Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

It was in my teen years that I first discovered the British television show Doctor Who. The show was a low-budget science fiction show that combined elements of drama and suspense with humor as well. For those who became fans of the show, like me, the low-budget effects and settings were endearing. For those who it never quite caught on with, they were just stupid.

When the show was resurrected, one of the things that was immediately updated were the special effects, as well as the make-up and costuming on the alien species. The result was a much slicker looking show. The question was if the audience would accept it, both old fans who remembered the original series and the new fans the show’s producers hoped to acquire.

The results have been astoundingly positive. Strong stories combined with actors who bring the characters to life and are convincing have made the series wildly successful. I know in my house, two of the teens who have never seen the show before are now rabid fans.

As a bit of an introduction, the character of the Doctor is known as a Time Lord. He is either immortal or just very long-lived. He can be fatally wounded, and when that happens, he regenerates into a different looking person, albeit with the same memories as before. The personality is usually somewhat different as well, although there are often characteristics of previous incarnations present. The Doctor also travel through time and space, usually with a pretty female companion.

At the end of the first series (or season for those of us on the western side of the pond), the Doctor had regenerated. David Tennant took over the role from Christopher Eccleston. I loved Eccleston in the role, and wasn’t sure how I would feel about Tennant.

The second series begins with The Christmas Invasion. Ever wondered what happens when the Doctor regenerates? His current traveling companion, Rose Tyler (portrayed by Billie Piper) brings him back to London during the Holiday season to recuperate and he's pretty much down for the count while an alien invasion is taking place. The tone for the series is set as it takes on a much more political tone as Harriet Jones is now the Prime Minister and Torchwood is brought in. It was nice to see at the end the homage to Tom Baker where Tennant is looking for new clothes and has the scarf around him.

With the Doctor now up and around, he and Rose head off on a season of adventures, and what a season it is! Tyler gets to reach with her acting in the second episode, New Earth as she and the Doctor visit a hospital on this planet when the Doctor is summoned by an old friend.

Next they are off to Victorian England, in Tooth and Claw, although quite by mistake. However, the episode works well into the history of the series as well as possibly our own if you have a bit of imagination.

In School Reunion, fans finally see the Doctor encounter one of his former companions when he encounters Sarah Jane (portrayed by Elisabeth Sladen). I have to say that although she wasn’t my favorite of the old companions, I really like her in this episode and it was terrific. It also brought back K-9. If you don’t know what or who that is, I’ll leave that for you to find out.

Continuing with strong episodes, next up is The Girl in the Fireplace where the Doctor inadvertently becomes a guardian angel to a girl (and later a woman) in France during the 1700’s.

In Rise of the Cybermen, the Doctor, Rose, and Mickey (portrayed by Noel Clarke) land in a parallel universe where Rose finds her father, Pete Tyler (portrayed by Shaun Dingwall) still alive and successful. Her mother, Jackie (portrayed by Camille Coduri) isn't quite what she remembers and "Rose" is a dog. Unfortunately, it's also a world about to be invaded by the Cybermen, another of the Doctors arch-enemies. It’s actually a two-parter which concludes with The Age of Steel and provides the catalyst for the finale which was spectacular.

It’s back to just Rose and the Doctor as they travel to Britain in 1953 for The Idiot‘s Lantern. The idea was to see Elvis, but the Doctor miscalculated a bit and the two end up there just prior to Queen Elizabeth’s coronation. They encounter an alien who has managed to find one of Earth’s newest inventions an easy way to satisfy its appetite.

While the two-parter of The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit are hardly bad episodes, they weren’t favorites of mine from this season. The Doctor does battle here with an entity who may or may not be the Devil as the universe closes in around them. This lead into another weak episode, Love & Monsters, which although it’s quite humorous, had the feeling of just being filler.

I also wasn’t crazy about Fear Her, although its dark themes work very well. The Doctor brings Rose to see the 2012 Olympics in London and gets involved with missing children in one neighborhood.

All of this leads into the two-part finale however, and these episodes have to be some of the best I’ve ever seen of the series. Army of Ghosts and Doomsday are excellent in every way. Every fan’s dream of having two of the Doctor’s foes battle each other is realized as the Cybermen and Daleks do battle with Earth caught in the middle. It’s a real tearjerker, and even the teenage boy in our home that I've managed to corrupt into becoming a huge fan of this show said it was one of the saddest shows he's ever seen.

