NuWho Review: Series 1 Episode 5 “World War Three”

By: Russell T. Davies

**Spoilers**

If you have not yet watched this episode, please go and do so before proceeding.

            All right, let’s just get this arduous review over and done with. When last we left our heroes; The Doctor was being electrocuted, Rose and two government officials were cornered and in danger of death, and Jackie was being menaced by a pudgy, baby-faced alien. Yup, you heard me right – these aliens that Murray Gold’s bombastic music tried so hard to make us terrified of during last week’s cliffhanger have a striking resemblance to a green cabbage patch doll. I’m sorry, maybe my imagination is beginning to get a bit rusty, but I have a hard time being afraid of something that not only looks like a green poster-child baby (the sort you see on the Pampers ads) but blunders around with impractical, dangling claws that couldn’t grip the broad end of a funnel. When your body looks like an overweight Gollum and your face like…

                                                                                                   ...well, like that...

         ...then you’ve got problems with your design. The glowing zipper forehead was a bit creepy, I grant you, but it is so overused within this episode that it loses all potency. Also – um – why exactly did The Doctor’s sticking his hot name-tag on the ‘naked’ Slitheen instantly fry the others too? Are those hideous compression-field-collar things they wear somehow connected? Are the loincloths fitted with an intercom? Seriously! 


Favorite Moments & Random Thoughts:

- The problem lies not with the silly alien design nor even, much as it pains me to say, with the fart jokes, but with the fact that Davies seemed a bit confused about what tone he wanted this episode to take. One minute the shots are of people crying and sobbing in fear (accompanied by Gold’s most dramatic score) and the next minute we are having awkward lift scenes. I am all for mixing the humorous with the dramatic – but there is a difference between lightening the moment with some well-placed wit and killing the mood with a crass and out-of-place joke.

                                                    This is the latter!

- While it is nice to see a villain who wants to destroy the Earth for something other than just the sake of destroying it, their plan seems to be an awful lot of work and no satisfactory explanation for why they would go to all the trouble. Normally I rail against the overuse of Davies Forced Exposition, but after such a jumble and mish-mash of a story, we needed some comprehensible resolution. Something other than the Slitheen shedding their skins and cackling like an Austin Powers villain convention.

- Much as I loved watching Jackie and Mickey work together, I feel that Mickey really earned his nickname this week by making Jackie go and answer the door. C’mon, Mickey; you’re on the phone with an alien trying to translate a hostile alien invasion, Big Ben was just hit by a spacecraft, you hit a ‘green swamp monster’ over the head with a chair, and now you’re breaking into military files. Miss the elephant in the room? Yeah, a bit! 

- And what exactly was the point of the Slitheen being allergic to vinegar? It’s not like they dropped a pickle vat on them to kill them (thank goodness) but why exactly, for this episode, did we need to know that little tidbit of information?   

- What is up with Rose this week? I do dislike the mentality that seems to think that, in order to prove her capability, a companion must save The Doctor at least once every three episodes, but Rose could have been back at the flat with Jackie and it wouldn’t have made much of a difference. She seems primarily there for The Doctor to take shots at her choice of kissing partner (before sharing long, supposedly-meaningful stares with her when the missile is deployed) and to suggest that they hide from the missile in a cupboard. It wasn't a tornado, y’know. They were already in a steel-encased room – I highly doubt that a closet was going to be much safer. 

- Now you mustn’t think that I hate everything about this episode because there were rare pockets of good amidst all of the smothering bad. The Doctor choking as he admits that he needs Mickey was great, as was Jackie grilling The Doctor about whether or not Rose is safe with him. Margaret Blaine (the lone Slitheen with her skin still on) actually delivered her lines with a degree of believability and soldiered on through the more awkward scenes with aplomb. 

- Harriet Jones, the ID-card obsessed MP, is one of my favourite supporting characters. She goes from a backbencher (her words, not mine) to Prime Minister. Her attitude is great too (especially with the potentially painful speech about the farting, if you’ll pardon the word). 

- Mickey actually offering to sacrifice himself for Jackie was a nice touch, somewhat making up for his negligent thickness only moments earlier. 

