Doctor Who (2005): The Poison Sky (2)

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Location: Earth
Date: 2009
Enemies: The Sontarans
The Sontarans continue their evil plot and begin to "choke" the Earth. The Doctor and Donna, now teamed with Martha have to stop them! Can they save Earth before it's too late? Read full recap »

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Writers:: Helen Raynor

Director:: Douglas MacKinnon

Stars:: Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones); David Tennant (The Tenth Doctor); Catherine Tate (Donna Noble)

Recurring Role:: Bernard Cribbins (Wilfred Mott); Jaqueline King (Sylvia Noble)

Guest Star:: Lachele Carl (US Newsreader); Biddy Hodson (Captain Price); Ryan Sampson (Luke Rattigan); Dan Starkey (Commander Skoor); Christopher Ryan (General Staal); Kirsty Wark (Herself); Wesley Theobald (Private Gray); Leeshon Alexander (Male Student); Christian Cooke (Ross Jenkins); Meryl Fernandes (Female Student); Clive Standen (Private Harris); Rupert Holliday-Evans (Colonel Mace)

Despite General Staal's comments in the previous episode about the thin fabric and exposed skin of the UNIT troops, Sontaran battle armor surprisingly offers little protection against the UNIT weapons. One would think that a race that has been at war for millenia would be better protected. edit »
Just before Donna first sees the Doctor on the video screen in the TARDIS, Rose can briefly be seen on the screen. She appears to be silently calling out to the Doctor and/or Donna. edit »
Lachele Carl (the American news reporter) has previously appeared in Aliens of London, World War Three, The Christmas Invasion and The Sound Of Drums in the same role. edit »
The Sontaran enemies, the Rutan, are mentioned but not seen. The Rutans are from Ruta 3 and look like blobby green jellyfish. They have the ability to shape-shift and mimic creatures they have killed.

The Rutan's were first talked about as being the eternal enemy of the Sontarans in 1973's The Time Warrior. There first and last appearance however was in the 1977 serial Horror at Fang Rock. edit »
One of the news reporters says that people are calling the event the "End of Days", this was the title of the last episode of the first series of Doctor Who spin-off, Torchwood. edit »

Overnight UK viewing figures for this episode were 5.9 million, with the final viewing figure at 6.53 million. edit »
International Air Dates:

United States: 30 May 2008
Australia: 3 August 2008
New Zealand: 10 August 2008 edit »

The Doctor: Now, does anyone know what this gas is yet?
Martha Clone: We're working on it.
Captain Price: It's harmful, but not lethal until it reaches eighty percent density. We're having the first reports of deaths from the centre of Tokyo city.
The Doctor: And who are you?
Captain Price: (saluting) Captain Marian Price, sir.
The Doctor: Oh, put your hand down. Don't salute.
Colonel Mace: Jodrell Bank's traced the signal, Doctor, coming from five thousand miles above the Earth. We're guessing that's what triggered the car.
The Doctor: The Sontaran ship.
Colonel Mace: NATO's gone to def-con one. We're preparing a strike.
The Doctor: You can't do that! Nuclear missiles won't even scratch the surface. Let me talk to the Sontarans. edit »
Donna: You gonna come with us? We're not exactly short of space.
Martha: Oh, I have missed all this, you know. I'm good here, back at home, and I'm better for having been away. (Showing her engagement ring) Besides, someone needs me. Never mind the universe, I've got a great big world of my own now.
(As Martha turns to leave, the TARDIS doors slam shut and it takes off) edit »
Wilf: I won't tell her. Best not. Just keep this our little secret, eh?
Donna: Yeah.
Wilf: Now you go with him, that wonderful Doctor, you go and see the stars. Then bring a bit of them back for your old Gramps. edit »
Colonel Mace: Attention all troops! The Sontarans might think of us as primitive, as does every passing species with an axe to grind. They make a mockery of our weapons, our soldiers, our ideals. But no more. From this point on, it stops. From this point on, the people of Earth fight back and we show them. We show the warriors of Sontar what the human race can do. edit »
Donna: What's happened, where are you?
The Doctor: Still on Earth, but don't worry. I've got my secret weapon.
Donna: What's that?
The Doctor: You.
Donna: Oh. Somehow that's not making me happy. Can't you just zap us down to Earth with that remote thing?
The Doctor: Yeah, I haven't got a remote though, but I really should but I need you on that ship. That's why I made them move the TARDIS. I'm sorry, but you've got to go outside.
Donna: But there are Sontarons out there.
The Doctor: Sontarans, but they'll be on battle stations about now so they don't exactly walk about having coffee. I can talk you through it.
Donna: But what if they find me?
The Doctor: I know, and I wouldn't ask, but there's nothing else I can do. The planet is choking, Donna.
Donna: What do you need me to do?
The Doctor: The Sontarans are inside the factory. That means they've got a teleport link with the ship but they've deadlocked it. I need you to reopen the link.
Donna: But I can't even mend a fuse!
The Doctor: Donna, stop talking about yourself like that. You can do this, I promise. edit »

