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REVIEW: The Lazarus Experiment by Stephen Greenhorn

SERIAL: PB3, 3.6, 1X45 minute episode

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


Until the new series, only two people could claim to have both written for Doctor Who, and acted in it. Victor Pemberton script-edited for Patrick Troughton's era, as well as writing Fury from the Deep and the Fourth Doctor LP adventure, The Pescatons, as well as being an extra in The Moonbase. Glyn Jones wrote The Space Museum, and would later appear as Krans in The Sontaran Experiment. Mark Gatiss not only wrote the previous seasons' The Unquite Dead and The Idiot's Lantern, but also wrote Doctor Who novels like Nightshade, St Anthony's Fire, and Last of the Gaderene. Having proved his acting chops from drama (such as the 2005 remake of The Quatermass Experiment, which featured pre-Who David Tennant) to comedy (The League of Gentlemen, and more than one spoof Doctor Who sketch), Gatiss was about to live a childhood dream: playing a role in Doctor Who, and joining an elite club in the process...

Taking Martha back to her time, the day after she left with him, the Doctor is ready to leave when he hears that Martha's sister, Tish, is currently working under Professor Richard Lazarus, who promises to change what it means to be human. Intrigued, the Doctor and Martha arrive to witness an astounding event: using a special device with sonic waves, Lazarus, a 76 year old man, is returned to youth. But the process didn't go smoothly. While the Doctor and Martha discover that Lazarus is mutating into a monster, Martha's family is disturbed by her association with a total stranger like the Doctor, and Francine, Martha's mother, is being told by someone that the Doctor is a threat. Can Lazarus be stopped, when the price of his immortality is paid in the blood of others?

The Lazarus Experiment is one of the best stories of the season: a villain with sympathetic motives, an exploration of the Doctor's views on immortality, and an exploration of how he might be viewed by the family of his companions. We also get the first, firm inkling of Mr Saxon, despite allusions earlier in the series, and how he seems set on causing the Doctor hell, first by funding Lazarus' experiment, and then by turning Francine Jones, already suspicious of the Doctor, against him, using her love for Martha. If you'll forgive the lame and spoiler-ridden pun, it's something of a Masterstroke. Elements of The Quatermass Experiment can be seen, particularly in the climax, as well as the Doctor discussing the perils of immortality in previous stories like The Brain of Morbius, The Five Doctors, or School Reunion. It's a simple story in the end, a tried and tested Doctor VS monster of the week formula, but an thoroughly enjoyable one with a climax well signposted, compared to some arsepulls from other stories.

The characters are key to bringing this story above the norm. David Tennant's Doctor is well on form here, both sympathising with Lazarus' plight and condemning his actions, bringing forward all the sadness of the centuries-old Time Lord. Freema Agyeman is fine as Martha, though it is Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Tish and Adjoa Andoh as Francine who deserve particular praise, particularly the latter, who made Francine have all the deserved angst of a mother looking out for her child. Mark Gatiss as Lazarus is a wonder, showing his experience for working under prosthetics from The League of Gentlemen, and while there are some times when he is a little too hammy, he nonetheless makes Lazarus a sympathetic, but still vile, adversary.

Production wise, this is where the story starts to show a few cracks. The filming is excellent, and the locations are quite good, with the Welsh Assembly Senedd impressively being plausible as the foyer for Lazarus' laboratories. But the biggest letdown is the creature Lazarus turns into. The design itself is excellent, and wouldn't look out of place in either Doctor Who or Resident Evil, for that matter. But the CGI is rather blatant, especially around the face, making it look less like a special effect and more like something they pulled from a video game instead, and unfortunately, for a story that revolves so much around the creature, it does bring things down a bit.

The Lazarus Experiment is an enjoyable and high quality episode in this series, foreshadowing things to come, but enjoyable enough in its own right. A bit of dodgy CGI prevents it from achieving perfection, but hey, it's still good.


SCORE: 9.5/10


And now, the next time trailers for 42, as well as the trailer for the second half of the series...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoA6cvAFt3A[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doR1SZh6c5k[/youtube]

REVIEW: 42 by Chris Chibnall

SERIAL: PB7, 3.7, 1X45 minute episode

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


Having already worked on the Doctor Who spinoff Torchwood as co-producer and writer (writing Day One, Cyberwoman, and Countrycide), Chris Chibnall was already primed for the Whoniverse. So his contribution to the main series proper began with the third series of the revived Doctor Who. His task? Write a story set in real time, referencing both 24 and Douglas Adams at the same time...

The Doctor and Martha intercept a distress signal from the SS Pentallian in the far future, which is plummeting into an alien sun due to sabotage in 42 minutes. Separated from the TARDIS by a heat venting system, the Doctor and Martha are forced to help the crew get through password-locked doors so that they can activate the auxiliary controls. However, the captain, Kath McDonnell, seems to have something to hide, and her husband, Korwin, was the one who sabotaged the ship. But Korwin is changing, infected by an alien entity, who intends to make sure that the ship plummets into the sun. Meanwhile, Martha, having had her phone upgraded by the Doctor, calls her mother back at home, unaware that Francine is trying to get information out of her about the Doctor, for a sinister woman. What is Francine up to? Why does the infected Korwin claim that the events on the Pentallian are McDonnell's fault? And can the Doctor and Martha save the crew?

42 is, at its heart, a singular and simplistic rip-off of the better done classic series story Planet of Evil. The story is very simple, with little divergence. While this is by no means a bad thing, I would have wanted something meatier. As it is, Chibnall's saving grace is that he writes with verve and pace, and makes it exciting. The revelation of the nature of the star is a good twist, though, and what happened is signposted enough to a degree.

Character-wise, I'm rather disappointed. The Doctor and Martha are well-written and acted, with David Tennant showing some real pain as he struggles with the entity, and Freema Agyeman showing increasing acting skills. However, the characters as written are non-entities, with the exception of Captain McDonnell, although she shows some supreme idiocy when she goes from accepting that her husband is dead, burned out by the entity, to trying to reach out to him. The actors, however, do quite well, given the circumstances.

If there is an aspect of this story that excels, it's the production. It's a fast-paced one with an atmosphere that is continually hot and oppressive. Graeme Harper, as always, excellently directs, and the locations used for the ship give it an appropriately industrial atmosphere. The CGI works for once, and if there is one complaint that I have about the production proper, it's that the atmosphere doesn't play up the horror aspects as much as they should have, which is a real pity. Oh, and the real-time aspect doesn't work, making it a hollow gimmick.

42 is an action-based story with not much meat, but an enjoyable romp. There are things that don't work, making it average by my standards for Who, but it's still okay.



SCORE: 8.5/10


And now, the next time trailers for Human Nature, and The Family of Blood...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R9gKhkrp1A[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52eeKdBumrM[/youtube]

REVIEW: Human Nature/The Family of Blood by Paul Cornell

SERIAL: PB6, 3.8/3.9, 2X45 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


While the previous seasons had adapted, to one degree or another, various audio adventures of the Doctor, the original fiction novels based on the series had surprisingly little input into the new series. However, with the need to explain away how the Master survived the Time War, the production team turned to Paul Cornell, who was to adapt one of his New Adventures novels, the critically acclaimed Human Nature. How would Doctor Who do, adapting one of the books based on the series?

