(799) The Day of the Doctor

The Day of the Doctor had a lot to live up to. When the show has celebrated a milestone it has had mixed results. The 10^th Anniversary ‘special’ The Three Doctors was an enjoyable and well performed story. The 20^th Anniversary was perhaps less successful although it did have its moments. Since then we have lost the chance to celebrate the 30^th and 40^th Anniversaries so this is quite a big moment. I was amazed when it was announced that it would screened at the cinema and I was over the moon when I was able to get a title at my local cinema. It was a great experience because there wasn’t an empty seat and the number of people that had dressed up was quite high and it was a great place to watch the 50^th Anniversary special. There was a nice little video that featured Strax and warned on cinema etiquette. Anyone a fan of Simon Mayo and Mark Kermode’s Film Review will be aware of the Code of Conduct and such videos aren’t necessary. But it was fun to see and also

Like the 20^th Anniversary Special, there was something that got in the way and on this occasion it was the fact that Christopher Eccleston didn’t want to appear in the special and so a War Doctor had to be found and John Hurt was the one chosen. John Hurt was the Doctor during the Time War and is the one that pressed the button on ‘The Moment’ that ended the Time War and wiped out the Timelords. Hurt is great as the Doctor and treats the role with a nice sense of sarcasm. He has a nice time of making certain mannerisms of the Tennant and Smiths Doctors and the Sandshoes and Chin nicknames were spot on. His story was only going to be for this story and the fact he regenerates at the end is just Moffat’s attempt to tidy up the continuity line problem that Eccleston caused. I might make a controversial statement but I just don’t consider Hurt’s Doctor as canon. Due to Hurt’s Doctor, it means that Eccleston is the tenth Doctor, Tennant was the eleventh Doctor and Smith would be the thirteenth but as I don’t count Hurt as a canon Doctor it means that Eccleston, Tennant and Smith are Doctors 8, 9 and 10 respectively.

When his Doctor meets Smith and Tennant’s Doctors it’s a funny moment because they are able to do comedy and seriousness in equal measure and they disappoint. Tennant’s first appearance in the role since 2010 is curious because it was like only a few months had passed and not three years. He looks slightly older but when Tennant is talking and running around its like its 2010 and not 2013. Billie Piper makes her first appearance since The End of Time Part Two and its not Rose that she is playing but an imaginary version. Whilst I have grown weary of her during this marathon, I thought that she did well with what she is given and bearing in mind that she only interacts with John Hurt’s Doctor she manages to make it look like she is actually doing something.

Matt Smith is also good and shares the limelight well and yet doesn’t lose face during the course of the story. He must have had a lot of pressure in not dropping the ball and he manages not to. Jenna Coleman also manages to not get lost in the shuffle which isn’t an easy things to do. The fact that there aren’t 20 companions to have to work with is something that helps Coleman standout.

The start of the episode is impressive because it’s a nice bit of the original theme and it then blends into colour and we learn that Ian Chesterton is the chairman of the governors of Coal Hill School and Clara is now a teacher there. The headteacher is W Coburn which is a reference to Waris Hussein who directed the very first story and Anthony Coburn who wrote that story. There are plenty of nods to the continuity of the show and I think that they were done in such a way that newer fans wouldn’t be confused by it and long time fans like myself would get them.

There are many great moments that occur during this story. The first good bit comes when Clara drives a bike into the TARDIS and the camera follows it in one single edit. The TARDIS bursting through the wall and knocking out a whole load of Daleks is another great moment.

Zygons make their first appearance since 1975’s Terror of the Zygons. I don’t quite know why they haven’t made a return until now but the wait has been worth it. They lost their planet in the first days of the Time War and want Earth as their new home. The transformation of human to Zygon is so much better than in 1975.

The first meeting between Tennant and Smith is very good and its always interesting to see multiple Doctors. They interact with each other very well and the nice bit of jealousy is something that is used at the right times and in the right way. The long running gag about not liking the new TARDIS console is something that was obviously going to be used and if there were a game of bingo then this would be crossed off the list.

The idea that all three Doctors have come up with an idea to hide Gallifrey and destroy the Daleks in the process is such an epic idea and one that could have only worked in a big bonkers special like this. When this start it leads to all twelve incarnations and their TARDIS’s come to save the day. Well actually thirteen because Peter Capaldi makes a very special cameo with just his eyes. That was totally unexpected and a nice treat for the fans. That wasn’t the only treat for the fans because the shock appearance of Tom Baker was one that everyone in the cinema gasped at. It probably p****d off the other Doctors but to be honest I don’t care cause it’s a great scene and it sort of makes up for the fact that Baker didn’t appear in The Five Doctors.

The final shot is of the Doctor walking out of the TARDIS and all the incarnations standing in a nice arrow line with Hartnell’s Doctor standing at the back was the perfect way of ending the special and it sets up a nice story arc about the Doctor finding Gallifrey. There was an awful lot of expectation riding on this story and I had very high expectations and part of me was expecting this to disappoint but I cant tell you how much I enjoyed this story. It was the story I wanted it to be and was well worth the jacked up price that the Cinema charged. This is the eighth story to get rated in the 8’s and becomes the second best story with 8.25. This is only the fourth story of the new era to get in the 8’s and overtakes Blink as the best story. I think that Steven Moffat should be applauded for doing this story and Marcus Wilson (producer) says that this story was a love letter to the fans and that’s the truth because it had loads of elements from the shows past and unlike The Five Doctors, it does it in a way that works and juggles a lot of balls and doesn’t drop a ball. On a related note, two weeks today is when the marathon comes to an end and this will probably be the last true classic story of the run but a lot can happen in two weeks.

(756) The End of Time - Part Two

The End OF Time is the final appearance for David Tennant as the Doctor (apart from his 2013 appearance). This is 47^th and final episode and is the sixth longest serving Doctor in terms of episode credited to. This is also his 1,468^th and final day as the Doctor and becomes stays as the third longest serving Doctor in that respect. It is also the 60^th and final episode for Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner as executive producers and the 31^st for Russell T Davies as writer and becomes the seventh most credited writer in Doctor Who ever and the most credited writer since the show returned in 2005.

The first scene after the titles have played is set on Gallifrey and it’s the most that we have seen of Gallifrey since the show returned. Sadly the room that the Lord President meets the other Timelords in is less impressive. I suppose that it could be argued that it just means that there is nothing to distract you and your attention could be focused on Timothy Dalton. Dalton’s character is called Lord President for most of the story but it isn’t until the end that he’s called Rassilon.

