14 posts tagged “dr who”

Now I knew a fair amount of what was going to happen, or I had heard plenty of rumours. And, when there is so much hype around an episode it would be easy to mess things up, however, this worked. It wasn't a great story, at least not so far, but it kept the viewer hanging on throughout. The bringing back of almost everyone who had been in the show so far worked well. There were several tearjerker moments and the return of the big (little?) D was well handled.

There were several funny lines that made me laugh and once again Bernard Cribbens was fantastic.

As for the ending, finished off with a To Be Continued was very good, that is what you call a cliff-hanger, and although I've heard rumours, how they play this out will be interesting...

Okay I won't go as far as saying the title for this should have been turn off but it just as well could have been. Midnight was Donna lite and Turn Left was Doctor lite (I could be really cynical and say that RTD scripts are originality lite but I won't be that harsh as he is the saviour of the good Doctor). Okay that was the whole point of the episode, what if Donna had never met the Doctor and then the Doctor had died, but c'mon hyperthetical situations don't make for gripping dramas. You know from the outset that things will be put right again.

And they were, with the help and Ms Rose Tyler, back from her alternate reality, to make sure the Doctor and Donna were together for the final two parter of the series. Both will be required to stop the 'Darkness' whatever that is (although the trailer suggests the metal things with one eye have something to do with it).

All in all, this was a filler episode, it lacked originality and also lacked any real cohesion - and the beetle? did someone get paid for creating that? At least the trailer for next week looked interesting, and there was certainly sme interest from me when the words 'bad wolf' were said.

Well I wasn't expecting too much for this episode and it didn't disappoint in that regard. The plot was pretty empty and the characters were so likable I was hoping they'd all get sucked out the airlock by the end. The premise was a journey across a lifeless world, where humans and like lifeforms couldn't exist. Of course on the journey they meet an alien, it isn't very nice and so on and so on. In the end it wasn't the Doctor who saved the day, so i suppose there was a slight piece of originality there.

We also had the obligatory Rose sighting but this time we know we only have until next week for that story arc to begin revealling itself.

Part two of the Steven Moffat story was, unlike many of the other two part stories, better than the first part. The story took several twists and turns and kept you interested right to the end credits... and then some. We never really find out too much about River Song, apart from she is in the Doctor's future. Traditionally in time travel stories we deal with keeping the past as it should be, but this episode took the little twist and kept the future as it should.

There were several almost (come on I'm a guy and don't admit to this sort of thing) tear jerking moments through the story as well as comedy that was actually funny. And yet again Catherine Tate proved herself both a great companion and a pretty good actress.

There was enough in this episode to keep the die hard fans discussing until the cows evolve into intelligent beings, however RTD in Dr Who confidential seems to suggest that there is nothing set in stone about the Doctor's name, River Song and future events. I presume that these episodes were the highlight of the series but we wait and see. Next week's episode looks like an edge of the seat, tense 'bug' hunt as Hicks would say.

D'oh, just been pointed out to me of the link to the Planet of the Ood episode... 'your Song will end soon'. I really must stop drinking when watching Dr Who.

At last some Steven Moffat. Just to show exactly how good this guy is at writing, this episode was, for some of the time, formulaic Steven Moffat. Following on from 'are you my mummy?' and 'don't blink' we have 'keep out of the shadows'. It also seems as if a possible major character has been introduced, but until the next episode we can't say for sure.

What is for sure is that this part one of the two parter was cery god, the humour was funny and at exactly the right tone. The 'monsters' are nicely hidden and possibly anywhere and what exactly is going on is still pretty much a mystery. I await with anticipation the final part... and even more the next series whne Steven Moffat takes over as head writer.

Well we reach the mid-season break in the UK and tha last episode we get before the Eurovision interlude is a historical episode that was a bit of a romp. Following on from previous seasons Dickens and Shakespear episodes we get Agatha Christie. I suppose most people will go one of two ways with this one, either... it was a silly excuse for lots of weak puns and a very feeble story or... it was an enjoyable romp full of puns (although perhaps 'vicar rage' was one too far) that brought a smile to the face and who cares if the story was a little weak.

