Doctor Who, Series 4, Episode 6: The Doctor's Daughter

Usually, I allow a few days before posting my comments on the latest episode, but I so enjoyed this one that I am rashly going to review it after just the one viewing. Actually, I should have waited a bit longer to review "The Poison Sky", the second of the Sontaran two-parter. Viola had a girls night out last night, and both the kids were out with friends, and after mowing the lawn I fitted in my second viewing of that episode and I was really struck by how weak it was. I think I will have to revise my rating down to three TARDIS groans. It has great moments but the story overall was pretty absurd, especially the last ten minutes or so. The whole Martha clone business was a bit rubbish, and the resolution of the fire burning up the poison gas in the sky was a bit crap too. Part of the problem these days is that I am too excited by a first viewing of an episode, and need the second to assess it properly. Nevertheless, even on first viewing, I must say how much I enjoyed "The Doctor's Daughter".

As predicted, there was always going to be more than meets the eye in an episode so upfront about "doctor's daughter" and we were still in the pre-credit sequence when we found at that he had known nothing of her up until this point, with the expected tissue sample and generation, etc. The thing that is most difficult to judge on first viewing is the story. It seemed to hang together fine to me, though, and there were lots of things to love about this episode. First off, Catherine Tate continues to impress as Donna; Tennant had some fine moments as he had to act the doctor's reflections on all those years and all that pain, and Freema Agyeman makes us feel a sense of the familiar, a nostalgia for recent happiness now gone. But the star of the show was Georgia Moffett. How great was she?! I could choose lots of great clips, and this is as good as any:



My favourite review this week is from Behind the Sofa, Stuart Ian Burns, Genesis Wave:

. . . . This cleverly conceived new genetic anomaly does also indeed allow us to see how the Doctor copes with these emotions without overloading the canon (and was that the first time we’ve heard that word in a Confidential?). Helped by a brilliant performance from Tennant, who still somehow manages to make each tear surprising, we were able to see that indeed the Doctor can be just like us, he can care like us, can care about a child just like us and yet still be God-like, worthy, as much to do with truth and justice as Superman, even as it’s revealed he’s done some very bad things. Jenny let us see that for the first time since he bid goodbye to Susan in a London wrecked by a The Dalek Invasion of Earth.

Plus, she’s well fit.

And from a little later in the same review, and also worth quoting:

It seems wrong somehow to fancy Peter Davison’s progeny; it's like being back at school, noticing someone in your class then finding out she's your teacher’s daughter and so clearly out of bounds (believe me, I know). But from the minute she stepped out of the Ikea-redesigned Telepod from The Fly, I found myself repeatedly irritated when the camera cut somewhere else, even to the increasingly lush Catherine Tate and former obsession Freema.

Once again, this episode had that classic Who feeling -- funny looking aliens, a companion separated from the doctor, lots of running down corridors. Unlike classic Who, it continues to be laugh out loud funny. There are now more laughs in a standard episode of Doctor Who than there are in most contemporary comedies -- it is just full of great one-liners. Let's hope that it knows when to stop; at the moment, I'm loving the comedy.

And could it possibly be that there will be another spin-off? It's all nicely set up for that at the end. Den of Geek thinks so. I'll be watching, no question about it.

I want to adjust my ratings a little at this point. I was definitely a bit too generous about eps. 4 and 5, and perhaps also 3; perhaps 1 too, but no, that was a cracker. Perhaps all of them. Well, here are my latest ratings:

Partners in Crime: 4 1/2 TARDIS groans
Fires of Pompeii: 4 TARDIS groans
Planet of the Ood: 4 1/2 TARDIS groans.
The Sontaran Stratagem / The Poison Sky: 3 TARDIS groans.
The Doctor's Daughter: 4 1/2 TARDIS groans.

Doctor Who, Series 4, Episode 6 Trailer: The Doctor's Daughter

Very much looking forward to this one tomorrow (and I am enjoying these trailers with the close-up "eye" -- is this going to be important?):



I can't imagine that it is really going to turn out to be his daughter, is it? That will be too major a contribution to the Doctor Who legend, won't it? In the past Russell T. Davies has been contented with just odd one-liners about his family, and now a whole episode? I'm intrigued, all the more so with this great bit of casting -- of Georgia Moffett, Peter Davison (the fifth doctor)'s daughter.

