From 1963 to 1989, Saturday Lunchtimes in Britain were made that much more thrilling for the whole family as they watched the latest instalment of Doctor Who -Britain's longest running science fiction series. During those 27 years the adventures of the Doctor have taken us through time and space, from prehistoric man to galactic Earth empires of the future, from encounters with Marco Polo to the Loch Ness Monster. The Doctor was our hero with a changing face and a sonic screwdriver at the ready, and through each of the seven actors who played him -William Hartnel, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy- our hero battled against many terrifying threats Daleks, Autons, Sontarans, Cybermen, Silurians, Ice Warriors, and all the other things that go bump in the cosmos.

In 1989, the BBC finally pulled the plug on the series after dwindling ratings and so the Doctor's TV adventures were no more. The many fans of the show were furious and for years after they demanded that the BBC bring back their show to the screen. But all the BBC would give them was repeat showings of old episodes. It was, of course around this time that I -an impressionable and easily scared 11 year old boy- started watching the show through its repeats for the first time. I had never seen anything like it before and from then on I was a devoted fan too.

The BBC tried repeatedly to revive the series for TV. In 1993 there were plans to do a feature adventure called "The Dark Dimension", featuring an ensemble of all the living actors playing the Doctor and his various earlier selves (in celebration of the show's 30th Anniversary), but this was aborted. Three years later, in 1996 we finally got a new TV story on our screens in an American pilot TV Movie starring Paul McGann as the 8th Doctor for the new series, but one that was made for American Television. The British Doctor Who fans were less than happy and they ribballed the American version for being mediocre and Americanised. But that wasn't the problem- the British viewing public had at least tuned in at 9 million viewers, but in America it failed to garner an audience -and that was the audience that counted- so the proposed series never lived past the pilot.

Although it was looking bleak, fans still demanded that the series be given a second chance. They wanted a new series and they wanted it to be traditional and they wanted it to be exclusively British made with no American involvement. And now, in 2005, nearly ten years (wow! was it that long ago?) after the American pilot, the fans finally got their wish!

Doctor Who is back!! Helmed by Russell T. Davis (Queer as Folk, The Second Coming), with a complete first season of 13 episodes -45 minute length- and a second season confirmed for 2006, it truly was a godsend for me to have a new Doctor Who series on Television. Not only as a Doctor Who fan, but as someone who for the last three years has not had anything on TV worth looking forward to in these wastelands of endless Reality TV shows and terrible soap operas.

And whad'ya know, they're showing it on the Saturday Tea Time slot too!

And for those thirteen weeks, each Saturday I would not miss a single episode for the whole world! I wouldn't even miss a second of it and I would demand that my flatmates be completely silent as I watched. And I didn't care that I had to watch the last five minutes of the excruciatingly irritating Graham Norton and his tacky to the extreme 'Dance Fever' show beforehand, just so I could be sure of not missing a moment of the beginning. If that's not a testament to my dedication to Doctor Who, I don't know what is.

And now that I've seen it all- the whole first season in its entirety, it's time for me to give my verdict, and whilst I wish I could tell you all that it was a thoroughly excellent season which never faltered from greatness and always left me cheering, if I did I would be lying.

Some of the episodes actually did make me cheer- I literally stood up and gave applause after some of the episodes becuase I thought they were that good. In-fact to the best of my recollection there are only four other times a viewing experience has done that to me- with the movies Ringu, Betty Blue, Show Me Love and the Live Aid Concert. But that was only some of the episodes- some of the other episodes unfortunately did fall far from greatness, quite frequently.

The Characters:

Clive: "The Doctor is a legend woven through history. When disaster comes he's there. he brings the storm in his wake, and he has one constant companion."
Rose: "What's that?"
Clive: "Death!"

The Doctor is now in his 9th regeneration and is played by Christopher Eccleston (Shallow Grave, Cracker, 28 Days Later). This new Doctor is more gritty and coarse than his gentlemanly predecessors -more in line with the thuggish type of Doctor that William Hartnel and Colin Baker portrayed. He is something of a thrill seeker with the spirit of a wild adolescent.

