Revisiting Doctor Who - Series 2 Episode 2 - Tooth and Claw

Revisiting Doctor Who - Series 2 Episode 2 - Tooth and Claw

Scotland. The 19th Century. A bunch of strange fighting monks demand a man's house and kick all the residents' asses when he refuses, using serious ass kicking and kick ass fighting skills. Locking all of them in the basement, the monks leave something that he must beg God's forgiveness for in there with them. Based on the growl and their screams, it can't be anything good...

Cue title sequence.

Aiming for Sheffield in 1979 to see Ian Drury and The Blockheads live, Rose and The Doctor accidentally end up in Scotland, 1879, stepping out into the middle of the royal guard who are escorting Queen Victoria. It gives The Doctor the chance to show off his Scottish accent, although Rose not so much. Passing themselves off as a doctor and his assistant from Balamory, they receive an audience with the Queen herself, who reads from the psychic paper that they have been appointed her royal protectors. Well, The Doctor has. Rose is just his wingman I suppose. The Queen is travelling an unusual route due to a tree on the train line, most likely an assassination attempt in the air. She is making her way to the house of the unfortunate bloke from the pre-credit sequence, tales of wolves in the area abound.

When they reach the house, there's a scared looking Sir Robert at the window who is being threatened by the head monk fella. Although he tries to dissuade the Queen from staying due to the lack of staff (all currently locked up in the basement), she ignores him, looking forward to her stay on the 'Torchwood Estate'. We just have time to learn of a mysterious box being brought into the house after her, before we glimpse the mysterious beast in the cage in the basement, which appears to be a man with bad teeth hidden in a dressing gown, who is fond of telling everyone to shush. 

In the house, Queen Victoria is shown Sir Robert's father's enormous telescope (nope, it's a real telescope, stop that right now). The Doctor is a tad rude with his description of its faults, still getting to grips with his new personality and all, but the Queen doesn't seem to mind, being fascinated with astronomy and the opportunity that the telescope could offer. When the story of the local wolf crops up though, the strange monk man quickly interrupts to dismiss it. Not that the Queen wants to let it drop, demanding more talk of it once Rose has got some more clothes on and they've eaten.

As Rose tries some clothes on and finds a maid hiding in her cupboard, the guards are given drinks by the monks which immediately sedate them. The maid explains to Rose what happened with the monks, who promises that The Doctor will help, although when they find the guards unconscious on the floor, several monks sneak up on them and kidnap them both. Meanwhile, The Doctor, Queen Victoria, Sir Robert and the arse-licking chief guard share dinner, where The Queen demands that wolf story. Sir Robert looks increasingly uncomfortable under the watchful gaze of the monk man as Queen Victoria continues to pester him. He mentions how a boy goes missing once in a generation, and that the creature is a werewolf. Mr monk man starts to get twitchy as Sir Robert reveals that his father thought the legend was true and that the monks of a local monastery must have turned from God to worshipping the wolf. The Doctor notices the monk man chanting and starts putting two and two together.

Rose and the maid, meanwhile, are now locked in with the other prisoners in the basement. Rose Rose tries to talk to the creature, who seems to have taken over the body of one of the aforementioned boys who was kidnapped. The creature itself isn’t from this planet, and Rose offers to help, but he’s pretty happy being a strange creature and wants to transfer to Queen Victoria and turn Earth into the Planet of the Wolf. Well at least he has ambition. A lot of young people nowadays are just lazy. As the monk is making his move above, the door to the basement opens and moonlight floods in, starting to change the creature into a werewolf. The Doctor arrives in the nick of time to see the werewolf escape, loving ever minute of it, being admonished by Rose for taking his time, before they all escape. Upstairs, the monk man informs the Queen that they want the throne, so she shoots him. 

 As the newly escaped residents of the castle prepare to fight the monster, The Doctor discovers him down a corridor. They fend him off with plenty of gunshots initially, but then he steals a cocky person by hiding in the ceiling, and everything goes a bit downhill, though the innocent maids are left alone for now.

The Doctor, Rose and Sir Robert find the Queen, and they begin to search for a way out, but the monks outside shoot at them to force them to stay inside with the werewolf. They run around for a bit, fleeing the creature, and letting the captain of the guard sacrifice himself as they barricade themselves in a large room. It stalks around the outside for a bit, looking for a way in, causing The Doctor to question why it can't enter. Sir Robert admits his guilty conscience that it's all his fault, and then Queen Victoria lets off some steam about the whole saga, especially the fact that The Doctor isn't talking in a Scottish accent any more. The maids in the kitchen and The Doctor realise at the same time that the mistletoe is what stops the wolf coming in, the maids because the monks outside are wearing it and there's mistletoe in the kitchen, and The Doctor because there are carvings of it on the doors. The maids brew up a mistletoe...brew, and The Doctor and friends use the library (yep, the room they are in is a library, which is my sort of room) to try and look up anything useful that might have been left by Sir Robert's father. They find an etching that tells of how a meteor arrived to Earth 300 years ago. Perhaps regrowing itself from a single cell over all that time, it used human hosts to heal. ‘The Empire of the Wolf’ would accelerate Victorian England into the space age, and because steam punk never actually happened, they need to stop it. Queen Victoria reveals she has the most precious diamond in the world, which surely won’t come back as a plot device in the next few minutes. Remembering that the diamond was always ‘unfinished’, as Prince Albert was never happy with it and needed it continually recut, The Doctor starts to hop around as if he’s just sniffed a line when he realises that perhaps the house contains a trap for the wolf. Hang on, wasn’t the telescope also unfinished?

Very rudely, the wolf interrupts them by dropping through the sky light, nearly catching Rose, but luckily the maids get there just in time to throw the mistletoe soup over it and sending it running temporarily. The Doctor, Rose, Queen Vic and Sir Robert run to a room and – oh look! The telescope room! Sir Robert leaves the room to sacrifice himself valiantly, while The Doctor and Rose move the telescope into position. Actually, The Doctor tells Rose it’s more of a ‘light chamber’. So a big ray gun then. It charges up using the power of the moon just as the wolf breaks in and tries to get to the Queen, but luckily The Doctor throws the diamond at the ray beam on the floor and it reflects into the wolf, revealing the victim beneath who begs to be ‘let go’, which The Doctor does by turning up the beam.

There’s a bit of ambiguity as the Queen looks very dodgy when insisting she hasn’t been bitten, just attacked by a splinter from the door breaking, before naming The Doctor ‘Sir Doctor of TARDIS’, and Rose ‘Dame Rose of the Powell Estate’. There’s a tiny bit of vomit we have to choke back as The Doctor tells the Queen that her husband is watching out for her from beyond the grave, before she banishes the pair of them from the British Empire for being strange alien people who think all this terrible life to be good fun.

Making their way back to the TARDIS, The Doctor speculates that maybe it was a werewolf bite the Queen got after all, and that explains the ‘Royal Disease’ she was known to have, as were her children, which would make the whole Royal family werewolves, of course. Well, in a hundred years’ time perhaps.

The Queen and Sir Robert’s widow discuss the events, and the Queen declares that she shall found a special institute, The ‘Torchwood Institute’ (after the house this has all taken part in), to combat alien threats. Torchwood will be waiting, Doctor…

I have mixed feelings about this episode. On the one hand, David Tennant has slipped seamlessly into the roll a couple of episodes in, and Billie Piper is perfect once again. It’s got funny moments, such as Rose’s Scottish accent (which has to be a highlight of the entire series) and the continual ‘We are not amused’ bet, and in terms of tension it’s well done as we know any of the people in the house (barring The Doctor, Rose and Queen Victoria of course) can die. However, it’s just not got anything to make it stand out particularly. 

I’ve never been the biggest of werewolf fans, although this is a very good example with a different explanation than the norm, and this doesn’t do anything to make me want to watch it again at any point, so it would have to go onto the ‘skip’ pile sadly.

