Episode #180 : Army of Ghosts / Doomsday

Rose (voice-over): Planet Earth. This is where I was born. And this is where I died. The first nineteen years of my life, nothing happened. Nothing at all, not ever. And then I met a man called the Doctor. A man who could change his face. And he took me away from home in his magical machine. He showed me the whole of time and space. I thought it would never end... Well, that's what I thought. But then came the Army of Ghosts. Then came Torchwood and the war. That's when it all ended. This is the story of how I died.

Episode 180:   Army of Ghosts / Doomsday.
Companions:   10th Doctor and Rose Tyler.
Air Date:         1st to 8th July 2006.

Rose and the Tenth Doctor return to modern-day London to find a mysterious epidemic of ghosts all over the world. As the Doctor searches Torchwood Tower to find answers, something sinister lurks in the building. A secret order of Daleks emerge and the Cybermen from Pete's World make their way to Torchwood Tower. As the two deadly forces fight over Earth, the Tenth Doctor realises that in order to stop the threat, sacrifices will be made.

The finale for this season was an excellent two part story that returns the Daleks and the Cybus Cybermen, along with the return briefly of Mickey Smith. The Cybus Cybermen managed to find a way to cross the void between worlds and come through to our world, presumably to escape the hunt for them that is going on in Pete's World. The Cult of Skaro and their Genesis Ark hid in the void to escape the final moments of the Time War. Unfortunately the two forces arrive at the same time in the middle of Torchwood's London headquarters. Not only do we have the explanation as to who and what the Torchwood references were but also battle sequences between the Cybermen and the Daleks. Those sequences are enough to make any Whovian squee with delight!

We finally lose Rose Tyler in this story. I don't want to be harsh towards the character but as fun as she was I am sick and tired of the love story elements between her and the Doctor. It never really felt right. She "dies" because she and her family end up trapped (rescued?) in the Pete's World universe. In ours she was counted among the dead. The final moments are nicely done but its a good riddance to unnecessary romantic baggage.

As for Torchwood as an organisation it feels unnessecary for the Whoniverse. They collect alien things and deal with extraterrestrial threats. However, isn't that the responsibility of UNIT? All this time with the Doctor on Earth and the threats faced, where was Torchwood? Anyhoo, it sets up Torchwood ready for it's own series.

At the end of Doomsday we get a preview of the Christmas special for 2006, when the Doctor finds a mysterious woman in a wedding dress onboard the TARDIS.

Army of Ghosts / Doomsday is an excellent adventure and deserves a high rating. There is a lot going on in this story however and sometimes it feels rushed or forced to cram everything into about 90 minutes of screen time.

Episode #178 : Love & Monsters

Rose: [angrily] You upset my mum!

Elton: [glances at the Abzorbaloff] Great big absorbing creature from outer space, and you're having a go at me?

Rose: No one upsets my mum.

Episode 178:    Love & Monsters.
Companions:   10th Doctor and Rose Tyler.
Air Date:          17th June 2006.

This is the first and I hope only Doctor Who story to get a 0 rating from me. Love & Monsters is so bad that really I should give it a negative rating. Whoever came up with this idea, wrote it and green lit it should be banned from making television programs ever again. Rant over.

Love & Monsters is a story that has pretty much nothing to do with the Doctor at all. He and Rose only appear for a few minutes throughout the entire episode. Instead it is seen from the point of view of one Elton Pope as he and some friends from LINDA (London Investigation 'n' Detective Agency) try to investigate the Doctor and eventually form a social club. When the mysterious Victor Kennedy turns up pretending to be hunting the Doctor too, things start going wrong. Victor is an alien from Clom, the twin planet of Raxacoricofallaptorius, an Absorbaloff who absorbs living beings and feeds on their mental energy.

What makes this so bad? Well, it starts off with the Doctor and Rose running around in Benny Hill/Scooby Doo fashion backwards and forwards from a Hoix. Just silly. Secondly, Victor Kennedy is played by comedian Peter Kay and he is just so not right for the part. In his true alien form he even looks stupid not to mention the faces of absorbed people still talking and thinking scattered across his body. At the end, the Doctor rescues Elton's love interest from the remains of the Absorbaloff but she is forced to be a face stuck in a slab of concrete.

The Absorbaloff was created as part of a competition on children's program Blue Peter. Children can often come up with some great ideas but this one just doesn't pan out at all.

Avoid this episode like the plague and move on.

Episode #170 : The Christmas Invasion

Jackie Tyler: Well, I reckon you're mad, the pair of you. It's like you go looking for trouble.

The Doctor: Trouble's just the bits-in-between! It's all waiting out there, Jackie. And it's brand new to me—all those planets and creatures and horizons! I haven't seen them yet, not with these eyes. And it is gonna be... fantastic!

Episode 170:   The Christmas Invasion.
Companions:   10th Doctor and, Rose Tyler.
Air Date:         25th December 2005.

It's Christmas Eve and high above London, the alien Sycorax are holding the Earth for ransom. The Tenth Doctor must recover from his regeneration in time to save the human race from slavery.

