Kelvington's Corner

If you are a fan of Doctor Who, you might enjoy this little video, Paul Sibbald and I did. Be warned some spoilers might lie ahead for those of you in the states...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=d-T6KDn_mUo

I wish I could figure out how to upload my videos here again, but they simply won't go.

Just my 2¢,
Kelvington

First I'm not the biggest fan of two-parters, six-parters yes, two-parters no. Why? Because with a six parter you know you have some ebb and flow. In a two parter you know it's all setup on one side and all running on the other. Just like a roller coaster with one hill. That being said, "Doctor Who - The Stolen Earth" or as I will forever refer to it, "Doctor Who and The Night of Two Many Cameos". If you have ever wondered what it would be like to see a justice league movie, with Batman and Superman and Wonder Woman, well I think it would be a lot like tonight's Doctor Who. Kinda cool and kinda a train wreck. One of the problems with shows like this, is trying to give everyone their "moment". Something distinctive that stands out so they can say... "oh did you see what Sara Jane did?" and rubbish like that. This was always one of the reasons the "Five Doctors" didn't work too well. Sure there are a few moments that are wicked cool, and don't get me wrong the episode is great, but did we really need to see "Mr. Smith"? Come'on, he's just a computer... seriously?

That being said, I pretty much thought that for one of RTD last bits on Doctor Who, it was amazing. There has been lots of talk over the series about a huge reset coming. Well, this I suspect, will be one of the largest. You can't pull Earth out of it's orbit, put it some where else in the universe without a whole, Superman makes the Earth spin backwards kind of moment at the end of next week. But if you don't think ahead, and you don't think too much about the plot and the physics involved, it's a wondrous story. Plus we get to see NEARLY everyone who is anyone, from the last few years of Doctor Who, except... and this is notable, Adam. Where is Adam? Now I don't want to spoil too much here, but if you think about it. You know the big bad guy in this episode? Davros? Well think about it... what happens when you snap your fingers around Adam? A hole opens up in his head, and it's almost in exactly the same position as Davros' working eye... coincidence? I think not.

OK now that the sillyness is over, let's get down to it. "The Stolen Earth" is an amazing looking episode and even though it's jammed to the gills will cameos, they still managed to get a story into it. And good old Russel T Davis pays off most of the subtle clues he's been dropping like bird crumbs over the last two months. Bees? Check. Missing planets? Check. Thing on Donna's back? Check.

The basic concept is this. The Earth is missing, Donna and the Doctor go to the shadow proclamation to find some answers. It doesn't take long for the Doctor to sus out what's going on and get to the Earth in it's new location. Of course on Earth itself, the people have gone round the bend. With the help of, oh say, EVERYONE we get to see what it's like to be on Earth when there's a new sky up there. Including twenty-six other planets. The Doctor remembers that maybe someone tried to move the Earth before. The Mill deserves huge praise for their work here, this is movie quality stuff, and next week's double long episode will (I suspect) be even more mind blowing. Please put it in theaters on Friday, I'll pay to see it, honest I will!

One of the problems with cameos, and in particular these, is you know in advance who will live and whom could die. Let's see, Sara Jane has her own show, she's going to live. Capt. Jack the the remaining Torchwood players have another series coming, so chances are they are going to live. Rose, Martha, you can't kill them, particularly not Martha. So start circling you Bingo Cards now, if you have Donna's Mum or Donna granddad, or a former PM, then you just might have BINGO!

Oh and did I mention, there are Daleks, yup they are back. How? Why? Because it's the modern Doctor Who, that's why! You can't do even one series without them, it's the LAW! I'm sorry, but am I the only one who is a little tired of them dragging the Daleks out every fracking series? Let them rest for a few years, maybe that way, they will be more, oh I don't know, cool? Clever? Entertaining? But the Daleks are back, and so is their supreme leader, and Davros. This was the worst kept secret in "Doctor Who" history, but the thought of Ben Kingsly playing him, well that was just funny. Davros is back and he's hell bent on leather here, and I suspect next week we will get to see some real strong deaths coming from him.

