Planet of the Ood

Sometimes, when you least expect it, there's a Doctor Who story that reminds you of the reasons you love Doctor Who in the first place. Often it isn't one of the more highly praised classics. Often it's a surprise.

Planet of the Ood is wonderful. There I said it.


It might not be perfect but it is pretty much forty-five minutes of delight that reaffirms (for me) the Doctor's central core. His belief in the 'rightness' of things, as Colin Baker once delightfully put it.

The gradual realization of what the Ood really is, the way they're treated and what is done to them and the Doctor - and Donna's - righteous indignation are laid out superbly. Each extra step more horrifying than the last. When you realize what is done to them in order to domesticate them it is genuinely shocking.

Plus the moment when the Doctor lets Donna hear the Ood's 'Song of Captivity' is heart-breaking for both us and Donna. So painful that she asks the Doctor to stop it. That little scene is a brilliant (almost) two-hander between David Tennant and Catherine Tate.

On the subject of songs, I can't stop singing Catherine Tate's praises. There are classic series companions that I have a soft spot for Ian and Barbara, Jamie, Sarah Jane, Leela, Romana II, Peri, and Ace but these three stories have pushed Catherine Tate to the top of one of those pointless lists of 'Best Companions'. She's a proper human being seeing what's out there in the Universe. She's learning the good and the bad. And Catherine Tate is just an astonishingly good actress. I could go on and on about this. To the point of utter tedium. If there is a companion by which all others are judged for New Doctor Who it is Donna. Give me more of companions like her. Less fantasy, more reality. Less mystery, more truth.

The story is helped by a good solid performance by Tim McInnerny as Halpen who is the villain of the piece. Another illustration of how human beings can be corrupted by something as banal as money. Even in the 42nd century. So corrupted that he can't see - or chooses to ignore - the horror of what he is doing. The banality of evil in a pin-striped suit and worrying about sales figures and hair loss. His fate is awesome. The other minor 'jobsworth' sidekicks all get their comeuppance too but their punishments are more Old Testament. Halpen's punishment is an Ovidian metamorphoses type of vengeance.

I love the Ood too. The way that some thought has gone into their culture. Even if that forebrain, hindbrain and other brain thing doesn't make a great deal of sense (to me at least). Perhaps there's a biologist out there that can tell me such a thing is possible. But forgive me for some mild skepticism.
Their voice - the work of Silas Carson - sits on the creepy edge of subservient so when they go 'bad' they are genuinely pretty scary.

There's politics in here too: on the human race - explorers or virus; on capitalism and slavery, "Who do you think makes your clothes"; on the dangers of certainty and on animal rights. It's all there. Although picking politics out of Doctor Who is a bit like picking the bits out of the Bible to justify a view. We always miraculously seem to see the bits that suit our political views and miss the bits that don't. So being an old school left-winger I'm bound to see these things. But hey, this is my blog and I'll see what I like.

It's also - like a lot of Doctor Who - a hymn to action. The thing about the Doctor is he doesn't just get cross and write a rude blog or send a sarcastic letter via Friends of the Ood, he gets off of his arse and gets involved. Doctor Who is nothing if not an almost 50-year advert for direct action, even if the Time Lords don't like it. But there I am again with the politics.

To cut a long blog short. Loved it. Absolutely.

PS I was so desperate to crowbar a 'seeing the Ood for the trees' joke but couldn't do it. So I'm throwing it in here for someone to pick up & run with. Good luck.

The Fires of Pompeii

I really enjoyed this. More so than I did the first time of watching actually.

First of all, it looks great. Filming at the Cinecittà studios gives the external scenes a hook into a reality that the story benefits from. Then the Pyrovile's look great and genuinely rather threatening - even if they can be seen off with a bucket of water - and the final explosion of Vesuvius has to be one of the best special effects sequences the programme has ever produced.

