Doctor Who Project - New Who roundup

Ok I've been a bit lazy recently. I've watched a few episodes lately and haven't bothered to review them. Probably because I've been hankering for a bit of Classic Who after OD'ing on RTD era Who. Having refreshed my palette with the excellent 'Caves of Androzani' and 'Earthshock' here's my roundup of the next few Who stories:

Army of Ghosts/Doomsday

We finally get to see Torchwood, they're messing around with forces they don't understand (no change there then) and have let the Cybermen cross over from Pete Tyler's alternate universe and in doing so also release the Daleks. Way to go Torchwood! The Doctor saves the day, loses Rose (yay) and has some big overdrawn emo goodbye to her on Bad Wolf Bay (boo). Cybermen are made to look like a joke (no change there), getting their arses handed to them on a plate by just 4 Daleks (albeit there are considerable more later). Genesis Ark is a clever idea harking back to 'Dalek' as well as the TARDIS ie bigger on the inside. Final shots of the story DONNA!!

The Runaway Bride

Our first glimpse of the best companion in RTD's era (some would argue since the 2005 return), Donna Noble. Donna's a bit shouty in this story though although to be fair she has just been swept up from the wedding aisle and dumped in the TARDIS. Great chase scene with the TARDIS and taxi. Loved the scene where they travelled back billions of years too to see the creation of the Earth (so that's the creation and destruction of the planet that RTD has covered now) just to find it was a Racnoss ship. The Doctor saves the day and it snows (as always). One of the best New Who Christmas episodes yet.

Smith and Jones

Oh look it's Martha Jones, she looks familiar. The Doctor using his pseudonym John Smith, think this may be the 1st use of it in New Who. They end up on the moon whilst the silly brutish Judoon search for an alien. What they're really looking for is an old women with a straw that sucks human blood to disguise herself as human. Nice resolution sucking The Doctor's blood so the Judoon recognise her as alien. My problem is how Martha revives him with just CPR when he's had his blood sucked dry. Other than that it's a good intro to the character of Martha, let down by further appearances.

The Shakespeare Code

I quite like this story as it's playful. There's loads of Shakespeare references and even plays with the stuffy image of the Bard that is in this story he's not bald (though The Doctor warns him he'll go bald) and The Doctor gives him a big collar to use as a neck brace at the end. The villian just had to be 3 witches with it being a Shakespeare story! Of course because it's Doctor Who it's not magic it's the science of words. Loved the references to Back to the Future and Harry Potter. Experliarmus!

Gridlock

The Doctor returns to New New York but this time it's different, there's drug pushers selling mood enhancers and everyone wants to join the motorway, a place where people literally spend a lifetime in traffic (know that feeling!). Turns out New Earth is this way because of The Doctor's previous actions. He set the disease ridden people free, New Earth was quarantined, nothing survived but the people on the motorway which was sealed off to protect them. Before saving everyone again the Face of Boe (Captain Jack?) informs The Doctor that he is "not alone". The Doctor shoots Martha down when she says he's got her (arse!) by telling all that he's the last of the Time Lords. Tennant's Doctor is so emo!

So there's my brief synopsis of the end of series 2 and the beginning of series 3. No spectacular episodes (The Runaway Bride is prob the best of them) but no bad ones either. Once again Russell T Davies goes for the spectacular in his series finales and for once the 2nd part doesn't completely let the promise of the 1st one down too much. It's probably his best series finale after the series 1 finale. Put it this way it's no 'End of Time'. So far Martha is likeable (to be honest I always did like Martha but that might be because Freema Agyeman is hot!) but I know in hindsight they're going to ruin that.

Doctor Who Project - "The Girl in the Fireplace"

Ok, going to try something different for this review, you may have noticed that my last few reviews have been a little different in format from the ones that proceeded them and I guess it's my way of being creative and finding a way of keeping the idea fresh (especially when you've got 50+ episodes to review). It's a mighty task but an enjoyable one (although not looking forward to the DVD that contains "Fear Her" and "Love and Monsters" on the same disc. Anyway back to the task in hand. I think for this review I am going to write it live as I'm watching the story, no edits (apart from grammatical ones) so what you'll probably get is unadulterated gibberish! I guess in a way it's kinda like a DVD commentary only in text format!  Nevertheless here we go.

Ooh space, oh nevermind it's a big state home. Madame de Pompadour, quite fancy her. Mistress? Queen? Shouting The Doctor's name into a fireplace, all the mystery!