It does have a very important role in bringing the idea of the Torchwood Institute to light, even giving the idea of it being something to protect the British Empire from The Doctor if need be. It’s always nice to see these little ideas again when you watch something back knowing what will happen in future episodes and series. There’s a great harkback to the Bad Wolf as well, as the creature tells Rose that she has ‘something of the wolf about you’.

The Doctor is obviously still getting to grips with his new personality a bit, hence his rudeness when describing the telescopes faults, and I like the fact that it obviously takes him a little while to settle into who he is - he knows how one should courteously act, so it's not surprising that he needs to take a little time to work through his personality changes after a regeneration. The Ninth Doctor loved everything weird and wonderful, but we see the Tenth call the werewolf 'beautiful' with a smile, which to me is one of his trademarks. He always seems to find beauty in the terror that everyone else is feeling!

'Well, they were bald, athletic, your wife's away...I just though you were happy.' Wonderful innuendo suggesting that maybe Sir Robert is more of a 'man's man'.

'You wanted weapons? We're in a library. Best weapons in the world!' As I work in a library, I have to say this is one of my favourite quotes ever.

The initial reveal of the wolf in human form is good, as the sharp teeth etc. make it seem very sinister. The idea that Prince Albert continued to have the diamond cut to make it correct for saving the Queen is a bit ropey though, depending on how far into it you look – if the Queen has continued to cut it since his death, it must be bloody good luck for it to be exactly right this particularly year, as surely they couldn’t know these events would take place this exact year. Also, if the wolf had stepped 2 paces to the right, it would have avoided the light beam entirely. Still, usually best not to look into these things too deeply. Doctor Who fans are known for their lack of probing into hidden meanings within every aspect of the Whoniverse, after all.

Torchwood Mentions

Queen Victoria proposes to found the ‘Torchwood Institute’ to protect the British Empire against alien threats. The house in the episode is ‘Torchwood House’, and it has all taken place on the ‘Torchwood Estate’.

Overall

Some very funny moments a decent amount of tension, but there’s nothing to elevate it beyond a ‘monster of the week’ feel. If you had to avoid watching an episode this season, this would be a strong candidate.

6/10

Final Predictions for the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special

Final Predictions for the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special

It's nearly time. It is so, so nearly time. On Saturday 23rd November 2013, we will witness the 50th Anniversary Special of Doctor Who, and the last few feverish months of anticipation that we've experience since we first saw John Hurt appear at the end of Series 7 in The Name of the Doctor will all come to a head. There's been endless speculation, and I'd like to cast my final predictions for what OMG moments we're going to see.

The internet has already predicted two major points of the special correctly:

1. The Eighth Doctor regenerating into John Hurt's Doctor, and
2. The Time War

So, here's four more, based on nothing more than desire and guesswork (in particular the last one):

1. We will see John Hurt regenerate into Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor. I'm cheating ever so slightly when I stipulate that this might happen in the other minisode, The Last Day, which we currently no absolutely nothing about except that it'll be roughly the same length as The Night of the Doctor, and that it'll presumably be broadcast at some point soon, perhaps after the special has taken place. *The Last Day has of course now been shown, and we didn't see the regeneration into Eccleston.* Whether it happens here or in the main programme, I refuse to believe that we aren't going to see the regeneration into Eccleston at some point. Even before McGann appeared in The Night of the Doctor, I refused to believe that this wouldn't happen, and I'm even more confident now. It's literally the only thing that I can imagine will leave me slightly disappointed if it doesn't occur. I can't believe that Eccleston couldn't negotiate the 30-seconds or so it would take for him to have regenerated in the Henrik's department store that he first meets Rose in, quickly look around for a new outfit to replace his battle damaged one, and then hear Rose scream and head off to rescue her. Simple.
2. The new direction that the show is going in occurs because the Time War is no longer time-locked, and the Time Lords are brought back. I literally can't imagine any other way that it could head in a new direction apartment from that, unless it turns out that The Doctor really doesn't have any lives left (due to the War Doctor regeneration, and the meta-crisis Doctor also counting as one), and that Peter Capaldi is actually a different Time Lord - or that what ever Wibbly-Wobbly-Timey-Wimey thing that happens means that time is reset to the point where John Hurt time-locked the Time War, and the three Doctors after him no longer exist. But I can't see that happening, as it would be a step too far in my opinion to utterly erase the Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Doctors from history. So that leaves the Time Lords returning. True, it wouldn't be a new direction in terms of how the classic-era Who used to be, but it would be for new-Who. There's absolutely no evidence in any of the promo-material for this happening, but what the hell - there's only a few days left, so why not let wild speculation run rampant?
3. Finally, because this is the Time War we're talking about, I'm going to say that we'll see The Master in there at some point. Firstly, because we now he was resurrected during it, and if The Doctor is going to be one of the great warriors of the Time War then surely he would fight alongside The Master, even if he ran away to hide when The Cruciform fell and Gallifrey burned. Surely these are the sort of scenes we'll see in the Time War, especially as that's the sort of catalyst that would make The Doctor think the end was nigh and he had no choice but to use The Moment to end the war. Secondly, because if the Daleks are going to be in special as The Doctor's greatest enemies, surely The Master should make a brief cameo. Yes, we've been told that this is all about looking forward, not back and yada yada yada, but don't you want to see Derek Jacobi as The Master just for a brief while longer? He was so deliciously evil for the brief minutes before he regenerated into John Simm, it's like imagining what Paul McGann would be like with more screen time (and now we know!). In fact, the only disappointment I would feel there is that it wouldn't be John Simm in the role, as he's one of my highlights of new-Who. 
4. Almost without question now, I'm expecting all the surviving former-Doctors to make brief appearances. I can imagine it working if The Doctor's time stream is split somehow, and they only need a brief minute or so each to complete some essential task. Or perhaps The Doctor himself is split into his previous incarnations in the TARDIS console room, just for 30 seconds or so until they can get themselves under control. Or perhaps as the Time War is unlocked, The Doctor flashes between his previous selves momentarily, each of them just as surprised as each other. Perhaps they can blame some corruption in time for the fact that they all look older (and a little larger-waisted in some cases...). I can't remember what the reason they gave for Peter Davison looking older in the Time Crash special, but they could easily use that again. Whatever happens, there is clearly plenty of opportunity for this to happen in some form or other. I'm not about to get into a massive argument about whether not having them does a disservice to the fans, because I trust 100% that Steven Moffat is the best person to deliver this episode and will ultimately do what is right for Doctor Who, and also because I'm really a new-Who fan that appreciates classic-Who more than wants to watch all the episodes, so the most important previous Doctor to have now we've had Paul McGann is the Ninth. But it'd be a hell of a talking point if they all appeared.

So, a couple of obvious predictions, and a couple perhaps a little more outlandish. It's not long to go now. I'll be in the cinema at 19:50 on Saturday 23rd November 2013, fumbling with my sonic screwdriver in my pocket in a heightened state of excitement, and I bet I'll be surrounded by plenty of Whovians doing the same thing. One things for certain - we're all going to experience an incredible climax. 

Some Thoughts on the Doctor Who minisode 'The Night of the Doctor'

I’m sitting here at work having just watched the minisode ‘The Night of the Doctor’, trying to stop shaking and squealing. I work in a library, and as I’m supposed to be in charge of a relatively quiet environment, I suppose I should really be practicing what I preach. But honestly, what I’ve just witnessed are 7 of the greatest minutes of my geek life.

If you haven’t already watched it, make sure you do, because there are MASSIVE spoilers coming. And I mean MASSIVE. I’ll give you another warning after the clip.

I’ll give you a minute to stop squealing.

…

…

…

Right, that’s enough time.

*SPOILERS*

*SPOILERS*

*SPOILERS*

*SPOILERS*

What you’ve just seen is Paul McGann’s Eighth Doctor, in the middle of the Time War, regenerating into John Hurt’s ‘War Doctor’.

I’ll repeat that.

What you’ve just seen is Paul McGann’s Eighth Doctor, in the middle of the Time War, regenerating into John Hurt’s ‘War Doctor’.

THE EIGHTH DOCTOR.

REGENERATING.

IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TIME WAR.

