Doctor Who series 4 (Spoiler warning) July 7, 2008
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Reviews , 2 commentsOver the last three months, I’ve developed a routine for Saturday nights. Go out, do whatever, come home and watch Dr Who on the BBC’s iplayer. It being Saturday night, this wasn’t me at my most sober, and was rarely at 6.30 or whatever random but early time Auntie decided to broadcast.
And, I have to admit it, I’ve also developed a slightly unhealthy obsession. I remember watching Dr Who as a child, in the Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker years, and enjoying it, but details are long gone. When it reappeared in 2005, I saw the occasional episode at friend’s houses, but as my only TV is an unreliable freeview usb-card and recording doesn’t work I missed most. And then, about a year ago, the iplayer was launched and BBC3 reran all the David Tennant episodes. I was hooked.
I realised just how hooked when I came back from holiday the other week to discover that the previous episode, Turn Left, wasn’t on the iplayer and, to make matter’s worse, a well-meaning but foolish friend managed to tell me about the cliffhanger in The Stolen Earth before I had a chance to see it. Not good.
And, as with all the new series, I’ve loved this one. Sometimes it’s wildly silly (the giant wasp), sometimes it’s funny (the miming when the Doctor and Donna meet again in Partners in Crime), sometimes I wonder if it really is family viewing (bondage references in Forest of the Dead), sometimes its just plain sad (the death of River Song and, far worse, the not-death of Donna). We’ve had tight theatrical drama in Midnight, and a mega-effect space romp in the finale, with romance, comedy, and bleak post-holocaust drama in between.
Catherine Tate was so much better than I’d expected. Her comedy show didn’t do it for me, and the character in the Christmas Special was a bit too brash for my taste, but by the second episode, she’d settled down into something far more interesting. What forty-something single woman could fail to identify with Donna? Okay, I have a much better job and my mother is a LOT nicer, but the idea of finding yourself exploring the universe, saving planets and doing something useful for a change, all in the company of a bloke like that has a definite appeal and its nice to see that its not only open to athletic teenagers. Unlike Rose and Martha who always seemed out to impress, she kept a human frailty. She couldn’t cope with the tragic song of the Ood, was scared silly at the idea of whacking a Sontaran, doesn’t always say the right thing, but somehow finds it in herself to keep up with the Doctor. Catherine Tate’s ability to get all that together, and handle the outrageous amounts of running, wins her a place as the best companion of the new series.
Among his many talents, David Tennant is a master of the closeup which tells an unspoken story. As Davros torments him with his record of sending people he meets to their deaths, or in Midnight when he is rendered speechless by the alien and threatened with being thrown out of the spaceship, all the regret or fear is there, without being melodramatic. Perhaps its in keeping with the idea of his character getting over the trauma of the time war, but he too seems to have settled down, at least in his negative emotions, to something more subtle and appealing.
Most of all the series is just stonking good fun. It may not always be consistent, the technobabble is just babble, and sometimes the dei ex machinis are just a bit too unlikely, but who cares? Without being preachy or too perfect, it manages to uplift, entertain, and look fabulous.
Now, we’re faced with an hiatus next year, with a series of four specials as well as the one at Christmas where we’re promised David Morrissey and Cybermen. I’m sure Russell T Davies has far better ideas than I do, but, just in case he’s scrounging around, here’s what I’d like to see:
- A companion who lasts, perhaps introduced in the specials and carried through to series 5. Or at least once Steve Moffat takes over, someone signed up for both series 5 and 6. I can’t take any more endings with a melancholy Doctor alone in the Tardis.
- Time tourism somewhere English children don’t study in school. Perhaps ancient China, or ancient India. Or visit Byzantium during the reign of one of the Empresses (I bet they’re brilliant!)
- New monsters, rather than so many recycled ones. I love Daleks. Especially Dalek Caan. I want a remote control one, with a real gun that can fly but they’ve been done to death now – literally, at least twice. Cybermen are okay, but have been overused as well. The Sontarans were probably this series weakest episodes.
- Rather than aliens, how about tackling our own threats to the Earth, particularly climate change, and without the Doctor just sucking all the carbon gases out of the atmosphere or something. The Doctor could save the planet by really showing everyone the consequences of it all, and then giving us a device that will create power, but only about 40% of what we use now. Maybe that really is the only hope left for the planet.
- More characters of the calibre of River Song and Wilfred. Interesting, slightly eccentric characters as foils to the interesting, slighty eccentric Doctor. Either of them would be wonderful companions.
- Bill Nighy as the next Doctor. I fancy an urbane, slightly louche Doctor, but Trainspotting’s Robert Carlyle would be taking it too far.
Finally, this obsession has led me to a couple of good Dr Who blogs, if you’d like to indulge a little more. Behind the Sofa reviews every episode very thoroughly, sometimes pulling in continental philosophy and often quite ready to point out flaws. Flickfilosopher is a science-fiction oriented film-review blog, who’s author is considerably more obsessed than I, and her Dr Who postings are selfconfessed love-fests.
