Easter Sci-Fi Eggstravaganza! Part 1

This Easter 2 of Britain's best loved science fiction series took centre stage in the TV Schedules. On BBC1 last night there was the return of David Tennant in Doctor Who and over on Dave the past few nights we were treated (Well...not sure that's the right word, more on that later.) to 3 new episodes of Red Dwarf.

In the first part of this two part special, I'll talk about the Easter Special and possible 200th Doctor Who adventure; Planet of the Dead.

Heeelp Meeeee!

After the wonderful Christmas special, and with the knowledge that this is the first of the Tenth Doctor's last 4 hours I was looking forward to this, and I must say I wasn't blown away. That's not to say I hated it, but I certainly didn't have as much fun as I've had with most of the Christmas specials.

The main problem I had with the whole thing was a general feeling of pointlessness, grim I know, but there wasn't many plot points that seemed to make much sense or make much "point".

Firstly, a bus falls through a portal to another planet made by some creatures that are about to step through said portal and devour the planet on the otherside. A nice enough idea but I don't think it warranted an hour long episode, or indeed a trip to Dubai. (Especially if you insist on putting CGI on the dunes anyway!)

Secondly the inclusion of UNIT on the other side of the portal gave us a good performance from Lee Evans as the new scientific advisor (Even if I kept thinking that Rob Brydon could have played the role magnificently.) and a nice easy solution to the creatures that fell through the portal, blow 'em up! But once again it suffered from this horrible new attitude from UNIT, at one point the senior officer points a gun at poor Lee Evans and demands he shuts the portal. Why exactly? Can she shut the portal herself once she's lodged a bullet in his brain? It just smacked of a cheap way to stir up a bit of last minute drama, not only that but it wasn't mentioned again! Maybe it's just something she does? "Oh that Captain Magumbo! Pulled out her gun on me the other day and told me to get her a can of Coke from the little shop!" You wouldn't catch the Brigadier doing things like that!

Both aliens were diabolical, maybe if they'd spent less money on trips to Dubai and third buses and more money on CGI and costume the whole story may have been a little bit easier to watch. The fly costumes looked cheap and nasty (for the first story in High Def too! Bet you can see the zip!) and the moment they were attacked by the CGI stingray was atrocious to watch.

So, er, what was good? Tennant, as always. This was clearly an adventure written to give the Doctor one last throwaway "fun" adventure before all the final battle stuff, and he played it brilliantly. As already mentioned, Lee Evans and the ideas were good. It's just a shame that in what should be 4 momentous final hours, we opened with such a light fluffy throwaway opener. The Waters of Mars on the other hand looks fantastic! I think that's the first time I've ever given Doctor Who a kicking on this blog...I need a lie down. I'll be back soon to give my opinions on Red Dwarf: Back to Earth later.

David Tennant is Old News!

Matt Smith is The Doctor!
Doctor Who? Ha, ha, ha.

But yes! The 11th Doctor was announced yesterday during a special edition of Confidential aired on big screens across the country(!)


And I am so glad they've gone with a relative unknown for the role, and he's the youngest Doctor ever he's only 3 years older than me for goodness sake! But yes, perfect choice, a young actor who's taking on a role that will make him one of the most recognisable faces in the country. Having not seen Party Animals (Which I will now seek out) I can't comment on his acting skills, but there is just something about him that fills me with confidence. So here's to 2010!

"The one, the only, and the best!"

David Morrissey, as miffed as I am that he isn't the next Doctor...

It's been three years now since the first ever Doctor Who Christmas Special introduced us to a new Doctor, and here we are, three years on being introduced to The Next Doctor. Sort of, but more of that in a minute.

It's interesting to note that last years Christmas special; The Voyage of the Damned was the first time that Nu-Who left me cold. I just didn't get it, Kylie Minogue was nothing more than a bit of stunt casting whose character was barely fleshed out. (A quick look at RTD's brilliant book; The Writers Tale has him admit that having Kylie on the show made him lazy when it came to characterisation, surely the casting coup is enough?) I didn't really care about the plot, George Costigan was hammy in a way we hadn't seen since Paul Darrow in Timelash and the Queen! Oh the Queen.

But I rather feel that, up until this year, I forgot the point of these Christmas specials. You see, a Christmas episode of Doctor Who, more than ever, is about entertainment. Around 13 million people tuned into Voyage of the Damned and those are the sorts of figures that, in this multi channel age, are not to be sniffed at. So with the mission statement of entertaining as many people as possible for 60 minutes, let's look at this years effort.

I'm going to put my cards on the table straight off; I loved this story, absolutely loved it. But why did I love it?

Davids Tennant and Morrissey primarily, their chemistry sparkled on screen as the "Two Doctors" the scenes between them trying to figure out what was going on were a joy to behold as each man tried to suss the other one out. Was Morrissey a future incarnation? Well of course he wasn't, and I must admit the moment the infostamps were brought out, I pretty much guessed how exactly David Morrissey was the Doctor. That said, when he was playing a caracature of the Doctor, he was spot on, all heroics and bluster and when he eventually reverted back to his true self, he broke my heart. Although again, dead wife and kidnapped son a smidge obvious but hey, we're all a bit sluggish after the turkey and Quality St to quibble right?

Speaking of plot, it seemed slightly odd that once the whole next Doctor storyline settled down, the Cyberman plotline kicked into gear. Of course it had been a constant presence up to that point but there was still very much the sense that these were two plots knocking around in RTD's head that he decided to cobble together.

And actually, whilst we're on the subject of Cybermen, is it just me or would it not have been easier, script-wise to have our universe's Cybermen in Victorian London with some time travel technology? It would've saved us from the rather bizarre plot point involving Cybermen and Daleks floating around in the void nicking stuff off each other. I'd have much rather RTD did away with all that and just gave us the standard alien invasion plot that was ticking away underneath all the wonderful next Doctor stuff.

