Review of Series 4, Episode 9: "Forest of the Dead"

Okay, so Professor River Song wasn't Romana.  Well, probably not, anyway.  I suppose it could still be revealed later down the line that she was Romana.  After all, that white dress she wore at the end was very Mary Tamm's Romana 1....  Okay, I'll give it up.

But, even without a big, continuity-heavy reveal, the second half of the "Silence in the Library"/"Forest of the Dead" two-parter wrapped up in a fairly satisfying manner.  It wasn't great mind, you, but it was good.  Yes, the fact that Cal was going to wind up being the computer -- for all intents and purposes, anyway -- and that she had saved the missing humans onto the "largest hard drive in the universe" (aka The Matrix) was patently obvious from the start of last episode (rendering that episode's cliffhanger rather toothless).  Still, the emotional content of the episode elevated the pedestrian plot.  When Donna wailed in anguish when her children disappeared, I felt genuinely sad for her.  The dream of being a happy wife and mother really seemed to fit with her character.  Can you imagine Rose or Martha giving such a believable performance as a grief-stricken mother?  I think not!  Katherine Tate continues to impress as a slightly more mature companion, one who is a true equal to The Doctor instead of a protege.  Also, kudos must go out to Eve Newton, the little girl who played Cal.  She impressed me last episode with her subdued yet believable performance, but she really shone in part 2.  The scene when she collapsed to the floor, crying, tugged at my usually nonexistent heart strings.

As for the ending - meh.  Can't The Doctor just let people die every once in a while?  I found the idea that Cal was trapped in the computer system by her "loving" father as a way of staving off death to be horrific.  I assumed The Doctor would agree with me and free her from her cycle of torment.  But no.  The good Doctor actually traps several other people - including his own future wife - inside the computer as well, condemning them to an endless simulated half-life as well.  What ever happened to ethics?

K-9 Air Freshener: The Perfect Present?

Knowing that my pal Becky was having her birthday while I was in the UK, I picked up a little present for her at the Doctor Who exhibition at Cardiff Bay.  Yes, it's a K-9 air freshener.

Becky proudly affixed the little fella to the dashboard of her car last night.  (Just between you and me, I think her Hello Kitty rear-view mirror decoration was a little jealous of the new arrival.)  So, what does K-9 smell like, you might ask?  Eh, kind of like lemon.

Adipose Plush Toy!!!

My friend Becky from The Crafty Beaver(s) blog (www.thecraftybeaver.blogspot.com) made me this awesome plush Adipose toy, which she appropriately named Addy.  This thing is really well-made and looks professional!  Very good work, Beck!

Here is a pic of Addy in her natural habitat (aka Becky's back garden).

She appears to make friends easily -- even with inanimate garden gnomes.

Becky even gave Addy a butt crack.  I hope she's housebroken....

Thanks again, Beck!

Review of Series 4, Episodes 6, 7, and 8: "The Doctor's Daughter," "The Unicorn and the Wasp," and "Silence in the Library"

While traveling around England and Wales, I did manage to see Episodes 6 and 7, although I didn't have time to blog my thoughts on them.  There was something very cool about actually watching the episodes with the rest of the UK on the BBC as they aired on Saturday evening.  As I watched, I imagined all the other people in their homes up and down the street, watching the show at the same time.  There's something to be said for the collective experience, I guess (especially for a sci-fi show that is so marginalized in the US).  Aside from that, though, I really don't have much to say about either of the episodes; so, they'll each get a paragraph before I tackle last night's episode.

Episode 6, "The Doctor's Daughter," was pure crap from start to finish.  Playing like really bad fan fiction, it made me feel slightly embarrassed to be a Doctor Who fan.  The ending was a total cop-out and I hope we never see The Doctor's "daughter" again.  (As an aside, there's a rumor floating around the net that she died in the original script -- until Steven Moffat requested that she survive.  Although I am supremely excited by the news that Moffat will be taking over as show runner after Russell T. Davies steps down, I really hope he doesn't bring this particular character back....  Still, if there's anyone who could make me like her, it'd probably be Steven Moffat!)

