ATMOS
Episode Summary/Review (which means spoilers):
Partners in Crime
So the episode starts off with both Donna and the Doctor (separately and completely unaware of each others presence) posing as Health & Safety inspectors at the strange Adipose Industries. The "leader" of Adipose is a Miss Foster (played perfectly by Sarah Lancashire), and through a lecture of sorts she is giving we find out that Adipose is responsible for a diet pill that makes the fat simply "walk away", as their slogan states. Both Donna and the Doctor find out pretty much the same amount of information in the same amount of time. Broad humor is used a bit during the first five minutes as the Doctor and Donna keep just missing each other with wacky comedic timing. Both then go to see two of Adipose's million clients. The woman Donna is seeing goes into the bathroom to finish her hair (she's dumping her boyfriend tonight now that she's lost some weight) and something strange happens. Her skin starts to bulge and she explodes into a bunch of tiny (cute, yet creepy) little creatures called the..*drum roll* Adipose. Donna follows them outside but they're gone (thanks to security staff Miss Foster sent out) and, once again, is so close to the Doctor, but neither of them see each other.
Donna then goes home (she's moved back in with her mother and grandfather) and gets lectured by her mother to get a job and do something with her life. Frustrated she goes to see her grandfather (played by the great Bernard Cribbins, reprising his role from the Christmas special), who's looking at the stars with his telescope, as usual. Donna then goes on to talk about - without naming him - the Doctor and how she's waiting for him. Catherine Tate did a g\t job with that little speech, but I never doubted that she could handle more dramatic scenes as well as the comedic ones. Speaking of comedic scenes..
Donna and the Doctor wait it out at Adipose the next day and once everyone is gone they start more investigating (again, one their own). Miss Foster is interrogating a reporter from earlier on in the episode that has begun to uncover the odd goings on. She explains what the Adipose are (living fat that's been bound together through stuff in the pills..a planet of Adipose can longer reproduce so they employed Miss Foster to get them some babies and she chose Earth, having not seen "obesity on this scale" anywhere else). During this, Donna (hidden behind the door) sees the Doctor, who is outside the window. They then begin the funniest mime conversation (with Donna doing most of the miming) I have ever seen!! Miss Foster sees them and a tiny chase ensues with the Doctor and Donna finally - it took 25 minutes in for them to physically meet up - reunited. The pace doesn't really pick up too much, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. They end up in one of those window-washing things and the Doctor sets it so that only someone with a sonic device can control it, so no worries, right? Wrong. Cut to Miss Foster and her sonic pen(!). She makes the lift (Idk what else to call it, lol) spiral down; the Doctor and Donna try to open a window (more comedy ensues) and Foster burns one of the cables holding the lift up. Donna falls out and is clinging onto the cable for dear life while the Doctor makes into the building. He saves Donna and they have a confrontation with Miss Foster.
An averted crisis, some deep dialogue, a villain's death, and a thrown away sonic pen (?!?!?!?!) later we reach the end. The Adipose have been taken back home and Donna is beyond excited to travel with the Doctor. The Doctor, however, is extremely reluctant. He tells Donna that he treated Martha beyond unfairly (which he did) so he's not too keen on going through all that again. After all, he only "wants a mate." This brings on another joke (which I thought fell a tiny bit flat) with Donna thinking he said "wants to mate." He clears it up and she makes it VERY clear that she has no interest in him whatsoever, he's an alien for Christ's sake! Thank god for that; I'm a bit tired of every companion falling head-over-heels in love with him, so hopefully that'll stick. They're about to pop off in the TARDIS when Donna remembers she has her mother's keys. She drops them in a nearby bin and runs up to one of the people watching the police clear everything up. She asks this mysterious blonde to tell her mother the bin other there, which she promises will make sense. This woman turns around after Donna runs off and is none other than...ROSE!! Fans everywhere shit their pants, I promise you. Rose then, looking extremely melancholy, walks off and disappears (literally).
Donna and the Doctor give Donna's grandfather a visit in the TARDIS (from the sky! :D) with some shoddy special effects, but it makes for a great scene purely because of the grandfather's reaction. He is so ecstatic that it becomes infectious. The pair then fly off into the stars, leaving a few questions: will someone find that sonic pen? Will that reporter come back to bite Donna and the Doctor on the ass? What is the significance of ATMOS (a sticker seen on a taxi we've been told to pay attention to by Catherine Tate and David Tennant)? How was Rose able to return for that moment and will she come back again before the finale? Will Donna's mother find her car keys?
Overall I'd give it a 9/10. The guest cast, as well as the new more permanent cast, were fantastic, as were David Tennant and Catherine Tate. While it wasn't flawless - some jokes fell flat and the effects were pretty crappy in parts - it's a great start to, what will hopefully be, a great series.
