in 2005.

The scene where the Doctor talks about Gallifrey and its the first time that we see Gallifrey in the new series and some backstory about the Master. Basically the Master went mad at the age of 8. It does a nice job of explaining what happens to kids on Gallifrey.

The U.S. President appears in this episode (not the real one I should add!!!). This is the first time since Abraham Lincoln in The Chase that a U.S President has featured in Doctor Who. There is a nice bit of tension between Winters and Saxon. There are nice digs about the invasion of Iraq where it was clear that the U.S. we're calling the shots.

The Master has used the Doctor’s TARDIS as a paradox machine. Seeing the TARDIS in that red glow is fantastic and it's good that it's being used in this way because normally it's just a prop to get the regulars from place A to Z.

The addition of the song when the Paradox machine starts is quite a mixed thing cause at the time I liked it cause it seemed new but now it doesn't seem to work as well. From the moment that the President is killed the episode really starts to ramp up towards the cliffhanger. Things look bleak for the regulars cause the Doctor is an old man (more about the make up tomorrow) and Martha is fleeing into the distance. I thought that this ending was really good.  It was a very good episode and continues the good trend and I am really looking forward to the final episode of the series.