Doctor Who Project - Catching up

Wow I'm rubbish at this. I did honestly watch the remaining episodes and I watched them several months back too, just didn't get round to writing about them. I'm so bad with this blogging lark that we've had a 50th anniversary special which introduced a new Doctor, Captain Grumpy aka "The War Doctor" and Matt Smith's Doctor has aged several hundred years and regenerated into Peter Capaldi. Which reminds me... KIDNEYS!! Sorry, it's like tourettes, love that opening line especially as it was delivered in Capaldi's native Scottish accent and with a manic frenzy. Really can't wait to see more of the "13th" Doctor. Hmm not sure I agree with that title, he will always be the 12th in my eyes as John Hurt's Doctor was explicitly referred to as the "War Doctor". Anyhoo I digress.

Series 4

By far Tennant's best series in the role (before RTD ruined it all with the overdrawn farewell tour of the specials especially "End of Time"). As I have so many episodes to get through I think I'd best do a quick review for each one:

• Partners in Crime - Great fun little opener and Donna's back this time full time! Wish Adipose existed, I'd happily take it. RTD's time on Doctor Who is littered with social comments from the over reliance on Sat Navs, cosmetic surgery (the Lady Cassandra) etc and this is no different with Davies mocking the diet industry and get slim quick schemes. Reminds me of Peter Kay's sketch "14 stone in a day!".
• The Fires of Pompei - Karen Gillan and Peter Capaldi in the same episode! Ok episode mostly memorable for the mention of specific events like Pompei being "time locked" as well as The Doctor playing God and saving Capaldi's family. Bit of foreshadowing for the "Time Lord Victorious"? More of that to come. Good Donna story.
•  Planet of the Ood - The Ood make a welcome return (as if the title didn't give it away!) although we may have grown tired of seeing them before series 5. Plenty of character development for the Ood here although they're a race rather than just one singular character (then again they are very interchangeable). Quite a good story with a serious point to make but not one of my favourite Tennant stories.
• The Sontaran Strategem/The Poison Sky - The return of the spudlike warmongering minute clone race. The first time I saw this episode was the first time I'd come across the Sontarans. I've since seen a few 'Classic Who' Sontaran stories and this is quite a weak one in comparison especially compared to their debut in 'The Time Warrior'. Martha's back too and now she works for UNIT who again pale in comparison to their 'Classic Who' counterparts. Boy genius Luke Rattigan is annoying and the point of us all being over reliant on sat navs (including a scene where it drives itself into a pond which in itself seems to have become just as associated with sat navs) and pollution is a bit heavy handed. The Sontarans come off as stupid and comedy villains although unlike the Cybermen it kind of suits them given their diminutive stature. Moffat however has proven with his use of the recurring Sontaran character Strax that the Sontarans work better as single characters played for laughs rather than some evil race intent on taking over the planet.
• The Doctor's Daughter - Featuring an actual Doctor's (Peter Davison) daughter Georgia Moffat (no relation to Steven Moffat) and now mother to another Doctor's (David Tennant) child, wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey. Interesting concept exploring the possibility of The Doctor being a Father (although his first ever companion Susan was his Grandaughter!) even if she was produced from his DNA rather than the traditional method of err being produced from his DNA. You know what I mean! Just a shame we never get to see the eponymous daughter "Jenny" again. Oh and Martha's in this episode too.
• The Unicorn and the Wasp - Continuing the theme of The Doctor meeting celeb history figures (Shakespeare, Queen Elizabeth I, Charles Dickens et al) this story sees The Doctor and Donna in the middle of an Agatha Christie style 'whodunnit' plot with wait for it Agatha Christie, cue references and gags centered around Agatha Christie's work. The story is supposedly a straight out comedic episode but mostly fails to deliver on that part. Additionally the story and the monster are also quite weak it's no wonder Agatha Christie forgets the events (although The Doctor shows Donna that she subconsciously remembers parts of it by brandishing a copy of one of her books with a wasp on the cover).
• Silence in the Library/Planet of the Dead - RIVER SONG! I should end the review of this story right there but that would be an injustice. One of the all time greatest 'New Who' stories ever. This story introduces the character of River Song, a character like no other as she knows The Doctor (quite intimately it's implied) but he's never met her before. She has her own sonic device that The Doctor gave her and she even knows his name. Just as well Moffat took over as showrunner because with a build up like this we needed to know more about her. The story also features the creepy spacesuit villians in the form of the Vashta Nerada as well as an alternative (digital) world where people are "saved" once they've been bumped off by the Vashta Nerada. This is a brilliant story that allows Donna to explore her own story whilst The Doctor is introduced to River and ultimately the two come together when he saves her in this digital world.
• Midnight - Another great story that is atmospheric and creepy yet so simple. The Doctor decides to go on a little space tour which of course breaks down before some being gets onboard and possesses  one of his fellow travellers. The idea of the "monster" repeating what everyone is saying before saying it simultaneously then speaking before them is so simple yet so brilliant. It evokes childhood memories of repeating what people say to wind them up then takes it to another level. It very quickly moves from annoying to scary. Oh look out for another Doctor's (the 2nd Doctor) offspring in this episode ie David Troughton as well as Merlin (Colin Morgan).
• Turn Left - A 'what if?' story. Another simple idea and suprisingly a Doctor light episode (this along with Blink actually works) exploring the idea of Donna never meeting The Doctor. The Doctor dies and subsequently Earth is attacked several times with no one to defend it. The story proves to Donna what The Doctor keeps on telling her that she isn't just some temp from Chiswick, she is incredibly important. Of course all this building up can only mean one thing and with a series finale on the way you can guess what it will be! Rose also makes a return in this episode which I'm sure they could've gotten around, why keep bringing her back. Her story is finished, just let it rest.
• The Stolen Earth/Journey's End - Yet another example of RTD going for the epic finish to a series then cocking it up with the concluding part. Why does every series under Russell T Davies have to go for the bigger is better spectacular ending? Why always the Daleks too?! Hated seeing all the companions and hanger ons (Torchwood, Harriet Jones etc) all coming together like the bloody Scooby gang. This story is also the reason why Matt Smith is supposedly the 13th incarnation of The Doctor (because 10 had vanity issues! LOL). The Doctor/Donna idea is a bit silly as well as the extra "handy" Doctor grown from the hand of the 10th Doctor lost whilst battling the Sycrorax in the 'Christmas Invasion'. Of course the extra Doctor means that Rose can go and have her happy ending in a parallel universe. Pass me a sick bucket! To add to the misery The Doctor then has to wipe Donna's mind so she no longer remembers him or their adventures. FFS RTD! Worst series finale since the reboot.