INTO JOHN HURT’S ‘WAR DOCTOR’.

OMG I’M HAVING A NERDGASM.

I just need to address these points.

The Eighth Doctor

Yes, despite all the denials, Paul McGann’s Eighth Doctor has finally had some more screen time. We’ve seen just what he can do with the role, and even in those few minutes he’s shown just what a shame it is that he never got the chance to do it more often. I’ve not ever gotten round to listening to any of the audio adventures, but I know the praise he gets for his performances there, and it’s wonderful to see just a small glimpse on screen.

I saw the note about the minisode that said either Matt Smith, David Tennant or John Hurt would appear, and I also saw a rumour that Paul McGann had been filming for the minisode months ago, but I honestly never expected it to be him at the beginning. I’m sat at one of the computers during my lunch break and I startled my colleagues good and proper when I let out a squeal of glee.

Regenerating

I’d just gotten over the initial excitement of seeing the Eighth Doctor when I began to wonder whether I might be just about to witness his regeneration, especially as his costume appeared to be the same as that which John Hurt has been wearing in all the publicity material for the 50^th Anniversary episode. Low and behold…the Eighth Doctor finally gets his regeneration! This has to be one of the most eagerly anticipated events surrounding the 50^th Anniversary, one which practically all Whovians wanted to see, and now we have it. It also confirms that John Hurt’s Doctor comes between McGann and Eccleston’s, although if we’re speculating even further there isn’t any confirmation that Hurt will actually regenerate into Eccleston. But that would cause my head to explode from too much thinking, so let’s abandon that idea for now and just bask in the glory that goes with knowing that at least two of our major hopes came true – we’ve seen the Eight Doctor regenerate, and we know that John Hurt is definitely a missing link.

In The Middle Of The Time War

Yes, yes, yes – thank the gods, we really do appear to be seeing the Time War in the 50^th Anniversary special. We know that this all took place in the middle of it, although The Doctor appears to not be taking part at the beginning of it, but by the end we know that he’s going to immerse himself fully in it. I don’t think there’s anyone out there who didn’t ever believe that it wouldn’t play a major role, especially after the trailers, but it’s great that it’s all but been confirmed now.

Into John Hurt’s ‘War Doctor’

So, that’s who John Hurt is. ‘The War Doctor’, who chose to regenerate specifically into a warrior with the help of the Sisterhood of Karn and their elixir of life. And once he had regenerated, he uttered the chilling words, ‘Doctor no more’. We’re going to presume that he shall regenerate into Christopher Eccleston, because could we really handle another twist where he doesn’t? One thing’s for certain – this is a Doctor built specifically to fight the Time War, and he isn’t going to take any prisioners. At the very end, all we see is his relfection, and it’s clearly a younger version of John Hurt, so we can also assume that he fights in the Time War for a very long time. After all, Matt Smith roamed around for 200 years as he claimed at the start of Series 6 and didn’t age a day, so just how long must the Time War have lasted for the War Doctor to age so visibly?

OMG I’m Having A Nerdgasm

If you ever wanted a lesson on how to pretty much explode the heads of every geek on the internet in 7 minutes, then you’ve just witnessed it. There are some wonderful things to come out of this, mainly the hope that, now we’ve seen Paul McGann despite rigorous denials, the likelihood that we’ll see more past Doctors has just gotten ever larger. Personally, I only need to see five seconds of Christopher Eccleston to make me happy (SURELY?! I REFUSE to believe he won’t be in it!), but I’d love to see all of the rest in some way or another.

Also, did you notice the line about how the elixir can bring The Doctor back however he wants, including man or woman? Nicely set up for the future there, Mr Moffat!

Oh, and also the wink to the audience as Paul McGann’s first line is ‘I’m a doctor, but probably not the one you were expecting?’, as we were all surely expecting John Hurt.

Oh, and how he says ‘Will it hurt?’ before the regeneration, alluding to the fact that he’s about to become John Hurt?

Oh, and how the elixir is the 'Flame of Eternal Life'? Does that mean those he drink it get eternal life? I.e. unlimited regenerations?

Oh, and how you really have to go and watch it again and again?

Roll on November 23^rd. I can’t bloody wait!

Revisiting Doctor Who – Series 2, Episode 1 – New Earth

Revisiting Doctor Who – Series 2, Episode 1 – New Earth

The Doctor paces around the TARDIS, pressing buttons and pulling levers. Rose bids Jackie and Mickey goodbye, ready to leave on another adventure, further than they’ve ever been before…

Cue title sequence…

They arrive in the year 5,000,000,023 in the galaxy M-87, at New Earth. Cars are flying around, and the landscape is frankly bloody amazing – I wish we had a futuristic landscape like this nowadays, and ‘apple grass’ that smelt amazing, rather than of cow poo. They link arms, look into each other’s arms, and tell each other how much they love travelling together, and once we’ve wiped up the vomit that’s just come out at them being so lovey-dovey, we move on. They’re being watched however by someone and their toy spider robot, and they seem excited that Rose is ‘pure-blood’. 

The Doctor explains that New Earth was founded after the original Earth was destroyed in The End of the World in Series 1. They’re in the city of New New York (technically the 15^th of the name). Being observed again, we hear someone who sounds awfully like Casandra from the same episode...It IS Cassandra! I thought she’d popped?  Anyway, The Doctor had a message on his psychic paper asking him to come to ‘Ward 26’, so they’re off to the local hospital. It appears to be full of cat people doctors, which understandably shocks Rose, but The Doctor tells her not to stare, as her own human-pink and yellow person will probably look strange to them. He gets into a lift to Ward 26, but Rose is too late and has to get into the adjoining one – the strange guy helping Cassandra has control though, so The Doctor heads up, whilst she heads down. The disinfection process that The Doctor tries to warn Rose about takes her a bit by surprise though, blasting water at her, before drying her off. I HATE being wet. That would be HELL for me.

Rose arrives in the basement, only to bump into the creepy guy helping Cassandra, who says in his best creepy voice, ‘The human child is clean’. He tells her to follow him, so she picks up a metal weapon before doing so, which is a good move I’d expect.

The Doctor makes it to Ward 26, lamenting the lack of a shop, but smiling when he realises that it was the Face of Boe who called for him. Although he’s dying of old age, so there’s no cure. Apparently he’s thousands, or even millions of years old.

Rose enters a room where an old film is playing of a party with a lady who Rose recognises as a younger Cassandra, who it turns out is just behind her, with her helper Gollum Chip. She still needs moisturising.

At this point, I'd like to moan about how I'd spent another hour and a half writing up the majority of the rest of this review, only for what I'd typed not to save and I lost the entire bloody lot. However, I've noticed that my reviews seem to be getting longer and longer, and surely can't be much fun for anyone to read, and if you're anything like me it's probably the comments below the recap of the storyline that you're actually interested in, so from now on I'm going to try and shorten the recap down considerable. With that in mind, here's the rest of the recap, in very short form as I still can't find the energy to do it in detail:

Cassandra puts her mind into Rose's body, which comes across as bizarrely erotic due to Billie Piper's posh accent (or is that just me?). The doctor suspects something but doesn't realise that it's Cassandra. When they investigate the strange fact that illnesses that shouldn't be curable yet are being cured, they go in search of the reason, heading into a secret part of the hospital, where the secret is revealed - there are thousands upon thousands of human bodies kept in pods, grown specifically to be infected with every single disease, so that they can come up with the cure quickly. When The Doctor confronts some of the cat doctors, they claim that they are doing it for good, but The Doctor orders them all to be shut down, and also wants to know what they've done with Rose. Cassandra reveals herself at this point, knocking out The Doctor and placing him in a pod, but when the cat people threaten her she releases all the patients. Bye bye all cat doctors in the vicinity.

And that's where I got up to, so back on with the show.

