Doctor Who Project - Series 3 finale - Blink, Utopia, The Sound of Drums, Last of the Time Lords

Okay, it's been a while since I last watched a Tennant episode. So much for my project! With an afternoon and no plans I decided to put the Series 3 Volume 3 DVD and finally re-watch 'Blink'. This was after I'd re-watched 'Genesis of the Daleks' and before I knew it it had turned into a marathon ending with the 2007 Christmas special 'Voyage of the Damned' aka the Titanic/Kylie Christmas special.

So without further delay here's my thoughts on the last few episodes of series 3:

Blink

Classic episode and for good reason too. This is one of the few if only times a new Who monster warrants a return. It's hard to believe that The Doctor is hardly in this story. 'Blink' is one of those stories that have now been affectionately known as a 'Doctor light episode'. On top of that you've got Carey Mulligan, yes that Carey Mulligan as well as some classic lines like "The angels have the phone box. I've got that on a tshirt." and of course "wibbly wobbly, timey wimey". 'Blink' is clever, well written, well acted  and well err just brilliant all round. It's definitely one of the best episode since the show's return and was probably the main reason why Moffat got the big job. Go and watch it if you haven't seen it yet.

Utopia

Captain Jack's back. Meh. Never really cared for Captain Jack anyway but RTD couldn't just leave him alone. Also do face tattoos, dodgy teeth and body piercing now make you non human? Then there's Chan - Can't say anything without it being bracketed by the beginning and end of her name which becomes really annoying after the 2nd or 3rd time you hear it - tho. What saves this episode though is the excellent Derek Jacobi as Professor Yana (You Are Not Alone) and Martha's realisation that he has a fog watch just like The Doctor's ie the Chameleon Arch pocket watch. After hearing a few recognisible terms Professor Yana becomes so curious that he opens the watch and lets Hell loose. Just like opening the fog watch in 'The Family of Blood' the professor is restored to his true Time Lord self only this time it's not one of the good ones, it's only The Doctor's arch nemesis (well one of them anyway) The Master. There's also the small matter of the last humans boarding a rocket to utopia. Like I said small matter but thought I'd mention it as it plays a role in the finale.

The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords

Possibly one of the worst series finales since 2005. Here's why: Martha's family, references to 'The Lazarus Experiment' and 'The Christmas Invasion', the Toclafane (WTF?!), the perception filter working on everyone but The Master, The Master's bad taste in music, the Americans coming in and stealing our (Brirtish) thunder, Martha walking the Earth, the resolution (who would have thought everyone thinking the same word at the same time would have that effect), a flying aircraft carrier, the big reset at the end so that the past year didn't exist (the effect with the Earth reversing seemed a bit Superman 2) and worst of all the old (Dobby) Doctor. Awful awful episode. Think The Doctor sums it up best when he says "What? What? What?" at the end of this story (albeit because he's just been struck by what appears to be the Titanic!).

Doctor Who Project - "Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways"

And here we go the first series finale in the new series era and the team find themselves waking up in futuristic versions of current TV programmes: The Doctor in Big Brother, Rose in The Weakest Link and Jack in What Not to Wear only something's different  (aside from the robot programme hosts), these are TV shows where the winner gets to live!

There's also something else that's familiar, the Gamestation itself. We've seen it before and The Doctor knows he's been there before it's Satellite 5.

The Doctor escapes the Big Brother House with his fellow housemate Lynda with a Y (aka Tanya with a Y from Eastenders) whereas Jack escapes his programme by using a well hidden mini gun - not going to guess exactly where it was hidden. Rose however isn't so lucky and gets shot by the Anne-droid after losing out in the final of The Weakest Link. However as we find out later Rose isn't dead, she's merely been transported (What confuses me about this is how the Anne-droid manages to clearly destroy the Daleks later on and not transport them?) to the Dalek mothership.

Saving Rose by landing the TARDIS around her he then sends her back to 2005 whilst he and Jack work on a bomb that will destroy everything living within the area. Not content with being left out of proceedings Rose tries her best to think of a way to return, figures out that Bad Wolf is a clue and decides that staring into the heart of the TARDIS would  be a good idea. Hang on a min didn't the last person to try this revert back to being an egg?! Far from turning Rose into a 5ft egg the TARDIS gives Rose super powers complete with glowing eyes kinda like how Jean Grey turns into the Phoenix in X-Men. Rose aka The Phoenix then goes onto destroy the Dalek empire and save the day but of course people shouldn't look into the heart of the TARDIS and it's killing her. The Doctor being the guy he is absorbs all the energy from Rose, being a Time Lord won't save him from death though but of course The Doctor has a little trick up his sleeve regeneration and it's the first regeneration of the new series. This also means the end of the 9th Doctor which is a shame because I love Eccleston's Doctor and I feel given another series or 2 he would be just as loved as Tennant, Baker, Davison et al. In his own words  he was 'fantastic'.

This series finale will mostly be remembered for the 9th-10th regeneration (as well as being the first series finale of the New Who era) but it can also be remembered for being a half decent series finale too. Unlike the series finales to come it's not a big sprawling epic that has to be bigger and better than the previous one (although to be fair there is no previous series finale in the new era) and that's why I like these 2 episodes. Fantastic!