Overall, the episode looks great, the music was not over bearing, as it has been in many episodes. The story was great and as the first part of a two-parter, it makes me very hopeful for next Saturday night. I think they are telegraphing what's going to happen to Donna a little too much here, but if you're even a subtle fan of Who, then I think you will enjoy and relish this episode. As well done and a fun outing as this was, I think it could have done with a few less cameos. Or at the very least spread them out over the two episodes more.

Just my 2¢,
Kelvington

We all knew this was coming, it's all happened before and it will all happen again... wait a moment, I think that's BSG. Every year for the last few, we have been presented with a Doctor-less or Doctor-lite episode. Some better than others, just like Star Wars movies. So this evening we were presented with the latest one, "Turn Left" written by Russel T. Davis. It's a very simple concept, what if you turned right instead of left. What if, you didn't meet the Doctor but instead had a normal life, and what if, the Doctor had died.

The episode opens in Chinatown (on some planet), and Donna is getting her future told, and she actually flashes back to her temp job. This is not unlike using a penny to go back in time. So after a little insect interaction Donna turn's right and, right away from her future with the Doctor.

Alternate reality shows are tough to do, but they do present an amazing opportunity to see life in a new way. In this reality Donna never met up with the Doctor, and he ends up very dead after dealing with the Racnos. Of course, without Donna one has to wonder how he was drawn to the Racnos to try and stop them, but that's a quibble best left for the forums. Personally, I think the TARDIS is the main guiding force of the show, taking the Doctor where he needs to be.

Once the Doctor is dead, we are presented with a new time line of events. Now a ton of money was spent on this show and for a show aimed at kids, the writing is definitely not, it was in fact top notch, you have to pay attention to know all of references, in order to get everything that's going on, from people we've met who have died, to different shots from plots we have memorized. This is a lot like the "Deep Space Nine" episode where they go back and deal with tribbles from a different perspective.

Rose comes and goes, and there is definitely SOMETHING wrong with her mouth, something about her upper teeth, I can't say what, but there is something wrong with them, and Martha and Sara Jane are both mentioned. So are the kids from The Sara Jane Adventures. One of the best things about this show is the ability to reuse old "Doctor Who" news footage created for the series in new ways, and adding to it, although the Titanic bit was definitely a cheat.

Life is not good without the Doctor, in a very WWII sort of way, in very short order Davis shows us just how bad, bad can get. This episode has a lot of scope for a fifty minute show. Yet it's incredibly intimate. Personally the only weak bit in the episode is the creature on Donna's back.

In the end, I loved this episode, while it won't ever be as good as Blink, simply because of Sally Sparrow, yes I love Sally Sparrow, so sue me. This will remembered for a long time, and analyzed a lot more than "Blink", there are so many twists and turns here, nods and homages, that I think we will be watching this long after the season comes to an end, and it will certainly give us something to do next year, while we are missing our favorite time traveler.

Just my 2¢,
Kelvington

TNT sometimes gives us great shows, "Saving Grace" is one of them, then sometimes they give us things that are not so great and "Raising The Bar" falls into that category. This is one of those shows that I imagine was created with a check list. A group of writers or worse producers Steven Bochco in this case, sat in a room, and watched a lot of David E. Kelly's stuff and said, "We can do that!" And off they went with mocha lattes in hand, and they started working on this show.

Let's see, cranky judge, ala "Boston Legal"... check. Arrogant legal defender ala "Ally McBeal"... check. Smoking hot DA, ala "Shark"... check. More angst than "Smallville"... check. Hey let's put on a show!! Oh we forgot a gay guy... have to have a gay guy, but he's leading a double life.. check and check!

The opening episodes of shows are suppose to sell the show to the network, to be better and more clever than the rest of the series, it's just like your CV. Have we learned nothing from "Cavemen"? This show isn't the worst thing to come down the pike, but it's by no means as good as it could be. Let's start with the judge, played by Jane Kaczmarek, she's a great actress, she's funny and serious, she can play anything you throw at her, so what have they decided to do? They make her into a cartoon of a character, this is an actress capable of great things, we've seen them. So why then do they have her play this so badly, there are times she looks like she's reading her lines off the pages in front of her? She was righteous and indignant to the end, until her clerk (the guy with the terrible double life) kisses her neck, and we imagine other bits. Then she just becomes human and decent. This is not how we hope or believe the justice system works.