The first adventure for the 10th Doctor is also the first Christmas special. I don't know about you but after a while I get seriously fed up of Christmas specials for Doctor Who. It works for sit coms and the occasional drama but just how many times can the Doctor and chums arrive for Christmas?

The plot for this one is fairly simple. The Doctor regenerates from his absorption of the time vortex and slips into a restorative coma, leaving Rose and family to hold things together when a race of nasty aliens turning up seeking slaves and conquest. The story holds more family angst and quickly gets a bit monotonous. There is also some downright silliness that doesn't fit ranging from some of the humour down to unexplained robot killers and a murderous Christmas tree. Sometimes I wonder what Russell T Davis, the head producer, was thinking with the direction of the show at this stage.

The Sycorax as the villains seem fairly weak to me. There is no depth to them and they seem all too bland as a species or culture. I don't particularly like the look of the costumes either. All seems a bit cheap. However, it doesn't spoil the enjoyment for me. I'm just glad that so far they haven't returned.

We get our first proper reference to Torchwood and they seem to have access to powerful alien technology. At this point we don't know much other than a reference from Harriet Jones (yes, we know who you are). The idea of a recurring reference to Bad Wolf in the previous series was quite clever but did it really another meme in this one?

In this story I'm not overly fond of the new Doctor. You have to let an actor and his writers settle into a new role but he still comes across, as he puts it himself, as rude. Eccleston's incarnation was a miserable character a lot of the time and I remember hoping that it wasn't going to be a continuous trend.

I may seem negative of this episode but really it is what I have come to expect from new Who. The ideas and concepts that I loved from the classic show are long gone I think. Old fans have to adapt to a modern show paradigm.

Episode #169 : Bad Wolf / The Parting of the Ways

"You don't just give up. You don’t just let things happen. You make a stand. You say "no." You have the guts to do what's right when everyone else just runs away, and I just can't!"

Episode 169:   Bad Wolf / Parting of the Ways.
Companions:   9th Doctor, Rose Tyler and Jack Harkness.
Air Date:        11th June 2005.

Separated and with no TARDIS, the Ninth Doctor, Rose, and Jack have to fight for their lives on board the Game Station, but a far more dangerous threat is lurking, just out of sight. The Doctor realises that the entire human race has been blinded to the threat on its doorstep, and Armageddon is fast approaching.

We have reached the end of the first season of the new series of Doctor Who and it culminates with an absolute corker. The Bad Wolf meme is realised and explained, and we learn a bit more about the Time War. The adventure also deals with the often unforeseen results of the Doctor's meddling in things. Had he not done what did during the events of The Long Game then things might have been very different here and now. His actions caused this future.

The Daleks are back, as is the Emperor Dalek last seen way back during the time of the 2nd Doctor. I doubt it is the same one but you never know. The Daleks here are different from those we know. In order to rebuild the Dalek race, the Emperor was forced to take human dead and create new Daleks from their remains. Nothing new there as we saw this in Revelation of the Daleks. In this story however, the events that allowed the Emperor to survive coupled with creating impure Daleks has driven them all somewhat insane. They now believe that the Emperor is a god and that Earth will be their new paradise. The only downside to them here is that I am now sick of seeing levitating Daleks!

Jack dies, along with pretty much everybody else and the Daleks, but is restored by Rose as the "Bad Wolf" using the power of the time vortex. This would have serious repercussions as he is now effectively immortal and reanimates minutes after death. Because of this, and we learn why much later, the Doctor abandons Jack on the space station. I really like Jack as a character, and he does go on to lead Torchwood, I would have liked him to remain longer as a companion simply because New Who seems intent on having just female companions.

After just one season, the Doctor regenerates. I don't know whether this was planned from the start or not, but it is a real shame that Eccleston didn't do at least one more. It does feel like a waste of a regeneration. Every other Doctor, barring the 8th as he only made the movie episode, did at least three years.

I may not have liked the persona very much but Eccleston did a grand job in bringing the character back to the TV screens for a new generation. What I disliked the most was the negativity and passive-aggressive approach. It may have fitted the character at the time but looking back this incarnation doesn't feel like the Doctor of old.

A great ending for the season and an excellent story. From here on things do get a lot better.

Episode #166 : Father's Day

"Rose, there's a man alive in the world who wasn't alive before. An ordinary man - that's the most important thing in creation! The whole world's different because he's alive!"

Episode 166:       Father's Day.
Companions:      9th Doctor and Rose Tyler.
Air Date:             14th May 2005.

Pete Alan Tyler, the father of Rose and husband of Jackie, died on November 7 1987, the day of Stuart Hoskins and Sarah Clark's wedding. Rose was just a baby at the time, Jackie told the young Rose that nobody was there for Pete when he died and that the hit-and-run driver was never found...
Now grown up, Rose asks the Ninth Doctor to take her to see him alive, but on a whim, ends up changing his fate, not realising the consequences of such a paradox. After all, the Doctor has saved so many lives...what could the real consequences be over a man alive in the world who wasn't alive before?