Partners in Crime
So the episode starts off with both Donna and the Doctor (separately and completely unaware of each others presence) posing as Health & Safety inspectors at the strange Adipose Industries. The "leader" of Adipose is a Miss Foster (played perfectly by Sarah Lancashire), and through a lecture of sorts she is giving we find out that Adipose is responsible for a diet pill that makes the fat simply "walk away", as their slogan states. Both Donna and the Doctor find out pretty much the same amount of information in the same amount of time. Broad humor is used a bit during the first five minutes as the Doctor and Donna keep just missing each other with wacky comedic timing. Both then go to see two of Adipose's million clients. The woman Donna is seeing goes into the bathroom to finish her hair (she's dumping her boyfriend tonight now that she's lost some weight) and something strange happens. Her skin starts to bulge and she explodes into a bunch of tiny (cute, yet creepy) little creatures called the..*drum roll* Adipose. Donna follows them outside but they're gone (thanks to security staff Miss Foster sent out) and, once again, is so close to the Doctor, but neither of them see each other.
Donna then goes home (she's moved back in with her mother and grandfather) and gets lectured by her mother to get a job and do something with her life. Frustrated she goes to see her grandfather (played by the great Bernard Cribbins, reprising his role from the Christmas special), who's looking at the stars with his telescope, as usual. Donna then goes on to talk about - without naming him - the Doctor and how she's waiting for him. Catherine Tate did a g\t job with that little speech, but I never doubted that she could handle more dramatic scenes as well as the comedic ones. Speaking of comedic scenes..
Donna and the Doctor wait it out at Adipose the next day and once everyone is gone they start more investigating (again, one their own). Miss Foster is interrogating a reporter from earlier on in the episode that has begun to uncover the odd goings on. She explains what the Adipose are (living fat that's been bound together through stuff in the pills..a planet of Adipose can longer reproduce so they employed Miss Foster to get them some babies and she chose Earth, having not seen "obesity on this scale" anywhere else). During this, Donna (hidden behind the door) sees the Doctor, who is outside the window. They then begin the funniest mime conversation (with Donna doing most of the miming) I have ever seen!! Miss Foster sees them and a tiny chase ensues with the Doctor and Donna finally - it took 25 minutes in for them to physically meet up - reunited. The pace doesn't really pick up too much, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. They end up in one of those window-washing things and the Doctor sets it so that only someone with a sonic device can control it, so no worries, right? Wrong. Cut to Miss Foster and her sonic pen(!). She makes the lift (Idk what else to call it, lol) spiral down; the Doctor and Donna try to open a window (more comedy ensues) and Foster burns one of the cables holding the lift up. Donna falls out and is clinging onto the cable for dear life while the Doctor makes into the building. He saves Donna and they have a confrontation with Miss Foster.
An averted crisis, some deep dialogue, a villain's death, and a thrown away sonic pen (?!?!?!?!) later we reach the end. The Adipose have been taken back home and Donna is beyond excited to travel with the Doctor. The Doctor, however, is extremely reluctant. He tells Donna that he treated Martha beyond unfairly (which he did) so he's not too keen on going through all that again. After all, he only "wants a mate." This brings on another joke (which I thought fell a tiny bit flat) with Donna thinking he said "wants to mate." He clears it up and she makes it VERY clear that she has no interest in him whatsoever, he's an alien for Christ's sake! Thank god for that; I'm a bit tired of every companion falling head-over-heels in love with him, so hopefully that'll stick. They're about to pop off in the TARDIS when Donna remembers she has her mother's keys. She drops them in a nearby bin and runs up to one of the people watching the police clear everything up. She asks this mysterious blonde to tell her mother the bin other there, which she promises will make sense. This woman turns around after Donna runs off and is none other than...ROSE!! Fans everywhere shit their pants, I promise you. Rose then, looking extremely melancholy, walks off and disappears (literally).
Donna and the Doctor give Donna's grandfather a visit in the TARDIS (from the sky! :D) with some shoddy special effects, but it makes for a great scene purely because of the grandfather's reaction. He is so ecstatic that it becomes infectious. The pair then fly off into the stars, leaving a few questions: will someone find that sonic pen? Will that reporter come back to bite Donna and the Doctor on the ass? What is the significance of ATMOS (a sticker seen on a taxi we've been told to pay attention to by Catherine Tate and David Tennant)? How was Rose able to return for that moment and will she come back again before the finale? Will Donna's mother find her car keys?
Overall I'd give it a 9/10. The guest cast, as well as the new more permanent cast, were fantastic, as were David Tennant and Catherine Tate. While it wasn't flawless - some jokes fell flat and the effects were pretty crappy in parts - it's a great start to, what will hopefully be, a great series.