Footnote 1 (13:31): in comments, Doug Chaplin agrees that there is likely to be more to this than meets the eye, but adds, "why would this be "too major a contribution" – the series started with the Doctor being accompanied by his granddaughter Susan". Well, since that opening episode (which I recently watched again, having received "The Beginnings" DVD set for my birthday), there have been scant references to the doctor's family, and Susan's identity has not been clarified. How is she his grandaughter? Who were her parents? What happened to them all? In general, Russell T. Davies has appeared content to offer little hints, e.g. the mention of his own wedding at the end of "Blink" last year, without filling in lots of details from his biography, and I'd still be surprised if he decides to do this with the forthcoming episode.

Footnote 2 (13.38): I notice that the writer of this episode is Stephen Greenhorn, who wrote "The Lazarus Experiment" in last year's series, and more recently two episodes of Echo Beach, which, along with its partner programme Moving Wallpaper, has been been a favourite of ours. That reminded me to check up on news about whether these two related series, which had relatively poor ratings (but then they were up against The Passion on Good Friday!), had been recommissioned. It seems that Moving Wallpaper will come back for a second series and Echo Beach will return "in some form" (Moving Wallpaper to return to ITV).

Doctor Who, Series 4, Eps. 4-5: Sontaran Stratagem, Poison Sky

I was expecting to find the Helen Raynor double bill of "The Sontaran Stratagem" and "The Poison Sky" to be the low point of Series 4. I found the stories she penned in Series 3, the double of "Daleks in Manhattan" and "Evolution of the Daleks" the low point of that series and perhaps my least favourite episodes overall since the revival in 2005. I was very pleasantly surprised, therefore, to find her stories in this series an awful lot better. A lot better. Still not up to the standards of the first three episodes of this series, all of which rated 4 TARDIS groans or more for me, but still thoroughly enjoyable.

These episodes had a "Classic Who" feel about them, the return of UNIT, the return of the Sontarans, marching down corridors, absurd plots about cloning and the like, combined with a lot of what characterizes typical new Who, modern day technology (this time sat-nav) co-opted for evil by aliens, a school with strange goings-on, clips of BBC News 24, and lots of welcome companion family back-story. I am still loving watching Catherine Tate as Donna; Jacqueline King as her mother is already becoming a rival to Rose's mum Jacky, and Bernard Cribbins is wonderful as Wilf. (And it now seems pretty clear that he is not the same character that he played in 1966. Perhaps it's his cousin, just like Freema Agyeman played her own cousin before becoming Martha). I enjoyed all the classic Who references, especially to the Brigadier in the second of the two episodes (but why is he "stranded in Peru"? He has not retired there -- he is stranded. A tease?). I could have coped with even more; I was longing for them to unveil Bessie, kept in pristine condition all these years. If Columbo can still be driving that clapped out Peugeot, why can't the doctor get Bessie back? And there would be no danger of it having the ATMOS system installed.

I am enjoying the fact that there are also references to older new-Who, that the revival is old enough for it to be self-referencing, as when they are donning gas masks and the doctor says, "Are you my mummy?" To me, that two-parter from the first series in 2005 seems recent, but to kids now 10, they were 7 when they saw that -- it already seems like a long time ago to them.

My favourite review this week is from Behind the Sofa. Paul Kirkley's Sex Lives of the Potato Men gets "The Sontaran Stratagem" exactly right; here's a quotation:

. . . much of what we’ve seen in series four so far wouldn’t have felt that out of place among the Doctor Who of 1970 (or, indeed, 1988). Except with one, crucial difference: It’s really, genuinely, laugh-out-loud funny.

The Pertwee era’s idea of comedy was having a local yokel scratching his head and resolving to stay off the booze in a Mummerset accent. Today, we have non-exploding jeeps, comic monologues about petrol station pork pies and Catherine Tate calling the Doctor a prawn. This, I hope you’ll agree, is what we call Progress.

And since this one was a two-parter, I'll allow myself a reference to my favourite review of "The Poison Sky", by Neil, also on Behind the Sofa, The Fog of War,

Has Doctor Who ever been this much fun before? Seriously? UNIT getting its arse kicked by Sontarans. The Sontarans getting its arse kicked by UNIT. The Doctor kicking everyone's arse. Does it really get any better than that? This was far more thrilling than watching emotionless Cybermen and Daleks bitch-slapping each other, and the direction and music conspired get my juices flowing even more than Iron Man did (and I loved that too!). Even during a second viewing, when I was more than prepared to critically savage it in the cold light of day, I still found myself being caught up in the drama of it all. So many great moments: Colonel Mace finally growing some balls, the victorious return of the Valiant, Bernard Cribbens sending his granddaughter on an adventure of a lifetime. For once, I could actually buy into the Doctor's ebullient cry of "Bwrilliant!!'