- The ending was surprisingly emotional (if R.T. Davies had just kept this two-parter as Rose and Jackie scenes with a bit of Harriet – Doctor banter thrown in it would have been a good episode.) I actually got a bit choked up when Jackie begged Rose to stay with her. Rose's rather cold reply made me mad, though. Where is Rose’s sense of compassion and empathy (the one we know she must have, based on her interaction with Gwyneth in The Unquiet Dead) when it comes to her mother? I’m starting to not like Rose a whole lot; and that’s bad because, as a viewer, I need to like the companion through whose eyes I am seeing The Doctor’s travels. 

            As a whole, I give The Aliens of London/World War Three a 2/5. It’s not the worst episode ever written, just by virtue of the presence of Harriet Jones and Jackie Tyler, but it’s definitely not one I will probably ever watch again. 

           

What did you think? Do you agree with my rating? If not - what would you say differently?

NuWho Review: Series 1 Episode 4 “Aliens of London”

By: Russell T. Davies

**Spoilers**

If you have not yet watched this episode, please go and do so before proceeding.

            I’m just going to say it: this episode did something very, very smart. Now before you all write me off as delusional and/or unintelligent, please observe that I am actually not speaking of the aliens this time. Many reviewers have complained about the fact that with NuWho too many episodes take place on Planet Earth – saying that Classic Who would never commit such an atrocity and that this aspect of the reboot has completely ruined the series. I respectfully beg to differ. Shows change as they go on. They have to evolve and adapt to changing audience demographics. That's just how it works.

            Okay...rant  is officially over and now it’s time to talk about the 'smart thing' that this episode did. For what may be the first time in Doctor Who, we get to see what the possible side-effects that could come from companions just larking off with The Doctor – as well as a grimmer side to the often-played-for-comedy tendency of The Doctor to be a bit off date-wise with his steering. Poor Jackie Tyler, all those months not knowing whether her daughter is alive or dead. You can really see it in her face when Rose waltzes into the apartment just how much of a toll that year has taken on her and we have even greater understanding and sympathy when she calls the alien helpline later. She's just trying to protect her beloved daughter. Personally, I think Rose is rather awful to not at least try and give her mother an explanation for where she’s been all this time.

Favorite Moments & Random Thoughts:

- With that emotion-packed beginning and a thrilling sequence with a spaceship crashing into both Big Ben and the Thames, what could possibly be so bad about this episode? Well, as it turns out – an awful lot, beginning with the main antagonists.

- Oh dear, what can I say about the Slitheen that isn’t completely negative or snarky? Hmmm…let me get back to you on that. For now, snob glasses going on in 3, 2, 1…

- I’m not really sure what possessed Russell T. Davies as he was writing this script. I mean – he put a pig in a spacesuit (what is this: the Muppets’ Pigs in Space?) Even though it did give The Doctor that speech about ‘it was just scared’…the mood was killed by it being a pig!

- It might not be so bad (more on that later) if the episode hadn’t had such an epic, emotion & action-packed beginning, but as it stands this story is an absolute mess of half-baked ideas and jokes that a juvenile would cringe at. (Farting aliens that need to be ‘naked’ – seriously? I’m not sure whether to laugh incredulously or burst into tears.)

- I’m no expert on politics, but I’m pretty sure that in an emergency of this kind “Joseph Green – MP for Hartley Dale and Chairman of the Parliamentary Commission on the Monitoring of Sugar Standards in Exported Confectionery” would not be next in line after the Prime Minister. If I’m wrong, please do comment and correct me, but if I am I should say that that government needs some serious restructuring!

- While it was fun to watch The Doctor struggle through the family/neighbour gathering in Rose’s flat…this was where the episode began to go downhill with the report of the aforementioned MP. 

- Also, why exactly did Toshiko inquire about the Prime Minister? That just felt like a moment of Davies Forced Exposition (lines in a script that are written exposition in a misguided attempt to ‘show not tell’ that really comes out as ‘tell-by-forcing-it-down-our-throats') rather than a genuine question a real person would have asked. Don’t forget this term, it will crop up again.

- And, oh Mickey, you’re killing me, man! Why oh why is Davies murdering this character the way he is? I don’t entirely blame Noel Clark (he does an admirable job with what he’s given) but Mickey just seems to get worse every time I see him on screen. There was an attempt in this episode to garner sympathy for him, but it simply doesn’t work when one minute he’s the tragic figure and the next he’s running through the dematerialising TARDIS and into a wall. (And don’t even get me started on the over-blown, over-dramatic fall he then does.)