He can be vengeful too, he's a lot less reluctant to pick up a gun than previous Doctors and he may even pull the plug on a dying war criminal just to make sure that justice is finally done. Occasionally we see echoes of the old Doctor's peace-loving nature in the role, but for the most part, this man of peace in a savage universe has realised that the time for turning the other cheek is over.....

There are some other modernisations to the Doctor's character that I'm not so keen on. There's times when the Doctor, in cringeworthy fashion takes on some of our shallow characteristics of reading celebrity gossip magazines and playing spot the alien. There's also moments where the writers and actor together try too hard to mimic Tom Baker's eccentricity which often feels forced- Cristopher Eccleston's best scenes are his gritty and serious moments, which sit better with his previous roles. Still these are merely clouds in the coffee- the coffee is still strong.

Rose: "If you are an alien, how comes you sound like you're from the north?"
Doctor: "Lots of planets have a North"

The Doctor's new companion is Rose Tyler, played by pop star Billie Piper. A ninteen year old college dropout working in a clothes department store. With dead end prospects, no chance of moving out of her mothers, and no-one in her family or social life worth looking up to, she meets the wise and brave Doctor who offers her excitement and adventure through space and time, and it's an offer she'd be mad to refuse.

Some fans were mortified when they learned that Billie Piper was starring in the series. Being a bubblegum teen pop star, inevitably a lot of people hated her and thought she had no talent (I quite liked her myself- true, she was no Martika but...). So it probably came to most people's surprise when they saw that Billie Piper is *gasp* actually a really good actress! She plays the role and the reactions that go with it with perfect authenticity and she endows the character with a lot of compassion and love, which is unusual and refreshing for a character who's a modern council estate youth who could easily have been a more stereotypical, mean spirited and obnoxious chavette thug. Which I think shows an important message of how people can often be misunderstood. In-fact in many ways she is more compassionate than the vigilante Doctor- she acts as his own conscience in a way. Perhaps the Doctor chose her as a companion because she reminds him of his earlier selves.

The adventures prove to be truly life-changing for the ever aware and growing Rose Tyler: "The Doctor showed me a better way of living your life. That you don't just let things happen, you make a stand, you say 'no'! You have the guts to do what's right when everyone else just runs away."

Continuity:

Wisely enough the writers of the New Series try not to get too concerned with the continuity of the Old Series. When blanks need to be filled in, all the necessary informatiion is given briefly without confusion. This is Doctor Who aimed at garnering as wide an audience as possible and tries not to alienate potential viewers with an encyclopedia of the Old Series' history. For this reason the voyages of the Tardis remain Earth-centric and there are no visits to old planets like Skaro, Gallifrey, Peladon, Metebilis 3 or Telos.

But for the sake of tradition, the Doctor's Tardis is still outwardly shaped like a 1950's Police Telephone Box, and is still bigger on the inside than it is on the outside, and its name is still an anachronym for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. The Doctor still has his trusty sonic screwdriver gadget that can miraculously get him out of almost any tight fix.

What's more UNIT still exists, UNIT being the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce- Britain's secret military, set up to deal with the paranormal. They featured in nearly all the episodes of the early 70's as allies to the Doctor on present day Earth as they fought off alien invasions together, and now they're back in business as old enemies return.

Yes- the Autons and the Daleks are back. Everyone's favourite scary monsters that had you hiding behind the sofa as children- now they're back to scare your kids! But this time with the latest special effects and up to date make up and costumes and new gimmicks to make them more frightening and convincing than ever- because let's face it, kids today are very hard to scare.

The Stories:


Episode 1

Rose

Written by
Russell T. Davis

Quote:
The Doctor: "You lot, all you ever do is eat chips, go to bed and watch telly, whilst all the time, underneath you there's a war going on"

Synopsis:
Set on present day earth, Rose Tyler meets the Doctor for the first time in the carnage of a dawning invasion by the Autons, who have their killer plastic dolls set up in department stores ready to rampage the streets and kill everything in sight.