And this brings us to The Next Doctor's ace in the hole, the Cyber-King! And kudos to The Mill because it looked incredible.

That sound you hear is Character Options rubbing their hands together...

Of course, it was utterly insane, but this is what RTD era Who does so well. I would've settled for the Cybermen enlisting a bunch of workhouse children to build a giant Cyber-King to invade Victorian London without any of that holes in the universe, nicking stuff off the Daleks exposition.

In summary then, The Next Doctor not only managed to entertain as many people as possible, but it chucked in a lot of nice nods and references (I'm looking at you 10 Doctors montage!) for us diehard fanboys who haven't been won round by the Christmas episodes in the past.For my money The Next Doctor is the most exciting, most entertaining, most bloody Christmassy Christmas Special we've had yet. The only bad thing is that we've only got 4 hours of the wonderful David Tennant left....

"But we had the best of times."

Hey, SPOILERS!

That Russell T Davies is nae feart! Journey's End is perhaps his ballsiest script yet, poking the hardcore fan squarely in the eye right from the get-go. I must admit something before I continue this review and say that I didn't see Journey's End on first broadcast on account of being in Shetland, one pub did have it on though and there was a brief moment where I had to decide whether or not to ask them to turn it off or turn it up!

So with that out the way let's take a look at poke in the eye #1:- Namely the "Regeneration". The press have been speculating wildly over whether or not David Tennant would be staying in the role past last weeks cliffhanger. I never once for a moment thought he was going to fully regenerate into the 11th Doctor. And I'm not entirely sure what the hell everyone's problem is about him healing himself and siphoning off the energy into the hand in the jar. After all, the Doctor is about to regenerate in Part 3 of The Caves of Androzani but pauses so that he can return to save Peri. So is it too much to ask us to believe that if he's got some matching bio-data to hand (hem hem) then he can halt the regeneration?

The hand and the regeneration energy, of course, gave us one of the other things some fans might find upsetting, but I'll come to that in a minute. As I said last week, I was sorely disappointed with last years finale and the distinct lack of confrontation between the wonderful David Tennant and John Simm. (Something, rumour has it, we might be getting next year.) Thankfully we had plenty of confrontation between Tennant's Doctor and Julian Bleach's rasping, chillingly portrayed Davros. Not only that, but instead of a CGI house-elf Doctor like last year, RTD gave us 3, yes 3! Doctors for the finale. Loved Tennant's portrayal of the slightly unhinged half-human version of the Doctor, and Catherine Tate's DoctorDonna was a joy to behold. Granted the whole thing was an excuse to satisfy those real people watching the show who want the Doctor and Rose to be together, dropping them both off on Bad wolf bay (The Doctor really is a dick, dropping the woman he's supposed to be in love with in Norway? How's she supposed to get home?) to start a new life and grow old together, personally I give it six months.

Lost in Translation much?

I had no problem with this, it seemed right somehow and is, I suppose the only real resolution to the Doctor and Rose's relationship. Rose wasn't great this week, liked her approval of Martha but apart from that she was in full-on lovesick puppy mode which just made me queasy. Talking Tylers; the appearance of Rose's mum holding a massive gun was ridiculous and her presence in the episode overall was bordering on the uneccesary.

Hands up if you have nothing to do this week...

Overall though, all the characters did seem to fit together for the climax rather well, highlighting the idea of fashioning weapons out of people and how maybe the Doctor hadn't taught his companions so well afterall. And as for that scene in the console room, never before have I been simultaneously grinning and cringing at the same time! Triumphant stuff.

The defeat of the Daleks was far far too comedic and totally jarred with the way they'd been portrayed up to that point. They were really properly menacing again and all the rolling them about the floor was just ridiculous. The genocide by clone-Doctor was pretty good though. Speaking of genocide; German Daleks? A step too far? Discuss.

And finally, and most sadly of all "the death". Davies has pulled this trick before and I really wished he had the balls to actually kill someone close to the Doctor this time round, afterall that was the whole theme of the episode. (It was very much focused on performance over plot.) Instead he retconned Donna, erasing her mind of all her adventures with the Doctor and turning her back into the irritating, gobby temp we met way back on Christmas Day 2006. Donna will be sorely missed by me, I really grew to love her as she evolved through the past 13 weeks and she is by far the best companion the show's had since Sarah Jane Smith. No more Tate, I expect, also means no more Cribbins, who excelled himself in those final scenes bringing actual actual tears to my eyes. ("She was better when she was with you." "I'll keep an eye out for you son...")

Overall, it was a slightly too long, (15 minutes of saying goodbye does not justify a longer timeslot ) big ballsy round-up of Russell T Davies' brave new era of the show, light on plot but made up for in sheer spectacle and great performances from our 2 regulars and the villain. Farewell to Rose, and to Donna, and heres to 4 (Or is that 5?) exciting special episodes from Russell T Davies and David Tennant.

The Geeky
"I'm half-human, isn't that wizard." - Further derision towards that plot twist in the 1996 TV movie.

"Do you come from an old welsh family?" - Pointless and unnecessary reference to 2005's The Unquiet Dead but never mind!

Davros and Sarah Jane's discussion of the events of Genesis was just ace

So that's it, the last regular episode until 2010. Christmas sees David Tennant reunited with David Morrissey and the Cybermen. I mean, that's got to be good....right?

"She wouldn't let me have one, she says they're naughty...."

Spoilers ahead, watch The Stolen Earth then come back.

Bernard Cribbins hot webcam action XXX Now wouldn't that be a special 50th Post Bonus?