As we progress through the episode we see a lot of interplay between the various co-workers, whom if they are not sleeping with each other they want to be sleeping with each other, except here they have none of the wit or spark that we would see, even in the worst episode of "Boston Legal". Now of course remember, this comes from the Steven Bochco work farm, didn't he use to work on some really good shows? Let me think... oh yea, "Hill Street Blues", "NYPD Blue" and other shows that no doubt have the word "Blue" in the title. I think perhaps he should get back to those shows and leave the "Perry Mason" meets the "OC" to the professionals.

By episodes end, and I got to see it without commercials mind you, you will be wondering when the next episode of "Saving Grace" is on, or maybe you will want to switch over to USA and watch "Burn Notice". The fact that ABC produces the show, but has no intention of showing it on their own network, speaks volumes.

And just for the record, if you use a title like "Raising The Bar" and you don't expect puns, then you haven't learned the lesson from Mel Brooks' "Life Sucks". Maybe next time Steven Bochco does a show, he'll put the word blue in the title. Maybe "Perry Mason Blue" would be a good title, or how about "Boston Blue", Because frankly, this show... well it blew.

Just my 2¢,
Kelvington

Wow, rarely are pilots so bad that I can barely finish them, even at 21 minutes. Sure sometimes they are hit or miss. Or sometimes they are so good, you know that the series can't possibly live up to it, but rarely are pilots completely terrible. Guess what? "Do Not Disturb" is truly terrible, and I don't mean in just the "hey we are unfunny but we can fix it sort of way", I mean it's terrible in a "Holy mother of Christ, how did this even stick to the tape, when they were shooting it, sort of terrible".

Don't get me wrong it's not the actors, not all of them anyway. I love Niecy Nash, she's one of the best things about "Reno 911" but here she is given little to do, beside act and say some pretty stereotypical lines. Jerry O'Connell, completely wasted here, he needs to go back and make more "Young Hilary Clinton" videos. Here he's just not funny. Plus don't even get me started on Molly Stanton whom was the unfunny one in the WB's show "Twins", and fracking Robert Wagner. Holy god, what is Robert Wagner doing in this? Oh and by the way, they call him "RJ" in the series, isn't that what people call him in real life? Surely, he's not so old that he can't remember a character's name, is he? Nah.

The premise such as it is, takes us to the lobby and underbelly of a fancy New York hotel, where the staff grumble, and the super thin pretty girls who don't eat, fall off their overly high heels. And the biggest problem in their sit-com world, is a plus sized reservation operator, who wants to work at the all to thin front desk. so she can show off her singing talents. I hate to say this, but even the now defunct UPN wouldn't have bought this show, let alone green-light it for thirteen episodes.

Everything from set design to casting suffers on this show, I wish I could say, "do this and this and you could fix it" but short of giving a free neuralizer away with every episode, I don't think a lot is going to help this show. I don't see it surviving all thirteen episodes on Fox, so fans of Jerry O'Connell or Niecy Nash, had best save up for the DVD because I can't imagine it airing more than a couple of times.

I have to say, this show is so bad, that it makes the Caveman show seem like high art. Ugh...

Just my 2¢,
Kelvington

There are several films you go to that you either want to love or hate. And I really wanted to hate "Get Smart". Because I used to love the original series so much.

Most remakes, like the Pink Panther, I loathe, I hated Steve Martin for trying to fill the incredibly huge shoes of Peter Sellers. I was not at all fond of the idea of Steve Carell filling in for the incomparable Don Adams.

Well I was wrong, Carell has been saying over and over again on the talk show circuit that he WASN'T going to do an impression of Don Adams, but more, his take on the character. Guess what, it worked.

As much as I didn't want to enjoy this film, I found myself laughing out loud at parts. Many TV shows don't make it to the big screen well, and this includes "Get Smart" when it was done years ago as "The Nude Bomb". But this version really works.

A lot will be said about Anne Hathaway playing 99. Would she be a worthy successor to Barbara Feldon, well she is. As much of a crush I used to have on Ms. Feldon, I have to admit that Hathaway does a great job of being both the professional field agent and the lovable foil to some of Max's jokes. This is due in part to the great back story the wove for her character though the film.

