Episode #204 : The Stolen Earth / Journey's End

"The man who abhors violence, never carrying a gun. But this is the truth, Doctor. You take ordinary people and you fashion them into weapons. Behold your Children of Time transformed into murderers. I made the Daleks, Doctor. You made this."

Episode #204:     The Stolen Earth / Journey's End.
Companions:       10th Doctor, Donna Noble, Rose Tyler, Martha Jones, Sarah Jane Smith, Luke Smith, Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones and Gwen Cooper.
Air Date:             28th June to 5th July 2008.

When Earth and twenty-six other planets are stolen and taken to the Medusa Cascade and the Doctor is nowhere in sight, it's up to the combined forces of UNIT, Torchwood, Sarah Jane and Rose to fight off the thieves, who only have one thing to say to the resistance: "EX-TER-MIN-ATE!" Davros and the New Dalek Empire prepare to detonate a bomb that will wipe out all of existence. The Tenth Doctor is helpless, and the TARDIS faces destruction. The only hope lies with the Doctor's companions — the "Children of Time" — but Dalek Caan predicts that one will die.

This story is a fan's dream. It brings together not just the Doctor and the Daleks, but brings back old companions from the new show as well as bringing in Torchwood and Sarah Jane Smith. How cool is that? Having everyone together and sharing screen time reminds me of The Five Doctors. They come together to fight to defeat the Daleks.

The story ties together a lot of the elements that have appeared in the show since it was brought back on the air as well as wrapping up some elements of the Time War. The strong point for me is less so much that as the revelations presented by Davros about the Doctor and his companions. Davros points out something that perhaps we never considered. The Doctor may not condone violence but in truth his companions become soldiers to do that things that he couldn't usually bring himself to do. It is quite the revelation that has a huge emotional impact when Davros delivers it and shows the Doctor the truth that he might not otherwise accept.

It is great to see Davros again after so long. We learn that he did survive the events of Remembrance of the Daleks and even fought in the Time War itself. Davros created a new Dalek race from his own cells which seems to be a recurring factor in the Daleks these days.

There is one small bugbear for me with this episode. A lot of media attention was directed to the Doctor regenerating in this episode. In fact he does get exterminated by a Dalek and starts to regenerate. He heals using the regeneration energy and siphons the rest into his old hand that the Sycorax cut off. Now that is all fine but, and it is a big but as well as a spoiler, in the future episode The Time of the Doctor we learn that this counted towards the Doctor's regeneration limit. It's now established canon but it doesn't feel right to me as the regeneration doesn't complete so how does it count? But I can live with it. It just rubs me the wrong way a little bit.

At the end of the story all the companions go their own way again. Rose returns with the new Doctor to the Pete's World universe never to be seen again. Unfortunately this is the end of things for Donna. It all goes a bit wrong with the metacrisis and the Doctor is forced to remove any knowledge of him and their time again. It is a sad end for Donna that she spent all this time travelling with the Doctor and then it is all swept away from her.

Episode #202 : Midnight

"Ah, I'll be fine. Taking a big space truck with a bunch of strangers across a diamond planet called Midnight... What could possibly go wrong?"

Episode #202:         Midnight.
Companions:           10th Doctor and Donna Noble.
Air Date:                 14th June 2008.

The Tenth Doctor and Donna Noble go to the leisure planet of Midnight for a simple, relaxing vacation. However, life with the Doctor can never be that simple, and things go horribly wrong for the Doctor when he decides to go off on a bus trip to see the Sapphire Waterfall, starting with the bus shutting down. When a mysterious entity infiltrates the shuttle bus, no one is to be trusted. Not even the Doctor himself.

I'm never really sure what to make of this episode. On one hand nothing really happens and it just trundles along. On the other hand, it is delightfully disturbing and creepy. I think the problem is that you never actually see what the monster looks like or learn what it actually is. Less is often more but not in this case. As such I never really know how I should view the episode.

Partly I think that the problem is that tension is built up by having several characters trapped in an enclosed space paranoid and shouting at one another soon loses its power. It just becomes annoying instead after a while. I have the same opinion of similar situations in other disaster movies and shows.

Donna Noble only appears twice during this story as it focuses exclusively on the Doctor's adventure on board the train. In the next episode it swaps and Donna gets an adventure without the Doctor. As I understand it, this was done as a cost cutting endeavour and still occasionally happens in later seasons.

The episode features David Troughton, son of the second Doctor Patrick Troughton. He had previously appeared as King Peladon in The Curse of Peladon.