             This episode had great potential and as I was watching the first few minutes, it looked as though all of my expectations would be fulfilled. Perhaps this is why I take such umbrage with its descent into crass and un-funny humour and the mish-mash storytelling. Christopher Eccleston was amazing as always and, with the exception of the Slitheen and Mickey, the rest of the cast were wonderful as well. It’s hard to truly pass final judgement on this episode just yet, as it is a two-parter, so I will reservedly give it a 3/5 simply for the opening 11 minutes.

What did you think? Do you agree with my rating? If not - what would you say differently?

NuWho Review: Series 1 Episode 3 “The Unquiet Dead”

By: Mark Gatiss

**Spoilers**

If you have not yet watched this episode, please go and do so before proceeding.

            The Beeb have always been wonderful when it comes to period costumes and settings and the beginning of this episode is no exception. From the frock coats and velvet drapery to the dim gaslights, the atmosphere of The Unquiet Dead is just perfect.


Favorite Moments & Random Thoughts:

- The episode begins, fittingly, in a funeral parlor where the undertaker is expressing all of the clichéd statements of sympathy to a mourner. It’s clear that Mark Gatiss (the writer of this episode) has been to more than one funeral in his time, because everything about this scene is so typical of people who don’t really know (or care about) what to say to those who are in mournin. It happens all the time with trite little sayings that sound good, but don’t really hold any weight. 

- It is also rather morbidly amusing to have an undertaker that is so obviously uncaring about the feelings of the families of the bodies he’s preparing (rather irreverently calling them ‘stiffs’).

- I do believe that this is the only time when the rather glaring problem of what companions are wearing is addressed (something Amy Pond and her miniskirts should hear about) and one must wonder if The Doctor was only using it as an excuse to get Rose into a Victorian dress. He certainly slips up and calls her beautiful! But anyway, they arrive in Victorian Cardiff (instead of Naples) thus showing us the first example (in NuWho) of the TARDIS’ rather loose definition of coordinates.

- As if this episode doesn’t have enough going for it with the ‘lively stiffs’ and Victorian vibe, we also get Charles Dickens reading A Christmas Carol. YAY!

- I believe The Doctor could identify with me, given his little fanboy moment while riding in Dickens’ coach. Dickens himself is beautifully portrayed by uncanny look-alike Simon Callow as a man who has lost his sense of inspiration. It is only the arrival of the Gelth that gets his imagination working again. Sadly this inspiration comes too late as, according to history, he dies not long after. 

- Now I’m going to talk about the Gelth. They are the gaseous creatures that are taking up residence in the dead and making them 'come back to life'. They are creepy creatures, particularly in their opening scene where the deceased granny walks away from the undertaker’s house. They are also revealed in later parts as creatures of beauty as well as fear, most notably during the séance scene and in the morgue. One can almost identify with The Doctor’s delight at finding them. Thanks to some very impressive CGI, they look marvellous. It’s almost a shame that they turn out to be the villain, though it is a very innovative way that they are introduced. Right up until Gwyneth is tricked and possessed, we the viewers are not entirely certain as to whether the Gelth are friend or foe.

- Oh poor overworked, brave Gwyneth! She’s presented as a bit of a mouse in the beginning of the episode and we don’t really get the chance to connect with her until her conversation with Rose in the scullery. Here is a chance for both of their characters to shine and is used to full potential as the two girls form a shaky friendship over boys, school, and Gwyneth’s psychic powers. 

- When watching this, I half hoped that Gwyneth would join the TARDIS crew as a companion. But, alas, ‘twas not meant to be. She agrees to help the Gelth (she calls them her angels) by opening the Rift in Time that is situated under an archway in Mr. Sneed (the undertaker)’s basement. But the Gelth are treacherous things and Gwyneth is killed as soon as she sets foot under that archway. It takes the sacrifice of the brave Gwyneth to stop the Gelth and save everyone. 

            I’m usually not an automatic fan of the stories where it’s someone other than The Doctor who saves the day. But, as evidenced by this story, when done tastefully and sparingly those very types of stories can be the most poignant. Between the beautiful special effects, well-formed characters, fine plot, and Charles Dickens – I give this episode an 4/5 and highly recommend it as a must-see.