Second, it's got Catherine Tate in it. I'm sure there are people out there that don't like Donna Noble. Those people are wrong. She's the perfect companion for the Tennant's Doctor, even better than Rose. Yes, she's occasionally loud and mouthy but she also asks interesting questions, tries to understand people and she won't let the Doctor get away with fobbing her off. And the moment she puts her hand on the Tenth Doctor's and the Pyrovile control 'button' so that the Doctor doesn't have to take the responsibility for all the death that follows is one of the most magnificent Doctor - Companion moments in the series history.

The thing about Catherine Tate is that she seems to bring out the best in David Tennant too. The scenes between the two of them debating who lives and who dies are excellently played, adult - in the best sense - and moving. Donna's appeal to the Doctor to 'just save someone' is lovely.

There's also a rather nice bit of dialogue between the two of them that explains how the Doctor (and I assume other Time Lords) see the universe: fixed points and non-fixed points. It makes you wonder how the Doctor functions without getting dizzy at all the alternatives that he must get to see when looking at everything and everyone but it's nicely done.

I love the music in this episode too. Especially for the scenes within the Temple of the Sisterhood (who bare a resemblance to the Sisterhood of Karn outfit wise. Perhaps there's an intergalactic, cross-temporal shop for people to buy bulk outfits: Cults R Us or something. Anyway...)

A great guest cast helps too. Whilst Phil Davis as the seer Dextrus isn't asked to do much except scowl and grump he does so with style. Peter Capaldi as Caecilius (which must be a nod to the Cambridge Latin Course surely) is also excellent even if again the character isn't given much more than one dimension.

A nod to for Victoria Wicks as the High Priestess (who I'd never have recognized as Sally Smedley from 'Drop the Dead Donkey'); Francesca Fowler as Evelina and Tracey Child as Metella. Obviously, this blog can't go by without mention Karen Gillan's first Doctor Who appearance as one of the Sisterhood. So there. I've mentioned it.

O and Phil Cornwell gets to do his Phil Cornwell thing, which is nice.

A couple of quibbles: Donna and the Doctor's escape from the exploding volcano is a tad unbelievable, which I know seems harsh based when reviewing a programme featuring time machines, Time Lords, Pyroviles, etc but you know I'm an incoherent perfectionist.

To conclude a good story, which might have been improved with stronger supporting characters. The actors themselves do a lovely job. It's the writing that lets them down a bit in my view. But plot-wise - miraculous escape aside - nicely done.

PS Love the Water Pistol stuff.

Partners in Crime

That was fun.

And possibly the best first episode to a new Doctor Who season. Even better than Rose I think. Certainly better than New Earth.

Plus Donna is back and Catherine Tate is absolutely brilliant. After all these mysterious women of recent seasons, I miss Donna. She's an ordinary woman who can cope with extraordinary things. She doesn't pine after the Doctor. She's just one of us, with superb comic timing and great chemistry with David Tennant from the off.

They've turned her down a bit since The Christmas Invasion, which helps I think. But I can't say often enough how much of a breath of fresh air Donna is.

She also seems to bring the best out of David Tennant too who is rather good in this episode, where the threat never seems as terrible as we are meant to think it is. Perhaps because the Adipose are so cute and partly because the one person we see die by Adipose, poor old Stacey (Jessica Gunning), pops out of existence in a less than terrifying manner.

The tone of the episode is pretty light, with the exception of the little bit at the end where a familiar face appears (briefly). Which I think is ideal for a first episode of a new season introducing a new companion.

The main villain is Ms. Foster (Sarah Lancashire) who is an intergalactic super-nanny right down to the 'serious spectacles'. Seeding the Earth is her plan. The Adipose are pretty much innocent as they're just children. How much their parents know is moot but they're certainly ruthless enough about loose ends to eliminate Ms. Foster, which is possibly the only off-tone moment in the whole episode. Sarah Lancashire does a fine job with the part, which isn't surprising really. She certainly seems to be enjoying herself.