Fleeing from a group of aliens who want Time Lord biology, the Doctor decides on an audacious plan: change himself into a human being, and hide out in 1913, at the Farringham School for Boys. A military academy, the Doctor becomes John Smith, unaware that he was the Doctor, and Martha becomes a maid at the school. While Martha endures the taunts of students, John Smith and the school nurse, Joan Redfern, fall in love. But as Martha despairs, something happens. A fobwatch containing the essence of the Doctor is taken by schoolboy Tim Latimer. Meanwhile, a spaceship makes its landing, and soon ensnares four of the locals as vessels for the Family of Blood, the aliens sniffing out the Doctor. Determined to get their hands on Time Lord biology, they will stop at nothing. And John Smith finds himself doubting everything he believed was true about himself. With the Family of Blood creating an army of animated scarecrows, Martha and Joan have to help John Smith make the hardest decisions of all...

As an adaptation, this story is excellent. Although it trims out a lot of the other themes present in the original novel (which I have read, incidentally), it also adds a few further elements that are welcome, especially Martha having to deal with not only being a maid, but also black in the 1910s. The themes of war, peace, glory, and sacrifice are ever-present in the story, such as a sequence where Son of Mine rebukes the Headmaster of the school for indoctrinating his students about war and glory (unsuccessfully, as the Headmaster has no illusions about the horror of war, but would still serve for his country), and Joan rebuking the Doctor at the end about his decision to come here, and how John Smith is a better man than he was. The latter seems particularly distressing, and while I can understand the motives of Joan, it does seem a little harsh from someone who helped John Smith make the sacrifice in the first place. The scarecrows seem like a slightly gratuitious monster, but they are so effective at what they do that this is very much forgivable.

At the heart of this story, more than many others, is character. Freema Agyeman carries much as Martha, forced to wait while John Smith falls in love, as well as working in a time different from her own. David Tennant manages to make John Smith subtly but noticeably different from the Doctor, and although his breaking down seems a bit excessive, it fits with the character, as well as the Tenth Doctor's own regeneration later in the series. His few scenes as the Doctor includes one of the most chilling, cold pieces of retribution against a foe, forcing them to live forever. Jessica Hynes as Nurse Redfern is key to the show, and does her role well, particularly towards the end. Thomas Sangster is a bit flat at times as Latimer, but does his job well enough at other times that it is forgivable. The Family of Blood are enjoyable, with particular praise going to Harry Lloyd's over-the-top performance as Son of Mine/Baines, but the rest of the Family, even child actress Lauren Wilson as Daughter of Mine/Lucy, do well.

Production-wise, well, the BBC do, as they often do, extremely well-done period drama. The set design works well, ranging from the school, all the way to the organic interior of the Family's spaceship. The direction helps retain the sentimentality of the story, and the music does more than its fair share as well. And the special effects, so dodgy earlier in the series, finally comes around to doing so well, with the cloaked spacecraft and the ray blasts of the Family deserving particular praise.

All in all, this is one of the best, if not the best, stories of this season. Adapting Doctor Who fiction may seem like a gimmick, but this story shows that it is far from a bad thing.


SCORE: 10/10


And now, the next time trailer for Blink...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLvx7lVwpzY[/youtube]

REVIEW: Blink by Steven Moffat

SERIAL: PB5, 3.10, 1X45 minute episode

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


With his previous stories for the series, Steven Moffat has made us fear a boy in a gas mask (The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances), and the sound of a clock ticking (The Girl in the Fireplace). But now, he has been asked to not only trump those stories, but also deliver a Doctor-lite story. The previous series' Love & Monsters didn't go down so well, but could Moffat pull off the impossible, and make an excellent Doctor Who story, without the Doctor in it as much?

Sally Sparrow loves old things to photograph, but when she explores the abandoned house of Wester Drumlins, she gets more than she bargains for. Strange messages on the wall from someone called the Doctor in 1969, statues that seem to move only when she is not looking, and one of her friends, Kathy, disappears, only to apparently live out her life in the past. Finding a yale key in the hands of one of the statues, Sally investigates alongside Kathy's brother, Larry, a DVD enthusiast who is obsessed with strange DVD easter eggs showing the Doctor. Going to the police, she soon finds out that one of the items recovered from Wester Drumlins is a police box, and soon, one of the officers assigned to the case ends up disappearing, only to die of old age in the present day, and giving her a message from the Doctor. Somehow, the Doctor and Martha have become trapped in the past, and it's the doing of the Weeping Angels, beings with terrifying powers, that can only move when you take your eyes off them. But everyone needs to blink, and in that blink, the Angels can catch you...

Although based on a short story for a Doctor Who annual, Blink takes the original source material to the next level. Although still a strange story of time (and mind) bending messages that owes more than a little to Back to the Future, it also has a strong element of psychological horror, the best yet, with the Weeping Angels, able to move fast in the blink of an eye. I'm pretty sure that, not since The Space Museum back in the 60s have the possibilities of time travel been exploited to such a great degree as they are in this story, and certainly, this is at the very peak of the psychological horror capabilities of the series in general, and Steven Moffat in particular. Not until next year's Vashta Nerada or even when the Silence arrive in series 6 do we have such an original monster with an extremely terrifying concept behind it. Although the story isn't actually very substantial, it is still an excellent one that makes the most of everything, and there's some excellent dialogue, both humorous and dramatic.

Carrying the show this time is Carey Mulligan as Sally Sparrow, a lugubrious but excellent protagonist of the story, with Lucy Gaskell's Kathy, and the performances of Michael Obiora and Louis Mahoney (the latter having appeared in the classic series) as Billy being excellent. Finlay Robertson is a delight as the dorky Larry, a nerd who has to confront the terrifyign reality behind his obsession. David Tennant and Freema Agyemen do well with their brief appearances, as usual.

Atmospheric. Moody. Horrific. That suits all of Blink. The elements of psychological horror are brought to fever pitch with the production. And the Weeping Angels: what an inspired design! I later learned (thanks to the documentary for the sequel story, The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone) that these were portrayed by actresses in suits and makeup, and I had to admit, I was fooled into believing that they used some sort of articulated dummy instead. The Angels manage to look both serene and horrifying, long before their faces turn predatory. Brr! What an effectively used creation they are!

Blink goes to show that just because it's a Doctor-lite story doesn't mean it has to be story-lite. It not only will demonstrate what can be done properly with a Doctor-lite story, but also has doubtless sent thousands of kids scurrying behind the sofa once more. And remember...don't blink.


SCORE: 10/10


And now, the next time trailers for Utopia, The Sound of Drums, and Last of the Time Lords...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCRS_9TP9kw[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXlEIUKIszg[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFH7ywSXIJI[/youtube]

REVIEW: Utopia/The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords by Russell T Davies

SERIAL: PB7 and PB8, 3.11/3.12/3.13, 2X45 minute episodes + 1X50 minute episode

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


First, Russell T Davies brought back the Daleks. Then, in the second new series, he brought back the Cybermen, and had them fight the Daleks in the finale of that series. What enemy could he bring back for the third series? The answer, in the end, is obvious. And while it wasn't until the finale that the old enemy was brought back, the tabloids had already guessed. In the first three-part story of the new series, equivalent to the old six-parters from the classic series, a Masterstroke of a return was being planned...

