Partners in Crime

[Craig @craig Emperor]

Yay! Donna! During a very weird alien invasion in London, Donna searches for an old friend. But can the Doctor halt the plans of the mysterious Miss Foster?

For me it’s an episode of two halves. I like the comedy goofing and the return of Donna, it’s like a classic screwball comedy from the 30s and 40s and I love those. ‘His Girl Friday’ and ‘It Happened One Night’ immediately spring to mind. If you haven’t seen them, go watch right away. Imagine, Cary Grant as the Doctor. Not so keen on the Adipose story though. It’s just a bit meh! Don’t think people said meh in the 30s and 40s.

[The Krynoid Man @thekrynoidman]

@craig I agree that the bits with The Doctor and Donna are funny and very Girl Friday-ish. I also agree that the Adipose story is naff, weren’t they the aliens that RTD2 said would be bigger than the Daleks?

[PhaseShift @phaseshift Time Lord]

I think @craig s use of “screwball” comedy is a good one. It definitely has that flavour, and carries it off remarkably well. It really does help that Tennant and Tate are gifted comic players.

So – after the trials and tribulations of her aborted wedding (fiancée dead, having tricked her with the intention of feeding her to ravenous spiders fromthedawnatime) Donnas had a change of heart about travelling with the Doctor, and is looking for him.

Cue hilarity as they investigate the same problem while just about missing each other. It’s pretty funny, and gives us to perspectives on the problem. Actually, looking back on it, there may be more than a bit of forshadowing in this story for the end. Donna shows a similar flow of thought to the Doctor (even to them both using the dreaded ‘elf and Safety as a catch all excuse to be nosey).

I’m not a massive fan of the plot either. Society’s obsession with weight control is an interesting target to focus on, but I don’t think this hits (or even defines) it targets that well. The idea of a pill that would have that effect – Gordon Bennett, the Government would make it mandatory.

Sarah Lancashire as Ms Foster. Actually, I can take or leave Sarah Lancashire. I think her turn here is good enough, but it’s not one of the more memorable guest turns.

The most welcome guest star turns out to be Bernard Cribbins! Yay – he obviously had a good time in that little newsstand in Voyage of the Damned and is retconned as Donna’s Grandad. Seeking refuge with him on the hill with his telescope as they both dream of stars. It’s a lovely scene.

A nice little moment when Tennant starts excitedly explaining something to an audience that isn’t there, and looks a bit crestfallen. What’s the point of being the smartest man in the room, if you can’t demonstrate it to others? 😀

It comes alive with the final meeting between Donna and the Doctor as they mouth a conversation at each other. It genuinely raised another laugh tonight, as it always does – especially when they realise they aren’t alone. Thereafter, theres an awful lot of running and dangling from things. Very endearing.

The activation of the Adipose is quite entertaining. Look – the adipose themselves are pretty cute. I like the attention to detail on the CGI work with the various expressions and things. It’s amazingly how cheerful and animated computer generated blobs of fat can be.

So Ms Foster is the midwife for children who can’t be born on another world because it’s gone missing. How inconvenient. A bit naughty of her and, as the Doctor predicts, her employers aren’t above dispensing with an inconvenience. That’s a very cartoon moment when she suddenly finds herself floating in the air. I kept expecting a “WhaWhaWhaWhAAAAAAAAAA” note to creep into the soundtrack.

Yay – and Donna still wants to travel. The line about wanting a mate/wanting to mate was just what I wanted to hear. A season without mooning about between Doctor and Companion. That would be a relief.

So Donna runs to dump her keys and explain to any old bystander to inform the old bag known of mum where they are. Annnnnd….

Oh God, it’s Rose.

Still – the knowledge that there will be mooning at some point in this series is made up for by the last scene as Donna waves goodbye to Granddad. Again, a lovely scene for Mr Cribbins.

Gosh – we leap forward to the last four episodes of season 4 next, don’t we?

After watching all the first episodes of the RTD series, I think my favourite of them was probably Smith and Jones just before this. Despite a lot of charm in Partners in Crime, the central plot and design elements of Smith and Jones were stronger, I think.

[PhaseShift @phaseshift Time Lord]

@thekrynoidman

weren’t they the aliens that RTD2 said would be bigger than the Daleks?

I remember it well, it was on the sofa of BBC Breakfast, and said with the booming laugh and “nod and a wink” attitude of a man versed in irony who was excavating his cheek with his tongue.