The movie chugs right along and has a near perfect pace, from the moments we learn how Kaos is going to get some nuclear bombs, to how Control sends Max and agent 99 into Russia. Every time I thought the film would drag, it's pumped with a few jokes, great cameos, or clever bits to make you laugh.

There's some nice homages to several films here with dance numbers, and gymnastically moving through laser fields. So without becoming a parody, the film manages to parody other films in the process, like "Entrapment".

Is this film for everyone? No, you have to have a fondness for the old show and films like "Police Squad" to really enjoy this. The script found the right notes between slapstick and love story. Something that future sequels will have a very hard time doing. Oh yes, there will be sequels, as sure as I'm writing this there will be sequels, and rest assured I will go see them.

Just my 2¢,
Kelvington

It would appear that Vampires walk among us, and even appear on crossover HBO shows like "Real Time" with Bill Maher to explain their life style, and drink synthetic blood to solve their hunger issues. Such is the world of "True Blood", it includes hicks, hillbillies, hookers, telepaths, and vampires. Other than what I assumed were temporary opening titles this show is incredibly watchable. Of course the fact that Anna Paquin wears some very "well" tailored shirts and Brook Kerr is a knock out in her own right the show is watchable for other reasons too.

I love parallel universes, "Star Trek" takes place in one, most good Sci-Fi does, and True Blood's universe is both very rich and very full of it's own mythos. Other than a few too many references to HBO, the opening episode moves right along. Introducing us to Paquin's character, Sookie who is a telepath, she works as a waitress in a bar, probably a bad place to work if you can read drunk minds all night, particularly if you are the sensitive type that doesn't enjoy dirty talk or swearing, as both seem to offend her. We also meet Sookie's best friend Tara, played by the stunning Brook Kerr, who has a quick wit and makes great impressions with people, but doesn't suffer fools gladly. Within the first ten minutes we are introduced to some instantly interesting characters, from the bar keep, to the cook, other waitresses and the like.

As with most of Alan Ball's shows they have just enough sex and sexually to make sure that paying for HBO that month is worth it. It includes talk of rough sex, and video taping yourself having sex with a vampire. And this occurs within the first fifteen minutes. For the record vampire sex is way more freaky deaky, than I ever recall on Buffy!

Now a lot is going to be said that the vampires in the show represent something else, I'm here to tell you I think in this case, (and god I hope I'm right) that being a vampire here is just that. Being a blood sucker and nothing more, some times a cigar is just a cigar. While there are about thousand references that seem to put the "Vampire Rights Movement" on par with gay rights, and gay life styles, let's hope people don't turn this into another Russell T. Davis is making "Doctor Who" gay kind of thing. Because I don't think that's what is going on here, and I don't think it's happening on "Doctor Who" either, just for the record.

There also seems to be a great underground movement to drink the blood of vampires which produces a crazy high. The first vampire that stops into the bar Sookie works in, almost falls pray to being drained by some local yokels. Once Sookie helps the vampire she discovers to her delight that she can't hear the thoughts of the vampire, again building on this very rich mythos that is laid out in the first episode. It also seems Sookie's brother has a darker side than he would like the rest of the world to believe.

While the accents are a little thick at times, and they seem to come and go like the wind, the acting and writing is top notch. The production values are, well, it's HBO, so they are great. I can't wait to see where this series ends up. "True Blood" might not be the only reason to get HBO, but it's one of the best new shows I've seen so far to come down the pike in a long time.

Just my 2¢,
Kelvington

First off let me say this, I loved, loved, loved the British version of “Life On Mars” it was clever, well written and seemed very real. It was better than your average cop show and I chalk this up to three things. Acting, Writing and Direction.

The basic plot line of the show was, a detective, Sam Tyler, investigates a crime and gets hit by a car, and wakes up in the 1970’s. He doesn’t know if it’s real or a dream, or if he has time travelled. The accident occurs while the song “Life On Mars” is playing in his car. When he wakes up in the ‘70’s it’s still playing in his car, but in this case on an 8-track tape, and not an iPod. In the course of the series run he tries to stop the events that lead up his accident. He is still a cop in the 70’s and he meets up with some great characters and we saw how policing was done back then.