Opening titles, STEVEN MOFFAT! Yay. Ok at this stage in time he's only written one Doctor Who story albeit one of the best so far.

lol Had to laugh at Mickey's first line, "Yes, spaceship on my first go". Funny that, Rose got one too. Well a space station at least.

Ooh fireplace on a spaceship and a girl on the other side of it.

TARDIS translation, bit of Doctor Who folk law thrown in there and a joke at Mickey's expense.

The Doctor finally meets the girl in person and it's weeks in her future, altogether now "wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey". Scary monster time and under the bed too! Moffat is going to terrify a generation! Once again he's made everyday things scary, in this case a ticking clock.

Fire extenguisher that looks like a gun. Another Doctor uses a gun but doesn't joke (see "Dalek" from the 1st series eg hairdryer that looks like a big gun).

Quite like Mickey's tshirt in this episode, old school Nintendo NES joypad. Ok that was a bit random.

Wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey time again, Reinette is now fully grown. Ding dong.

Ah Reinette has known The Doctor since she was 7 years old and it's a Steven Moffat story too. Hmm where have I seen this before? Amy Pond anyone? I can see why people say the Amy Pond story arc is a more fleshed out tale of  "The Girl in the Fireplace".

Human body parts hard-wired into the spaceship, this shit got serious!

Wonder what the horse is called? Susan (series 7 joke)?!

Repair droid 7? Doesn't sound very threatening. The repetition of "we did not have the parts" sounds very similar to the "we are in a car" line (by K9) in the previous story. Why 18th century France indeed? Nice question by Rose, "why her?".

Haha the horse is called Arthur and he's allowed to keep the horse because Rose is allowed to keep Mickey.

I like how Mickey is referring to women in The Doctor's past. Jealous boyfriend, funny that he seemed to have come to terms with it in the last story although he's obviously trying to point out to Rose that he's (The Doctor) not perfect.

Nice little memory scene there with Reinette and The Doctor. Not sure about the whole 'Doctor Who?' line again. Another thing that Moffat seems to have revisited recently.

Haha The Doctor is pissed (drunk for all you non UK readers)! Or appears to be at least. "Always take a banana to a party", good advice! And The Doctor has figured it all out, the repair droids are after Reinette's brain to install into the spaceship and it has to be the same age as the ship, that's why she's not compatible yet.

Funny how the droids are all retro with the clockwork action but they can beam right out of the ship into an exact period of time in 18th century France. Convenient!

Interesting analysis, The Doctor and the monsters, can't have one without the other.

Madame de Pomadour is very composed in what may essentially be her last moments. Love how she's building up The Doctor, the nightmare returned and here he comes on horseback. Didn't David Tennant do that in Casanova?

How is The Doctor going to get back? Well pointed out Mickey. Rose on the overhand is devastated. Ooh nice pun there by the good Doctor, "I'm not winding you up". Do bad guys stop when they have no purpose? I suppose villains like the Cybermen and the Daleks can never stop as their purpose is to make others like them and destroy anything unlike them respectively.

The Doctor, the 'lonely angel' stuck on the slow path (love Moffat's way with words). He clearly knew there was no way back, do you think he did it out of love for Reinette (there is a lot of suggestion in this story after all that The Doctor could fall/is in love with her) or was he just being entirely selfless. Conveniently though the original fireplace has been transported brick by brick to this palace and it's The Doctor's way back to the TARDIS.

Once again The Doctor meets a young lady he wants to take onboard the TARDIS and she winds up dying (see Lynda with a Y). This time he just misses her, her coffin being taken to Paris to be buried.

Wonder what Reinette said to The Doctor in her letter? Hope it's explained as I can't remember it at all.

The Doctor is clearly upset, I'm guessing he could've loved her. Never did buy the whole he loved Rose thing but Madame de Pompadour definitely.

Just heard what she said in the letter, so sad and the light going out in the fireplace too very fitting.

And with the last shots of the episode we see a portrait of Reinette and the name of the ship clearing any confusion as to why they (clockwork repair droids) needed her at all.

And that's it my first (and possibly last! lol) live commentary review. Hope anyone reading this enjoyed it and didn't just read it as mindless drivel. Such a great episode and at this stage that's two great stories in two attempts from Steven Moffat. Someone should give him the show runner job. ;)

Next up the Cyberman 2 parter! Exciting times.

