Doctor Who (2005) s04e01 – Partners in Crime

Despite the previous season taking place over four or five days (as they play out in the show’s present), this episode doesn’t rush Doctor David Tennant reuniting with perfect companion (and pre-last season companion Freema Agyeman) Catherine Tate. Tate was the previous year’s Christmas special; a fill-in between Billie Piper and Agyeman.

But now it’s all about Tate. Since we’ve last seen her, she’s started investigating the paranormal and strange in hopes of happening across Tennant again. Not agreeing to be his companion on his immediate rebound from Piper was the biggest mistake she’d ever made.

The show takes its time bringing Tennant and Tate back together, with director James Strong and writer Russell T. Davies doing a great job dragging it out. Tate’s current investigation—which Tennant happens across—is a miracle diet pill. There’s a nice montage of them each investigating before they happen across the same lead at the same time and quickly get found out. It’s a great scene.

Possibly villain Sarah Lancashire’s best scene. She ought to be a better villain but there’s something shallow about her character. The alien plot involves repopulating a global population from human fat. Lots of adorable fat aliens. Not the best CGI, but cute CGI. The show leans it on it hard.

We also get to meet Tate’s supporting cast—I can’t remember if mom Jacqueline King was in the previous Christmas special, which involved Tate’s wedding—so mom King and granddad Bernard Cribbins. Cribbins is all heart, King is another annoying companion’s mom, though a little different than what we’ve seen before.

Maybe because we don’t see King and the Doctor together… it’s just King being crappy to Tate.

The show doesn’t really pretend there’s much question about whether or not Tate’s ending up on the TARDIS, but there’s some lip service to Tennant having previous romantic disinterest issues with Agyeman, which is weird. We never got the same clarification on Piper? Does the show ever do a good companion-transition?

Speaking of companions, though there’s a big companion-related surprise at the end of the episode. Presumably it’s going to be important later in the season.

Doctor Who (2005) s04e00 – Voyage of the Damned

Voyage of the Damned opens with a repeat of the previous season’s cliffhanger, the Doctor (David Tennant) on his space and time vessel, the TARDIS, and it crashing into something and a Titanic life preserver landing on him. Some of it’s reused footage, but I think once we get the third, “What,” exclamation, we’re into the Christmas special proper.

Turns out it’s not the boat Titanic but an intergalactic space liner in town to visit the Earth. The Titanic naming is just a coincidence, it’s not from a planet with much understanding of Earth, just some vague, comically entertaining details. Because even though Damned is about the possible devastation of the entire planet, it’s still the Christmas special. Lots of easy laughs and easier smiles, especially once the special embraces its Poseidon Adventure remake status, which is unexpected. Tennant leads a ragtag bunch of survivors through the bowels of the ship to save the day, with very special guest star Kylie Minogue playing the companion interest.

She and Tennant are really likable together, so it’s kind of a bummer when once the special gets around to clarifying she’s not going to be the new companion but wouldn’t it be swell if she were. Given Tennant seems entirely all right post-companion breakout with Freema Agyeman in the last season.

There’s a lot of action and a lot of effects. The action’s usually better than the effects.

The supporting cast is fun or better—Tennant’s gang of survivors are rich guy Gray O'Brien, tour guide Clive Swift, alien Jimmy Vee, and then working class marrieds Debbie Chazen and Clive Rowe. They’re all at least likable at one point or another, but often usually better. Often because of Minogue acting off them. Even though her character seems a tad shoehorned in, Minogue is a lot of Voyage’s glue, at least as far as the sympathy goes.

Russell Tovey is okay as the one sailor who realizes the captain, a decently stunt cast but thinly written Geoffrey Palmer, is up to some shenanigans.

It’s got its bumps, but Voyage is a perfectly solid outing. Though the show could at least pretend it misses Agyeman.

Doctor Who (2005) s03e05 – Evolution of the Daleks

Last episode I went in pretty hard on the British actors playing Americans but I think I may have emphasized accents too much. Hugh Quarshie’s accent isn’t bad. His performance is bad, his accent is fine. Whereas Andrew Garfield’s accent is bad and his performance is bad.

Though even Garfield seems like a strong supporting player when taking main guest star Eric Loren into account. Loren’s the Dalek-human hybrid. He’s got a head with a single eye and tentacles—short, thick, dreadlock tentacles. He’s pink. He looks like a “Simpsons” or “Futurama” alien. It never looks real, because exposed brain tissue would be a lot real, but it also looks lifeless even if it’s absurd. It’s distractingly bad.

Like, afternoon local access kids’ show bad.

But even as bad as the mask and makeup and whatever… Loren’s performance is eye-widening terrible. Uncomfortably terrible.

You feel bad for the other actors terrible. And the rest of the actors—even Garfield, much less Quarshie—are sympathetic because they’re trapped in this terrible episode.

The episode seems like some kids’ variety show, partially because of the production design, mostly because of James Strong’s direction. Strong doesn’t do good work here. He does better directing than Helen Raynor does writing, but it’s still rather wanting.

The exciting conclusion to the Daleks trying to take over the planet from 1930 New York and somehow continuing the Dalek race. David Tennant very quickly goes from being anti-Dalek to pro-Loren hybrid Dalek, which is terrible for a couple reasons. First, it means more Loren, second it means Tennant’s just part of some other character’s plot line. Will the regular Daleks behave when their leader is getting all human-y?

Freema Agyeman gets to play gal pal to lovesick Miranda Raison, which is a big waste. Also a big waste of Raison, who gets downgraded from her Doctor’s love interest spot from last episode.

I knew this episode would be a slog and, no surprise, a slog.