After refuelling at Cardiff, the Doctor and the TARDIS seem anxious to avoid bringing Captain Jack on board again. But the immortal Captain Jack Harkness won't be stopped, and he causes the TARDIS to travel to the end of the universe, ten trillion years into the future. There, on the planet Malcassairo, the last of the human race gather, waiting to go to Utopia, where a group of scientists hope to find a way to outlast the end of all creation. There, the Doctor and his companions meet the kindly Professor Yana, but when Martha draws his attention to a fob watch like the one the Doctor used not long ago, all hell breaks loose. Opening the watch, the Professor is subsumed by his true Time Lord personality. He is the Master. Forced to regenerate, he steals the Doctor's TARDIS, and the Doctor, Martha, and Jack follow back to the present day, only to find that the Master is the true identity of Harold Saxon, now Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The Master has declared diplomatic relations opened with an alien species known as the Toclafane, but he has labelled the Doctor and his companions as fugitives. Martha's family is captured, and soon, so too is the Doctor and Jack. As the Toclafane invade Earth, Martha must work alone. But what are the Toclafane? What madness drives the Master? And can anyone stop him, before the Earth is used as the starting point for a vicious genocidal empire?

While the hints of the Master's return had been dropped throughout the series (with Gridlock and The Lazarus Experiment being particularly noteworthy), it is a delight to see him return for the new series. Like many six-part stories in the classic series, this story feels like one smaller story bolted onto a larger story, but this is not a bad thing. There are themes linking Utopia to the other two parts, such as the nature of humanity, whether it is good or evil, paralleling the dichotomy between the Doctor and the Master. This is a very dark and grim story in the end, but a good one, spoiled mainly by three things: the Doctor becoming a near-deity through the pseudo-prayers of humanity (not that much of an ass-pull, given that elements were seeded not only throughout the serial but in previous stories like The Shakespeare Code, but it feels like it comes out of nowhere), Captain Jack shooting the Paradox Machine (didn't the Doctor say in the previous episode that even dismantling it without care was dangerous?), and the paradox being reset. Even so, there's some good dialogue, a number of interesting callbacks to the classic series (like the Master watching, and facetiously commenting on children's television, from The Sea Devils, and the Master's fear of an omnipotent Doctor from The Mind of Evil), a few explanations (like why Jack is immortal) and a very Blake's 7 feel to the second half of the story.

The regulars are, as always, excellent, with John Barrowman making a welcome return as Captain Jack Harkness. David Tennant gets some excellent meaty bits, struggling between fighting his adversary, and trying to save him from himself, as they are the last Time Lords. His emotion at the Master's apparent demise is palpable, and even when acting under prosthetics or as a voiceover for a CGI version, he works well. However, it is Freema Agyeman's Martha who gets the meatiest role, especially in Last of the Time Lords. She not only really stands up to the Doctor when distraught about her family getting involved, but also manages to carry her own during her mission in the last episode. Derek Jacobi is excellent as Professor Yana, and it's a real pity that his version of the Master (although he did play another version in the animated webcast Scream of the Shalka) is only on for a few minutes, as he is excellent, managing to state "I...am...the Master" in a harsh whisper than a bellowed declamation. John Simm makes the Master his own, an insane, childish psychopath who is a deliberate parallel, a villainous version of the Tenth Doctor, but one can also hear the real emotion when he is quiet, such as his understated happiness at speaking to the Doctor during a phone conversation, and his anguish at dealing with the drums in his head. The Master has been reinvented as a paragon of madness. The Jones family all receive decent parts, especially during the third episode, and Alexandra Moen plays Lucy Saxon, the wife of the Master, quite well.

Production-wise, this story is epic. There are no other words to describe it. I'm not sure about the Futurekind, the cannibalistic adversaries of Utopia, but the Toclafane are a different matter. I remember reading somewhere that the Toclafane were originally going to be substitutes for the Daleks if they couldn;t get the rights from the estate of Terry Nation, and while they may have made a poorer substitute for the Daleks, here, they are a terrifying concept. Part of the terror comes from their childish nature, and part comes from their enigmatic nature, being just balls with weapons, at least until they reveal themselves to be the remains of humans turned into cyborgs. The design is chilling in its simplicity, and so too is the revelation of what's inside. The view of the conquered Earth is very bleak, and works well. The main problem with the special effects is when the Doctor has his ability to regenerate suspended, turning him into a sort of aged hybrid of Dobby and Gollum, and while the design is actually quite good, it is the execution that is problematic. The Valiant aircraft carrier, while ridiculous, is nonetheless an awesome idea.

This three part epic is a doozy, bringing the third series of the revived Doctor Who to a close in spectacular, if not perfect, fashion. But even as Martha Jones walks out the door, Jack returns to Torchwood, and someone picks up the Master's ring, the Doctor seems about to start on a new adventure.


SCORE: 9/10

PROGRESS REPORT ELEVEN: NEW SERIES THREE: SMITH, JONES, HARKNESS, AND SAXON

STORIES: Total for this era: 10

Cumulative total: 127. 15 William Hartnell, 6 Patrick Troughton. 17 Jon Pertwee. 37 Tom Baker. 20 Peter Davison. 11 Colin Baker. 9 Sylvester McCoy. 1 Paul McGann. 1 Spin-Off. 10 Christopher Eccleston. 21 David Tennant


TIME: Total for this era: 18 days

Cumulative total: 160 days

PERCENTAGE NEVER WATCHED BEFORE: 0/10, or 0%

Cumulative total: 42/148, or 28%


MILESTONES:

Last appearance of the Face of Boe

First adaptation of a Doctor Who novel

First appearance of the Weeping Angels

Return of the Master


COMPANIONS: Donna Noble (briefly), Martha, Captain Jack Harkness


THOUGHTS:

Having managed to keep the series going after the second season of the revived show, the makers of Doctor Who were faced with replacing Billie Piper as Rose. And while the character of Martha, as played by Freema Agyeman, wasn't quite at the same level, she is still an excellent companion, her mooning over the Doctor aside.

However, key to this series was the Mr Saxon storyline, heralding the return of the Master. While the first couple of stories in the season were not always the best, the rest of the season tended to be of higher quality, including the brilliant adaptation of Human Nature, and the chilling Blink, which brought Doctor Who to new heights of psychological horror. The Doctor's increasing godhood was a common theme, including his being called out on his decisions in The Family of Blood, and his (frankly deus ex machina) god form in Last of the Time Lords.

The three main story themes in here was about the Doctor needing a companion to keep him moral, his failure to acknowledge Martha's unrequited love, and the return of the Master, and how the Doctor would cope. Seeing his desperation to keep the Master alive is heartwrenching, and we get a sense of the fact that they used to be friends. It's a pity that the Master dies so swfitly afterwards, even though a hint is given that he might come back. This incarnation was the most insane, the most dangerous, but also the one that, after Delgado's version, we could believe that they had once been friends.