It may have been reported in print in a different way, but anyone who saw him deliver that line would have realised he was most definitely taking the piss.

[ScaryB @scaryb]

I think this starts well, riffing on the screwball comedies, as others have pointed out, including the shiny glass office-block setting.  I like the setting-up of the Adipose plot (the diet industry must be one of the most sinister concepts of the last 20 years).

But it falls apart when it starts to go into details – 1 mysterious black van to go round and collect all the little babies born per night? Puh-lease!  And how to get 10,000 little Adipose babies safely to the mama-ship – they might be cute (lovely vfx work), but they’re very squashable. Several of them are done for by the arrival of the taxi.

I did like the toilet scene, where we’ve been led to believe that it’s Donna who’s been spotted, when in fact it’s the journalist.  But… but.. you mean both Donna and the journalist have been hiding in the loos for 9 hours?!! (9am – 6pm, according to the clock)

Tennant and Tate work really well together, including his admission that he screwed up Martha’s life (which ties in well, I thought, with his silence in Martha’s farewell scene).  I really like Tennant’s “shading” in his playing of the Dr, his quiet moments are really powerful, often poignant.

And Bernard Cribbins – what’s not to like there?

 

[Anonymous @]

As season openers go, this is probably my favourite. Donna’s back (and there’s something on it 😮 ).

I’ll admit it, I wasn’t overly thrilled when it was announced that Catherine Tate was to be the companion in ‘The Runaway Bride’ but she won me over in the first 5 mins. It’s a shame that Martha went but the return of Donna was a joyous moment.

The Adipose were a bit silly (but oh so adorable) but who cares? Donna’s back.

I like Sarah Lancashire but Miss Foster seemed a bit none-dimensional. But that’s ok cos Donna’s back.

And so is Bernard Cribbins! Yay! The scene ‘up the hill’ with Donna is superbly acted by both BC & CT and it’s always nice to see the softer side of Donna.

The Doctor and Donna are such a great pairing. DT and CT aren’t acting, they’re just letting their real-life friendship shone through. I can’t remember if it’s been posted before but here’s a link to part one of Catherine interviewing David.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBXB49zublM

The ‘miming’ scene still makes me chuckle. I can’t lip read yet I knew exactly what they were saying.

As I wasn’t on the internet at the time I had no idea that Billie Piper was returning for a few episodes so I sat there open mouthed when ‘random blonde spectator’ turned around to face Donna.

All in all, not a bad episode at all. Oh, and Donna’s back 😀

 

 

 

[Bluesqueakpip @bluesqueakpip]

The Adipose make me giggle. Every time. Whether it’s the CGI expressions, the little waves, or the various tones of the baby coos, I just start giggling.

The rest of the episode is also pretty funny – as quite a few people have said, screwball comedy. You can see that Tate and Tennant have non-romantic chemistry in buckets; they just work so well as a double act. I think this was my favourite pairing of the Tennant era.

I believe they got the fx on the cheap, as the people who’d done the huge scale armies for LOTR wanted to show that it was useable for TV work. But, yeah, the one black van does look a bit like ‘spent all the budget on the fx’.

[janetteB @janetteb]

We rescued the hard drive from the old machine just in time to catch up the Fourth series for as @craig says “Yay Donna” and Yay to Wilf too. This series is by far and away my favourite of the Tennant years. As with so many RTD stories the joy is in the details. The humour of the opening sequences is underpinned by the pathos of Donna’s desperate search for something meaningful in her life, so perfectly captured in that first precious scene on the hill with Wilf. Right from the start Donna is a heartwinner. (I was perhaps fortunate not to have been exposed to the Catherine Tate show so did not have the prejudice of many U.K viewers against the actor.)

The story itself is simplistic and so similiar to the first Sarah Jane Adventures story that I often confuse the two. I do enjoy RTD’s use of modern paranoias to drive his plots though the adipose, I suspect, are designed purely for the merchandisers. The concept only just holds up but it hardly matters. This story is really about Donna and the Doctor. I loved the scene in the beginning when he is in the Tardis, talking about what he is doing then looks up and realises there is no audience. The Doctor needs an audience and he is about to find just what he needs. Donna is his perfect foil. She prunes his ego, reminds him of his “humanity”, and is jolly good company.

cheers

Janette

[Arbutus @arbutus]

As I have said before, Donna is definitely my favourite AG companion. I really enjoyed this episode for its light touch and slightly poignant moments for both Donna and the Doctor. (Others have mentioned the brief scene in the TARDIS where the Doctor goes into full explanatory mode, only to remember that there is no one to explain things to. The TARDIS looked so big and empty at that moment.)