Verdict:
The New Series begins with a superb pilot, wonderfully paced, weaving around its cartoonish view of modern society, its wonderful humour, its dark sense of menace and introducing us to several compelling imponderables that will haunt the rest of the series. This is all very modern- it's Doctor Who for the 21st century with high speed action, mobile phones, internet, chavs and the Millenium Wheel thrown in for good measure, but still undeniably Doctor Who at heart in its tale of the alien hero of the Doctor, the one who braves dangers with a smile when everyone else runs away, the one who prefers to resolve violent conflicts with words instead of weapons, the one who will gladly blow his own trumpet whilst saving the world, but would leave quickly and discreetly once his work was done. At heart it's about the Doctor reminding us of our brave and adventurous human spirit that we seem to have lost in this modern world of dull work routines and the crisis of masculinity.

Rating: 4 Stars ****


Episode 2

The End Of The World

Written by
Russell T. Davis

Quote:
The Doctor: "You think it will last forever, buildings, concrete, people, but it won't. One day it will all be gone, even the sky."

Synopsis:
In Rose's first voyage through time, the Doctor takes her 5 billion years in the future, onto a space station orbiting the Earth whilst the planet is about to be destroyed in a supernova- and for once the Doctor isn't here to save the Earth, he's just here to watch- as are the rest of the prestigious aliens and evolved descendants of Earth-kind on the space station- but it quickly becomes apparent that amongst them is a ruthless and devious murderer.

Verdict:
In what is essentially a second pilot to get to the heart and emotion of the main characters in a way that the series hasn't done since the 60's, the episode boasts some of the most memorable poignant scenes of the series, and immediately showcases what a wise casting choice Billie Piper was- I think her performance surprised a lot of people. The episode also liberally casts off old continuity like dead weight by blowing the Earth up in a supernova for what is the fourth time now, and also elaborately re-imagining the Doctor's Time Lord origins. That said there's something very rushed and random about the episode, some moments seem very forced on the writer's side of things, and by the time we feel our feet dig into the environment, it's already time to leave. The various races we see here are soundbited, the emotional scenes are also soundbited and then killed brutally and quickly by Christopher Eccleston's obnoxiously overstated performance as a calloused git, though I suspect this was more a case of the script tripping him up- what could have worked as an alien characteristic of a non-linear character not understanding why such a site of the world ending might be distressing to a human, gets rubbed in our faces with too much glee and pride. The best way to view this episode really is to watch it back to back with Rose, which I feel gives it a needed backbone of solidity. Despite which, The End of the World is a nice slice of mature seriousness from Russell T. Davis, and certainly miles above many of his later episodes which find him simply farting around- quite literally.

Rating: 3 Stars ***


Episode 3

The Unquiet Dead

Written by
Mark Gatiss

Quote:
Gwyneth: "The things you've seen in your travels- the darkness, the big bad wolf!"

Synopsis:
The Doctor and Rose land in Victorian England in Cardiff on Christmas Eve- and what the Dickens!? The dead are rising from their graves and walking the streets. Teaming up with Charles Dickens himself, the Doctor's investigation leads him into contact with a race of homeless alien refugees who are fleeing from the devastating 'Time War'.

Verdict:
The aim of the New Series has been to re-introduce Doctor Who to a new generation of fans, with old monsters being given brief backgrounds which rely on minimal continuity, as well as recycling the old series' best ingredients. What we have here is a homage of sorts to one of Doctor Who's finest stories- "The Talons of Weng Chiang", and it is complimented brilliantly by stellar production values and sharp writing, courtesy of the glorious pen of Mark Gatis, though he injects a good natured sensitivity into the story that is not typical of his League of Gentleman macabre skits. The visuals absolutely sparkle and draw you in to a very cozy atmosphere, the characters are wonderfully drawn and engage in piercing interactions and the suspense bar is raised very high. Performances are spot on and Simon Callow makes a wonderful Charles Dickens indeed, getting to the heart of the character as a realist and a humanist above all else. Immediately in Mark Gatis' hands the whole episode feels so much more tangible and well-thought out and deeply invested in than the episodes prior. To sum it up, it is 45 minutes of terrific television.