It’s nice that the drumming was started by the Timelords and he has had this all his lives. It gives an nice explanation as to why the Master has been the way that he has been since he debuted in Terror of the Autons. The idea of using six billion copies of himself to find where the signal of the drumming is coming from is.

When the Lord President arrives on Earth that is what things start to ramp up and soon Gallifrey appears above the Earth and I love how quickly things spiral out of control. The reason why the Time War was timelocked is finally explained and its quite a good one.

Bernard Cribbins is fantastic in this story and the scene where he is trying to get the Doctor to shoot the Master is one of the best scenes in this story. The fact that Wilfred is the one that knocks four times and causes the Doctor to pretty much sacrifice his life is something that would normally make him a terrible character but it shows how close Wilfred and the Doctor have become that he is prepared to do this ultimate sacrifice.

The performance that John Simm gives in these two episodes is much better than the one he gave in series twenty-nine. The Master is used rather well and is quite central to the story but not in his usual way. The fact he gives up his life for the Doctor is the perfect way for the Master to exit the story.

The Doctor jumping out of the ship to crash land into the main room of the Naismith mansion seems a bit of an over the top thing to do but its not as bad as the hover boat scene in Planet of the Spiders. I thought that the moment when the Doctor realises he is alive and then hears the four knocks is a heart stopping moment and the look on Tennant’s face is so sad. When he decides to go into the booth to let Wilfred out it’s a scene that is as emotional as anything in the show since it returned. Even when RTD was trying to be emotional, this was the first time that it seemed to have an effect on me.

The final fifteen minutes is given over to the Doctor saying goodbye to all of the people who have been a part of the show during RTD’s time. I mentioned during the Journeys End review that too much time was given over to the soppy sentimental stuff but that wont happen here. You don’t appear in so many stories without earning the right to say goodbye this way. The first people that he visits are Martha and Mickey are seen trying to dodge a Sontaran and have become a married couple.  That seems like a bolt out of the blue. Next was Sarah Jane and Luke also return and the Doctor saves Luke’s life after he runs into the road. This was nice cause because Elisabeth Sladen does seem to well up and it’s the last time that Sarah Jane would appear in Doctor Who because she passes away the following year.

Captain Jack is in a bar with Slitheen, Judoon, Adispose, the Hath and ends up hooking up with Alonso from Voyage of the Damned. The tune from Daleks in Manhattan is playing in the background. Next up is Jessica Hynes appears as Verity Newman who is a descendant on Joan Redfern from Human Nature. It was perhaps for time reason that they didn’t go back to Joan Redfern and instead went for her granddaughter. Whatever the reason for it doesn’t detract from the fact that it’s a nice moment. Donna gets married (properly this time) and sadly doesn’t notice the Doctor but Wilfred and Sylvia do. The Doctor goes back to meet Geoffrey Noble and I had forgotten that bit and it was a nice touch because Geoffrey would have appeared in the 2008 series had he not passed away. The final encounter was with Rose which was always going to be the case. It happens just before Rose meets Eccleston’s Doctor but I do wonder how Rose wouldn’t remember him later on.

After all the goodbyes are done, the Doctor takes a slow walk towards his TARDIS and I think that this is where Murray Gold’s music works its magic because it builds up and up trying to crank up the emotions of the moment. I suspect that Tennant’s final words as the Doctor aren’t 100% acting. There must have been a part of him during that scene that wanted to carry on but not everything can go on forever. As last words go “I don’t want to go” is a million times better than “Carrot Juice, Carrot Juice, Carrot Juice”. The destruction of the TARDIS was a great moment and this is the last time that it features like this (it makes an appearance later in the next series).

Matt Smith’s opening minute wasn’t the greatest start and I know that there is suppose to be a bit of madness to this part but it was perhaps just a bit too mad. That said I know certain people that I watched this scene with weren’t convinced that Matt Smith was the right person to play the role. It’s hard to judge someone after such a short time but I was convinced that he would prove everyone wrong and now it remains to be seen whether this is still the case.

The End of Time was a good story and I think that it gave Tennant the send off that he deserved. Tennant had a difficult job to do when he took over from Christopher Eccleston in June 2005 but over the course of his time on the show he has helped the show increase in popularity and despite some iffy moments, the Tennant era has been really good and it will be interesting to see how watching the Smith era an episode a day will match up with Tennant’s.

(755) The End of Time - Part One

How do you end David Tennant’s tenure in the right way? It’s the sort of question that JNT had to answer when Tom Baker left the series. The way that RTD has decided to mark the end of the Tennant era was to have a two parter which has a combined running time of 2 hours and 15 minutes. The new Mad Max film was shorter. The opening scene starts with Timothy Dalton talking. An actual James Bond is in Doctor Who. Dalton is credited as The Narrator but it’s clear by the way that he is talking that he is far more important to the story than it seems. The Master returns to this story but the thing about the last time he was in the story it seemed like he was done in a permanent kind of way. I remember reading that the Master was suppose to take part in Jon Pertwee’s final story but the death of Roger Delgado put a stop to that.

Bernard Cribbins returns (which is always a good thing). It’s quite good that he gets a credit in the title sequence along with John Simm and David Tennant.

There is a woman that appears in a church scene with Wilfred Mott and her identity is a bit of a mystery. It turns out that the woman is actually the Doctor’s mother. I think that this could have been clearer.

The business of the ring falling to the ground and being picked up in Last of the Timelords is finally addressed and it was picked up by a member of a group of people who are believers of The Master/Harold Saxon. They bring him back and the thing that sets it all off is the lipstick from Lucy Saxon. This is something that I think is a bit of a stretch and that she would still have the Masters imprint on her lips are such a long time. However during the ‘regeneration’ process things wrong and this is what makes the Master mad (I mean madder) and this is what I like about the Master. When the Master is ripping a cooked Chicken to pieces it shows how mad the character is.

There are two people that are totally annoying. I found Joshua Naismith (David Harewood) and Abigail Naismith (Tracy Ifeachor). They are wealthy people and I just cant stand them from the very moment that I first saw them. I quite like David Harewood as an actor as he is very good in Homeland but here he poorly served by a character that is a poorly realised part of the story. The characters get the comeuppance that they deserve when they get taken over by the Master.

The scene where the Doctor and Wilfred are talking about dying is one that I found really good. It shows how good Wilfred would have been as a companion. I know the in-thing that the companion has to be young but he was only about 81 at the time so that’s quite young. Isnt it? The downside of this story is that it’s the last time that Bernard Cribbins will feature in a Doctor Who story. I suppose I will have to enjoy the final episode even more. Catherine Tate makes a sort of cameo appearance. It’s weird to think that just a few days ago she was a companion and now she is reduced to a basically a supporting role. The two cactus like characters have more to do in this story.