Agreed that, for the most part, the threat never felt very scary, but I never felt that was the point of the episode anyway. This was about seeing how Donna has evolved into someone who is really ready to take on the universe at the Doctor’s side. And I know it’s been said to death, but as a proper companion in the old-school Who fashion, who depends on the Doctor and who helps him, who has lots to learn but also lots to teach him. I know that not all the AG companions were like this, but the best ones were.

[Rewvian @rewvian]

I think the Adipose were another great creature idea, but if they were all infants then it would still be interesting to revisit them and see what they look like once they become adults.  I don’t recall the Adipose ever appearing again.  It was a bit weird to hear they converted from bone and hair and other things besides just fat.

Like the other users mentioned here many years ago now, the shining beacon of light in this episode was the comedy chemistry between the Doctor and Donna.  Seeing them miss running into each other many times was great, but seeing them finally run into each other and have a full on conversation without words through the windows was a brilliant moment.

The pill necklace was key to the plot, but was kind of a sketchy plot point.  I still don’t fully know how it worked, but apparently it made more Adipose.  Conversely at the end of the episode they helped the Doctor stop the creation of Adipose altogether.

The Foster mother having a sonic device of her own was a funny twist, and also made for a nightmare scene when she used it to leave the Doctor and Donna dangling from rope on the side of the building.  Seeing the Doctor use two sonic devices on each other was also a bit fun, and at least caused a worthwhile distraction.

Donna bringing tons of clothes that she had saved up for whenever she finally ran into the Doctor again was another great Donna moment.  So was the misunderstanding when Donna thought the Doctor said he wants to mate instead of “I want a mate.”  We didn’t get the same sort of introduction to Donna’s family as we got with Rose and Martha, but most of the screen time rightly went to Wilf.  It was as great seeing his happy reaction to Donna being in the TARDIS as it was seeing him completely miss the large UFO that took the Adipose.

Rose being at the end of the episode was another unexpected twist.

It was a nice, fun episode to ease us into the new season with Donna.  I’d say it was mission accomplished.

[Rewvian @rewvian]

I watched The Fires of Pompeii again so I’ll talk about it here.  …I might be using this thread for several episodes, actually.

Well right off the bat this episode features both Karen Gillan and Peter Capaldi in roles as a member of the Sisterhood and an art-collecting family man, respectively.

I usually don’t like the olden time episodes but this one is good.

Most of the episode centers around the volcano, and the Sisterhood and Lucius having psychic abilities from communicating with molten rock beings called Pyroviles.

The circuits Lucius commissions looked pretty cool.  The plot was a bit convoluted but I guess the circuits are being used to keep the volcano from erupting.

The Pyrovilles and the Sisterhood looked cool.  Even turned-to-stone leader of the Sisterhood.  Yeah so the Sisterhood (and Lucius) consume the vapors from the pits of fire, which is revealed to be stone sediment.  It gradually turns them to stone, and makes them into vessels for the Pyrovilles.

I liked the Doctor realizing that he was always the cause of Pompeii being destroyed.  Yes usually it bothers me when the show messes with historic events, but the way it was presented in this episode was well done.

Probably the most important lines were “She is returning”, and “There’s something on your back.”  But more importantly Donna’s insistence that the Doctor tries to save somebody, anybody from the volcano.

The Doctor and Donna being the household’s new beings to pray to was a cute moment.  It was good he tried to save somebody, but I feel like the show goes back and forth on the Doctor’s reasoning for saving people or stepping aside.

I also noted that the background looked better in this episode than in a lot of other old timey ones.  Well that is because it was actually filmed on-location in Rome.

[Rewvian @rewvian]

I watched Planet of the Ood, which again there aren’t threads for many of these episodes so I’ll keep posting here for a while.

I am obviously pretty fond of the episode, since the Ood are my favorite DW creatures.  I will add on to that by saying that the Doctor and Donna don’t have a lot to do in the episode, and everything is already sort of in play.  If anything the Doctor succeeds in slightly stalling Halpen from setting off the explosives and destroying the third, massive Ood brain.

