Dead Again

Doctor Who – Planet of the Dead

[USUAL SPOILER WARNING]

I was looking forward to this the first of the four specials, but as there is such a small amount of new Who being broadcast this year I had made an extra special effort to avoid as many spoilers as I could. So I didn’t watch the trailers, read listings magazines, newspapers and restricted where I read and posted on various forums. So by the time the epsiode was broadcast I knew that it was set in the desert, having been filmed in Dubai, there was a bus which had been damaged on the way there and Michelle Ryan was guest starring. So there was lots I was going to discover.

The story began with Lady Christina de Souza stealing the cup of Athelstan from the international museum, supposedly in London (yes I did get excited at the mention of proper historical people, especially as they are slightly obscure). To escape the police she jumps on a red London bus, which just so happens to also have the Doctor on board. So obviously the bus gets sucked through a wormhole in space whilst being chased down a tunnel (which I recognised as I’ve driven it a few times!). The bus ends up on another planet, having been wrecked by the wormhole – a very clever bit of writing in the damage that was done to the bus in Dubai.

All the adventures set on the planet looked fabulous. The team had done a really good job finding the location in Dubai and dressing it to look very other worldly. You really couldn’t have done as well in Wales! And the creatures were fantastically realised and very scary.

The remainder story revolved around trying to get the bus back to Earth. The Doctor called his old friends at UNIT, who do their usual thing of shoot first, ask questions later (the Brigadier would be proud!) and this also introduced their new scientific adviser, played by Lee Evans. I had forgotten that I had read he was going to be in one of the specials, so it was a surprise when he appeared. But I thought he played the part of Malcolm well, with just the right amount of comedy and seriousness. And he had one of the best lines – naming a measurement ‘Bernard’ after Quatermass. I did enjoy the whole episode and Michelle Ryan’s character would have been good to keep as a longer term companion. But as a single, stand alone episode it worked that she came and went. I do miss the tension, cliffhangers and the build-up in these single specials as opposed to the series, but I suppose there is an arc to them which hasn’t perhaps hooked me enough yet.

And so at the end of the story the bus does return and the wormhole closed, and so the Earth is saved for another day. But not before a fellow bus passenger gives the Doctor a warning about the future …

But we’ll have to wait for the next special to find out what it all means.

New Who?

A special episode of Doctor Who Confidential was broadcast yesterday to announce the actor who has been cast as the eleventh Doctor. Ever since David Tennant announced that he would be leaving the role after the specials there has been great speculation as to who would be cast as the Next Doctor (actually the speculation had begun way before then, but it began to intensify then). I’m not sure the announcement deserved a whole programme, but it was an excuse to look back at the old Doctors, and that’s never a bad thing.

So now everyone seems to be asking what I think of Matt Smith as the new Doctor. I’ll give the same reply to everyone – I’ll wait until I see what he does with the character on screen before I make any judgements. It’s what I’ve done with all the previous incarnations, even if I have had some misgivings when I’ve heard who’s been cast (Invariably it’s turned out well). What I can say is that from what I’ve seen of him in other television work he’s a good actor and I trust the decision of Steven Moffat and team that he is the right man for the Doctor.

My only tiny problem is how young he is – the actor playing the Doctor can’t possibly be younger than me!

Happy Birthday Who

Yesterday was the 45th Anniversary of the first broadcast of Doctor Who. Not that you’d know that from the BBC, who did almost nothing to commemorate this momentous day (there was a mention of it before the broadcast of the latest Eighth Doctor story, The Zygon Who Fell To Earth, on Radio 7)

I’d been doing lots of celebrating myself though.

The week before I’d been along to the Sarah Jane Adventures signing at Borders in Oxford Street. This was a great treat for me, as I’d wanted to meet Elisabeth Sladenfor a very long time (I nearly had on two previous occasions). Obviously the series is aimed at children, so the event was too – there had been a competition for children to win the chance to attend an exclusive reading by Lis, which I managed to experience by standing near the roped-off area (although I couldn’t hear what was being read). I was so excited just to be there! The competition winners then had their items signed and were allowed to have photos taken with Lis and the two other stars from the show, Tommy Knight and Daniel Anthony. I joined the queue with the rest of the non-winners to wait my turn to meet them and get my DVD signed.