President Obama announces a plan to fight the recession. It’s something that gets mentioned a few times and to be honest I couldn’t be bothered with it. The only reason to have it in the episode is that he turns into the Master. When Obama appears there is some clever camera angles to hide the fact that its obviously not the President.

The whole episode builds up to the Master becoming every single human on the planet. It’s such an epic idea and it works really well. It’s odd that a Christmas Special would have a cliffhanger but it is an ending that the story deserves. The cliffhanger sees Timothy Dalton (Rassilon) standing in front of a chamber of timelords. The sight of them is superb and is the perfect way to leave things. I found this episode to be largely good and think that the 75 minute finale will be just as good as it needs to be.

(754) The Waters of Mars

The Water of Mars is the one special that I have been looking forward to and to save any suspense, I really like this story. If only the other specials before this had been this good then I would be over the moon. When this episode was transmitted on November 15, 2009, David Tennant had ben Doctor for 1,421 days making him the third longest serving Doctor ever. He has now been the Doctor longer than William Hartnell.

Lindsey Duncan is a proper actress and so she plays Adelaide Brooke. I think that the character is good because she comes across as harsh and not likeable at all but it was clear that she was hiding something and in a nice scene with the Doctor the moment is revealed because she saw a Dalek and the Dalek saw her but didn’t exterminate her. This happened during the Stolen Earth/Journeys End story and this was a totally unexpected moment in this story and I liked it.

There is one thing that doesn’t quite work and that is the Gadget robot think which after Wall-E looks like a bit of a cheat.

One of the things that I love about this special is that things go badly wrong very quickly. When Andy becomes the first infected its done in the background of Maggie talking and its very grim. Another thing about this story is that it’s a base under siege and if you have been following this blog since the very beginning you know I love a base under siege story. The Doctor realises quite quickly that he has to leave quickly because the crew of Bowie Base One die and for some reason he can’t change things like he normally would. This presents a great personal struggle for the Doctor because for most of the episode he says he cant and then changes his mind. This causes him to crack and decides that because he is the only timelord that he can decide who lives and who dies. This is the first time that Tennants Doctor has shown such anger.

He changes history and helps three of them (including Adelaide) survive. What I like when this happens is that Adelaide knows that this is the wrong thing and kills herself. This shows that the Doctor has gone too far and shouldn’t be taking matters into his own hands. The scene where Adelaide takes the Doctor to task over this its an unexpected scene at the end of what has been a grim and dark story. When she dies its like a slap in the face to the Doctor and the build up to his end starts.

The story uses such a simple thing as water and uses it in a wonderful way. Just one drop is enough to infect someone and this means that the body count is quite high.

The effect of the cracked lips and the water dripping from their mouth is impressive. The sight of them pretty much vomiting water is one of the best sights from this story. I don’t know who it was that came up with this aspect of the story but its one of the best monsters that the show has created since the weeping angels.

On a final note, this episode was dedicated to Barry Letts who had passed and I think that this was a perfect tribute to him. This is the sort of story that he would do and it’s the first time since Human Nature and The Family of Blood that I have felt that the story has been this good. After being slightly disappointed with The Next Doctor and Planet of the Dead, it was nice that the good form has returned. There are now just two episodes left of the Tennant era and its weird to think that there isn’t much time left before the Matt Smith era.

(753) Planet of the Dead

Officially this is the 200^th story in Doctor Who but due to the way that I have worked things out this is in fact the 202^nd. This is the first of three episodes to be broadcast in 2009 due to Tennant wanting to do other stuff and the BBC desperate to keep him happy. This is what I class as the first of the specials because The Next Doctor is more attached to the 30^th series. The buzz around this episode was that the show filmed in the United Arab Emirates and a double-decker bus that was used for this story was damaged quite badly. Cleverly though RTD used this to his advantaged and worked it into the story. This is the first story that lays the groundwork to the departure of David Tennant’s Doctor. Having become use to Christmas Specials, it was somewhat of a treat to have a special that aired over the Easter weekend.

This special sees Michelle Ryan play Lady Christina de Souza who is the guest companion and starts the episode by pulling off quite the heist. She’s not a very good robber cause the police have pretty much caught her before she boards the 200 bus. To be honest I don’t think that she is that good really. I thought that she was cast purely cause of her looks and sadly I think that her past as a soap star might be something that works against her. When her character is sort of seen as a good character I still don’t care.

UAE doubles for San Helios and filming it here helps make it feel like an alien world instead of loads of sand being dumped in a Welsh studio. In one sense, this is the only thing that makes this story memorable. The interior of the bus scenes are filmed in a studio but it still looks good enough.

The Bus Driver who allowed Christina to board the bus by paying with her diamond earrings was the first to die by walking through the barrier. To be honest he would have become an annoyance had he lasted much longer. The rest of the bus passengers aren’t that good because they are all quite unlikely or believable. When they are back home I still found myself not being that bothered with them. Carmen (Ellen Thomas) is the only interesting character of the supporting characters. She is the one that can hear voices and guess how many fingers the Doctor has behind his back. Her most significant moment comes when she tells the Doctor that he will knock four times.

This episode sees UNIT return but sadly its more of an amusing UNIT. Lee Evans guest stars as Malcolm who has managed to name a measure of time after himself. I don’t really understand why UNIT are even in this story cause they don’t really add anything to the story.

If Jamie were in Doctor Who now then he would describe the monsters as timerous beasties and they are able to create wormholes by flying in formation. I think that this is a really good idea and infact their design is a good idea which bearing in mind that RTD is clearly on the wind down it makes the idea more impressive. The sight of a London Double Decker bus flying is a barmy yet great image to see in Doctor Who.

This has been a bit of a disappointing Doctor Who story. There have been some interesting things that have happened in this story but for some reason I just found myself watching it and not really enjoying it. Since I finished watching Journeys End I have found myself not enjoying the show as much. I wonder whether its because I know that the Tennant era is coming to an end or whether its just that everything was thrown into that two parter that it seems like the show is running on empty and just keeping things ticking over until Steven Moffat and Matt Smith take over.

(752) The Next Doctor

When this episode aired on Christmas Day 2008, it was well known that David Tennant would be leaving the show and Matt Smith’s announcement was still a week away. The title seem to exist purely to give people the impression that the new Doctor would be making his/her debut in this special. But of course things with RTD are never that simple and in fact the title is a bit more complex than you would think. When this episode aired on December 25, 2008 it was day 1,096 meaning that he overtook Colin Baker and Patrick Troughton and becomes the fourth longest serving actor and also the fourth actor to go past the 1,000 day mark.