Doctor Who Project - "Boom Town"

Continuing the hit and miss theme for this series we've had a great episode so therefore we must follow it with dross. And dross we get with the return of the Slitheen. Really RTD do we really need to see Slitheens again?! Ok we only get one survivor from 'World War Three' in the form of Blon but it's enough.

The TARDIS crew find themselves in Cardiff (again, this time in modern day) in need of a quick fuel stop using the rift (that we last saw in The 'Unquiet Dead') to charge the TARDIS. Hmm Cardiff, rift, Captain Jack I smell a spinoff. Whilst they're in town Rose invites Mickey to come join them and it's when they're all together that they spot a familiar face on the front of the Western Mail (also familiar to me having spent my university years in Wales), good old Blon Slitheen, the new mayor of Cardiff.

This episode is pretty much filler but does serve an important purpose in the overall series story arc. Firstly it flags up the words Bad Wolf for all that had missed them in earlier episodes with The Doctor saying he's heard those words before and that they've been following him. Secondly we see the heart of the TARDIS.

Long story short, not a fan of this episode but it is better than the last time we saw the Slitheen and best of all RTD kills them off as Blon reverts back to being an egg after staring into the heart of the TARDIS meaning that she'll get the chance to re-live her life and hopefully grow up to be a better person well a better Raxacoricofallapatorian at least.

And it's whilst dropping off the newly re-born egg at Raxacoricofallapatorius that The Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack find themselves in a familiar place.....

Doctor Who Project - "The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances"

Been a few weeks since I last caught up with some Eccleston Who and then I watch 4 episodes at once. As such these reviews are going to come like buses ie 3 at a time!

Just like 'Dalek' these are one of the standout stories of the series and demonstrates just how good Doctor Who could be in the right hands. In fact re-watching the series like this series 1 could potentially be the best series since it's return, well in RTD's era anyway. It's funny I should mention RTD (Russell T Davies) as it's his successor as series runner Steven Moffat that is the writer of this cracking 2 parter. It's also the first 2 parter since the disappointing 'Aliens of London'World War Three' (featuring the God awful Slitheen), showing how it's supposed to be done.

The Empty Child starts off a frantic pace, latching onto a mauve (red is camp apparently) distress signal The Doctor and Rose find themselves in wartime London 1941 during an air raid. Rose immediately gets swept up by an air balloon whilst The Doctor asks if anyone has heard a big bang recently (to laughter) before the air raid sirens start to blare. Like I said frantic start!

The story then shifts pace with The Doctor stumbling across the heart of the story the 'empty child', a creepy little boy in a gas mask asking everyone he meets "are you my mummy?". The 'empty child' seems to be stalking a young lady named Nancy who seems to be World War 2's answer to Robin Hood, robbing food from those who have aplenty to feed the young homeless orphans of London. Why is it that she won't let the strange little gas masked in whilst other children (including a new member to the party as we're advised) are free to enjoy the food? Well the answer according to Nancy is that this isn't a normal little boy, he's empty.

In the meantime Rose bumps into an exciting new swashbuckling action hero Captain Jack Harkness. Wonder if we'll see him again? ;)

Captain Jack appears to be an antithesis of The Doctor, a character who is happy to solve problems with guns and flashy technology. Rose seems suitably impressed at least, then again he did save her life then flirted within an inch of his life with her. Jack also reveals that the ship they followed was sent by him to lure the Time Agency so he could blackmail them and that it is to be destroyed by a German bomb in several hours.

The Doctor in the meantime is introduced to the err Doctor. The Doctor in this case is Victor Meldrew/Merlin's mentor who shows The Doctor his patients who all have the same curious symptoms (the same as the eponymous 'Empty Child'). Victor Meldew then develops a gas mask for a face and asks The Doctor is he is mummy. Rose and Jack enter shortly before all the patients come to life and advance on our heroes. What a cliffhanger!

 The time travelling trio escape after The Doctor gives them all a stern telling off, telling them to go to their room! The rest of the episode follows on with more fast paced action with the team running from the 'Empty Child'. After escaping they are lead by Captain Jack to the crash site. The ship that Captain Jack used to lure The Doctor and Rose is an ambulance full of the nanogenes used earlier to heal Rose's rope burnt hands. Also at the crash site we find Nancy and it is revealed that the 'Empty Child' is her little brother Jamie (great name by the way). The Doctor knows this isn't quite true though, Jamie is Nancy's son. She is the mummy that he's searching for. Here lies the answer and solution to the story. The Doctor gets Nancy to reunite with Jamie and confirm that she is his mummy, the nanogenes reconfigure his DNA rewriting the gas masked DNA and replacing it with the accurate superior DNA saving Jamie and all his victims. As The Doctor says "just this once, everybody lives".

In fact everyone does live, as Captain Jack is saved from certain death trying to dispose of the bomb and welcomed aboard

This episode has everything you required of a classic Doctor Who episode: a creepy monster, action, running, plenty of running, a twist, references to previous stories (psychic paper was first seen in the 2nd Doctor's era) and of course great writing. Upon re-watching these episodes I think that they are better than 'Dalek' and the best in the series in fact one of the best stories since the return of Doctor Who in 2005. Steven Moffat will repeat this in other New Who classics 'The Girl in the Fire Place', 'Blink' and 'Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead' before succeeding Russell T Davies as head writer. I just hope that when he relinquishes his control of the show that he still writes the occasional episode as most of the best New Who stories have come from his pen.

In Moffat we trust.