I have to say the the staff at Borders were very lovely, keeping us informed of what was happening, how long we would have to wait and keeping us supplied with free activity sheets and wristbands. My only criticism would be that as I got towards the front of the queue (getting towards the end of the time allotted for the event) the staff told us we were now only allowed to have three items signed, which was reduced to one item just before I reached the front of the queue. As I only had one item to be signed, this didn’t bother me, but I think perhaps they should have applied a limit from the beginning (apart from for the competition winners). Oh, well. Also a note to add how very well behaved all the children were when waiting in the queue – I’m impressed with their patience.

I finally made it to the front of the queue and handed my DVD across to Daniel, along withthe sticky note we’d been given with our name on to help them know who to sign stuff to (Daniel and Tommy were fighting over these, to try and see who could collect the most ‘friends’!). Daniel said hello, and was very friendly, although I don’t think I managed to say much to him because next to sign was Lis, who also said hello. I was very awe-struck at just being there, but then she complimented me on the beret I was wearing and I just blethered a thank you (at least, that’s what I intended). My DVD was then passed to Tommy to sign. All three were very friendly and chatty and took plenty of time to talk to everyone as they were signing so that it didn’t feel rushed at all, and was well worth the wait. An extra treat then arrived in the shape of writer Gareth Roberts and former DWM editor Clayton Hickman.

Then we come to the anniversary itself.

On the day I was at the Memorabilia fair at the NECin Birmingham. There were various film, sport and games stands and people, but there was also a Doctor Who zone, filled withpeople from boththe new and classic series, along with various merchandise stands.

I arrived and got through the ticket queue just in time to go to the first Who talk. The panel was a good mix of old and new series people, with companions Anneke Wills (Polly), Frazer Hines (Jamie), Tracey Childs (Metella in Fires of Pompeii) and Ayesha Antoine (Dee Dee in Midnight). There was lots of chat about their various experiences of being in Doctor Who, as well as watching it.

Then there was time for a quick wander round before it was back to the stage area for another talk, this time with Torchwood’s Gareth David-Lloyd. He talked about Torchwood in general, how his character has grown from teaboy to dodging bullets (a phrase he used a few times about what Ianto is up to in series 3, so watch out for that), and how popular the series is in America. He also joked about the new Torchwood figures, and how he thought his figure should have been in the first wave released, rather than cybergirl who was only in one episode. He also spoke about being in Doctor who (Stolen Earth/Journey’s End) and the radio episode of Torchwood. After the talk there was an extra photo session put on, so I paid my money to get my picture taken with Gareth as the stand where he was signing said ‘no photos’.

In the afternoon there was another Doctor Who panel, this time with Colin Spaull (Revelation of the Daleks and Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel), Daniel King (The Unicorn and the Wasp), Paul Marc Davis (Utopia and The Trickster from SJA) and Anna Hope (New Earth/Gridlock). Again there was chat about their experiences of being in Doctor Who, and particularly from Anna Hope who had a long time being put in her mask to play a cat nun. There were also questions about where they would go if they had a time machine and who should be cast as the next Doctor.

After the talk there was just time to get photos with all of the guests (as well as those already mentioned, Katy Manning and Nicola Bryantwere there too). Everyone was very approachable and friendly and I even had a bit of a chat with some of them – I talked to Tracey Childsfor what seemed like ages about the golden era of Doctor Who with Tom Baker and Lalla Ward, as well as her appearance as Metellaand the Cambridge Latin Course ( and the dog, Cerberus, who should have been in it!). So I’ve been able to bring some lovely memories how with me from a fantastic celebratory day.

Ode to the Universe

Continuing my week/month/year/lifetime [delete as you think appropriate] of Doctor Who obsession, yesterday I was fortunate enough to find myself in the Royal Albert Hall for the Doctor Who Prom. I was excited when I first heard that there was going to be a Doctor Who themed Prom as part of the BBC’s Prom season, so I applied for tickets and headed down to London early Sunday morning to take my seat in a packed arena.