David Morrissey is one of the guest stars. He stars as Jackson Lake who thinks he is the Doctor. He has a sonic screwdriver which is just a normal screwdriver. There is a moment when the Doctor notices a fob watch on Jackson Lake but its just a broken fob watch. It’s a nice comedy moment. Another comedy moment is the revelation of his TARDIS which is a hot air balloon. His TARDIS stands for Tethered Aerial Release Developed in Style. That is quite clever of RTD. The truth about Morrissey’s Doctor is that he is in fact Jackson Lake.

Dervla Kirwan plays Miss Mercy Hartigan and she is one of the successes of this episode. She is very good from the very beginning of the episode. Miss Hartigan is working for the Cybermen but like most humans, she thinks that she will be the at the court of the Cyber King. The scene where she walks through the cemetery attending the funeral is a great scene cause she’s dressed in red and the snow helps her stand out more. Things seem to be going well for her but just before the Cyber King is launched its clear that Miss Hartigan will become the Cyber King.

The Cyber shade are another RTD disaster. It’s like a dog with a rusty Cyberman mask. Luckily they aren’t in it that much. I cant make up my mind about the head piece of the Cyber Leader. On one hand its very distinctive but on the other hand it looks a bit odd. Black and Silver can go together but no on this occasion. The Cyber King is criticised when people talk about this episode but I have to be honest that I really like it. I like the idea of the Cyber King stomping its way through London. It also looks visually impressive so I cant quite understand why it people are so down on it.

This episode sees the first example of the Doctor’s previous incarnations. I think I remember hearing/reading that Julie Gardner was reluctant about this idea but I think that the show had been back long enough that people would be aware about the past Doctors and will have even bought Doctor Who DVD’s so it’s a nice little nostalgia moment.

The thing about this story is that its not really designed to be taken seriously as like most stories in the series (like the other Christmas Specials) so its unfair to lump it in with the other specials. I thought that this story had its moments and the things that were right with it were good enough to make me like it. I thought that the two David’s were equally great and also Dervla Kirwan was more than capable of keeping up with them.

It’s not the greatest Christmas Special but it was an enjoyable one and it had David Morrissey in it and that’s never a bad thing.

(751) Journeys End

Today is the final episode of the series and the final series that David Tenannt would do as the Doctor. This is a longer episode than normal. Just over an hour (1hr 3 min) which is the length normally reserved for the Christmas Special but this episode is given special treatment. Back in 2008 I was happy about this cause it meant 15 minutes more of my favourite TV show but watching it today I don’t think that the story needing that extra time.

The cliffhanger of yesterday’s episode was one of the best one for a long time and sadly that always meant that the resolution of it would be disappointing and to be really harsh on RTD, this was a bit of a cop out. He managed to put the energy of the regeneration into the hand. That hand then becomes a more human version of the Doctor.

The Osterhagan Key is a weapon that is talked about a lot and will basically blow up the Earth. It was never going to happen but it still an effective thing to use in the story.

I don’t know why but hearing Daleks talk in German is quite funny.

This is an episode where Donna is quite central to the story. She starts hearing a heartbeat sound and then manages to absorb some Timelord intelligence which is never a good thing. Seeing her manage to outsmart Davros and the Daleks is quite fun to watch. There is an explanation about the Doctor Donna line from Planet of the Ood. Catherine Tate does a good job of making all the technical jargon sound real and that knows what she is talking about.

It’s quite a while before Davros finally makes an appearance but it’s well worth the wait cause Julian Bleach gets to show us why he’s a great Davros. Davros isn’t really the leader of the Daleks but is instead working for the Daleks which is slightly disappointing because it would be nice to have Davros back as leader. Bleach manages to channel both Michael Wisher (in his voice) and the madness of Terry Molloy’s Davros. I did like the reunion between Sarah Jane Smith and Davros. They met in Davros’ first story back in 1975 and it’s a lovely fanboy moment but probably won’t mean much to many people who are new to the series.

The truth about the Doctor (according to Davros) turning his companions into murderers and weapons. There is a nice glimpse of the people that have died in Doctor Who stories since 2005. It’s a great moment because it does show that the Doctor’s actions have consequences. Ok he can’t control them but the reckless manner in which he roams the universe has consequences.

I had the thought that most RTD finales were ruined by slushing nonsense but in recent series finale’s it hasn’t been as noticeable. The main plot is dealt with and Earth is returned home meaning that there is nearly a quarter of an hour of the Doctor saying goodbye and this is a problem because it did go on way too long. What took the cake was that yet again the Doctor and Rose get their blubbery farewell. If all of that had been cut down then Donna’s goodbye would have been even better. I thought that Donna’s departure is really sad and I found it a more effective end that either of Rose’s. Donna having her memory wiped of the Doctor is very similar to Jamie and Zoe but back then they didn’t have Bernard Cribbins and he was great.

The music from Murray Gold was quite epic in this two parter. I think that this was the peak of his abilities (not that he has gone off the boil).

The visual effects team deserve credit because some of the crucible shots are superb and some of the best that the show has produced. It could easily rival what is seen in a Hollywood movie.

Yesterday I commented that the business with the bees was the first sign that RTD has started to lose the plot a bit and in todays episode there is another example of this. The TARDIS being able to pull the TARDIS like a tow truck pulling a broken down car is another moment where I really scratch my head wondering just what was going through RTD’s head. On the plus side there is a lovely shot of The Doctor (both of them), Donna, Jackie, Rose, Martha, Sarah Jane, Mickey steering the TARDIS with help from K9. The music is lovely and another example of how good Murray Gold is.

This was a good two parter and did a good job of using Davros and the Daleks and making it seem like the most important Doctor Who story ever. I do think that it was fifteen minutes too long and that the cliffhanger wasn’t resolved in the way that it should have been but the performances were all really good and this series as a whole has been quite good but not as strong as the previous one.  Now I am about to embark on the specials which spell the beginning of the end for the Tennant era.

(750) The Stolen Earth

This is going to be a stat filled review today. First stat is that The Stolen Earth is the 750^th episode of Doctor Who. It is also the 200^th story as well which is a point that could be argued. I would argue this by saying that Trial of a Timelord was four stories not just one and I have clubbed Utopia with Sound of Drums and Last of the Timelords. The BBC say that this story is number 198 and that Planet of the Dead is the 200^th but I think that we should leave it is it is.  This episode sees the return of Davros 81 episodes ago or 7, 185 days since the final episode of Remembrance of the Daleks. In the 2005 series, the Daleks returned, in 2006 it was the Cybermen that returned and in 2007 the Master made an appearance and so it was Davros’ time to make a comeback.

