Here at FractalMatter we’ve all been eagerly awaiting the return of everyone’s favourite Timelord: Doctor Who. With the start of the new series in the UK, we have assembled a motley crew to discuss each episode, the first of which appears right here.
Each month in FM we will have a collection of these roundtables discussing the show as it is broadcast, so the next few episodes will appear in May’s edition. Our roundtable consists of Matt Kamen, Mark Peyton, Sheila Hillman, Mo Ali, James Dodsworth, Russell Hillman and Sabrina Peyton. So, get your sonic screwdriver in your hand and hold tight!
Please note that the roundtable format includes spoilers.
Doctor Who – Episode 1 – New Earth
Ok the Tardisode first - what does everyone think of the format and this first glimpse of New Earth?
Matt Kamen (MK): What’s a Tardisode? Some kind of promo lead up? I don’t normally watch TV unless something really interests me and frankly, the rest of the BBC’s output of late could put a 12-year-old on speed to sleep as far as I’m concerned.
Mark Peyton (MP): Tardisodes are new little snippets sent to mobiles and available for download online which will be going out before each episode. They offer hints about the episode either about the setting or the characters.
The first one is available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/episodes/2006/newearth.shtml
Sheila Hillman (SH): Tardisode? What’s wrong with calling it a Trailer?
MK: OK, just checked that out. It seems the new series will have the same high production values as the first season and man, there’s nothing creepier than evil hospitals. The Tardisode’s definitely done the job of getting me excited for the new episode.
Ali: As a ‘general’ teaser it - the Tardisode - works well enough without ruining things such as showing us the Doctor and Rose (a bit early if they did), or the fact that New Earth is a kind of sequel to End of the World (episode 2 from Season 1 – this might put new viewers off if they thought they would need to have watched past episodes). Mixing the idea of hospitals with feline nuns/nurses and the patented ‘hidden agenda’ makes it equally unnerving and interesting, and it will be a nice change to have an ‘alien’ world setting instead of London, Cardiff or a space station…
James Dodsworth (JD): Yes, the Tardisode once again shows the excellent marketing push this show gets. As a teaser for the first episode it works really well, the seemingly innocent set-up that you just know is going to lead into frantic running around corridors. The feline nurses are typical Who characters in that they are so damn creepy.
Russell Hillman (RH): The first Tardisode is definitely very ominous - especially the use of the phrase “We never lose a patient”. Plus a smile, a cut to black and a scream - as far as trailer clichés go, it’s an oldie but a goodie.
MP: The other offshoots of the BBC’s Doctor Who website are the fake websites they set up that either relate to aspects of stories or have games. The BBC appears to have been more ambitious this year and have started very early.
Sometimes half the fun of these sites is to spot the Whovian connection and then to spot the next link.
http://www.millingdaleicecream.co.uk/ is an interesting start. Just look at those flavours.
Of course there is the old favourite from last series of http://www.whoisdoctorwho.co.uk/ which is best visited with popup blockers off.
Onto the episode itself:
Sabrina Peyton (SP): And there we are folks, all new all shiny Doctor Who.
JD: God I love that opening title sequence, sends shivers up my spine every time.
MK: I was more impressed by the new end theme. It had a nicely mystical air to it.
JD: As introduced last season, the psychic paper is the perfect plot device. Here it gets used as a reason to go to the hospital on New New Earth, sidestepping the usual “Oh, the TARDIS isn’t responding let’s put down here.”
RH: Any guesses exactly how long after The Christmas Invasion this is meant to be? It doesn’t look particularly Christmassy - but then neither did The Christmas Invasion.
MP: The commentary suggested that this was a little while after to allow for a nice gap where all the novels etc can be slotted in.
SH: My heart went out to Mickey at the beginning, when Rose was saying goodbye. She gave her mum a huge hug, told her she loved her, and then had a very simplistic goodbye for Mickey. You could see his heart break again, as he clearly loves Rose a great deal and hates seeing her leave. Again.
SP: Mickey said he loved her and she just walked away, course Rose is a bit known for that. I think there was a story in the annual or something.
I’m still not a fan of Mickey but you do feel sorry for him.