Well I fell into the second group. It was fun and I had a good laugh throughout. Yet again Donna's character has proved itself. I am now convinced she is the best companion of the new series. Although take it easy on the 'we're not together' theme. The story dealt with Agatha Christie's 'missing nine days' and gave a Dr Who twist to the events, with an alien, a thief and more red herrings than an artificially coloured kipper factory.

I have to admit that my highlight was the trailer for the next episode. At last we have Steven Moffat's two parter, and now it has been officially released that he will be taking over the reigns from RTD, this Dr Who fan is one happy little boy... just stay out of the shadows.

Oh, the anticipation, who is she, where does she come from? The possibilities are endless and they could tie into so many original series stories... but what do we get? Basically a clone, give or take some technobabble to equal Star Trek. So my heart dropped at this point, an opportunity was lost and we were destined for a new, stand-alone episode.

That I actually thought was quite good. The basic story that wasn't too original, but what is? It involved two races that were at war with each other, for generations and generations. The war had crossed so many generations that the reason for fighting was shrouded in myth, and so the Doctor, Donna and the doctor's daughter set off to find out the truth and save the day. Martha, having been separated from the Doctor, did the same thing but from the other side. At the end there was a nice twist and so the story worked quite well.

As for the doctor's daughter, or Ginny, the end was a little predictable. Knowing that she wasn't becoming a regular in the series (certainly at this point) we assumed she would get killed, and right on cue 'bang' the evil general fired his gun. She wasn't a true timelord, said the doc, she was merely an echo, and so no regeneration for Ginny. Our three heroes then leapt from the planet to take Martha back home, leaving a dead Ginny on the slab. Until, yep you guessed, the timelord energy stuff last seen at the Doctor's regeneration, poured from her mouth and she came back to life, jumped in a spaceship and shot off into the universe - spin off series or returning at a later date, who knows? (Pun not intended)

Next episode is the historical Agatha Christie one, which I believe, has the ginat wasp seen in the trailers. That means that all the trailers that have been shown have only featured bits from the first seven episodes (apart from a brief Dalek cut I think), so I'm hoping that we may have an extended trailer preview of the rest of the series very soon.

Well, just a quick review this - not that I ever write too much. I have to say that yet another two-parter from Helen Raynor has disappointed. It wasn't that it was bad, but it was simply so so. I don't think that having imbibed a few drinks by the time the episode aired was too helpful either, or perhaps it was. If I hadn't perhaps the review would be really negative.

I think the issue for me was that there was never any real tension in the story, the cliffhanger was weak and so was the rest of the story... a shame really. There was the obligatory Rose reference with her face flashing up on the Tardis console, to keep that meme running through. The high point for me was the reference to The Brigadier, Nicholas Courtney was, and still is, the ultimate camp commandant.

The next episode looks interesting, I just hope they play it well...

Drowning in nostalgia? Well it certainly was possible, we had an old enemy, an old military organisation and a old (well one season old) companion. And that was without Cribbins.

Well my old favourites the Sontarans were back, and I loved the reference to their weak point, worth watching all by itself. I can't remember them being quit that short, and to help me feel free to order the Sontaran box set from Amazon and send it to me. I am sure I remember Jon Pertwee wrestling one at eye level... but I may be wrong.

As for the episode, as it is a two-parter, I'll wait to give an official opinion, but so far so good, if not great. I am still finding Catherine Tate a much better compnion than I ever thought and I also liked the new UNIT leader, how regular will he become? I wait and see.

I hate to say it but I think I am warming to the Catherine Tate character in Dr Who. The third episode of the fourth series was, I felt, a little weaker than the previous two, but not too much. We were whisked into the future, and more shockingly, an alien planet, the home planet of the Ood, last seen in the series two two-parter The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit.

The Ood were developed and we learnt a whole lot more about them, although we were spoon fed visually the 'big brain'. It was a little sad but, because it was the Doctor, a nice happy ending followed on.

We had an interesting line from the telepathic Ood toward the end of the episode, which is causing a stir among the fan forums, as they referred to everyone's song coming to an end. Does this mean regeneration, or is it RTD simply teasing the fanboys and gals?

Looking forward to next weeks episode as we have the return of the Sontarons, always were one of my favourite 'monsters' from the original series, so I hope they are recreated better than the Cybermen, who I foun a little one dimensional.