No, of course not, it's that time of year again folks! Russell T Davies brings his version of Doctor to a close in barnstorming fashion chucking in every character from the Nu-Whoniverse he can manage to take on the might of Davros and his new Dalek empire. Everything about this episode screamed "End of an era" right down to the audacious cliffhanger (More on that later) and added to the threat posed by the Daleks. Everything was on a much bigger scale than usual finales, we had an army of Daleks descimate New York, (Though was it necessary to have Michael Brandon for such a small role?) and a complete lack of the Doctor cos he couldn't find where the Earth had buggered off to. So it's down to this merry band to contact the useless bastard.

Brady Bunch Revival Back On...

Loved these scenes between all the characters of the Whoniverse, especially the flirting between Sarah Jane and Captain Jack, and I'm almost certain Captain Jack and Sarah Janes young son Luke! Even more entertaining to watch was Roses chagrin at not even being mentioned or included in the big plans drawn up by the Doc's former companions. Whilst all this is going on, the Doctor takes Donna to visit the Shadow Proclamation, mentioned waaaay back in the first ever episode of New Who and to be honest they were waaay dissapointing. Lacking menace or authority, even the Judoon who I absolutely love were sorely underused. (A 12" Judoon doll adorns my window sill) That said, they do declare war on the Daleks so maybe we might be treated to the full wrath of the Shadow Proclamation next week?

The Shadow Proclamation: Surprisingly well lit

Other victims of underuse due to the sheer amount of shit-going-on was Michael Brandon as General Sanchez. Exterminated too soon after giving Martha the Osterhagen(?) key, which, presumably is German for "Reset Button". No, I'm being cynical, the only things we've properly seen destroyed were the Valiant and New York, two things that don't really affect either Doctor Who or its spin-off shows so there may not be a need to reset everything by the end of this story. Speaking of New York and Daleks, it was refreshing to see them being ruthless bastards once again, after their disappointing appearance in last years Daleks in Manhattan. I mean they kill an 8 year old boy for goodness sake! On a family show! On a Saturday!

Presumably this is all down to their renewed strength courtesy of their creator Davros, played to perfection by the utterly sublime Julian Bleach, channeling original Davros Michael Wisher to chilling effect. Hopefully we'll get some proper confrontation between him and the Doctor next week, though I did love the Doctor's: "After everything that's happened, after all we've been through, I only have one thing to say to you; Byeee!"

Steven Hawking's really let himself go....too offensive?

So with the Doctor back in action and after some comical first impressions from Gwen about the Doctor ("He's a bit nice, thought he'd be older.") and Donna about Captain Jack things were set up for a heart warming reunion between the Doctor, his former companions and, of course Rose. But what's this coming round the corner? A Dalek? An extermination? The Doctor DYING? Not entirely sure about Captain Jack teleporting, gun raised and ready to kill the Dalek but what can you do? And then Russell T Davies pulls off, perhaps the greatest cliffhanger in Doctor Who history, by having the Doctor REGENERATE? Either this is the best kept secret in entertainment and we've got a new Doctor next Saturday or there's something else afoot. No matter what it's a bloody audacious move and a whole country must have just had a collective "Wha...tha...Fu?"

All in all, The Stolen Earth is the biggest, boldest opening episode of a season finale 2 parter ever. Whether or not Journeys End will live up to the promise is anyones guess but I hope to god it does as there's still a bitter taste in my mouth over the mistakes made in last years Last of the Timelords. Roll on Saturday!

In an episode as busy as this, I thought I'd just list the other things I quite liked about the ridiculously exciting opening episode:

• Bernard Cribbins continues to delight and entertain, lightening the tensest of scenes.
• "My vision is not impaired" another weakness of the Daleks solved.
• Ianto, lightening the tense scenes that Bernard Cribbins wasn't in.
• Billie Piper, back to her best after last weeks weak performance.
• Catherine Tate, her performance goes from strength to strength, just what is her fate?

The Geeky:

• Calufrax, one of the stolen planets from classic serial The Pirate Planet is mentioned.
• As is Klom from Series 2's Love and Monsters
• And the Doctor mentions a plan to move Earth from long ago, but it couldn't be the same perpetrators this time. Daleks in Dalek Invasion of Earth or Timelords in Trial of a Timelord?

So will next week open with James Nesbitt off to battle Davros? Which loyal companion will die? And is Harriet Jones seriously the Red Dalek? Can't wait to find out!

"...what could possibly go wrong?"

Ah yes, that old pre-titles chestnut.
Ah yes, that old pre-titles chestnut.

As hackneyed as that opening was, tonights Doctor Who is quite possibly, a masterpiece.
As hackneyed as that opening was, tonights Doctor Who is quite possibly, a masterpiece. (Okay, I'll stop the Lesley Sharpe impressions.)


Strong stuff coming after a Moffat 2-parter (the second part of which, if I'm being honest left me a little cold and underwhelmed.) but RTD OBE really pulled it out the bag with a claustrophobic, creepy as hell, quite obviously money saving episode. And, much like Silence in the Library/The Forest of the Dead played on a homespun fear as for all it's Sapphire waterfalls and "Big Space Trucks" it's really a story that plays on our Post 9/11 fear and suspicion regarding air travel. The scenes where the passengers turn on the Doctor, and eventually themselves were beautifully played. Interestingly, the Doctor is not looked on as the great hero who will save them all this week his "alien" nature resulting in him being ostracised from the human group and seen as a collaborator with the strange alien force. The very fact that noone trusts him leaves him utterly powerless and it is incredible to witness.

Lesley Sharpe, who I find kinda unsettling anyway, was fantastic as Sky Silvestry the possessed passenger who starts freaking everyone out and turning them all against themselves. And these moments were genuinely distressing.