This is where all three shows that RTD is involved in are in the same story. Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures and their respective characters join the Doctor Who world. This is a arguably the biggest episode of Doctor Who. You could see it as Doctor Who’s answer to The Avengers film. Russell T Davies has to fit an awful lot into two episodes and that’s not an easy thing to do.

There is a slight issue with the idea of people able to make phone calls on their phones and yet the planet has moved. In one scene Luke is able to make a call and then in the next scene Martha can’t make a call.

When the Daleks’ voice sound, it’s a moment that gave me goose bumps. I can’t deny it but the sound along with the Murray Gold music helped make it seem like an big moment. The thing is that the reason for what the Daleks are doing isn’t explained. I think that there isn’t enough time to properly explain this but that didn’t bother me really.

It wouldn’t be a series finale without cameo appearances. They have become something of a calling card for Russell T Davies. However one of the cameos is quite interesting. Richard Dawkins makes an appearance and his cameo is interesting because he’s married to Lalla Ward. Paul O’Grady also appears.

The Shadow Proclamation has been mentioned countless times since 2005 and we finally get to visit it. Personally I think that it should be something that is talked about but not seen. During this period of the episode we learn more about the planets moving but Russell T Davies comes up with the idea that Bees are aliens. This is first instance that I think shows that Russell T Davies was starting to lose his grip on what works and doesn’t work. This is his last series as Head Writer (although he is still in charge for the specials).

Davros doesn’t appear until quite late in the episode and even then we only see his metal hand (blown off in Revelation of the Daleks) and his blue head light. We don’t get to see him properly until the end and then it’s the best couple of minutes in what is a superb episode. Julian Bleach has a difficult job because he will be compared to Michael Wisher and Terry Molloy. What is impressive about his performance is how he manages to mix their version into his own. The mask that Bleach has to wear is very good because it allows Bleach to very as expressionative as he wants to be. Wisher and Molloy didn’t have that luxury but thankfully the process has improved and we get to see the benefits. I just wish there had been more of Davros in this episode.

This episode marks the final appearance of Penelope Wilton and I love how she introduces herself as former Prime Minister (even to the Daleks). This short appearance seems to be designed to give her character some redemption because of what happened in The Christmas Invasion. It’s a lovely performance from Wilton and it reminds me of what was so good about the character.

The question that has to be raised in this two parter is whether enough time is given to all the supporting characters who normally are central characters. Luke doesn’t really have much presence in this episode but its Gwen and Ianto that have the better slice of the action but that’s because Captain Jack is so involved in the central story. Russell T Davies does manage to make everyone seem relevant to the story. Martha is in ‘New York’ with UNIT and then teleports to London but doesn’t really do very much yet seems relevant to the story.

The cliffhanger is quite possibly the best cliffhanger that the show has ever come up with. It starts with The Doctor running towards Rose and the Doctor being shot at by a Dalek. I thought sneaking the Dalek in to what was suppose to be a lovely moment was a great decision. The final shot is of the Doctor seemingly regenerating. Bearing in mind that at this time, David Tennant had announced he was leaving, it seemed like this was going to be Tennant’s final episode. I think the there was a genuine belief that the Doctor would regenerate. That week between episodes was an awfully long time.

(749) Turn Left

With yesterday being a Companion-lite today’s episode is the Doctor-lite episode however unlike previous Doctor-lite episode, this features the companion so this is the opportunity for Catherine Tate to show she is just as good as David Tennant was in the previous episode. It’s been a while since I have really looked forward to an episode but today was one of those instances. It is another episode that appears to be relatively cheap.

The thing about this period of the new series is that when you have created enough of your own history then you can use it as you wish. There are moments from The Runaway Bride, Smith and Jones, Voyage of the Damned, Partners in Crime and The Sontaran Stratagem/Poison Sky.

The whole idea of the episode is what happens if Donna turns right instead of going left. I think the only aspect of the episode that doesn’t work is that the whole putting a beetle on the back thing doesn’t really seem to have much relation to whats happening in the final two episodes.

This episode shows us what would happen if the Doctor had died. During the spiders star bit from Runaway Bride its implied he has died and this is when things really go wrong and when the Doctor seems to be out depth in Midnight, it seems that Donna is equally out of her depth in this episode. Without the Doctor around people at the hospital from Smith and Jones die (apart from one), the Titanic crashes into Buckingham Palace and that means a radiation leak meaning the people are evacuated and this is when Donna’s life really goes down the shi**er.

This is the episode where Rose returns. This is the first time that she has properly been back in the show since her brief appearance in Partners in Crime. There have been the occasional glimpse of her on a screen or something so its good that she is finally back. The encounters between Rose and Donna are quite interesting. Rose isn’t as annoying as she was during her original run in 2005/06.

Catherine Tate gives a stunning performance. She has to basically kill herself to force her original self to turn left instead of right.  You would have to be a pretty cold sod to not thing that this was a very good performance from Tate. When you think of the Donna that we saw in The Runaway Bride then it seems like two different characters. Someone jumping out in front of a lorry is a brave thing to do in a family drama on a Saturday evening.

Bernard Cribbins manages to bring some humour to the episode. This episode is pretty light on humour and yet Cribbins manages to remind me that I’m not watching an episode of Eastenders. Jacqueline King is the surprise of the episode as she is really good and I have almost forgotten the rather nagging tone she takes in the Sontaran two-parter.

Sarah Jane makes a brief appearance during the hospital in the sky bit and characters from the Sarah Jane Adventures are mentioned. It’s like RTD is going to the trouble of slowly bringing them into the Doctor Who world.

We don’t see the beetle that’s on Donna’s back and it’s a wise thing because any more shots of it then it would look a bit dodgy. The shots that are short and simple and it’s the sound effects that make it more terrifying that it otherwise would have been.

The episode ends with Donna saying Bad Wolf and the Doctor realises that writing everywhere in the market place the episode is set in says BAD WOLF. I like how even the TARDIS has BAD WOLF written everywhere. This episode compliments Midnight really well because it shows how good the two leading characters really are and it allows them to have the same amount of screen time and sets up the final two episodes of the series really well. Recently Big Finish released The Worlds of Big Finish and now I am about to embark on The Worlds of Russell T Davies. Question is whether this will work.

(748) Midnight

Today’s episode is what could called a Companion-lite episode as Donna Noble doesn’t feature too much in the episode. It is also a rather cheap episode which is when this show really shines. Today is my birthday and in previous years I have watched episode two of Robot and listened to episode five of Marco Polo. It’s fair to say before I even watched todays episode that this would be the strongest birthday episode.