I'll leave this one to your devices to decide what you think of it.

Episode #199 : The Doctor's Daughter

"He saves planets, rescues civilizations, defeats terrible creatures... and runs a lot. Seriously, there is an outrageous amount of running involved."

Episode #199:         The Doctor's Daughter.
Companions:           10th Doctor, Donna Noble and Martha Jones.
Air Date:                 10th May 2008.

Just after finally defeating the Sontarans on modern-day Earth, the Doctor's TARDIS takes the Tenth Doctor, Donna Noble and Martha Jones on an unexpected trip to the planet Messaline. Arriving right in the middle of a war between humans and Hath, the Doctor meets someone he thought he never would: his daughter. Can the Doctor accept this clone as his offspring, and can he stop the war before it all ends in massacre on both sides?

It is always nice to see interaction between old companions and new. With the threat of the Sontarans out of the way the Doctor drags Donna and Martha off into time and space. Although they do get split up after a while there is some fun interaction similar to, but more serious than, when Rose Tyler and Sarah Jane Smith met back in School Reunion.

The biggest plot element that had people talking about the episode all week before it was shown was the trailer reference to "hi dad" and the episode title. I had hoped, against hope, that it would be his direct daughter - Susan's mother. But alas, that was not to be. Sometimes I do wish we could just get some direct continuity back to Susan but I doubt now that it will happen. Instead, Jenny, is a clone creation made by a machine. She is programmed to be a soldier, which makes the Doctor distrust her immediately, and it takes Donna to force him to see her as his own flesh and blood. I won't spoil the ending where Jenny is concerned but we need a repeat appearance or her own spin off show.

As you are already probably aware Georgia Moffatt who plays Jenny is the daughter of 5th Doctor Peter Davison. So technically she is the Doctor's daughter, who is married to the Doctor (David Tennant) and has had the Doctor's daughter. Timey whimey.

As an episode, the Doctor's Daughter isn't bad but it feels somewhat cheap in places as though this was the runt of the series. It is a story that doesn't really go anywhere and perhaps may have been better as a classic era story spanning three or four parts. It is the problem with many modern episodes though and by now I should be used to it.

Episode #198 : The Sontaran Stratagem / The Poison Sky

The Doctor: Name?

General Staal: General Staal of the Tenth Sontaran Battle Fleet. "Staal The Undefeated!"

The Doctor: Oh that's no good. What if you get defeated? "Staal The Not-Quite-So-Undefeated-Any-More-But-Never-Mind"?

Episode #198:         The Sontaran Stratagem / The Poison Sky.
Companions:           10th Doctor, Donna Noble and Martha Jones.
Air Date:                 26th April to 3rd May 2008.


Fifty two people across the world in eleven time zones die at the exact same time. The only connection: they all have ATMOS installed in the vehicles. Martha Jones, now a doctor working for UNIT, summons the Doctor back to Earth to help figure out why, but an old enemy lies in wait.

The Doctor is called back to Earth by Martha Jones to investigate a series of mysterious deaths that leads them to ATMOS, a device that has reduced fuel emissions to nothing. ATMOS is revealed to be a ploy by the Sontarans to transform the Earth into a giant cloning facility for use in their war against the Rutans.

With the return of Martha Jones we have some nice interaction between the old and new companions. Martha even going so far as to warn Donna that while travelling with the Doctor is amazing, her family could be in danger. We've had some family relationships since the return of the show, most of which is just awkward to watch, but what we start seeing her of Donna's family - mainly Wilfred Mott - feels more like a step in the right direction. You immediately dislike the mother but instantly love Wilfred.

I have always had a soft spot for the Sontarans in the classic show and their return was well worth the wait. New make up and effects have made their appearance so much better. They aren't laughable any more and are portrayed just right as well. Just a shame that as the show goes along the Sontarans become a bit of a laughing stock.

The Sontarans are not the only villains to these piece. They are aided by Luke Rattigan, a young genius who believes that they alien invaders are going to reward him with a world of his own populated by select individuals of his choosing. Like most human villains in Doctor Who despite being insanely clever they seem incredibly dumb at the same time. Rattigan reminds me a lot of the Master during the 3rd Doctor's time on the show in that regard.

The story drops in a number of old references from the Valiant to "are you my mummy" and mention of Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart. At the time of broadcast there hadn't been many references to the classic show and it was great to get more continuity.

