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.

Book Review - One Step Too Far - Tina Seskis

Book Review – One Step Too Far – Tina Seskis

 

Recommended for: Adults/Young Adults who love a Mystery

 

(From the back cover) An apparently happy marriage. A beautiful son. A lovely home. So what makes identical twin Emily Coleman get up one morning and walk right out of her life to start all over again? How will she survive? And what is the date that looms, threatening to force her to confront her past?

No-one has ever guessed her secret. Will you?

Ooh, a challenge!

How exciting!

*reads furiously*

Is it…oh, no, that’s not it.

*reads furiously*

Aah, is it…no…

*reads furiously*

Must be…dammit!

*finishes book*

Oh…blimey.

 

One Step Too Far is a mystery story about a mother and wife, Emily, who ups and leaves one day for London, shortly after a tragic event. Alternating every chapter between the first person present and the third person past, we learn a bit more about Emily’s (now Cat) new life, and the circumstances that led to where she is, from a variety of viewpoints, including her husband, parents, twin sister Caroline, and friends. There are glorious highs and devastating lows, both in the present and in the past, all leading to the big reveal – just what tragedy caused her to flee?

With a blurb as enticing as this, you’re inevitably looking for clues right from the very beginning, and yet despite having read and seen twist after twist, I still didn’t figure it out, although I’ll be modest and declare that I was getting close to the right lines at different stages. The twist and reason for Emily/Cat’s disappearance is frightfully simple, but deliberately engineered so that we’re looking the wrong way – it’s easy for a twist to go too far into throwing us in the wrong direction, by making the twist ludicrous and implausible, but this is an excellent example of the reader having all the information there in front of them but assuming everything instead of being explicitly told.

Whilst everyone who is reading this is only doing so for the twist, if it wasn’t so well written with characters who you want to learn more about, it’d be easy to give up and skip to the end without bothering to read all the text. There’s no problem with that here though – Tina Seskis has managed to write about something perfectly ordinary in someone having to find a place to live and a job in London, and made it enjoyable enough that the book doesn’t have to rely on the twist along. Sure, there are hints dropped in there every so often to keep us guessing, the odd tantalising bit of information to make us think we’re on the track to discovering Emily/Cat’s secret, but I remained genuinely intrigued to see how Emily/Cat was going to cope with her new life. The flashbacks inevitably reminded me of Lost, piecing together the parts of Emily/Cat’s story and how different her life had been before the event that caused her to flee, and making her decision to leave all the more baffling – it really does make you rack your brains to think about what could possibly have happened.

Be prepared – when the twist is revealed, it really does come out of nowhere, misdirecting you right up until the last moment, and then leaving you a broken, emotional mess. I shouldn’t have finished this off on the bus, as I really did have to try hard to keep myself together.

The characters are all believable and the flashbacks leave you wanting to know more and more about all of them, although if I’m going to level a criticism at the book it’s that, whilst I genuinely enjoyed reading the background to all the characters and the circumstances that shape how they are, I’m not really convinced that all of it adds anything to the twist, which their role in the story is surely for. It’s very hard to write about anything without spoiling it, because this really is a story that you should read with as little info as possible, and I can certainly see how some of the flashbacks lead to how certain characters react as they approach the twist, but really they could all have been completely different characters and the same thing could still have happened. Having said that, knowing what we do from the flashbacks, the emotional punch is stronger.

That’s not to take away from the fact that I was gripped throughout, whether it was the present day or a flashback, and the more I learned about each character, the more intrigued I became. It seems unfathomable that a loving wife and mother could leave her seemingly idyllic life, and it’s hard to know whether or not to feel pity for her at times – she’s abandoned everyone she loves, but it’s obviously something terrible that has caused it. Who’s to say that we wouldn’t react the same to a tragedy?

Overall

One Step Too Far is a fantastic mystery, keeping you hooked throughout and desperate to learn what happened in the past, but also wanting to stick with the main character and see where her life heads. Go into it knowing as little as possible (beyond this review!) – it’s well worth it.

10/10