Doctor Who - Series Two Review
I'll get into any sort of spoilers in the first comment of this post.
When Doctor Who returned in 2005, that a television series that was pretty much the same old Doctor Who in spirit as well as in title was enough to celebrate.
The second season was patterned very similar to the first, really.
In the first comment I'll go from worst to best:
3 Comments:
11. Fear Her
The worst thing for Doctor Who is to be boring. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that Fear Her was boring – but it was as average an episode as you can get. There are a lot of themes that run throughout the series, and sometimes I think Fear Her’s similarities with The Idiot’s Lantern are a good way to thematically set up Rose’s departure. But generally, it’s just there. And while I can appreciate that lighting the Olympic flame is one of those things that the Doctor always says that he does – I’m not sure it works to actually see him do it. It’s the last episode because in twenty years, it is going to be the one that everyone forgets.
10. New Earth
New Earth gives Billie Piper her best chance to play comedy during her time in the series. And she is by far the highlight of this episode. The resolution of the story is silly – but really in keeping with the rest of the story. David Tennant moves from being the new new Doctor to “just” being the Doctor. The Cat Nurses are some of the best designed aliens in the series so far.
9. Rise of the Cybermen / Age of Steel
I know that some people can’t forgive this story for not being the Big Finish audio Spare Parts. And Spare Parts is certainly better than this. But playing up the dark side of our iPod and Bluetooth society is a good, modern twist to bring back the second biggest Doctor Who monster. It is very much in keeping with the original idea from 40 years ago – but still manages to be contemporary.
8. The Idiot’s Lantern
When I was a child, and we played with our space Legos, we needed both good guys and an evil alien race – and the easiest way to do this was to flip their face around so it would be a blank, no faced Lego astronaut. So this story has one thing that Fear Her doesn’t have – No Faces.
7. Tooth And Claw
The werewolf in this story is perhaps the best CG werewolf I’ve seen – and that includes Harry Potter. After series one there were some people that thought that Russell T Davies could do character episodes, but that his plots were lacking. But the plot here is set up perfectly. We’re hit over the head a little with her set up for the Torchwood Institute, but it’s a delightful episode.
6. The Christmas Invasion
David Tennant manages to establish himself as the Doctor in just the last few acts of this story. And he establishes himself as the Doctor immediately. When they found Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor, they found the best actor available for the role. Doctor Who was brought back just so David Tennant could play the character. Christmas Invasion managed it all perfectly, and re-established right away that this was a series that could change the title character.
5. Love and Monsters
This is a controversial episode. I’ve already said that this episode really works for me. I recognize LINDA, I know Victor Kennedy. There’s some criticism that Ursula’s fate was worse than death – but there’s no reason to see that either Elton or Ursula share that opinion, in fact, quite the opposite.
4. School Reunion
My first solid memories of Doctor Who are of Sarah Jane Smith and a Robot. I recognized the Doctor’s reaction to seeing Sarah Jane in my own. David Tennant’s not acting there. This is one story where the minimal plot is quite alright. And the scene between David Tennant and Anthony Head at the school poolside is the sort of scene that we love in a series like this.
3. Army of Ghosts / Doomsday
Daleks vs Cybermen was always going to be a crap idea. I mean, Big Finish didn’t dare. The New Adventures didn’t dare. Terry Nation rejected the idea. And then the cliffhanger for Army of Ghosts is the best cliffhanger entrance of the Daleks since the 1960s. Rose’s departure is the twist that makes it more than just an obvious, easy idea. And it provides a satisfying conclusion for Rose’s entire family – I wouldn’t have expected to cheer to see Mickey return after the first episode of the 2005 series. Who knew that the Daleks could be that funny and still be Daleks?
2. The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit
In much the same way that Sarah Jane’s reappearance in School Reunion had a pre-programmed response amongst this long-term fan, hearing The Voice Of Sutekh made this by far the scariest episode of the new Doctor Who to date. And the Ood have to be one of the best designed aliens in the series ever. The ending is a bit disappointing, but really, it is one of the highlights of the entire run of the series.
1. The Girl In The Fireplace
From note one to the end this episode does the impossible. It stands alone – and while it echoes many of the themes of the entire series, it has a great little piece of science fiction, and the clockwork robots are a work of art. It is uniquely Doctor Who despite being a love story for the Doctor. But it is also the story of the season as a whole in one episode.
The second series is more consistent than the first one. The growing pains have been worked out. There are still a few things that could be improved upon – I’m not sure that they’ve managed the season-wide “word” quite right yet. I think the themes connecting the episodes together worked a whole lot better than Torchwood being dropped into various episodes. I’m not sure if you can build to the Biggest Season Finale Yet each year. But that’s worrying about the future – and for the moment, the second series made it easy enough to enjoy the present state of Doctor Who.
To each their own with Series 2, I suppose. I found "The Impossible To Watch Episode" and it's second part perhaps the worst of this series. Just my take on it, though.
#5 - You can't beat a bit of ELO. :)
#4 - I ADORED the moment when David turns around and sees Sarah Jane. A truly classic moment.
And I certainly agree with you on your #1 choice. TGITF was hands-down the best of the series.
And as for the "word"... I think it's more a sentence... "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." ... seemed to be uttered by David quite a bit in Series 2.
Nice breakdown of Series 2. :)
Jill
dr. who coat
Do not limit yourself the doctor who episodes are great and i love the work of doctors
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