Episode 7, "The Unicorn and the Wasp," on the other hand, was enjoyable and fun, although certainly not revolutionary.  I loved how it established a very Agatha Christie-like set-up (the secluded house in the country, the suspicious guests, the recurring murders) and then worked its way through the genre conventions while still staying true to Doctor Who as well.  Fenella Woolgar did a great job as Ms. Christie, bringing an air of authenticity to the role, and Donna's excitement for the time period was infectious.  The bit where The Doctor explained how the murders occurred and who committed them while Donna tried to keep up with his logic was great.  Okay, the giant bee/wasp alien was kind of stupid, but at least it made for a cool title when combined with the thief known as The Unicorn.

Now on to the main event -- Episode 8, "Silence in the Library."  Steven Moffat has done it again!  The man who brought us all of the best episodes not written by Paul Cornell over the past 3 years returns with part one of what should be a really nice two-parter.  The opening sequence with the little girl explaining her dreams was a creepy and intriguing way of drawing the audience in, surprising us with the last second appearance of The Doctor and Donna.  I love it when writers open with a "normal" point of view character who then discovers The Doctor and his companion; it reminds us of how strange and, well, alien The Doctor is when first encountered.  Of course, in this episode, the little girl is anything but normal.  Apparently, she is the computer brain of a planet-sized library!  As a voracious reader and a wannabe writer, I have to applaud that idea!  All is not ideal in the giant library, however, as The Doctor and Donna discover when they realize that they are the only living creatures on the planet.   As usual, The Doctor knows more than he has revealed, admitting that he purposefully lead them to the library in response to a mysterious message that he received via his psychic paper.  Who sent him this message?  And why?

The why is revealed early on -- the library has been invaded by the Vashta Nerada, voracious alien critters that like to dine on living flesh and create shadows wherever they go.  The who, on the other hand, is kept a little more mysterious.  Yes, we know that the message was sent by Professor River Song (played by ER's Alex Kingston).  We also know that she has gotten to know and travel with The Doctor in her past but his future.  What we don't know, however, is whether "River Song" is her real name and what, exactly, her relationship with The Doctor was/will be.  She has a sonic screwdriver of her own (unless she has The Doctor's sonic screwdriver) and she seems to be in love with our favorite Gallifreyan Time Lord.  These facts bring up several questions.  If she and The Doctor were in love (or even married), then why isn't she still with him?  And, if The Doctor allowed her to get THAT close to him, is she human?  Or is she, just maybe, Gallifreyan?  I think we can all see what I'm getting at -- could Professor River Song be Romana?  She said that she had never seen The Doctor so young before, which would be true if she was referring to Tom Baker's 4th Doctor or David Tennant's 10th Doctor a few years later.  She said that she lead the investigative team to the library planet, but she never specified how.  TARDIS, maybe?  Since we lsat saw Romana as Lalla Ward, Alex Kingston could represent her next regeneration (hence The Doctor not recognizing her).  Also, given the rumors that Lalla Ward was on set when her husband, Richard Dawkins, filmed his cameo for later this season, perhaps she made a cameo of her own.  Regeneration flashback, maybe?  Just theories!

Given my enthusiasm for the most recent episode, you can probably surmise that I'm anxiously awaiting next week.  Even if Professor River Song doesn't end up being a regenerated Romana, I am sure that Mr. Moffat has some cool surprises in store for us.

Back from the UK!

Just flew back from the UK last night (and boy are my arms tired, wakawaka).  Look for reviews of the three most recent episodes soon.  I had a blast driving around England and Wales, by the way.  Even made a few new friends....

And those new pals came in handy when we ran across the inevitable baddies....

Even a Timelord Needs a Vacation!

Just a quick post to let you all know that I will be visiting England and Wales for the next two weeks; so, there will be no new reviews until I return to the States. When I do return, though, I plan to review the first 4 issues of the ongoing Doctor Who comic book series from IDW Publishing on top of the new episodes of the TV series.

And, yes, I will be taking in the "Doctor Who Up Close" exhibit in Cardiff while travelling. I'll post geeky pics, I'm sure!

Review of Series 4, Episodes 4/5: "The Sontaran Stratagem"/"The Poison Sky"

About half-way through last Saturday's "The Sontaran Stratagem" I started to have a sinking feeling that this two-part story might rival last series' "Daleks in Manahattan"/"Evolution of the Daleks" as the worst two-parter since Doctor Who returned to the airwaves.  Having now watched "The Poison Sky," I can confirm that fear.  And apparently both two-parters were written by the same person - Helen Raynor.  Eek!  Let's hope Ms. Raynor isn't one of the people being considered to replace Russell T. Davies if he does decide to leave the show.  And, after apparently okaying the return of the Sontarans as mini-me sized men in bad make up and plastic armor working with an annoying human "genius," maybe the time has come for Big Russ to move on.  I haven't sensed much passion from him in the last few episodes.  One request, though; if he does leave, can we get Steven Moffat as the replacement, please?