The Doctor ends the pre-title scene by saying “What could go wrong?”. If that doesn’t set off alarm bells in peoples head then there really is something wrong with them. It’s a cheap episode because the action takes place in a shuttle. The Doctor is stuck in a shuttle with about half a dozen people and things start ok but it was never going to last. With a lot of people in a confined space it was inevitable that they were going to start bickering.

David Troughton makes another appearance as Professor Hobbes. It’s a great performance from Troughton because at times it a nice gentle performance and then sometimes it is a rather cruel performance when he is talking down to Dee Dee. Colin Morgan appears as Jethro but would go on to play Merlin in……Merlin. I haven’t watched a great deal of Merlin but he doesn’t strike me as a particularly strong on screen presence and he suffers the same problem here because he pops up every so often and doesn’t contribute very much.

Lesley Sharp is the big name of the episode and she plays Sky who isn’t the most liked person on the shuttle but soon becomes the one who is possessed. Her interactions with the Doctor are spectacular especially when she is copying what people say in one of the more unnerving moments of the episode. She really is creepy in this episode and the moment when she appears to be normal and the Doctor is frozen to the spot is a chilling moment.

One of the things that I like about this episode is how the Doctor isn’t the one in charge and can’t force people to do what he wants. The Doctor is always in control and it’s quite good how this is tested. The moment that they all turn on the Doctor and it’s great to see David Tennant play the Doctor in a different way. With the number of his episodes running low, it’s one of the last strong performances from him. When he is being dragged along the floor as he is about to be chucked out of the chute it’s a great moment because he is truly powerless.

This might not be a physically demanding episode but it is certainly a mentally draining one. It’s good when the show does this cause it shows that you don’t need lots of visual effects to be an entertaining 45 minutes of drama. There wasn’t an alien, there wasn’t a Dalek or a Cyberman but just some superb performances. This is the strongest story of the series so far and the build up to the return of Davros starts now and it’s a good episode to watch on my birthday.

(747) Forest of the Dead

I can’t believe that I didn’t mention that Silence in the Library was broadcast seven years ago yesterday.

It’s fair to say that things go a bit mad in this episode. It goes mad from the very beginning. Donna starts the episode in some sort of psychiatric hospital. The jumping from one location to another which is a simple narrative tool is used in quite a creative way because Donna notices that things are moving quite quickly. Within the space of a few minutes, she has gone from being a patient, to falling in love, marrying and then having kids. It’s a great performance from Catherine Tate. For anyone who doubted whether she would be any good during this series should watch this episode.

The girl who seems to be at the centre of the story is also rather good. She is CAL and is the computer. It’s very rare that a young person is anything other than annoying but I thought that even though she doesn’t really interact with anyone apart from Dr Moon and her dad she still manages to give a good performance. There is a woman in black vibe with Donna as a woman dressed in black with a veil over her face is hanging around Donna and it turns out to be what is left of Miss Evangelista. This is a different Miss Evangelista from the previous episode and I thought that she was rather good.

There is an argument that could be made about whether the skeleton heads in the costumes are a bit phoney. I am of the opinion that they are quite good because there are a few moments where the skeleton heads seem really creepy and I think that Euros Lyn has done a good job in these two episodes making these things work rather well.

This is the first story to feature River Song and yet in her timeline it’s her final story because she ends up giving her life instead of the Doctors. She ends up in the same world that Donna found herself in at the beginning of the episode. I suspect that once I have finished this marathon I will have to watch all the River stories in chronological form to see if it makes sense. I don’t think it will.

This has been an enjoyable two parter and I have liked this a lot more than I was expecting to and a lot more than I did in 2008. I have been impressed with the performances of David Tennant and Catherine Tate and this is a good story for Alex Kingston. The next two episodes are two very strong episodes so at this stage of the series I have to say that it has improved greatly in my opinion.

(746) Silence in the Libraray

Today’s episode is a notable one because it’s the 37^th episode for David Tennant and he now ties with Sylvester McCoy. He is still some distance away from his father-in-law who is on 69 episodes. This is also notable for being the story which introduces Alex Kingston as River Song into the Doctor Who universe. Little did any of us know in 2008 just how much of an influence that this character would have. This story was written by Steven Moffat and just days before this transmitted on BBC1, it was announced that Moffat would replace RTD as Head Writer on the show in 2010.

This story is highly regarded by most Doctor Who fans and when I watched it in 2008, I failed to see why it was so highly regarded. I liked it but I didn’t love it. I had the same attitude to Human Nature and the Family of Blood and look how things change in that regard.

A library that is a planet is such a wonderful idea. It is just called The Library. I think that the library set is rather good and its nice that its used a lot. The whole planet is visually beautiful and it’s a wonderful world that has been created and this helps the enjoyment of the story.

There are aspects of this story that are typically Moffat. The idea that Shadows can kill is something that is wonderfully dark and yet not too terrifying for kids. Something that kills with darkness is a simple yet cheap way of creating drama. It’s a bit like the weeping angels. The threat of the week (or fortnight) is the Vashta Nerada who are a carnivorous creature living in the shadow. There are a couple of instances where shadows seem to cross over but the beauty of TV is that you can pretty much choose to ignore or at bend the rules.

This is the first time that the Doctor has met River Song but for River there have been many adventures. There is a nice bit where the mystery of River Song starts and the Doctor wants the answers but whenever the Doctor asks any questions he gets the response of SPOILERS. The thing about Alex Kingston’s performance is that she gets perform without having the weight of past knowledge on her shoulders. From now on she will be performing knowing about previous adventures she has been in and the rather complicated timeline will take its toll. Now she is free to play the character as if it’s a one off.

Miss Evangalista is treated as the idiot of the group and so she is the first to meet her demise. It’s good that everyone feels bad that they weren’t nicer to her. The idea that she can carry on talking for a short period of time even when she’s a skeleton.

The revelation that Donna has become one of the info statues is quite a good way to end the episode. This has been a good episode and I have found myself liking it more than I remember. I don’t know whether this will still be the case come the end of the next episode but at the moment I have every reason to believe that I will be like everyone and think that this story is just as good as Human Nature/Family of Blood.

(745) The Unicorn and the Wasp

Now after the brief distraction of Martha has been dealt with, it feels like the show can get back to being the Doctor Donna Show. The title of this episode is one of the most fun and wacky titles that the show has come up with for quite sometime. This story sees Fenella Woogar appear as Agatha Christie and this story takes place on the day that she disappeared. Like most Agatah Christie books, this is a who-dunnit. Normally on a Agatha Christie drama that appears on ITV, it takes them two hours for this to unravel and yet Doctor Who manages to do a good job in 45 minutes.

