Planet of the Dead
So it wasn't the greatest episode of Who ever, but it was a hell of a lot of fun to watch. Anything that invokes a good round of Spot-the-Brit is decent enough entertainment in my book, and what a game of spot the Brit this evoked. There was Michelle Ryan from Jekyll, POSH KENNETH from Skins (AKA Barclay), that bird who was in Teachers and Wonderland, AND LEE EVANS!!!
However, Tennant is the man we're really watching and seeing him in a new episode just made me realise how much I am going to miss him. Sure, there was the usual subtle-as-a-sledgehammer angst that it all too common with Ten (although when he said "She used to call me spaceman" - heavily paraphrased - I couldn't help but wibble a little bit. But that was because it was about Donna, and Donna as we all well know pwns the universe and he should still be in bloody angst mode after what he did to her *grumbles*), but then there were the geek glasses and him putting things in his mouth and all of the other little Ten quirks like randomly talking to people on buses that just make me want to ruffle his spiky hair.
As for Christina, she was fun to watch. The whole Matrix cat-burgler thing was cool (yes I have a thing for petty criminals) and, well, she was bloody hot as well. Mind you, some of her acting was less than stellar, but her and Tennant had a fun chemistry, and did I mention she was hot when she was just generally kicking arse and stealing shit? Because she was.
Aside from the antics of Ten/Christina, I just loved how bloody old school this episode was. It was set on an actual alien planet for once, the Tritovores were awesomely old school, and there were mentions of the Doctor nicking the TARDIS in his school days and the giant robot. There was a Pertwee-esque thing that goes ding when there's stuff and, the one thing that makes everything ten times more awesome, UNIT!!! BEING ALL RED-BERET WEARING AND TRIGGER HAPPY! ♥ BTW, you know one person who needs to make an appearance in the finale? The Brig (yes, you must all be so surprised). Just so he can be all deadpan and snarky about these young whippersnappers who call themselves the Doctor and the Master. Back in his day... Oh it would be glorious. Ten needs to interact with the Brig before he regenerates dammit!
As for the planet itself, the deserts of Dubai looked absolutely amazing. Trust me, I've seen more than enough deserts to last me a lifetime, and I still thought it looked amazing. As for the SFX, for the most part they were really well done. The portal looked brilliant, as did the stingray thingamabobs. The flying bus, on the other hand...
I did miss the TARDIS though (and so did the Doctor I think. He was just so gleeful to see it again. Then he said, "I'll just step inside this police box and arrest myself" and not only did it confirm how much I missed the TARDIS, but also how much I'm going to miss certain aspects of Ten as well). It was just so strange not having her around to translate the Tritovorian voices.
And while all of these things were good, there were two other things that made this episode for me:
1) Malcolm. He was just gorgeous, and such a delightfully geeky Doctor fanboy, with his Malcolms and quatermass Bernards. Really, the icing on the cake would have been for him to lay one on the Doctor after he declared his love for the Doctor the fiftieth third time. UNIT needs to become a bigger ficture in new!Who just so we can have more Malcolm dammit!
2) HE WILL KNOCK FOUR TIMES BITCHES!!!! *MEGASQUEE* I wasn't the only one who suddenly started tapping the sound of drums right? He's coming back (I don't even care if it isn't about the Master. It's what it suggests that counts, and it certainly suggests that it's the Master which is more than enough for me).
So yes, it had it's naff moments. It had it's gaping plotholes and bits that made no sense, but who cares? It was big and stupidly awesome with blatant foreshadowing of even more awesome things to come (which end up less awesome in practice, but I digress), and really you can't expect more from an RTD script can you?
However, Tennant is the man we're really watching and seeing him in a new episode just made me realise how much I am going to miss him. Sure, there was the usual subtle-as-a-sledgehammer angst that it all too common with Ten (although when he said "She used to call me spaceman" - heavily paraphrased - I couldn't help but wibble a little bit. But that was because it was about Donna, and Donna as we all well know pwns the universe and he should still be in bloody angst mode after what he did to her *grumbles*), but then there were the geek glasses and him putting things in his mouth and all of the other little Ten quirks like randomly talking to people on buses that just make me want to ruffle his spiky hair.
As for Christina, she was fun to watch. The whole Matrix cat-burgler thing was cool (yes I have a thing for petty criminals) and, well, she was bloody hot as well. Mind you, some of her acting was less than stellar, but her and Tennant had a fun chemistry, and did I mention she was hot when she was just generally kicking arse and stealing shit? Because she was.
Aside from the antics of Ten/Christina, I just loved how bloody old school this episode was. It was set on an actual alien planet for once, the Tritovores were awesomely old school, and there were mentions of the Doctor nicking the TARDIS in his school days and the giant robot. There was a Pertwee-esque thing that goes ding when there's stuff and, the one thing that makes everything ten times more awesome, UNIT!!! BEING ALL RED-BERET WEARING AND TRIGGER HAPPY! ♥ BTW, you know one person who needs to make an appearance in the finale? The Brig (yes, you must all be so surprised). Just so he can be all deadpan and snarky about these young whippersnappers who call themselves the Doctor and the Master. Back in his day... Oh it would be glorious. Ten needs to interact with the Brig before he regenerates dammit!
As for the planet itself, the deserts of Dubai looked absolutely amazing. Trust me, I've seen more than enough deserts to last me a lifetime, and I still thought it looked amazing. As for the SFX, for the most part they were really well done. The portal looked brilliant, as did the stingray thingamabobs. The flying bus, on the other hand...
I did miss the TARDIS though (and so did the Doctor I think. He was just so gleeful to see it again. Then he said, "I'll just step inside this police box and arrest myself" and not only did it confirm how much I missed the TARDIS, but also how much I'm going to miss certain aspects of Ten as well). It was just so strange not having her around to translate the Tritovorian voices.
And while all of these things were good, there were two other things that made this episode for me:
1) Malcolm. He was just gorgeous, and such a delightfully geeky Doctor fanboy, with his Malcolms and quatermass Bernards. Really, the icing on the cake would have been for him to lay one on the Doctor after he declared his love for the Doctor the fiftieth third time. UNIT needs to become a bigger ficture in new!Who just so we can have more Malcolm dammit!
2) HE WILL KNOCK FOUR TIMES BITCHES!!!! *MEGASQUEE* I wasn't the only one who suddenly started tapping the sound of drums right? He's coming back (I don't even care if it isn't about the Master. It's what it suggests that counts, and it certainly suggests that it's the Master which is more than enough for me).
So yes, it had it's naff moments. It had it's gaping plotholes and bits that made no sense, but who cares? It was big and stupidly awesome with blatant foreshadowing of even more awesome things to come (which end up less awesome in practice, but I digress), and really you can't expect more from an RTD script can you?