Doctor Who Project "School Reunion"

The return of Sarah-Jayne Smith and K9 (mk3) in Russell T Davies' biggest nod to the classic series. You have to love how RTD melds the new and old with direct comparisons throughout the episode from Rose and Sarah-Jayne to Mickey and K9 (I also love Mickey's realisation that he's the tin dog!). Then there's that great conversation between Sarah-Jayne and Rose about what it's like to travel with the Doctor (including pointing out his idiosyncrasies) and of course Sarah-Jayne and The Doctor's catch up in which she finally gets the chance to confront him about leaving her in Aberdeen and not coming back for her. In fact that's what is the heart of this story, reminiscing, exploring the relationship The Doctor has with his companions and of course what happens to the companions when they step out of the TARDIS for the last time. The monsters in this week even take a back seat to the characters in what can be described as RTD's love letter to Sarah-Jayne Smith.

Also worthy of note is the schoolboy fantasy played out in this episode ie the awkward kid who has a hand in saving the day being lauded by his school mates after the school blows up. There's also loads of little jokes like Rose believing the teachers sleep at school (and being proved right), the teachers and dinner ladies being monsters.

Oh and after sacrificing himself K9 returns at the end, a replacement from The Doctor and a nod to classic Who again ('The Invasion of Time' - I'm sure there's other instances but only really know of this one). I'm sure this was done deliberately, setting both Sarah-Jayne and K9 for their own spinoff shows. As well as providing a happy ending of course.

All in all another great story. The monsters are pretty forgettable, they could be any monster in fact and Anthony Stewart Head's character even alludes to the fact that they (the Krillitines) adopt new features everytime they conquer a race. Not that any of this matters as it's all about the TARDIS crew new and old coming together and talking about what it's like to travel with The Doctor (and to suddenly stop doing so - foreshadowing?!!).

Brilliant episode, easily one of the best of the series and a modern classic. Love it.

Doctor Who Project - "Tooth and Claw"

Unlike most of the episodes I've re-watched so far I think I actually like  "Tooth and Claw" a little less the second time around. It just seems a bit dull, the "we are not amused" joke comes across as forced and the wolf in Rose line was last series.

On the plus side: David Tennant's natural (Scottish) accent, the psychic paper is back, the wolf looks good and the BBC One ident inspired monks in red outfits intro. Kinda reminiscent of this:

There's also more references to Torchwood, far more blatant in this episode what with the Torchwood Estate being the backdrop for the story and the creation of the Torchwood Institute.

Overall, pretty meh. It was ok but not spectacular. Guess kids will find it scary.

Next the return of one of The Doctor's  greatest companions Sarah-Jayne Smith.

Spot the difference!

Doctor Who Project - "New Earth"

The first thing I noticed about this episode is that it's the first story since the show's return to be set on another planet (OK we came pretty close with the Platform 1 and Satellite 5/the Gamestation but they were in orbit around Earth). Seems odd that I've only just picked up on that but maybe the first series was set predominately on Earth deliberately. OK not like a Pertwee banishment to Earth but more of a BBC budget restriction and the success of that first series allowed them a bigger chunk and the freedom to create new worlds?

Interesting point over. This episode is probably most memorable for the return of Cassandra and The Face of Boe from "The End of the World". Not sure why either warrants a return to be honest.

I guess "New Earth" is Russell T Davies commenting on colonialism (the human race expanding into the stars and naming new places after old places back home ie how many places in the US are named after towns and cities from the UK, Ireland etc? Even New York's name comes from York so what better than to add another new to the name. Of course it could just be a reference to Futurama!) and stem cell research (bodies grown for the purpose of infection in order to find cures). The morality of the latter being questioned in the story.

This story is also memorable for Cassandra possessing Rose. Finally Rose is sexy! Billie Piper's performance in this story (playing Cassandra possesing her body) reminds me of Billie Piper's post Who job 'Secret Diary of a Call Girl'. Also there's the further nod to cosmetic plastic surgery being taken too far. I like how it's resolved at the end with Cassandra (in Chip's body) telling her past self (ie when she was more than just a fold of skin and and a face) how beautiful she is. This was revealed earlier in the episode to be the last time that anyone told her she was beautiful. Very fitting, the last time she was told she was beautiful was when she was completely or fairly natural. Funny thing is it's  Cassandra herself that tells her that she is beautiful! Hmm self fulfilling?!

Doctor Who Project - "The Christmas Invasion"

Ooooh the first Christmas special of the new era (probably one of the better ones too) and David Tennant's first episode as The Doctor (the last minute of "The Parting of the Ways" doesn't count) although he's not around for large chunks of it. That's right it's more of the extended Tyler family drama. Woo.