Now to the US version, which doesn’t vary much from that theme. Now we all know from shows like “Cold Case” and “Quantum Leap” that recreating an era can be done fairly easily on a small scale. This show goes out of it’s way to do it on a much larger scale, from some CGI and large numbers of people walking the streets in 70’s garb, to just the basic feel of the time. That bit was well done.

The setup from the original show is almost exactly the same as it’s UK counterpart. Sam is a cop in both eras. We get to see how police operated back then, and this would have worked even better had it not been for a little show called “Barney Miller”. I think the production department used it as a reference tape for most of the sets.

Now both shows have the same hero/anti-hero in the form of Gene Hunt. If you have seen even one episode of the original show, then you know how amazing Philip Glenister was in the role, so much so, they created another series where he gets to play an ‘80’s version of the same character called “Ashes To Ashes”. In the US version the Hunt role is played by Colm Meaney, whom most people will remember from his Star Trek days. He plays the role with only about half the intensity that his British counterpart does, and with none of the finesse. I like Colm Meaney, but he’s no Philip Glenister.

As for the main role of Sam Tyler, well Jason O'Mara can not even begin to touch John Simm who originated the role. I’m not sure if the cast was asked to watch the original series before working on this one, but it might have helped.

The production does a great job a mimicking some of the tricks used in the original to blur the lines of what’s really happening to Sam. When the original show came on, I felt it was much more compelling than “Lost” and a lot more enjoyable. The US version I think will go down as another failed attempt to make a British Show into an American show, without all the sensibility and intelligence baggage. Sort of like the American version of “Red Dwarf”. To that end comes my main gripe with the show.

Lenny Clarke, he plays George Randall, a character that there seems no analog for in the UK version. He also seems like he’s playing the exact same roles he’s played a dozen times before, in particular he seems like he’s playing his Frank character from “The Job”. Often when Lenny speaks or acts, I keep waiting for Dennis Leary, or Diane Farr to walk around the corner and say “Lenny, you’re on the wrong set.”

The idea that you are going to take a show that lasted only a sixteen episodes total in the UK, and try to make a hundred episode run out of it, seems daft at best. My prediction for the series is a very short and confusing run, which will last five maybe six episodes, and it will leave the networks execs rubbing their heads wondering, “Should we have just imported the original episodes? Instead of trying to recreate something that didn’t need retouching.” If you have never seen the original you might find this to be the gem of a good idea, and you will wonder to yourself, “I think this could be done better somehow.” And you would be right, IT WAS.

Just my 2¢,
Kelvington

Every series of the new "Doctor Who" they have managed to do a nice historical episode, this series is no different. Tonight we meet Agatha Christie, played exceptionally well by Fenella Woolgar. Plus after weeks and weeks, I think Donna is finally growing on me to the point of enjoyment. It's actually cool that there is a character that isn't really that impressed with the Doctor's power of observation. I hope that the next companion will be somewhat skeptical as well.

Before the credits even roll, we are introduced to virtually every stereotypical character from the novels one could ever want, from the Reverend, and the Professor, to the butler they are all there. And the episode starts out like a game of "Clue" right down to the death of the professor, in the library, with a lead pipe. It's a great little moment. The episode is filled with them. I'm not sure where this was shot in the run, but you can tell everyone appears to be having a great time in this episode, and it really shows through.

If you try to take this episode seriously, then it's going to seem very dull, and probably if you're under the age of thirty, you might not enjoy it as much. But seeing all the classes of people doing their little bits was very fun. Plus watching the Doctor and Donna looking in on them adds to this episode. My biggest complaint about the episode revolves around the actual fact that Agatha Christie actually did go missing for ten days. And in the episode we hear all about it, complete with cliched spinning newspaper and a very "Murder She Wrote" set of flash forwards. Mind you it's a minor complaint, but it was a little too foreshadowing for me.

The rest of the episode plays out like your typical murder mystery complete with flashbacks, lies and the occasional giant wasp. For every fan of murder mysteries, this is a near perfect episode of "Doctor Who", for hard core fans they might be a turn off because of the complete change in style and narrative. As for me, I loved it! Right down to Donna going on about how great it is to see Agatha Christie dealing with an actual murder, it would be like meeting Dickens, surrounded by ghosts, at Christmas. But that never happened, did it?