The programme was a mix of music, mostly pieces from the series composed by the brilliant Murray Gold, but interspersed with some well known classical pieces which all seemed to fit the intergalactic theme; there was Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man to open the proceedings, along with Ride of the Valkyries (complete with the four horn players in horned helmets), Jupiter from Holst’s Planet Suite and Prokofiev’s Montagues and Capulets (those last two both always remind me of steam trains!).

The whole thing was introduced by Freema Agyeman, with help from Noel Clarke, Camille Coduri, an unexpected appearance from Catherine Tate (she wasn’t in the programme), and Julian Bleach complete in full Davros make-up. There were also regular appearances amongst the audience by Cybermen, Ood (who stood with arms raised at several points, in a circular building, echoing the episode), Judoon and Sontarans, which gave the younger ones something to watch while the orchestra was playing non-Who music (All the music from the series was accompanied by clips from the show, which I felt was a shame as it meant we didn’t get the close-ups of the orchestra on the screens at that point). And there was a wonderful moment when a Dalek appeared on stage to announce that they had travelled back in time to kidnap Henry Woodso that  “from now on the Proms will only play DALEK MUSIC”, which made me chuckle!

There was also the specially filmed scene, Music of the Spheres. In this the Doctor, with help from a Graske, found a portal in the Tardis which allowed him to speak directly to the Albert Hall. I have to give credit to both Russell T Davies writing and David Tennant’s performance in that they had the timing of the audience’s responses to a T. The scene was brought to life more by the appearance of the Graske on stage (armed with a waterpistol to terrorise the orchestra) and the Doctor’s composition being thrown through the ‘portal’ so sheets of music floated onto the stage to be grabbed and handed round by the orchestra. There was also a wonderful message about music being for everyone (not just orchestras and pop stars) and how you just need to listen to hear the music within you. All good fun, which seemed to be enjoyed by children and adults alike.

But for most of the morning the music was from the series, by composer Murray Gold (conducted by Ben Foster), and it was this that I’d come to see performed. And it was beautifully performed – from the opening ooo’s of Melanie Pappenheim’s vocals to the closing crescendo of the theme tune, it was all superb. I appreciate this music when it is used in the show, but to experience it live was a hairs on the back of the neck moment (and a few teary ones). Highlights for me were the Doomsday music, the Dalek and Davros themes (with added Dalek on stage seemingly conducting the orchestra) and the stunningly beautiful Song of Freedom from this year’s series (the Ood episode and Journey’s End, which I’ve mentioned I loved then) which was made all the more special by the child sitting next to me, who can’t have been more than four, holding his Tardis-shaped programme and turning it round and round, as though in flight. That’s the magic of Doctor Who!

The End

Doctor Who – Journey’s End

So the Doctor bypasses a full regeneration by syphoning off the regenerative energy into his hand in the jar – what a surprise (we never saw that one coming, even with the big, unnecessary close-ups of said jar)!

More excitingly Sarah Jane is saved by dimension-jumping Micky and Jackie. armed with dalek blasting guns. Meanwhile back at Torchwood, Ianto and Gwen are saved by a time bubble defense system that Tosh created (while it’s nice continuity to name-check a past team member, I wonder if it confused some of the little kids who don’t watch the series?)

Everyone ends up in the dalek crucible – the Tardis is taken and Sarah, Micky and Jackie surrender. The Doctor, Rose and Jack go out to talk to the daleks. But Donna gets trapped in the Tardis, with its systems down, which is plunged into the fiery heart of the dalek ship. Do Donna and the Tardis perish? No, because there’s still power in that handy jar which, once Donna touches it, unfathomably grows into a whole extra Doctor (only he’s part human – only one heart – but let’s not start that one again) who can pilot the Tardis away in order to save the day.

Much plotting from the Doctor’s companions kills some time before they’re all brought to the dalek crucible to witness the destruction of the Universe. But they haven’t figured on the second Doctor and Donna who, at the last minute rush in to save the universe, destroy the daleks and return all of the missing planets, except Earth, back to where they belong. How? Well, it seems Donna got a bit of Time Lord brainpower when she touched the hand and became all clever.