The Doctor and Rose/Cassandra flee, and Cassandra decides that this would be a great time to try being The Doctor, freeing Rose and taking over his consciousness, in what must be one the greatest camp performances in science-fiction history. They flee up an escape shaft, as the plague victims flood the hospital. Swapping back and forth between Rose and The Doctor, she eventually has to get inside a plague victim to aid the escape, getting a hint of how lonely they are. When they finally make it back into the main hospital, it looks like the 'healthy' patients are going to try to break quarantine, so The Doctor and Rose/Cassandra flee down the lift shaft with a load of medicine bags. At the bottom they make a medicine cocktail, and then start the lift disinfection process using it, soaking them all with the antidote to their ills, which spreads amongst them, curing everyone. The Doctor's pretty excited that he got to play at being a doctor. I just can't help but wonder why he didn't change into dry clothes immediately.

Before they leave New Earth, The Face of Boe promises to meet The Doctor one last time and tell his secret then. There's also the matter of Cassandra being in Rose's body still. Cassandra leaves Rose to be in Chip's body, but as he only has a half-life, his body begins to fail. Cassandra/Chip refuses any extra medical aid, saying it's time that she died, and as one last act of kindness The Doctor taken her/him back to a party that she attended in her younger days, when she wasn't a sheet of skin. Cassandra tells her younger self how beautiful she looks, before dying. The Doctor and Rose leave in silence.

Series 2 is up and running, and it's an interesting start. Visiting New Earth far in the future is exciting, as is seeing all the aliens in the hospital. The main theme of the story, breeding humans to have supposedly never learned to feel anything so that others can be cured is one of those that can inspire great debate (think of the argument of whether animals should be tested on to develop cures for humans and it's basically the same thing), as you can understand where the cat doctors are coming from, although it's clear really that they're wrong. It's this, along with the chemistry between Tennant and Piper that is already developing marvellously, that make up the episode's strongest points. 

The ending is a bit of a let down, to be honest. Cassandra goes from complaining and whining whilst in Rose's body, to sudden acceptance in Chip's, and it's a bit too abrupt a chance to be believable. Still, they had to end the episode somehow I suppose, but I've seen much stronger finishes. It's still a good episode, with excellent humour in places, but I'm not desperate to see it again soon.

In terms of the characters, when Rose links arms with The Doctor after their arrival on New Earth, and tells him how much she loves travelling with him, it’s pretty obvious again what her heart is really saying. His reply that he does too, whilst less than obvious than Rose’s declaration, marks the start of the real path down their romantic link, which will culminate in the finale, Doomsday. Well, it’ll truly reach a conclusion in the Series 4 finale, Journey’s End, but that’s the meta-Doctor, so doesn’t count here. It’s a controversial move for many fans, having The Doctor and companion fall in love, but it’s only with hindsight that we really recognise it on his part at this point. Cassandra in The Doctor's body spells it out at one point, as she comments on how she knows that Rose thinks The Doctor is foxy.

The episode has some hilarious moments, as we've come to expect at this point. Having lost half of my review, I can't pinpoint all the classic moments, but there are plenty. What I can remember are little snippets, such as Cassandra (in The Doctor's body) declaring that 'no matter how difficult the situation, there is no need to shout! whilst they are being chased by the plague victims, or her horror as she realises 'I'm a chav!' when she first goes into Rose. It's classic modern Who humour, and it's carried on perfectly from Series 1. Both Piper and Tennant as Cassandra are wonderful. Whilst Piper plays her as being very seductive (seriously, there's something incredibly sexy about it all), Tennant goes for the giddy excitable side, which is a wonder to behold. 

This is such a small thing, but it’s one bit that I’ve always loved about the Tenth Doctor – when The Doctor first gets into the hospital lift without Rose, he shouts down to her a few times to watch out for the disinfectant, which she mishears each time, so he just says ‘Oh, you’ll find out…’ to himself. Whenever I think of Tennant’s portrayal, a large part of it is taking up by him talking to himself like this, so it’s great to see it back so early on. Wasn’t that a lovely little point to talk about? I think so.

In another small aside, Mickey gets a kiss goodbye (on the lips!) for a change, but still no return to his ‘I love you’ from Rose – poor lad.

David Tennant has already slipped into the role brilliantly, displaying lots of the characteristics that make him one of the most popular Doctors of all time. No matter how great Ecclestone was, he's already forgotten now.

Hats off to Billie Piper once more - her performance as Cassandra is excellent fun, and she shows her acting chops well when Cassandra has just returned to her following being in a plague victim's head - the despair she feels is obvious.

How Does It Fit Into The Series As A Whole

The Face of Boe says that The Doctor will meet him one final time, and reveal his great secret. This will happen in Series 3 - ill resist posting a spoiler.

Overall

It's not the greatest episode, but there's a strong moral conundrum to debate, and Tennant and Piper are playing off each other wonderfully, with great performances as Cassandra in turn.

7/10

Doctor Who - Celebrating Christopher Eccleston As The Ninth Doctor

Doctor Who – Celebrating Christopher Eccleston As The Ninth Doctor

I’ve just finished watching Series 1 of the modern Doctor Who – you can see all the episode reviews elsewhere on my blog, or you can read the series overview for a general review of it. As you’re no doubt aware, this was Christopher Eccleston's sole series as The Doctor, so it’s time to pay tribute to his work.

With David Tennant following him, and Matt Smith being the most recent Doctor (before Peter Capaldi takes over), Christopher Eccleston tends to get forgotten a bit. In a way it's understandable - he was the first to play The Doctor in modern Who, he was only in it for one season, and Tennant and Smith are more alike than either is with Eccleston. It's completely unfair to him though, because there are so many strengths that he brought to the role:

His strengths as an actor
First off, Christopher Eccleston is an absolutely fantastic actor. If you've seen him in anything else you'll know this, and there were moments in Series 1 that were some of the best acted in the whole of Who history. The two moments in particular that come to mind are firstly when The Doctor is shouting at the Dalek in Dalek, and is taken aback when he is told 'You would make a good Dalek'. You can see on his face just how badly he is struck by this, and it's from this point on that he slowly starts to try to forgive himself for what happened in the Time War. Secondly, there's the part of the finale when the Daleks taunt him about having to destroy Earth to stop them, and he tells them that he can't and chooses to be a coward, unable to do again what he did once before with the genocide of both the Daleks and his own people. These two moments are two of the highlights of the series, and the emotion running throughout helps to show why this programme is so special.

Fantastic!
Whilst the Ninth Doctor doesn't have the same manic energy as the Tenth or Eleventh, there's still plenty of excitement in him. Whenever you see his manic grin from ear to ear, like a school boy in a sweet shop, you smile along with him, no matter what he's getting excited about.

He's Northern
I'm not highlighting this just because I'm Northern too - it's because there's something just so wonderful about his Northern accent and mannerisms make him so different than all the other Doctors, past and present. There's the grumpy side and the sarcastic side in particular that make me laugh every time, perfectly reminiscent or plenty of people I know, and not what you expect in a science-fiction show.

His chemistry with Billie Piper, Camille Coduri and Noel Clarke
Aside from the Dalek moments mentioned above, one of the main highlights for me was the relationship that The Doctor shared with Rose, Jackie and Mickey. He and Rose worked so well together, him the veteran of the stars and her the wide-eyed newbie, but in many ways his relationships with Jackie and Mickey were even better, just because they were so damned funny. I still laugh thinking about Jackie meeting him in the pilot, talking about how there's a strange man in her bedroom, and his reaction to it. It really is comedy gold.

Without him, there'd be no Tennant or Smith
Well, David Tennant was the strong rumour to play the role before Eccleston llanded it so maybe that's a little untrue, but certainly I can't imagine Matt Smith getting the role of the Ninth Doctor. The fact that Eccleston's Doctor is that bit more subdued was essential for re-introducing the character to modern audiences. Can you imagine Matt Smith as the first Doctor following the show being off the air for 16 years? I absolutely love Smith's performance, but I just don't think anyone quite that manic and eccentric would have worked first time - it feels like a natural progression for The Doctor to get a little more manic each time he regenerates at the moment, and the fact that we expect Peter Capaldi to be a more serious Doctor and therefore breaking this mould is fine because of the dark theme that we expect the 50th Anniversary Special to have. A Doctor coming straight out of the horrors of the Time War had to be that bit darker like Eccleston, and I think Tennant is much better having that ever so slight removal by starting in Series 2.