Rating: 5 stars *****


Episodes 4 & 5

Aliens of London/World War III

Written by Russell T. Davis

Quote:
The Doctor: "Excuse me, do you mind not farting while I'm saving the world!"

Synopsis:
In this two-part episode, the Doctor takes Rose back home, but just as life is getting back to normal again, an alien spaceship crash lands into Big Ben and London becomes quarantined on the military authority of UNIT. As the people of Earth await their first contact with an alien species, the Doctor begins to suspect that things may not be quite what they seem.

Verdict:
After the high drama and strong emotions of the previous episodes, things get pretty darn silly and artificial here. Despite which, Part One managed to be very intriguing escapism. It was nice to see the Doctor returning to his classic position of scientific advisor to the military during the alien threat, noticing things that slipped right under everyone else's noses and admonishing the trigger happy soldiers. The alien threat is also pretty terrifying throughout the first half, despite an overabundance of fart gags to interrupt the gravity. It's also rather poignant initially to see Rose reunited with her family, though as the story, and indeed the series went on, I began to grow very sick of Rose's mouthy mother.

However Part Two couldn't have been more disappointing, with the most frustrating plot holes. The once threatening aliens lose all their power as the subtle action gives way to atrocious chase scenes that look like a cross between Benny Hill and Scooby Doo. Russell T. Davis proves many times throughout the series to be incapable of writing a decent and well thought out action/suspense scene. Here there's a sense that no-one's taking it at all seriously anymore. The episode is caught between bad farce and rote satire, with nothing much between the two. The satire element is empty and terrible, with bad taste digs to 9/11, and lazy wit-less Bush-isms involving politicians talking about aliens having "weapons of mass destruction", and for the first time (and I must emphasise that I promised myself I would at no point be saying this), I actually said to myself of how the old series would have done something like this far better with much more weight (and I felt eager to dig out my old copy of "Frontier in Space"). The ending is a massive implausible cop-out, though it at least was a relief that the resolution did not involve the Doctor destroying the aliens by setting their farts alight. Overall one of the weakest of the series.

Rating: 3 stars ***


Episode 6

Dalek

Written by
Robert Shearman

Quote:
The Doctor: "Do you know what a Dalek is, Van Statten? A Dalek is honest."

Synopsis:
The episode everyone's been waiting for! The Doctor and Rose land in Utah in the near future. There they encounter a lone Dalek warrior that has become marooned on Earth. The Dalek is afraid and has been sending out an S.O.S. signal calling for Dalek reinforcements, the Dalek is also angry having been abused and maltreated by human scientists. Can the Doctor and Rose prevent it from destroying the human race in its furious vengeance?

Verdict:
With all the expectation surrounding the episode, it could not afford to be anything less than excellent. What we have here is a wonderful and tight little mini-movie where every scene counts. There are lovely moments of imagery, such as the sight of the Dalek being doused in rain, with water dripping from its eyestalk as though the Dalek is crying. The directing is up to its highest standard here with the intense Dalek to human confrontations being presented in a so much more up-close and in-your-face way than ever before in the series. So too is the acting, and Chris and Billie both give it their firey best. As this series retains a lot of emotional weight and most of the episodes have focused on the most positive of feelings of love, compassion and loss, this delves heavily into the more negative of emotions. It's like a primal scream, putting you at the forefront of all the concentrated rage, hate and fury ever felt in the universe. The episode is a blistering introspective on Dalek psychology and Dalek honour at the backdrop of the evils of mankind with the deliciously despicable character of Van Statten, and its Guantanamo Bay allegory, that is leagues ahead of the poor satire of "Aliens of London" really putting you in the shoes of a victim of torture. It's no wonder this episode earned the Box Set a 12-rating (the British equivalent of a PG-13) as one of the most downright disturbing episodes of the series. The settings are dark and very 'Resident Evil' in feel, whilst the Dalek is absolutely luminous and has rarely seemed so robust and so invincible before (and yes the Daleks CAN climb stairs)- and the action.....? Well Rose says "Blimey you can smell the testosterone", but that's not all- you can also smell the rust and the heat and electricity in the air, and you can smell the death. It's a very sensory and rich viewing experience and it's the one story I've rewatched the most. The obligatory backstory to what the Daleks are is kept to the brief essentials making this very accessible indeed. Overall my favourite episode of the series.