This adventure is one of the better stories of the 10th Doctor's run. It still suffers from having a global event that following the completion is completely forgotten by everyone. Still, it is great to see a decent portrayal of the Sontarans at last.

TW #21 : A Day in the Death

"My name is Doctor Owen Harper, and this is my life. A life that is full of action. And violence. And work and wonder. Secrets. And sex. And love. And heartbreak. Death. My death. The death I survived. The death I'm now living through. Except.... this isn't living. Every day is the same. I get up. Get ready for work. Same as everyone else. The thing is, I'm not the same. I get to work and everyone is doing the same old thing. Babbling away about aliens, weddings. I'm not real. Three days ago I died. And they think I'm fine. But they're wrong."

Episode 21 :            A Day in the Death.
Companions:           Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper, Toshiko Sato, Owen Harper, Ianto Jones, and Martha Jones.
Air Date:                 27th February 2008.

Owen Harper chats with a suicidal woman on a rooftop, reflecting on his adjustment (or lack thereof) to his new life (or lack thereof). Will a mission with Torchwood assist in his salvation or bring about the end of the world?

I thoroughly enjoy this episode of Torchwood despite having elements that say I shouldn't. Firstly, there is no threat. No villain. No apocalypse on the horizon. It is simply Owen sitting on a rooftop with a young woman who is thinking of committing suicide. He tells her what has happened to him and that he can't die, and runs her through the day he has just had. A Day in the Death is about Owen coming to terms with what he has for his humanity and realizing that sometimes the universe throws something at you that just makes you understand that there is more out there and it isn't all bug eyed monsters.

A Day in the Death is the sort of episode that shouldn't work but does really well. It is a breath of fresh air for a show that is routinely dark and gritty to show us the same wonder that we normally experience through the eyes of the Doctor. For all the negativity in the show at this time, this episode has a great upbeat ending that I didn't see coming. I give this a big thumbs up.

Unfortunately this is the last we see of Martha. After three busy days with Torchwood she is off back to UNIT. Don't worry, she'll make another appearance soon enough.

TW #20 : Dead Man Walking

"There was a light, a tiny speck of light and I was rushing towards it, like down a corridor, and it got brighter, and brighter, then suddenly there were these gates... these big,pearly gates and there was this old geezer and he said, "You've been a very naughty boy!"

Episode 20 :            Dead Man Walking.
Companions:           Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper, Toshiko Sato, Owen Harper, Ianto Jones, and Martha Jones.
Air Date:                 20th February 2008.

Owen has died. Jack decides to return him to life for a few minutes. No one could have guessed the consequences.

Owen has been shot dead. Jack decides to seek the aid of a psychic girl who guides him to the location of the second resurrection glove whilst hinting that it would be unwise (use shows us the tarot card Death). Jack has to enter an abandoned church now used by a large number of Weevils to recover it. When used on Owen it brings him back but keeps him around, a walking talking corpse. Unfortunately this has allowed the entity Death to enter the mortal world and begin a killing spree to allow it to remain.

This story is a bit of a strange departure but I kind of like it anyway. I find it odd that the entity of Death is a real thing. It doesn't quite fit the Whoniverse but at the same time it does. Death appears as a skeletal figure sheathed in a black fog and drains the life out of it's victims leaving them looking like they died of old age. It is hinted at this is the shape moving in the dark that has been mentioned before when someone has been killed and revived. Maybe it was this and not Abaddon? It also implies strongly that there is an afterlife even though throughout Doctor Who we are told (admittedly by the Doctor who may not know any different) that there is no such thing. If there is then it sheds a dark light over the whole universe when you consider how many people have died during the Doctor's adventures. And do Daleks and the like go there too?

Ultimately Death is defeated as it can't use Owen and he keeps the entity at bay until it is forced to return whence it came. But at the end Owen is still very much undead and walking around. This version of immortality is very different to Jack's. Owen doesn't degenerate but he retains any injuries now caused to him and suffers the problem of not being able to eat, drink, sleep, have sex or use the bathroom. It is more a living hell really than immortality. At this point I am beginning to reconsider the show somewhat. We are told that Torchwood is about protecting mankind and preparing them for the future when in fact, as you look back, the underlying theme of nearly everything in the show (past and future) is death. 

TW #19 : Reset

"I'd rely on Martha if the world was ending. It fact... I did."

Episode 19 :            Reset.
Companions:           Jack Harkness, Qwen Cooper, Toshiko Sato, Owen Harper, Ianto Jones, and Martha Jones.
Air Date:                 13th February 2008.