For, I think, the first time since The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit it was left pretty ambiguous as to what the hell this alien threat was. And to be honest it's something I have no problem with, it's refreshing to see the Doctor get into a situation he doesn't understand, a lot of the time he can come across as an arrogant all knowing smug prick, so how great it was for him to admit he had no idea what the hell happened. David Tennant flew solo for the majority of the episode, giving Catherine Tate a break before she takes centre-stage in next weeks Doctor-lite episode (More on that in a minute.) but when she does turn up at the end, we feel, much like the Doctor does a sense of relief and of being so glad to see her.

Midnight is exactly the reason I love this show, how it can be a sci-fi epic set in a space library one week and a distressing, claustrophobic tale of mistrust and fear the next. The fact that it's all taking place in a family show is all the more incredible, proper drama at 7:10 on a Saturday night. Long may it continue...

The Geeky:- David Troughton who played Professor Hobbes is the son of Second Doctor Patrick and has appeared in the series three times previously in The Enemy of the World, The War Games and The Curse of Peladon. Talk about nepotism! Of course not, he's a talented actor and was wonderful, especially when he had to make the decision over whether or not to kill the Doctor. There was something slightly uncomfortably United 93 about that whole moment but there you go.

Next week:- The finale starts here! Donna meets Rose and never meets the Doctor?

"Donna Noble has left the library...."

Just who the hell is River Song?

One of the things that Doctor Who does really well is take something normal and everyday and make it utterly terrifying. Steven Moffat has become the poster boy for such a practice, playing on the idea of monsters under the bed in his Season 2 episode Girl in the Fireplace, making statues scary in the peerless Blink, and now he takes darkness, shadows and those flecks of dust you see in sunbeams and turns them into something truly terrifying. Put that man in charge! Oh...right...yeah.


So, after a message on the Psychic Paper, the Doctor takes Donna to the biggest library in the universe which is a whole planet of books. However the library is abandoned and they're warned to stay out of the shadows. All sounds simple enough, but in the hands of Steven Moffat it becomes much more complicated and exciting. As if the pirahnas of the air and the multiplying shadows weren't bad enough, we have 4,000 missing people (The answer to that probably lies in the fate of Donna...) the relationship of River Song to the Doctor, (So far the messageboards are arguing over whether she's the TARDIS, Captain Jack, A future regeneration of the Doctor, The Doctor's wife, the wife of a duplicate version of the 10th Doctor, Rose (!!!!), and Martha (!!!!!!!)) and exactly who the little girl is and how she's controlling the library from modern day England. All these questions will no doubt be answered in the second part on Saturday and I simply cannot wait after that cracker of a cliffhanger. Surrounded by darkness, the Vashta Nerada closing in and the Doctor realises exactly what's happened to Donna.

Face? Bothered?

Good cast, Steve Pemberton as the unlikeable (and surely the next casualty?) rich man in charge of the expedition to the library, Colin Salmon being pretty damned enigmatic and the little girl are all excellent. Not entirely sure about Alex Kingston, she isn't demanding my attention as much as she probably should seeing as she's one of the many mysteries in the Library.

Moffat's done it again basically, no doubt scaring kids across the country with a multi-layered tale that bodes extremely well for the future of the show. Doctor Who is in very very safe hands.

The Geeky:

Once again there's a reference to the last Classic Doctor Who serial Survival: "Don't go out on Sundays, Sundays are boring..." Not sure where these Survival references are going, Cheetah People in the finale? Rona Munro writing an episode? People looking too much into things?

River Song has a squareness gun, the gun that Captain Jack uses in The Empty Child.

"Now we're in trouble..."

I've got a big weapon for you to hold Billie....fnar fnar

You said it madam. As entertaining as Eurovision was (More on that tomorrow...) there was a feeling of emptiness about this Saturday without any new Doctor Who. In their infinite wisdom, the Beeb decided to make us all feel a little bit better by showing us what's to come in the next 6 episodes and....oh my.

Much of the trailer focused on Rose and the Daleks, with a few other little hints on the finale. The bees aren't the only things that are disappearing apparently, with Donna's grandad noticing the stars going out. Not only that, but the Doctor appears to travel through the time vortex! This killed the Indestructible Captain Harkness so how does the Doctor survive without regenerating?

There was also a lot of material from the eagerly anticipated Steven Moffat 2-parter with some rather awesome looking Spacesuit monsters.

Ambassadors of Death much?

Amongst other things there was the TARDIS on fire, Donna telling the Doctor that Rose is coming back, someone who looks like Donna in some very bright light, and Rose warning Donna that the darkness is coming. That and we get a lot of Rose doing her very best Buffy the Vampire Slayer routine....oh....and is this him?

All in all it's looking like a pretty exciting 6 weeks that'll no doubt build on the strongest series since the revival...and herald and ending of sorts to RTD's era.

"I can't wait to see where his extraordinary imagination takes the Doctor"

The words of a Mr Russel T Davies there, who and indeed what is he talking about? In what is perhaps the least surprising news in the world, the MediaGuardian website today announced that Steven Moffat (For it is he!) Is to succeed RTD as show runner when Doctor Who returns proper in 2010. Terrific news, perhaps we'll get a touch of the Hinchcliffe era "Hammer Horror at dinnertime" approach? Of course I do worry that, much like Rusty, the quality of his work will be diluted by the amount of scripts and work he has to do and let's face facts, the man can hardly knock out a script like Blink every week can he? Best of luck to him, he's going to need it...because there are some messageboards out there that will now be expecting even greater things from his Fourth Series story Silence in the Library which airs after Eurovision.

In other irritating scheduling news, the BBC are moving The Apprentice to Tuesday opposite The F word and Britains Got Talent. This is because England are playing the USA....Fuck Me, that will be exciting.

Flapper or Slapper?