Donna Noble: Back of the neck!

After hitting a Sontaran's probic vent, Donna exclaims this, which is an allusion to football where a player scores a goal and the phrase 'back of the net' is said by fans. edit »
The Doctor: Avanti!

The term avanti is Italian for Let's Go/Onwards, in the same way that The Doctor's catchphrase Allons-y is in French. The Doctor is using it here as a way of confirming his suspicion that Martha is a clone. The real Martha would have picked up on the different word. edit »
Butler Institute

When the news reports are showing the cities of the world engulfed in the poison gas, the scene from New York shows a building with Butler Institute written on it. The Butler Institute is from the New Adventures novel 'Cat's Cradle:Warhead' set in New York in the near future. edit »
The Doctor: It's times like this I could do with the Brigadier. No offence.
Colonel Mace: None taken. Sir Alistair is a fine man, if not the best, unfortunately he's stranded in Peru.

The Brigadier is, of course, Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, a stalwart of the original series and considered by many to be a Companion of The Doctor even though he only once accidentally travelled in the TARDIS. His continued involvement in UNIT was hinted in The Sarah Jane Adventures episode 'The Revenge of the Slitheen' but not confirmed until now. His knighthood is also a reference to events contained within the New Adventures Novel 'The Dying Days'. edit »
Dona nobis pacem

The phrase The Doctor uses to get Donna's attention is actually a part of the Agnus Dei from the Roman Catholic Mass, it translates as 'Give us Peace'. edit »

5.5
02
dalekmonster
member since: Jun 22, 2008
The Poison Sky (2)
The Bottom Line: "Average"
A dim ending to what I thought was a good start ...Continue »
Alright this is going to be simple. The ending was absolutley crap! The kid blows up the ship which saves the Doctors life.Crap! Seriously this is one of the worst two parters ever. The first part had alot of hope and potential to make a good second part. But they failed. Ok good points. Donna was a great part once again and Martha didn't do bad. In fact most of the actors did allright it was just a bad script. Bad points. There are way to many of these. The clone bit was a complete waste of time. I just went to get a biscuit and I had missed nothing at all! Why do the sontarons try to kill everyone. And whats the point of fighting back! The army was a pointless part the cloning was pointless and that guy was pointless. This is the worst episode of the season so far. I have heard Midnight is meant to be appauling but I haven't seen it yet. Still could be the worst episode joint with 42.
06/22/08 08:51am | report abuse
8.1
20
AvatarBlue
member since: Jun 21, 2007
The Poison Sky (2)
The Bottom Line: "Conclusion"
Disappointing but still good ...Continue »
A good setup wasted in my opinion. The Sontarans ultimately proved not to be as dangerous as percieved. Their plan within a plan though was quite intelligent and interesting.

Some of the effects of the Sontaran space cruiser were excellent. Locations were more or less as the previous episode and fairly mundane. Infact all the present or near present day locations just fail to inspire.

The first act picks up from where the last episode finished, and does a decent job, but the build up to the finale is just poor and lose perspective. Alot of the scenes have been done before in a different guise. I dont doubt that youll be going through the motions as you wait for the inevitable Dr. Earth saving finale.