MK: A few mixed feelings, but overall I enjoyed it. The good first, though. Tennant was great as the new Doctor - he didn’t seem like the new boy on the job but rather had an instant air of authority to him. I liked how the Sisters of Plentitude weren’t out-and-out evil and they were driven to their actions in an attempt to help humanity. And could that be the first seeds of subplot with the Face of Boe? Set up for the end of the season, anyone?
In the negative, I wasn’t keen on the use of Cassandra again - the reasoning behind her return was a bit forced, I felt. That said, once the body swapping started, both Tennant and Billie were fantastic as they pulled off Cassandra’s mannerisms. I really could have done without the Matrix-like bay of clone banks, too.
Overall, a strong start to the new season. Nice to see Doctor Who crossing over with Futurama, as well. New New York, indeed!
RH: Well, technically, it’s New-New-New-New-New-New-New-New-New-New-New-New-New-New-New-New York.
The Duke Of New New York - a reference to the film Escape From New York?
And this is the New-New-New-New-New-New-New-New-New Doctor. (Note: 9 News, not 10. Hartnell = Doctor, Troughton = New Doctor, Pertwee = New-New Doctor, etc…)
And that was Freaky Friday meets Dawn of The Dead in Cat People Hospital at the Burj Al Arab.
MK: Ah! It wasn’t just my girlfriend & I who thought that building looked a bit suspect!
MP: The bad - well Doctor Who series two obviously wanted to give glimpses of the first when they used the same bloody set as in Rose for the underground of the hospital.
JD: The sets are impressive, barring the usual corridor running and standard industrial/factory. I thought the hospital was quite impressive, any idea which building in Cardiff it was?
MP: The commentary for the episode had Russell T Davies mention his annoyance at the obvious use of the same location for the underground which was a Paper Mill in Cardiff.
The hospital ground floor was the Millennium Stadium foyer.
RH: Corridor Running is Doctor Who’s Olympic sport.
SH: I thought it was a nice attention to detail when, after the disinfectant shower, Rose tried to use the drying blast to style her hair.
RH: Her groping at the wall for an off switch during the shower was another neat touch.
MP: The Face of Boe bit I think will be part of next season if we’re operating on the principle of a return to an old character early on in the series. I did love the names for the Doctor in the prophecy - the lonely God in particular.
JD: Nice setup with the Face of Boe. When he stated they would meet a third and final time, did he mean it would be the Face of Boe’s final time, or the Doctor’s?
MP: I reckon he means his final time i.e. when he dies and he does deliver the knowledge the prophecy foretells.
RH: They’ve met twice now, so I’d presume that it would be the third and final time for both.
JD: What I thought was because we are told that the Face of Boe is supposedly dying, you assume that when they meet again, Boe will pass on his big secret and peg it. What I was thinking was what if Boe isn’t as innocent as he looks and might be plotting something? I think I think too much…
MK: Does anyone else find the Doctor’s solution’s a bit too convenient at times? I mean, how did he know that all those different cures would mix without creating a horrible reaction? Or that the final ultra-cure generated would transfer to all the other New Humans? And why, 5 billion years in the future, does humanity not appear any the more evolved, at least outwardly? Cassandra’s always rabbiting on about how all the other humans are perversions, but we’ve not seen it much. There’s possibly the engineer from The End of The World, assuming she wasn’t from an alien race, but otherwise everyone looks pretty homo sapien still.
MP: The humans were still fundamentally human but they had bred with people born off earth, aliens etc which is what Cassandra was on about.
The science of Doctor Who has always been a bit suspect. Particularly when you only have 45 minutes to resolve the plot.
MK: This show always does this to me - the initial “WOW!” factor, followed by my meticulous picking apart of its contradictions or implausibilities……
JD: I think that’s true of a few shows though, dissection doesn’t lend itself well in a lot of circumstances. So yes, the solution was a tad convenient. I think that the “Wow!” factor is quite a rush, it must be great to be a kid and be exposed to this stuff for the first time, it’s just so damn enjoyable.
SP: On a guess, the Doctor manages, some times it works and when it doesn’t there’s always plan b.
Plus, he’s got the script to follow.
JD: Nice, leper zombies. That should scare the kiddies to death. And they only wanted to be hugged. Bless.
John Davidson (JDa): They’ve ramped up the horror this series and it is perhaps looking less suitable for younger viewers just before bed-time.