Planet of the Ood basically gives us a look at the Ood trade and how they came to be a slave race.  We learn that where their translator orb is located was originally their hind-brain, which they carry around.  The Ood want to bring down the “circle”, a barrier that is blocking the big Ood brain from fully communicating with the Ood.  (Albeit slightly, as Dr. Ryder reveals himself to be a friend of the Ood, and had kept the barrier on its lowest setting.)  The Ood, despite years of objection to the truth, want to get back to their natural way of living and not be used for slavery.  The Ood want to sing together.

I think more than anything the episode takes a hard look at many emotions and at trustworthiness.  Anger, sadness, even patience are explored through the Ood.  And we watch as time and time again people are given the chance to right things and make the wrong choice.  A good example is when the PR lady just gives away the location of the Doctor and Donna.  Dr. Ryder and the Ood might be the only deaths in this episode that you walk away feeling sad about, since most of the supporting characters in the episode were jerks anyway, or else were soldiers following orders to kill the Ood.

There is a moment where the episode explores things from Donna’s perspective, mentioning how she longed to see the Doctor again and go see amazing sights across the universe, but now she has seen bad things and wants to go home.  I thought it was necessary to explore the conflicted feelings a companion might face while traveling with the Doctor, especially when their first two adventures featured lots of killing and slavery.

I loved the big reveal that Ood Sigma had slowly been lacing Halpen’s hair tonic with a special serum to turn him into an Ood.  It’s fates like these that are usually reserved for some of the biggest offenders in the Whoniverse, in this case Halpen gets to live as a creature he spent his entire life treating as a commodity.

I’m glad that we get to see the Ood a bit more after this, but I’m thankful for the episode giving them a beautiful, snowy homeland.  I think sometimes it really pays off for the writers to give monsters a second episode and catch up with them in another place or time.

[Rewvian @rewvian]

I watched The Sontaran Stratagem and The Poison Sky.  Of course since RTD or anyone else special didn’t write it, so it has no thread.

The basic plot is the Sontarans want to use Earth as a clone world, to make more Sontarans.  To achieve this they’ve placed poisonous gas into the ATMOS navigation systems that most cars in the show have, which when released is the gas necessary for the cloning process.  This whole plot seems unrealistic because a lot of people really know cars and wouldn’t let something like this slip by.

Even as the Doctor points out, nothing the Sontarans do is really straightforward or honorable in these episodes.  They make clones of two UNIT soldiers, which are still alive even though the people they are copies of don’t seem to be around like Martha was for her clone.  They team up with crazed boy genius to get the gas into the atmosphere in this sort of offhanded way to begin with, rather than just launching the gas there.  There’s just so many questionable things about what the Sontarans did.  Even their ability to stop ballistic guns from firing is dodgy later on in the episodes.

I liked that we got to see Martha again despite her no longer being a main companion.  Really the only part I had significant memory of from these episodes was the Sontarans doing their little war chant with boy genius.  So I don’t remember exactly how Martha’s engagement factors into things.  Apparently she’ll be tagging along for a couple of adventures though.

My favorite moment from these episodes was when the Doctor is wearing a gas mask with everyone else outside, and does the “Are you my mummy?” thing.

The Sontarans themselves look greatly identical to their original appearance in BG episodes, but at the same time somehow greatly improved.  I think their armor looks better, and I took note of some minor differences between the Sontarans like the one having a soul patch.  Like I said though, their actions are so anti-Sontaran in these episodes that I feel later episodes do a better job of showcasing the Sontarans.

There was also one point where the Sontarans told the boy genius that they were locking down their teleporter areas so people couldn’t come there that way again.  And people still kept doing it.  I’m not sure if it was overlooked or if it was a continuity thing or what, but it seemed like more problems for the sake of there being problems for our heroes to face.

The Doctor’s solution to burn the gas out of the skies was cool.  The moment he almost went to sacrifice himself to destroy the Sontaran ship was overkill, so I’m glad genius boy switched places with him to finish the job.  I would say this is the weakest of the two-part stories in series 4, but it is still very watchable.

[Rewvian @rewvian]

I watched through The Doctor’s Daughter.

Clearly most of this episode was some message about the pointlessness of war.  It follows a group of humans and Hath that have been fighting each other for a grand total of 7 days, but it has seemed like the war has been going on much longer to the clones whose generations go by quicker.