There's obviously a completely different set of gun control laws in the Doctor Who version of the UK as Ms. Foster has two security guards happily swinging around huge guns with impunity, which I think is a little unlikely in the office of a diet company. However, that's just one of those minor little quibbles that I find I can pick at without getting too upset about.

Also bonus points for the introduction of Bernard Cribbins as Wilfred Mott (Donna's granddad) who is absolutely brilliant. Plus Jacqueline King does well as Sylvia, Donna's Mum, even if she is a bit of a soap opera nagging wife/mother cliché for most of it.

There's not much else to add really except to say that I haven't enjoyed an episode of Doctor Who so much for ages.

Here's hoping for more of that in Series 4.

Doctor Lad

Firstly let me say that I enjoyed 'The Crimson Horror' for the most part. Nicely atmospheric and some good performances but...and this is a big but...when did the Doctor become just another 'bloke'. When did he go from no hanky-panky in the TARDIS to Rose Tyler to sex pest?

Because that's kind of what he's becoming. Lots of touching, without consent. Snogging Jenny, without consent.

When did he become the kind of bloke that looks at a woman's arse and gets all flustered by it? The Doctor is not, should not and can not be 'just another lad'. What next beer, football and porn mags? (And I say that as a man that likes beer and football.) Has the Doctor got a Nuts subscription?

Now I'm aware that when Doctor Who came back it had to be a more emotionally connected programme. That's one thing. But recently he's become an intergalactic stalker and frankly, it's all a bit weird.

Women are not all puzzles to be solved by clever men. Though recent companions would appear to make you think otherwise.

Now I know some of you may think I'm over-reacting. I can see the defense for the Doctor's non-consensual kiss of Jenny: it's a spontaneous reaction to him being rescued but that's still wrong because 1) it's not consensual 2) he knows she's a lesbian and 3) she's a married lesbian. What's next the Doctor suggesting a quick shag to knock Jenny out of the phase she's going through? That she just needs to the right 'bloke' to sort her out.

I can hear the whinges about me being tediously politically correct.

And perhaps I am but when I were a lad I looked up to the Doctor. He was a paragon of virtue. Doing the right thing, even if it cost him everything. His companions were his friends. Yes, there's an element of 'for the Dad's' about the some of the female companions throughout the series but it wasn't the Doctor's job to comment on that. He wasn't standing there looking at Leela's arse. (Mainly because she'd have stabbed him to death with a Janis thorn). Or standing behind Zoe playing with his sonic bloody screwdriver.

Basically, when I was young the Doctor's behavior had an effect - even if it was just a small one - on how I saw the world. So what lessons would a young man (or young woman) watching the present series be picking up?

To paraphrase a friend, we are a long, long way from the Doctor's "You're a beautiful woman, probably" to the present day.

So to end this rant. Please stop it. The Doctor isn't a lad. He isn't 'just another bloke' trolling around the Universe picking up puzzles to solve and arses to letch at. He's an alien. A man from another planet.

And to quote the First Doctor he should always remember that he is "A citizen of the Universe and a gentleman to boot."

Voyage of the Damned

It's a Christmas special, so prepare for an over-dose of twee. Or at least that's what seems to become the pattern. However, maybe I'm being a bit harsh. Or not.

The problem is with Voyage of the Damned is that it is pretty forgettable. Even as I write this bits of this story keep drifting away from me like icebergs, which is ironic considering all the Titanic references.

If truth be told the only thing I really remembered about this from the first time was Kylie Minogue in her maid's outfit. Sadly I think that might end up being the only thing I remember this time around.

Basically, Voyage of the Damned is the Poseidon Adventure meets Robots of Death in space.*

Viewed as a kind of homage to the festive disaster movie and it is OK. Truth be told OK is pretty much the best description I can think of for this story. It's not awful. The acting is mostly up to snuff, even if most of the cast are clichés or designed purely to make a point, although I George Costigan's Max Capricorn definitely skirts the edge of ham but I suspect he was asked to make him like that so the blame lies elsewhere I think. And could Rickston Slade (Gray O'Brien) be any more of a capitalist cliché?