For me this episode is memorable for the appearance of Henry Gordon Jago. There seems to be a nod to that character when Hugh Curbishly is recalling where he was and at one point there are some dancers on a stage which seems deliberate. If it weren’t for him then this episode wouldn’t be as exciting.

There are some good jokes which Gareth Roberts has done well sewing them into the episode. His last story was The Shakespeare Code and I think that he is having more fun with this story and it shows as he seems to thrive trying to mix Doctor Who and murder mysteries together. I think that most writers might have struggled so its credit to Roberts that he made it work. Graeme Harper directs this story well and in some instances the episode looks lovely.

The Wasp turns out to be the vicar. I had forgotten who it was so it was a nice surprise. The thing is that it isn’t normal for there to be such a long scene as the big reveal scene was in new who. It was like the show has slowed to mobility scooter speed. There is a running gag of Doctor asking the Doctor if a person did it after some big revelation has come out about them. That was quite funny.

This is a story that is ok but it’s not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. I think that on another day I might be more favourable about this episode but today its not an episode that I think is in the top three of this series.

(744) The Doctor's Daughter

So todays episode is one which features David Tennant and his future wife and daughter of the fifth incarnation of the Doctor and his father in law Georgia Moffett. This follows on from the previous episode but isn’t part of a three parter. This is the second story from Stephen Greenhorn who wrote the rather interesting Lazarus Experiment from the previous series so there was always the possibility that he might get away with it again. Sadly within a few minutes it seems this isn’t going to be the case.

Within three minutes Martha is taken by the Hath. Martha is poorly served in this episode as she is stuck with the Hath and cries when one drowns in some quicksand. It seems like Martha was bought along in this episode for someone to interact with the Hath. The problem with this is that it’s just so in your face about it. Her final scene isn’t quite as emotional as it was at the end of Last of the Timelords.

The monster of the week are the Hath. The Hath don’t speak, they don’t even have any translation device which makes their involvement somewhat difficult. I can’t figure whether this is a good thing or not. On the one hand its quite different to not have an alien race speaking English yet on the other hand it slows the interaction between Martha and the Hath down.

I think that General Cobb was a good villain but one of the problems with the story is he doesn’t get the chance to be as good a villain as he could be. I think that Nigel Terry manages to do a good enough job to at least seem like the most interesting character. It would be wrong of me to not mention Mrs David Tennant. In 2008 they weren’t a couple and so its only now that it weird to watch them and think that on screen they might be father and daughter but in real life they are husband and wife. Taking that out of the situation I thought that Moffett did a good job. Apparently, it was Steven Moffat’s idea to bring Jenny back to life. I think that in hindsight this was a mistake cause she hasn’t been mentioned once since this episode and so as good as it looked to have her on her own adventures, in terms of Doctor Who narrative its not a clever idea.

It’s a slightly disappointing episode because it seems like to many things have been crammed into 45 minutes. I also think that it was a mistake to bring Martha along in this episode because it devalues her previous exit.

(743) The Poison Sky

Today’s episode is the 34^th for David Tennant as Doctor and that ties him with Colin Baker. Tennant is now just three episodes away from matching Sylvester McCoy. I got the most recent edition of Doctor Who Magazine and on the cover it has the line about how Earth survived 92 invasions which is an incredible stat. A couple of things have changed in my mind since watching the previous episode. Firstly there is the introduction of Martha. I mentioned that Martha’s introduction seemed to be solely so that she could be cloned. I have to admit that it is quite fun having an evil Martha in the story. When Martha meets her cloned self it is quite a nice moment and

Another thing that has changed since watching The Sontaran Stratagem. Rattigan doesn’t seem quite so annoying in this episode. I think it’s because the inevitability of his demise that makes him seem more normal than he was in the previous episode. He is abandoned by his followers at the academy and after his hissy fit he is belittled a bit before redeeming himself and killing himself and blowing up the Sontaran ship.

The Sontarans plan to turn earth into great big breading ground is quite a good one. I think that it might have been nicer if the plan have been made clearer and revealed earlier in this two parter. The idea is the sort of idea that would have worked quite well as a series finale.

There is a blink and you’ll miss it appearance of Rose. As the series approaches the half way mark her involvement is going to be more noticeable. In fact I think it’s the first time since Partners in Crime that Rose has been on our screens.

Helen Raynor’s previous story was the Daleks two parter in the previous series which had its moments but I think that this is a stronger two parter. I thought that Christopher Ryan was a good Sontaran and he was a good leader. I know this is a strange thing to say but I thought that the lighting gave the Sontarans a different look which I quite liked. I think that Robert Holmes would have liked this story because it uses the Sontarans in a way that compliments his characters.

What is a surprise (still) is the rather cliffhanger style ending to the episode. Martha has become a companion again although this time not quite as willing as he was before. I think that the Sontarans have been bought back and used in a good way. I have appreciated this story much more than when I watched it in 2008. The design of the Sontarans has been one of the successes of the story but it’s a story that has managed to bring in a lot of elements and make it all work. It was quite a shopping list that Helen Raynor had to deal with and this episode continues the good trend that the series is going on.

Tomorrows episode is going to be another interesting one.

(742) The Sontaran Stratagem

The Sontarans are the first of two classic monsters to return in this series. This is the first appearance of the Sontarans since The Two Doctors which was remarkable 107 episodes ago or another way to look at it 8,463 days ago. This episode sees UNIT make a return to the show and also Martha returns after an absence of five episodes.

The humanising that Donna has been putting the Doctor through has been good so far but in this episode it gets rather annoying. It happens when she asks the Doctor if that is what he does and turns his companions into soldiers.  There is a funny moment where the Doctor thinks that Donna is leaving and gives a lovely speech before realising that Donna is just visiting her family. The best thing about Donna visiting her family is that it means Bernard Cribbins get to be in an episode.

There’s a nice joke about the Doctor working for UNIT in the 1970’s and then questions whether it was the 80’s. This is because the date of UNIT stories is always something of a mystery because it was said that they took place about five years ahead of when they were transmitted but its never made clear on screen.

The pool where a faceless body is growing is quite grim and when it jumps out at the UNIT soldiers is a great little moment. Doctor Who Confidential highlighted the fact that the pool is the same prop that featured in The Fires of Pompeii.