The Final Word
Christopher Eccleston was a different Doctor to Tennant and Smith, but for all the right reasons - he introduced us to a Doctor who has just committed double genocide and is at odds with himself, and he allowed this pain to ease in time for Tennant to take over. He was equal parts grumpy and excited, and provided us with some of the best-acted moments in Who history. He's a remarkable actor, and though it's undoubtedly a shame that we didn't get to see more of him than just a single series, perhaps we can look back at his impact on the series now and appreciate it all the more for this reason.

Today, I Discovered...The Agonist

Today I Discovered...The Agonist

Ah, the 'new, regular feature'. If you've ever tried to have a regular feature of your blog, you probably know that all of a sudden you feel desperately under pressure to produce the goods...well, regularly. There were a few things I wanted to do regularly when I started this blog, 'Classic Covers' being one of theme, where I would pick the best music covers from YouTube to blog about, but a many months on and I've still only done the one so far. So, it's with a certain amount of uncertainty that I've decided to create an ad hoc feature called 'Today I Discovered...'. The idea is that anything knew I find that I love, I'll blog about, in the hope of getting my three subscribed members (at the very least) looking it up.

So, what's first?

Congratulations, Canadian Metal band The Agonist, you're the first entry!

Who?

The Agonist are a Canadian metal band who consist of Alissa White-Gluz (vocals), Danny Marino (guitar), Pascal 'Paco' Jobin (guitar), Chris Kells (bass, backing vocals) and Simon McKay (drums, percussion). Thanks for that Wikipedia. They've got, in my mind, a mix of Melodic Death Metal and Metalcore, so imagine Arch Enemy mixed with early Trivium, in no small part due to the fact that Alissa White-Gluz is the best female vocalist at growling that I've heard since Angela Gossow. As a bonus, she also has a fantastic clean vocal too.

I came across the video for Thank You Pain today (fine, last week, but I'm not about to destroy the integrity of this regular feature's title already), and it blew me away for several reasons:

1. Alissa White-Gluz's vocals, both growled and clean, immediately make you sit up and think hell is being unleashed. whilst mantaining some wonderful melodies
2. The guitars are wonderfully heavy and melodic
3. The subject matter of an accused criminal being interrogated by the prosecution in court is played wonderfully by the harsh vocals of the prosecution vs the clean vocals of the defence.

Take a look and have a listen:

I don't know about you, but I bloody love that track.

Of course, one song a great band does not make - I've checked out many other songs, and there are some fabulously melodic tunes from this band. I love a band that can sound heavy as hell, yet still bring the same emotive quality of a haunting piano piece to the table.

So, What Are You Telling Me To Do?

Listen to Thank You Pain, then go out and buy any of their (as of today) three albums. Play then loud, play them again, play them a third time, and remind yourself just how powerful the same of the female growl is, particularly when backed up by a band who can create brilliantly heavy yet wonderfully melodic at the same time.

Revisiting Doctor Who - Series 1 Overview

Revisiting Doctor Who - Series 1 Overview

So, that's our revisiation of Series 1 out of the way. There's no way we'll finish all the episodes of modern Doctor Who before the 50th Anniversary special, but that's what happens when you're starting a distance learning degree, have a young child, are writing a novel. several picture books and a couple of musicals, AND want to show the odd bit of affection to your wife every now and then.

Let's start off with a quick recap of all the episodes from this series, including the Christmas special:

Revisiting Doctor Who - Series 1, Episode 1 - Rose

A solid start to the series, which introduces the new characters and themes of the Whoniverse perfectly. It's slightly let down by a forgettable main plot, but then it was surely never meant to be memorable for that reason.

8/10

Revisiting Doctor Who - Series 1, Episode 2 - The End of the World

It's got it's moments, particularly the bits we learn of The Doctor's backstory, but it doesn't as well as some other episodes, and the 'funny' bits about traditional Earth ballads are just embarassing.

4/10

Revisiting Doctor Who - Series 1, Episode 3 - The Unquiet Dead

A much stronger episode than previously, with a couple of genuine scares, and a great moral conundrum and myster at the heart.

8/10

Revisiting Doctor Who - Series 1, Episode 4 - Aliens of London

The strongest episode so far, it's full of excitement and intrigue, with some excellent development in the relationships between characters, and it ends on a cracking cliffhanger.

9/10

Revisiting Doctor Who - Series 1, Episode 5 - World War III

A strong conclusion to the first two-parter of the modern Doctor Who. There are some truly excellent moments, particularly when The Doctor shows how much he cares about Rose with the despair about putting her in danger, and the plan the Slitheen have for the destruction of Earth is fiendish and scarily easy to pull off.

9/10

Revisiting Doctor Who - Series 1, Episode 6 - Dalek

The best episode so far of the revived Doctor Who, and possibly of all seven series by the time I've revisited them all. Full of tension and drama, and some phenomenally good acting, this should be one of the starting points for converting non-Doctor Who fans. Unmissable.

10/10

Revisiting Doctor Who - Series 1, Episode 7 - The Long Game

It's not up to last week's standard, but it's a great piece of sci-fi TV, and has some great moments of growth in the relationship between The Doctor and Rose, and showcases The Ninth Doctor's sense of morality in giving everyone a chance to prove themselves. Well worth watching still, just don't tell me Adam is an interesting character.

8/10

Revisiting Doctor Who - Series 1, Episode 8 - Father's Day

A very important episode for Rose, and a tragic story. Billie Piper really comes into her own, and we see an interesting twist on the idea of what would happen with a time travel paradox. Great stuff.

9/10

Revisiting Doctor Who - Series 1, Episode 9 - The Empty Child

The introduction of Captain Jack Harkness, the creepiest enemy on children's television (until the Weeping Angels arrive), and some great dialogue combine with a wonderful mystery to make this essential viewing. Can't wait to re-watch the second one.

10/10

Revisiting Doctor Who - Series 1, Episode 10 - The Doctor Dances

A wonderful end to a wonderful two-parter, it’s a powerful and emotional episode that is all about re-uniting a lost child with its mother. Some excellent humour interwoven with a dark plot, and the (temporary) addition of Captain JackHarkness to the TARDIS crew. It’s dark, moving, and one of the best double-episodes of all-time.

10/10

Revisiting Doctor Who – Series 1, Episode 11 – Boom Town

The general plot and feel of the episode is very generic, but there are some fantastic bits of dialogue that are genuinely hilarious. If there was a compilation of funniest moments from the episode, I'd suggest just watching that instead.

6/10

Revisiting Doctor Who - Series 1, Episode 12 - Bad Wolf

A fantastic cliffhanger showcasing everything that has been brilliant with Series One - it's funny, exciting and tense, with a great mystery running through it as to why The Doctor, Rose and Jack have ended up where they are, and it sets up the finale perfectly. Wonderful stuff.

10/10

Revisiting Doctor Who - Series 1, Episode 13 - The Parting of the Ways

A great way to end the first series of the modern Doctor Who. An episode full of excitement and danger, even if the solution to the Dalek problem is a little too easy. Christopher Ecclestone bowed out on a brilliant note.

9/10

Revisiting Doctor Who – Series 1, Christmas Special - The Christmas Invasion

A fun episode, with some great first impressions of David Tennant's Tenth Doctor. It's very, very funny in places, and raises some interesting moral questions, although it isn't the best of the Christmas specials. Tennant's introduction makes it a must-see though, and the rest of the cast are on fine form.

8/10

Overall rating for this series (just to make it fun): 8.4

The Best Bits

It's difficult to pick when there are so many highlights, but here's some that really helped make the show show so good for me in Series 1:

Billie Piper as Rose

Last I knew of her before she took on the role was as a pop singer who had some half-memorable hits, and had absolutely no acting experience that I was aware of. Little did I know just how important she would be to the revival - I've heard several sources say that, whilst David Tennant made the show his own from Series 2 onwards, Series 1 was Billie Piper's show rather than Christoper Eccleston's. Rose was our gateway into the world of The Doctor, and she was the perfect mix of both excitement and fear of the unknown. 