         

What did you think? Do you agree with my rating? If not - what would you say differently?

NuWho Review: Series 1 Episode 2 “The End of the World”

 By: Russell T. Davies

**Spoilers**

If you have not yet watched this episode, please go and do so before proceeding.

            Man does The Doctor know how to treat a girl – taking her to see the end of her planet! Maybe he thought it would be better than fireworks over the Thames...



Favorite Moments & Random Thoughts:

- It was great fun to see all of the alien species on board Platform One – and reassuring when I saw that they weren’t all stereotypical aliens (you know, the ones that look like Casper the Friendly Ghost on a starvation diet). The different gifts that they all give one another makes a nice touch that also sets in place different cultures with little effort.

- And that brings us to our villain for the week. Lady Cassandra is a face on a piece of stretched-out skin that somehow still manages to put lipstick on every morning. Grotesque in appearance and making herself annoying by constantly calling out “Moisturize me!”, Cassandra is definitely one of the boo-hiss villains of Doctor Who. But, ‘the last pure human’ is apparently more than just a once-pretty face as is revealed when her gifts to the other guests turn out to be a small army of robotic spiders that hack their way into Platform One’s computer system. (Talk about the worldwide web!)


- While this villainous subterfuge is going on, Rose is feeling rather unsettled about the whole Earth Death thing and so goes to collect her thoughts somewhere private. It is here that some of the better parts of Rose’s character begin to assert themselves. If you’ll remember from my last review, I accused Rose of being a bit thick and, while that may still hold true, here we are introduced to what could be called the sympathetic, kind side of her. While looking for a quiet place to think, Rose comes across the plumber Raffalo with whom she holds a friendly conversation. While this may not seem like much on first glance – given the context (a culture where those like Raffalo must ask permission to even speak) – these action makes Rose seem quite sweet, especially after her rather neutral introduction last week. It also makes the implied death of Raffalo in the next scene actually mean something to the audience..

- That blue make-up reminds me of Violet from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory...

- On a side note, The Doctor getting a parking ticket for where he left the TARDIS just made me chuckle. So did Rose’s realistic indignation about said TARDIS getting inside her head and translating everything (The Doctor’s bewilderment at her reaction is priceless).

- Another nice touch is Rose’s souped-up phone and the call to Jackie, whom I’m liking more and more each time I see her. 

- Of course the mood is ruined by the death of the Steward. I’m not sure whether to cry or burst out into hysterical laughter by his final ‘scream’. Does that make me a bad person?

- Unfortunately, the plot descends at this point into a rather obvious WHOdunnit (pray pardon the pun) before the breakneck pace leading to the reset switch picks up again. Between the lack of mystery and the rather convenient intercom exposition, this episode is not particularly layered or complex. However, while the plot might leave much to be desired and won’t have you scratching your head in wonder, the wonderful special effects and soundtrack more than make up for it. 

- Also, one of the best tension-building sequences exists within this episode. I’m speaking, of course, of the sequence when the shields are failing, the guests are panicking, Rose is about to be burnt alive, and The Doctor has to make his way through the cooling turbines to find the ‘reboot’ switch. While not a true cliffhanger (we all know that The Doctor will eventually save the day) this set of scenes will still have you on the edge of your seat and chewing anxiously at your nails, particularly when people start dying and you realize that The Doctor won’t be saving everyone.

- Beautiful moments in this episode you'll want to take note of: 

1. When Jade speaks to The Doctor about his home planet and a single tear slips down his cheek. After last week’s comments about the Time War and now this week’s revelation that something awful happened to The Doctor’s people, interest is piqued to know the whole story.

2. The very ending of the episode, after the shields are put back up and Earth dies – Rose makes the bitter-sweet observation that, amidst all the panic, no one even saw the moment when the Earth ended. “All those years of history…” They were all so busy trying to save themselves that the death of a planet happened without them even noticing.

3. When The Doctor takes Rose back to Earth. After the frankly depressing observation from Rose that no-one even noticed when Earth exploded, the episode desperately needed something to keep it from ending on a low note. The Doctor and Rose going back to the thriving Earth was just what we needed. Not only do we get the beginning of the explanation about what happened to The Doctor’s planet and people, but we get an endearing end where he and Rose put the past (future?) behind them and go out for some chips.