"The Christmas Invasion" isn't too bad too be honest, it's camp and it ticks off all the required Christmas elements: turkey, brass band, Father Christmas, the Queen's speech (or at least a nod to it with Harriet Jones, Prime Minister advising it's been cancelled) and even snow albeit ash from the destroyed spaceship.

For me this episode has more in common with Castrovolva than any of the Christopher Eccleston episodes. Saying that I always found The 10th Doctor to be more like the 5th Doctor than any other. No surprise they teamed them up for the "Time Crash" special. Getting ahead of myself though.

All in all not a bad episode, not the worst but certainly not the best. It was a bit Torchwood though with all this blood control and threatening to kill a third of the world's population. Maybe Russell T Davies is subtly introducing us to it? After all Harriet Jones mentions knowing of Torchwood, the destruction of the Sycorax ship is done in a very Torchwood-esque fashion and in 2 episodes time we get to see the Torchwood Estate. Anyway more of that to come.

One thing I noticed on re-watching this episode is that David Tennant is credited as'The Doctor' in the closing titles whereas Christopher Eccleston was always 'Doctor Who', that's something that's bugged me upon re-watching these episodes.

Oh well onward and upward, so many classic 10th Doctor stories (and quite a few duds too!).

ALONS-Y!

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 "Dalek"

Here it is. They couldn't bring back Doctor Who without him running into his old nemesis at some point during the series. The funny thing is the good Doctor actually comes face to face with another adversary before being reunited with an evil pepper pot. No I don't mean the stuffed Slitheen arm. I'm  referring to the Cyberman head in Van Statten's space museum (Ooh we've been here before haven't we? William Hartnell anyone?).  Best of all it's a real Cyberman ala The Invasion onwards not one of these parallel universe, Trigger from Only Fools & Horses designed Cybermen (Oh wait those haven't happened yet - spoilers). A nice little nod to the classic series there.

It's not long before The Doctor and Rose are surrounded by security guards and after showing off his musical skills The Doctor is invited to have a look at Van Statten's prize exhibit (in order for him to coax it into speaking). And because The Doctor is such an expert it doesn't take him long to do so. Well actually because it's The Doctor he stumbles into the situation, announcing his name to his greatest enemy which of course arouses it, cue "exterminate, exterminate (squee)". However this Dalek is a bit FUBAR'd having fallen out of space and time, left to rot for at least 50 years then routinely tortured. Only fair that Rose should land a hand and in a fashion we will come to expect in the RTD era here comes some mumbo jumbo explanation although as far as that goes it's not too far fetched. I mean it's hardly magic potions to bring back dead characters!

And with a little help from a time traveller the Dalek comes back to life, regenerates itself (after suckering a guard to death! To be fair he did ask for it.) and then kicks arse. One Dalek verses the world and if the Doctor wasn't around you know it would win too. It's funny actually because The Doctor doesn't really do much to resolve the problem other than shout out stats and wave a big gun at the Dalek (so much for him showing mercy). It's really up to Rose to save the day and she does so in the best possible way by reasoning with the Dalek. Without the special connection made by her touching the Dalek though she would've been toast the second Todd from Coronation Street left her behind. No real Dalek would've let her try to talk her way out of it, they would've exterminated her on the spot but this is a touchy feeling 'modern' Dalek having been mutated by Rose's DNA.

I love how this episode demonstrates just how bad ass Daleks are (especially when they're not reliant on Davros!!), I mean just one Dalek takes down a whole military base. The whole electrocution scene just shows how intelligent and ruthless they are. I also love how parallels are drawn between The Doctor and his mortal enemy, last of their species, alone in the world and have no qualms in killing the other. After all the Dalek remarks that The Doctor 'would make an excellent Dalek'.

One last thing that I love about this episode is that it finally puts to rest all the jokes about Daleks being defeated by a flight of stairs (although Remembrance of the Daleks did the same thing 17 years earlier). Just a shame that RTD has a thing for spectacular series endings, oh well that's yet to come.

PS spotted the Bad Wolf (it's the helicopter coming in to land) in this episode.

Doctor Who Project - "Aliens of London/World War Three"

I've made no secret of the fact that I have not been looking forward to watching this two parter (mostly because of the awful Slitheen) and as such I've been putting off my review. I'm even procrastinating now by watching videos on YouTube instead of writing this! Ok gonna knuckle down and get through this even if I keep it short and sweet or it takes me hours to write it.