The sadness and despair that Christopher Eccleston brought to The Doctor

We are surely heading towards a big reveal about the Time War in the 50th Anniversary special, but the seeds of it were sown right at the start of Christopher Eccleston's tenancy as the Ninth Doctor. From the moment that he reveals he is the last of the Time Lords in the second episode, we see his guilt at what happened (which we're not fully clued up on at this point) manifesting itself as both anger and sorrow - we'll later come to learn that it's because he caused the genocide of both his own people and the Daleks. Speaking of Daleks, this brings us to...

Dalek (episode)

Quite simply, one of the best episodes of the modern Who. It's full of tense moments, from the first time we see it and The Doctor unleashes his fury, to the moment it unleashes its death ray upon anyone it can, but the real strength of the episode is how it continually turns the role of The Doctor and the Daleks on its head - we may see The Doctor as the good day and the Daleks are evil, but the way he screams about wanting to wipe them all out is exactly the same attitude that the Daleks themselves have. When it tells him 'you would make a good Dalek', you can see the dawn of comprehension on his face as to what the Time War has done to him. Only when he chooses the route of being a coward in the series finale, instead of another mass slaughter to stop the Daleks, does The Doctor start to redeem himself. It's all wonderful stuff.

The Worst Bits

There’s really very little to complain about with Series 1. It was the first series of the modern Who so we probably let it off things more than later series, but it was a bit of a struggle to come  up with the following list. However, despite being Doctor Who, it isn’t spot-on perfect, so here we are:

The general cheesiness of Episode 2 

It’s probably the weakest episode of the series generally, but what really drags it down for me are the awful attempts at referencing the 20^th Century, which are just plain unfunny. Yes, it’s to tie the episode to what viewers and Rose know, but it just doesn’t work at all. There's so much humour that is genuinely laugh out loud funny throughout the series, it's hard to know how they missed the mark so badly here, except perhaps that they were still just settling down into what the show was going to be like. 

Adam

I’m sure there was meant to be something about the character that made us care about what happened to him, but I’m not sure what it was. I know he was added to show what happens when you cross The Doctor, but all we end up doing is wishing he’d been thrown off the ship earlier for being a spectacularly lame character. Plus, the very next episode we see Rose disobey The Doctor in Father's Day, in a manner which resonates in such a more powerful manner because of the relationship we've seen them build up over the series.

Overall

What more can I say except for 'fantastic'? From the introduction of Rose, to Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor full of despair at what happened in the Time War, to the genius of Dalek and the The Unearthly Child/The Doctor Dances two-parter, Series 1 re-introduced the world to Doctor Who, and gave us a reason to applaud British science-fiction again. Thank God for Russell T. Davies.

Revisiting Doctor Who – Series 1 Christmas Special - The Christmas Invasion

Revisiting Doctor Who – Series 1, Christmas Special - The Christmas Invasion

Earth. That big blue planet with greenery. Zooming in to it, Jackie Tyler is hanging baubles on the Christmas tree and looking mournfully at a present from Rose. Mickey is working as a mechanic when he hears the noise of the TARDIS, as does Jackie. They meet at the council estate, sure now that Rose is alive, although the way the TARDIS materialises in the sky and smashes into loads of buildings it can’t be reassuring them much. The Doctor stumbles out, greeting Jackie and Mickey, who are confused as hell, having not heard of regeneration, beyond inner city building projects. He knows that there’s something important to tell them, but he faints after proclaiming ‘Merry Christmas!’. Rose explains to them that he’s The Doctor, but Jackie asks ‘Doctor Who?!’.

Cue title sequence…

The Doctor is lying in bed, being attended to by Rose and Jackie, the latter of whom wants to take him to hospital. Rose refuses, saying that they’d dissect him and that one bottle of his blood could change the future of the human race, so she’s obviously been paying attention to what he’s been telling her. She checks both his hearts which are fine, and after dismissing Jackie’s queries about if he has two of anything else, they leave him to sleep, missing a tiny bit of regeneration energy that escapes from his mouth, travelling off into space. Rose and Jackie debate whether he just has a new face, or whether he’s a whole new person, and Rose laments how it’s as if she’s lost him yet she hasn’t. Jackie begins to explain about how Howard from the market has begun staying over, but Rose overhears Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North on the TV, learning that she is now Harriet Jones, Prime Minister. She’s helped usher in Great Britain’s ‘Golden Age’ apparently, which has left Jackie £18 a week better off. She’s disagreeing with a journalist about the Guinevere 1 Space Probe, saying that it represents Britain’s achievements. We see the probe itself heading for Mars, but suddenly it crashes into an asteroid, although the door that opens within it, sucking the probe inside, suggests it’s not your average hunk of rock.

On the streets of London, Rose and Mickey joke about her tales of the TARDIS. As she worries about The Doctor, he begs her to forget about him for a few minutes and enjoy Christmas for a while. The camera focuses rather heavily on a marching band of Santa’s with plastic faces, as does Rose, which turns out to be a good thing as they suddenly fire flames out of their trumpets at her. Rose thinks they’re after her and Mickey, which seems pretty accurate, unlike the Santa’s aim as one of them squashes himself with a Christmas tree. As Rose and Mickey dodge the gun fire and flee into a taxi, they try to inform Jackie, but she’s on the phone for a change. She’s convinced that they’re after The Doctor, who is expelling more regeneration energy. As they reach the flat, they try to convince Jackie to flee to the Peak District, before spotting a Christmas tree that wasn’t there before, and none of them have brought in. I smell trouble…It lights up and starts spinning towards them, chopping up a table, and they run to avoid being the first people ever Christmas tree-d to death. They try to wake The Doctor unsuccessfully, as the Christmas tree barges into the room, but when Rose puts the sonic screwdriver into his hand and whispers ‘help me’, he sits bolt upright, using the sonic screwdriver to destroy it. ‘Remote control,’ he declares. ‘But who’s controlling it?’

‘Who’, indeed. Ha. Get it? Fine, I’ll move on.

Leaping out of bed and heading outside, The Doctor points the sonic screwdriver at the Santa’s in the courtyard who are holding a remote controller, sending them back to their mothership. They’re ‘pilot fish’ apparently, although before he can explain he doubles over, explaining that he was woken too early and is still regenerating, before burping out more regeneration energy. The pilot fish could smell it a million miles away, wanting to capture him to use as a battery. After repeated attempts he finally manages to get Jackie to shut up so he can explain, The Doctor tells them that the pilot fish means something is coming (invasion style), before he collapses again.

Back in bed, he’s burning up a fever, as Mickey looks pilot fish up on the internet, and Rose and Jackie watch the news about Guinevere 1, which has made contact again and landed on Mars. The first pictures are transmitted live just as Mickey learns pilot fish come alongside a much bigger fish, and it’s a bit of a shock to see an alien face shouting. First contact! Woo! Although maybe not, as it’s a bit scary. At least we can claim the Britain discovered aliens.

The chap who’s been doing the announcements (Mr Llewellyn) about Guinevere 1 arrives at U.N.I.T. HQ. A cover story has been put out, suggesting a hoax by students, but Harriet Jones, Prime Minister tells him that it’s far from a hoax. It’s a whole new species, at least one that we haven’t met before. Another worker, Sally, tells them that the transmission didn’t come from the surface of Mars, and so Mr Llewellyn guesses that the aliens too might not be Martians – of course they’re not, Martians look completely different. The ship that the transmission is coming from is heading to Earth, fast. Mickey has somehow hacked the government and is tracking it too, just as the aliens start broadcasting a message in…alien I suppose. It all sounds very menacing. Rose is confused as the TARDIS isn’t translating it to English, which is possibly because The Doctor isn’t fully healed. Back with Harriet Jones, Prime Minister, she’s informed that the President of the United States wants to take over, but she responds with a message to bugger off and stop trying to turn it into a war. The translation software is taking a long time, but they still have about five hours until the ship arrives. News reports refuse to believe it’s a hoax, and Harriet Jones, Prime Minister frets about how The Doctor hasn’t turned up, and orders the  U.N.I.T. Major assisting to get Torchwood involved, which she isn’t meant to know anything about. Meanwhile, the translation software reveals the aliens to be the Sycorax who require humanity to surrender or ‘they will die’, because apparently the Sycorax rock. We don’t know yet who ‘they’ are, but Harriet Jones, Prime Minister wants to respond by telling them to come in peace, and that Earth will never surrender.