As I said earlier Donna is a great companion, ok I've not exactly sold her very well above but she's awesome. Firstly she's not pining over The Doctor unlike Rose and Martha, she's not even remotely interested in him (get the impression she prefers guys with a bit more meat on them! LOL). She's intelligent, funny and definitely more than a match for him. There's something about the older companion that definitely works in this case. There just best mates seeing the universe together and she helps him get over Rose (something Martha could never really do), just a shame they bring her back again at the end of the series to spoil it all!

Ok now that's done, let's have a look at the specials.

The "Specials"

After 4 years in the role David Tennant decided to take on a new challenge in the form of Hamlet amongst other roles. As a result he couldn't commit to the role full time and filmed several 'specials' throughout 2009 before regenerating into the excellent Matt Smith.

• The Next Doctor - Playing with the idea that we don't yet know who the next Doctor will be David Morrissey's "Doctor" even has Tennant's Doctor going for a bit before he works out what has happened. This is a fun episode ruined only by the crap (yet again) Cybermen.
• Planet of the Dead - What a great companion The Lady De Souza would have made. Also Lee Evans as Bernard, brilliant. The story and the villains are a bit crap which is a shame. Oh and he will knock 4 times.
• The Waters of Mars - Now this is more like it! Another 'time locked' event where the Doctor intervenes this time it goes wrong and still results in the death of Adelaide (after she gives him an ear bending. The monsters are great too although the Ood make another appearance at the end.
• The End of Time - Oh dear God, why? This could've been so much more better though to be fair RTD didn't have a great track record with finales. Yet again he goes for the epic spectacular and then overdoes it with sentiment. The Master is awful in this story. Firstly they bring him back with magic potions then he develops super powers and a flashing skull face. The Naismiths are bumbling idiots as are the cactus aliens. There's a massive fall from a spaceship that doesn't even affect Tennant's Doctor yet a fall from a much smaller height killed off Tom Baker's Doctor! Just as things couldn't get any worse RTD throws in the kitchen sink and brings back the Time Lords with some mystery woman who may or may not be The Doctor's Mum (it's never explained) however it's not The Doctor that saves the day but The Master by taking out the Time Lords. This story isn't all bad, The Doctor sacrifices himself to save Wilf (Donna's Grandad) and there's a great scene with them chatting in the cafe as well as on the spaceship however all this is undone with the ending. As I said above RTD overdoes the sentiment as Tennant goes on a farewell tour, saying goodbye to all his former companions before uttering "I don't want to go", get over yourself! Four years on and this line still irks me! Tennant's farewell could've been handled so much more better but instead we get this crapfest. Kind of sums up Tennant's era all over, some moments of brilliance ruined with some cringeworthy scenes and awful series finales.

So there it is the whole RTD era covered. Of course Matt Smith's run has come to an end so I have the option of covering that too, maybe later. Re-watching these episodes has made me realise just how "fantastic" Christopher Eccleston was and that David Tennant wasn't as great as I once thought (ok Matt Smith's awesome portrayal may have slightly influenced this!) not that he was bad in the role. I think a lot of  the downsides with Tennant's Doctor were the quality of the stories (particularly series finales) and the relationship with Rose especially as this should've been tied up at the end of series 2 instead of bringing her character back time and time again. There's also the whiney emo side to Tennant's Doctor too that's perfectly encapsulated in the line "I don't want to go". Yeah because you really were the centre of the universe, so much so that your regeneration almost destroyed the TARDIS. FFS. The minute or so of Matt Smith at the end of 'End of Time' was such a welcome relief. It really shouldn't be like that, I should be sad to see a Doctor go not happy (although  it's always great to see a new Doctor). In my eyes Tennant isn't the worst Doctor (he's still above McCoy and Colin Baker as well as poor McGann due to limited TV stories - thank you so much Moffat for the Night of the Doctor) but he's far from my favourite. I'm sure that last line will upset a few fan girls and boys. Oh well.