Even Bernand Cribbins almost dying doesnt really bridge the gap to the intensity level it should have been at!

That aside, its a fairly watchable episode, that will have the younger generation coo-ing at the Dr's efforts to save the planet.

There have been better stories even this season, and Im sure there will be more to come

Lastly I just want to say something positive about Tate. Welldone to her for actually toning down the character/acting when it was needed to just support Martha and the Dr. in this episode. Its made me change my mind about her inclusion in this series! Hopefully, youll get more chances to shine!
06/05/08 10:18am | report abuse
7.4
11
exterminator25
member since: Aug 8, 2007
The Poison Sky (2)
The Bottom Line: "Cleverly plotted"
The sontarans are choking the earth ...Continue »
The sontarans have revealed their plan. They are using their poisonous gas inside the Atmos cars to choke the earth and the gas will help their clones arise! The Sontarans capture the doctors tardis with donna inside (donna got her own tardis key) and the doctor instructs donna to get off the ship with the doctors expertise. Luke Rattigan finds out everything the sontarans promised him were lies and he escapes with the teleporter. The doctor finds out the truth about marthas clone and saves martha. The doctor purifies the sky on earth by burning it and goes to the sontaran to do the same, but luke swaps places with the doctor at the last minute.
05/21/08 09:45am | report abuse
6.1
02
inakaguy
member since: Aug 15, 2006
The Poison Sky (2)
The Bottom Line: "Conclusion"
Winds down to an obvious conclusion ...Continue »
So, the two parter finishes in a way that could have been predicted about 10 minutes in to the first episode.

Martha's clone is revealed, but of course he Doctor was too clever to have ever been fooled. One of the things that bothers me about this new series is that the Doctor always knows the answer to everything.

Unit walks around firing bullets as ineffectually as always. The insanely brilliant, yet idiotically stupid kid is betrayed and sacrifices himself in a heroic attempt to make everyone forget that they've consistently wanted to punch him in the face for the last 90 minutes (if only for his ridiculous mid-Atlantic accent). Martha has a nauseatingly mawkish scene with her evil clone, which on the face of it is both unlikely and pointless as they both have the same memories.

And Donna does the family thing that seems to be a pre-requisite for every companion in the new series.

Absolutely nothing original or unexpected in this one.
05/12/08 06:34am | report abuse
8
11
CodenameV
member since: Aug 25, 2005
The Poison Sky (2)
The Bottom Line: "Another great installment"
Part 2 and it's looking good...and by "it" I don't mean Martha...she's still as ugly as a dog turd covered in chipmunk crap... ...Continue »
Here we are. Part 2 of the 22 year later return of the Sontarans. The first part was extremely entertaining and had only a few minor letdowns. This week, however, we have much of the same.

The cliffhangers are all resolved within the first 5 minutes, as they should be, and we kick into overdrive with the second part as the Doctor attempts to save the world from the poisonous gas unleashed by the Sontarans. And that's about it. There's not much else to it.

We're given an "emotional" scene between Martha and her "evil" clone, which saps all drama from the episode with it's sheer rubbishness. We have the usual arrogant prick General who can't take the Doctor's advice. And we've got annoying kid with crappy American accent. But that's it for the bad.

On the good, we've got a near tearjerking scene with Bernard Cribbins, whom I love. As well as that we've got an interesting cliffhanger, a decent twist involving the annoying American kid, and some decent jokes - especially the references to "Are you my mummy" and the Brigadier.

And we have a blink or you'll miss it Rose moment. When the Doctor sends his message to the Sontarans/Donna, Rose flashes on the TARDIS screen for just a moment, a look of terror on her face as she screams "Doctor" mutely and then gets cut off. Interesting stuff.

Overall, a decent second part. It does the opposite of what most 2-parters this early in a season do. It doesn't better the first part, instead it stays pretty much the same. The trailer for next week's episode looked good, but I do have a twitch of anger everytime I hear the phrase "Doctor's daughter". And Martha's back next week...ugh!

Part 2: 8/10

Overall storyline: 8/10
05/10/08 12:13pm | report abuse