Very True Things

Way back when I had a blog, I wondered whether I had backed myself into a corner by giving such high marks to the Doctor Who episodes shown so far. With two ten out of tens already, would I need to go up to eleven?

At first it seemed that The Empty Child might break the scale – it was certainly the most atmospheric and chilling episode since, well, since ever really. But the whole barrage balloon sequence, ironically, kept the episode’s feet on the ground through a combination of sheer ludicrousness (it was up there with the “cliffhanger” from Dragonfire), historical innaccuracy (what’s the point of barrage balloons if enemy aircraft fly beneath them?), and so-so CGI (a series trademark).

The gas mask child; Doctor Constantine’s transformation; the wards full of patients. Great stuff, really scarey, and nicely counterpointed by the nightclub scenes; Captain Jack; Rose’s desire for a bit of “Spock”. All that and a great cliffhanger.

10/10

But that left us with a week of wondering, would they fall into the trap that snared just about every Star Trek two parter? Great build up followed by a lousy resolution?

The Doctor Dances, ever since I’d first read the episode title a few months ago I’d had two images from the novel range stuck in my head. The first was the Seventh Doctor dancing with Death on the Moon on the cover of Timewyrm: Revelation; the second, and this is the image that came to mind more often, was the Eighth Doctor furiously playing the violin in the middle of the world shaking storms in Year of the Intelligent Tigers. Now, YotIT is one of my favourite DW novels of all time, a really wonderful book with a marvellous Doctor, could the TV series produce to match? Could the much earthier Ninth Doctor produce a scene to match the poetry of the Seventh’s or Eighth’s novel highlights?

(After Rose many people made comparisons between Eccleston and previous Doctors, these have all but vanished which is almost certainly a sign that the Ninth Doctor is such a strong character in his own right that people have accepted him for himself. Here’s hoping that David Tennant can create an equally good impression for the Tenth Doctor.)

The episode started with the best pre-titles sequence of the series. Cliffhanger resolved and one liner delivered exactly as desired. Some spookiness and at last much running around corridors in the classic tradition. Guns, bananas, screwdrivers! Then the dance begins.

An interesting little dance, The Doctor, Rose Tyler and Captain Jack stepping nimbly between a crowd of zombies, dancing to two tunes at once. Can they save the earth before the music stops? Will one of the dancers miss a beat of their more personal tune?

But enough with that, for now. I haven’t mentioned Nancy yet in this review, which is a mistake as she was one of the highlights of the episodes. Florence Hoath gave a wonderful performance and I hope that she goes on to do great things. By the way, am I the only person who thinks that she looks like a younger Kate Isitt (Sally from Coupling)?

I totally failed to spot the truth about the boy’s mummy but in hindsight it’s so obvious. I was scared for a moment that the story would end with Nancy sacrificing herself to save the world (as has been something of a trend in the series) and was extremely happy when things turned out differently.

The look of joy on the Doctor’s face as he saves everyone was, to borrow his catchphrase, fantastic! This was just the sort of moment that I had been wanting, right up there with a violin in the storm.

But then the coda, the Doctor actually dances, and despite what he claims he doesn’t really have the moves, does he? Bless him.

10/10

“Father’s Day” was damn good. I had a great big lng review in my head, exploring the episode as a standalone story (brilliant), as part of the ongoing series (for the second week in a row the Doctor was rendered impotent and another character saved everyone), and in the context of fandom (it was the most New Adventures-like episode yet). But I can’t be bothered. If you missed it yesterday the repeat’s on in just over an hour.

10/10

“The Long Game” was a bit of an odd episode – there was some sort of “big idea” concerning media manipulation as a tool to control a population, and there was a also some wonderful character interaction, but was there actually much of a story?

One thing that stood out in this episode, and which is strongly present in the series as a whole, is that the Doctor doesn’t always beat the villain himself, rather he inspires the people he meets to rise above themselves. He opens their eyes and helps them to see that no only is there something wrong, but that they can do something about it. That’s the sort of hero the Doctor is, the sort of hero we all need.