This season was the height of the new series' success so far. Time would only tell if it goes any further...


BEST STORIES: The Lazarus Experiment, Human Nature/The Family of Blood, Blink

WORST STORIES: Smith and Jones, Gridlock

BTW, I have given the matter some thought. I've decided, if and when I review the fourth new series, I will review the four specials that ended David Tennant's tenure as the Doctor as part of series four. In other words, that will include The Next Doctor, Planet of the Dead, The Waters of Mars, and The End of Time.

Okay, so I'm starting the reviews of series 4 earlier than I thought. Oh well...

REVIEW: Voyage of the Damned by Russell T Davies

SERIAL: PB1, 4.X, 72 minute special

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


With previous Christmas specials proving to be excellent draws, Russell T Davies embarked on an audacious new Christmas special, an epic story involving a spaceship called the Titanic, killer robots, and Kylie Minogue. Taking a leaf out of classic disaster movies like The Poseidon Adventure, Davies wove a spectacle. But was it enjoyable? That is the key question...

When the prow of the starship Titanic, latterly from the planet Sto and Max Capricorn Liners, crashes into the TARDIS, the Doctor, intrigued and in need of rest and relaxation, mingles amongst the passengers. There, he meets waitress Astrid Peth, competition winners Morvin and Foon van Hoff, the diminutive Bannakaffalatta, the obnoxious Rickston Slade, and the fraudulent Earth expert Mr Copper. But soon, things go very wrong on this voyage of the damned. The Titanic is hit by meteoroids due to sabotage. The once helpful robotic Hosts turn homicidal, picking off the survivors. And the Doctor must help his new acquaintances and friends survive a ship which has become a deathtrap. But more is at stake here than just the passengers of a starliner. For the Titanic is in orbit around the Earth, and is in danger of crashing and causing all life to be wiped out. And although the Doctor promises otherwise, not everyone will be surviving this...

Voyage of the Damned is an epic tale, a transposition of the disaster movie of the kind The Poseidon Adventure codified, along with elements from previous Doctor Who stories (referencing the previous Christmas specials, along with an oblique reference to the Voc Robots from The Robots of Death). While cliched, it's not bad cliched. Themes about the Doctor's God Complex also come again to the fore, particularly in the last sequence, and while there are Christmas references throughout, it is less than obvious that this is festive, as this is rather a darker story than previous Christmas specials. However, the solution is a bit of an ass-pull (that seems to be a Russell T Davies trademark by now), too many deaths happen in a short a period of time (and one of them seems like cruel slapstick rather than anything else), and there are a few questions that were unfortunately cut out of the finished program (such as the inability to send an SOS, or the Doctor's plan to fight Max Capricorn).

The Doctor as played by David Tennant is on form, as always, and this story seems tailored to examine the Doctor's God Complex, with some not-so-subtle imagery of him borne aloft by the Host arousing ire amongst the religious (and going into ludicrous territory, to be frank). Kylie Minogue is decent enough as Astrid Peth, and while it is a pity that her character dies, it's the only possible outcome, given circumstances. While Clive Rowe and Debbie Chazen are good as the van Hoffs, they also seem to be constructed as cannon fodder, as does Jimmy Vee's Bannakaffalatta. However, Russell Tovey's Alonzo Frame, Clive Swift's Copper, and Gray O'Brien as the obnoxious and cowardly Slade are good, and Bernard Cribbins' brief but pivotal turn as Wilfred Mott is a sign of things to come. Unfortunately, the villain of the piece, George Costigan's Max Capricorn, is a bit of a silly non-event, a campy villain whose motives seem to pale in comparison to previous villains, although if anything, that makes what he intends to do even more atrocious.

The production is lavish, however, covering up many faults and maintaining excitement throughout the epic, movie-length story. The action is excellent, the special effects work, and the design of everything, from the Hosts to the Titanic's lavish interiors, work well, save for the exception of Max Capricorn's silly life-support buggy, which is so bulky and ridiculous, it is designed to be pushed off with a forklift.

Voyage of the Damned may not be the best serial in history, but it is a wonderful disaster romp that entertains and engrosses. Faulty at times, it still is a Doctor Who production on a much grander scale than ever before...



SCORE: 9/10


And now, the trailers for the first half of series four...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQBBdNujJY8[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfEPQqHx40c[/youtube]

REVIEW: Partners in Crime by Russell T Davies

SERIAL: PB4, 4.1, 1X50 minute episode

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


With series 4 approaching, Russell T Davies needed a new companion. At first, he formulated a character called Penny, but as time went by, he realised that he could bring back Catherine Tate as Donna Noble. Introducing her as the Doctor's latest companion was a risk, given the general opinion of the character in The Runaway Bride, but would this gamble pay off? Or would the new partnership fall down flat?

In the year since the Racnoss incident, Donna Noble has been without any purpose, save for finding the Doctor. She decides to investigate Adipose Industries, where strange things have been happening, hoping to find the Doctor. And the Doctor is there, investigating at the same time, but they happen to miss each other, even when investigating Adipose's customers. For Miss Foster, the CEO of Adipose, has created a pill that causes weight loss. But as Donna soon discovers, that weight loss, under the wrong circumstances, can turn deadly, spawning alien creatures from human bodies with deadly results. What does Miss Foster intend? What are these creatures? And can the Doctor and Donna become partners in crime?

Like Smith and Jones the previous year, this is a story thin on substance, designed to introduce a new companion, or rather, reintroduce one. However, Partners in Crime is helped substantially by better characterisation, humour, and a certain amount of comment on both the weight loss industry and foster care. It is at times somewhat too farcical, but it suits the feistier Donna, with the comic talents of Catherine Tate, and it works somewhat better than Smith and Jones. I just wish some of the more horrific aspects of the Adipose and their spawning were explored without the aliens themselves being nasty.

The Doctor doesn't have as much to do, save run around and help Donna, but he is still portrayed excellently by David Tennant. Catherine Tate, however, is the true star as Donna, who manages to remove many of the more annoying traits of the character, but still keeping many comic elements, personified in a hilarious mime scene. Bernard Cribbins makes an unexpected but welcome return from Voyage of the Damned as her grandfather, Wilfred Mott. Sarah Lancashire's icy cool and morally ambiguous Miss Foster is a delight. However, the other roles are less noteworthy, and Verona Joseph seems wasted on the badly done role of Penny.

The production is nice, suited well to the farcical nature of the script, but doesn't quite gel together. The music helps with the comedic undertones enough, though, but swings too much from comedic to harsh action with no middle ground, particularly jarring in this episode. Although the Adipose are a decent design, and the CGI is not too bad, considering, it still seems a little jarring, and I think that the Adipose should have been, if not less cute, then at least ambiguous.

All in all, Partners in Crime is an average start to the season. Okay, and good at reintroducing Donna as the new companion of the Doctor, it's not a bad start for the things to come...