          Over all, this episode serves as a nice introduction to the ‘alien’ side of Doctor Who, as well as dishing out humorous cracks about pop culture and another reference to “Bad Wolf” (please remember this – it will be important). I give The End of the World a 3/5 because, despite a rather threadbare plot and occasional cheesy moments, it did deliver on both visual and emotional strength.


What did you think? Do you agree with my rating? If not - what would you say differently?

NuWho Review: Series 1 Episode 1 “Rose”

By: Russell T. Davies
 

**Spoilers**

If you have not yet watched this episode, please go and do so before proceeding.

         Ladies and Gentlemen here it is – the episode that restarted it all! After being put on hiatus in 1989 (and actually being, aside from the odd telemovie and comic strip, cancelled) Doctor Who languished for fifteen years until the BBC and Russell T. Davies created the revamped series, which aired its first episode Rose on March 26, 2005.


Favorite Moments & Random Thoughts:

- This episode begins and quickly establishes the tone that we will see throughout the entire Davies era...metropolitan London. We get a glimpse into Rose’s humdrum life that she seems rather bored to be living. After a three minute montage that effectively establishes the setting, Rose’s job, and her relationship with Mickey – the elevator reaches the department store basement, the peppy music stops, and the real story begins. 

- Rose is looking for ‘Wilson’ – CEO of something or other – and hears a noise from deeper in the shop basement. Now here is a question for you to ponder: why does she go into that room? Why do they always go into the room? Here’s a tip for you, boys and girls: if you’re in a dark basement, all alone, and you hear a noise from a dark room full of creepy dummies – it might just be the time to run the other way. Especially if you're blond. Blonds always die first...

- The tension builds beautifully all the way through this scene, right up until the first dummy starts moving. That is the thing I love about Doctor Who. Something that could be quite corny and painful to watch is turned into the stuff of nightmares. Take the moving shop dummies, for instance. Despite their halting motions and bare plastic chests, they somehow manage to seem threatening. Maybe it’s the blank faces. Emotionless, advancing hoards are always more frightening than a hoard that’s shrieking simply because one doesn’t know how to react. And that’s just what happens to Rose. She backs away, putting her back to the wall in an act that would be smart if she didn’t end up being cornered. Thankfully a guy with large ears and a leather jacket is there to grab her hand and say ‘Run!’ 

- That is our first introduction to The Doctor after all these years and this first appearance of the two-hearted alien is sure to put a smile on your face. Whether he’s pulling the arm off of a dummy or blowing up the department store, Christopher Eccleston’s Doctor does it all with a façade of jocularity and an undercurrent of darkness. 

- And while we’re on the subject of shop dummy arms, let me just say that I love the way Rose runs the whole way home clutching that disembodied arm like it’s a billy club. 

- Also...I wonder if Mickey gave it the idea of strangling people with his decidedly unfunny joke. Just a thought.

- Mickey Smith. I rather think 'Mickey the Idiot' is rather too kind a nickname for him, especially when the rubbish bin eats him (this scene is complete with a rather painful burp). The highlight of this portion of the episode, however, is in the form of Rose talking with ‘internet nutter’ Clive about his conspiracy theories concerning The Doctor. This is a prime example of how the show has received a reboot for the modern era because this sort of thing is the exact reaction that people would have to someone like The Doctor, particularly if they didn’t know the entire story.

- But, oh gosh oh! How doesn’t Rose realize that her boyfriend is now made of plastic? She must really be in turmoil over what Clive said to her not to notice the suspiciously fake shine of Mickey’s skin, or the cheesy mannequin-like grin he now sports when before he had a bad habit of scowling. Maybe she just didn’t look at him a whole lot, though even with that excuse I don’t see why she didn’t notice sooner than she did. 

- On the bright side, though, Rose apparently isn’t completely thick. When plastic!Mickey goes berserk, she at least has the sense to push the burglar alarm before running out of the restaurant. Oh, and while we’re thinking about mannequins, I’m pretty sure the TARDIS was not happy about having that plastic head melt into her console! Maybe that’s why she ‘lost’ the signal so fast.