The Doctor is forced to put his hand into a machine and make a clone soldier of his own, a Time Lord named Jenny.  Jenny is played by the daughter of Fifth Doctor Peter Davison and eventual wife of David Tennant.  Jenny has the instincts of a soldier, but after confrontations with the Doctor, is able to change her ways and become a more peaceful person.

The Hath are sort of the monsters for this episode, but are basically more peaceful than the humans.  They look like fish people with special tanks on their faces to breathe out of water or something.  Martha becomes separated from the Doctor and Donna early in the episode and helps a wounded Hath, becoming a friend to them.

I liked that the numbers they kept seeing above doors and things turned out to be dates, and that Donna figured it out.  I also liked that the “Source” turned out to be a terraforming orb, used to make the planet habitable.  Though despite that, the background imagery for the planet’s surface did look pretty cool whenever they showed Martha and the one Hath traveling across it.

The episode did have a bit of a twist ending, which I’d forgotten.  Jenny is shot and the Doctor says goodbye, believing she is unable to regenerate but content that she shared a lot in common with him after all.  But Jenny is shown to pull through being shot and jumps back up to take the space ship and go on adventures of her own throughout the universe.  It leaves the door open for Jenny to appear on the show again, though that likely won’t happen.  Especially this many years later.  I am satisfied with the idea that she survived and is out there somewhere, anyway.

I will probably be posting on this thread at least one more time after watching the next episode.

[Rewvian @rewvian]

I watched The Unicorn and the Wasp.

So apparently the story is true and Agatha Christie did go missing one night in 1926.  In this episode the Doctor and Donna are guests at a dinner party along with Christie, and a large wasp is attacking and killing the guests.  The wasp is the monster in this story, and is known as a Vespiform.  Christie and the Doctor try to solve the mystery of who the killer is, and it comes off like Clue or, more apparently, like an Agatha Christie novel.

I can remember back when I first became a DW fan, this is one of the episodes fans pointed to as an example of one of the worst episodes in the show’s run.  While this is by no means a superb episode, I think it did have some fun moments.  Most notably when they’re asking all of the guests what they were doing at 4 o’clock, and every guest leaves something out of their stories.

Aside from the Wasp there is the Unicorn, which is a thief who is trying to steal a necklace from the hostess.  This is figured out pretty easily a while before the Wasp.

The antagonist is eventually figured out, and Agatha fulfills her destiny to vanish that night, returning with no memory of the night before.  The necklace is shown to have binding powers and is affecting Agatha Christie until the villain finally lets her go.  It was fun to see the crystal ball containing the Carrionites is still in the Doctor’s possession, in a chest beneath the TARDIS’ grates.

So all in all this episode didn’t have the most diabolical or original villain, and the stakes weren’t very high.  But that’s okay, not every episode of DW needs to be a Silence in the Library.  I think it made for a fun episode and something a little bit easier and less anxious, and paid an homage to the writing of Agatha Christie.

[Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent]

@rewvian    The Poison Sky – I had a problem with.   Specifically, burning the gas out of the atmosphere.   (This is where my technical scepticism kicks in).   You need a certain percent of inflammable gases in air to actually burn, and for almost any gas you care to name, that concentration would be way higher than could be achieved by modified car exhausts.    If the Sontaran gas was poisonous, all of humanity would be dead long before flammability concentration was reached.   And when ignited – you’d have the biggest ever air-fuel explosion.   Intense heat radiation, a massive pressure wave,  and the casualty list would be like that of a nuclear war.

Yes I know it’s less impossible than time travel, but I can accept the Tardis as ‘alien tech’ whereas combustion in the atmosphere is very much terrestrial chemistry.     The interaction of alien tech and Earth tech is often a sticking point for me.   Like the Spitfires attacking the Dalek ship in Victory of the Daleks.   I cringe at that.   Spitfires in space – they need air to operate.

The Doctor’s Daughter – I liked.   Jenny – Georgia Tennant, who really is a Doctor’s daughter, also a Doctor’s wife, also the daughter of a Hitchhiker companion (Trillian) – but anyway, she was a charming character.   I was shocked when she got shot and delighted when she revived.   I would have laid odds she’d be back in later episodes but for some reason that never happened.

The Unicorn and the Wasp – I thought was a middling-good episode.   I’m surprised to hear it was ever rated one of the worst, I always found it was easy enough to watch.