Martha Jones arrives at Torchwood after reports of numerous deaths. A medical researcher has been injected with "Mayflies". The "Mayflies" cure all illnesses before killing the patient, and Martha has got one...

Reset is the start of a trilogy focusing on Owen Harper and the return of Martha Jones, now a UNIT doctor. This episode has Jack call Martha in to help investigate a series of bizarre murders. Ultimately the investigation leads them an unscrupulous medical research firm which is using aliens to perfect medical cures  and not caring that one or two attempts have gone awry. When Martha is captured and implanted the team have to go in and rescue her. Unfortunately Owen is shot and killed during the extraction.

This is the sort of stories that Torchwood should be doing. It fits well with the premise of the show and much better than some of the episodes, and they are plausible within the confines of the Whoniverse. Thankfully that is what Reset gives us and it makes it a great episode to watch.

It is nice to see the return of Martha Jones, tying the two shows together. We get some nice references to Doctor Who as well. Torchwood should be it's own show but one thing it has lacked has been a real sense of being part of the same universe.

The episode ends with Owne getting shot, doing perhaps the one selfless act of his (on screen) life, protecting Martha. A bit of a shock at the time as I rather like Owen and his dark persona. But this won't be the last we see of him.

Reset is the sort of episode that  we should have seen more of each season and it has been a nice breath of fresh air to see it again doing these reviews.

Episode #192: The Sound of Drums / The Last of the Time Lords

"They used to call it the Shining World of the Seven Systems. And on the continent of Wild Endeavour, in the mountains of Solace and Solitude, there stood the Citadel of the Time Lords. The oldest and most mighty race in the universe. Looking down on the galaxies below, sworn never to interfere, only to watch. Children of Gallifrey were taken from their families at the age of eight, to enter the Academy. Some say that's where it all began, when he was a child. That's when the Master saw eternity. As a novice, he was taken for initiation. He stood in front of the Untempered Schism. It's a gap in the fabric of reality through which could be seen the whole of the vortex. We stand there, eight years old, staring at the raw power of Time and Space, just a child. Some would be inspired. Some would run away. And some would go mad."


Episode #192:   The Sounds of Drums / The Last of the Time Lords.
Companions:     The 10th Doctor, Jack Harkness and Martha Jones.
Air Date:            23rd to 30th June 2007.

The Tenth Doctor, Martha Jones and Jack Harkness return to present day London, horrified to discover that Prime Minister Harold Saxon is the Master. "Saxon" informs the world about receiving contact from an alien race called the Toclafane. Framed as fugitives, the Doctor, Martha and Jack try to sneak in and stop the Master before he unleashes a wave of terror. But his dark ambitions reach beyond the stars.

Wrapping the events of Utopia this storyline brings out time travellers back to Earth to stop the newly regenerated Master from unleashing a dark future on the Earth. Unfortunately, at least for me, it is a very dissapointing story which doesn't fire the enthusiasm nor does it really feel like Doctor Who. It isn't because it is badly written or too dark. It feels too much like Daleks in Manhatten in that it is just a little too surreal for Doctor Who.

Jon Simm was a great choice for the Master. He carries the evil madman personna off perfectly and you do get a slight hope that he'll win out at the end of the day. The introduction or retcon of some sort of drumming in his head which is what has driven him mad was an interesting move. Nothing like this had ever come up before in the show to explain why the Master was as insane as he was. It would be some time however before we learn the cause of it.

We get some more of Martha's family in this story but by this time I am sick of them. A disfunctional family with no redeeming qualities does not make for good background if you ask me. I especially dislike the mother but that may be because none of this would have probably happened had she had any common sense throughout this season.

I'm not a fan of the villains of this piece, the Toclafane either. They tie in nicely to the events of Utopia but we learn nothing else about them other than who they ultimately are. I'd have liked some more info. The whole paradox creation issue doesn't sit well for me either. It works for the story but doesn't really do anything at the same time even as desperate as they are it seems a self-defeating thing to do.

The story has another issue that never bothered me but at the time seemed to cause a stir among fans. Ever since the Runaway Bride there has been a bit of "the lonely god" written into the 10th Doctor's character and it seemed to rub many the wrong way. The Archangel network of this story and how it plays out at the end certainly played into that point of view.

Ultimately I am not a fan of this adventure. It doesn't seem very well worked out and much like the rest of the current season before it just wasn't very good. I think a better ending could have been made for this season.

