I finally re-watched the two-parter from Series 2 of Doctor Who that I hadn’t watched in over a year, so now I’m all set to review the whole series.
The series officially starts off with an untitled 7-minute special made to support Children in Need. Despite being so short, it’s a pretty important piece connecting the first series finale and the new season. The Doctor has just regenerated, and Rose, his companion, is confused and frightened of this new man. It’s David Tennant’s first appearance (aside from the brief cameo at the end of The Parting of the Ways), and he is instantly endearing, with his infectuous enthusiasm.
Next up is the 2005 Christmas Special, “The Christmas Invasion”. The Doctor is unconscious, recovering from regeneration, but Earth is being invaded. Rose is still apprehensive about this new Doctor, and her apprehensions only increase as he is too weak to do anything about the invasion. It makes for a really fun and well-written episode, and in true British fashion, tea saves the day. We also meet Harriet Jones, now Prime Minister (introduced in “Aliens of London / World War Three”) again. and Penelope Wilton does a fantastic job playing her. I could go on and on about it, but I’ll stop now.
“New Earth” kicks off the official second series with the Doctor returning to the year 5,000,000,000 in response to a message received on his psychic paper. A sisterhood of feline nuns is cloning humans to experiment on finding cures to fatal diseases, and an old enemy, Cassandra (from “The End of the World”) is also plotting to gain a new body. This is not one of my favourite episodes, it seemed contrived and very preachy. The kiss between Rose (possessed by Cassandra) and the Doctor seems to be shoehorned in, and the Doctor is incredibly moralistic about the cloning.
The Doctor meets Queen Victoria in the next episode, “Tooth and Claw”. This is a pretty good episode, the drama is absolutely perfect, and the twist at the end (I won’t spoil it) is completely unexpected. Queen Victoria is portrayed very well, but the giggly games that Rose plays with her get a little annoying. This episodes also seeds the spin-off show, Torchwood, pretty strongly.
“School Reunion” is one of my favourite Doctor Who episodes ever. Sarah Jane Smith and K-9, two of the best-loved Classic Doctor Who companions, return. The episode plays really well on the themes of, as Mickey puts it, “the missus and the ex”, Rose is startled to discover that the Doctor has always had companions, and Sarah Jane is saddened to discover that the Doctor hasn’t ever talked about her. It’s very poignantly written. Oh, and did I mention that all this happens while they save a school from its staff, who just happen to be huge bat creatures intending to conquer the universe? Elisabeth Sladen does an absolutely stellar job, and Sarah Jane now has her own spin-off, The Sarah Jane Adventures, which is a totally awesome show, too!
The Doctor has a new companion for “Girl in the Fireplace”, Rose’s boyfriend, Mickey Smith, who joined at the end of “School Reunion”. My favourite Doctor Who writer, Steven Moffat, writes this one. He handles the rather touchy subject of the Doctor having something akin to a romance very subtly and well, and the relationship between Reinette (Madame du Pompadour) and the Doctor is wonderfully portrayed. And clockwork robots in ridiculous 18th century French costumes? Priceless!
Next is a two parter set in an alternate Earth – “Rise of the Cybermen / The Age of Steel”. The Cybermen, one of the Doctor’s most famous classic enemies return, and are absolutely wonderful villains. Rose’s father is still alive in this universe, but Rose never existed, and Mickey also has a parallel persona, named Ricky – this adds quite some drama to the proceedings. Roger Lloyd Pack, who plays Barty Crouch Sr. in the Harry Potter movies is John Lumic, the creator of the Cyberman, which is really interesting to me as a HP fan, because David Tennant, the Doctor, plays Barty Crouch Jr. in them. Mickey has finally found a cause and a place where he is accepted, so he stays backon the alternate Earth to help rebuild, which I didn’t really like – Mickey made a very different companion, which is a good thing.
“The Idiot’s Lantern”, set during Queen Elizabeth’s coronation and the introduction of the television in Britain, is a pretty mediocre episode. An alien is “feeding” on people’s brains through the new invention of television. This episode is preachy again, which I really dislike – the Doctor and Rose humiliate a selfish father / husband, and we’re supposed to cheer. I really liked the portrayal of 1950s England, though.
Next up is a two-parter again, “The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit”. The Doctor and Rose arrive on a sanctuary base on an “impossible planet” – it is orbiting a black hole without falling into it, to find trouble, of course. The episodes were pretty good as a whole, but were spoiled (to me) because of all the Doctor/Rose shipping and corny lines like “If there’s one thing I believe in.. I believe in her! [Rose]” while talking about belief in gods and demons. The Doctor finding the “lost” TARDIS just in time also feels a little contrived, but is understandable.
“Love & Monsters” is one of the most divided episodes in fandom, but I really liked it. It’s proof that Doctor Who can make episodes of any genre, which is one of its strongest selling points. The episode centres around L.I.N.D.A, a Doctor fan group of five people that develops a strong friendship until a new member arrives. It’s a very human story, and it’s refreshing to see ordinary people portrayed on the show. It’s a huge departure from regular Doctor Who, but that’s what makes it unique.
“Fear Her”, set during the London 2012 Olympics, had a great plot, but not very good writing. Matthew Graham, who wrote this episode, also wrote for Life on Mars and does a very good job there. :/. I don’t really have very much to say about this episode – the idea had lots of potential (drawing people, and the people getting sucked into the drawing), but the execution was bad, and the whole “Olympic torch is a symbol of love, and love will save the world” plot resolution was absolutely horrible.
Finally, we get to the season finale, “Army of Ghosts / Doomsday”. I’m usually not the biggest fan of Doctor Who season finales – they always try to make them as BIG as possible, and lose the story along the way. The Cybermen and the Daleks return, and it was very amusing watching two sets of killer robot-y things advance on each other, yelling “DELETE!” and “EXTERMINATE!” respectively. Rose leaves (finally!) and I guess I was supposed to be sad, it was certainly written to evoke sadness, but I was just really excited – I’m not happy with her character devolving from a smart, sarcastic working class girl to a giggly, petulant teenager in LOVE with the Doctor. The series’ arc word (mentioned in every episode of the series), “Torchwood,” finally comes to a conclusion, as the finale takes place in Torchwood One in London (a very different place from Torchwood Three, in Cardiff, where Torchwood is set.)
Overall, it was a very inconsistent series, especially towards the end. As someone said, though, you’re only a true Doctor Who fan if you have things to complain about for every episode, but still keep watching the show :).
I Ate My DVD Collection 