[janetteB @janetteb]

@rewvian I just wasn’t overly keen on the Sontaran two parter, though was good to meet up with Martha and Wilf again. Both Doctor’s Daughter and Unicorn and the Wasp are light weight, enjoyable episodes. I found the later to be very reminiscent of the Davison story, Black Orchid which also taps into a literary tradition, is set in a country house and has that “comedy of manners” feel.

It was a nice touch to cast Georgia Tennant as Jenny given her heritage, and led of course to that wedding speech like no other.  I am sure it is mentioned elsewhere on this site, (because otherwise I would not know this) but apparently it was Moffat who said that Jenny should be kept alive. He felt that she was a narrative resource that should not be simply discarded, ie killed off. A future writer could well bring back Jenny whether as played by Georgia Tennant or in a new regeneration. (Moffat keeping story elements that future writers might want to utilise to enrich the canon. Now who does that not sound like?)

Cheers

Janette

 

[Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent]

@janetteb   I think Georgia Tennant is too old now to play Jenny (unless of course Jenny has aged in the story).   Which is a pity because, yes, Jenny had potential.   What wedding speech was that – Tennants?   Is it on Youtube?

Anyway, I really can’t bring to mind the person you’re referring to in your last sentence.   Unless – let’s see – Time Lords – all dead.   Cybermen – all dead.   Daleks – all dead.   Universe – mostly destroyed.   But there is a new alien race, the Lupari – no, wait, they’re all dead too, except for one.   Sontarans, all dead, except for 7 billion unconscious ones in Lupari ships (who I suspect will shortly be all dead too if the surviving Lupari has a big red button he can push).

 

 

 

 

[Rewvian @rewvian]

@janetteb

@dentarthurdent

I’m assuming you guys are talking about Chibnall discarding a lot of things in DW.  I know he rewrote a lot of big things.  At least The Power of the Doctor will include the Daleks, Cybermen and the Master.

I think Jenny could still be in play if they have a good way to bring her back.  Unlikely yes, but impossible no.  I think AG DW is getting to have a lot of episodes though, so it is asking a lot of fans to accept the return of a character from clear back in series 4.  But then we are talking about a show that has brought back creatures from the sixties.

Maybe The Poison Sky was unrealistic.  I guess I accepted the resolution in the moment, lol.

Yeah, I seem to remember The Unicorn and the Wasp wasn’t well-received.  But I looked it up and it seems as though the episode received pretty decent review scores.  So I am assuming it must not have been as well-received by fans.  Or at least among circles of fans it was considered a weaker episode.

I, too, wonder about this wedding speech.

[janetteB @janetteb]

@dentarthurdent and @rewvian Thankfully not on you tube (as a private family moment) but Peter Davison joked later about his speech at the wedding, which I imagine might well have been complicated.

Cheers

Janette

 

[Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent]

@rewvian   It will be interesting to see (in The Power of the Doctor) how Chibbers deals with having killed all the Daleks and Cybermen.  Though I guess it has been known for them to rebuild from next to nothing.   But – that quickly?

Re The Poison Sky, I think we all have our own set of features we’re sensitive to.   In my case, it’s physics, which is to say ‘alien tech’ is fine but Earth tech had really oughta be credible.   (Also, history, with particular reference to technological pioneers).   That’s just me.

@janetteb   I had assumed Tennant’s wedding speech was on Youtube or somewhere.   That’s not unthinkable, weddings are semi-public occasions and many people do put their weddings up on Youtube.   But I firmly believe people have an absolute right to keep their family functions as private as they want.

Rather bizarrely, at the height of Covid, some people put their funerals up on Youtube, (I damn sure wouldn’t!)  and the vagaries of the Youtube algorithm brought them up on Mrs D’s viewing list, she watched them with interest in her usual indiscriminate way.   At the moment the Algorithm is swamping us with Princess Di and Meghan Markle (yawn) and, a merciful relief, young southeast Asian women building shacks and living in the ‘bush’.