First off, let's talk about ATMOS, the crux of the first episode.  What does the stupid thing even do?   At first, it seems to be a GPS/navigation system (which can, conveniently, take over your car and drown you in any nearby body of water).  Later, though, we're told that ATMOS  is a carbon-cleaning car filter.  Which relates to its navigation skills how, exactly?  And where did they get the acronym ATMOS, anyway?  The annoying boy genius/Chris Kattan look-alike says that it stands for "atmospheric emission system."  Um, how?  I suppose that you could just take the first five letters of that phrase to create the name, but then it's not even a proper acronym, is it?  And if boy genius did create the name from the first five letter, then why does he keep correcting everyone who calls it the "ATMOS system"?  I don't see the words "system" rolled into the acronym.  Apparently being a genius doesn't encompass creating good acronyms.  Speaking of lame acronyms, what's up with UNIT?  It used to stand for United Nations Intelligence Taskforce.  Yay!  A proper acronym!  Now it stands for Unified Intelligence Taskforce.  Wouldn't that be UIT?  What, they couldn't think of a word that started with N?  Maybe the Brits just aren't good with the whole acronym game?  I don't know.

The less said about the actor who played ATMOS's creator, the better.  Basically, he ran around screeching a lot and sounding less American than Peri Brown on one of her bad accent days.  Of course, I can't blame the actor entirely; his role was underwritten, unnecessary, and horribly cliche.

The Sontarans.  Were they always that short?  I thought for sure they used to be more average in height.  In any case, seeing a bunch of five-foot-tall dwarfs trying to be intimidating while standing around in plastic armor was slightly embarrassing.  Also, for clones, the Sontarans seemed to physically differ from one another quite a bit.  Obviously, there were several different actors involved, but I wish the producers had made some effort to make clones look like clones.  Maybe they could have just had one actor playing all of the Sontarans and digitally cloned him for the show?  And what was the Sontarans' big plan?  To use the Earth as a cloning planet.  Yes, this makes the second time in just five episodes that an invading alien race wants to use the Earth as a hatchery/nursery.  I can't believe that the makers of this show didn't tie the Adipose in with the Sontarans....  That was a missed opportunity!

Despite the bad writing for these episodes, there were some things I liked.  First off, Rose!  If you missed her, she popped up on the TARDIS's monitor for a split second, silently screaming something that looked, to me, like "Doctor!!"  Cool.  I like how they're building to her return.  Second, Martha is engaged - and to Doctor Tom, too!  I was hoping those crazy kids would get together.  I wonder if he'll join her on Torchwood next season.  Next, I still like Donna (although her family is really getting on my nerves).  The scene where she infiltrated the Sontaran ship while The Doctor coached her on the phone reminded me of the scene in Rear Window where Grace Kelley investigates the bad guy's apartment while Jimmy Stewart watches/talks to her on the phone.  Good stuff!  I also like that Donna reacts to danger in a more realistic way than some of the past companions.  You can really feel her dread when he tells her to attack the Sontaran from behind.  Oh, and that undifferentiated human clone in the vat of goo was really, really creepy.  Nice work on the make-up there.  And Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart is "stranded in Peru"?  Is that setting up a future story or something?  Finally, the tease for next episode was interesting.  Who would want to "trap" Martha in the TARDIS?  Is she going to be traveling with The Doctor and Donna for the rest of the season?  Why did they keep showing The Doctor's severed hand?  Was his "daughter" (who is being played by Georgia Moffett, the real-life daughter of The Fifth Doctor, Peter Davison, incidentally) created from that hand somehow?  And was his "daughter" kissing another chick? 

Oh, and for the record, projecting purple and green lights on the walls of old factories does not make them look futuristic or spacey; they just make the sets look cheap and tacky - like a Joel Schumacher Batman movie.  And SHIELD should sue over that Valiant helicarrier rip-off.  SHIELD.  Now there's a good acronym!