Doctor Conditional Clause
I enjoyed last night's Dr Who. A lot. The highlight was absolutely definitely and incontroverstably the bit where the Doctor corrected teenage-genius-boy's grammar, and teenage-genius-boy later called him 'Mr Conditional Clause'. I loved that bit so much that it's going down as one of my favourite episodes before I've even seen the second half.
There were lots of other things to love. Donna's gramps was in it again, and Martha is engaged to the cute guy who helped her out at the end of the last season, and the Sontarans are just lovely (they're sort of cute *and* they have a noble battle honour thing going on!)[1].
The plot was nice and traditional. The Doctor comes to Earth and UNIT jump on him and ask for help, and it turns out the whole planet is in danger. That's just classic. I like that the Doctor is still opposed to guns and happy to say so, and I like that Martha has turned out the way he wanted her to (well, it seems like she has anyway). I like that Martha took the opportunity to warn Donna to keep her family away from the Doctor (how's that for foreshadowing?).
Of course, the problem with this episode is that it's half the story. Sometimes you get a double where the first half is better (New York Dalek episodes - though I adore the transformed Dalek Sec), and sometimes you get one where the second half is better (erm, The Doctor Dances - but note that The Empty Child was an absolutely amazing episode, it's just that the second half was more amazing), and sometimes you get one where both halves are equal in their goodness (the one with the Family of Blood). We won't know where this one lies until next week, obviously, but for the moment it unavoidably feels like set-up without denouement, and so is lacking something.
But it looks promising for next week, doesn't it? A few convenient stupid moments on the part of everybody (people driving round in Atmos cars when they know they've been found out, people going down into basements with no back-up, and so on) have driven the plot to where it is, but it's at somewhere exciting. I just really really hope they keep Bernard Cribbins' character (Wilf) alive, because he's amazing.
There are other things I'm hoping for next week. I want just one noble Sontaran to change his mind about the strategem and ally himself with the Doctor. I want the Doctor to get close to teenage-genius-boy, because they're two of a kind. I want the Doctor to have to make difficult decisions[2]. That's pretty much my wishlist for that episode, except that maybe it would be nice if the aliens won this time (OK, I know the Master won in last season's finale - before time conveniently reverted to where it was so that he hadn't). Oh yes, and I want Jack to turn up and help.
[1] You might note different definitions of 'cute' in this sentence!
[2] He's cute when he's making difficult decisions - don't tell me you haven't noticed).
There were lots of other things to love. Donna's gramps was in it again, and Martha is engaged to the cute guy who helped her out at the end of the last season, and the Sontarans are just lovely (they're sort of cute *and* they have a noble battle honour thing going on!)[1].
The plot was nice and traditional. The Doctor comes to Earth and UNIT jump on him and ask for help, and it turns out the whole planet is in danger. That's just classic. I like that the Doctor is still opposed to guns and happy to say so, and I like that Martha has turned out the way he wanted her to (well, it seems like she has anyway). I like that Martha took the opportunity to warn Donna to keep her family away from the Doctor (how's that for foreshadowing?).
Of course, the problem with this episode is that it's half the story. Sometimes you get a double where the first half is better (New York Dalek episodes - though I adore the transformed Dalek Sec), and sometimes you get one where the second half is better (erm, The Doctor Dances - but note that The Empty Child was an absolutely amazing episode, it's just that the second half was more amazing), and sometimes you get one where both halves are equal in their goodness (the one with the Family of Blood). We won't know where this one lies until next week, obviously, but for the moment it unavoidably feels like set-up without denouement, and so is lacking something.
But it looks promising for next week, doesn't it? A few convenient stupid moments on the part of everybody (people driving round in Atmos cars when they know they've been found out, people going down into basements with no back-up, and so on) have driven the plot to where it is, but it's at somewhere exciting. I just really really hope they keep Bernard Cribbins' character (Wilf) alive, because he's amazing.
There are other things I'm hoping for next week. I want just one noble Sontaran to change his mind about the strategem and ally himself with the Doctor. I want the Doctor to get close to teenage-genius-boy, because they're two of a kind. I want the Doctor to have to make difficult decisions[2]. That's pretty much my wishlist for that episode, except that maybe it would be nice if the aliens won this time (OK, I know the Master won in last season's finale - before time conveniently reverted to where it was so that he hadn't). Oh yes, and I want Jack to turn up and help.
[1] You might note different definitions of 'cute' in this sentence!
[2] He's cute when he's making difficult decisions - don't tell me you haven't noticed).