However, Slade is there to make a point. That the Doctor doesn't get to choose who lives and who dies. Mostly in this story the nice people die, although Midshipman Frame (the lovely Russell Tovey) and Mr. Copper (Clive Swift) also make it. It is Mr. Copper who makes the point about how if the Doctor could choose who lived and who died it would make him a monster. However more importantly you'd think the Doctor would have stopped promising people that they'd come out of everything alive by now. It's a recipe for unhappy memories.

Let's face it the Doctor must be suffering from a pretty terrible case of survivor guilt and you start to wonder whether perhaps underneath the series adventurous veneer there isn't a much darker and more terrible programme about the survivor of genocide and war with a death wish who is desperately trying to distract himself from the horrible memories. Unfortunately with each adventure, despite his constant victories against terrible odds, the list of the dead grows longer and the Doctor's guilt goes deeper.

Fortunately, no one in their right mind would make a series as bleak as that so we get the fun and frolics instead, which is as it should be.

And in typing that paragraph almost everything about that story is lost: Geoffrey Palmer gets to be his lugubrious self in New Doctor Who has appeared in the Classic series, Clive Swift is good as Mr. Copper also adding himself to the list of actors who've done the Classic and New Doctor Who. There's a really awful Allons-y-Alonso joke. Bannakaffalata (Jimmy Vee) is rather sweet and is used to make some rather superficial but politically correct comments about prejudice. The special effects look great.

Anything else.

The robots appear to have been ripped right off of Robots of Death, but that's OK. There's a rather sweet over-weight couple Morvin and Foon van Hoff (Clive Rowe and Debbie Chazan) who are clearly too in love and happy to survive the story to the end. There's a nice little bit of stuff involving Kylie's...sorry Astrid's shortness when she gets to kiss The Doctor. The Doctor kisses a ghost in a rather disturbing bit at the end revolving around trying to save Kyl...Astrid.

And that's about all.

It's not bad. It's not great. It's not particularly memorable. It's a bit cheesy.

It's a Doctor Who Christmas special.

Enjoy


*For full enjoyment please read that sentence out in the style of the person introducing Pigs in Space: A demonstration

Utopia-The Sound of Drums-Last of the Time Lords

And so it ends. Series Three. With an epic three-part adventure in time and space and it starts off brilliantly with Utopia where the Doctor, Martha, and a re-appearing Captain Jack find themselves at the end of the Universe.

Here the scattered survivors of humanity - plus some sharp-toothed cannibals known as Future Kind - have gathered with a view to reaching Utopia, where the last stand against the end of the Universe is rumoured to be taking place. There's a rocket but Professor Yana (Derek Jacobi) is having trouble getting it ready for launch.

Fortunately, the arrival of the Doctor and crew kick start the project and the rocket. It also starts off a whole bucket load of trouble because Professor Yana has a watch. A similar watch to the one that the Doctor had in Human Nature-Family of Blood and Martha has noticed it.

It's Martha's reaction and the steady drip-drip of words from the past that make Professor Yana pay proper attention to the watch. And before the Doctor can reach him the Professor opens the watch...and The Master is reborn.

Derek Jacobi's performance as Professor Yana-The Master is one of the best by any actor in the entire history of Doctor Who. His transformation from Yana to The Master is done almost entirely with the eyes. It's wonderful to behold. Professor Yana was friendly, slightly dotty and rather charming. Jacobi's Master would have been made one hell of an opponent for the Tenth Doctor but he's shot by his assistant Chantho (Chipo Chung) and is forced to regenerate. Into John Simm.

The Master nicks the Doctor's TARDIS, which - we will discover later the Doctor managed to semi-knacker before disappearing. Unfortunately, that dumps the Master on present-day Earth. Where he's off to do devious Master-ish things. Starting with taking over the world. I sometimes think of the Master as Brain from Pinky and The Brain: "What are we going to do today Brain?" says Pinky at the start of every episode. "The same as we do every night. Take over the world." The Master's persistence in the face of constant defeats is almost cartoonish. Now he's back there's no end to his evil.