The Universe saved, it’s just up to the Doctor to use the Tardis, with full compliment of six pilots, to tow the Earth back and return everyone to their rightful place. He takes Rose and Jackie back to the alternative universe (Micky had elected to stay in ours – he said there was nothing left for him in the other), back to Bad Wolf Bay to again say goodbye. Only this time he was physically leaving part of himself with Rose – the other Doctor, who needed her care and guidance (and love) while she would have a version of him who would grow old with her. All a very convenient and, hopefully, final end to that chapter of the Doctor’s adventures.

So the Doctor heads off again with Donna. Only he has to take her home. The transfer thing in her brain was killing her, so he has to wipe her mind of all trace of him before leaving her in the safe care of her family. There’s a lovely moment with Wilf, just before the Doctor leaves, where he says that he’ll keep watching the skys for the Doctor, on Donna’s behalf. The Doctor sets off alone, again.

There was such a lot going on in this episode, almost too much at times, with the Doctor, clone Doctor, seven companions (now that’s a crowded Tardis!), Davros, daleks and Luke and the Torchwood team on Earth. But there were some great moments – the banter between the Doctor and Davros was as good as it has ever been, a meeting of great minds, and echoed their first meeting in Genesis. There was also a wonderful reaction from Sarah Jane to seeing Davros again, and he recognised her too. Another highlight was the Tardis being piloted by everyone, pulling the Earth home, not just because it was a moment in which to see all the companions in the Tardis being happy, but there was some amazing music from Murray Gold to accompany it (it was based on the freedom Song of the Odd, which I had liked so much earlier in the series).

But the finest moment has to be Bernard Cribbins character Wilf and his watching the skys speech. It’s sad that we probably won’t see his character again. If ever someone deserved a flight in the Tardis …

Now you see it …

Doctor Who – The Stolen Earth

[USUAL SPOILER ALERT]

So, did you get it? Bad Wolf meant the daleks are back! Just when you think they could never possibly return, there they are – again!

Having got the message from Rose, the Doctor rushes to check that the Earth is ok – it is, but while he is in the tardis while he is back in the Tardis checking things, it disappears. Now people can’t just go around stealing planets, so he goes to the Shadow Proclamation (who’ve been mentioned on and off from the beginning of the new series 4 years ago. Was it all building to this?) to find out what’s going on. They tell him that it isn’t just the Earth that’s gone, there are lots of lost planets; 27 if you include the ones taken out of time as well as space. There’s a lovely moment where the Doctor points out that some one tried to move the Earth once before … (a nice nod back to Dalek Invasion of Earth) The Doctor asks Donna if anything strange has been happening on Earth and she mentions the bees disappearing. It turns out this is important (told you it was) so the Doctor and Donna follow the trail left by the fleeing bees to find the Earth, only for the trail to run out at the Medusa Cascade.

Meanwhile on the moved Earth Torchwood, Martha and Sarah Jane try to figure out what’s going on , as does Rose, who’s appeared and is trying to find the Doctor. They all use their various resources to find out what’s going on – there’s something at the centre of all the plants, and ships are heading towards Earth. The message comes through from the ships – “Exterminate”. They all recognise it and know that there’s nothing they can do. Except Rose, who knows that Daleks can be defeated. She heads off to find Donna’s family, as wherever Donna is, that’s where the Doctor will be. Suddenly there’s something coming through on all their various computers. It’s Harriet Jones, former Prime Minister (yes, we know who you are) using a sub-wave network created by the mysterious Mr Copper Foundation. She gathers the forces of all the Doctor’s former companions to amplify Martha’s phone signal to the Doctor.

The Doctor picks up the signal and gets to Earth. But while celebrating seeing everyone again, he also finds Davros who’s been rescued from the Time War by Dalek Caan (who’d gone mad in the process and is now foretelling the future). The Doctor lands and everyone rushes to him – Donna points out Rose and they run towards each other, only for the Doctor to get shot by a lone dalek. Donna, Rose and Jack get him in to the Tardis where he starts to regenerate – Donna is confused, Rose is just about to loose the man she loves, again. What a great cliffhanger. But more importantly, what’s going to happen to Sarah Jane and Ianto? They’re about to get exterminated!!