Caecilius est Amicus Doctori Whoensi (or something like that) April 13, 2008
Posted by cathrynsymons in : Reviews , add a commentDoctor Who once again takes me back to childhood. Not hiding behind the sofa, entranced by Jon Pertwee and terrified of the Daleks. My father let me watch Hammer House Horrors at the age of nine, so Daleks didn’t cause many nightmares.
No, last night’s episode, ‘The Fires of Pompeii’, takes me back to 3rd form Latin, and the orange primers of the Cambridge Latin Series. Caecilius, Metella and Quintus all meet the Doctor in ancient Pompeii as the volcano explodes. Someone is having fun.
This episode was vintage Dr Who. Lots of running around, really evil monsters (who might well send a child to the safety of the sofa), and the Doctor fighting them off with a water pistol. Throw in a whole lot of angst about interfering with timelines and a few new seeds to the series story arcs – disappearing planets, ‘She will return’ and another mention of the Shadow Proclamation to set the Dr Who forums (okay…fora) alight. Series 4 is shaping up to be very good indeed.
Dr Who Christmas Special December 26, 2007
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Reviews , add a commentWARNING – Dr Who Christmas Special Plot Spoiler.
Take a dash of the Poseidon Adventure, throw in a pop princess, mix it all up with the strikingly handsome and surprisingly single tenth Doctor and you have the Doctor Who Christmas special, and possibly a camp rival for the wizard of Oz.
When we left the Doctor at the end of the last series, he had been abandoned by his companions and the Tardis had just struck the intersellar cruise ship Titanic, in orbit around Earth on Christmas Eve. He quickly repairs the damage, and decides to join the party. Waitress Astrid Peth, played by Kylie, takes his eye immediately. He moves in, telling her “you dreamed of another sky, new sun, new air, new life, a whole universe teeming with life”. Taking her on an excursion forbidden to staff, to exotic and alien London below, she is hooked. To which I, and half the female population of the UK (plus a fair few of the rest), can only say, I should be so lucky! David Tennant seems to be reprising his earlier role as Casanova, travelling in time and toned down for family viewing.
Of course, disaster strikes and the ship starts to plunge towards the Earth, threatening not only those on board but all life on the planet. The Tardis is lost in the accident, which turns out to be less of an accident than it seems. And now it is up to the Doctor, his new companion and an assortment of other characters to save the day.
One of the reasons why Doctor Who makes good, often inspirational, viewing, is the sympathy he shows for ordinary, humble people, bringing out the best in them. The overweight factory workers who have won their tickets and are scorned by other passengers rise to the occasion, while the nasty, mobile-phone toting trader lives up to very little. In an unusual twist for a disaster movie, it is not the good who survive. Who said the universe was fair?
Clive Swift, famous as the henpecked husband of Hyacinth Bucket, is the ships historian, Mr Copper, with a BA from Mrs Golightly’s Happy Travelling Univerity and Drycleaners and a knowledge of the Earth which extends to the Space Shuffle, and the UK going to war every year with Turkey and eating its inhabitants. He gives the Doctor the chance to show just how British this show really is when he talks about Great Britain, Great France and Great Germany. “No, its just France and Germany. Only Britain is Great.”
The only recognisable alien is Bannakaffalatta (try ordering that at Starbucks) a cyborg rambutan who is another of the good guys sacrificing himself to save the day. Sticking with the Doctor when the going gets tough may not be the best move, particularly if he looks at you in that ‘trust me’ way and promises to get you out safely.
Of course, it wouldn’t be Doctor Who without an ‘I’m going to save her’ moment and some frantic electronics. This time a world tour and new album get in the way and the Doctor can’t bring back his new friend, though they do get one more snog before she completely disappears. And no, she is not the spirit of the Tardis, despite Astrid being an anagram.
This is light, family entertainment for Christmas evening. Its not Doctor Who at its darkly dramatic best, and Astrid is no new Rose, nor even as well developed as Catherine Tate’s Donna on last year’s special. They do have fun with Christmas, and it is tense and exciting, with wonderful sets and some nice touches. The theme tune has been rearranged and is more upbeat. And the Doctor thinks New Zealand is beautiful. The near miss of Buck House, and the Queen waving as they go past is a little toe-curling though.
Although it sits outside the normal run of Doctor Who, there are nods to continuity. Everyone has left London, fearful of what will happen this Christmas, although the Queen has stayed behind, God Bless Her. Given that we had the Sycorax two years ago, and the Racnos last year, she may not be the sensible one. But if the Doctor’s life is a series of anecdotes underpinned by the bigger story arcs of the main series – Rose’s story, Martha’s, even Saxon – this seems to be on its own.
Old school fans, fundamentalist Christians and the odd Titanic survivor may not like it, but its good clean fun and far more right for Christmas than incestuous adultery over on Eastenders.
If you live in the UK, you can watch it online here before New Years Eve.