Just my 2¢,
Kelvington

In the first thirty seconds of the episode they explain how the Doctor has a daughter and it's more boring that you can imagine. The main thrust of the episode is the separation of Martha and the TARDIS from the Doctor. Seems we have a war between humans and half-fish half humans creatures. The humans are sort of extrapolated from each other, which is how the Doctor's daughter comes into being. (I said it was boring) As for the fish heads, they talk to each other by blowing bubbles in the face masks. Which oddly the TARDIS doesn't translate for Martha.

The crux of the story is there's a war between the fish heads and the humans, it's gone on for generations and they are looking for something called the MacGuffin... I mean the source. Which will help them wipe out the fish heads, after a heated debate the Doctor and Donna get locked up as both side start searching for the Source. In the mean time we get some introspection from The Doctor and his new daughter. Martha hatches a plan to get to the source before everyone else, by going out side, with one of her fishy friends. When the fish head dies in a sludge pool it's meant to be sad, but instead it's just awkward, it's one of the few times I would say Freema's acting wasn't on par.

As an episode it looks pretty but there's very little substance here, I wasn't impressed with either the story which is borrowed heavily from the Genesis device or look of the fish heads. The acting was fairly good, and Donna was kept on a pretty short leash here, but overall this is not my favorite episode. I think it has to do with the lack of mystery that surrounds the title character. With at title like "The Doctor's Daughter" I wanted something fantastic, something amazing, some mystery. Not, stick your hand in a machine and out pops a fully formed girl.

The ending and the end of The Doctor Daughter is contrived at best. While this is no "Love and Monsters" it's certainly not good.

Just my 2¢,
Kelvington

This episode picks up right where the last one left off, with the recap being the pre-title sequence. I will say I'm a little peeved seeing the phrase "and Freema Agyeman" and not just her name, they didn't do that to John Barrowman last year. What about when the Rose, Mickey, and Sara Jane episode comes later this year are they going to say, "and Billie Piper", "and Elisabeth Sladen" and and and?? I doubt it. But that's a tiny nit to pick here.

As many people speculated the resolution to the grand dying in the car was pretty obvious, except it was not Donna, but her Mum who threw the rock threw the window, or axe as it were. The whole ATMOS thing plays out very nicely and it seems to employ every single fog machine in the UK, as it belches out tons of poisonous gas all over the world. I will say using Evil Martha to steal secrets and codes didn't seem very Sontaran like, a little too much cloak and dagger for a race that prides it self on facing it's enemies. That aside, the episode starts with some excellent chaos and continues for the length of the show.

While the true plan of the Sontarans takes time to expose it self, we do get to see something odd, (besides the flash on the vid screen) we get to see Donna, actually flummoxed, and not knowing exactly what to do. When the Doctor sends her a message, she actually didn't know what to do with it at first, when simply hitting dial last number would have worked. I will say the whole sub-plot involving the geniuses is completely unnecessary. They should have just killed Rattigan off at the end of the last episode. And I'm getting a little tired of the clichéd use of news broadcasts to give exposition about the rest of the world. There's no reason why it should be done like this over, and over in every modern day episode. This could have been handled by people inside UNIT relaying the info, which for the most part is obvious and not really needed. The fancy TV style graphics is wearing thin on me. In particular the close-up shots of pixelatied mouths and the like.

At about the half way point we get to see the Sontaran force do battle with the UNIT troops, and since bullets cost real production money the UNIT boys don't really stand a chance against the Sontarans at first. But I will say I was pleased with the Sontaran weapons they looked very old school. Plus the single best line EVER is uttered by the Doctor himself when both he and the UNIT forces go on the offensive, complete with protective gear. It's such a brilliant call back, that it caught me completely off guard.

Overall the episode was an excellent conclusion to the Sontaran story line, even though the whole Sontaran plan was a tad weak, the pacing of the episode was very good. Again could have done without the Rattigan story line, and the Doctor's fear of a gun, which he certainly knew wouldn't work did bother me a bit. But all in all, quite satisfying.

Just my 2¢,
Kelvington

As with most Doctor Who two parters the action is typically back loaded into the second part, which is fine, and we've come to expect that, but I'll admit this episode is fairly action packed for a first parter. Tonight we get to hear the Sontaran voice long before one is seen, and the subtle ATMOS which has been cropping up since episode one, is played nicely here in the first part. Including a nice car driven into the water stunt at the beginning. Of course the person in the car didn't have to die if they had only watched "Mythbusters" but that's an argument for another day.