[VickyMallard @vickymallard]

Okay, this seems like one of those threads that covers a number of episodes… so I’ll do my best. (For some episodes, I wrote down thoughts while I was watching or immediately afterwards, for some I just summarised what I remembered. But I loved them all and will most likely watch them again anyway)

Partners in Crime
I had seen scenes from this episodes plenty of times so I was very glad to finally be able to watch the full episode. And even though I had seen it at least 50 times already, I still laughed so much at this “Donna does a little mime” bit! But I loved the rest of the episode too, it was just nice to have Donna back. Although I was a bit confused by her character, it seemed so wrong seeing here so lethargic while Mum keeps bossing her around. Donna never struck me as a character shy of talking back to anyone, so that was just weird in my eyes. But it was so great to see Wilf, especially now after “The Star Beast”. This was where it all began…
The storyline itself was somewhat bananas – I was fully with Donna’s “I can’t believe I’m waving at fats…!” The Adipose are probably the cutest monsters ever seen on Doctor Who? And it seemed such a logical and – for many people – desirable combination. Humans lose weight and the Adipose can reproduce. How convenient not having to worry about a healthy lifestyle any more, right? (Except for when things go wrong, of course.) It seems an almost obvious idea for a story yet I would never in my life have come up with it. Brilliant!
When she’s not with her mother, Donna seems a bit louder than in later episodes, I’m glad they turned that down a bit. I really love that she has her own mind and is not afraid to talk back to the Doctor – he needs that! I liked the bit with Donna having all of her bags readily packed in the car – apparently at all times? And the Doctor’s face when she’s sort of moving in. “I just want a mate.” – “You’re not mating with me, spaceman!” Well, you did find your mate, Doctor…. (well, at least in my head and for this incarnation!)

The Fires of Pompeii
It’s been a while since I watched this episode but I absolutely loved it. I loved the set, I loved Donna being excited and loud and trying to save the population. She is downright annoying at times and hellbent at not letting this happen. And I also love her later on, when she sees the choices the Doctor has to face, and despite everything she said before, she does not let him bring this over them all by himself. I loved her desperation, that this is not what she had come for, that she never wanted to see this. But even within that, she makes sure the Doctor saves at least those he CAN save. And she does not leave.
And of course I loved the Doctor, first in a tight spot having to put up with Donna and then – possibly neither the first not the last time – faced with the most horrible decision possible. Bringing death and destruction over the people he just shook hands with. Fantastic episode. Definitely one of my favourites so far.

Planet of the Ood
Also a lovely episode, also watched a while ago. I can’t remember all the details, but it was sweet and terrifying at the same time. This cruelty against the Ood is so incredibly human – it was frightening to think that this would most likely actually happen.
When I saw that guy with the hair tonic drink whatever Ood Sigma gave him, I couldn’t really decide whether he was just downright stupid or naive. But I guess he was simply too arrogant to even think of the idea that an Ood could harm him. He got what he deserved in the end.
I do like the Ood, they are so almost ethereal and peaceful. But as the Doctor said: a species that carries their brains in their hands cannot go for conflict. I hope we will see a lot more of them!

Sontaran Stratagem / The Poison Sky
So now I finally meet the famous potato-headed Sontarans! And then there’s Martha again, now working for Unit. Good to see her back and so much potential in her meeting Donna (“Don’t fight!” – “Oh, I wish you’d rather be fighting” – always fun to watch). And whilst the Doctor despises all the military protocol and is so annoyed when people salute, Donna (being new to such reactions) quite enjoys the attention – “I’m Donna, and yes, I would like a salute!”
And poor Martha was captured and cloned – I was wondering when the Doctor would figure out that she’s not the real deal, or rather when he would do something about it. It looked to me as if he recognised the fake right away, but as with Rose being possessed by Cassandra in New New Earth he played along for a bit. Although in this case… quite a bit!
I have meanwhile probably forgotten half of what I wanted to say about the episode, but I liked it. Donna’s mum is a bit too annoying for me, but we also get Wilf which makes up for it. That whole atmosphere converter thing was a bit over the top for me – one shot from that thing and the whole atmosphere of the whole planet ignites in a few seconds? Just to leave clear air behind a few seconds later? Hmmmm…. but okay, it’s television. And then there’s this fictional version of Elon Musk going nuts – I was a bit confused that these geniuses he recruited were actually going along with his military organisation style. But at least they kept their brains and left him when they found out what he had done. And he was smart indeed – outsmarting the Doctor who is hellbent on his plans is quite a feat, I guess. And I also guess that it was the only thing left for him to do, as he couldn’t live with what he’s done – and/or continue to live in this world that does not appreciate his ingenuity to the extent he wants. I liked that bit. I also liked the bit with the Doctor rambling about being stuck without a Tardis “like an ordinary human – no offense”. And then there is Donna being abducted within the Tardis, left on her own, only to be told by the Doctor that there is a phone, but with no further instructions as to whom she should call. Reminded me a bit of Human Nature/Family of Blood, when Martha is left with instruction but none of them involve the arrival of aliens. But like a true companion, Donna managed it all brilliantly. And I like that she asks Martha if she wants to come along again – and then the Tardis flies off all on its own – even without anyone spilling coffee! Interesting…