- So I’ve talked a lot about Rose and complained about Mickey, but I have yet to touch on the last person in Rose’s life: her mother. Jackie Tyler is one of those rare jewels in that she just jumps off of the page and out of the screen to the point where you feel that she might be your next-door neighbour. Needless to say, I love Jackie. We don’t see much of her in this episode, but from what we do see we learn quite a lot. Jackie is a bit of a flirt (evidenced by her dressing gown comment to The Doctor) and she is very protective of her daughter in her own way (evidenced by her pushing for Rose to get compensation) although I’m not quite sure what to make of her comment about the shop job giving Rose airs and graces. Maybe its just a case of momentary poor writing, but that comment seemed out-of-place with the rest of Jackie’s character. Jackie is a single mother and is also quite the gossip. She is wonderfully multi-layered and I always look forward to learning more about her as the season goes on.

- Now we get to the main villain of this episode which is not the shop dummies but the Nestene Consciousness that is giving the shop dummies life. While not particularly impressive in looks – resembling a marshmallow that has gotten the wrong side of a fire – this blob of living plastic can use the London Eye to transmit its consciousness to every piece of plastic on planet Earth. Why it then goes for only shop dummies is beyond me, but I suppose for a formless globule that is almost strategic.

- I’m very curious to know what the Nestene protein planet had to do with the Time War and why Mickey was so sure that the Consciousness could talk when all we really hear it doing is a few unintelligible (but impressive) roars. 

- How did the shop dummies get the TARDIS across the river to the Nestene's underground hideout in less time than it took the Doctor and Rose to cross Westminster Bridge? Not to mention why mention all of the different types of plastic the Nestene can control (legos, high-chairs, beast implants) if you're not going to use them? Somehow I think activating someone's contacts would be more devastating to them then chasing them down the street with a lingerie dummy. 

- The climax of this episode is good despite a few unnecessary lines from Doctor Exposition ("The transmat beam; it’s transmitting!”) especially with the off-screen death of Clive and then Jackie being menaced by a trio of blond brides. Although it is ultimately Rose to save the day, hereby starting the trend of companions’ maiden voyages ending with them rescuing The Doctor, there is still a fine climax between the Nestene Consciousness transmitting, the Autons wreaking havoc in London, and Rose knocking the appropriately-named Anti-Plastic into the Consciousness’ vat before escaping into the TARDIS with The Doctor and Mickey.

- And then we get a scene that still makes me cringe to this day. And no, I'm not just talking about Mickey's total wimp-out over the TARDIS interior. (Cowering against the wall is a bit over-dramatic, don't you think? I know that being swallowed by a garbage can and menaced by a marshmallow glob is a bit traumatic...but it doesn't warrant shivering and clinging to your girlfriend like a terrified five-year-old, surely!) No, the scene I am speaking about is the moment that should be putting a huge smile on my face: the companion entering the TARDIS to begin her travels. Allow me to show you an excerpt from a direct transcript of Rose so that you can fully appreciate the monstrosity that is the dialogue and attitude of this scene:

ROSE: Thanks.
MICKEY: Thanks for what? 
ROSE: Exactly.
(Rose kisses Mickey on the cheek and runs into the TARDIS.)
      
- That is simply a TERRIBLE attitude to have towards her boyfriend, especially since she spent a good part of the second act worrying about whether or not Mickey was alive! It's not only a jerkish move but it's inconsistent with her character.

- I know that this is just the beginning and Rose is just starting off, so I'm willing to give her the benefit of doubt - but I really, really hope that she grows out of this extremely selfish streak (or that it will at least be addressed within the show). Companions are to be role models, not just pretty faces there for The Doctor to provide exposition to, and so far Rose has had a decent enough beginning up until that point. She was flawed and selfish (like when she hung up on a panicking Jackie) but she also showed a bit of ingenuity (like when she punched the fire alarm in response to berserk!plastic!Mickey). I don't know. Hopefully she will grow and change over the coming series'.

        So how does this episode rate over all? Well, as a season opener and series revival – it did it’s job (introducing/reintroducing viewers to the lore) admirably. There were some weak moments (like the aforementioned garbage can belch or the Captain Obvious moments written for The Doctor) but it dished up some good old-fashioned scary fun with the blank-faced Autons and screaming shoppers. All in all, I give Rose a 3/5 rating. It wasn’t the best, but it served its purpose well enough.

What did you think? Do you agree with my rating? If not - what would you say differently?