Episode #191: Utopia

"You two, we're at the end of the universe. Okay?! Right at the edge of knowledge itself! And you're busy...  BLOGGING!"

Episode #191:   Utopia.
Companions:    The 10th Doctor, Jack Harkness and Martha Jones.
Air Date:          16th June 2007.

Jack Harkness is back! As Captain Jack comes storming into the Doctor's life again, the TARDIS is thrown to the end of the universe itself. As the last remnants of humanity struggle to reach "Utopia", unknown to all, the Doctor's greatest enemy is about to rise again.

Utopia is technically the first of a three part story that concludes the current season of the show. Despite that I prefer to review Utopia as a separate story to the other two. A prequel essentially that sets up the finale.

This story sees the return of good old captain Jack who we last saw at the end of Torchwood season one, running off in search of the TARDIS. There is a small continuity issue but don't worry about it. It is just good to have him back again. His return sets up some interesting ramifications such as him being a fixed point in time and space which is why the TARDIS doesn't like him anymore and that because of that the Doctor does show some unease with him. This was a good opportunity to bring Jack back as I never felt he got enough time in the TARDIS on screen before being killed by the Daleks and abandoned.

Utopia also sees the return of another classic favourite... the Master! Restored to the living by the Time Lords to help fight in the Time War he hid using a chameleon arch the same as the Doctor. To start with he believes that he is human, a certain Professor Yana. Yana turning out to be You Are Not Alone, the cryptic response from the Face of Boe on New Earth. Getting such a great actor as Derek Jacobi for this role was, pun intended, a master stroke. Unfortunately he doesn't get to be the Master for long before he is forced to regenerate.

I do like this adventure. We go to the distant end of the universe where only a few people still survive in the universe and even the Time Lords never came this far into the future. On a cold desolate world where humanity either transforms into flesh-eating Future Kind or slowly dies out as the stars grow cold we have the setting for a nice interactive story. Utopia isn't about stopping evil villains or murderous aliens. It is an story about where humanity gets to in it's final days and mankind's search for a mythical haven called Utopia. Not having a real villain of the piece just a well written forty five minutes shows what can be done every now and then.

Episode #190 : Blink

"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but, actually, from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly... timey-wimey... stuff."

Episode #190:   Blink.
Companions:    The 10th Doctor and Martha Jones.
Air Date:          9th June 2007.

In an abandoned house, the Weeping Angels wait. The only hope to stop them is a young woman named Sally Sparrow and her friend Larry Nightingale. The only catch: The Weeping Angels can move in the blink of an eye. To defeat the ruthless enemy — with only a half of a conversation from the Tenth Doctor as help — the one rule is this: don't turn your back, don't look away and don't blink!

Blink is in my opinion one of the best adventures in Doctor Who. Just as with The Empty Child, this episode shows just how well Doctor Who can be when the writers come up with a proper freaky story and with the creation of the Weeping Angels we have that perfectly here. It is also story that barely features our time travellers, instead we see the events unfold from the point of another character, Sally Sparrow.

The new villains are the Weeping Angels. They are ancient creatures who exist in a sort of quantum state where they become stone statues when observed by another living thing. Although for some reason this also applies to their own kind. The Doctor sees this as the perfect defense mechanism but they could still be smashed by a mallet surely? But we won't dwell on that. In Blink these creatures are at their best. They do make occasional reappearances in the show but never portrayed as well as they are in this story.

It is interesting to see that Blink has quite a hefty paradox. These are bad and we have seen creatures like the Reapers turn up when such events take place. So why don't they here? The paradox in Blink is a circular one with no beginning or end. Sally gives the Doctor the information she has at the end of the story but Sally gets that information from seeing the wall the Doctor wrote, watching the DVD the Doctor made and so on. The information never really "starts" anywhere — the Doctor knows what to say in the conversation because he's reading Larry's transcript, which Larry made thirty-eight years later by watching the conversation. The information is in an endless loop.

Blink is truly one of the best episodes of modern Who and if for some reason you haven't seen it, go do so. You won't be disappointed.

Episode #189 - Human Nature / The Family of Blood

"He's like fire and ice and rage. He's like the night, and the storm in the heart of the sun. He's ancient and forever. He burns at the centre of time, and he can see the turn of the universe. And... he's wonderful."

Episode #189:   Human Nature / The Family of Blood.
Companions:    The 10th Doctor and Martha Jones.
Air Date:          26th May to 2nd June 2007.