SCORE: 8.5/10


And now, the next time trailer for The Fires of Pompeii...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HeflJpxyMs[/youtube]

REVIEW: The Fires of Pompeii by James Moran

SERIAL: PB3, 4.3, 1X50 minute episode

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


Throughout the series, both new and classical, there have been moments where the Doctor and his companions are forced to consider the dangers of time travelling into the past, and potentially changing history. However, there haven't been that many stories that brought the temptation to prevent death and destruction on quite a big scale, until now. With the Doctor Who team filming in Italy, the first proper overseas filming since the new series began (leaving aside background footage shot for last year's Dalek story), a story that would address those issues point blank would be made...

The Doctor and Donna arrive in Roman times. Their jubilation at exploring the past is short-lived when they realise that they aren't in Rome, but in Pompeii in 79 AD. The next day will be Volcano Day, and the TARDIS is soon missing, sold as art to a marble dealer, Caecilius, and his family. Tracking him down, the Doctor is determined to leave the town to its destruction, and Donna is equally determined to stay and warn the hapless inhabitants. But they both stay when they find that Caecilius has created a circuit board in marble, for the use of augur Lucius Petrus Dextrus. And they also soon realise that the augurs and soothsayers of Pompeii, for the past 17 years, have become accurate, thanks to the dust-laden vapours of Pompeii's hypocausts. But the Doctor and Donna soon arouse the suspicions of not only Lucius, but also the Sibylline Sisterhood, who also intend to take Caecilius' daughter into their midst. And they, and their alien masters, intend to make sure that the Doctor and Donna's future knowledge never comes to pass...

Now, I've heard that The Fires of Pompeii had been criticised for its writing, but to be perfectly honest, I see very little wrong with it. It's a romp that manages to combine artfully both drama and comedy in just the right way, with the central dilemma being about whether the Doctor and Donna should do anything to help the people of Pompeii survive, and the climactic decision of the Doctor makes things worse. A bit simple, and flat at times on characterisation, and the monsters are a bit dull and seem to be too weak towards water at the most convenient of times, but it's hugely enjoyable nonetheless, making you laugh and cry.

The central stars of the show are David Tennant as the Doctor, and Catherine Tate as Donna, and here, they get into conflict about whether to save the inhabitants of Pompeii or not. And any doubts that Tate as Donna would make a good companion are dispelled by the last scenes, where she is shown, very realistically, crying and demanding the Doctor take her back to Pompeii to rescue people. While the characters are written a little flat, the actors nonetheless go to town with the dialogue and make us believe in them, with Peter Capaldi as Caecilius and Phil Davies as Lucius being particular standouts. And yes, there is a pre-Amy Pond Karen Gillian as a Seeress, and in retrospect, this story, as well as one or two others, shows that the problem is not the actress, but with the material she was given.

The production is wonderful, and the time spent in Italy using the sets for the other TV show Rome pays off, making us believe in the setting of Pompeii. The production design is lavish, and the CGI is pretty good, particularly during the climactic explosion of Mount Vesuvius. Even the Pyroviles work pretty well most of the time, being menacing and deadly-looking, and the Pyrovile infection is suitably horrific-looking.

All in all, I enjoyed The Fires of Pompeii. It's an entertaining and thought-provoking historical in the best tradition of Doctor Who.



SCORE: 9/10


And now, the next time trailer for Planet of the Ood...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVWzqXUS0Lo[/youtube]

REVIEW: Planet of the Ood by Keith Temple

SERIAL: PB2, 4.2, 1 X 45 minute episode

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


With the Ood created in Matt Jones' two part story The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit two seasons previously, the showrunners of Doctor Who decided that it was well past time that these creatures return. After all, there were lingering doubts as to why the Doctor didn't question the concept of humans having a servant race. With Donna as his conscience, it was about time...

Setting the coordinates to random, the Doctor and Donna end up on the Ood-Sphere in 4126, where Ood servants are prepared for being sold throughout the galaxy. The Doctor and Donna, however, soon realise that something is very wrong, and indeed it is. Ood Operations, headed by the odious Klineman Halpen, is effectively a slaving operation, and the Doctor decides that he owes the Ood after what happened on Krop Tor. But the Ood are succumbing to red eye, and even a form of rabid rage, from a source very different to the evil being the Doctor encountered last time. With Halpen determined to cover up the incidents at all cost, the Doctor and Donna have to make allies with the Ood. But why have the Ood become docile servants? What is the song the Doctor hears in his head? And why are the Ood fixated with the phrase 'the circle must be broken'?

Like the previous transmitted episode The Fires of Pompeii, Planet of the Ood is written by a newcomer, Keith Temple for this one, and shares many of the same strengths and problems. This time, the Doctor has to deal with an uncharacteristic oversight, instead of dealing with a dilemma about changing history, and while strong in story and concept, some elements, particularly of characterisation, fall through. There's less humour, but it fits the themes of this episode. The story, thankfully, has no deus ex machina elements, just decent plot writing and a satisfying conclusion.

As in the previous episode, the regulars get some excellent material, with Donna's faith in humanity shaken by what she learns about the Ood and humanity enslaving them, and her emotion when listening to the Ood's song is palpable. So too is the Doctor's, and kudos have to go to Tennant and Tate for creating the best Doctor-companion team since the new series began. While it is startling to see Tim McInnerny, aka Percy/Darling from Blackadder play such a vile villain as Halpen, he also makes the role his own, and even injects interesting nuances into what could have easily been a petty villain. Ayesha Dharker and her role as Solana could have been made just a little bit better, although her refusal to help the Doctor completely, though it could be seen as stupid or suicidal, still adds something to the character, the way it comes across. Roger Griffiths plays a very good sadistic guard in Kess, and Adrian Rawlins is decent as Dr Ryder.

This story lacks a little of the energy and pace of usual Graeme Harper productions, but it still shows, particularly in a spectacular sequence where the Doctor is chased by a crane operated by Kess. The Ood, as always, are interesting and alien, and the new dimensions to their behaviour work well with the work of the actors portraying them, and the tones of voice actor Silas Carson. While not as immediately sinister as they were in their previous performance, they still work well, being able to go from pathetic and scared to rabid and dangerous, and all sorts of behaviour inbetween. The CGI of the Ood brain is a bit dodgy, but that is more than made up for when Halpen turns into an Ood in a horrifying and excellent transformation. The location filming works alongside the CGI to a good degree.

Planet of the Ood continues asking questions about how the Doctor travels, and what injustices he should rectify. An excellent return for the Ood, while it lacks the punch of their introductory serial, the story is still good...


SCORE: 9/10


And now, the next time trailers for The Sontaran Strategem and The Poison Sky...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owpomFHD7PI[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQjtM0OotiY[/youtube]

REVIEW: The Sontaran Strategem/The Poison Sky by Helen Raynor

SERIAL: PB5, 4.4/4.5, 2 X 45 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


The new series has followed a pattern of reintroducing a major adversary of the Doctor's from the classic series at least once per series. Having reintroduced the Daleks, the Cybermen, and the Master respectively across each of the first three series, it fell to Helen Raynor to reintroduce the militaristic Sontarans. And not just that: for the first time since 1989's Battlefield, the Doctor was going to be working with UNIT once more...