This is one of the few Doctor Who's that has a very long teaser, I was surprised we didn't dive right into the titles after the reporter dived into the water. But getting to see Donna fly the TARDIS was worth the long intro, and the cute way they worked Martha Jones in was funny. Let me tell you what pleasure it was to see Martha Jones again, hot sexy, Martha Jones, not that Donna is second best, but REALLY she can't hold a candle to the lovely Ms. Jones.

Seeing the Doctor and Martha meet up was great, including the new super duper UNIT, complete with fancy code names. Now I want to lay to rest this idea that this is NOT a continuation of the original Doctor Who series, tonight should put that to rest forever, as the UNIT people not only know of the Doctor, he HIMSELF admits to working for them in the '70's. So enough with the idea this is a NEW SERIES that has nothing to do with the old one. As for what ATMOS is, it turns out that ATMOS is a super TOM TOM, and it cleans the emissions from your car.

Within the first fifteen minutes we get our first glimpse at not only a cloning facility, but some smart UNIT soldiers, and a fully armored Sontaran. Of course to the Sontarans the UNIT boys are only toy soldiers by comparison and are easily defeated. We also get to see both Donna and Martha at their best, in solving issues and finding clues. Very Scooby Doo of them. In fact this could have easily been the "Doctor-less" episode had it been written just slightly differently.

As the episode progresses we get to meet the kid who created the ATMOS and it's nice to see that the Doctor is truly very smart, and with some well written word play puts the boy genius who invented the ATMOS to shame, and exposes the Sontarans in short order. Plus the Doctor shows us the one Sontaran weakness, with a great bit of squash.

The acting in this episode is excellent, from Sontaran leader, right down to the boy genius, it's well done and well played. The script for a first parter is well above what we have seen in the past, and Tennant shows why he should be the Doctor for the next four or five years, he moves effortlessly through the part, but still allows others to have their moments, like when Donna mocks him when she off to visit the family.

What's good about the episode, Donna telling the Doctor she's going home, how the ATOMS is defeated in the Jeep, the dripping wet naked Martha Jones. And the idea of 400 million cars as poisonous weapons.

What's not so good is how easily Martha is trapped, the third person flash backs (I've always hated them), the Rattigan Academy, because Rattigan is such an obvious anagram for "Giant Rat"

I look forward to seeing next week to see how we save Grandpa, planet earth and how the Sontarans are defeated, if it's with more Squash I think I'll laugh myself silly.

Just my 2¢,
Kelvington

Tonight the Doctor and Donna travel to the planet of the Ood, where they get caught up in all sorts of mischief, including a giant claw and some Star Trek worthy room bouncing as they get thrown around inside the TARDIS.

Plus we get to see the appearance of Thunderbird 3 in this episode, or at least a very close approximation of it. Personally I would have been more impressed if they called the episode, "The Ood, The Bad, and The Ugly", but what are you going to do.

You get to see a surprising amount of compassion out of Donna tonight, to a race of creatures she just met. One of the better sequences of the show, although again the musical score nearly over powers it, is the inter-cutting of an Ood escape with a sales pitch about how we treat the Ood as a valued friend. The cutting on this was spot on, and very dramatic, and it's great to know that even in the 42nd Century, "The Simpsons" will still be on the air.

One of the scenes from the previews for the last several weeks involves the giant claw chasing the Doctor down, and it's very well done. Although, it does seem very much like a giant claw machine you would find at the amusement park or arcade, and I suspect several around the UK will be remade in "Doctor Who" image.

The main theme of the episode seems to be about the concept of slavery and freedom, while they don't hit you over the head with it, it is brought up enough to slam the point home. This is not an effects heavy episode, although there are several large ones, the Mill has done an excellent job with most of them. While the writing is a tad off on this one, and it's all wrapped up a little too neatly for my liking, it's good to see there was a very involved back story to the Ood.

In the end, it doesn't take a huge brain to figure out this was an episode done to save money for a more spectacular one later in the series, and using the Ood as both a good guy and bad guy was a very well done. This is one of the few times there are so many characters introduced and so little time to develop them, that many felt very two-dimensional.