There were some lovely, funny moments, as there always are from Russell T Davies – Harriet Jones  greeting the daleks, only for them to respond with the same “we know who you are” as everyone else. Mr Smith’s fanfare, which annoys everyone (even Sarah Jane, it seems). And there was some great banter between Sarah Jane and Jack when they were all gathered, with him flirting (as usual) and her saying she avoids Torchwood, “too many guns” with a nod towards Luke.

And my tip for next week? Watch the hand …

Go the other way

Doctor Who – Turn Left

[USUAL SPOILER ALERT]

After last week’s episode where the Doctor was without Donna, this week’s focused on Donna.

The story took the staple sci-fi idea of a parallel world created by someone making a different decision. Donna in the ‘present’ time is persuaded by a fortune teller on another planet to go back and change her decision to take the job at HC Clements, turning right instead of left, and so not meet the Doctor. This has catastrophic effects in the alternative reality which is created – the Doctor dies facing the Racnoss (because Donna isn’t there to save him), and both the Torchwood team and Sarah Jane Smith are killed trying to save the world in his place. The Titanic crashes on London, America is paralysed by the massacre of its population by the Adipose, Atmos devices kill large parts of the rest of the world. Then the stars start to disappear …

All the time Donna keeps meeting a blond girl (who we know is Rose Tyler, but who never tells Donna her name) who appears and disappears randomly. She explains that Donna is important, just as important as the Doctor, and that she must go back and change her decision and turn left instead of right to save him. Rose and the remainder of UNIT have harnessed some of the Tardis’s power to time travel, but also use it to show Donna that this world is a false creation – she has this beetle on her back (various people have been able to see this – even the soothsayer in Pompeii said “there’s something on your back”, but was this referring to these alternative future events?). Donna agrees to go back and change things, even though Rose has told her she’s going to die.

Although it was a rather complex episode, with a very bleak Doctor-less future, I really enjoyed it. It not only highlighted the importance of the Doctor in this world, but also tied in the spin offs of both Torchwood and the Sarah Jane Adventures to the same world. The re-introduction of Rose was very carefully done, so that she didn’t dominate the story (as it was very much Donna’s story), but she was crucial to it. And it seemed to set up the potential for a very exciting two part finale.

And the final outcome of all this alternate reality? Rose whispered two words to Donna to tell the Doctor. At the very end of the episode those two words were everywhere – Bad Wolf. And we know what that means …

Repeats

Doctor Who – Midnight

[WARNING ABOUT SPOILERS AND STUFF]

If ever anyone had any doubts about Russell T Davies’ writing for Doctor Who (and I didn’t, but I know people who did), then this episode should dispel all of those doubts and more and place him up there with the best. It was a real character driven episode with the Doctor and seven other passengers trapped on a shuttle (he’d left Donna at the Pleasure Palace). There’s something outside, or is it inside Mrs Silvestry? But the real scariness wasn’t the thing outside, or in, but the real human fear and the savagery with which that fear can manifest itself. The way the other passengers turned on one another was far more frightening than statues that move when you don’t look at them, or killer swarms in the shadows. These were people you could meet anywhere, and so could just as easily turn on you.

I suspected it was going to be a good episode from the cast – Lesley Sharp and Lindsey Coulson are both great actors and bring great realism to any parts they play. Also I was more than a little excited about the inclusion of David Troughton in the cast. Not only is he a very great actor, but he has more Classic Series connections than you can shake a stick at.

Also huge praise must be given to the sound team for this episode. It wasn’t until watching the Confidential episode that I appreciated how much work they had had to do to make the dialogue perfectly in sync. But it was well worth the effort. I know I was watching the episode thinking how good an audio adventure it would make.

[just a note to say that I'm posting this late as I've been without internet for a week!]

In the Library with the Screwdriver

Doctor Who – Forest of the Dead

[WATCH OUT FOR THE SPOILERS]

 Part two of this story saw the Doctor and his companions escape the inescapable by blasting a hole through the shelves. Somewhat cheating, I felt, but I’ll let it pass as the rest of the episode was still so good.