England 1913, school teacher John Smith experiences amazing dreams of living an incredible life as a mysterious adventurer called "the Doctor", fighting monsters and seeing far away worlds. Is this man just a look-a-like of the real Doctor with a psychic link, or could there be another answer for all this?

This adventure starts with the time travellers being chased through time by some unknown opponents and they scare the Doctor so much that he is prepared to become human to escape them. He uses some previously unknown bit of Time Lord technology called a Chameleon Arch to become human but it creates a new persona, memories and I guess, alters history a little to let him fit in. The Doctor becomes a school teacher and Martha is a a scullery maid. Everything is fine until those pesky aliens show up and start to ruin everything.

At first glance it seems like an interesting story, and not surprisingly as this is based upon a 7th Doctor novel that came out in the mid 1990s. The drama between the Doctor and his new love, the snooty rich boys and Martha being stuck in the middle is all rather good. For me the story goes down hill because of the aliens, the Family of Blood. We are told nothing of them other than they have extremely short life spans and want the Doctors life energy to extend their own. The acting for them is just a little too over the top for me though and it spoils my enjoyment.

Where this story really earns its stripes however is in both the conflict between "John Smith" and Martha as she tries to convince him to "die" and return to being the Doctor, and the lead up to the Great War in which these young men will fight and die. The final scene of the episode still brings a tear to me whenever I watch it.

Human Nature and The Family of Blood is one of those modern Doctor Who stories where the writing and the drama are both spot on and enjoyable but something silly or OTT spoils it a little too much. Especially as this story is really just here to introduce the idea of the Chameleon Arch for later on in the series.

Episode #188 : The Infinite Quest

"Let's just say... there are things out there in space, Martha. Things that pre-date our reality. Relics from the dark times."

Episode #188:  The Infinite Quest.
Companions:    The 10th Doctor and Martha Jones.
Air Date:          2nd April to 29th June 2007.


The Tenth Doctor and Martha must find the legendary lost starship, the Infinite, before the evil Baltazar, scourge of the Galaxy, gets it.

In this animated episode the Doctor and Martha are set on a quest to find an ancient relic called the Infinite before an evil space pirate named Baltazar. The quest takes them across four worlds in a hunt for the clues that will lead them to their prize.

This was an animated adventure shown on the BBC at tea time for children. Though there is some doubt as to whether this adventure should be considered canonical, by all that I have read it slots in to the current series between episode 42 and Human Nature.

It is a bit of a strange story really. It features such random things as giant intelligent birds made of gold, and an actual "skeleton" crew on a pirate ship stealing oil from giant walking oil rigs. The only references the adventure has to the traditional Doctor Who is some references to Nestene, Racknoss, the Great Vampires, and even a throw away reference to one of the Great Old Ones. Despite my regular dislike of the strangeness in the show now I rather enjoy how it plays out in this one. Maybe because it was made for a younger audience rather than family viewing.

You don't need to watch this adventure but for completeness sake I would recommend one watch.

Episode #187 : 42

"The wonderful world of space travel... The prettier it looks, the more likely it is to kill you."

Episode #187:  42.
Companions:   The 10th Doctor and Martha Jones.
Air Date:         19th May 2007.

The Tenth Doctor and Martha follow a distress signal, only to be trapped on a spaceship hurtling towards a sun and cut off from the TARDIS. With only forty-two minutes left till impact, can they save the day? Also, something else is on the ship and it wants everyone to burn.

As the blurb says, the Doctor and Martha find themselves trapped on a starship falling into a star with very little time left to save everyone as something not human begins to stalk the crew and burning them with a gaze. It is good classic Doctor Who again with our heroes fighting against the clock, running down corridors and trying to outsmart whatever monster is on board the ship with them. Add to that a subplot where the Jones family are being manipulated by the strange men and women in black to find out where the Doctor is and what he is up to, all in preparation for later this season, and you have a spot on adventure.

You can see now that Martha has become a companion. She started out only a few stories ago as someone the Doctor picked up and whisked through time and space as a thank you for her help on the moon. She has since been properly brought on board with this story. Martha is a companion that I can take or leave usually but in 42 when it appears that she is going to die in the grasp of an alien sun I find a side to her that makes me take her in a bit more. 

If it is a good episode why am I giving it an average rating? It is difficult to put my finger on it if I am honest. Something about this doesn't look right. I don't know if it is because the production played with the colours or it was filmed in a different way but something niggles at the back of my brain. To be fair I have noticed this a lot with the David Tennant era episodes as I've been re-watching them and it applies to a lot of them especially in this current season. But also in fairness, it is a good episode but it isn't up there as a four star rating as it is basically the show at the level that I expect of it. Harsh? Maybe but a fair point.