Back in the flat, Rose laments how the ‘old’ and proper Doctor would wake up and save them, and though she doesn’t respond when Mickey states that he knows she loves the Time Lord, she does turn round and bury her face in his chest, so that’s something.

The response comes to U.N.I.T. from the Sycorax, which appears to be them playing with a funky lightning gun, which actually turns out to be some technology that suddenly  controls a third of the staff in U.N.I.T., and a third of the world’s population, including one of Rose’s neighbours. They’re all heading for tall buildings, and when they get to the roof they all stop at the edge. Looks like this could be a bit of bribery by the Sycorax…This is the ‘they’ that the Sycorax were talking about. Harriet Jones, Prime Minister asks for a Torchwood update, which apparently is still in the works, but they have what is needed (whatever that is). Checking medical records, it turns out that all the people being controlled are A+ positive blood groups, which is the blood group contained in a blood sample on Guinevere 1, and now being used to control those humans. Harriet Jones, Prime Minister has one more thing to try, which is a public address in lieu of the Queen’s Speech. She pleads for calm, and then for The Doctor. It all gets a bit much for Rose, who thinks that The Doctor has left her, just as explosions rock the world, from a sonic wave as the spaceship hits the atmosphere. Going to be a bit of a clean-up bill there. The skies begin to darken as the ship flies overhead. It’s a big massive, this ship. It parks right above Rose’s flat, and so they flee inside to get The Doctor and take him to the TARDIS. On screen at U.N.I.T., the Sycorax ring again asking for humanity’s leader, and Harriet Jones, Prime Minister steps up to the challenge, being teleported to the ship along with the U.N.I.T. Major, Llewellyn, and her right hand man who’s name I missed. They see thousands of Sycorax staring down at them, and then one of them takes off his helmet to reveal what can happen if you have too much plastic surgery. Llewellyn pleads that they are like children in need of help and compassion, but he gets strangled to death with a death whip, as does the Major, leaving behind nothing but smoking bones. Harriet Jones, Prime Minister shows the Sycorax her ID, and asks how surrendering would be better – as the Sycorax puts it, slavery or one third dead, her choice.

Rose and Mickey carry The Doctor outside as Jackie ensures they have enough food, as the Sycorax aboard ship demand humanity surrender. Finally in the TARDIS, they lay The Doctor on the floor, Jackie making tea as they wait around, which is all very British. Jabbing a few buttons, they accidentally cause some beeping which the Sycorax take as being machinery hidden by humanity – they teleport the TARDIS on board, leaving Jackie behind as she’d popped out for more supplies. Oblivious to this, Rose and Mickey discuss her being a grumpy guts,

 They finally realise Jackie has been taking a while, and then Rose steps outside only to be captured immediately by a Sycorax. Mickey falls into the same trap, leaving The Doctor unconscious on the floor of the TARDIS. Worry ye not though, for a leaky flash of tea drips onto something underneath the main console, and I’m fairly certain it’s going to be a positive outcome, or else Britain’s obsession with tea drinking in bad situations isn’t worthy of the legend we’ve created around it.

In the main Sycorax ship, Rose and Mickey are reunited with Harriet Jones, Prime Minister, but Rose has to inform her that The Doctor isn’t really with them properly. Although the tea fumes that are rising up from the floor seem to be helping, as another small burst of regenerative energy comes out of his mouth. The Sycorax declare Rose leader of Earth because they think she owns the TARDIS, and she does her best Doctor impression, dropping some Shadow Proclamations and Slitheen Parliaments, but surprisingly it doesn’t work. Gets a laugh though. Plus a death warrant. The Sycorax leader rants and raves, but when he starts speaking English, things start to look up a bit…Hello Doctor! There he is at the door! BOOM – he catches the Sycorax leader’s whip and discards it! BOOM – he snaps his staff in half! BOOM – he tells him to wait! After greeting Mickey and declaring tea the answer (poor Jackie, missing out on his praise for once!), he’s disappointed to learn that he isn’t ginger, and that he’s quite rude when he wants to be. Harriet Jones, Prime Minister has to quickly get her head around regeneration, before the Sycorax leader interrupts them, asking who he is. The Doctor responds that he really doesn’t know yet, although a big red threatening button that shouldn’t be pressed under any circumstances looks a bit tempting…Looking at the wires underneath it, he quickly realises that it’s using blood control (right you were U.N.I.T.), and figures that pressing the button might be a good move – good call Doctor, the people on Earth are no longer under control. Turns out that everyone’s survival instinct would have stopped them jumping off the buildings anyway, but he puts the Sycorax in their place good and proper. What The Doctor really wants to know is, why do they want to conquer Earth? When The Lion King doesn’t convince them, he challenges the Sycorax leader to a fight to the death as Earth’s Champion, for the planet. All still in his pyjamas.

The fight breaks outside the ship, with the Sycorax certainly looking the more in control, and when The Doctor’s hand gets chopped off, it looks a bit like we’ll see Matt Smith early. However, this helps The Doctor realise what sort of man he is – lucky. He’s within the first 15 hours of his regeneration, so there’s enough residual cellular regeneration energy to grow his hand back. From there, it’s bye bye Sycorax dude. Although he’s The Doctor, so he doesn’t kill him or anything, just makes him swear on the blood of the Sycorax never to come back. He talks happily with Rose about Christmas and how he’s found a Satsuma in the dressing gown, but we see his dark side when the Sycorax leader tries to sneakily off him from behind, and he throws the Satsuma at a button which opens a whole in the floor under the evil guy, plunging him down to Earth. ‘No second chances,’ The Doctor declares. Back in the ship, The Doctor tells them to bugger off and leave Earth alone, and that he’s guarding it. They’re transported back down to the council estate, and watch the Sycorax ship disappear.

Harriet Jones, Prime Minister and The Doctor hug it out, she asking him if there are many more species out there. The Doctor says that they are getting noticed with the probes and signals being sent out. They reunite with Jackie, delighted to learn that she was correct about him just needing tea. They even hug, Rose and Mickey not wanting to miss out either. It’s all so wonderful, and happy, and jolly, and…Oh, Harriet Jones, Prime Minister has ordered (reluctantly, I’ll concede) Torchwood to blow the Sycorax ship out of the sky. That goes a bit against the code of honour they’ve just established, although the lasers joining together from various places around the Thames would make for much better Eastenders titles. The Doctor isn’t happy, accusing her of murder, but Harriet Jones, Prime Minister defends herself saying that she’s stopping the others in the universe, who will learn about Earth from the Sycorax, from coming along and trying to invade as well. The Doctor mocks how this is supposedly Britain’s ‘Golden Age’, and despite Harriet Jones, Prime Minister’s best efforts, she doesn’t come out of this very well. In fact, The Doctor goes plain nuts at her, threatening to bring down her government with six words. She calls his bluff, getting far more stubborn than we’ve ever seen her, but as The Doctor walks away he whispers ‘Don’t you think she looks tired?’ into her assistant’s ear. The Doctor, Rose, Mickey and Jackie walk away, as Harriet Jones, Prime Minster desperately tries to learn what he said. She whispers ‘I’m sorry’ to them as they go, but we get the feeling it’s too late.