Like the other episodes I've seen so far this has fared better 2nd (or is it 3rd or 4th? Poss more?) time around. They're not a patch on the previous 3 episodes but I knew that coming into it and as such I guess my expectations were lowered because I honestly didn't think these episodes were as bad as I remembered. Ok the Slitheen are still crap. They look awful, the fart jokes are cringeworthy and their whole reason for being on Earth is just stupid. What saves this story however is the Doctor and Rose's performances as well as the introduction of Harriet Jones and of course RTD's exploration of how the human race would cope with an alien invasion (turn to weapons and then pass it off as a hoax afterwards appears to be the answer). Oh and then there's Rose's Mum Jackie grilling the Doctor over the phone, asking if Rose is safe travelling with the Doctor. The Doctor's expression and the fact that he never really answers the question speaks volumes especially for any viewers of the classic series (as well as possibly being foreboding?).

Overall the two episodes were very meh. The Slitheens are very forgettable and luckily they only really pop up once more before finding their home in The Sarah-Jane Adventures. Two things that I found myself thinking during this story were "save the clock tower" when Big Ben is hit during the crash landing and are Mickey and Jackie going to get it on? Honestly the sexual tension between those two in Mickey's flat is unbelievable, you know if this wasn't a family programme they would have got it on!

Doctor Who Project - "The Unquiet Dead"

After a great start to the series, Doctor Who shifts gears with a time travelling episode into the past. Of course older viewers will be familiar with The Doctor's inability to get the TARDIS to where he wanted to go  (or as the TARDIS says in Neil Gaiman's wonderful episode 'The Doctor's Wife, "I always took you where you needed to go. ") with The Doctor and Rose ending up 9 years and several thousand miles away from 1860 Naples, 1869 Cardiff to be precise where they encounter animated corpses, Charles Dickens and Gwen from Torchwood (ok Eve Myles has actually played that part yet and the show does make a cheeky comment about her likeness to this character in a later episode.

I love how this story delves into the past like so many classic Doctor Who stories of the past (eg The Talons of Weng Chiang). I also love how it plays with the idea of using famous people from history (in this case Charles Dickens) and how this episode could be consider one of those hide behind the sofa moments as the Gelth cross over and start to invade bodies which turn on Rose and The Doctor.

Speaking of The Gelth they kinda remind me of The Vardans from 'The Invasion of Time' only looking a million times better (although the CGI Vardans on the DVD release don't look too bad). They also provide another glimpse at the time war and how it effect other beings. Oh and there's also the mention of Bad Wolf. I have to admit I completely missed all the clues on first viewing and have still missed them in the first 2 episodes but definitely caught this one this time around.

So all in all a great episode. Not looking forward to the next two though, The Slitheen were awful on first viewing nevermind repeat viewings.

Re-watching Who

The other day I was browsing my Facebook feed when I noticed a post from one of my American friends. He's never seen Doctor Who and is finally making an effort to starting from the 2005 comeback episode "Rose". Obviously I expressed my shock at this what with it only being 7 years old! Also he's a big Potter fan and I know loads of Potter fans that love Doctor Who and vice versa. I guess I just expected him to be a fan or to just not care (with him being American an all, it's not quite as big over there although from what I hear it's slowly starting to make an impact and of course The Big Bang Theory keep referencing it!) so I was a bit shocked to hear him express an interest and to start from the beginning (well the beginning of 'New Who' at least). Out of these comments was born the idea to discuss the episodes as he watches them. I also thought it might be good to watch them too if poss (after all some of the episodes I haven't seen in years).

I was initially looking at the prospect of buying the series 1-4 DVD boxset but then I found that I already owned episodes 1-6 as well as a few Tennant (wait til he finds out that Barty Crouch jnr is the Doctor! Or is that John Smith? I don't know, 'wibbly, wobbly, timey wimey') episodes. I also know of places I can watch them online. Or if needs must I can just read up on the synopsis and rely on my memory. That was until this afternoon when I visited a few shops in town (as well as eBay and Amazon!) and managed to purchase several Doctor Who DVDs very cheaply. I'm now only a few DVDs off the complete RTD (Russell T Davies, Show Runner from 2005-2010 and the guy who played a big part in the show's return) era.

So after watching "Rose" last night the idea is to go through the RTD era (and poss beyond into the newer Stephen Moffat headed episodes) and pen down my thoughts here, starting with the aforementioned "Rose".