Rating: 5 stars *****


Episode 7

The Long Game

Written by
Russell T. Davis

Quote:
The Doctor: "Every single fact from the Empire travels through here- now that's what I call Power!"

Synopsis:
Travelling even further to the future, the Doctor and Rose arrive in an interstellar media driven society. Whilst Rose embarks on a romance with future-boy Adam, the Doctor grows worried. This is supposed to be the height of civilisation for the Earth Empire, but something about it all seems very sinister and 'Big Brother'- and I don't mean the Reality TV show.

Verdict:
I gotta say I finally lost complete faith in Russell T. Davis as a Doctor Who writer by this point. Whilst I wouldn't have minded a nice bit of comic relief after the harrowing "Dalek" episode, this is just awful. With cardboard characters who could honestly fall flat if there was a breeze, the worst, most unconvincing blue screen CGI action rendering the episode suspenseless, a Doctor who suddenly turns into a detestable jealous bully completely out of the blue (I am not joking!), and downright painful humour. On top of which, the story is mainly the victim of bad structuring with the Doctor talking about the brainwashed masses without us seeing any evidence of this. In-fact instead of doing its best to set the scene and develop the plot within 45 minutes, it makes the incomprehensible move of cutting the story in half for the sake of a pointless subplot with the endlessly irritating Adam that is completely void of conscious motivation on the character's part -Adam being played by "Coronation Street's" Bruno Langley who is as plastic as an Auton- ruining what could have been Doctor Who's very first flawless castlist. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. Simon Pegg does his best to breath some life into it and the story ends on a last laugh that is so bad (we're talking Red Dwarf: Season 7 standard of bad closing laughs here) it never fails to garner an irrepressible guilty giggle from me, but overall the episode is just totally forgettable.

Rating: 2 stars **


Episode 8

Father's Day

Written by
Paul Cornell

Quote:
Rose: "The day my Dad died, I thought it would be all dark and stormy, it's just an ordinary day!"

Synopsis:
The Tardis lands in the year 1987, on the day Rose's father was killed. Although the Doctor warns her that she mustn't change history, Rose does the human thing and tries to save her father's life- with disturbing consequences to the fabric of the universe.

Verdict:
As Russell T. Davis' scripts were getting worse, he again gets totally outshined by another of his guest writers. Now this is a very emotional piece- the heart and soul of the series really in its core celebration of life in the shadow of death. The story is definitely the best 'domestic' episode with an authentic recreation of the 1980's working class community in its puritanical vindictive moral values and suspicion of outsiders at odds with growing permissiveness, black market and big money dreams. Then the episode traps this microcosm of characters, including a new born and a married couple into a time freeze, a surreal way-station in existence, where they talk about their lives and face death as though they are attending a wake where the deceased is a speaking guest too. It's a truly beautiful episode. It's very novel how these characters begin as soap opera cliches- incompetent, simple and reserved, but as the episode progresses they become really fleshed out and conscious as their world falls apart, literally. And that is great human drama- about how we are often shallow on the surface but there's a lot of complexity and instincts and emotions within. It's about love, family and self worth, destiny and mortality and second chances. At the heart of it is the Doctor, who after being rather mean spirited in the previous episode, is far closer to his kinder old self here. It is so refreshing to once again see the Doctor as a good hearted nobleman with a quasi religious compassion without bounds- who values all creatures in life, no matter who they may be or what walk of life. Everyone is important in this wonderfully uplifting piece of television.

