Testimony Of A Lackluster Doctor Who Christmas Special: "Twice Upon A Time"

The Good: Performances are good, Some of the jokes land
The Bad: Dull plot, Forced sense of conflict, Many of the jokes do not land on a character level, Failure of chemistry
The Basics: "Twice Upon A Time" is fairly pointless, nostalgic Doctor Who that belabors a character conflict that cannot possibly go in a surprising direction.


One of the worst aspects of changing the actor who plays The Doctor in Doctor Who is that who the new Doctor is rapidly becomes the most spoiled information in science fiction at its time. While that might not usually be an issue - and the announcement of Jodie Whittaker being cast as the next Doctor was made months ago - it usually means that the final episode of the current Doctor must be treated with some finesse. After all, Doctor Who viewers already know who to look for at the episode's climax, so the episode's writer and director has to make it interesting to the viewer to get there. Sadly, for Steven Moffat's final episode as showrunner for Doctor Who, "Twice Upon A Time," he forgets all about subtlety and finesse.

Instead, "Twice Upon A Time" quickly establishes a ridiculous premise that the viewer knows cannot possibly come to pass as Peter Capaldi's Doctor refuses to Regenerate. "Twice Upon A Time" attempts, vainly, to get the viewer to believe that Capaldi's Doctor might well be the final incarnation and that rather than regenerate, The Doctor is ready to die. The instant failure of suspension of disbelief quickly turns to a joke-filled love note from Steven Moffat to his own prior works as "Twice Upon A Time" packs in references to prior Doctor Who episodes Moffat wrote and/or produced, like "Into The Dalek" (reviewed here!), "The Pilot" (reviewed here!), and - most recently - "The Doctor Falls" (reviewed here!). Despite the flashback nature of the very opening of the episode, "Twice Upon A Time" picks up right after the final scene of "The Doctor Falls."

The First Doctor, following an incident with the Cybermen, takes the TARDIS to the South Pole, where he refuses to Regenerate. There, he encounters the latest (Peter Capaldi) incarnation of The Doctor outside his TARDIS. The First Doctor, considering death instead of Regeneration, seems to be enough to stop time for everyone but the two Doctors and a confused World War I Captain who suddenly appears there. After a brief flashback to explain how the Captain arrived at the South Pole - after encountering a mysterious, glasslike form of a woman - the two Doctors and the Captain retreat to the TARDIS, where the First Doctor is critical of its style and upkeep. The TARDIS is abducted and taken aboard another ship. The First Doctor leaves the TARDIS and is miffed by how The Doctor is referred to as The Doctor of War. The current Doctor, recognizing the reference and Bill, who appears from a room on the ship, leaves the TARDIS and begins to question his Companion.

Bill is confused when she cannot find Heather (who she recalls rescued her from the Cybermen). The Doctors investigate the ship, which belongs to the Testimony. The Testimony is a time-traveling library that goes into the past and extracts people in the moment of their death, downloads their memories, stores them and then returns the significant individual to their moment of death. The two Doctors, Bill and The Captain retreat to the First Doctor's TARDIS, where they begin a quest to find who the Testimony's template is based upon. To that end, they travel to the center of the galaxy to access the biggest database in the galaxy and The Doctor encounters "Rusty" the Dalek who rejected the rest of the Daleks. There, The Doctor learns about Testimony and he and the First Doctor return to Earth to face their destiny.

"Twice Upon A Time" hinges a lot on the viewer having an expert level knowledge of Doctor Who which, admittedly, I do not. As a result, I feel unqualified to discuss the quality of David Bradley's performance. Bradley mimics some of the obvious mannerisms of William Hartnell's Doctor - based on the archive footage I've seen in prior episodes and clips - but whether Bradley gets the character's voice and attitudes right is something I am not qualified to evaluate. The unfortunate aspect here is that the First Doctor spouts a lot of racist and sexist lines and mannerisms that might have been a sign of the times in the early 1960s when the show began, but make no sense for a character from Gallifrey. Unless when The Doctor was born on Gallifrey black women were maids, for example, some of the jokes fail to land on a character level.

Even as a person only marginally fluent in the current (2005 and up) Doctor Who some of the episode's "big surprises" fail to land. The identity of The Captain is hardly surprising and outside his lineage and being miffed when The Doctor references "I" after referring to the World War, the character is somewhat pointless in "Twice Upon A Time." The Captain's presence is an obligatory nod to the history of the franchise, as opposed to a vital character in his own right.

"Twice Upon A Time" belabors the humor while poking fun at inconsistencies and issues within Doctor Who. The First Doctor calls the sonic screwdriver absurd and questions how The Doctor could wear sunglasses indoors. The Doctor repeatedly crow's Missy's early line "you know who I am" to the First Doctor and Moffat and director Rachel Talalay use the opportunity to play with un-armored Daleks. But the First Doctor's sexism and the jokes predicated on outdated attitudes quickly wear thin.

Thematically, "Twice Upon A Time" is all about people who are too afraid of death desperately trying to run away from their inevitable mortality. The First Doctor and The Captain are not ready to die and are afraid of what might come next and The Doctor recognizes that his life is on an exceptionally short fuse and he tries to solve one last mystery before his death. But the significance of any discussion of mortality and acceptance of it is lost because the viewer already knows The Doctor's decision. In fact, we know the First Doctor's decision (to regenerate), that Bill is already dead, and that the Captain is not a significant enough character to care about his impending demise. So, "Twice Upon A Time" ought to be The Doctor's acceptance of life and his determination to regenerate and continue, but it meanders around fairly pointlessly until it gets to where it always had to.

The theme of "Twice Upon A Time" offers a natural opening for David Tennant's Doctor to make an appearance and it is disappointing that he is only in archive footage. Tennant's Doctor essentially begged for more time before his end and thematically, that fits "Twice Upon A Time" exceptionally well. The lack of an appearance by River Song - technically, she never dies, so that makes sense, save that Moffat already brought an image of her back once following her demise - is similarly disappointing.

Finally, the plot conceit of "Twice Upon A Time" builds into something painfully familiar. The "tour around the Best Of" idea wears thin and when a long-gone character appears, it quickly reminds viewers of just how limited Steven Moffat's writing has become. The "dead character living for an adventure" conceit was, essentially, the whole concept behind Clara's final exit with Ashildr.

The result is that Moffat guts much of his own creation on his way out. After finding amazing chemistry for The Doctor and Bill, they return stiff in "Twice Upon A Time" and the regeneration into the first female Doctor occurs without any reference to Missy or commentary on why The Doctor would regenerate as a woman this time (did it just not occur to him before?!). The result is something of an obligatory bridge episode that lacks a spark or genius and merely muddles through to the inevitable.

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Doctor Who - The Complete Tenth Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the final season of Peter Capaldi as The Doctor here!
Thanks!]

For other Doctor Who Christmas episodes, be sure to check out:
"The Return Of Doctor Mysterio"
"Voyage Of The Damned"
"Last Christmas"

3.5/10

For other Doctor Who episode and season reviews, please visit my Doctor Who Review Index Page!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Too Soon: David Tennant's Doctor Who Falls Prey To "The End Of Time, Part Two!"

The Good: Decent backstory for The Master, Good sense of morality, Decent performances
The Bad: Some wonky science, Moments where the Gallifreyans exhibit vast superhuman powers.
The Basics: "The End Of Time Part Two" concluded David Tennant's time as The Doctor with a story that oscillates between epic and ridiculous!


The more television I watch and review, the more I find that it is a true rarity for two-part episodes to be truly balanced. More often than not, the first part - which sets up a great conflict - is noticeably superior to the second part. There are a few exceptions to that rule, but the payoff to the well-established conflict is seldom as good as the set-up. As the tenure of David Tennant as The Doctor came to a close, Russell T. Davis prepared for the Doctor's departure with the two-part episode "The End Of Time." "The End Of Time, Part 1" (reviewed here!) was an erratic set-up episode, which made it very easy for "The End Of Time, Part 2" to become one of the rare exceptions where the second part was superior to the first.

"The End Of Time, Part 1" put a ridiculous number of elements into play: The Master was resurrected with super powers, aliens were working on Earth to salvage a mass medical treatment device, Wilfred Mott was seeing a mysterious woman, and the Ood had foreseen both The Doctor's death and the end of all time. By the end of the first part, all of the biggest conceits had been played as the Time Lords were revealed and the populace of Earth was transformed into The Master.

Opening on Gallifrey, its crystal sphere shattered, on the last day of the Time Lords, the council of Time Lords convenes and fears that The Doctor will end the Time War with the mutual destruction of the Daleks and Time Lords. They determine that The Doctor is on Earth and on Earth, The Doctor is a captive of The Master. But when Wilfred gets a call from Donna, The Master is instantly suspicious; because everyone in the world has been transformed into an incarnation of The Master, he knows there should be no one who would be calling Mott. The Master sends some of his duplicates to confront Donna and when she starts to recall her time with The Doctor, Donna releases a burst of energy that incapacitates her would-be assailants. Aided by the aliens working on Earth and Wilfred, The Doctor and the non-Masters manage to escape to the aliens' ship in orbit.

To find The Master, the Time Lords engineer The Master's madness and send a white point star (a Gallifreyen diamond) to Earth to act as a homing beacon in time and space to him to try to break through the time lock in which they are trapped. When The Master activates the white point star, the charismatic leader of the Time Lords rallies Gallifrey to save the Time Lords. The Doctor, having repaired the alien ship, makes an attack run on The Master's headquarters. The Master attempts to shoot down The Doctor's ship while the Time Lords create a portal into his headquarters. The ensuing conflict puts The Doctor literally in the middle of The Master and the President of the Time Lords with the fate of Earth, Gallifrey and time itself in the balance!

"The End Of Time, Part 2" is notable for fleshing out the backstory of The Master remarkably well. The Master's insanity (at least in Russell T. Davies's tenure) came from his lifelong headache generated by hearing a beating of drums within his head. The source and meaning of that beating is made explicit in "The End Of Time, Part 2" and the whole bootstrap paradox of it is surprisingly well-executed. John Simm plays the craziness and the temporal technobabble well.

Wilfred Mott's character is further deepened in "The End Of Time, Part 2," which makes it all the more tragic how he was not used sufficiently before this point. Mott's history as a soldier is detailed and, on the advice of the mysterious woman, he takes up arms. Mott frames the predicament Earth is in as an "us vs. them" scenario where the life of the Master might have to be sacrificed in order to save the more than six billion people he has transformed. It is a rare thing in Doctor Who for The Doctor to be faced with an opposing philosophical perspective that he is forced to consider and holds weight with his own. Mott makes for an instantly compelling character for having that level of gravitas.

The Doctor is presented in "The End Of Time Part 2" as predictably and wonderfully moral. Forced to take a gun by Mott, the standoff that dominates the critical scene of "The End Of Time, Part 2" is very tense, but holds true to The Doctor's moral core. In that way, there is a refreshing quality to "The End Of Time Part 2;" the purpose of the episode is to create a big ending for The Doctor, but the character's appeal is not mortgaged to make that moment.

David Tennant is great as The Doctor in "The End Of Time, Part 2." While there are moments with Timothy Dalton (The President) and John Simm (The Master) that threaten to overshadow on the performance front, Tennant and Bernard Cribbins (Mott) show the most range in the episode. The quiet scenes where The Doctor and Mott simply talk with one another give Tennant and Cribbins the chance to create genuine emotional depth on screen and they are impressive. The two play off one another well and both performers play sadness amazingly well. Tennant's last big scene with Cribbins allows Tennant to channel Christopher Eccleston's final moments as The Doctor and the tie-in is subtle but played out perfectly by Tennant's performance.

"The End Of Time, Part 2" is quite a bit better than the first part, but it is far from flawless. The science of the episode is wonky at best. While I can live with the paradox that created The Master's insanity, the appearance of Gallifrey in orbit around Earth would have absolutely decimated Earth. Similarly, The Master's electrical hands should have made it impossible for The Doctor, Wilfred and the aliens to escape (after all, why wouldn't all of his duplicates be superpowered the way he is?!) and The President's magical gauntlet is not satisfactorily explained in-episode.

Despite that, the montage sequence caps off "The End Of Time, Part 2" is a lot of fun and acts as a wonderful reprise to the way "Journey's End" (reviewed here!) gave each of The Doctor's allies a chance to say good-bye. The climax of the episode is, as one might expect, emotional and David Tennant makes saying goodbye to his incarnation of The Doctor a truly sweet sorrow.

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Doctor Who - The Complete Fourth Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the final season of David Tennant as The Doctor here!
Thanks!]

For other big finales, be sure to visit my reviews of:
"What You Leave Behind" - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
"Gethsemane" - The X-Files
"Episode 29" - Twin Peaks

7/10

For other Doctor Who episode and movie reviews, please visit my Doctor Who Review Index Page!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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"The End Of Time, Part One" Returns The Master Wrong (And So Right!)

The Good: Good performances, Some good character moments, One or two neat twists
The Bad: Special effects are decidedly mixed, Fits poorly with the episode that preceded it, Ridiculous set-up for the return of the villain
The Basics: "The End Of Time, Part 1" sets up the big finale of David Tennant's tenure as The Doctor with mixed results.


In science fiction epics, there is the old, unfortunately accurate, adage that no one truly stays dead. Doctor Who is no exception. As David Tennant's reign as The Doctor wound down, a suitable end needed to be constructed for the character. That end began with the prophecy at the climax of "Planet Of The Dead" (reviewed here!) where The Doctor was told his death was imminent and that death would knock four times. To realize that, the two-part "The End Of Time" presented the story of the end of Tennant's Doctor with the return of The Master. For those keeping score, The Master was killed at the climax of "Last Of The Time Lords" (reviewed here!) by his human wife.

But, in true science fiction form, Doctor Who plays the resurrection conceit in "The End Of Time." Not insulting the viewer with using time travel or some "The Master wasn't really dead" ridiculousness, "The End Of Time" has a straightforward resurrection of The Master. The science behind The Master's return is completely wonky; it has the feel of magic and that, combined with The Ood suddenly being evolved in weird ways while The Doctor mindmelds with them, weakens some of the feeling of reality that usually grounds some of the more fantastic elements of Doctor Who. Saxon's attempt to stop the resurrection with information from "the secret books of Saxon" just seems ridiculous.

Opening with narration that implies that many people on Earth are having bad dreams as part of the end of the world, Wilfred Mott recalls the nightmares that many others have forgotten. He has a flash of The Master laughing and it leaves him unsettled. At a church, Mott is visited by a strange woman who tells him of the Legend Of The Blue Box, who implies that The Doctor is soon to return. The Doctor arrives on the Ood homeworld to visit Ood Sigma and learn about his impending death. There The Doctor realizes that the Ood's evolution has been accelerated and the Ood have been experiencing a collective nightmare, which leads him to believe something is not right in time and space. The Ood show The Doctor Lucy Saxon, imprisoned and alone, and people on Earth who might be interested in The Master.

On Earth, Christmastime 2009, a coven of women loyal to The Master use Lucy's DNA, The Master's ring and their own life forces to bring The Master back. While The Doctor makes his way back to Earth, Wilfred Mott organizes the senior citizens to try to find him. The Master, resurrected hungry, crazy, and with the apparent ability to fly, starts to kill people to try to gain power. Elsewhere, the wealthy Joshua Naismith activates a strange, alien machine. After an intimate conversation with Wilfred Mott, The Doctor tracks down The Master, who incapacitates him before he is captured by Naismith's forces. Naismith has resurrected The Master for his daughter, but soon finds he is unable to control the crazy Master.

"The End Of Time" makes Wilfred Mott into a full-fledged assistant to The Doctor in such a way that the viewer almost instantly feels they were robbed of The Doctor's next great Companion. That Mott and/or one of the Ood were not given the chance to be proper Companions for The Doctor and that he went through a period without any Companions is somewhat disappointing. "The End Of Time, Part 1" illustrates some of what could have been by showing how cool Mott and the Ood would have been as Companions. Wilfred oscillates between fun and horrified in "The End Of Time, Part 1," which makes him more interesting than some of the Companions were initially.

John Simm bursts right back into the role of The Master. Simm plays The Master as undeniably crazy and he is unsettling to watch, from his first scenes laughing to him beating the trash can at a construction site. The Master, in "The End Of Time, Part 1" is not a subtle being and Simm plays him as dangerous and insane quite well. The Master, in being resurrected, now has superpowers - he has lightning hands reminiscent of Emperor Palpatine. The sudden conceits surrounding The Master - his powers and his resurrection - make the episode feel like it is relying on something supernatural instead of scientific.

The superlative scene of "The End Of Time, Part 1" is not the big battle scene, but rather an emotional scene between The Doctor and Mott. The scene makes an oblique reference to the climax of "The Waters Of Mars" (reviewed here!), where The Doctor made a tragic mistake. The emotion of his epiphany and the tragedy of those events is muted by The Doctor's ridiculous time spent off between that episode and this one. The ridiculous entrance of The Doctor on the planet of the Ood does not pick up directly where that loss left off and so The Doctor breaking down with Mott is somewhat refreshing to see, even if it feels somewhat contrived getting him back to that point.

"The End Of Time, Part 1" marks the return of Donna Noble as well. Donna buys Wilfred a copy of Joshua Naismith's for Christmas, not quite knowing why. The idea that Donna still has some connection to The Doctor and The Ood is good and presented fairly subtly within the episode.

The special effect of The Master phasing is pretty cool. Unfortunately, his monstrous ability is balanced by some of the most fake looking skeletons ever seen on television.

Ultimately, "The End Of Time, Part 1" is a mediocre set-up episode that packs in a lot and has potential, but to play off all the conceits moves far too often into the ridiculous.

For other works with Timothy Dalton, please check out my reviews of:
The Tourist
Toy Story 3
Looney Tunes: Back In Action
License To Kill
The Living Daylights
The Lion In Winter

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Doctor Who - The Complete Fourth Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the final season of David Tennant as The Doctor here!
Thanks!]

4/10

For other Doctor Who episode and movie reviews, please visit my Doctor Who Review Index Page!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Dreadful Familiarity Mars "The Waters Of Mars"

The Good: Wonderful character development for The Doctor, Generally decent performances.
The Bad: Very formulaic Doctor Who plot, Occasionally overbearing soundtrack, Wonky science
The Basics: "The Waters Of Mars" has a truly great pair of scenes, but is otherwise painfully average Doctor Who.


Whenever I encounter something, I do my best to take it as it is; review it for what it is, not what it could be. As a result, sometimes I find something that is mediocre on its own, but when put in context, it feels much worse than its inherently average nature. The Doctor Who episode "The Waters Of Mars" is one such episode. "The Waters Of Mars" is not inherently bad, but it shows a very different side of The Doctor and before it can be adequately explored . . . David Tennant's tenure as The Doctor comes to an end.

"The Waters Of Mars" creates an interesting character and develops The Doctor, but then does not give the writers and producers the chance to explore the new Doctor. Seeing The Doctor experiencing something akin to hero worship is pretty wonderful. In fact, the only real mark against The Doctor's character in "The Waters Of Mars" is that The Doctor seems very enamored with the leader of the first Mars colony, Captain Adelaide Brooke, but does not recognize her immediately.

Opening with a transmission being sent to Mars, Adelaide Brooke is miffed to lose the transmission from her daughter. While the team on Mars places more technology on the surface, The Doctor arrives in the TARDIS and is taken prisoner (without his resistance!) by their robot. The human occupants of the Mars station are surprised at the sudden appearance of what appears to be a human. In the hydroponics bay, one of the gardeners eats a carrot and is suddenly transformed into something else. The Doctor, learning that he is on Bowie Base One, comes to understand exactly when and where he is and he knows that the entire crew is going to die that very day. After attempting to leave the colony, the Doctor is compelled to join the team searching for the two crewmembers who are not present when The Doctor arrived.

The crew finds Maggie, who appears wounded. While The Doctor and Brooke search for Andy, Maggie awakens in the medical bay and seems to be fine. Soon thereafter, though, she begins to forcibly dehydrate and appears possessed (talking about Earth as if she were an alien). When another member of the crew succumbs and The Doctor becomes more determined to leave Mars. The Doctor is aware of what is going to happen, but when it looks like the crew will abandon the outpost, he finds himself embroiled in the events.

"The Waters Of Mars" is an exceptionally typical Doctor Who possession story. The Doctor is stuck somewhere where there is an outbreak and he does what he can to try to save as many people as possible. The Doctor sees the events on Mars as a fixed point in time that he cannot directly influence and the attempt to contain the entities that have possessed the crewmembers is complicated by an unknown date of contagion (others may already be infected and just not yet "turned") and an adversary that The Doctor declares eternally patient (if the colony is there to come back to, any future rescue workers might well be possessed).

The Doctor is forced to deal with some of the consequences of his prior actions in "The Waters Of Mars" and that is very well-executed. Adelaide Brooke survived "The Stolen Earth" (reviewed here!) and that had a profound effect on her. The Doctor and Brooke bond and it pushes The Doctor in a brilliant new direction. That direction is manic and tragic, without any time for it to be reflected upon. Brooke is a cool character and if "The Waters Of Mars" did not follow such a predictable basic plot, she would have been an amazing Companion for The Doctor.

David Tennant and Lindsay Duncan (Brooke) play off one another masterfully. Duncan is an amazing actress and she and Tennant have great banter throughout the episode. Director Graeme Harper does a magnificent job of capturing the performers' wonderful physical performances. Tennant's expressive eyes, Duncan's determined frown, Harper catches every nuance incredibly well.

"The Waters Of Mars" features some of the wonkiest science of the entire series; the sheer volume of water seen blasting out of the infected people borders on the comical. The action scenes feature one of the most overbearing soundtracks of the series as well.

Ultimately, "The Waters Of Mars" features some of the very best and very worst moments of all Doctor Who in a single episode, making for an erratic episode that holds up better for non-fans of Doctor Who than those who truly love the franchise.

For other works with Lindsay Duncan, please check out my reviews of:
Alice Through The Looking Glass
Birdman
About Time
Alice In Wonderland
Rome
Under The Tuscan Sun
Mansfield Park
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Doctor Who - The Complete Fourth Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the final season of David Tennant as The Doctor here!
Thanks!]

4.5/10

For other Doctor Who episode and movie reviews, please visit my Doctor Who Review Index Page!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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An Often Pointless One-Off: "Planet Of The Dead" Is Less-Inspired Doctor Who!

The Good: Good chemistry between The Doctor and Christina, Some good special effects
The Bad: Light on character development, Christina outshines The Doctor, Despite being packed, the plot is fairly predictable.
The Basics: If Pitch Black were an episode of Doctor Who, it would be "Planet Of The Dead."


There are a number of genre works that are so extensive that it is hard to imagine what has not been done by the work yet. In the case of Doctor Who, the fifty plus year history of the franchise makes it hard for the show to do something that feels new. So, when something new pops up on Doctor Who, it is hard not to be inherently biased toward it. That said, new does not always mean a great execution. Such is the case with the episode "Planet Of The Dead."

"Planet Of The Dead" is a one-shot episode that was part of the denouement of David Tennant's Doctor. Following "Journey's End" (reviewed here!) there were a series of specials that led into the two-part exit for Tennant's Doctor and his journeys in that time period have The Doctor flying solo - without a Companion. "Planet Of The Dead" is initially engaging because it features The Doctor, sans Companion, TARDIS or (apparently) sonic screwdriver. But, despite the original-feeling set-up, "Planet Of The Dead" quickly transitions into something that feels troublingly familiar.

Opening in modern London at the National Gallery, Christina rappels in behind the security team guarding a chalice. The thief makes her getaway on a bus, where she is almost immediately joined by The Doctor. The Doctor is scanning the area, tracking a small hole in the fabric of reality, when the bus passes through the hole and it transported to a distant planet. The bus driver quickly illustrates the consequences of attempting to simply pass through the wormhole unprotected. While Christina takes charge inside the bus, back on Earth, UNIT is called in to investigate the wormhole on their end. UNIT Captain Magambo creates a defensive perimeter at the edge of the wormhole.

On the bus, Carmen exhibits genuine psychic abilities and she believes that something horrible is coming for them. As a storm moves in on the stranded bus, The Doctor manages to get a call in to UNIT and its crazy scientist Malcolm. Malcolm has developed a way to measure the wormhole, while The Doctor and Christina discover the impending storm is made of metal when they are captured by an insectoid alien. Using the computers on the insect aliens' ship, The Doctor discovers where the bus materialized and what a horrible predicament they are in. As a swarm of aliens descends upon the bus and the downed alien ship, The Doctor realizes that Earth is in danger from the swarm passing through the wormhole to devour Earth!

"Planet Of The Dead" has a lot in common with "Midnight" (reviewed here!), in the way that The Doctor is trapped with a bunch of strangers without real aid available to him while being hunted by an alien force. "Planet Of The Dead" includes a number of ambitious elements, from the fun new almost-Companion to the addition of a psychic to the insect race with telepathic translators. Unfortunately, the episode is packed without truly coming together.

In many ways, "Planet Of The Dead" underwhelms because it is a one-shot. The Doctor and Christina have great chemistry and David Tennant and Michelle Ryan (Christina) play off one another amazingly well. Christina being a thief allows The Doctor to have the episode's lone moment of decent characterization where he confesses that he was a thief, in stealing the TARDIS. The Doctor's unwillingness to kill the swarm creatures fits his established character, more than growing him.

But elements like Malcolm calling while The Doctor and Christina are running force the episode's humor. The science of "Planet Of The Dead" is particularly wonky; a wormhole ten miles in diameter over London would have all sorts of things colliding with it. And the idea that a scientist could both analyze and synthesize a solution to the wormhole on Earth (in our era) in just a few hours is problematic, if not ridiculous. Then again, the episode features a flying bus.

Ultimately, "Planet Of The Dead" is one of those episodes that does not feel unpleasant when one is watching it, but it does not hold up over much scrutiny.

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Doctor Who - The Complete Fourth Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the final season of David Tennant as The Doctor here!
Thanks!]

3.5/10

For other Doctor Who episode and movie reviews, please visit my Doctor Who Review Index Page!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Another Christmas Spent With Doctor Who And "The Next Doctor!"

The Good: Good performances, Intriguing premise
The Bad: The Cybermen story is not particularly compelling, Rosita's character is presented very flatly
The Basics: The mystery of the identity of a man claiming to be The Doctor in London's past overshadows the return of the Cybermen in "The Next Doctor."


Following the events of the Doctor Who episode "Journey's End" (reviewed here!), The Doctor was at an interesting point. Having lost all of his Companions and allies, The Doctor finds himself traveling alone. The Christmas episode that follows the climax of the Doctor's allies is "The Next Doctor."

"The Next Doctor" is, essentially, a mystery set in Earth's past which pairs The Doctor - David Tennant's incarnation - with what appears to be a different incarnation of The Doctor. "The Next Doctor" is played by David Morrissey and sees the return to the narrative of the Cybermen. Russell T. Davies, who wrote "The Next Doctor," had kept the Cybermen out of Doctor Who for years, since "Doomsday" (reviewed here!). Their return in "The Next Doctor" is overshadowed by the mystery of who, exactly, the Other Doctor is.

The Doctor on Christmas Eve, 1851, in London and almost immediately someone begins crying out for help from the "Doctor!" The Doctor is shocked to be joined in rescuing Rosita by another man, who claims to be The Doctor. The Other Doctor sets loose an animal with a Cyberman head, which drags both Doctors and Rosita through an abandoned building. The Doctor interrogates the Other Doctor, who acknowledges that he has massive memory gaps, as a result of the Cybermen. Investigating the home of a newly deceased man, The Doctors find a Cyberman memory module and The Other Doctor recalls how the Cyberman robbed him of his memories.

Chased out by Cybermen, The Doctor accompanies The Other Doctor back to his headquarters. Meanwhile, in town, Miss Hartigan attends the funeral of the priest and uses the Cybermen to kill off all of her enemies, but four. When The Other Doctor takes The Doctor to his TARDIS and The Doctor and his TARDIS is revealed to be a hot air balloon, The Doctor indicates he knows what is going on with The Other Doctor. When Miss Hartigan unleashes the Cybermen on London and she takes over as the new Cyberking, The Doctor and his two new companions must team up to stop them from transforming or killing all of the children.

"The Next Doctor" is a cool basic premise, though attentive viewers are likely to recognize exceptionally early on in the episode where the work is going with the titular character. After all, there is only one reason for The Doctor to give The Other Doctor a physical and the results are made very clear through the sound effects.

As a geek, there is something riotously fun about an episode of television that features the Governor and Kilgrave working together. Of course, David Morrissey has much more range than simply playing the Governor and Tennant's Doctor is nowhere near as villainous as Kilgrave. Morrissey is the caliber of actor who could credibly play The Doctor and he helps to sell the premise of "The Next Doctor" and make the viewer enjoy the discovery of whether or not his character is an incarnation of the Time Lord.

Rosita is momentarily interesting and well-played by Velile Tshabalala. Still, she is largely a flat character and the lack of a Companion for The Doctor for her to play off diminishes the impact of "The Next Doctor."

While the villains in "The Next Doctor" are not particularly compelling - the existence of the Cybershades is glossed over, for example - and the episode's climax treads toward the cheesy, the central character elements of the episode are very fresh for Doctor Who. The Other Doctor is the result of trauma and, while the episode does not make it explicit, The Doctor is suffering a trauma of his own. The way one man survives his loss and the way loss breaks another man is a compelling foil pair.

Ultimately, despite the campy plot, "The Next Doctor" does exactly what fans of Doctor Who hope it would in that it refocuses The Doctor on his enduring quest to help people. That makes "The Next Doctor" worthwhile as both a character study and a Christmas gift!

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Doctor Who - The Complete Fourth Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the final season of David Tennant as The Doctor here!
Thanks!]

For other works with David Morrissey, please check out my reviews of:
The Walking Dead - Season 4
The Walking Dead - Season 3

7/10

For other Doctor Who episode and movie reviews, please visit my Doctor Who Review Index Page!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Come The End Of The Universe, Doctor Who Remains Ethical Through His "Journey's End!"

The Good: Performances, Donna Noble's character arc, Plot progression/resolution
The Bad: Martha Jones is woefully underused
The Basics: "Journey's End" manages to be fun, adventurous Doctor Who as it ties up the franchise Russell T. Davies had created.


I am not an expert on Doctor Who. In fact, of the pre-2005 Doctor Who, I have seen almost none. As a result, I am not exactly sure how long the conceit for the series had been in place about the number of times The Doctor can regenerate, but by the end of "Journey's End" and "The Day Of The Doctor," that conceit had pretty well been violated beyond any sensible continuity. After all, as "Journey's End" begins, The Doctor is regenerating and, with the retcon of The War Doctor (however that is justified by fans to be canon), by an objective count, marks the first appearance of the Twelfth Doctor! But, rather than quibble about such things, let's look at the fourth season finale of Doctor Who: "Journey's End."

"Journey's End" picks up in the seconds following "The Stolen Earth" (reviewed here!) and there is little point to discussing the episode without referencing the events of the prior episode. Indeed, it is pretty much impossible, given that this is the second part of a two-part episode and the first part worked very hard to bring back almost everyone significant from Russell T. Davies's tenure on Doctor Who. "Journey's End" brings back the two stragglers missing from the first part and completes the writer's love letter to Doctor Who in a way that is not only enjoyable for fans, but is a pretty solidly enjoyable hour of television!

Opening with The Doctor, Rose, Donna, and Harkness in The TARDIS after The Doctor was shot by a Dalek, The Doctor regenerates. Much to the chagrin of those present, he retains his present (David Tennant) form and channels some of his regeneration energy into his preserved hand, which is on the TARDIS bridge. On Earth, Sarah Jane is rescued by Micky and Rose's mother, while the Torchwood team is trapped in their building in order to keep the Dalek's out with a temporal lock. The Daleks abduct the TARDIS and Martha Jones travels to Germany with a key that will activate the world's nuclear arsenal and destroy the Earth.

When The Doctor, Rose, and Harkness disembark on the Crucible, Donna Noble remains on the TARDIS when the Dalek's send it to the heart of the Crucible to be destroyed. Before the TARDIS can be destroyed, though, Donna Noble regenerates The Doctor from his amputated hand and saves the ship. The new Doctor is human and has a connection to Donna. The Dalek's attempt to kill Harkness and Martha prepares to activate Earth's self-destruct mechanism, while The Doctor and Rose are brought before Davros and Dalek Caan. Davros and Caan have brought the stolen worlds together to create a reality bomb and The Doctor and his allies must thwart them before Martha destroys the world!

"Journey's End" is a packed little episode that allows fans of Doctor Who to (metaphorically) have their cake and eat it, too. The duplicate Doctor provides a satisfying resolution for Rose Tyler's arc and, in the process, makes Donna Noble into one of the most important Doctor Who characters ever! At long last, Donna Noble's character becomes remarkable and the way she is made special is a wonderful character twist that plays out brilliantly.

The flirting between The Doctor and Rose Tyler is a welcome reward for those who sat through the heartbreak of "The Parting Of The Ways" (reviewed here!) and "Doomsday" (reviewed here!). David Tennant and Billie Piper fall into perfect rhythm and chemistry as if they had never stopped working with one another and were truly into one another. Their reunion and their time together on screen for the bulk of "Journey's End" is a true treat to watch.

But flirting is nowhere near the peak of David Tennant's performance abilities in "Journey's End." Playing the role of the familiar Doctor and the new, human, Doctor, allows Tennant to express more range. The new Doctor has a great comedic introduction, which allows Tennant and Catherine Tate to play to their well-honed (from other projects) comedic banter. Tennant differentiates his human Doctor with a slightly agape mouth and exposition and epiphanies that come slower than normal, which helps to make for a new-feeling character.

At the other end, Catherine Tate has to play Donna as a Timelord and her comedic patter is an asset. Tate stretches her range by delivering technobabble exposition brilliantly.

As "Journey's End" progresses, it starts to eek toward the ridiculous as the allied of The Doctor move into check with the Daleks by producing not just one, but two, apocalyptic devices that can thwart their plans. Fortunately, "Journey's End" quickly redirects from the plot conceit to the intense character dilemma of the episode. The Doctor abhors violence, but to save existence itself, he is in position to authorize the destruction of Earth or the Crucible. The retrospective of (not even all!) the people who have died in the service of The Doctor is horrifying and recalling it has an effect on The Doctor. The Doctor's sense of compassion has often defined his character and in "Journey's End," that compassion is challenged. The moment is not belabored, but it helps to keep the show feeling very Doctor Who. And, its being revisited at the climax of the action helps to keep the character pure and the episode focused.

Outside a single special effect - Donna getting blasted - "Journey's End" has wonderful special effects. The restoration sequence might have incredibly wonky science, but it is well-rendered. Similarly, the thwarting of the Daleks is presented somewhat ridiculously, even though it is fun to watch.

"Journey's End" has a strong sense of resolution to it and the disgust The Doctor feels for his counterpart is a clever twist to the episode. "Journey's End" might underuse Martha Jones, but it packs a lot into the episode and is self-referential to Doctor Who while still managing to be entertaining and engaging for more casual viewers!

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Doctor Who - The Complete Fourth Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the final season of David Tennant as The Doctor here!
Thanks!]

For other sweeping season finales, please check out my reviews of:
"Call To Arms" - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
"A Cold Day In Hell's Kitchen" - Daredevil
"Ascension" - Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.

8.5/10

For other Doctor Who episode and movie reviews, please visit my Doctor Who Review Index Page!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Proper Return Of Rose Tyler Signals The End Of The Franchise With "The Stolen Earth!"

The Good: Fun, Good plot set-up
The Bad: No genuine character development, Light on notable performances, Plot-heavy
The Basics: "The Stolen Earth" works great in conjunction with its second part, but on its own it is exceptionally cumbersome, self-referential television.


When it comes to season finales, there are few shows that truly know how to lead into the end of a season like Doctor Who. The best serialized shows do a decent job of building to a season's end, but in episodic television or semi-serialized shows like Doctor Who, it can be a bit tougher. Throughout the fourth season of Doctor Who, Rose Tyler had been popping up in the background, for viewers who knew where to look at just the right time. But at the climax of "Turn Left" (reviewed here!), an episode that outright featured Rose Tyler, there was an urgency that came with the return of Bad Wolf, which led into the first moments of "The Stolen Earth."

"The Stolen Earth" is the payoff to hints and clues dropped throughout the fourth season and the first of two parts of a story that, essentially, is closing the book on the franchise Russell T. Davies had created with the modern Doctor Who and its various spin-off projects (Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures, and all of the projects that were pitched but failed to be produced). As Davies said his first of two good-bye's to Doctor Who, fans were rewarded for paying close attention early in the season.

The Doctor and Donna Noble arrive on Earth, on a Saturday, where The Doctor is relieved to find everything appears all right. Nervous about Donna's encounter with Rose and the appearance of Bad Wolf everywhere on their last adventure, The Doctor returns with Donna to the Tardis and, moments later, the Earth disappears entirely. Far across the universe, Earth is intact and at U.N.I.T. Headquarters in New York, Martha Jones awakens to discover the sky has changed. Torchwood, Sarah Jane, and Wilfred all discover that they are somewhere else entirely - based upon the sheer number of planets in the sky and the nebula around them. Rose appears on Earth with a massive weapon and declares that the trouble has just begun.

Earth's troubles quickly materialize in the form of an armada of Daleks. While U.N.I.T. and the ultra-secret Project Indigo attempt to fight the Daleks attacking Earth, The Doctor and Donna arrive at the Shadow Proclamation. There, they discover that 27 planets (including the Lost Moon Of Poosh) have been teleported out of time and space to create a world engine of some sort. On Earth, Martha Jones activates Project Indigo and disappears, leaving Jack Harkness to declare her dead. The abductors of the many planets are soon revealed to be Dalek Caan and Davros, The Doctor's ancient enemy and the creator of the Daleks! The Doctor and Donna follow a trail to discover Earth and the other missing planets in the Medusa Cascade, while Harriet Jones contacts The Doctor's various allies and attempts to assemble them into a force that can contact The Doctor and thwart the Daleks!

"The Stolen Earth" is the payoff to a lot of dangling threads in the Doctor Who expanded universe, writing out the spin-offs and finally presenting The Shadow Proclamation on-screen (before this, it just sounded like an interstellar agreement that kept various planets in order). The joy of seeing the various elements of Doctor Who and its spin-offs together on-screen is fun. The idea that Harriet Jones might be Earth's savior with her subwave network is a nice way to reward the first season's character who was sadly dismissed in the beginning of the second season. That, essentially, her heroic end comes in the attempt to make an interstellar cell phone call is wickedly ironic.

The episode, however, is predicated on a lot of truly wonky science. While the episode does a decent job of paying lip service to science by having Torchwood recognize that there is a force field keeping in Earth's heat and air, the very idea of The Darkness is clever only if one turns off their brain. In addition to the Judoon's language not being translated, despite them and The Doctor being proximate to the TARDIS, in order for Rose Tyler to know about the threat in the alternate universe - in the form of The Darkness - the stars going out would have had to have been extinguished for millennia. How the boosted cell phone signal reaches the TARDIS when Martha's phone does not is not made truly clear - after all, mystical cell phone, how does it fail?! And while Donna's notion of the disappearing bees is an interesting one, following a pollen trail across the universe seems pretty wonky.

"The Stolen Earth" spends almost forty minutes establishing its premise, as opposed to actually doing anything. It is fun and it is a lot of plot set-up; it is not until Rose Tyler longingly looks at a screen with The Doctor on it and realizes that he cannot see or hear her that viewers get even a moment of depth from any of the franchise's significant, enduring, characters. That is not to say that Harriet Jones squaring off with the Daleks is not good - actress Penelope Wilton sheds the cheap punchline of her character for a moment with genuine gravitas - but she is no Captain Jack Harkness! Objectively viewed, "The Stolen Earth" is like a fanfic writer's wet dream long before it becomes its own significant entity.

So, when Rose realizes The Doctor cannot see her and The Doctor laments that his team includes everyone but Rose, "The Stolen Earth" finally transitions into something significant. The Doctor's longing for Rose is one of the few, genuine, on-screen hints that The Doctor might reciprocate Rose's love for him.

Unfortunately, that deep character-driven moment with the episode's acting peak, is interrupted by the revelation of Davros. The resulting scene is more exposition and, based on Sarah Jane's reaction, it is a call-back to events from the classic-Doctor Who. Davros was, apparently, killed in the last great Time War, but rescued by Dalek Caan and the emotional resonance of his return cannot be realized by those who are only fans of the new (2005 on) Doctor Who. In other words, in creating his good-bye to his incarnation of Doctor Who and its expanded universe, Russell T. Davies is forced to rely on a big emotional moment for The Doctor that those new fans will not, inherently, appreciate.

That said, "The Stolen Earth" features one of the most wonderful and heart-breaking moments for fans of Doctor Who as Rose and The Doctor are (almost) reunited. The two running toward one another is sweet and gets fans' hearts racing, but the moment succumbs to yet another big plot events.

"The Stolen Earth" is, very much, a set-up episode. It is a fun episode. But objectively viewed, on its own, it is cumbersome, often dull, and exposition-heavy. It is the hype for the season finale; there are two decent moments of performance, two moments where characters shine and emote . . . and the rest is special effects, plot exposition, and a bunch of people getting excited about meeting one another. I don't recall disliking the episode any time I watched it, but the truth is, I've always immediately viewed "Journey's End" after watching "The Stolen Earth." Viewer together, the two-parter is something special; but "The Stolen Earth," on its own, viewed for just what is in the episode, is particularly unremarkable, insular, and self-referential in a way that fails to be even entertaining for the bulk of the episode.

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Doctor Who - The Complete Fourth Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the final season of David Tennant as The Doctor here!
Thanks!]

For other multi-part season finales, please visit my reviews of:
"Becoming" - Buffy The Vampire Slayer
"The Dogs Of War" - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
"Absolution" - Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.

4/10

For other Doctor Who episode and movie reviews, please visit my Doctor Who Review Index Page!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Sliding Doors For Doctor Who Comes When Donna Noble Fails To "Turn Left!"

The Good: Catherine Tate's performance, Plot, Character twists
The Bad: Minutiae
The Basics: Despite a technical issue or two, the Doctor Who episode "Turn Left" is so close to perfect!


There are some concepts in modern science fiction that have become new standards, such that virtually every new work feels the need to try their hand at that type of episode. For a long time, it was alternate universe episodes, based largely on the massive success of Star Trek's "Mirror, Mirror" (reviewed here!). Since the film Sliding Doors was released, many science fiction works have tried an episode that illustrates how a single decision can cause a major divergence in the storyline and/or character arcs. Hell, even Frasier got in on the action with the episode "Sliding Frasier!" In Doctor Who, the episode that uses the Sliding Doors conceit is "Turn Left" and it is a shockingly good use of the conceit and a decent hour of television in its own right!

"Turn Left" is the episode that properly returns Rose Tyler to the Doctor Who narrative. Tyler has appeared in background flashes an allusions throughout the fourth season of Doctor Who and in "Turn Left," she returns to the forefront of the narrative, pairing with Donna Noble, to reveal what the cameos before have been about. In some ways, "Turn Left" works better without seeing "Doomsday" (reviewed here!), which left Tyler trapped permanently in an alternate universe (her ability to transport across the universal divide without unleashing all the Daleks and Cybermen is not addressed in the episode). However, because the episode revisits the events of "The Runaway Bride" (reviewed here!), "Smith And Jones" (reviewed here!), "Voyage Of The Damned" (reviewed here!), "Partners In Crime" (reviewed here!) and "The Poison Sky" (reviewed here!), it helps for viewers to have some familiarity with those past episodes to get the most out of "Turn Left."

Opening with The Doctor and Donna on a distant planet, the pair gets separated and Donna meets a fortune teller. The fortune teller gets Donna to realize that six months prior to her taking the temp job at H.C. Clements, she made a distinct choice that put her on a course to meeting The Doctor. Donna is infected with a parasite and convinced to re-choose and rewrite her timeline by turning right at a key moment and taking a different job. When the Racnoss attack London, Donna is not there to convince The Doctor to let up and he dies when UNIT attacks their ship. On the day that Donna is sacked from her job, Royal Hope Hospital disappears from Earth and when it is returned, there is only one survivor (not Martha Jones).

When Rose Tyler appears again, she continues to look over Donna's shoulder at the parasite she perceives there. Tyler advises Noble to get out of London and mentions the raffle ticket that Noble's mother found in her box from her job. The raffle ticket pays off and the next Christmas, the Noble family is on holiday when the space Titanic crashes into London. With London destroyed, the Noble family becomes refugees and is forced to move to Leeds where they have to share a flat with multiple families. Before the U.S. can bail out the U.K., sixty million people there are killed when they are transformed by the Adipose. When the Torchwood team is sacrificed stopping the Sontarans during the ATMOS incident, Rose Tyler appears to tell Donna Noble that she must come with her and that when she does, she will die. The UK deports all immigrants to labor camps and, as the world falls down around Donna, she finally sees evidence of Rose Tyler's "oncoming darkness." When that happens, Donna chooses to join Rose Tyler and UNIT to try to save the multiverse by returning to the key moment and making the right choice.

"Turn Left" works very hard to prepare viewers for the big goodbye episode that Russell T. Davies has planned over the course of the next two episodes. The references to all of the Doctor's allies, Companions, and organizations helps mentally soften the viewer up for all of them interacting in the subsequent two-parter. Fortunately, the episode is more than that.

In many ways, "Turn Left" softens the viewer up for the idea of how important Donna Noble is in the long-term arc of Doctor Who. The character was frequently treated as a throwaway character who was brash, loud, and obnoxious, but she became integral to several key moments in The Doctor's narrative. Equally important, she is set-up in "Turn Left" as someone who is special and has a destiny to play in the fate of the galaxy.

"Turn Left" is a good character study that smartly explores so many impressive consequences of recent actions in the Doctor Who universe. Harold Saxon never comes to power because The Doctor and Martha Jones never go to the end of time. The rest of the Earth-bound adventures of Doctor Who from the prior two seasons are explored for how those who knew The Doctor could have intervened to save the world in his absence. For an episode that is so intricately put together, it is shocking that the hidden adversary of the episode is so poorly constructed. The Darkness is a destructive force that is wiping out stars; for that to be an imminent threat, it would have been destroying star systems for centuries, which would hardly be a new thing at all.

Catherine Tate earns her paycheck for "Turn Left." The strength of her performance when Donna Noble sees the parasite is amazing. Tate dominates the episode and she creates a tearjerker performance that is exceptional. While some episodes, like the very popular "Blink" (reviewed here!) feature The Doctor as a peripheral character and are built around the Monster Of The Week, "Turn Left" minimizes The Doctor and elevates his Companion. Donna Noble manages to develop from self-centered and loud to passionate and involved without The Doctor and Tate makes the viewer care about her and her journey, more than they thrill to the return of Billie Piper's Rose Tyler.

While some complain about the effect of the parasite, "Turn Left" is not about the Creature Of The Week; it is about the Doctor Who companion Donna Noble. The creature does not have to be an amazing special effect; it has to horrify Donna Noble and Catherine Tate absolutely portrays the character's shock and horror at the creature on her back.

"Turn Left" could be a cheap gimmick episode, but it manages to use its premise exceptionally well and become a strong, positive work of its own.

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Doctor Who - The Complete Fourth Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the final season of David Tennant as The Doctor here!
Thanks!]

9.5/10

For other Doctor Who episode and movie reviews, please visit my Doctor Who Review Index Page!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Doctor Who Dud: "Midnight." (My 3000th Movie/Television Review!)

The Good: Lesley Sharp's performance
The Bad: Dull plot, No character development
The Basics: The gimmick of "Midnight" is not to enough to sell the viewer on the episode's execution.


There are very few long-running shows that do not have a few throwaway episodes. Doctor Who - despite the generally high quality of the show during Russell T. Davies's tenure is no exception. Arguably his last real failure for an episode before leaving the franchise was the standalone episode "Midnight." "Midnight" seems to try take a children's game - the repeating game - and make it the framework for a terrifying alien entity.

Sadly, the episode fizzles.

Donna Noble is relaxing at a spa on the planet Midnight when The Doctor calls and tries to convince her to go on a tour of the diamond planet. Donna refuses and The Doctor treks out on his own with an ATV full of strangers to see the Sapphire Waterfalls of Midnight. The Hostess puts on an obtrusive entertainment package, which The Doctor is annoyed by, so he uses his sonic screwdriver to turn it off. This leads the tourists to bond for a couple hundred of kliks. Professor Hobbes teaches the passengers that Midnight is, and always has been, devoid of life.

When the transport breaks down in an area that is off the scheduled route, The Doctor enters the cockpit and one of the pilots sees what he believes to be a shadow out on the blindingly bright surface. Suddenly, there comes a knocking on the hull of the transport and moments later, the driver's cabin is obliterated. Inside the transport, the crewmembers turn on Sky Silvestry when she appears possessed and starts repeating things that others say. When the entity forcing her to repeat lines starts to anticipate what people will say, The Doctor becomes horrified. When the paranoia of the passengers runs high and they want to murder the alien entity, The Doctor tries to defend the new form of life . . . even if it might cost him his life.

"Midnight" fits into the larger narrative of the fourth season through a very minor scene in which one of the passengers, Dee Dee, references the lost moon of Poosh. This continues the quiet motif of missing planets and strange phenomenon that has been threaded through the fourth season. Rose Tyler is kept alive in the season through a reference when The Doctor tries to relate to another passenger, who has been left by her love for another galaxy. She also flashes in a "blink and you miss it" cameo on a screen over The Doctor's shoulder.

All "Midnight" truly has going for it are the performances. While most of the actors are not given much to do, Lesley Sharp's Sky Silvestry does the heavy lifting of the episode. Sharp has an amazing physical presence when Silvestry is taken over and she has to act animalistic. Between speaking in unison with other performers (and thus bearing a ton of lines for the episode) and changing her body language entirely, Sharp does an impressive job of creating two distinctly different characters (or a character and an entity).

"Midnight" tries to establish a mood of paranoia and explore that. It's not terribly complex or insightful, which makes it tougher to go back to watch more than once. It is the low point of the fourth season of Doctor Who.

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Doctor Who - The Complete Fourth Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the final season of David Tennant as The Doctor here!
Thanks!]

1.5/10

For other Doctor Who episode and movie reviews, please visit my Doctor Who Review Index Page!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Steven Moffat Writes A Check He Cannot Cash With "Forest Of The Dead!"

The Good: Acting, Character, Plot development and reversals
The Bad: None!
The Basics: "Forest Of The Dead" is a perfect Doctor Who episode that gives a proper introduction to the potentials River Song represents while resolving the conflict in the library with the Vashta Nerada.


Some brilliant episodes of Doctor Who are hard to go back to because of how they are followed up upon. The saga of River Song comes to a close in "Forest Of The Dead," an episode that introduces Song as a character chock full of potential for adventures with subsequent (non-David Tennant) Doctors. Unfortunately, going back to "Forest Of The Dead" after viewers see "The Husbands Of River Song" (reviewed here!), what stands out most is how River Song had amazing potential that was utterly wasted. The on-screen adventures of The Doctor and River Song end in "The Husbands Of River Song" unless Steven Moffat screws up again or Song is The Doctor's next Companion.

"Forest Of The Dead" is a direct sequel to "Silence In The Library" (reviewed here!) and it is impossible to discuss the episode without allusions to where the prior episode ended. After all, "Silence In The Library" was a cliffhanger and it left The Doctor and River Song in a remarkably perilous position. Donna Noble was lost while teleporting into the TARDIS and then appeared as a Node which told The Doctor that Donna Noble had been saved. "Forest Of The Dead" was exceptionally good at answering the questions raised by "Silence In The Library."

While The Doctor and River flee the Vashta Nerada, the little girl in her fantasy world watches television. On her television is the story of Donna Noble, who she recognizes from her dreams of the library. Donna integrates to an entirely new life at a CAL hospital. There, Dr. Moon introduces her to a man, who she marries and settles down with. She has a flash of The Doctor and she seems vaguely aware of time moving at erratic intervals, but Dr. Moon quickly corrects her notions. In the library, River Song proves herself to The Doctor when he becomes frustrated that she has some version of his sonic screwdriver. Unfortunately, another member of her team is consumed by the Vashta Nerada.

The next day at the park, Donna confronts a mysterious woman in black she has seen lurking and the woman tries to reveal the true nature of the place they both occupy. The Doctor utilizes the opportunity of the Vashta Nerada being confined to space suits of people they have killed to communicate with the swarms. The Doctor realizes where the 4022 people saved by the computer went and he tries to figure out how to rematerialize those people (and Donna).

"Forest Of The Dead" is a three-pronged mystery and it is a rare one that works on all three fronts amazingly well. The answer to the simulation mystery is cleverly executed. The internal world is an expression of the data core and it is convincingly portrayed. The conflict within CAL adds another layer of nightmare to an episode that is already nightmarish for its creature of the week. The conceit also allows the episode to take on a ticking clock aspect that feels organic, in the form of the main computer preparing to self-destruct (or erase everything).

The River Song storyline is exceptionally well-executed and the result in the episode is very satisfying.

The Vashta Nerada are presented in "Forest Of The Dead" as frightening adversaries who seem like a gimmick, but are fairly fully-formed entities. The idea that the Vashta Nerada can both negotiate and were victims of massive deforestation is clever.

"Forest Of The Dead" is not just clever on the page, it is brilliantly presented and portrayed. The gimmick of CAL could be seen as just a ridiculous gimmick or cheap reversal, but it plays as a revelation that ties the story together in an interesting way. The performances are universally wonderful, most of the best simply being reaction shots for David Tennant, Catherine Tate or Alex Kingston. Between powerful moments of reflection and bold, emotional, proclamations, "Forest Of The Dead" has intense, amazing performances for the essential characters and the supporting guest cast.

Ultimately, "Forest Of The Dead" is an ideal second part; it satisfyingly pays off the elements left unresolved from the first part, while being solid on its own.

For other works with Colin Salmon, please visit my reviews of:
The Increasingly Poor Decisions Of Todd Margaret - Season 1
AVP: Alien Vs. Predator
Die Another Day
The World Is Not Enough
Tomorrow Never Dies

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Doctor Who - The Complete Fourth Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the final season of David Tennant as The Doctor here!
Thanks!]

10/10

For other Doctor Who episode and movie reviews, please visit my Doctor Who Review Index Page!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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