Doctor Who has tried out and out comedy a few times in it's 45 year history. The first story being the classic Hartnell serial The Romans by Donald Cotton, which I absolutely adore as a story, a lot of fun and very different from the stories both preceding and following it. Then of course we had bona-fide classic City of Death, perhaps one of the best Who stories of all time. And now this generation has The Unicorn and the Wasp. Only, the comedy of the episode is based more in irritating, self referencing gags involving Agatha Christie titles, and Donna giving Christie the ideas for Miss Marple and Murder on the Orient Express, ha-bloody-ha. Still, after 3 years of practically the same formula (Doctor and companion meet famous historical figure and fight aliens.) it was nice to see them try something a little different with the Celebrity-Historical episode.

The Doctor, Donna and David Tennant's dad have tea on the lawn

Traditionally speaking, (Traditionally! Check me! It's only been running for 3 bloody years.) such an episode is reserved for the early stages of the series, and with this episode one of the first to be filmed, it certainly felt like an episode that should have been earlier in the run. As a character Donna didn't feel quite as strong a character as she has been in the stories preceding it. Though I suppose after 5 really strong episodes dealing with some fairly serious issues (slavery, altering the course of history, kick-ass sexy as hell illegitimate daughters...) there is a need to give us something a bit lighter.

Anyway, what the hell was it all about eh? As I say it's nice to see the team tackle something a little bit different, casting the Doctor and Donna in a murder mystery at a country house complete with lead piping, libraries, family secrets and Agatha Christie. Obviously this came as much delight to Donna and the Doctor before being scolded for taking delight in tragedy...a recurring theme? All in all it was a typical "abandoned child seeks revenge" murder mystery with a sci-fi twist; said abandoned child is actually shapeshifting wasp.

Fenella Woolgar was excellent as Agatha Christie and her scenes with the Doctor and Donna were an absolute delight, though I'm not entirely sure why the alien jewel suddenly linked itself to her, the explanation for its murderous rampage was that it absorbed one of her books not her whole imagination and back-catalogue. This seemed like a rather tacked on piece of nonsense so that we can have an explanation for Agatha Christies famous disappearance and memory loss. Good supporting cast also helped to support a rather paper thin premise with Who veteran Christopher Benjamin in a brilliant role as the wheelchair bound old General with his own reasons for staying in the chair. Felicity Kendall was brilliant as always as she recounted her time in India where she fell pregnant with alien wasp. A nice little scene at the end for the Doctor discussing how we'll be remembered after we're gone, is this going anywhere, could the Song for Ten be coming to an end?

Mad, fast-paced, and a bit too smart-arse, but Gareth Roberts' Unicorn and the wasp sadly failed to live up to his superior mad, fast-paced, bit too smart-arse Shakespeare Code of last season. No new episode this Saturday, on account of Eurovision, which I suppose will be covered in this blog. There will be a trailer encompassing the remaining episodes airing just before Wogan cracks open his first bottle of Wine, a glimpse of Davros perhaps? Guess we'll find out!

Terry's also excited about what we might see in the trailer....dirty boy

The Geeky:- Christopher Benjamin has starred in 2 earlier Doctor Who stories: Inferno and The Talons of Weng-Chiang.

Chief Inspector John Smith of Scotland Yard has been used by the Doctor before in Ghost Light and I'm pretty sure The Talons of Weng-Chiang.

Glimpse of a Cyberman chestplate, just to remind us all in the run-up to Christmas. Also references to previous historicals The Unquiet Dead and The Shakespeare Code.

Pram-Face TARDIS

If you haven't seen this weeks Doctor Who (And I don't even know how many people read this, let alone how many people read it and watch Who.) you better just bugger off right now. Yup, that's right, sod off, cos otherwise I'm gonna spoil the hell out of The Doctor's Daughter for you.

The Doctor, Martha and Donna are held hostage by fans angered by the thought the Doctor can be a father

In an episode that packed so much, almost too much into 45 minutes, it's rather difficult to discern where to begin. So let's begin with the storyline, which, much like last years Utopia was merely window-dressing for a much bigger happening in the Whoniverse. That's not to say that it wasn't an interesting one, it was classic alien warzone stuff with a lovely little twist at the end when Donna revealed that the war has only been going on for a week! That gave a little twist to a well-flogged horse. So the big happening? Something about a daughter?

I actually had to grudgingly applaud Stephen Greenhorn for his sheer cheek by having the introduction of the Doctor's daughter a rushed scene involving the Doc and a cloning machine. Because let's be honest, RTD was never going to have the Doctors original daughter and mother of Susan turn up. David Tennant was utterly fantastic this week, and his scenes with the gorgeous, sexy Georgia Moffet as Jenny were funny, emotional and utterly heartbreaking at various points throughout the episode as the Doctor began to realise that she really was his daughter.

Helping the Doctor realise this was the wonderful Catherine Tate (She was robbed! ROBBED! By Ant and Dec of all people? Thieving Geordie Bastards.) as Donna who had some brilliant scenes making the Doctor realise that Jenny was indeed his flesh and blood, two hearts and everything! Of course, they were never going to let her live were they? RTD seems intent on bringing back and killing Timelords, and I'm sure it was no accident that Jenny's death scene echoed the death of the Master at the end of last season. And the Doctors reaction was utterly shocking, aiming a gun at the head of the wonderful General Cobb before pointing out the difference between him and the Doctor. "I NEVER WOULD!" is perhaps one of my favourite bits of Nu-Who, once again, the script focused on the idea of soldiers, and the Doctor as a soldier. This included much reference to the Time War, and I can't help but think this is a theme that may come back in the finale. But that's not for months yet! So yes, a breakneck 45 minute emotional rollercoaster, a story that echoed The Wrath of Khan; a terra-forming device, a sacrifice and a surprise resurrection at the conclusion. Yeah Jenny lived, either in a sort of regeneration or as a result of the terra-forming device who knows? And to be honest, who cares? She's still alive, off out there in the universe growing up to be her father and being really bloody sexy. Fuck Torchwood, I want a 13 episode series of Georgia Moffet doing backflips. I suddenly need a cold shower.