The Sontarans costume started really good in The Time Warrior was really good and over the years it has got worse and this is the best ever. The Sontarans weren’t allowed to take part in the Time War and its quite funny to think that they must have been the only race in history to moan about not taking part in a war. Also we see more Sontarans in this episode than we have ever seen in all the stories combined. The little chant that they give at the end of the episode is superb because it just goes with the way the Sontarans are. Stahl the Undefeated is played by Christopher Ryan who played Kiv in The Trial of a Timelord: Mindwarp and to be honest the voices sound quite similar. I didn’t think about it at the time but watching it a day at a time means that its more noticeable. In fact its only been three months since that story. Dan Starkey makes his first appearance as a Sontaran and little did anyone know that he would still be playing a Sontaran. He is rather good and these two are the only two that don’t always wear their helmet.

Luke Rattigan (Ryan Sampson) is a young genius but the problem really is that he is quite annoying. It’s quite funny when the Doctor is trying to outsmart Rattigan. It’s clear that he isn’t in control and it’s a little bit clichéd.

There is a nice moment between Martha and Donna where Martha pretty much tries to scare Donna off. This clearly doesn’t work as Donna is prepared to carry on travelling with the Doctor. There is a question that needs to be asked as to why Martha is in the story. It seems too soon since she left to bring her back and its seems that the only reason is to get her in the situation where she is cloned. It’s a shame really but

The final shot is of the Doctor standing in a smoke screen and that ends what was a rather good episode. It’s another episode which has shown a gradual improvement after the surprisingly disappointing start to the series. The Sontarans’ return is better than I thought and it will be interesting to see whether things continue on an upward trend or not.

(741) Planet of the Ood

After impressing in The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit two years before, the Ood are back and this time they are more in the story. This is Donna’s first trip to an alien planet and the scene where she and the Doctor are in the TARDIS is set up just right because when Donna leaves she comes across snow. It takes less than 90 seconds for the Ood to start misbehaving.

This episode is one that has a morality slant to it. It’s a question of slavery. The treatment that they have received is something that is horrible. When it’s revealed that their brains are cut off and replaced with translator. The grimness continues when you think about how high the body count is. Ood are being shot dead and the humans are falling just as quickly.

Tim McInnerny is very good in this although I do still think of him as Percy from Blackadder 2. He is the boss of the Ood Operations that are treating the Ood appallingly and over the course of the episode he has been drinking what he thinks is hair tonic but is in fact turning him into an Ood. Before he becomes an Ood, he starts off by being a totally unlikeable person and then when things go wrong he wants to commit genocide. When he does change into an Ood the effect is really horrific and I remember thinking when I saw this that the show would get into trouble for doing this.

One of the things that I really like about this episode is the Ood singing and the reaction of Donna when she can hear them. Catherine Tate continues to impress me and although she’s not quite as good as Martha, she is completely different from the Donna that we saw in the Christmas Special she debuted in. Again Donna is trying to humanise the Doctor and make him realise that his actions have consequences. There is a moment where she decides that she might want to go home and this must have made some people throw their fists in the air but thankfully its not the end of Doctor Donna and she decides she wants to stay.

Graeme Harper does a good job in directing this episode and its rather nice looking. It’s not his best but its still got a lot of good shots and manages to make some drama out of scenes which wouldn’t scream out to me as action set pieces.

This was the strongest episode of the series so far. I know that might be damning with faint praise but it’s the first time this series that I have truly felt that the whole thing has worked well. There are things wrong with the episode but this is a good episode and there are some subtle things that lead to the rest of the season.

(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.

(739) Partners in Crime

Today is the start of Tennant’s final series and it’s the return of Donna Noble. It is also the 30^th 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 30^th. 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.

(738) Voyage of the Damned

Its fair to say that during the latter stages of the classic era, the show was resorting to stunt casting. Getting people who didn’t really have a place in the show but was bought in purely for their star name. Since embarking on the new series, I think that the casting of famous names has been largely good and has worked in the benefit of the show. Sadly this good form has come to a sudden stop. This episode features the appearance of Kylie Minogue who granted started off her TV career in Neighbours but has hardly become a house hold name because of her acting. According to IMDB her most recognisable credits include Streetfighter (1994), Moulin Rouge (2001) and The Vicar of Dibley (1994).

This is the third Christmas Special and is also the longest at 1hr 11 minutes. It is also the most watched episode of new who with 13.3 million viewers. This story sees a space liner called the Titanic which like its namesake, suffers a disaster. I don’t know whether it was a good idea but if they hadn’t have called the ship Titanic, then people would probably have still made the similarity anywhere.

Geoffrey Palmer makes his third and final appearance in Doctor Who after appearing in Doctor Who and the Silurians (1970) and The Mutants (1972). His involvement is sadly to short but he is basically the one causes the problems in this episode. Clive Swift is another former Classic Who star to return. Swift previously appeared in Revelation of the Daleks but plays a much more likeable character in this episode. Sadly he gave an interview in DWM where he was less than pleasant. Bernard Cribbins makes his first appearance in TV Who in a role that was suppose to be a one off but due to the way of things that will be mentioned in tomorrows review, he ends up being more involved in the show that anyone watching on Christmas Day 2007 would have realised. Back to Kylie Minogue and I wouldn’t say that her acting is terrible but its not hard to see why she has had a more successful career in music. I think that casting her as someone who starts off as a maid was a bit of a mistake. It’s like Dwayne Johnson in the new San Andreas movie being a helicopter pilot. It’s asking us to suspend our disbelief just a bit too much.

There are some good things that work in this episode. Firstly the Hosts are very good and like the weeping angels, have a great way about them. The way they can cause death is with their hands and with their halos. The other good thing about this episode is David Tennant. This is his 29^th episode and he is definelty at ease with the role and does have some good one liners throughout. If there is one reason to watch this again then it would be for Tennant’s performance. The bit where he is lifted into the air by the hosts is quite a good moment.

The big set piece occurs at the end (obviously) when the Doctor is trying to prevent the Titanic from crashing into Buckingham Palace. This leads to a rather amusing bit where the Queen makes another appearance and thanks the Doctor. It’s not a terribly convincing performance.

Despite being the longest and most watched of the Christmas Specials, it is actually the weakest of the specials. The central problem is that the plot is somewhat dull. Bearing in mind what is happening on screen, the story just doesn’t grab me in the way that The Runaway Bride did. It too long as well with the story working just as well if it had been 60 minutes long. It is by far the weakest of the Christmas Specials and is in y ratings the second weakest story of the new era. It is a disappointing episode but I would be lying if I were to say that it was unwatchable. That honour belongs to Love and Monsters. Now we the Catherine Tate series and Tennant’s final series.

On a final note, this episode was dedicated to Verity Lambert who had passed away about a month before. Verity was the mother of Doctor Who and whilst this might not be the best episode to dedicate to her, I think that she would have been proud of this episode because it tried to achieve something and that is what I think she would have approved of.