Favourite moments? Lots from "The Sontaran Stratagem", but this is one of several laugh out loud moments, the doctor saying goodbye (prematurely) to Donna:



And from "The Poison Sky", well, I missed it first time round (my parents were here and I was up and down with food and wine), but the reappearance of Rose, on the TARDIS console, is naturally the most talked about moment:



I am very much enjoying the way that the return of Rose is beginning to develop. I have to admit that if anything, though, my favourite moment on Saturday was the preview for the next episode, which looks like it could be a cracker.

I rate this two-parter at three and a half TARDIS groans. Not the best by a long way, but more than passable, and surprisingly so.

So my series ratings so far (contrast Loren Rosson's more curmudgeonly ratings):

Partners in Crime: 4 1/2 TARDIS groans
Fires of Pompeii: 4 TARDIS groans
Planet of the Ood: 5 TARDIS groans.
The Sontaran Stratagem / The Poison Sky: 3 1/2 TARDIS groans.

Humphrey Lyttelton

I was so sorry to hear of the death of Humphrey Lyttelton last week (Times Obituary). I never miss an episode of I'm Sorry I haven't a clue and radio without Humph is as difficult to imagine as radio without Brian Johnston or John Peel (both still missed). My dad and I listened to Kenneth Clarke presenting Humphrey Lyttelton: A Celebration as we drove in to Duke last Thursday. It was a delightful programme and I learnt a lot about his jazz. Today's Simon Mayo (and Daily Mayo podcast) discussed whether the show should go on. I'd like to see it continue, but Humph will be a very difficult act to replace.

Prisoner Remake back on the agenda

I think I am pleased to hear the news that the remake of The Prisoner is back on the agenda again, after Sky TV pulled out a couple of years ago (No Prisoner remake . . .). ITV are making it, but there is precious little information so far. The two actors currently mentioned in connection with the role of Number Six would both be interesting choices, Christopher Eccleston (brilliant as the ninth doctor in the revived Doctor Who in 2005) and Jim Caviezel. Both actors have "Jesus" connections, Eccleston in the Russell T. Davies drama, The Second Coming in 2003, and Jim Caviezel in Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ. I doubt that either figure will end up in the role, but either would be very interesting.

The best news article on the proposed remake is on BBC News, Prisoner remake "set to go ahead". The Prisoner Online is keeping watch; so too are The Unmutual, Six of One and Portmeirion's own website.

Doctor Who, Series 4, Episode 3: Planet of the Ood

"Planet of the Ood" was fantastic. A great story, several good comedy moments (especially the "quality" handcuffs) and one of Murray Gold's best scores yet. The Ood song at the end of the episode, marking their liberation from slavery, was the first genuine tear-jerker of the series and the highlight of the episode:



I was not expecting to enjoy this one anything like as much as I did. On the whole, I like earth-bound stories more than alien planet stories, and I was not particularly excited, before watching it, about seeing the Ood from Series 2 again. But it confounded all those expectations. The best -- and most entertaining -- review I have seen of this episode is on Behind the Sofa, Song from Ten, by Neil Perryman.

This is definitely the strongest start to any of the new Doctor Who series. Three episodes in and all excellent, and this one quite the best. Catherine Tate is a revelation. Five TARDIS groans from me.

Thus, for Series 4 so far, my ratings are:

Partners in Crime: 4 1/2 TARDIS groans
Fires of Pompeii: 4 TARDIS groans
Planet of the Ood: 5 TARDIS groans.

Nottingham Forest Promoted!

These have been difficult years for the once great Nottingham Forest. As a child, I used to watch them at the City Ground pretty regularly, and they were the glory days -- Brian Clough, Trevor Francis, John Robertson, Tony Woodcock, Garry Byrtles, Kenny Burns, Peter Shilton, Viv Anderson, two European Cups and more. It's not quite so easy to support them from overseas, especially while they've been languishing in League 1, but I'm naturally delighted that they secured promotion from League 1 to the Championship on Saturday, the best news the club has had in some years. And with Derby County getting relegated from the Premiership, once again Forest will be meeting Derby next season. Wonder who will finish higher?