The Doctor and Donna are summoned to Earth by Martha Jones, now a doctor working with UNIT. Reluctantly working with commanding officer Colonel Mace, the Doctor is soon intrigued by the mystery of ATMOS, a combined satnav and emissions reducer used in half the cars around the world. What's more, it may very well be the product of alien technology, causing dozens of simultaneous deaths around the world. While Martha and UNIT probe the mystery of the ATMOS factory and Donna goes to visit her family, the Doctor meets with ATMOS' creator, arrogant young genius Luke Rattigan, only to find that Rattigan is allied with the Sontarans, led by General Staal. As the Sontaran stratagem accelerates, the Earth soon finds itself choking under a poison sky, and the Doctor may find that time has run out...

While returning to UNIT, mentioned in the new series but not actually shown properly, is an excellent concept, I get the feeling that Raynor hadn't watched the classic series stories properly, as although the Doctor didn't like the military solution, he got on well enough with UNIT and its personnel. So to have the Tenth Doctor giving the officers (his attitude to the rank and file soldiers is admirable) hell is disconcerting. He may be against the military, but you'd think, after managing to help both Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and Brigadier Bambera that he'd be used to dealing with UNIT officers. The story itself, otherwise, would be an improvement over Raynor's previous story for the series. Pitting the militaristic Sontarans against UNIT is an excellent idea, and there's more exploration of how the Doctor's travels affect those left behind, as well as conflicts and cooperations between science (the Doctor and Rattigan) and the military (UNIT and the Sontarans). And the Sontarans are given ever more texture to their characters than they were before, with a pseudo-haka that may seem ridiculous, but actually adds to what they have of a culture. Pity they are cut down so easily by UNTI troops, but I'm guessing that that was partly due to the intervention of the Valiant in the second part.

As usual, the performances of the regulars (being in this case David Tennant, Catherine Tate and, temporarily, Freema Agyeman) are good, though I wish that Freema had invested just a little more difference in the clone Martha. The Doctor's antagonism towards UNIT seems a little out of character compared to previous incarnations too. Rupert Holliday-Evans' Mace is a fairly staid UNIT officer, though I feel that he is a rather flat, uptight character, having none of the charm of the late Nicholas Courtney's Brigadier. And Rattigan, although played with superb aplomb by Ryan Sampson, is a rather one-dimensional child genius. Christian Cooke's Ross Jenkins is a rather more enjoyable character, being a UNIT grunt whom the Doctor befriends. Bernard Cribbins and Jacqueline King as Donna's family also do well. But the real star is Christopher Ryan, who plays General Staal so well, it's hard to remember the guy who played Mike in The Young Ones. His combination of admiration, disdain, and joy as he yells "The planet is going nuclear!" is one of my favourite performances in the show.

The production stands up well. Although the action sequences aren't as good as those, say, directed by Graeme Harper, and lack some energy and pace, they nonetheless are exciting enough to forgive the deficiencies. UNIT's new looks is sleek and snazzy, but a bit too black-ops for my liking. And while many fans would whinge about the new look of the Sontarans, I like them. Here, more than ever, they look closer to being real alien beings, and the armour looks a little tougher too.

This story is a great one let down by too many flaws to go to that truly great level. A good reintroduction of both the Sontarans and UNIT, as well as Martha Jones...



SCORE: 8.5/10


And now, the next time trailer for The Doctor's Daughter...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RhbymQyeXY[/youtube]

REVIEW: The Doctor's Daughter by Stephen Greenhorn

SERIAL: PB6, 4.6, 1X45 minute episode

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


During auditions for The Unicorn and the Wasp, the story following this one, the makers of the series auditioned someone with an unusual connection to the Doctor Who universe. This actress was Georgia Moffett, the daughter of Peter Moffett, better known by his stage name of Peter Davison, the fifth Doctor. It was decided to cast her for a script by Stephen Greenhorn, in a role that might have been made just for her. Although cast after the script for The Doctor's Daughter had been written, the casting proved to be a major publicity coup for the series, especially after Peter Davison appeared alongside David Tennant in the short episode Time Crash. But would the story be any good?

Drawn by some mysterious force to the planet Messaline in the future, the Doctor, Martha, and Donna find themselves swiftly drawn into a war against their will between human and Hath colonists. Forced at gunpoint to have a tissue sample extracted from his hand, the Doctor can only watch as a progenitor machine creates a young woman, dubbed Jenny, from his own DNA, effectively his daughter, a born soldier. Separated from Martha, the Doctor and Donna are taken to the belligerent General Cobb, who explains that they are at war with the Hath over control of the mystical Source, able to win the war. The Doctor reveals where the Source is, hidden on a map, but Cobb is determined to use it to wipe out the Hath. Unwilling to participate in genocide, the Doctor and Donna are locked up, along with Jenny when Cobb believes her to be of pacifistic stock. Meanwhile, Martha has fallen in with the piscine Hath, and decides, once they find where the Source is, to beat them to it and prevent a war. Even as the Doctor, Donna, and Jenny escape, the Doctor and Jenny clash over whether she is truly anything more than a soldier, or whether the Doctor himself is. But what is the Source? What is the significance of the numbers on plates throughout the city? And can the Doctor ever accept Jenny as his own daughter?

The story, to be frank, is too overly simplistic by itself, consisting of running and getting past obstacles and rather silly at times, and if that were all there was to it, I'd dismiss this story out of hand. But it continues the themes of militarism explored in the previous story, and more specifically, how much the Doctor has become like a soldier himself. And while it does conclude that there are some lines that the Doctor will not cross, especially out of revenge, it is left rather unsatisfactory. Even so, there is a better explanation of why the Doctor refused to accept Jenny at first: not just her militarism, but also the loss of his own family. The twist is an unusual one, but while novel, it does make a slight mockery out of the Chinese whispers explanation the Doctor gives. I feel it is more likely (having read bout this theory on TV Tropes) that the character of Cobb, the only aged soldier, was one of the original colonists who has manipulated his cloned charges to war against the Hath. After the excellence of last year's The Lazarus Experiment, I am deeply disappointed by Stephen Greenhorn's second outing as writer.

The characters are something of a letdown. Martha gets little to do, save to go on a trek across the surface of Messaline with a redshirt Hath, and Freema Agyeman here is wasted. The Doctor and Jenny get more effort in the script, with David Tennant's performance being strong as usual, and Georgia Moffett, while not excellent, is still quite competent. I find it a little strange, then, that this is where they probably first met, before they got married last year, although there's no subtext of that, thank goodness! Catherine Tate as Donna gets a less meatier role, but she nonetheless does well, managing to call Jenny out on her use of the phrase 'collateral damage', the Doctor on his attitude to Jenny, and managing to figure out the significance of the dates, even if the latter is just a tad hypercompetent for her. The other characters are non-events, even Nigel Terry's Cobb, who is one-dimensional.

The production values are fine enough, but even so, this is a story that got it in the shorts. The Hath are an interesting, but in the end rather generic design. So too are the sets. Although there's some variety in the bases of the Messaline colony's armies, the rest is generic corridors that are livened up by the occasional number plate and death trap. It doesn't look bad as much as uninspiring, and the lack of proper story and characterisation only serve to jade the view more.

