Doctor Who: 2.1 New Earth
First, a very non-spoilery SQUEEE!!
And then a note that I'll be using episode numbering counting this as season 2, for the simple reason that I honestly can't remember what season the original series got to and this is much easier for my poor, easily confuddled mind.
As a reintroduction and getting reacquainted episode, this worked fabulously. It wasn't a massively deep episode, the plague victims were pretty gross but not terribly creepy and the emphasis was on having some fun and getting to know this new Doctor rather than anything else. The preview for next week's episode, though, certainly implies that we've got a creepy one coming up :-)
Broadly, this was a "the Doctor turns up, changes things around, rescues lots of people" kind of episode. Although I did really like the intimations that the Face of Bo is going to be important is some manner later in the season. And I couldn't help snickering each time someone mentioned how impossible it was that he could be millions of years old. I distinctly remember the some of the news footage in "The Long Game" mentioning the Face of Bo, so that was a nice connection to the previous episodes.
That seems to have been one of the other purposes to this episode - the Face of Bo and the reappearance of Lady Cassandra tied us in to the Ninth Doctor's adventures as we followed the first real adventure of the Tenth Doctor.
Speaking of Lady Cassandra has to bring me to Rose, the possesion and just how fabulously I though Billie Piper did with that. I've adored her portrayal of Rose throughout the show and she's had some fabulous moments to work with. Playing Rose possesed by Cassandra was just brilliant though. She changed her voice, her body language...you could see that she was basing it on Zoe Wanamaker's work and extrapolating what Cassandra would do with a body. All the chav comments were just hilarious and that kiss was a complete laugh out loud moment, although the best bit had to be the Doctor's expression afterwards *g*
I now take back anything I might ever have said about Billie Piper's acting before Doctor Who aired.
Last season, I loved Christopher Eccleston's Doctor. I really, really did. As a long-time Doctor Who fan, I'm used to the regeneration concept so I kept an open mind about how David Tennant would manage and I loved that they sprung the regeneration on me in "Parting of the Ways" because it was so completely unexpected. I was already half-way to adoring David Tennant's Doctor in "The Christmas Invasion" and this episode has pushed me over the edge *g*
He's quite different from the Ninth Doctor, but at the same time I can see where he's taking odd bits from that Doctor and combining them with his work so that we know this is the same man, albeit a regenerated version. He's more talkative and less brooding, although we've also seem some hints that he has a darker side. Quite manic, doesn't abhore domesticity quite so much and with a different kind of energy. But he has the same enthusiasm for exploration and need to fix the problems that he sees.
I think the thing that I've been most worried about is the chemistry between Rose and the Doctor. It worked very well last year and was one of the core elements to the show. Having a new actor step in, with his take on the Doctor and a different relationship, could have destroyed that chemistry. For some reason, it was that moment out on the cliffs looking at the city that first showed me that the chemistry is still their. Rose's joy, jumping up and down on different soil, and then the two of them lying on the Doctor's coat while they talked about the city was just perfect. Even though this Doctor is new and different, their relationship still works.
I now understand why they're keeping Captain Jack away for the first few episodes, though. We didn't really get to see the Doctor and Rose interacting again until near the end. One of the things that I'm hoping for over the next couple of episodes is plenty of Rose-Doctor interaction so that we can see how their relationship is growing. They've actually left some space open for the fic writers out there to construct some missing scenes fics to fill in the gaps between the end of "The Christmas Invasion" and the start of "New Earth". The Doctor and Rose must have spent a fair bit of time together getting reaquainted because their relationship in this episode is already quite easy and familiar, much further along than the tentative overtures they were making TCI. Waiting for a few episodes before bringing anyone else into the TARDIS should help to cement this new relationship in our minds.
Hmm, I'm sure that there are comments that I wanted to make but have completely forgotten. The plot of the episode, using clones to create cures but ultimately killing the clones, has been tackled in some format in other sci-fi shows but the crew put a Doctor Who twist on it. Body-swap is a sci-fi staple, a cliche, but the characters involved here made it quite unique. I think it worked far better with David Tennant's Doctor than it would have last year because of the actors involved, but it was Billie Piper's work on that plot that really caught me. I guess they're really doing what they did last year - putting their own twist on familiar plots, adding their own elements and putting out something that's entertaining and wonderfully escapist.
And I'm trying to work out what this year's Bad Wolf is, but I haven't found it yet.