While the Doctor, River and the remainder of the team were dashing about in the library trying to avoid the Vashta Nerada, we found out what was happening to Donna. She was living a different life, one where she didn’t know the Doctor and was doing ‘normal’ things like getting married and having children. Was she really dead and this was some kind of afterlife? Or was it a virtual reality? She started to spot strange things, like in dreams where one scene jumps to another. This was highlighted to her by Miss Evangelista, but even when she was aware that it wasn’t real, she couldn’t do anything about it.

 The Doctor was eventually told by Lux that CAL was the computer with a little girl wired in to it, that looked after the library (Doctor Moon was to look after her). All the people who had tried to teleport at once to escape the Vashta Nerada had overloaded the system and had been ’saved’ onto the computer and were all living in the virtual world with the little girl and Doctor Moon. The Doctor figured out a way to save them, but it would mean sacrificing his own life. River stopped him and sacrificed herself instead.

We still didn’t find out who River Song was, although she knew the Doctor’s name and whispered it to him to prove she was someone he could trust. As the Doctor pointed out, he never tells anyone his name, apart from under one circumstance. What that circumstance was we weren’t told. But the Doctor worked out that by giving her his sonic screwdriver he managed to save her, so downloaded her into the library computer so she could ‘live’.

The one problem I had with the episode was how the Doctor overcame the Vashta Nerada. They had been this terrorising force over two episodes when suddenly the doctor confronted them and told them to check the books for who he was. They did and suddenly became fearful of him, so allowed 24 hours for everyone to be evacuated from the library before they reclaimed it. Now the Doctor has been held as someone of power who is to be feared in the past (Fenric, Morgaine), but why didn’t he confront the Vashta Nerada sooner? Very frustrating.

Fear of the Dark

Doctor Who – Silence in the Library

[SPOILER ALERT - NO, MAJOR SPOILER ALERT. Watch out for those spoilers ...]

I was looking forward to this two parter, simply because Steven Moffatwas writing it. He has written some of my favourite New Series Who and always gives something dark, scary and clever with a peppering of great comedy. Silence in the Library didn’t disappoint.

The Doctor and Donna arrive in the biggest library in the universe, only to find it deserted. But they are not alone. There are over a million million lifeforms there, and a little girl who isn’t really there at all. And the shadows are closing in …

Soon they’re joined by a team of archaeologists who’ve come to find out about the library, headed by the enigmatic River Song. We don’t know who she is, but she knows the Doctor and has a book about him, which she says contains ’spoilers’ (there was also a reference to spoilers at the beginning when the Doctor was talking to Donna about turning to the last pages of a book to find out what happens before reading it) – a great comment on the spoiler obsessed fan community?

But there’s something in the shadows. It’s called Vashta Narada and you can’t see it (apart from the dust in sunbeams) but it strips flesh from bone. And it’s there in the library, bringing the darkness and shadows in.

The Doctor teleports Donna back to the safety of the Tardis, only she never makes it, and as he leads the team through the library, pursued by the now dead Proper Dave he finds out by finding her face on a Node (the library’s information points which have ‘real’ faces). So it looks like Donna’s dead and Proper Dave is closing in. The the lights start to go out at the other end of the corridor. The best cliffhanger ever.

Who knows what’s going to happen next week?? How will they escape? And who is the mysterious little girl? And who is River Song and how does she know the Doctor? It’s good, proper Doctor Who when there’s so many questions to be resolved next time.

I must just make mention of the announcement last weekthe Steven Moffat is to be the new man in charge of Doctor Who for the 2010 series. I actually heard that he’d been appointed before I heard that Russell T Davies was leaving, so I was very happy and excited by the news until I got to the bit where Davies was going. It’s sad as he’s done so much great stuff for the series. But the show couldn’t be in better hands. Moffat has given us a whole spectrum of fantastic Who elements in the stories he’s written; scary gas-mask monsters, statues that move when you don’t watch them, romance and heartbreak for the Doctor, and the most wonderful comedy, nostalgia and old series tribute in last year’s Children in Need special Time Crash. Things are going to be great.