But despite this something was lacking from this episode. A decent explanation of what was happening? (Why did the alien need to be on the station? Why did the banks bankroll the alien rather than just run the plot themselves?) And we’ve had one CGI blob that doesn’t speak English already, do we need another?

7/10

How fantastic was that?

10/10

Oh, you want a proper review?

This was Doctor Who myth building at its best – taking a classic, hell the classic, monster and updating it whilst staying true to the orginal; and revealing more about the Time War backstory.

When I first heard that this episode would feature just one Dalek I thought that it would be acting in an Alien/Terminator/Predator fashion. And it did. This is what the Daleks have always been like in our mind’s eye. But this Dalek was more than that. This Dalek was a character, a real genuine character.

Oh, and the human and Time Lord characters were good in this one as well.

I f***ing loved this episode.

And isn’t it odd when you compare the Science Fiction that was on screen quarter of a century ago and now? Star Wars. Doctor Who. Battlestar Galactica. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. So when can we expect the Blake’s 7 revival?

… and ready for deployment in 45 seconds no less! Was that just a little bit of politics? Oh yes.

Last week I said:

Doctor Who grows up and enters its second childhood all at once.

Which is probably a fairly good reaction to the current state of British politics.

So this week we learnt how to hack into the Royal Navy from a flat on a South London council estate and launch a missile to blow up Number 10 (but it’s okay ‘cos only nasty aliens who want to nuke the planet and sell bits of it as scrap get killed) – This is proper Doctor Who: totally barking mad in a very British way. Love it.

And the stuff about vinegar and Hannibal was a nice reminder that way back in the mists of time DW had been envisioned as an educational programme.

The plot had holes you could drive a starship through but I just don’t care. And next week we get a Dalek. 😀

9/10

Doctor Who grows up and enters its second childhood all at once.

For the first time we see the emotional impact of a companion returning home after some time spent away with the Doctor. And in the same episode we get a bunch of fart gags.

It was the closest so far to traditional Doctor Who – a cliffhanger, an alien running around a hospital, something creepy going on in the corridors of power. And it reintroduces UNIT in a way that will, fingers crossed, please old fans whilst not overwhelming new ones. Likewise the concept of regeneration was subtly alluded to for the first time (handy that, considering).

My one gripe is with the visual aspects of the aliens – dodgy CGI as they emerged from their “suits” and then dodgy rubber costumes. But the Big Ben crash was excellently put together, and the pig alien was so cute.

9/10

Ah, and David Tennant? I think he’ll be good. I’m not worried about him being “too young” (some people are feeling old ‘cos he’s the first Doctor to be younger than them, but I’m safe until next time at least 😉 and he’s five years older than Peter Davison was when he took over) and on the evidence of Casanova and Quatermass he can act well enough.

Doctor Who and Gothic Victoriana have always suited each other and with Mark “League of Gentleman” Gatiss penning this episode we had high hopes. They weren’t misplaced.

This episode felt less rushed than the previous two, maybe Gatiss coming from a comedy sketch writing background rather than a mini-series background like Davies is more comfortable the time limits, or maybe there was simpler fewer concepts and characters to introduce this time around.

Simon Callow was superb as Dickens, as one would expect. I was pleasantly surprised at how little of Callow himself came through in the performance. Ecclestone and Piper continue to delight – so different to what’s been done in the past but still without any of doubt Doctor and companion.

But how post-coital was the scene where the Doctor and Rose, laughing, picked themselves up off the floor as the TARDIS made a bumpy landing? Hmmm.

I was surprised that the Gelth’s plight was tied to the Time War. Will there be any episodes not tied to the arc? Would the Doctor have been less quick to trust them if they hadn’t been refugees from “his” war?

The scene with Dickens and the Doctor in the coach, a not at all subtle dig at the relationship between creators and fans? Oh yes. 🙂

Not quite as “fantastic” as is humanly imaginable but very, very close. 8/10