"Hello Dad..."

But before all that, let's talk about the concluding part to Series 4's cracking Sontaran 2 parter.

Pretty damned obvious cliffhanger solution to open with, as Donna's mum does what the Doctor and Donna fail to do...smash the bloody window! After that though, this story just had it's balls out all the way in a delirious mix of action sequences, some quality CGI, references to both old and new Who and...well, I'll come to that cheeky little foreshadowing in a minute.

Mmmmartha

Glad to see that Helen Raynor is a far better writer than I gave her credit for, opting to have the Doctor realise Evil-Martha was a clone right from the get-go. It was really nice to see Freema get quite a lot to do this week, playing up the now standard 24 role of the insider feeding information to the villains...I kept expecting Colonel Mace to yell; "UNIT has been compromised, initiate a lockdown!"

Tennant was on top form tonight, and his scenes with Colonel Mace reminded me a little of Pertwee and Courtney, echoing that idea that both men admire each other very much even though they don't necessarily agree with their actions. And it was nice to see the world genuinely in peril, with shots of Sydney and New York covered in the same fog. Though to be honest, we could've done without the now traditional news coverage scenes...and since when did Kirsty Wark host News 24?

The reason behind the Sontarans poison gas plot was a pretty neat one, even if the Doctors solution to it was a little rushed, and the eventual sacrifice more than a little bloody obvious. The battle scenes and rising death toll were, again, pretty brutal for Saturday tea-times but you wont hear me complaining. A quick word to how utterly brilliant Christopher Ryan was, his voice, his mannerisms, the brilliant prosthetics job completely made you believe he was General Staal.

Once again, Catherine Tate was on top form, and her scenes with Bernard Cribbins are utterly brilliant and move me to tears every bloody time. The final one with him sending her off to have adventures amongst the stars on his behalf left me with a lump in my throat. Can we have Cribbins get a credit in the title sequence? Speaking of Donna, she had another brief encounter with a certain blonde girl trapped in another universe, as Rose appeared on the TARDIS monitor.

Again, well done to Rusty for keeping schtum on this one. Are we gonna get more Rose appearances before Episode 11? And what exactly are they building to?

Overall, it was typical second part stuff, lots of action, a surprisingly well realised resolution and a surprise cliffhanger at the end, as Martha, Donna and the Doctor were all transported somewhere for a meeting with...The Doctors Daughter. Is that the sound of an internet messageboard in meltdown?

The Geeky:- Finally the new series acknowledges one of my favourite ever characters; The Brigadier! "Sir Alistair is a wonderful man, but unfortunately he's detained in Peru." Not for too long I hope!

Rather hilarious reference to The Empty Child when the Doctor put on his gas mask.

The Valiant from last years season finale made a welcome return.

"In the 70's....or was it the 80's?"

History has told us that the first 2-part story of a new series of Doctor Who usually breaks the run of pretty good episodes that precede it. Take the first series, we had the "Oh my god it's back!" break-neck excitement of Rose, then the grand spectacle of The End of the world and the beautifully written Victorian adventure The Unquiet Dead. New- is great! Surely they can do no wrong? Then we got Slitheen in Downing Street, fart gags and an overwhelming sense that perhaps this 21st century incarnation wasn't quite as invincible as we first imagined. The trend was repeated with Series 2's disappointing return for the classic Cybermen, rebooting them completely. And Series 3 gave us a rather disappointing adventure with the Daleks. So it was with a sense of trepidation that I sat down to watch Helen Raynor's (The writer of said Dalek story) The Sontaran Stratagem.

Thankfully my concerns were pretty much unfounded. Although it's hard to determine exactly how good a 2-parter is until its conclusion, the opening episode, although slower than the fast paced episodes that preceded it, it builds the suspense nicely for an exciting conclusion. Anyhoo,
let's talk about the episode. It was great to have Freema back, and her scenes with the Doctor and Donna were wonderfully written and acted. As a fan of the classic series UNIT, the military organisation that Martha Jones now works for, I'm not keen on the rather negative portrayal of an organisation that gave us, in my opinion one of the greatest periods of Who-History. Still, young Private Ross Jenkins and his partnership with the Doctor was one of the best things in the episode, just wanna hear a mention of the Brigadier!

Once again the show went out at 6:20, and we had some more unsettling scenes, not quite as gruesome as the Ood-transformation last week, but the clone must have scared the piss out of some kiddies watching.

This is still going out at 6:20 right?

Donna's return home was a little....distracting, from the main plotline. Though it did give us an excuse to see more Bernard Cribbins, who was placed in mortal danger at the climax! Crikey! The relationship between Donna and her grandad is by far the best family relationship of the new series.

The Sontarans were also back, another fine creation from the late, great Bob Holmes. Raynor captured their love of war really well, and I look forward to seeing much more of them in the second part. Not sure about their All Blacks routine at the climax.

Bringing me to the bad things about this weeks episode.

First of all, Freema seemed to be let down once again. Her appearance in Torchwood reduced her to being constantly put in danger, and this was, sadly, repeated in The Sontaran Stratagem by having her captured and...cloned. So we have an evil double of Martha going about, much like a sub-par Only Fools and Horses Christmas special. If there's a "I'm the real Martha, kill her!" moment next week I may put my boot through the telly.

