NuWho Review Series 4 Episode 6 "The Doctor's Daughter"

By: Stephen Greenhorn

**Spoilers**

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

          Never has an episode been so easy to like and yet so easy to hate. So easy to like because of the concept and idea behind it and so easy to hate because I look at it and see so much wasted potential! Considering that this episode takes place in a pre-50th timeline, there are a lot of ramifications with the creation of Jenny. No longer would The Doctor be the last Gallifreyan alive in the universe. It's really quite sad.

   The Doctor's Daughter was an episode that made me groan as soon as I saw the title because it just sounded painfully corny.

       Yes. I was not looking forward to this episode. You could even say that I was dreading it. Not even reading the description could sate my fears, though I had to admit that the concept they put forth sounded intriguing. I was interested, but for all the wrong reasons. But then the TARDIS was hijacked and dragged off to a corridor that brought back memories of the Classic Era and The Doctor was forced/tricked into donating a piece of his DNA and a daughter was born, brilliantly brought to life by Georgia Moffet. Yes...'Moffet' not 'Moffat' and yes I do know that she is now married to David Tennant. And do you really think that I wouldn't know she's the daughter of my Doctor? Yeah. Save the comments, guys. I appreciate that you're excited to share this with me, but I don't actually live under a rock.

     

Favorite Moments & Random Thoughts:

- I actually really, really like the character of Jenny. As stated above, by all past experiences with this sort of story, I should HATE her. I think it's because of Moffet because it's just obvious she's having such a good time playing the part and, as a result, that same enthusiasm and joy carries through to the audience.

- Oddly enough, Jenny's character reminds me a lot of another person from the Whoniverse. Luke Smith from The Sarah Jane Adventures is Sarah's genetically engineered son who was grown in a laboratory to be used as a test subject for invading aliens. These two characters TOTALLY need to meet!

- "I don't know where we're going but my old hand's very excited about it!" Ewwww.

- All of the actors in this episode (from Moffet to Tate) do a great job...with the exception of Freema Agyeman. I don't know what was the problem - bad dialogue, poor directing, or just an off day of filming that somehow made it to the final cut - but Freema's performance is awful in this episode. It showcases all of the worse ticks from Martha's run as companion, strips the character of all the awesome development she had been given, and left her feeling phoned-in and shoe-horned-in. What a shame!

- To be fair, though, the script wasn't doing her any favors. Poor Martha is sent off on a little side mission where she has to play off of holograms and burbly fish things. That's it. Clearly the writers didn't think this through.

- In fact, they just didn't think the whole plot through. It's so generic and boring and full of plot holes and confusing developments that I don't quite know what to make of it. At first it seems like it's going to be a story about 'consent' and 'unexpected parenthood' of all things (strange...but not an utterly bad thing for Doctor Who to take on) and then it just descends into a forced moral about pacifism and how all religions should be mocked and eschewed by anyone with a brain.

-  Honestly the best parts of the episode are just the bits with Jenny, Donna, and The Doctor walking and talking.

I dunno. Whenever I see The Rani I'll ask her...

- "Progenation. Reproduction from a single organism. Means one parent is biological mother and father. You take a sample of diploid cells, split them into haploids, then recombine them in a different arrangement, and grow. Very quickly, apparently." Hey writers...you do realize that even technobabble needs to at least sound either funny or plausible, right? This is neither.

- You know something? This episode could have been great. The idea of a war that's lasted for generations but really has only been going on for a few days is an interesting one. It could have been a great message about senseless fighting and how you need to know what the purpose is before you start hurting others on the words of others and feuding a la Romeo & Juliet. But it wasn't. It was boring, dull, hackneyed, stupid, dull, idiotic, mixed, and did I mention dull?!

- I want to know about General Cobb. Why is he so old whenever all of the other newly born children of the machine are in their late teens? Is he one of the original generation? If so...why does he believe in the war? Has he gone mad?

- So they find 'The Source' (to be fair, one thing I do like about this episode is the way Donna gets the chance to show her intelligence as she figures out the numbers) and we get a big speech about 'absolute pacifism is good no matter what' and 'religion is outdated' and all the other things that shows really shouldn't attempt to explain in one episode. In fact, in the case of religion, they should just stay away. It's similar to Twilight attempting to take on the abortion issue. No...just no. If you can't deal with an issue properly, don't deal with it at all.

- But no matter how bad this episode is, I still bawl like a baby whenever Jenny steps in front of The Doctor and is shot. Sure they don't handle it well and sure Martha's dialogue is both stupid and intrusive, but the performances of the actors really shine through and what we have is a prime example of how truly great actors can bolster even a terrible script. That's right. A bad script is really not a total excuse for a bad performance.

- The Doctor didn't wait five and a half hours to see if Jenny would regenerate or not. I am VERY disappointed in him.

- "Oh, I've got the whole universe! Planets to save, civilizations to rescue, creatures to defeat... and an awful lot of running to do!"

        This episode is such a hard one to review. I both love it and I hate it. I hate it because it is stupid and boring and all-around awful. I love it because it introduced one of my favorite Doctor Who characters of all time. I like The Doctor's daughter but I don't like The Doctor's Daughter. See my problem? To be honest, especially with the way it ends, this just feels like a failed back-door pilot to a dropped spin-off/miniseries. To be honest, I'd like to see that spin-off. Because there's no WAY it could be worse than this. I just don't know. I like the characters a lot better than the story itself and they are only saved by the actors. (And I don't buy The Doctor gabbing on about how evil guns are. Has he forgotten his 3rd regeneration?!) The Doctors' Daughter is a 2/5. It's worth one view for the characters, but it definitely isn't anything memorable.

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