Episode #186: The Lazarus Experiment

"I'm old enough to know that a longer life isn't always a better one. In the end, you just get tired; tired of the struggle, tired of losing everyone that matters to you, tired of watching everything you love turn to dust. If you live long enough, Lazarus, the only certainty left is that you'll end up alone."

Episode #186: The Lazarus Experiment.
Companions:   The 10th Doctor and Martha Jones.
Air Date:         5th May 2007.

After travelling backwards, forwards and backwards again in time, Martha Jones has returned home. However, before the tenth Doctor can bid farewell to her, he hears Professor Richard Lazarus announcing that he'll "change what it means to be human." What could this mean? And could it lead to something far more dangerous than a simple scientific failure?

Sometimes you don't need a story about time travel when you can write an excellent science fiction tale about the dangers of messing with science. That is exactly what we have here with this story and despite some bad CGI monster work the story does what it says on the tin. The Lazerus Experiment introduces us to Martha's dysfunctional family and her mother who really does not like the Doctor though with no good reason for it until she has someone try and point out the danger he places people in. Who is this stranger? Well, thats the build up for the end of season.

The story is nicely action packed and flows at a good pace, something that the first few stories of this season have failed to achieve. Some more money needed to be spent on the look of the "Lazarus monster" which unfortunately looks like a mid-1990's 3D computer graphic. Very disappointing.

The new Doctor Who seems to have a bit more thought provoking elements that never really made the surface of the classic show. In this episode we have the Doctor speaking the above quote to Professor Lazarus and we can see that he is getting old as an individual even if his body has youth. He's still an old man who has seen much and lost the people he loved. Where I found the fixation on the Time War a bit much in previous seasons I think you can feel for our hero a bit more when you have dialogue like this.

Re watching this season I have come to realise that I think this is the weakest season of new Doctor Who. Not sure why as I can't quite put my finger on it but it is like the writers were having trouble coming up with decent stories and plot points. It is a season that doesn't stand out very well. The Lazarus Experiment is certainly one of the better stories for this season though.

Episode #185 : Daleks in Manhatten / Evolution of the Daleks

"Daleks are bad enough at any time, but right now they're vulnerable, and that makes them more dangerous than ever."

Episode #185:  Daleks in Manhattan / Evolution of the Daleks.
Companions:   The 10th Doctor and Martha Jones.
Air Date:          21st to 28th April 2007.

During the building of the Empire State Building in 1930s New York, the Cult of Skaro continues their attempts to destroy humanity and reign supreme.

In this story the Doctor takes Martha to visit New York in the 1930s and finds that the Cult of Skaro having escaped from the Battle of Canary Wharf have travelled back in time to save their race. In this instance by combining human and Dalek DNA, an experiment that serves to split the surviving Daleks.

This is a story that I am never sure whether I actually like it or not. It reminds me a little of the early classic stories that featured historical situations as a learning experience. In this case Hooverville and the great depression. Add that to the Daleks and the typical Doctor Who troupes and you have a good episode. However it still follows the strange elements that haunt modern Who that don't really fit. In this case it is the pig workers primarily. They just don't feel like they belong. Once again it is an element that feels a bit too weird for me. Even so it is an entertaining story.

One of the complaints that started to appear around this time was that the Daleks were appearing too often in the show. The 4th Doctor only encountered them twice in seven years for instance. In the modern show however we need a major recurring villain and it brings the show in line with modern television formats. It is also nice to have a continuing storyline for them as well which continues through the rest of the series.

Episode #184 : Gridlock

"I lied to you, 'cause I liked it. I could pretend, just for a bit, I could imagine they were still alive... underneath that burnt orange sky. I'm not just a Time Lord, I'm the last of the Time Lords. The Face of Boe was wrong. There's no one else."

Episode #184:  Gridlock.
Companions:   The 10th Doctor and Martha Jones.
Air Date:          14th April 2007.

The Tenth Doctor takes Martha Jones to New Earth, in the far future, only to find that the entire city has become a deadly trap.

Gridlock is a bit of a disappointment for me. Rather than be a fully fleshed out episode we instead receive a filler story. It does set things up for the end of the season but that is tacked on to the end of the episode. The story itself just deals with the Doctor taking Martha to New Earth some time after his visit with Rose. She gets "kidnapped" and the Doctor chases through the underground highway to recover her. Once rescued we get a nice moment where he explains more about the Time War than we had before. It also reintroduces the Macra, though in a devolved form and they do not play a real part in the story. Everything about this story is just there to set up the "you are not alone" reference.