The Doctor’s Daughter
Finally the famous daughter! I couldn’t help but laugh when I read the description on the BBC IPlayer “The Doctor meets the most important woman of his life” – with the benefit of hindsight, so very true in so many ways 😉
Great opening –“Where are we going?” – “I don’t know, but my hand seems very excited about it!”
That tissue sample taking machine looked properly impressive, although given the sounds from the Doctor while his hand was in there I expected slightly more damage than that scratch. But it looked good, and it WAS quite impressive how quickly that was processed into a fully-grown lifeform. Although I’m a bit confused, why only the Doctor? Why don’t they take samples from Donna and Martha too?
Martha gets abducted and Jenny blows off half the tunnel. I like that the Doctor is only worried about Martha in this situation and not about his Tardis being potentially destroyed too. Also interesting aliens with these bubbly green things! I loved how they were all touching Martha like some sort of new pet puppy.
The Doctor is slowly warming towards Jenny – and once again, it’s Donna who keeps an open mind and makes it possible. As I generally like this particular Doctor getting emotional, I very much liked the scene where he explains what a Timelord is. And yes, I know at the time this was shot David and Georgia weren’t even dating yet, but watching this some 15 years later I find it just amazing knowing what is to become of it. Okay, back to the story. Jenny certainly knows the tricks of the trade, seducing the guard to steal his gun and get him to open the door. And of course there’s Donna… “I’d like to see you try that…” I’m with you on that one, Donna, I’d quite like to see that too 😉 And the Doctor has a Mr Clicky in his pockets?! Just in case, or what? LOL. Seems to be quite useful, though.
Martha is meanwhile trying to make her way across the surface with her new fish friend. And he sacrifices himself to save her. What a scene – wonderful.
And here we go again, the Doctor mentioning that he once had a family. Hard to imagine for me, but I found it very touching when he admitted that having Jenny around would remind him of what he has lost, and of that part of him that died with them. And Donna consoling him like only she can. This certainly felt like an early version of Fourteen. I loved that scene.
What I didn’t really get was the solution to the conflict. So…. It’s only been a week? I mean since apparently one party was human, I can accept that they write the date as we do on earth. But if they – as the Doctors said – go through I don’t know how many generations in just one week, how long is a week on that planet? And if they go through so many generations in such a short time, how come we don’t really see a generation change in the full hour that we spent there? The only new arrival was Jenny, as far as I could see. And these two groups of about a dozen each are all there is? That seemed rather strange.
And then of course comes the heartbreaking scene when Jenny dies. And the Doctor goes through losing a family again. Absolutely heartbreaking. Brilliant. And he hopes for a regeneration that never comes. However her death is not in vain and humans and Haths seem to be able live in peace now. Although… that was a bit too kitschy for me – oh yeah, one moment we’ve been enemies for generations and the next moment we all live happily ever after. Hm.
Wow! So Jenny does regenerate in the end and is still out there?! (I had wondered how Martha would know that there are no signs of her regenerating, as far as I know she never witnessed the process/signs? Anyway…) That was certainly a surprise, I love that! And my fanfiction mind has just exploded with possibilities….

The Unicorn and the Wasp
This episode felt somewhat weird – maybe I haven’t seen enough Agatha Christie movies to fully grasp it? (I admit I’m only familiar with Ms Marple anyway). I liked the Mousetrap-like setting of it and that everyone had a secret but it wasn’t being the wasp. I got a bit lost as in why the wasp was trying to kill in the first place – risk of exposure, I assume.
I liked the bit with the Doctor being poisoned and “detoxing” – “I need a shock!” and Donna kissing him! I laughed so much! (Also because I just very recently came across one of those fan question panels where DT referred to this scene. I can’t remember the exact question, it had something to do with the number of takes for kissing scenes, and he remembered this one specifically because he felt so sorry for Catherine Tate having to kiss him covered in this relatively unhygienic food-covered state and with a mouth full of walnuts and anchovis, or something like that. Why exactly did he pour that ginger beer over his head? Does it work externally as well?! But it was fun to watch.)
There was a lot more in this episode that I liked, but I can’t remember it right now.

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