Anyway, I digress. Utopia is a brilliant episode, perfectly paced by director Graeme Harper and superbly acted. It does a great job of re-introducing the Master, tying up some of the seeds sown in earlier episodes and launching us into the final two episodes.



The Sound of Drums is effectively an entire episode devoted to explaining what the hell's been happening since the Utopia, what the Master's plan is and getting the Doctor to the point of almost total defeat.

There's some rather silly stuff in here and Simm's performance occasionally goes over the line into ham, especially some of the grinning killing moments. Which makes the tone of this episode a bit weird. An example is the mass murder of the entire cabinet and the brutal dispatch of journalist Vivien Rook (Nichola McAuliffe) done almost as comedy.

But I realized when discussing this yesterday if there weren't these more 'light-hearted' scenes and the Master's was deadly serious then The Sound of Drums might have turned into one of the darkest and bleakest episodes in the programme's history. There's so much horror going in on here and at the end of the episode, the Doctor looks utterly defeated. And the Master's decision to decimate the Earth - in its very specific original meaning - is pretty nasty even by his low standards.

By this point The Master had managed to make himself Prime Minister, acquired a wife called Lucy (Alexandra Moen), round up Martha Jone's entire family (except Leo), set up a telepathic satellite network to help him hypnotize the Earth, set up an arrangement with The Toclafane', turn the TARDIS into a paradox machine, built a 'laser screwdriver', used Professor Lazarus's technology to enable him to age the Doctor....say what you like about the Master but his work ethic is pretty damn impressive.



It's not looking good. But Martha has escaped and the Doctor's given her a job to do.

Oh and there's a couple of rather lovely scenes: the Doctor's discussion with Jack and Martha about Gallifrey and who the Master is and The Doctor and The Master's telephone conversation. Which shows what Simm's capable of when he dials it down a bit.

The Last of the Time Lords is set a year later. The aged Doctor is being kept as a pet by the Master, Martha's family are working for the Master as servants/slaves, Lucy Saxon's gone oddly stoned and Martha's been traveling around the world on a mission. Now she's back.

Mostly this isn't bad considering the whole purpose of the episode is to get us to the end when the Doctor undoes the Master's plan and wins through. There's a couple of false dawns. Jack gets killed again. The Doctor gets aged to the point at which he turns into a sort of wide-eyed wrinkled little thing. Like Gollum but with Deputy Dawg's eyes.

Martha's plan is explained to Professor Docherty (Ellie Haddington) and Thomas Milligan (Tom Ellis). One of whom, of course, betrays her to the Master. The other one dies. Martha is captured and it all looks like it is over.

The Master has destroyed the weapon that she was sent to find by the Doctor and is about to die. But it's all an enormous double-bluff. As Martha explains to us (and The Master). The weapon was a bluff. Instead she's been travelling the world telling everyone about the Doctor and the Doctor's been...well I won't spoil it all for you.

Suffice it to say the end is the Doctor - like some kind of fairy - gets believed back to normal. It's the Doctor as Jesus. He gets to fly (and I have a friend who has a very convincing explanation about Time Lords being able to fly) and forgive The Master for his terrible crimes, which is rather magnanimous of him all things considered.

The Toclafane are banished back to the paradoxical future when the Paradox machine is destroyed by Captain Jack and we go back in time a year to the moment just after The Master has executed the President of the USA. Nothing ever happened but Martha, the Doctor and her family remember. So does the increasingly lop-sided Lucy Saxon.

Just when it looks like the Doctor is about to settle down somewhere with the Master Lucy shoots him. And in a bizarre fit of peak - cutting of his nose to spit his face on an epic scale - he dies, refusing to regenerate. The Doctor weeps.

Phew.

Martha stays behind. To look after her family and because she's realised that she can't waste her life trolling around the universe with a Doctor who can't - or won't - love her. It's a sensible decision and surprisingly realistic one for Doctor Who.