JD: I also thought it was a fitting exit for Cassandra. Whilst I was sceptical about her return, it was so worth it for the fun we get with her being in Rose’s body and the eventual sympathetic ending of her existence. Once again Who perfectly moves its characters from one end of the moral spectrum to the other in such a way that the audience has to feel for them.
Jda: The plot resolution was a bit too convenient and did stretch my credibility more than I was really prepared to accept.
If Cassandra could jump from one body to another why did she wait for so long?
After millennia of perseverance, the sudden acceptance of the possibility and necessity of death was again something that I found rather difficult to accept.
Inhabiting the bodies of the diseased person then her half-life clone might have provided a change of perspective but it was all handled in too rushed a fashion to feel convincing.
SH: I am notorious at not being able to follow plots properly, so I couldn’t understand why Cassandra let everyone go if it meant she would struggle to escape.
Ali: It was an enjoyable episode; I liked the fact that the big plan to save everyone didn’t involve techno babble and was kid-logic friendly – it’s a children’s show after all…there’s nothing worse than “reversing the polarity” to save the day. A good episode, but maybe not going to be a favourite from this season.
The new new Doctor and Rose
JD: Tennant is good, a lot calmer and less manic than the previous doctor. He’s also a lot funnier than Eccleston, his responses and physical comedy is better. I loved his reaction after the Rose kiss, and when Cassandra entered his body for the first time.
Not sure Tennant does anger as well as Eccleston, his shouty face is lacking any weight. When Eccleston started shouting at people last season it seemed better delivered, you could really see the anger. Here you just wanted Tennent to calm down when he started yelling at the Cat Nurses.
SP: Tennant is adorable even with his eyes bulging. Oh and the kiss scene was great.
RH: I was very impressed with both Billie and David’s “Cassandra” acting. Very funny, and insanely camp. “Oh baby, I’m beating out a samba!” is a classic line.
SH: Especially with the accompanying moves. Once again, The Doctor Dances! Billie Piper gets to snog David Tennant and do a vertical death-slide hanging on to his back. I am not in the slightest bit jealous.
RH: That scene also gave us one of my favourite lines of the episode “You’re completely mad. I can see why she likes you.”
JD: Billie Piper almost stole the show again, she continues to get better. “Oh my god, I’m a chav!” Her “bodysnatch” acting was great, probably the strongest part of the episode.
SP: Love the Chav lines (as that’s how a chav was described to me since I had no clue).
SH: It seemed to me that Billie has lost weight and/or discovered the Gym, and the producers have discovered that in fact, she is a very attractive young woman, and decided to make use of it, and give her a new character, in effect, that was all libido and nothing else. Which was a good thing because it gave her a chance to show more of her acting range.
SP: Glad I’m not the only one who noticed Rose discovered the gym or something, course the change of clothes helps.
Jda: David Tennant has continued the revitalisation of the Dr. He is charming and dynamic.
Billie Piper is actually quite good at acting. When she is ‘possessed’ she does a creditable job of appearing different both in voice and body language.
The leads have a great chemistry together and this along with the fast pace and decent SFX make up for the slightly ropy plots.
RH: I was sold on David Tennant at the end of the first season, and The Christmas Invasion only cemented that. He’s now The Doctor to me.
SH: I might melt next week when he uses his own voice for a while.
RH: Good job that’s not the same episode as the Anthony Head appearance - you would explode.
The commentary track for this episode - with David Tennant, RTD and Phil Collinson - was available to download from the BBC site (www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho) a couple of hours after the episode aired. The Tardisode for next week’s episode, Tooth & Claw, is also up.
Ali: Another horror-vibe from this, the meteor coming to Earth and the ‘300 years later’ gives the traditional ‘werewolf’ story a different angle from the looks of it.
MP: The new Tardisode continues the tradition of sciencing-up supernatural elements. I can’t remember a werewolf story before in Doctor Who history.
Not entirely sure what the time period in the 300 years later section is supposed to be.
Ali: The time period is the late 19th century as the story takes place in the 1870’s (I think) so the meteor came to Earth 300 years previously…also from the end of the first episode the teaser for the second shows red-clad monks performing martial arts (maybe) which is a bit mystifying…
MP: You reckon? I thought the clothing in the Tardisode looked medieval. Not well thought through with the very loose dating.