Thoughts? Comments? Joining me with the bouncy squeeing? I definitely need to do some capping after next week's episode and make up some Ten icons :-)
And then a note that I'll be using episode numbering counting this as season 2, for the simple reason that I honestly can't remember what season the original series got to and this is much easier for my poor, easily confuddled mind.
As a reintroduction and getting reacquainted episode, this worked fabulously. It wasn't a massively deep episode, the plague victims were pretty gross but not terribly creepy and the emphasis was on having some fun and getting to know this new Doctor rather than anything else. The preview for next week's episode, though, certainly implies that we've got a creepy one coming up :-)
Broadly, this was a "the Doctor turns up, changes things around, rescues lots of people" kind of episode. Although I did really like the intimations that the Face of Bo is going to be important is some manner later in the season. And I couldn't help snickering each time someone mentioned how impossible it was that he could be millions of years old. I distinctly remember the some of the news footage in "The Long Game" mentioning the Face of Bo, so that was a nice connection to the previous episodes.
That seems to have been one of the other purposes to this episode - the Face of Bo and the reappearance of Lady Cassandra tied us in to the Ninth Doctor's adventures as we followed the first real adventure of the Tenth Doctor.
Speaking of Lady Cassandra has to bring me to Rose, the possesion and just how fabulously I though Billie Piper did with that. I've adored her portrayal of Rose throughout the show and she's had some fabulous moments to work with. Playing Rose possesed by Cassandra was just brilliant though. She changed her voice, her body language...you could see that she was basing it on Zoe Wanamaker's work and extrapolating what Cassandra would do with a body. All the chav comments were just hilarious and that kiss was a complete laugh out loud moment, although the best bit had to be the Doctor's expression afterwards *g*
I now take back anything I might ever have said about Billie Piper's acting before Doctor Who aired.
Last season, I loved Christopher Eccleston's Doctor. I really, really did. As a long-time Doctor Who fan, I'm used to the regeneration concept so I kept an open mind about how David Tennant would manage and I loved that they sprung the regeneration on me in "Parting of the Ways" because it was so completely unexpected. I was already half-way to adoring David Tennant's Doctor in "The Christmas Invasion" and this episode has pushed me over the edge *g*
He's quite different from the Ninth Doctor, but at the same time I can see where he's taking odd bits from that Doctor and combining them with his work so that we know this is the same man, albeit a regenerated version. He's more talkative and less brooding, although we've also seem some hints that he has a darker side. Quite manic, doesn't abhore domesticity quite so much and with a different kind of energy. But he has the same enthusiasm for exploration and need to fix the problems that he sees.
I think the thing that I've been most worried about is the chemistry between Rose and the Doctor. It worked very well last year and was one of the core elements to the show. Having a new actor step in, with his take on the Doctor and a different relationship, could have destroyed that chemistry. For some reason, it was that moment out on the cliffs looking at the city that first showed me that the chemistry is still their. Rose's joy, jumping up and down on different soil, and then the two of them lying on the Doctor's coat while they talked about the city was just perfect. Even though this Doctor is new and different, their relationship still works.
I now understand why they're keeping Captain Jack away for the first few episodes, though. We didn't really get to see the Doctor and Rose interacting again until near the end. One of the things that I'm hoping for over the next couple of episodes is plenty of Rose-Doctor interaction so that we can see how their relationship is growing. They've actually left some space open for the fic writers out there to construct some missing scenes fics to fill in the gaps between the end of "The Christmas Invasion" and the start of "New Earth". The Doctor and Rose must have spent a fair bit of time together getting reaquainted because their relationship in this episode is already quite easy and familiar, much further along than the tentative overtures they were making TCI. Waiting for a few episodes before bringing anyone else into the TARDIS should help to cement this new relationship in our minds.
Hmm, I'm sure that there are comments that I wanted to make but have completely forgotten. The plot of the episode, using clones to create cures but ultimately killing the clones, has been tackled in some format in other sci-fi shows but the crew put a Doctor Who twist on it. Body-swap is a sci-fi staple, a cliche, but the characters involved here made it quite unique. I think it worked far better with David Tennant's Doctor than it would have last year because of the actors involved, but it was Billie Piper's work on that plot that really caught me. I guess they're really doing what they did last year - putting their own twist on familiar plots, adding their own elements and putting out something that's entertaining and wonderfully escapist.
And I'm trying to work out what this year's Bad Wolf is, but I haven't found it yet.
Thoughts? Comments? Joining me with the bouncy squeeing? I definitely need to do some capping after next week's episode and make up some Ten icons :-)