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 "The Idiot's Lantern" (Before)

Ok for this review I'm thinking of a before and after review.

From memory this episode is set in the 50s with The Doctor and Rose investigating a mysterious electrics company and a clipped English accent TV presenter literally stealing the faces of her viewers. I'm sure there's supposed to be a comment on how people waste their lives in front of the TV, hammered home of course with the episode's title (strange point to make when Doctor Who is predominately a TV show).

From the few times I've seen this episode I can't remember being blown away. The story is very meh, the point being made is redundant and the overall feel of the story is (retro chic) style over substance, The 10th Doctor on a scooter anyone?! It's like a half arsed version of 'The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances' from the year before. I hope that there's no truth in the rumours that writer Mark Gatiss is going to take over from Steven Moffat as show runner. Based on this story and his other efforts (Victory of the Daleks, Night Terrors, The Unquiet Dead) it doesn't look too promising for the future of Who post Moffat. To be fair though 'The Unquiet Dead' wasn't too bad and he has co-produced Sherlock with Moffat so I guess you never know what he'd really be like as a producer. As far as this story goes I'm going into the re-watch with low expectations, I'll prob think it's amazing now!

Oh well I guess I'll see you on the otherside.

Doctor Who Project "Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel"

Several episodes and a series after we first see a Cyberman referenced in "Dalek" we finally get a Cyberman story and on top of that we get a whole new Cyberman design. It's this new design that has come into all sorts of  criticism amongst fandom. The Cybermen are now 'robot-like', 'slow', the way they move is 'stompy' and 'deafening'. I however quite like the way they look.

I like the art deco styling and the way they move reflects their new bodies ie all heavy metal and moving parts. Ok there's less human parts on show. In the classic series you could see the jaw moving behind the mouthpiece which was cool as it showed that there was a human body that formed part of the Cyberman skeleton. There was also the suit they wore, in the Troughton story "The Invasion" which was basically a scuba diving suit with bits and bobs glued on. OK costume design and budgets have improved in the years to come but this scuba outfit design was kinda endearing and worked as it allowed the Cybermen to move quite easily as well as covering up the delicate human flesh. In fact you could argue that this material could be a more sophisticated soft metal that allows the Cybermen to move more freely. Anyhoo this new Cyberman has 2 handy get out clauses. Firstly The Doctor points out to Mrs Moore that the Cyberman body has an organic as well as a human brain and mostly importantly an emotion inhibitor which prohibits the Cybermen from feelings (not sure how that also stops them thinking freely?). Secondly these Cybermen were created in a parallel universe.

This last point is quite interesting as the new look Cybermen have cropped up again in the Steven Moffat era minus the Cybus Industries chest logo. Can't really get around that unless you were to say they sneaked through the cracks in the universe and fancied a re-brand. Should be interesting when the next design arrives in the Neil Gaiman penned episode sometime this year. I'm also really looking forward to seeing this episode as Neil Gaiman is one of my favourite authors although I would like to see Moffat tackle a Cyberman story. I want them to become scary villains again not comedy villains that they've been since the 70s/80s. Try as he might and to be fair this isn't a bad stab at trying to rectify that RTD fails in trying to make them a serious threat. This isn't a bad story and for the majority of it they are a credible threat, it's the series finale that dooms them to the fate of being comedy villains. An army of Cybermen put to waste by just 4 Daleks, it's not hard to see which bad guy Davies prefers. I'm surprised the Cyber Leader doesn't fist pump and say "Excellent!". Speaking of Cyber Leaders, what's the point in them? Cybermen are supposed to be uniform, why would they need someone commanding them if they all think the same? Oh well cyber rant over.

Anyway back to the story. I like how this story is set in an alternate universe. It reminds me so much of the Pertwee story "Inferno" although in this story there isn't a parallel threat to our world. It does however play with the idea of a parallel world via the support cast: Mickey/Ricky, Pete Tyler still being alive, Rose never being born and Mickey's gran (who hasn't even been mentioned until now) is still alive. The story also has a (not so) subtle sub-plot of how media communications controls our life. On top of that there's the point of clinging onto life via surgery or upgrades in this case.

I also like how this story gives Mickey something to do, he outgrows the 'Mickey the idiot' and becomes an integral part of the story, effectively saving The Doctor and Rose as well as destroying the Cyberman threat. This sudden character development seems a bit out of the blue but it allows Mickey to leave the TARDIS crew and have a happily ever after, fighting Cybermen and being able to see his beloved old gran.

Mickey drives off to Paris in a white van with his new best mate (RTD's gay agenda?) never to be seen again. Or is he? I'm sure that's not the last we'll see of Mickey the Idiot.

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 - "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.