While this is not the best episode ever, it's far from the worst, think of it as a pallet cleanser for next week. Speaking of which next week we get to see the return of Martha Jones, and I'm curious to see how Martha and Donna get along, I hope we see some fireworks on par with Rose and Sara Jane.

Just my 2¢,
Kelvington

This episode should be called "The Doctor Visits The Sets Of The HBO Show Rome", which is pretty much what they did. And while it made for some very lavish and exciting sets, they also stood out like a sore thumb if you ever watched the show. The subtitle of the episode should be, "Please turn on your closed captioning, because you won't be able to make out a freaking thing over all the freaking music". Murray Gold, whom I have nothing but respect for does great work with the show's music week in and week out, but seriously. Who ever is your sound mixer needs to TONE THE MUSIC THE FREAK DOWN! I could barely make out what the Doctor and Donna were on about over the winy soundtrack in the background.

The one thing that I will give the writers here is that they have the people of Pompeii speak just like they probably really spoke, no long speeches, no booming Shakespeare, not even any "Deadwood" iambic pentameter, just people going on and talking about daily things. Of course there's a cult involved (isn't there always?) and the disappearance of the TARDIS is very clever, I'll grant you that. I also laughed out loud at how the Doctor introduces himself, as does Donna. It was a nice film tribute and has nothing to do with Whovian lore.

The show does something very different than most Who outings, where it pits the morals of a human, and the laws of time at odds with each other. Where The Doctor accepts that what will happen is fixed in time and can't be changed, Donna argues openly with the Doctor about the all the people who will die, and how he SHOULD change it. It's very refreshing to see someone really go after the Doctor's ethics, we saw a touch of this in the Christmas Special a few years back as the doctor killed all the spider children.

As with all episodes of the modern "Doctor Who" there are people (in this case oracles) who can see the Doctor for what he really is, and Donna too for that matter. But it doesn't stop the Doctor from sussing out what's going on, and what are all these vapors the oracles are consuming.

The monsters this week looks very good, and I assume they had something on set, but the CGI was pretty amazing. Plus we get to see the Doctor fire a gun which is VERY VERY rare indeed. And did I mention Donna has some cleavage? We get to see the Doctor as truly a destroyer if that choice is the only one. Plus through the great writing of Donna's character we get to experience how terrible some of his choices in the past must have been.

While this episode is epic in both scale and story, it's still really just about people in the end, and the choices they make. My final complaint of the episode is that there is too much music, not every single moment needs a musical underpinning. At this point I would pay REAL money to have a version of the episode without all that bloody music, just to know exactly what was being said.

Just my 2¢,
Kelvington

Well, tonight marks the return of Doctor Who and sort of a reboot, in that the episode opens up almost like series 1 with a female character living her life and going through the motions. But instead of Rose, this time it's Donna. She wants to find the Doctor and looks anywhere that there appears to be trouble. Including a company selling a rather dodgey diet pill, where the fat literally walks away from you.

Now the first fifteen minutes is played very much like a like romantic comedy where the Doctor and Donna almost see each other many times, but never quite manage it. Similar to that episode of the X-Files set in two different times. But once Donna and the Doctor meet up again, they are on the hunt to figure out what is going on at the fat company.

Mark this day well, because you will see an ENDLESS amount of posts about the little walking chicklets that were once human fat, being the Ewoks of "Doctor Who", and if they haven't already made at least of a million of them to sell around the world they are crazy. Every kid who likes "Doctor Who" will demand an entire little of the little buggers for their own.

As the episode progresses we see the Doctor and Donna nearly die from falling out of a window washer cart, escape getting shot to death, and defeat the mean Ms. Foster the nanny to all the little walking blobs.

The effects in this one are very cute, and the chicklets are so sweet that many people watching the show will die of diabetes before it's finished. But the rip of the Close Encounters style ship didn't sit well with me.

Now on to the end, while I'm not going to spoil the last minute or two of the show, it was one of the few times when in the history of "Doctor Who" I was actually surprised, thus I won't ruin it here, but when the moment comes, I think you will go HOLY CRAP! It was just that good!

Just my 2¢,
Kelvington