Doctor Who (2005) s03e04 – Daleks in Manhattan

So… Nicholas Briggs does do the Dalek voices in this episode. He’s been doing all of them, which is weird because the Dalek voices this episode are terrible and so… I figured it was other actors.

But no.

It’s Briggs.

And he’s terrible.

I was waiting for the Daleks to show up—they’re trying to take over 1930 Manhattan, using the Empire State Building’s construction to do something. It’s not particularly interesting, mostly because even with the potentially interesting setting, the episode plays more like a college stage production, where British actors get to try out their American accents while acting in front of green screens.

Including future Spider-Man Andrew Garfield, who plays a Tennessee(!) youth who encounters the Doctor (David Tennant) and Martha (Freema Agyeman) as they hang out in Hooverville to solve disappearances among the Depression-ravaged residents. Hugh Quarshie plays Black king of melting pot Hooverville, which seems a little… I mean, it seems like it needs to come with citations if they’re going to do it. Because otherwise it seems like it’s painting in some inclusivity where there wasn’t any.

But then there’s not many bars Helen Raynor’s script clears. It’s a fairly bad script. Like, jarring, getting worse as it goes along. The Dalek dialogue seems like it’s just not written with the right ear (in addition to whatever’s going on with Briggs).

The episode introduces another female interest for Tennant—showgirl Miranda Raison, who sounds as New Yawk as Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk gets. So after having all this momentum with Agyeman and Tennant as a team, the episode keeps them together but gives Agyeman a lot less to do.

It’s disappointing. Though the episode looks like it was shot on a camcorder—maybe because there are so many period sets? Like, bigger the production, worse the video “stock”? So it always looks disappointing. Then it just disappoints overall.

The show’s quickly run out of goodwill with the Dalek episodes. They’ve gone from being a gem of a trope to a trope’s trope.

Doctor Who (2005) s02e09 – The Satan Pit

So, the title sort of gives away the big reveal. The Satan Pit refers to the giant hole in the middle of the planet, where they’ve already dug twelve miles down and sent David Tennant and Claire Rushbrook to investigate. She wants to go in the existing pit, as opposed to the tunnel they dug.

Tennant, however, doesn’t really think going into the pit is a good idea. Even if it’s not Satan. But it sure sounds like it’s Satan. What’s his story? Think Star Trek V. Yes, indeed, “Doctor Who” comes along and does Star Trek V almost twenty years later, makes it great, but also shows off what the “Who” franchise can do in contrast to what “Trek” can’t.

But the episode isn’t director James Strong or writer Matt Jones resting on their “gods in need of starships” laurels; it’s not even just a straight “Who” episode, with Tennant dealing with the Devil (or at least trying to convince Rushbrook they really don’t need to go investigate whether or not its Satan in the pit), while Billie Piper leads the humans above as their slave army of Oods turns lethal—the telepathic Oods prove susceptible to Satanic suggestion. So not only is it great Trekkie sci-fi, it’s great sci-fi action, and then there are all these great character arcs. Piper, captain Shaun Parkes, Rushbrook, Tennant—more about him abandoning Piper in their last moments versus fretting over what god needs with a starship (initially), plus Danny Webb as the security chief. It’s just a great episode. And a great two-parter. Definitely the most successful episodes of the series to date.

And it’s still the same technical team, which is a surprise. Strong just knows how to get Ernest Vincze to light better?

Perfect ending too. It all just works out so well.

If only the show can keep up this new momentum… they really do need to stay clear of the plant Earth. “Who” is better at the broad extraterrestrial sci-fi than the earthbound stuff. It also helps giving Piper and Tennant actual character arcs.

So big cheers for writer Jones and director Strong. They finally give Tennant a show deserving of him.

Doctor Who (2005) s02e08 – The Impossible Planet

The Impossible Planet has just what “Who” needs… right now anyway. There’s a new director to the series (James Strong) and a new writer (Matt Jones), and they give the series a push in a better (arguably best so far) direction. Is there going to be any momentum… probably not. “Who,” even the two-parters, is episodic not just in its storytelling but also its making. For whatever reason, Strong’s able to do a lot more with cinematographer Ernest Vincze’s DV lighting and Mike Jones’s editing than anyone else this season or last.

The titular planet has no name in the episode, not even a designation. David Tennant and Billie Piper go bandying about the galaxy and find themselves in some future time at an Earthling research station. The station is on a planet trapped in a black hole’s gravity well but immobile because of a huge power source. The researchers are digging to the core to discover what’s the power.

There’s Claire Rushbrook as the scientist, Shaun Parkes as the acting captain, Danny Webb as the security chief, Will Thorp as the archeologist (they’ve discovered some billion year old civilization), Ronny Jhutti is the tech nerd, and MyAnna Buring is the bosom-y maintenance tech. Because it’s 2006 and they’re still British, after all.

Writer Jones writes distinct characters with enough meat for the actors to flesh them out, with Strong directing the actors, which the show could use a lot more often.

Once Tennant and Piper get oriented—they also discover the humans have a bunch of slaves (called the Ood, who “need” to be slaves so it’s all right, otherwise they’d lemming apparently)—there’s a big earthquake (Impossible Planet quake) because black hole rippling the planet and the TARDIS falls in, stranding Piper and Tennant.

So as they get used to the idea of not just being trapped in a time and place—with Piper a lot more comfortable with the idea of homesteading with Tennant than vice versa—the researchers are just about to get to the core and they’re all about to find out exactly what’s going on. There are various hints—including demonic possession and the Ood acting weird—before it’s clear “Who” is about to try a different take on a very familiar fail of a different sci-fi franchise….

No spoilers (yet), but thank goodness they got the right director for this one.