Rating: 5 stars *****


Episodes 9 & 10

The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances

Written by
Stephen Moffatt

Quote:
The Doctor: "Might sound like a silly question but has anything fallen out the sky recently?"

Synopsis:
The Tardis pursues a stampeding time ship which is about to crash land in London in 1941, during the blitz. However the Tardis arrives a month late. As the Doctor investigates, he meets a group of homeless children who are being followed and tormented by 'The Empty Child' who's condition is contagious to all who touch him.

Verdict:
I must admit it took me several viewings to warm to this rather off-the-wall style story. This is not unusual for me, there are plenty of old Doctor Who stories that I was uncertain about initially, but grew to love. It is basically a traditional Doctor Who episode- it's not really authentic television because there's too much coincidence going on, too much telegraphing and rose-tinted glitz, and double dilemmas that we cut back and forth from, knowing that each party will be safe during the time it takes to get back to them. It is also a traditional story in the sense of its deserted and surreal atmosphere, its compelling recreation of the past and its flattering homages to other works of fiction¨C in this case "Sapphire & Steel" and "Don¡¯t Look Now"- It is also traditionally Doctor Who in its story of an infectious alien evil breeding in times of war, of humans facing the threat of losing their individuality and their ability to consciously think, rather than simple death. It also conveys its timeless spirit of optimism in bleak times, where the British people under the Blitz have lost hope and believe there is no future, only to be visited by our heroes who actually are from the future. It's an episode that reminds you what it was like to watch a Doctor Who serial where you didn't quite know how it was all going to end, and it is also driven by the kind of thick mystery that can veer between intriguing and alienating.

I think the story suffers to its divided story strands that initially don't gel well ¨Cthere¡¯s a buildup of suspense and then a long interruption that breaks the concentration- as the Doctor and Rose scatter and get separated from each other. The Doctor's side of the action and humour is five star plus, he's in his element, meeting wonderful characters, whilst the presence of 'the Empty Child' is at once ominous and tragic. Rose's side of the action doesn't fare so well- for some reason she turns into a horny idiot here and the highly sexualised scenes where she is being romanced by a caddish womaniser initially made my stomache turn, but on reviewing I've become impressed just how natural the actors were in this scene. But even so I much preferred the second part of the story where the action came together more, and I can't deny that I really lapped up the ending of the story that defied my expectations.

I must talk about the scenes of the bodily transformation caused by the plague that 'the Empty Child' bears. It is riveting and disturbing stuff and the suspense is superb. I also like the fact that the writers introduced the new audience to bodily transformation here, which I think was a smart move for breaking viewers into the concept of the Doctor's ability to physically regenerate early on, so they won't be as shocked when the time comes for the Doctor to change again. I also really like the continuation of the underlying fear of physical contact that was a major factor of "Dalek" and "Father¡¯s Day" and perhaps ties in well with the theme of compensation culture (where you daren't lay a finger on someone or their property for fear of being sued) from "Rose" and "The End of the World".

Overall a lot of fans have warmed to this two-parter as a personal favourite. I didn't quite, but I can still see this one growing on me.

Rating: 4 stars ****


Episode 11

Boomtown

Written by
Russell T. Davis

Quote:
The Doctor: "That's how you live with yourself, that's how you slaughter millions. Because once in a while, when the wind's in the right direction, you happen to let one go."

Synopsis:
The Tardis lands in modern day Cardiff, but the holiday is short lived as the Doctor encounters an old enemy who is planning to open a temporal rift that will tear the entire planet apart. In an effort to save the day, the Doctor faces dinner with the enemy.