In the end, The Doctor's Daughter is an average disappointment, leavened by some increasing investigation into the Doctor's psyche and what it means for the Time Lord to have a family...


SCORE: 7.5/10


And now, the next time trailer for The Unicorn and the Wasp...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDIPLTEWv70[/youtube]

REVIEW: The Unicorn and the Wasp by Gareth Roberts

SERIAL: PB2, 4.7, 1X45 minute episode

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


Doctor Who has done overtly comedic episodes before in the past, although with mixed success. The Romans and The Gunfighters were rather average (by the standards of Doctor Who) mixed bags, and out of the 17th season famously script-edited by Douglas Adams, only City of Death truly excelled at combining comedy and drama in the series. But if anyone could do it for modern Who, then Gareth Roberts, who wrote acclaimed novels set during the 17th season of the classic series, could. With The Unicorn and the Wasp, could he bring about the successor to City of Death? Or would it sink without a trace?

England, 1926, and the Doctor and Donna arrive at the house of Lady Clemency Eddison and her husband, Colonel Hugh Curbishly. The guests are many, including a Professor Plum, Reverend Golightly and socialite Robina Redmond, but to the Doctor and Donna's astonishment, they meet Agatha Christie, on the day that she disappeared for nearly two weeks. At first, all the guests have to worry about is decent food, drink, and warnings about infamous jewel thief the Unicorn. But Plum is found murdered in a study with his head beaten in by a lead pipe. Excited by a murder mystery happening around Christie, the Doctor and Donna team up with one of the best mystery writers of all time. But while Agatha expresses disquiet at being around a man enthusiastic about a murder, the Doctor and Donna soon discovers that the killer is a shapeshifting alien, whose true form appears to be a giant wasp. Soon, things begin playing out like one of Christie's novels, and, bracketed by the Unicorn and the wasp, the Doctor, Donna, and Agatha must track down a thief, and a murderer, assuming they are not one and the same. But what dark secrets lie within the house of Lady Eddison? And which secret has made one of those involved a murderer? And will it end up with Agatha Christie amnesiac, or dead?

While by no means perfect, this story shows that it is perfectly possible to inject humour into a Doctor Who story quite well. The humour is a little uneven and doesn't quite gel well enough with the drama, but it's leagues above some of the appalling efforts in season 17. And the explanation of Christie's disappearance and alleged memory loss is an intriguing one, and certainly would serve well as one of those historical injokes in the continuity. I'm not convinced that there was enough to pinpoint the Unicorn as who they turned out to be, but other aspects work well enough, and there's a condemnation of the Doctor's flippant attitude to death and meeting historical celebrity. In a way, this story is a repeat of last years' Roberts-written The Shakespeare Code, but this isn't really a bad thing.

As usual, the Doctor and Donna are not only well-served by the script, but also by actors David Tennant and Catherine Tate. Fenella Woolgar's Christie is the most dramatic of the roles in the show, and portrayed well to boot. So too is Felicity Kendall as Lady Eddison, and a welcome return to the series for Christopher "Sir Keith Gold/Henry Gordon Jago" Benjamin as the Colonel. The other characters are okay, but I get the feeling that Reverend Golightly would have worked better played by Mark Gatiss instead of Tom Goodman-Hill.

Production values are sumptious, as they are when the BBC puts on a period drama, and 1920s Britain comes through splendidly. It's a bit odd, though, to have Graeme Harper directing a show which only has one major action sequence: the car chase at the end. And while the Vespiform is a stereotypical giant animal monster (in this case, a huge wasp), the CGI used is quite excellent, actually. Not quite the best that the series can do, but better than other efforts.

The Unicorn and the Wasp, then, is a delight. Not perfect, but an excellent example of how comedy, drama, and history can all be blended, and still make a good story...


SCORE: 9/10


And now, the next time trailers for Silence in the Library and The Forest of the Dead...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw48DX3GXKA[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbMTdoOf4gM[/youtube]

REVIEW: Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead by Steven Moffat

SERIAL: PB7, 4.9/4.10, 2 X 45 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


Not long before this story was written, Steven Moffat was asked by Russell T Davies to take over as showrunner for Doctor Who. Commissioned to submit a story for the fourth season, Moffat decided to lay the groundwork for the time when he ran the show. But he didn't just introduce an important new character. He also built on his experience of horror. Making us fear gas-masked people, clockwork, and statues that move in the blink of an eye, Moffat is determined to make us afraid of the very shadows...

Summoned to the Library, an artificial planet in the 52nd century filled with books, the Doctor and Donna find it abandoned, and wreathed in darkness. No humans are left, but there is still life. That soon changes, when an expedition commissioned by the Library's pompous owner Strackman Lux and headed by archaeologist Professor River Song, arrive. Song seems to know the Doctor, as she sent the message to him, but it's his first time meeting her. However, the new arrivals soon learn that there are predators in the shadows: Vashta Nerada, microorganisms that float through the air and hide as shadows, able to consume flesh swiftly. Meanwhile, a young girl is consoled by her counsellor Dr Moon, regarding her dreams, and nightmares, about the Library. As the expedition is picked off, and Donna disappears, mysteries remain to be solved. Is the girl's reality the true one, or is the Library? Why does the Library's last message state that although there were no survivors, all the people within it were 'saved'? What is CAL, the heart of the Library? What secret is Strackman Lux hiding? And more importantly, can the Doctor trust River Song, a woman who has known him all her life, but he hasn't met before?

Whoa. Moffat delivers one of his finest works, and his last great work before he becomes showrunner. Not only does he makes us afraid of shadows themselves with his creation, the Vashta Nerada, but he also manages to weave expertly in a number of heartwarming and tragic stories. We even get hints about the future of the series, hints that are only obvious in retrospect, having watched the Moffat series. There is not a single moment wasted in this story, with tragedy and heartbreak at every turn, and even an unexpected pseudo-"everybody lives" ending, like The Doctor Dances.

David Tennant's Doctor is on fine form, especially as he works to find out whether he can trust River, and Catherine Tate's Donna has a wonderful moment of heartbreak in the virtual reality sequences. The guest stars are all excellent. Alex Kingston playing River Song is a joy, and much of what the character does in this story makes even more sense after watching series 5 and 6. Colin Salmon as Dr Moon is an excellent benevolent yet ambiguous figure, as is Steve Pemberton's Strackman Lux, whom we consider to be just a corporate a-hole, but turns out to be more than that. Eve Newton as Charlotte is surprisingly good for a child actress, and of the members of River's expedition, particular praise should go to Talulah Riley's Miss Evangelista and Jessika William's Anita.

Production values are stupendous in this serial. The CGI works almost all the time for once, and even the distortions of Miss Evangelista's face seem of a piece. The only noticeably dodgy bits are the multiple shadows growing sequences, and even that is highly forgivable. The filming done matches seemlessly with what sets there are, and the design of the spacesuits, the computers, River's items, all are excellent. I could go on about this all day and night, but I shouldn't.

This two-part story is the last Moffat script before he became showrunner, and this is very much a case of leaving the best till last. Horror, tragedy, even a sly bit of comedy, all work together to create a superb story that is easily one of the best, if not the best, of David Tennant's reign as the Doctor...