But it isn't over. At the end a hand picks up The Master's ring from amongst his ashes. This is Doctor Who The Brain...sorry, the  Master can always come back.

So three episodes. It's pretty well-paced and directed. The acting is pretty much up to snuff and there are some great scenes throughout but it fades a bit as we build towards the final acts and frankly the Doctor as Jesus is rather syrupy, not to say silly. I wish the end had been more rooted in something real (which I know is massively contradictory when I'm talking about a science-fiction series but to (sort of) quote Walt Whitman, "Do I contradict myself. Very well then I contradict myself. I am large, I contain multitudes).

Simm's Master is a grower. Far better when calm and quiet than exuberant and grinning. It's a good return for the Master and it is nice to have him not be the cool cat with the beard for a change. He's manic. He hears the sound of drums. He's definitely one roundel short of a full TARDIS but he's pretty good in the end.

And what of Freema Ageyman's Martha. She's had a season and although I don't think she's the best actress in the world she's had her moments and it will be interested to see who they replace her with. But first Kylie Minogue.

Blink

After the double-whammy of delight that was Human Nature - The Family of Blood we get Blink, which is equally wonderful but in quite a different way.

A little more light-hearted and Doctor lite the episode is driven by a brilliant performance from Carey Mulligan as Sally Sparrow. I'm not sure where on her rise to Hollywood glory Mulligan was at this point but you can definitely spot an actor destined for good things here. Sally Sparrow will probably go down as the Doctor Who companion that never was, which is a shame.

The story also introduces us to the Weeping Angels, a set of creatures so gobbledygooky that their very existence is dependent on not looking at each other. They're 'quantum locked' apparently. That probably means something to someone but like a lot of Doctor Who science sounds a lot more convincing when delivered by a good actor at ninety-five miles an hour - for which I salute David Tennant once more. If you stop to think about it for a moment then it becomes less convincing, like government economic policy.

The Weeping Angels are nicely sinister though, which is great and Blink as a whole is nicely atmospheric. The Weeping Angels method of 'killing' people is also rather civilized if a little confusing. No one really 'dies' but their potential...creatures of the abstract....blah-di-blah. You know it looks less fun written down than it does on screen.

Blink is great fun though and a highlight of Series Three so far. Not THE highlight, which I reckon is Human Nature-Family of Blood but still pretty damn good.

It's also another Moffat script, which means playing around with the concept of Time travel and how time isn't quite as straightforward from the outside as it is from the inside. No Time's Arrow here, more Time's Wibbly-Wobbly Ball of Rubber Bands. Moffat is certainly a clever and thoughtful chap but I don't know it feels a little like cheating sometimes. Like the Sonic Screwdrivers 1001 get outs for the Doctor Who writer the 'leaving notes for yourself' school of Time Travel just doesn't seem very Doctor-ish to me. I like it when he has to respond to everything on a wing and a prayer, not a wing, a prayer and a series of helpful hints a future self has provided for him.

I am aware as I type all those words that I'm doing a bit of time traveling of my own, criticizing the over-whelming Moffatness of the future seasons rather than talking about Blink. Blink is also rather different in that it is Sally Sparrow who helps out the Doctor with his future and so feels slightly less convenient than they sometimes do.

Partly I'm having a problem padding this out. It's always harder to write these blogs when you like what you've seen and I do like Blink a lot. I like Sally Sparrow. I like Larry Nightingale (Finlay Robertson) who makes a good foil for Sally. I like the melancholy ending to DI Billy Shipton's story. I like the pace and direction by Hettie MacDonald. I like the 'let us scare the kids' post-story coda. I like the story's lightness of touch. I like the design of the Weeping Angels. I like the line about chickens.

So you see it's hard to say much else. I do miss the Doctor, but this would have been a much different tale if he'd been there and Sally and Larry wouldn't have had quite so much room to breathe as characters.

Good stuff.