Also, the cliffhanger...the Sontaran ships flying down to Earth, the Doctor running out on to the street as they filled with gas and going "It's the whole world..." That's as maybe, but it does only seem to be taking place in a supermarket car park and a street in Chissick.

The Geeky: Nice reference to UNIT dating (Are the Pertwee years set in the 70s or 80s?) as the Doctor himself couldn't remember exactly what decade he worked for UNIT.

An argument over how to pronounce Sontaran, echoing a discussion between Terrence Dicks and original Sontaran Kevin Lindsay.

Looking forward to next week as we seem to have bucked the trend of dodgy first 2-parters. That said, evil Martha, whilst being pretty sexy does give me cause for concern.

Enjoy Your Ood!

I will, thanks. Yes it's another exciting adventure for Doctor Who. (Seriously, is it too much to ask that this is said before every episode?) And once again, it was very refreshing indeed to see a setting that didn't evoke 21st Century Cardiff with perhaps the most convincing alien planet of the series to date. Not much competition I'll grant you...it's like the third one we've had!

NOT a mountaintop in Cardiff

The brief for this episode, I believe, was for new writer Keith Temple to explore exactly why the Ood were "born to serve". Of course, they weren't! Us nasty humans did it to them and made them into our slaves! Not so much a subtle allegorical tale as the episode kinda beat us around the head with the message. the Doctor asking Donna who she thought made her clothes etcetera.

That reminds me...I really need to cook that mince before it goes off

Still, it was a hugely entertaining episode directed by the superb Graeme Harper. I don't know if it was Harper's presence or what but Tim McInnery's Mr Halpen reminded me a lot of the villain in Harper's first story The Caves of Androzani. McInnery played his villain so brilliantly and with real relish, not entirely sure about the science involved in his comeuppance and it wasn't particularly well explained by the Doctor. Tennant was okay this week...his catchphrases, jaw jutting and teeth baring are starting to wear a bit thin, but his "Aaaah let 'em!" was perfect. Catherine Tate, again was pretty damned good and did some more cry-acting (is that a theatrical term?) as she realises that it isn't all wonderful travelling in time and space. (Didn't she do that last week?)

Boo...

So another week, another cracking guest cast and another pretty damned good episode. Series 4 is shaping up very very nicely indeed.

The Geeky:- Nice references, again, to a Hartnell serial, this time The Sensorites who are the Ood's neighbours. That's two Hartnell references in 2 weeks...Mechanoids in the season finale?

Next Time:- Martha's back! Yay! UNIT's back! Yay! The Sontarans are back! Yay! Helen Raynor's back! Oh...is she?

Gift suggestions for the Krondas in your life....

Oh lord.

As if my drink problem, DVD buying and impending release of Grand Theft Auto 4 weren't enough to threaten my already unstable bank balance, Character Options have just released promo pics of their new Classic Doctor Who action figure range. Bear with me folks, I'm about to get gee-kay. (Actually, the phrase gee-kay made me sound a lot more geeky...)

So, pretty obviously, we get the classic Tom Baker action figure. There's also a figure of lovely man, but not the best loved Doctor; Colin Baker. Not as much loved he may be but his action figure is a beauty! Also available is a Peter Davison one, sans cricket ball unfortunately. There's also, again, rather obviously, a set of "Classic Daleks" featuring a Dalek from their original appearance, the Jon Pertwee serial Planet of the Daleks and old favourite, "Insert Best Story Hyperbole Here" Genesis of the Daleks.

Glad to see that they're going for some other lesser known favourite monsters for the first wave of figures. There's a Sea Devil, a Zygon (Bring 'em back!), Magnus Greel and Mr Sin (Right, though, I'd have preferred an actual size homicidal Mr Sin ventriloquist dummy.) and also two of the Voc Robots from the truly wonderful Robots of Death.

Hopefully this first wave is a huge success, some early wishes for wave 2 are a Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart action figure, the much rumoured Tenth Planet Cyberman to be a reality. Oh, and a Jon Pertwee action figure with a "Venusian Karate" feature, involving some sort of chopping arm.

That's not all however. Each figure comes with a part of the giant K-1 Robot from Tom Baker's debut serial, which was imaginatively titled, er... Robot. Another bloody reason to spend a heap of money. Until next time, faithful reader, by which time I may have flogged a kidney, or taken to selling my body down the harbour.

"I'm waving at fat!"

The Doctor is also "devastated" by the Torchwood finale

He's back! David Tennant was on fine form as the Doctor in the opening episode of the new series of Doctor Who entitled Partners In Crime. He had some wonderful scenes, the silent reunion with Donna being a highlight, but one of my favourite moments was when he begins explaining the Adipose necklace only to look up and remember the TARDIS is empty. Awwww, bless his heart, he needs a mate.

You aint mating with her sunshine! Fine by me

She's back! Catherine Tate reprises her role as Donna, and she was excellent. Most of the laughs in the silent reunion scene were down to her wonderfully over the top miming. She handled the serious scenes brilliantly as well, her relationship with her grandfather (played by Bernard Cribbins) is probably the best familial relationship of this new family orientated Who.

But what of the plot? Fairly run of the mill Doctor Who series premiere stuff really. Lots of running around, an exciting lift sequence, over-use of the sonic screwdriver. The fact this is a light season opener, the social commentary about diet pills seemed a little under-developed. Still, it was good fun, and once you realised that the Adipose monsters weren't actually villains, their cutesy look worked fine. After all, they aren't the evil Spidery children the Doctor killed at Christmas, these are innocent kids, fair enough the manner of their birth kills people, (In a fashion that wasn't nearly as gruesome as it could have been...damn you 6:20 timeslot!) but that's more the fault of the sinister Miss Foster.

Look, seriously, Doctor Who is a legitimate grown up entertainment show okay?