Verdict:
Despite Russell T. Davis' name being on the writing credits, I was prepared to give this one a chance, and to my surprise I quite enjoyed it. It's as goofy and primary school level as any other Russell T. Davis script, but in the hands of director Joe Ahearn (who did a stellar job on the "Dalek" episode), the jokes are timed right and the performances are appropriately icey, and overall it comes off as an infectious guilty pleasure for me. Unlike many of Russell T. Davis' other lazy scripts, the writing actually flowed with perseverance. There wasn't the same game of tantalising emotional grandeur getting knocked down by a throwaway line when Russell clearly couldn't be bothered developing it further. Instead we have what is the first debate-driven episode of the New Series, which grounds itself well in an exotic alien culture and moral dilemma that homages the kind of morality play episodes that the late writer Malcolm Hulke often produced for the old series. The action is stalled until the climax and although exciting, it is over rather too quickly. Nonetheless I enjoyed this episode more than I expected to, and I can quite happily watch it over again.

P.S. Everyone else in my fan group hated it, even the ones who never watched it!

Rating: 4 stars: ****


Episodes 12 & 13

Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways

Written by
Russell T. Davis

Quote:
Controller: "Oh my masters, you can kill me, for I have brought your destruction!"

Synopsis:
The mystery behind the persistent re-occurrence of the cryptic phrase 'Bad Wolf' throughout the Doctor and Rose' journey is finally revealed in this season closer. The Doctor ¨Cwith Rose no longer by his side- must stand alone with a ragtag band of humans in humanity's darkest hour. As a massive alien force lies poised and ready to strike, the Earth faces the greatest peril in its history.

Verdict:
With it in mind that Russell T. Davis, for all his faults had managed to give the series a cracking pilot episode, it followed suit that he was the kind of writer who could write brilliant Doctor Who -when he wanted to, mind- and therefore I looked forward to the season finale, figuring he would almost certainly pull his finger out and give us something great, and..... Well it is great and it isn't- the best way to describe the two-parter is the obvious 'could have been better'. The first part of the story is the strongest with riveting menace evolving gracefully out of the inherently absurd and comical. The second part fares rather less well where the cracks in Russell's undisciplined writing begin to show. There's the infuriating moments of cheap gratification which lack any weight, there's wild and poor humour at the moments where it is majorly inappropriate to the gravity of the situation. The action scenes are perhaps better than most that Russell has been responsible for, but still they lack a certain prescence, and once or twice it becomes obvious that a particular scenario hasn't really been thought-out well. What also hampers the action somewhat is a reliance on tidbits of information on combat capabilities and manouvres that may as well be mumbled because they just aren't given the emphasis that they should- blink and you'll miss it. And finally it is doublely hard to concentrate because of the foolish decision to yet again cut the story into separate story strands and keep going back and forth between the action and the safe zone in a way that is persistently intrusive. It comes off worse here than it was done in "The Empty Child" because this is supposed to lead to the climax.

Basically Part Two tries to do too much- It was perhaps an interesting semi-successful attempt to do a season ender focused on tying up the imponderables of the rest of the season- like a bookend, making the season as self-contained and cohesive as a music artist's concept album. It is interesting because Doctor Who hasn't really done this kind of wrap up thing before, except possibly for "Remembrance of the Daleks". The trouble is, the episode goes all over the place to reflect and resolve everything, when it should instead be firmly contained and concentrated to a small claustrophobic fort. But all that said, I've come to appreciate that there's something very subversive about Russell T. Davis' writing. How he can catch you unawares and get under your skin with some of his poignant moments and character insights here and in "End of the World" that reaffirm the soul and message of Doctor Who. Then again I am perhaps fonder of Murray Gold's incidental music than most other fans are. There are many highlights indeed which I could not describe here without spoiling it for everyone. Moments that really touched my heart and made me just want to bunch up the season as a whole, and love it for warts and all in words I couldn't express. The kind of moments that even months later I would think back to and say 'Wow! That was incredible stuff!' and be unable to shake the feeling from then on. And I can't say these were just moments because they made the whole story matter in its fight for survival, about life and the spirits of heroes.