Father's Day deals with the concept of what happens when you go back and make a major change to history. The concept of paradox is nothing new to the show but this is the first time that it occurs on such a scale. It is hinted at that this sort of thing didn't happen when the Time Lords still existed. It also sets up the back story to the Tyler family in preperation for future stories involving Rose.

Once again the Doctor turns nasty in this one. At this point the whole "stupid ape" attitude is getting old and tired. We get the point already. On the flip side, it is a story for Rose and we see how she could react when the opportunity presents itself. It never happens again so either Rose learns her lesson or the story element is somewhat of a throw away.

The story is ok, but is all too slow in it's pacing. It is only the interesting paradox elements that give the story any real body. Even the back story for Rose's family doesn't really help float it very well. It really needed something else to give it a kick up the backside. That's not to say that the story is in any way bad, but it is lacking something.

Episode #163 : Aliens of London / World War Three

"Excuse me, do you mind not farting while I'm saving the world?"

Episode 163:   Aliens of London / World War Three.
Companions:   9th Doctor and Rose Tyler.
Air Date:         16th to 23rd April 2005.

Rose returns home to discover that she has been missing for a whole year, although for her, it's been a couple of days. However, before she can explain her absence, a spaceship crashes into Big Ben, causing a worldwide catastrophe. Worse still, the Prime Minister has mysteriously disappeared... The Doctor's investigation puts him in the spotlight with the British government, as his long history of defending Earth finally catches up with him. But there are sinister goings on at 10 Downing Street, and politician Harriet Jones' quest to get some answers brings her into a brave new world... of aliens. Meanwhile, Rose finds trouble closer to home, as her past mistakes threaten to tear her family apart.

This story introduces a concept that hasn't been seen before, dealing with the repercussions of what happens at home when a companion takes off with the Doctor. A fair chunk of the first part is taken over by this plot element. It is well done and nice to see that a plot element that has been long in coming.

Aliens of London introduces a new villain, the Slitheen family, unscrupulous aliens seeking to make a profit from the destruction of the Earth. This is first story of the new series to combine CGI and the classic "man in a suit" style creatures. I remember being oddly pleased with this adventure when it first aired for continuing to have the "man in an alien costume" approach. I had feared that we would not see that again. What makes the Slitheen stand out is the childish farting that they do. At first it is amusing but soon becomes all too silly even though within the story it is explained.

We are also introduced to new characters who would reappear later on, Harriet Jones (MP for Flydale North), and Toshiko Sato who we learn later on is part of an organisation called Torchwood. UNIT appears for the first time in the new series though the name has changed to the Unified Intelligence Taskforce. The reason for the name change is because the real world United Nations did not want to be associated with the show. I find this really odd as there is no better program to be associated with in my opinion.

Bad Wolf appears in this story as a graffiti spray painted onto the side of the TARDIS.

Aliens of London / World War Three is a fun entertaining romp though it falls into the childish at times.

Episode #160 : Rose

Do you know like we were sayin'? About the Earth revolving? It's like when you're a kid. The first time they tell you that the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it 'cause everything looks like it's standin' still. I can feel it. The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinnin' at 1,000 miles an hour and the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at 67,000 miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're fallin' through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go... That's who I am.

Episode 160:   Rose.
Companions:   9th Doctor and Rose Tyler.
Air Date:         26th March 2005.

It's just another day in the life of London teenager Rose Tyler. That is, until she meets the Ninth Doctor. The plastic on Earth has come to life, and the Doctor has to stop it before the Nestene Consciousness can take over. Rose's life will never be the same again.

The show has been brought back by Russel T Davis and BBC Wales. I was very surprised that the show had done away with the multi-episode stories and was now running like every other show with a roughly 45 minutes story. At the time I was disappointed but now I realise that the show is better for it.

Immediately we are introduced to the new Doctor, played by Christopher Eccleston. He is very different to any of his previous incarnations but is perhaps a very good means of introducing the character and the show to a modern family audience. At times his persona gets a bit much, especially with the references to humans as "stupid apes".

Rose Tyler, played by former pop star Billie Piper, is an interesting companion. Unlike the classic companions, Rose is simply an everyday young woman who finds herself drawn into the alien invasion by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. As well as Rose we are introduced to her boyfriend Mickey and her mother Jackie. Both are characters who will have potential as the show goes along.

Doctor Who returns with a classic villain, the Nestene Consciousness and it's Auton servants. They are invading the Earth as their worlds were destroyed in a war. This is the first reference to the Time War in the new show though we won't learn that in this story. It could have been easier to start with something more recognisable like the Daleks but I think the BBC did the right thing and come back with a known but less iconic monster.

The show is much better for having been brought back at a time when decent production values allow for excellent special effects, make up and, at last, well done script writing. There are humorous elements included that don't quite work and I wish they had not been included. Some of these, such as a plastic rubbish bin eating Mickey Smith and then burping were frankly childish. But for a first introductory episode, Rose is well done and long in coming.