SCORE: 10/10


And now, the next time trailer for Midnight...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oS9ggo_T0Mw[/youtube]

REVIEW: Midnight by Russell T Davies

SERIAL: PB6, 4.8, 1 X 45 minute episode

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


Doctor Who has rarely shied away from horror, and the new series, especially in the stories of Steven Moffat, often embraced novel means of horror. But the biggest fear is that of the unknown, and Russell T Davies, in writing Midnight, intended to show that the biggest horrors can come from without, but they can also come from within. This story, leaving the Doctor without a companion or a TARDIS, trapped with strangers, was to try and see how things could go very wrong for the Doctor...

Midnight: a world of beautiful diamonds, and deadly X-tonic radiation, lethal to all life without protection. A leisure palace has been set up on this planet, and while Donna decides to relax, the Doctor makes a decision to take a ride on a special tour to see the sights of Midnight. Four hours on a tour with half a dozen fellow passengers and a Hostess may seem like a lark, but things start to go wrong. First, an impossible mechanical failure. Then, something begans banging on the walls and doors of the tour shuttle bus, and targets the most frightened person in the room, Sky Silvestry. The cockpit of the shuttle bus is torn away, and something seems to have possessd Sky, something that repeats the words of the others speaking. Tensions mount, and the Doctor finds that the passengers, suspicious of a man with no name and taking charge, are turning on him in paranoia and fear. Is this capricious mob rule, or the effect of the entity that has possessed Sky? What does the entity want? And when the entity starts copying the Doctor's words only, can he figure out a way to stop the entity? The Doctor is alone, without friends, amongst a small mob of fearful paranoiacs, and this may be an adventure he never walks away from...

Most of the time, Davies tends to write populist pap that, while entertaining most of the time, seems to rely heavily on deus ex machinas. However, here, in Midnight, he shows extreme skill as a writer, writing one of the finest psychological horror tales ever written, never mind that in Doctor Who. In the process, he also turns the conventions of the series on its head, where the Doctor's intelligence works against him, making him a target of paranoid humans, as well as the Midnight entity. I was actually reluctant to watch the story again, as to watch it is actually rather painful, but that's because this is human drama put into a claustrophobic pressure cooker. Shades of the third Doctor Who story as well, with The Edge of Destruction being a clear inspiration. And it's here perhaps most of all that the Doctor's belief in humanity being great is challenged, and rocked to its core, as he is mentally raped by the entity, and nearly thrown out into deadly sunlight. And Davies, brilliantly, only gives the faintest of hints as to the creature's true nature, with only its last, stolen words giving anything to it.

David Tennant, as always, is on fine form as the Doctor, but here, not only does he have to cope with challenges to his character's authority, but convey the Doctor struggling desperately to fight off the influence of the Midnight creature. Lesley Sharp's Sky Silvestry is nice, and her acting skills come to the fore so much when Silvestry is possessed by the Midnight entity. How she managed to echo those people, I'll never know, though it's either a testament to her acting skills, or excellent post-production work. The rest of the cast are excellent too, with particular praise going to David Troughton as Hobbes, Colin Morgan as Jethro, and Rakie Ayola as the Hostess.

Because it is such a claustrophobic episode, the direction can make or break it, and Alice Troughton's direction makes it. Brilliant and dark, in this episode, you can cut the tension with a knife. What sets and CGI there are are used very effectively, but it is the human drama that counts most in this episode, and like The Edge of Destruction, it all works. Watching this story is a hell of an experience, making you feel bad about humanity, but ultimately a good watch, a bit like the movie District 9, actually.

What else can I say about Midnight? It just shows that when Russell T Davies tries hard enough, he can reach perfection. This story jangles the nerves and leaves a bad taste in the mouth, but it is still a perfect one.


SCORE: 10/10


And now, the next time trailer for Turn Left...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iTJSDq7ocw[/youtube]

REVIEW: Turn Left by Russell T Davies

SERIAL: PB8, 4.11, 1 X 50 minute episode

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes

It took me some time to consider whether to review this with the last two episodes of the season, but although it is one big story, there is a difference between Turn Left and the episodes to come. So I have decided to review this episode separately. With a Doctor-lite episode on the cards, let's see how Donna Noble and Rose Tyler fare in this grim tale of what would happen if the Doctor wasn't there and, surprisingly more importantly, what if Donna wasn't...

Exploring a marketplace on the Oriental world of Shan Shen, Donna gets enticed into the shop of a mysterious fortuneteller, who seems very interested in Donna's past. Taking Donna back in her memories, the fortuneteller, seeing that Donna had a choice at a crucial point whether to choose one job or another by turning left or right, she, with the help of a mysterious creature, forces Donna to change her choice. Instead of turning left to HC Clements, and her encounter with the Doctor, Donna turns right, and heads to become the secretary of a photocopy merchant. On Christmas Day, Donna finds out that a man known as the Doctor has died, drowned in a secret lair. And pretty soon, the world goes to hell, with each subsequent alien incident either killing off a group of its potential defenders, or else making Britain more and more into a police state. As the situation gets worse, Donna keeps encountering a young woman with blonde hair, who seems to know more about what is going on than she is saying. But who is this young woman? Why do people keep on seeing something on Donna's back? And what is making the stars go out? For everything to be set right again, Donna may have to die...

Turn Left is a chilling look at what might have happened had the Doctor died. It examines how vital Donna was to helping the Doctor, and while it does seem like a bit too much of a coincidence to have Donna being so important, it does fit in a little with both her importance to what happens and, given the events of The End of Time, her grandfather. This is an excellent and dark story, overshadowed by a number of problems. The first is a continuity error: how come the Titanic didn't wipe out life on the Earth like it was supposed to be doing in Voyage of the Damned? And how does Rose actually not only know all the stuff she does, but also be able to put Bad Wolf letters over everything in the climax? It doesn't make a jot of sense!

This is Catherine Tate's story, and while alternate Donna's personality is annoying, you also get a feeling of the true humanity that was underneath, even before she met the Doctor, particularly when she sees the Colasantos being carted off to concentration camps, and the Time Beetle on her back. Billie Piper makes a welcome return as Rose Tyler, managing to fill, albeit only to a degree, the Doctor role of the story. Jacqueline King as Sylvia Noble shows her sliding more and more into depression and apathy, while Wilfred Mott makes sure that Bernard Cribbins gives the performance of his career.

Production values are quite good, giving a melancholy atmosphere to this story. Although the CGI seems to improve the later it gets into each season, the Time Beetle looks rather silly. Someone should have considered the design a little more carefully, as although the concept is not unlike the spider seen in Planet of the Spiders, it's not got the same impact, especially because of the buildup. The music works well, especially with the distorted vocal piece used whenever Rose appears, or the death is mention of one of the Doctor's associates.

Turn Left is an interesting and enjoyable, if flawed, story. It once again shows that Doctor-lite doesn't mean a lightweight story.


SCORE: 9/10


And now, the next time trailer for The Stolen Earth (no next time trailer for Journey's End)...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pn7jxUS3-jI[/youtube]