Foster was played by a not too bad Sarah Lancashire, not quite as menacing as she probably should have been, and the bit where she was beamed up was quite frankly laughable. Still, it was entertaining enough, and the "friend" dynamic between The Doctor and Donna is so refreshing, and I think it's going to be a fun 13 weeks in the company of these two.

Unlike previous series, Rusty hasn't crowbarred an "arc-word" into the episodes. This series he says that an element from each of the episodes will be brought forward to the season finale. And this episodes element featured a character we haven't seen for a while interacting with Donna. The room I was in erupted, primarily because we didn't expect them so soon!

Next week: The Doctor and Donna visit Pompeii on Volcano Day, will they alert the locals of their impending fate? Will Davros show up? Will the BBC stick it on at a decent hour? And is it seriously going to be flanked in the schedules by two John Barrowman shows?

The Doctor: Its a new show where John Barrowman pits kids against adults!
Donna: Isn't that Are You Smarter Than A Ten Year Old?

Oh, quick notes about last nights Torchwood season finale. Whilst being very dramatic and emotional, with the deaths of no less than two of the regular characters, the plot and supporting cast didn't really seem to warrant such a crushing blow.

Eastenders should fucking sue

The evil brother gambit is such a tired television cliche, 24's critically derided sixth season featured one, and in last years Who finale, the Doctor shakes off Martha's suspicion that the Master is his brother with "You've been watching too much television..." So why, pray tell, did Upper Boat decide to give us one in Torchwood? And, why, pray tell did they hire such an absolutely atrocious actor to play him? He just didn't seem threatening in the slightest, making his devastating actions against Cardiff and the Torchwood Hub a little "meh". And James Marsters! He acted Barrowman, Myles, and the guy playing Gray right out of the park and would've been the best thing in it if it wasn't for the fantastic performances by Burn Gorman and Naoko Mori.

There, Torchwood's over until next year, and now we have some proper Who-niverse based entertainment!

He's Back...and it's about time too

Auditions for David Tennant's replacement get underway

Yep, that's right, Alan Sugar is back! (You thought I was gonna talk Doctor Who series 4 didn't you? Well I will in a minute.) Brand new series of The Apprentice kicks off at 9 on Wednesday and I cannot wait! I think last year marked the first time I sat down and watched the whole series from the start, and boy howdy (Did I seriously just use the phrase boy howdy?) it was exciting, still can't believe Simon won, and no doubt he'll make an appearance this series, unless he ended up in a stationary cupboard rocking back and forth in his own piss soon after starting work for Sir Alan. So what to expect this series? Another Katie Hopkins? Another Rory? Altogether now: "I am Yorboss"

Oh alright, you twisted my arm, let's talk Who. Series 4 begins 5th April, the day after the Torchwood season finale and a no doubt memorable appearance on Jonathan Ross by David Tennant and Catherine Tate.

Keep back! Or she'll do 30 minutes of "Am I Bovvered?"

So what to expect this time round? I'm gonna go all out and say; pretty much the same as bloody always! Knockabout opening episode, historical episode, old enemy from the shows past, an "emotional" episode, a famous historical figure, one with very little Tennant "action" and another old enemy in the finale. Granted it's bloody worked wonders for the past 3 years but I think next year should give the production team breathing space to maybe figure out a new format for 2010's series 5. But that's ages away! There's still 13 episodes before the Doctor buggers off into the TARDIS and pops in to see us at regular intervals next year, so what's lined up?

Billie's Back!

But presumably she wont be getting up to any of this nonsense, this aint Torchwood y'know! Rose comes back in episode 11 for no doubt an epic finale which by the looks of things (and a cheeky little teaser trail) will feature Daleks! So if Rose, Captain Jack et al and the Daleks aren't a secret, then what is? Cough. Davros. Cough.

Something happens to "change" the Doctor

Stephen Greenhorn has said his episode (That's episode 6 fact fans) involves something that's going to change the Doctor. Exactly what that is we're not exactly sure, but rumours abound that it involves this woman claiming to be the Doctor's daughter! The cheek! Hang on! That is the Doctor's daughter!
The Doctor's son is also playing a role this series, as David Troughton (Son of Patrick)marks his third(?) appearance in the show in episode 12; Midnight of which not much is known.

The Sontarans Are Back!

Last seen in the horrible, ultimately pointless multi-Doctor story (It's not an anniversary year! You can't go doing multi-Doctor stories willy-nilly!) The Two Doctors, the Sontarans return to take on the Doctor, Donna and a returning Martha (Hooray! You wont catch her whoring herself in some low rent rubbish on ITV2, just on some low rent rubbish on BBC2 instead. Just kidding Freema, I loved you in Torchwood.) Of course, their return is written by Helen Raynor who kinda fudged the Daleks last series, will she do the same to the Sontarans? I bloody hope not.

The Doctor meets Agatha Christie! And goes to Pompei!

Our celebrity historical this season takes place much later than usual, as the Doctor and Donna meet Agatha Christie in a Donald Cotton style comedy episode....hooray. Much less comical will be James Moran's The Fires of Pompei in which the Doctor and Donna travel back to the day of the eruption and have to decide whether or not to let them know of their impending fate. I'm running odds on Tennant saying the line "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..." at 1/1.

Steven Moffat's writing a 2 parter!

The best writer on the show is writing a two part episode involving some sort of space library and no doubt monsters that will reduce the kiddies into shuddering wrecks. Expect him to be called the new Robert Holmes or the new showrunner at least once...unless, horror of horrors he drops the ball.

So there it is, a few things to get excited about this season, and seeing as you can't really get excited about Steven Moffats big face, or indeed Catherine Tate, and seeing as Torchwood's still on TV, here's a picture of Eve Myles to end with.

Any excuse really...