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Dr_Yang
Reviews
Doctor Who: Smith and Jones (2007)
Pretty good for a series opener
This was never going to be the best episode of Dr. Who. RTD had to introduce Martha Jones, have a convincing way for the Doctor to meet her and bring out her characteristics while still keeping an entertaining and fast paced story, which to be fair to him he did pretty well.
Compared to some of the other monsters we've seen over the last two series the Judoon looked quite good and Anne Reid as Mrs. Finnegan was excellent.
I wasn't overly convinced by Freema Agyeman and although she improved over the course of the series she has been the weakest companion of the new series (and when I heard Catherine Tate was going to be in series 4 I never thought I'd be saying that) but Dave Tennant continued to show what a great Doctor he is and more than compensated for her.
The story itself was good, pretty tense in places and it had a good ending.
7.10
Doctor Who: The Runaway Bride (2006)
Half decent Episode...
Lets start with what this episode did well...
Firstly, The TARDIS chasing the London cab being driven by a robot down the motorway. Brilliant! Some brilliant dialogue and some brilliant acting (from Tennant at least) and a genuinely tense scene, even though I'm fairly certain we all new she was going to jump. Kudos to the effects team though, it looked excellent!
Secondly, it did well to bridge the gap between series 2 and 3. We saw The Doctor trying to get over the loss of Rose, and although this wan't played on too much when it was done it was done well and I'm pleased these scenes took up some of the time in this episode rather than any from the next series
Finally this episode showed a darker side to The Doctor. A side that would kill off an entire species. This is something that's been missing from a lot of NuWho and I'm pleased they brought it into this episode.
Now onto what they didn't do too well (Basically two of the actors)
Firstly Catherine Tate. While she improved as the episode went on, and she certainly improved when she was made a full time companion, for the majority of this episode she just seems to get by on shrieking her lines and it gets a bit tedious after about a minute.
However Catherine Tate loses out on the worst performance award to Sarah Parish as the Empress. I realise this was probably down to the direction rather than Parish herself but the way she delivers her lines is just plain annoying. To me anyway.
So, overall a good episode that could have been great if Tate and Parish hadn't been cast (or at least directed in a different way)
Doctor Who: Doomsday (2006)
Superb finale!
The Daleks Vs The Cybermen. A battle that, I imagine, would have left every Dr. Who fan salivating at the very thought of (well, until they killed the daleks by overusing them in almost every series, but lets not dwell on that).
It was also good to see the whole series 2 cast being used, with Pete, Jake and Micky joining The Doctor, Rose and Jacqui.
The battle scenes with the Daleks and the Cybermen were good, and if anything were underused. They could have got a lot more out of it, and the ending scene with Rose and The Doctor was perfect. Beautifully written and beautifully acted by Piper and Tennant.
The scenes of the daleks leaving the prison ship were genuinely scary (tbh much scarier than the Cybermen appearing)
I've been quite critical of RTD in the past but he got this episode spot on. Just a shame he started using the Daleks in every possible episode from here on in.
10/10
Doctor Who: Army of Ghosts (2006)
Good, Solid episode
The Cybermen are back, and they're not alone!
The episode builds the tension well, if not slowly. We're shown glimpses of the Cybermen, and of ghosts, and of a mysterious golden sphere. Whilst not much seems to be happening for a lot of the episode (there's a lot of talking) you get a sense that somethings going to kick of any minute and the final 5/10 minutes do not disappoint!
Although every Who fan has probably seen this episode by now I won't spoil the surprise of the sphere for those few that haven't but needless to say it's good!
One bone I have to pick with this episode and it shows the start of those god awful celebrity appearances in series finales. They're supposed to be funny (I think), but they're really, really not and it kind of sums up what was wrong with RTD's era of the show. Lots and lots of mentions to pop culture which we really don't need and kind of distract from the plot at times.
8/10
Doctor Who: Fear Her (2006)
Not the best, Not the worst
While "Fear Her" isn't one of the best episodes of Series 2 it is by no means the worst ("Love and Monsters" I'm looking at you). The acting is good, the idea is good and the dad drawing in the wardrobe is generally scary, especially for children but something just isn't quite right.
I don't know, perhaps it's the kid, her voice is annoying, but like I say everyone else is superb in it.
The end scene of the Doctor carrying the flame is cheesy and corny but I think that's got to be forgiven. I've come to accept a bit of cheesy-ness and corny-ness in NuWho.
Overall it's a solid episode which, whilst it is never going to be anyones favourite, or win any awards, is still an enjoyable 45 minutes of TV.
6.5 stars (rounded up to 7)