Time for some happy scenes now though – The Doctor goes outfit shopping (within the Tardis), the others celebrate Christmas dinner together, before The Doctor joins them looking suave in his new suit. On TV, Harriet Jones has received a vote of no confidence, and outside it’s snowing – oh, wait, actually it’s ash according to The Doctor. There won’t be any denying the presence of aliens now though. The Doctor and Rose skirt around the issue of whether or not she’ll carry on travelling with him now he’s changed, but we know really that she will…Mickey looks glum, Jackie tells them they’re mad, and we rejoice, for it’ll all be fantastic.

Off they go!

  

So, this is the first full episode of David Tennant's era - let's face it, all anyone is really focusing on here is how he compares to Christopher Eccleston, so I'll sum it up in a couple of short sentences: Brighter, less Northern, more sorry. That should just about cover it. I loved Christopher Eccleston, but I couldn’t help smiling when we see Tennant pop his head round the TARDIS door for the first time, having crashed into building after building, only to say brightly, ‘Here we are then!’. It's that cheery, slightly cheeky, excited demeanour that he has most of the time that has left him most people's (if recent polls are to be believed) favourite Doctor, and we get it right from the off here.

We really get our first glimpse of what Tennant can do when he’s fully on his feet inside the Sycorax ship, and by God is it good to see. Having watched Tennant for those three series and specials, it’s such a wonderful feeling to watch him right back from the beginning. The way he tells the Sycorax leader to wait, and then goes and heartily greets Mickey is pure gold. Already, the way that he cheerfully projects the image of being unbeatable and always in control is apparent, particularly in the way that he scoffs when the Sycorax claim they will let the third of the population who were previously under blood control live, telling them they don’t have a choice. When he does his bad-ass version of this style later in the series, it’s much closer to Eccleston's, especially the declaration of ‘No second chances’, but here it helps to set the two apart. Not that Eccleston couldn’t do this style, but I think of him in the more demanding and menacing role when it comes to telling aliens that they aren’t going to get away with their evil plan.

The humour is as good as ever, highlights including The Doctor finding an apple in the dressing gown he’s wearing, and Jackie explaining that Howard gets hungry in his sleep. It’s done in such a deadpan fashion in the middle of a supposedly tense scene, and it’s so beautifully played by Camille Coduri. I also love how the Sycorax proclaim that they ‘rock!’, in the modern sense of the world. Brilliant touch to have this evil force given a sense of backslapping machismo.

There's more classic Jackie, when she asks whether The Doctor has two of anything other than hearts.  I really love the dynamic between Jackie and Rose, the snappy dialogue between them, and the way they appear grumpy with each other but you know secretly how much they care. I always smile at the moments where they talk about such normal things in the middle of an episode, such as how Howard from the market has been ‘staying over’, which is why she has men’s pyjamas for The Doctor. It gives the show such a human core in the middle of its science fiction and alien nature.

Also, the relationship between Jackie and The Doctor is as good as ever, especially when The Doctor tries to tell her what he needs to help him through the regeneration process, only for her to interrupt him each time with suggestions, his frustration growing each time, until he tells her to keep quiet. Looking back on bits like these, it really makes you miss these characters. I've loved each and every one of the companions and mini-companions (for want of a better term), but there's something so perfect about the way The Doctor, Rose, Mickey and Jackie all worked together that makes you very nostalgic for these early years. 

Nice to see Harriet Jones back, too, changing her call sign to Harriet Jones, Prime Minister! Oh how I laughed when Mr Llewellyn, then Sally, then finally the Sycorax leader himself responded with ‘Yes, I know who you are’. Absolutely hilarious. And of course this joke will continue with the Dalek invasion in the two-part Series 4 finale, when the alien response is the same.

The Sycorax are a pretty fearsome looking race, and all the more evil because of the way they threaten to have a third of the population commit suicide - of course, The Doctor rejects the idea that this could ever actually happen, but it's a pretty good threat. 

More hints towards what’s to come in Series 2 with mentions of Torchwood, which Harriet Jones acknowledges she isn’t meant to know about. It’s a really interesting moral conundrum with Harriet Jones’ actions, destroying the Sycorax ship - it certainly makes humanity look like it won't be messed with, but it's still shooting a fleeing ship who weren't going to return fire, at least not at that time. But if they hadn't tried to invade in the first place...I love having strong moral issues in the show - it makes it so much more than a children's programme.

Poor Rose, with her attempt to be The Doctor and just getting laughed at by the Sycorax. She did damn well to recall all those references to Series One and it deserved a better outcome than just being laughed at! True, she comes across about as threatening as a melted waxwork of a penguin, but she does a damn fine attempt at stepping up to the plate in The Doctor's absence.

Also, apparently Doctor Who is set in the same universe as The Hitch-hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, as The Doctor proclaims that Arthur Dent was a nice man. Lovely little touch.

Speaking of lovely little touches, Torchwood is once again mentioned, this time a lot more directly than just being a historical landmark building. They clearly have some incredible weaponry at their disposal, and the name will be Series 2's Bad Wolf, cropping up often, before it's true nature is revealed at the end of the series. It will, of course, also be the name of one of Doctor Who's spin off shows.

How Does It Fit Into The Series As A Whole

We get our first proper introduction to David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, which is surely one of the most important moments in the show's history.

Harriet Jones, Prime Minister, will lose her position after this episode, the hints of which are seen at the end.  

Humanity has officially made first contact with aliens now.

Overall

A fun episode, with some great first impressions of David Tennant's Tenth Doctor. It's very, very funny in places, and raises some interesting moral questions, although it isn't the best of the Christmas specials. Tennant's introduction makes it a must-see though, and the rest of the cast are on fine form.

8/10

Five Songs To Lead Your Troops In An Apocalyptic Battle

Five Songs To Lead Your Troops In An Apocalyptic Battle

Let's face it - there's always the possibility that at some point you're going to have to lead an army into an apocalyptic battle, where only victory will save the world and send your alien would-be conquerors back to the pits of hell from whence they came. Now, you may think you have your tactics all nailed down, your equipment and armour ready, and your final goodbyes to your loved ones scheduled to post on your Facebook wall should you not return, but really it's your choice of pre-battle hymn that will give your side the best chance and inspire them to victory. Here's five of the best apocalypse-averting inspirational songs for the uneducated:

Crystal Skull – Mastodon

The song itself has nothing to do with an apocalyptic battle, but just listen to those intro drums. Seriously, has there even been a better drum intro to a song? A more ‘yeahhhhhhhhhhh-let’s-go-fight-to-the-death’ blood-pumper? No, there isn’t. And if you disagree, then I’m going to have to play this again and charge at you. The whole thing just oozes cinematic-battle-brilliance. It’s no wonder they called themselves Mastodon – listening to this is like being trampled by a herd of them.

Battle Metal – Turisas

For starters, it’s in the title – this was written with the whole purpose of celebrating that most manly of quests – immortality through death in battle. Now, I’ve got as much of a warrior spirit in my body as I have the ability to locate a spark plug under a car bonnet, but even I feel infused with the spirit of Odin when this comes on. And I’m including a spark plug with ‘spark plug’ written on it in glow-in-the-dark paint.

Bodies – Drowning Pool

Let’s face it – if you’re going into battle, there are going to be bodies flying everywhere. Why not pump yourself up ready for this eventuality? The refrain is exactly what I’d choose to say if I needed to give a final retort to the enemy before the last battle for Earth began:

Alien Overlord: Surrender, or we shall strike down all of your kind where they stand!

Me: Then let the bodies hit the floor. Nitwit.

Man, that alien overlord just got BURNED.

Raining Blood – Slayer

RAINING BLOOOOOOOOD, from a lacerated sky! Well, if you’re going to try to fight the last battle of all time, you might as well cause the sky to crack in twain and bleed, hadn’t you? Nothing says ‘the end of the world’ like blood from the heavens. Except, perhaps, a fourth series of Phone Shop. I pray nightly that it never happens.

Arch Enemy – We Will Rise

Because there’s nothing like all your troops chanting ‘WE WILL RISE’ in harmony at an army who thinks they’re going to end our way of life. Feel the power coursing through your veins as Angela Gossow spearheads the chant? Yeah, there isn’t any way we’re losing this coming battle.