As if all of these quality shows aren’t enough to encourage you to buy the set, there are the extras. Each episode has at least audio commentary, and many have in-vision commentary where the people participating in the commentary are shown in what looks like a picture-in-picture box. The commentaries are all very interesting and funny - I didn’t find a single one that wasn’t worth watching with the episode.

In addition, there are other special features including video diaries by both David Tennant and Billie Piper that gets fans a behind-the-scenes view of what making the show is like. In addition to some deleted scenes from the season, there’s a selection of bloopers as well as the cast and crew working hard to crack each other up. The effect is that the set for this show looks like quite a fun place to be.

The Children in Need Special also serves to fill in some of the story of the Doctor and Rose on the TARDIS just after his regeneration. Doctor Who Confidential is a series of behind-the-scenes supplements to each episode rolled into one entry. It’s an excellent supplement with plenty of footage. None of the special features on these discs feels like it was filler or thrown in to try and make the set look better. Everything here is quality material and I enjoyed watching it and appreciating it (which is why it took me so long to review it).

What do I think of David Tennant after watching the second season? I think the tenth Doctor now stands a good chance of displacing Tom Baker as my favorite of the Doctor’s incarnations, which is something I never though I would say. I need more time to say for sure, but I love his balance of humor, warmth, darkness, and courage. Tennant wanted this role from a young age, and with his dream realized, he is making the most of it and giving performances that fans seem to really be appreciating.

I would suggest getting your hands on this, and checking out the show if you’re not sure. I would recommend the DVD set to anyone as I think it’s one of the best shows on the air right now.


Doctor Who on DVD: 



The First Doctor (William Hartnell) 

The Beginning Collection ~ The Keys of Marinus ~ The Aztecs ~ The Dalek Invasion of Earth ~ The Rescue/The Romans ~ The Web Planet ~ The Time Meddler ~ Lost In Time ~ The War Machines

The Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) 

Lost In Time ~ The Tomb of the Cybermen ~ The Mind Robber ~ The Invasion ~ The Seeds of Death ~ The War Games

The Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) 

Spearhead from Space  ~ Doctor Who and the Silurians ~ Inferno ~ The Claws of Axos ~ The Sea Devils ~ The Three Doctors ~ Carnival of Monsters ~ The Green Death ~ The Time Warrior 

The Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) 

Robot ~ The Ark in Space ~ The Sontaran Experiment ~ Genesis of the Daleks ~ Planet of Evil ~ Pyramids of Mars ~ The Brain of Morbius ~ The Hand of Fear ~ The Deadly Assassin ~ The Robots of Death ~ The Talons of Weng Chiang ~ The Horror of Fang Rock ~ The Invisible Enemy ~ The Invasion of Time ~ The Ribos Operation ~ The Pirate Planet ~ The Stones of Blood ~ The Androids of Tara ~ The Power of Kroll ~ The Armageddon Factor ~ Destiny of the Daleks ~ City of Death ~ The Leisure Hive ~ The E Space Trilogy ~ The Keeper of Traken ~ Logopolis 

The Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) 

Castrovalva ~ Four to Doomsday ~ The Visitation ~ Black Orchid ~ Earthshock ~ Time-Flight ~ Arc of Infinity ~ Black Guardian Trilogy ~ The Five Doctors ~ Warriors of the Deep ~ Resurrection of the Daleks ~ The Caves of the Androzani 

The Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker) 

The Twin Dilemma ~ Attack of the Cybermen ~ Vengeance on Varos ~ The Mark of the Rani ~ The Two Doctors ~ Timelash ~ Revelation of the Daleks ~ The Trial of a Time Lord

The Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) 

Delta and the Bannermen ~ Remembrance of the Daleks ~ Battlefield ~ Ghost Light ~ The Curse of Fenric ~ Survival 

The Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann) 

Doctor Who - The Movie

The Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) 

Doctor Who 2005 - The Complete First Series 

The Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) 

Doctor Who 2006 - The Complete Second Series ~ Doctor Who 2007 - The Complete Third Series ~ The Infinite Quest ~ Doctor Who 2008 - The Complete Fourth Series ~ The Next Doctor  ~ Planet of the Dead ~ The Waters of Mars ~ The Next Doctor ~ The End of Time

The Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith)

Doctor Who 2010 - The Complete Fifth Series


DOCTOR WHO MOVIES

The Doctor Who Collection: Doctor Who and the Daleks ~ Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.


OTHER RELATED SERIES:

Torchwood Series One ~ Torchwood Series Two ~ Torchwood Children of Earth

The Sarah Jane Chronicles




© 2008 Patti Aliventi

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD