Story #200 - Planet of the Dead (2009)

Harry -
Here's a story I probably haven't watched since around the time it was first broadcast. I didn't remember much about it aside from the setting of a London bus crashed on a desert planet, and the one-off character of Lady Christina de Souza.


Sarah -
It's definitely the first time I've watched it since 2009. I wasn't looking forward to watching it, remembering that I wasn't a fan of it the first time out. With expectations so low, I found myself not as annoyed by it as I expected, but not particularly engaged by it either.


Harry -
Watching it again the other day, the opening scene where Christina plunders a golden chalice from a museum brought to mind of all things the Cartmel Masterplan. If I'm remembering it right, Cartmel had planned to write Ace out of the show in 1990 and replace her with a cat burglar. History did not pan out that way, but Cartmel might have been amused to see the Doctor teaming up with a cat burglar years later.

Sarah -
I'm sure Cartmel would have had something to say about that. No one loves discussing his work more than he does.

I didn't remember much about the story besides Lady Christina and the bus, so it was a surprise to see Daniel Kaluuya as Barclay, long before his international stardom.

Harry -
That was definitely a "whoa!" moment.

There weren't many others here. After the museum alarm triggered a pursuit and bus chase, Lady Christina and the Doctor end up on the other side of the universe with a collection of baffled passengers. Back on Earth, the police call in UNIT, and the typical UNIT activities unfold. Roll in with heavy artillery, take total control and seal off the area until something Doctory happens.

Sarah - 
It was all a bit predictable, wasn’t it?

Harry - 
Things were a bit more interesting on the desert planet. The Doctor and Lady Christina strike up a friendship and go exploring. They discover another wreck, that of a spaceship piloted by anthropomorphic flies. The aliens were vastly superior in design to the buggy aliens from "The Web Planet", but they weren't given much to do. As characters go, they seemed to be as baffled as the folks back on the bus.

Sarah - 
Bafflement all around. It was sad when the aliens were killed while the Doctor was trying to get everyone back to the bus. 

Harry - 
To add some pressure to the situation of the broken down bus, the threat of a coming storm arises. The "storm" is in fact a swarm of metal-shelled, omnivorous flying beasties and it's feeding time.

So, the Doctor and Lady Christina utilize their skills and cleverness to figure out how to repair the bus, and the Doctor connects with UNIT to get their help in sorting out the mysterious portal through space.

Enter Dr. Malcolm Taylor. A force of nature all his own. I forgot that he was in this story as UNIT's brilliant and excitable scientific advisor. His scenes added some levity to the story, with a Quatermass gag thrown in.

Sarah - 
Malcolm is my favorite part of the entire story and I’m always down for a Quatermass reference.  It made me remember when we planned to watch one episode of The Quatermass Experiment at Chicago TARDIS and ended up staying up much too late to watch the whole story.  That was so good!

Harry - 
It was a great series.  The Holstian theme music still resonates.

And cue the race to the finish! The Doctor and Christina hoof it back with some fancy alien technology to power the bus. Malcolm rigs up the time portal, and UNIT stands by with guns ready. They went hog wild once the bus was back through with a few stray alien beasties, blasting them out of the sky and damn the consequences.

Earth saved, hurrah, etc.

Once the aliens are done away with, the Doctor helps Lady Christina slip away and escape on the alien-powered flying bus... which gave me a thought.

With a few tweaks, this could have been an Iris Wildthyme story. Swap her in for Lady Christina, give the story a more gin-soaked flavour, and find a way to introduce Panda. Maybe the crew of the second wrecked ship could have been tiny anthropomorphic pandas instead of insects. Iris rescues one and they become inseparable. Wahey!! The imagination runs riot thinking about this.

Sarah - 
Get Paul Magrs on the phone -- it’s time for a rewrite!

Harry -
Proof that it would not be too difficult to weave Iris into the show.  She would have made this one of the best stories ever.  I want this now!

Sarah -
The story is passable, I guess, but there’s little to inspire. 

Harry -
Well sure now that I've been whipped into a Wildthyme frenzy.

Sarah -
When Big Finish announced their Lady Christina series, I just shrugged. 

Harry -
I'll take Katy Manning any day.

Sarah -
I have no need to rewatch this episode anytime soon. 

Harry -
Are we still talking about this episode?

Sarah -
Ready for a trip to Mars? 

Harry -
Wahey!

Sarah - 
Best Line: 

Malcolm: Fifteen Malcolms. It's my own little term. A wavelength parcel of ten kilohertz operating in four dimensions equals one Malcolm.
Doctor: You named a unit of measurement after yourself?
Malcolm: Well, it didn't do Mister Watt any harm. Furthermore, one hundred Malcolms equals a Bernard.
Doctor: And who's that? Your dad?
Malcolm: Don't be ridiculous. That's Quatermass.

Favorite Moment: Malcolm meeting the Doctor.

Lasting Image: The bus is the most iconic thing about this story. 

4/10

Harry -
Best Line:

Captain Magambo: "I don't believe it. Guns that work."

Favourite Moment: Definitely Malcolm. "I LOVE YOU!!"

Lasting Image: the publicity shot of the Doctor and Lady Christina always comes to mind first.

5/10

Our marathon continues with Story #201: The Waters of Mars...

Story #198 - The Stolen Earth / Journey's End (2008)

Sarah -
There's a reason I haven't watched this two-parter since first broadcast. There are some nice moments with the TARDIS Superfriends, but mostly I find it extremely annoying. I doubt I'll be going back to watch this anytime soon.


Harry -
There is no doubt that when RTD puts on a blockbuster, it's one hell of a blockbuster. A Doctor and a half, multiple companions from different eras, Torchwood, UNIT, K-9... it's a surprise they couldn't find a way to send someone on a ride in Bessie. Whew!

It takes so long to give everyone adequate screen time that part one is almost half over before the Superfriends can rally to face the invasion of the new Dalek empire.


Sarah -
It’s great getting the old gang together and "The Stolen Earth" is watchable. I’m not going to complain when Martha, Jack, Ianto, Gwen, Sarah Jane, Mickey, Jackie, and Harriet Jones turn up, but it all ends up feeling like “A Very Special Episode of Doctor Who.” So much of the dialogue is so, so very cheesy.

Things get worse in "Journey’s End". I can’t even with so much of this story. There are few things I truly loathe in Doctor Who and the Handy Doctor tops the list. WTF, RTD? Rose getting her little Doctor clone boyfriend makes me want to yell at the screen.


Harry -
The other inescapable hallmark of the RTD era is that the Doctor has to have a girlfriend, or a wannabe girlfriend, and when the girlfriends can't have the Doctor, then they get other boyfriends instead. RTD just loves to play matchmaker. I think it's all shit, but it is what it is. Let's move on.

Look at us! It's possible for people to not like some aspects of Doctor Who without moaning and trolling and avowing to hate the show forever because it's been ruined for us. Some people need to have a word with themselves.


Sarah -
As soon as we’ve finished discussing this story, I will revert to believing none of it never happened.


Harry -
Let's go back to the Dalek invasion. Now this one was believable -- as the believability of these things go. We won't see scores of Dalek ships and legions of attacking Daleks on this scale for a while. Entire planets have been shifted to one place and their combined gravitational pull has enough energy to power the reality bomb, the most destructive weapon ever created. A scheme on this level requires the strategic tactics of the Supreme Dalek, the scientific brilliance of Davros, and the jibbering madness of Dalek Caan. It's the ultimate troika of doom.

While the Superfriends gather and rally together, the Dalek leaders are dismissive of one another, each wanting to be the ultimate leader. Except for Dalek Caan who sits there flailing and giggling and prophesying disaster and death.


Sarah -
Dalek Caan is all kinds of wackadoodle. The whole idea is completely batty.


Harry -
I always liked how the Supreme Dalek wanted nothing to do with Dalek Caan: "The abomination is insane!"

Julian Bleach plays an excellent Davros, frighteningly cold and contained when he comes face to face with the Doctor. It's only when he starts going on about the reality bomb that his megalomania kicks in and he delivers a classic Davros rant. The essence of Davros is so terrifying: he wants the absolute power to destroy everything in the universe and is ready to unleash that power. He would be totally satisfied to live in an empty universe, completely lifeless but for himself and his creations. It's completely mad.


Sarah -
I have nothing but good things to say about Bleach’s performance. This is about as positive as I’m going to get. Now it’s time to get back to ranting. 

On to the faux regeneration: “Used the regeneration energy to heal myself, but soon as I was done, I didn't need to change. I didn't want to. Why would I? Look at me.” I yelled not very kind words at the Doctor at this point. Hint: they rhyme with “duck who.” Seriously, get over yourself, already.


Harry -
The Tenth Doctor is at his worst when he lets everyone know how delighted he is with himself.  It's a bad look.


Sarah -
And then the greatest insult. Donna’s memory wiped. Honestly, I don’t even want to talk about this anymore. It all just makes me too angry. RTD should have ended it here.


Harry -
The wildly inconsistent application of mind-wiping in Doctor Who causes no end of dismay.  Surely, having just demonstrated that he could reverse a regeneration and prevent his own death in a very show-offy manner, the Doctor should have been able to reverse the effect it had on Donna.  Forcing her character to forget everything was one of RTD's worst crimes.

The blockbuster begins with a bang but ends on a very sour note.  I really liked the first part, but massive points got deducted over the creation of a "Doctor boyfriend" for Rose, and the inexcusable ruination of Donna.

For an era that is very well remembered, the Tenth Doctor's final stories are tinged with a lot of disappointments and bad memories as a viewer.  Yes, Sarah, let us move on!


Sarah -
Best Line: 
Donna: "Oi, watch it, spaceman."
Handy Doctor: "Oi, watch it, Earth girl."
At least it made me laugh

Favorite Moment: The end.

Lasting Image: Harriet’s prescient Zoom meeting. 

3/10


Harry -
Best Line: the Daleks playing along with the "Yes, we know who you are" gag.

Favourite Moment: Tennant and Tate impersonating each other as the DoctorDonna and clone Doctor.

Lasting Image: the Superfriends all around the TARDIS console.

4/10

Our marathon continues with Story #199: The Next Doctor...

Story #197 - Turn Left (2008)

Harry -
That was some heavy stuff. Kind of timely, but deeply grim. I've not been looking forward to watching "Turn Left" again, and it was just as bleak as I remembered.


Sarah -
We watched "Turn Left" over a month ago, shortly before the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic.


Harry -
Yeah, things have gotten in the way of our marathon of late.  But we are still here!


Sarah -
I’m still not sure I’m ready to discuss it, but we’ve got to get through it.

On the positive side, it’s a well-crafted episode, from RTD’s script to Graeme Harper’s direction. The cast is amazing, especially Catherine Tate. Everything else is heartbreaking.

On an alien planet, Donna meets a fortune teller who launches her into an alternate timeline where she has never met the Doctor. Every day that was saved by the Doctor is undone - the Racnoss Webstar attacks London, Sixty million Americans are killed when they turn into Adipose babies, ATMOS covers the planet in a toxic fog and the Torchwood team dies trying to stop the Sontarans, and Sarah Jane Smith’s death is reported. NOT SARAH JANE!


Harry -
During the Judoon action on a hospital in London, medical student Martha Jones is also killed. Not Martha! Incredibly bleak, and it keeps getting worse for planet Earth.


Sarah -
So much sadness. What else could possibly go wrong? I guess Donna could have a massive beetle on her back, which is creepy as heck and a fanwank Sarah Jane spider callback at the same time.

In the midst of the chaos, Rose returns, looking for the Doctor, who is apparently dead, and reminding Donna about the raffle ticket she bought at work. Surprise, she wins the raffle prize of a Christmas break at a spa in the countryside -- when the Titanic crashes into Buckingham Palace and a mushroom cloud rises over London. The Doctor wasn’t there to stop it.


Harry -
Following the story through Donna's eyes, the continuous appearances by the mysterious blonde woman were very unsettling.


Sarah -
Right? Who the heck is she and why does she keep turning up? With Chiswick destroyed, Donna, Sylvia, and Wilf become refugees and resettled in Leeds, sharing a house with two other families. Soon, the lovely Italian family they live with is shipped off to a “labour camp.” Can things possibly get more bleak?


Harry -
The point to the story was to show just how many times the Doctor and his friends had saved the Earth, and without him there would be global catastrophes in short order. The story could have been titled "What If?" I don't know if an entire episode of the season needed to be dedicated to this. The story could have been told in future-flash-forwards or something. By the time Rose reveals all and Donna accepts her role in correcting the course of history, I really wanted it to be over, especially when the stars in the sky all started going on. That added an element of cosmic horror to the whole thing.


Sarah -
It’s such an emotionally draining episode. I was absolutely ready for it to be over asap.


Harry -
And then, enter UNIT! Or rather, Rose and Donna enter a secret UNIT location. There, a recovered TARDIS has been wired up for a longshot attempt to send Donna back in time, to the fateful moment where her timeline changed course and set all of these catastrophic events in motion. It makes one's head spin to think of how many insignificant decisions may have altered one's life entirely. For Donna, it was a matter of changing directions at an intersection.

But she's not even sent off with a cheer and a surge of inspiration. Right before the switch is thrown, Donna learns that what Rose and UNIT have put together is essentially a roll of the dice with no certainty to succeed. And by the way, Donna will die so that her parallel self can live.

I don't know at what point in the writing process RTD completely abandoned the notion that Doctor Who is a children's show, but good grief!


Sarah -
It’s horrifying and I don’t think I ever want to watch this episode again. Donna is the hero, but we have to watch her die. And this isn’t even the worst thing that’s going to happen to her this season.


Harry -
Anyway, the roll of the dice leads Donna to put herself in the path of a truck, causing a fatal collision and sending her other self back on the "correct" life path. By the end I felt nothing but grim, hollow feelings for this story. In a parallel universe, maybe the alien fortune teller could have delivered all of this context to Donna through a spell or trance, and let her and the Doctor get on with a merry adventure.


Sarah -
Anyway, it’s over and that’s enough for me.


Harry -
So things aboard the TARDIS are back to normal, but for the two mysterious words that the blonde woman asked Donna to relay to the Doctor: "Bad Wolf." Judging by his reaction, the trouble has only just begun.


Sarah -
It’s careening our way. Ready to wrap up this season?


Harry -
Best Line: the one that stuck with me was Rose's quiet, devastated reaction to learning that the Doctor was dead. "I came so far."

Favourite Moment: This one was an ordeal from start to finish.

Lasting Image: Donna and Rose.

4/10


Sarah -
Best Line:
Donna: "Well, what do you keep telling me for? What am I supposed to do? I'm nothing special. I mean, I'm, I'm not. I'm nothing special. I'm a temp. I'm not even that. I'm nothing."
Rose: "Donna Noble, you're the most important woman in the whole of creation."

Favorite moment: Everyone singing Bohemian Rhapsody

Lasting Image: Donna with the beetle on her back. 

5/10

Our marathon continues with Story #198: The Stolen Earth / Journey's End...

Story #192: The Sontaran Stratagem / The Poison Sky (2008)

Harry -
As we kicked off the DoctorDonna season, I was interested to see what my reaction would be when we got around to this two-parter.

"The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky" had an asterisk stuck to it virtually from the moment it was announced. Helen Raynor was the writer who gave us "Daleks in Manhattan" the season before -- a story that ranks very low among Whovians, us included. There were a lot of things that went wrong with that one, but Raynor bore the brunt of it. There's a section in The Writer's Tale where Russell T. Davies recounts the night when that story was first broadcast and received instant condemnation online. Really nasty stuff, as only a fandom could deliver. Raynor was shaken by the experience, but to his credit RTD backed her up and asked her back for another story. At the time I remember being wary of another story coming from this writer. When it first aired, I remember not being overly impressed, but not feeling as negative as I had over the Dalek story.

That's why I was looking forward to watching it again a decade later. Do you remember any of the buildup to this story?


Sarah -
I have to admit that don’t remember much about the anticipation of this story. While "Daleks in Manhattan" is my all-time, least-favorite Doctor Who story, "The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky" is a solid story. It’s not the best of the season, but it’s far from the worst.

Perhaps the story’s biggest weakness is its lack of originality. There are few tropes left unturned in this two-parter, but I still enjoyed it because a good trope never bothers me!


Harry -
I seem to say this a lot, but this one felt like a Pertwee-era throwback. Once again, we see a collision of alien invaders and rogue technology, with an action-heavy TARDIS team coming to the rescue. And UNIT!


Sarah -
I think you’re right. It’s very Pertwee-ish and that’s probably what I like about it.

The story begins with journalist Jo Nakashima being thrown out of the Rattigan Academy. She drives away in her car, which is fitted with ATMOS (Atmospheric Omission System), a device that reduces carbon emissions and includes a GPS. Jo is suspicious of ATMOS, which has been developed at the Rattigan Academy, founded by Luke Rattigan. While she’s trying to contact UNIT, Jo’s car drives itself into a river, where it sinks with her inside.


Harry -
I wonder how many GPS-skeptics watched that and went "I knew it!"


Sarah -
Right? This is not the first Doctor Who story to take a common item and make it terrifying. This trope will reach its zenith in the Steven Moffat era, but RTD has a strong record of making us question technology. It’s hard to believe this story predates the smartphone era, but a GPS system was definitely a fancy thing to have in 2008. And who wouldn’t want a device that reduces carbon emissions? That said, I was really happy not to have a GPS after watching this story.


Harry -
I'll stick with paper maps and/or my uncanny sense of direction, and I don't care who knows it.


Sarah -
If we’re not already knee-deep in tropes, bring on Rattigan. (Some signaling going on with that name? I just referred to him as Ratt in my notes.) Oh, look, another stupid human who thinks he’s going to partner up with aliens and come out ahead. He’s Tobias Vaughn all over again -- but without the charisma.


Harry -
I remember HATING Rattigan the first time around. So obnoxious and condescending. The only redeeming thing about him were his cool Pumas.

But this time around, with the Doctor's helpful observations, I saw the struggling smart kid beneath the bratty exterior. Still, he was woefully over his head with the aliens and all-too-willing to sell out the planet to chase his own utopian visions. So yeah, I still hated him.


Sarah -
He’s one of those characters with whom you can almost empathize when they get their comeuppance, which is definitely on its way.


Harry -
Amid all of this scene-setting, RTD and Raynor treat us to a fantastic mid-season reunion. A phone rings inside the TARDIS, and it's Martha. She calls the Doctor back to contemporary Earth, and the TARDIS lands outside the ATMOS factory. No sooner have the Doctor and Martha welcomed each other, and Donna and the Martha immediately struck up a companions friendship, than the scene is interrupted by a UNIT raid.


Sarah -
Martha and Donna immediate becoming besties is flat out my favorite thing in this story. The Doctor almost looks disappointed that they’re not fighting over him. Big Finish should develop a Donna and Martha series. I would be all over that.


Harry -
How about UNIT! Oh, it was a thrill to see a 21st century UNIT roll into action. Very butch, with heavy vehicles and waves of troopers in black uniform swarming all over the facility and a mobile command centre overseeing the assault. Long gone are the days when Benton and three other grunts would charge an alien menace by themselves.


Sarah -
If they still had Benton, UNIT wouldn’t need all that gear to fight the aliens. There’s something to be said for homespun.


Harry -
With the Brigadier in Peru, the UNIT operation is headed by Colonel Mace, a very by-the-book officer who greets the Doctor with a salute. The Doctor cringes at this, but Donna happily requests a salute of her own. Throughout the story, the Doctor and Mace will keep up some back and forth heckling over each other's ideologies. One of the things that felt overdone in this story was the Doctor repeatedly whinging about salutes and guns. He's right of course, but his "OH DON'T SALUTE" and "WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT GUNS" lines were repetitive. Mace, meanwhile was unable to break from the military code ingrained in his own personality. The story bounced along at such a rapid pace that there was no room to explore his character more fully, nor for he and the Doctor to reach more than a superficial understanding of one another.


Sarah -
While the Doctor is faffing about with Mace, Donna puts her temp skills to work and discovers that there has never been a sick day at the ATMOS factory. Things are getting curiouser and curiouser.


Harry -
I love how Donna's HR knowledge comes in handy throughout this season. It turns out there's a lot of weird stuff going down at the ATMOS facility. The Doctor discovers that while ATMOS is carbon-friendly, it is also capable of turning 800 million cars into weapons at the disposal of whomever controls the ATMOS devices. We the viewers also discover -- through the explorations of two UNIT soldiers -- that there's some kind of homunculus being grown inside a bubbling tank down in the basement.

The soldiers' presence triggers an alarm. The aliens behind the scheme decide to show themselves. Their leader beams down to confront the soldiers, and we are given our first glimpse of RTD's 21st century Sontarans in the person of General Staal.


Sarah -
Christopher “Mike Thecoolperson” Ryan is back, UNIT b*tches! Twenty-two years after his triumph in Mindwarp, Lord Kiv is here to give us Sontaran realness. I wouldn’t call it pulling for the baddies, but this Trial of Time Lord fan girl will always have her biases.


Harry -
Ryan's Doctor Who resume spans the classic era to the Tennant years, but he's always been submerged under layers of alien makeup. Hopefully he'll get to play a human someday... unless he prefers wild aliens.


Sarah -
Still, Staal and I can never be friends because he’s used the UNIT soldiers to lure our dear Martha Jones to the basement where she’s cloned onto the creature in the tank!


Harry -
Sontarans doing Sontaran things. I did like how the New Who Sontarans were given fresh uniforms and the quickest of backstories without getting bogged down in details. One of the weaknesses of the Classic Who Sontarans was that, considering they are a clone race, their appearance and voices kept changing from story to story. And I'm almost positive that they were made to look like giants in one of the classic stories.

Here, they really play up their militaristic imperatives. Staal can barely contain his lust for war.


Sarah -
Meanwhile, after a chat with Martha in which she reveals that her family suffered because she didn’t tell them about her relationship with the Doctor, Donna decides she needs to check in on Wilf and Sylvia. When she tells the Doctor she’s going home, he goes into a long spiel thanking her for traveling with him and telling her how much their time together meant to him. Enjoying the moment, Donna lets him wind himself up before he realizes that she’s only planning to go home for a visit. Tennant and Tate play this scene perfectly.


Harry -
"You dumbo." That was brilliantly done.


Sarah -
While Donna pops off, the Doctor heads to the Rattigan Academy with Ross, a UNIT private.


Harry -
At this point in the RTD era, I'm not going to bother wondering why yet another companion mum got painted as a negative character. Wilf and Donna are thick as thieves and she tells him all about space, aliens, and her adventures with the Doctor, while Sylvia is a big ball of misery in the background. Whatever.


Sarah -
It’s one of my least-favorite aspects of his era.


Harry -
The Doctor's confrontation with the Ratt having gone nowhere, and having escaped a near-fatal act of vehicular death by ATMOS, he joins the Nobles just in time for the part one cliffhanger. Their cover blown, the Sontarans trigger poison gas to pour out of every ATMOS-equipped vehicle on Earth. Wilf is trapped inside the family car just as he was moving it out of the street. The episode ends with a nice shot of a frustrated Doctor silhouetted against a sunlit sky filling with poison gas.

Wilf begins to choke on the fumes and Donna pounds on the side window in futility, when Sylvia appears out of nowhere with a firefighter's axe (!) and smashes the windshield open. I feel like I really need a firefighter's axe in the home now.


Sarah -
Sylvia saves the day while everyone else is running around in circles! That’s the woman you want around in an emergency.


Harry -
Crisis averted for the moment, but the Sontarans have only just begun their war footing. With their never-before-heard "Sontar Ha!" chants ringing out, they snatch the TARDIS and beam it up to their mother ship as war booty. The Pertwee-era throwback is now complete: the Doctor is stranded on Earth and must work with UNIT to repel an alien invasion.


Sarah -
When Ratt starts chanting "Sontar Ha!" along with the Sontarans, he looks like the lonely kid tagging along at the edge of the popular group. Trying to fit in with the aliens after all of his students walked out on him felt so sad this time around.


Harry -
In the Doctor's absence, UNIT has ramped things up at a ludicrous rate and are preparing to launch nuclear missiles from all over the Earth (including North Korea, hmmm...).

Clone Martha is the Sontarans' eyes and ears at UNIT HQ, but the Doctor knows she's not real. He's barely holding things together during the nuclear countdown as UNIT soldiers get massacred in the ATMOS factory and it is Donna who is forced to take the bravest action ever. Having been teleported into the Sontaran ship while inside the TARDIS, Donna must sneak outside, slip past an assortment of Sontarans and teleport the TARDIS back to Earth.  I would crack for sure.


Sarah -
That’s our girl! She more than earned her TARDIS key in this story.


Harry -
UNIT counterpunches by bringing in the Valiant to clear the skies over London, setting up the final confrontation between the Doctor and Staal aboard the Sontaran ship.


Sarah -
The Valiant is quite the ship. UNIT really has come a long way.


Harry -
Normally, I'm not a fan of stories that are resolved by someone committing suicide to foil the enemy, but it kind of worked here. The character was Rattigan, whose utopian fantasy was shattered by Staal's revelation that they were all a pack of lies to enlist his cooperation in the betrayal of Earth. The Sontarans had no plans to aid him in creating a new human colony on a distant planet. Instead, they intended to purge the Earth of all life and turn it into a clone hatchery. Devastated beyond recovery, Rattigan rigged up a final teleport to switch places with the Doctor and blow himself up, taking all the aliens down with him.

Overall I'd say this two-parter has aged well over the years.


Sarah -
Who doesn’t love a redemption story? Heartstrings are pulled again when clone Martha dies, having met the real Martha, whose memories she has.


Harry -
That's another moment where I would have cracked.  Imagine watching yourself die.  How do you bounce back from that?


Sarah -
With order restored, Martha plans to head back to her life when the TARDIS door slams and she, Donna, and the Doctor are swept off to another adventure.


Harry -
This whirlwind season is really picking up now.  Let's see where they land next.


Sarah -
Best Line: "Yeah, long time ago. Back in the 70's. Or was it the 80's? But it was all a bit more homespun back then."

Favorite Moment: Donna and Martha’s meeting

Lasting Image: the new Sontaran look

6/10


Harry -
Best Line: I'll stick with "You Dumbo."  It captures that great kind of partnership where one person can insult the other but totally not mean it.

Favourite Moment: modern-day UNIT rolls into action

Lasting Image: pathetic Rattigan with the Sontarans

7/10

Our marathon continues with Story #193: The Doctor's Daughter...

Story #167 - The Christmas Invasion (2005)

Harry -
"Did you miss me?"

We hardly had the time to miss the Doctor, as our marathon took us straight from "The Parting of the Ways" to the Children in Need Doctor Who Special, first broadcast in November, 2005. The brief episode shows Rose reacting to the newly regenerated Doctor as he bounces around the TARDIS console. I don't remember ever seeing this, but it's been so long and the scene is so short there's not much to remember. It was a sweet little scene though, wasn't it?

Sarah -
It's a nice fill-in between "The Parting of the Ways" and "The Christmas Invasion". I only saw the special for the first time a few years ago. It always felt like something was missing from the beginning of "The Christmas Invasion", and apparently there was!


Harry -
No sooner has the Doctor convinced Rose that he's still the Doctor, and no sooner has Rose agreed to stay aboard the TARDIS, than the newly regenerated Time Lord lurches over in pain and his ship spins out of control. Returning to Earth, it ricochets off a couple of buildings at the Powell Estate before landing with a thud before Jackie and Mickey, who came running at the familiar TARDIS sound.


Sarah -
Would that be the Jackie and Mickey who SAVED THE DAY when the Doctor needed them most? The kind and lovely people who put their own feelings aside to help Rose save the Doctor? That Jackie and Mickey? Hell Yeah!


Harry -
Still dressed in his leather and blacks, the Doctor stumbles out the door and collapses. There's confusion all around before Rose informs them that this man is the Doctor. "Doctor who?" Jackie demands. That gag never gets old and I'm sure RTD loved writing it in.


Sarah -
I believe I heard a bit of an eye roll coming from Ms. 15 on the other end of the sofa.


Harry -
And just like that, Rose is back home and it's Christmas Eve. In the spirit of the season, no one brings up her horrendous behaviour the last time the TARDIS dropped her off. Everyone is busy hauling the unconscious Doctor up to Jackie's flat, where he remains bedridden. Echoes of Jon Pertwee's Doctor, post-regeneration. He'll surely be up and fussing about for his shoes in no time, right?


Sarah -
It also made me think of Peter Davison, being carried around in the zero cabinet. Nothing like a regeneration crisis to get things going.


Harry -
This one dragged on as long as the Fifth Doctor's did, minus the do-it-yourself casket.


Sarah -
Who needs a zero cabinet when you have Jackie’s beau Howard’s bathrobe and jim-jams?


Harry -
The Doctor being out of service left Rose, Jackie and Mickey to face a barrage of violent threats from a band of homicidal Father Christmases and a killer Christmas tree. Some residual regeneration energy emitted by the Doctor got picked up by aliens, who sent probably the least subtle scouting mission ever to check it out. The Doctor awakens long enough to shoo the "pilot fish" away, but he warns his friends that something far more dangerous is coming. Then he conks out again.


Sarah -
The killer Santas and deadly Christmas tree are two of my favorite things in this story. They’re both so wonderfully creepy. Jackie shouting, “I’m gonna get killed by a Christmas tree!” makes me laugh every time.

Jackie has a lot to do in this story and has some nice moments, but the Doctor still manages to be a jerk to her. When he’s suffering from a neuron implosion and ends up stuttering, “I need” over and over, Jackie offers various suggestions of things he might need. The Doctor concludes with, “I need you to shut up.” Jackie is unfazed -- “Oh, he hasn't changed that much, has he?” 

Back to bed for the Doctor and Mickey wastes no time in searching for more information about pilot fish. He and Rose figure out quickly that something much larger is on its way. Meanwhile, the TV news is covering the Guinevere One space probe, which is just about to broadcast the first-ever images of Mars.


Harry -
It's the first-ever glimpse of an alien race, and they don't seem friendly. No one knows what to do, but have no fear: Harriet Jones, Prime Minister is on top of it!


Sarah -
Go Harriet Jones!


Harry -
It was no surprise to see the MP for Flydale North elevated to head of government since we last saw her. It was good to see her back in charge, and even better to see her at UNIT HQ, located in the Tower of London.


Sarah -
UNIT in the Tower! Twelve years on, it still gives me chills. We saw UNIT members in series one, but this feels like proper UNIT, doesn’t it? And we get our first Torchwood mention.

I could have done without the constant showing her ID card and saying, “Harriet Jones, Prime Minister.” I know it’s a Harriet thing, but it makes her look so incompetent. It just gets embarrassing when everyone replies, “I know” with a pained expression.


Harry -
Unlike the gag of repeatedly finding fruit in Harold's bathrobe, Harriet's gag was overdone.


Sarah -
Her mention of an act of Parliament banning her autobiography, almost makes up for it.


Harry -
Through a sketchy translation, the Sycorax demand that the Earth surrender. Harriet sends a reply, telling them absolutely not, so they respond with a startling act of hostility -- taking over the minds of one-third the planet's population, and forcing them to the closest rooftops. There, they pause. Unless the alien demand is met, they will be sent to their deaths. There was a lot of bluster going on here, some unintentionally amusing like the translated line "Sycorax strong, Sycorax mighty, Sycorax rock, as in the modern sense, they rock."


Sarah -
The sight of all the affected people tromping out of their houses and onto roofs, while being followed by their pleading relatives is one of the most terrifying moments in Doctor Who for me. It’s bad enough watching this one group, let alone imagining it happening all over the world! It turns out everyone with A+ blood has been affected because that’s the blood type included on the probe. The horror!


Harry -
With one-third of the planet's population standing literally on the brink of death, Harriet broadcasts an emergency message pleading for help from the Doctor. But there is no sign of him as the Sycorax ship arrives over London. Although it was massive in size, it looked like crap. Literally, it was a pale brown lump that looked like a week-old dog turd.


Sarah -
Ha! It totally does!


Harry -
Rose, Jackie and Mickey drag the Doctor to the TARDIS, as Rose believes it's the only safe place they can hide. 

More bluster from the Sycorax, as they identify Harriet as the individual who speaks for the planet. She, an aide, the UNIT commander and the head of the Guinevere program are beamed aboard the alien ship and the latter two are immediately killed. The Sycorax then pick up sounds coming from the TARDIS -- alien technology -- and they beam it aboard as well... just as Rose steps outside.


Sarah -
Unfortunately, Jackie is left behind. Again.


Harry -
Bluster bluster bluster from the Sycorax leader! As we'll soon see, this race are great at putting on a show and scaring the pants off of people, but in the end, they are just bullies and cowards.


Sarah -
And suddenly, in the middle of the bluster, Rose realizes she can understand the Sycorax. The Doctor is awake, thanks to the power of tea! Rule, Britannia! There’s nothing a cuppa can’t solve!

And, now, 40 minutes into the episode, we get our first real glimpse of the Tenth Doctor. It starts off so well, doesn’t it?


Harry -
And now, a confession. I hated this Doctor! At first, in December 2005 anyway. He stepped out of the TARDIS and was so silly and clownish that my reaction was "I don't like it! Change it back!". The transition from Eccleston's cool brashness to Tennant's bouncy energy was jarring and he took some getting used to.

By "New Earth", I was used to him.


Sarah -
Look at you, a proper grumpy old fan! 

Coming to terms with being rude and not ginger, the Doctor takes control of the situation, challenging the Sycorax leader to a duel for the planet. With the help of a satsuma in Howard’s dressing gown, the Doctor wins the duel and saves the day.


Harry -
This was a great action sequence and once and for all ripped the façade of ferocity from the Sycorax for good. If their leader couldn't outduel a Time Lord who just came out of a regeneration coma, on his own ship, surrounded by hundreds of his own, then what good was he?


Sarah -
Not good for much, it seems. The Doctor loses a hand along the way, but it’s early enough in the regeneration process that he grows a new one. Watching this for the first time, I loved this moment. Now, it just makes me angry about what’s to come. But that’s a discussion for another day...


Harry -
I was probably as overwhelmed as the Sycorax leader by Tennant's opening performance. Anyway.


Sarah -
It's a wee bit expansive, isn't it?

Back on the Powell Estate, everyone is happy and the Doctor even has a hug for Jackie. Harriet asks if there are more aliens out there, and the Doctor explains that Earth is starting to draw attention to itself and more aliens can be expected. She reluctantly gives the order for Torchwood (remember the time when we didn’t know what that meant?) to fire and five beams converge, destroying the Sycorax ship. The Doctor, having made an agreement with Sycorax, is livid -- “I gave them the wrong warning. I should've told them to run as fast as they can, run and hide because the monsters are coming. The human race.”

Oh, Harriet. What have you done?


Harry -
In a surprise heel turn, Harriet proves herself the biggest bully of them all. In destroying the ship, she draws the Doctor's ire and we get our first flash of this new incarnation's rage. But he quickly cools down and proceeds to knock the prime minister off her perch with those six memorable words.


Sarah -
“Don’t you think she looks tired?” While I understand and agree with the Doctor's anger, I have to say this line really bothered me. Does anyone ever say a male politician looks tired? And if they did, would anyone care? I was back on #TeamHarriet by the end of that scene.


Harry -
I think it's one of those British sayings that rivals trot out when they are politically intriguing against each other. Could be wrong.

Remember back in Victorian Cardiff, when the Doctor told Rose he doesn't do Christmases? Hah! He joins Rose's gang for dinner at the first opportunity. Perhaps it was his way of showing thanks, appreciation and respect for the people who support his friend, even though he can treat them like mud.


Sarah -
Or he's just killing time before whisking Rose away again.


Harry -
So! Here's our new Doctor. He's had a rummage through the TARDIS wardrobe and picked out a very Doctory set of threads, probably the most iconic look of the new era.


Sarah -
There's nothing I love more than a good TARDIS wardrobe scene!


Harry -
I already described my initial reaction to him, and I'm glad it was short-lived. I got used to his "hyper cutie" style soon enough, as we move past the post-regeneration drama. Out of all of New Who, the Tennant era is the one that I have rewatched the most, especially as the DVD sets started rolling out. There are things I remember fondly, and things that make me cringe just thinking about them. I'm interested to see what our take will be as we watch it again together.


Sarah -
I'm interested to see how I end up feeling about this era by the end of our rewatch. From this vantage, I remember all the things that pissed me off much more vividly than the things I liked. We'll see if the balance shifts in the coming months.


Harry -
Shall we strike out for New Earth?


Sarah -
Let's!


Harry -
Best line: 
Another good one from Mickey: "Tea. Like we're having a picnic while the world comes to an end. Very British."

Favourite moment: the Doctor references Arthur Dent.

Lasting image: the swordfight.

7/10


Sarah -
Best line: "Ah, not bad for a man in his jim-jams." 

Favorite Moment: Rose realizes she can understand the Sycorax, which means the Doctor is awake.

Lasting Image: The killer Father Christmases.

6/10

Our marathon continues with Story #168: New Earth...