There is only two elements to this story that I fine entertaining. One is the various drivers on the highway and their own idiosyncrasies - a married woman and her catkind husband with their kittens, a pair of married old grannies and the rest. The other is the Doctors explanation to Martha at the end of the episode.

Gridlock is not even close to being the worst story out there but it is real waste of an episode. Had there been something more to it then my opinion would probably be very different. There just isn't enough to this story to make it worth while.

Episode #183: The Shakespeare Code

 

Martha: So, magic and stuff. That's a surprise. It's all a little bit Harry Potter.

The Doctor: Harry Potter. Wait 'til you read Book Seven. Oh, I cried.

Episode #183: The Shakespeare Code.
Companions:   The 10th Doctor and Martha Jones.
Air Date:         7th April 2007.

As a reward for her help in the last episode, Martha Jones gets a trip in the TARDIS. The Tenth Doctor takes her to 1599 England. After viewing a performance of Shakespeare's latest play, the time travellers are beset by apparent sorcery. Under threat of annihilation from a species from the Dark Times, the TARDIS team have to establish whether there is a connection between a witch they've met and Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Won — a play that was legendarily lost to time.

The Shakespeare Code is a typical Doctor Who adventure where the time travellers drop into historical events and become embroiled in the schemes of an extraterrestrial nature. Normally I would see this as a good adventure but as seems to be standard in the 10th Doctor stories the writers start messing about with things and it spoils the episode. In this case everything is fine until Shakespeare himself starts talking in an all too modern style. While it can be interpreted as being the effect of the villainous Carrionites I find it just a little too out of place and it spoils the entire thing for me.

One adventure in and Martha Jones has become infatuated with the Doctor. Why the writers and producers feel the need to do this especially after the perceived negativity from of the Doctor/Rose love story I don't know. At least in this case the Doctor doesn't reciprocate and seems to not be aware that Martha has fallen for him.

The Carrionites are the villains of the piece, ancient enemies of the Time Lords cast out into another reality prisoned for all eternity. Their powers manifest in the real universe as what we would consider magic. They make quite a cool villain for a one off episode.

At the end of the episode we get a short scene that sets up events not to be revealed for a few years. As the Doctor and Martha enter the TARDIS, Queen Elizabeth appears, spies the Doctor and orders her guards "off with his head!"

Episode #182 : Smith and Jones

"I'm talking to an alien? In hospital?! What, has this place got an E.T. department?"

Episode #182:   Smith and Jones.
Companions:     The 10th Doctor and Martha Jones.
Air Date:           31st March 2007.

Just when it seemed it would be yet another chaotic day managing her family's disputes, Martha Jones finds trouble waiting for her at work. Trapped on the Moon with space rhinos looking for a criminal and the air running out, she will have to come to trust a seemingly mad stranger calling himself "the Doctor". But can the Tenth Doctor save the day this time?

The new season of Doctor Who starts with a nice story about an abducted hospital and an alien search for a missing murderer. It sees the introduction of Martha Jones as the new companion, her dysfunctional family and the first appearance of the Judoon.

The episode deals with the translation of a London hospital to the moon where the "police for hire" Judoon can legally search it for a missing plasmavore responsible for the murder of the Child Princess of Padrivole Regency Nine. Because they have no legal right to search on Earth they move the hospital so that it isn't under legal protection. The problem is that both the plasmavore and the Doctor are both aliens in a hospital full of humans.

Smith and Jones is a clever story and despite looking somewhat silly, the Judoon are a nice new addition that wouldn't have been out of place in the classic era of the show. What lets this one down for me is a certain scene where the Doctor hops around whilst somehow transferring radiation into his foot and then his trainer before throwing it in the bin. Whoever though up that scene needs a slap. It's another element of silliness that fails to work and for me spoils the entire episode really.

I like Martha in this one. She is a good strong female role and at least for now isn't in love with the Doctor. She is along for the ride because it is exciting and takes her away from the hassles she has back home with work and family. If only we had more companions like this. Unfortunately over time she does get written with some small infatuation with the Doctor but for now it is a breath of fresh air to just have a self sustained companion.

In the last couple episodes of Torchwood there are signs showing "Vote Saxon" which also appear here. This would be the plot for the season that won't play out until near the end.