Overall it was a damn fine conclusion to a damn fine season.

Rating: 4 stars ****

Conclusion


Oh what the hell!? How can I not recommend this? It's had its dud moments for sure, but still "The Unquiet Dead", "Dalek" and "Father's Day" are some of the finest pieces of television I've ever seen. The rest of the season is mostly up to high standard, and even the three worst episodes have an undeniable escapist charm to them. Some old fans are going to be insufferable camourgenous snobs who will refuse to even give this a chance, just like they were with the 1996 TV Movie starring Paul McGann, ready to hate it the moment they see the opening title sequence, complaining about everything from the 'hot' companion to the Doctor's northern accent. The way a lot of them carry on, most Doctor Who fans honestly don't deserve a new series, to say nothing of the fascist BNP types on IMDB who had some really unsavoury things to say about the pilot episode.

But there's many people I know who have thoroughly warmed to the new series. My mother loved every episode -whereas before then she had only liked the Paul McGann one- and surprisingly in-fact, she chose "The Long Game" as her favourite. The season has been an absolute ratings winner that I am really proud of- even our very own Queen of England is a fan now (no joke!). I've spoken to many people here on Epinions who have seen and loved the new series and who had nothing but great things to say about it all- dizzybint, richco, ALawson, tange, dick-dangerous, desslok, actonsteve. On the less positive side of opinions I actually asked Simply_Crispy, his opinion on the new series whilst on MSN chat, and he became rather defensive and hostile. He said (quoted with his permission)

"Dirty little bastard! Doctor Who does not interest me!"

and for justification he then said

"Then again I imagine my Dog's scrotum does not interest you either."

And then he ranted on about how he hated all of Doctor Who and all of Star Wars and how all of science fiction sucked goat...... with the possible exception of "Signs".

Ah well, you can't please everyone

As it stands I am eagerly looking forward to the quickly approaching Christmas Special and then Season Two with another 13 episodes, followed by another Christmas Special and Season Three. Oh yes, it is all confirmed! I can see myself warming to Season Two far more than Season One. I have a feeling that the stories will become less crowd-pleasing and more sophisticated, and I know that the stronger guest writers will have more stories under their wing and that Russell T. Davis will be doing less of them- which can only be a positive, to be fair. There will also be the impatiently awaited visits to alien worlds which were absent this season, although I am rather less thrilled that Rose's mum will still be a recurring character but hopefully her presence will be less frequent (though it would unfortunately be too much to hope for that they might tone down the character a bit). But there will be more fondly welcomed reappearances of old friends and enemies- I will give no spoilers as yet, but closer to Season Two's transmission, I will be homaging these old characters in my coming reviews of older episodes.

The Box Set includes in its extras plenty of behind the scenes footage as well as interviews with the cast and crew (unfortunately, Christopher Eccleston will be absent from these extras, which is a shame because he is actually a very good, no-nonsense interviewee)-

"Each of the 13 episodes will feature a commentry track, some with Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner and Phil Collinson. The third episode The Unquiet Dead will include a comentary from writer Mark Gatiss, actor Simon Callow (who starred as Charles Dickens in the story) and director Euros Lyn.
Other special features include RTD's video diary of the first week of filming, 'Billie Cam' and various featurettes. The fifth disc features an exclusine episode of Doctor Who Confidential (which will include a sneak preview of Series Two) and highlights of the Confidential series."
--Doctor Who Magazine

The Box Set will be released in Britain on November 21st, and will likely be released in the American Region 1 format in the States and Canada, a few months after. It is available for pre-order at amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005JO9H/qid%3D1128330074/sr%3D11-1/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F1/102-8017172-7301742

Update:

I have some good news.

The DVD Box Set has finally been scheduled for release in Canada on February 14th, 2006. The DVDs will be in NSTC format and American viewers, eager to see the New Series will be able to mail order it from Canadian distributors.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older