Doctor Who (2005)

Smith and Jones

Season 3, Episode 1, Aired 3/31/07

Episode Summary

Location: Earth/Moon
Date: 2008
Enemies: Judoon, Plasmavore, Slabs

Introducing new traveller Martha Jones to the picture as she meets a mysterious John Smith. And before she knows it, the hospital she was working in is on the moon and it's under siege from the Judoon...

8.7

EPISODE RATING: Great

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Cast & Crew

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David Tennant

The Tenth Doctor
Freema Agyeman

Martha Jones
Adjoa Andoh

Francine Jones

Fan Episode Reviews (45)

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Instead of a scary story, the third season starts with a delightfully comedic aspect to "Smith and Jones." David Tennant's brilliant performance showing the Doctor's zany side.

10

"Perfect"

By dragoncharmed, May 09, 2011 Report Abuse

Prone to imagining spooks when the lights go out, I usually have to stop myself from watching Doctor Who right before I go to bed, lest I dream of technological aliens sucking my face off or creepy little mask-faced boys looking for their mommy, so this episode was a refreshing change. The Doctor always has a few funny moments, but this episode was geared around them, and they made me laugh, something that always delights me when I watch shows.

The Doctor's brilliant performance sealed the ten I'm giving this episode. His "cheap trick" with the tie, his radiation dance, bare feet, how he laments the loss of his screwdriver while Martha attempts to explain what Ms. Finnigan did, fooling Ms. Finnigan into thinking he's human, exclaiming over the hospital's shop, and, perhaps my favorite, the Doctor mouthing "it's bigger on the inside" while Martha says it and then sarcastically exclaiming that he'd never noticed - it's so Doctor, and he must get tired of hearing it every time someone meets the TARDIS! That's not to say it was all fun and games. A fan of Rose Tyler, I liked seeing the subtle and not-so-subtle signs that he was still grieving for her. Watching him getting to know Martha, I could imagine him comparing her to Rose, and I suspect that some of their similarities - their openness, their quick thinking and sense of adventure - were why he invited her on a trip in the TARDIS. At the same time, his assurance that it would only be one trip because he wanted to be alone shows that he is not yet ready to replace Rose.

Being a fan of Rose, I set out to be critical of any future companions, but I'm liking what I'm seeing of Martha Jones. She impresses even the Doctor with her quick mind (rather quicker than Rose, really) and I liked her steadiness and the way that she challenged the Doctor, telling him he needed to earn that title before she used it. She's made a good first impression on me, and I hope it lasts.moreless

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Okay, I understand the notion of suspension of disbelief when watching a science-fiction show; however, that doesn't mean ignoring inconsistencies and absurdities within the logistics of the created world.

4.0

"Poor"

By Whatknob, Apr 21, 2011 Report Abuse

These are just a few questions I noted, and I confess I wasn't paying full attention:

How exactly was the hospital transported, apparently instantaneously, to the Moon?
What happened to all the electrical devices that would have been cut off from their power supply? How come computers, MRI scanners, etc, were still working?
If it was through some kind of space-time portal (yawn), why don't the rhino police use that for their own travel instead of huge and presumably expensive space ships?
Why was the hospital taken to the Moon? I know the Doctor said something about Earth being outside a Galactic treaty, but if so why isn't the Moon, too? If there's a treaty that makes Earth off-limits, how come it's been attacked by other aliens in the past? Why didn't the rhino police deal with them for being in breach of the treaty? If the rhinos knew their quarry was in the hospital, why didn't they just transport her and not the whole building? i.e. they must have been able to track her, so could have focussed a lot more closely on her than that.
How did they track her there anyway, if she's able to disguise her alienness?
How did the villain change an MRI scanner into a weapon that can kill everything within 250,000 miles using nothing more than a few twists of some dials? With that kind of power, surely she could have changed a telephone or something into an anti-rhino gun and saved herself?
If the rhinos knew who and what they were chasing, surely they'd have known she could assimilate human essence through drinking their blood and therefore evade the scanning process?
How did the Doctor come back to life if all his blood had been drained away?

Some other thoughts:

The surprise factor for characters discovering the Doctor is an alien is being contradicted by the fact they've all seen tons of aliens by now. Hence, Martha's reactions to him are muddled: part surprised, part old hat.

Scenes with plastic actors all barking into mobiles, discussing an unfeasibly complicated family situation is no substitute for character depth.

The banter between the Doctor and Martha is virtually identical to the banter between the Doctor and Rose. Apart from her skin colour and the fact she's a trainee doctor, Martha's character is already in danger of becoming interchangeable with her predecessor's. Again, character depth requires more than an artificially tangled family background - it needs uniqueness, idiosyncrasies, charm, surprise and a lot of qualities that only appear when the writers have bothered to do their job properly. Overall, there was some excitement in this episode and the fun of a new companion being introduced. However, much of the excitement is artificially generated and involves a lot of running down corridors rather than genuine brinkmanship. Which is not very different to the last series, and is why I won't be watching much more of this one. What's needed is a series-long story arc, to hold together and give purpose to all the individual episodes. Without it, we're expected to believe every time that the Doctor or the Tardis just happens to bump into extraordinary events. Davies gets away with this to an extent with Doctor Who because of its rich history to lean on, and the fans' good will. But look what happens when he's given the freedom to create something virtually from scratch? We get the wooden and unwatchable Torchwood. I know he's a fan of Joss Whedon, but that needs to result in more than just copying the surface excitement of Buffy or Angel, or trying to emulate the clever, snappy, dialogue. It means creating a compelling world where every event affects the characters' development, in which something important matters very much to the main leads - because without that, we end up with the hollow knowing winks and smug in-jokiness that the Doctor and Rose descended into.moreless

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0 3
The Doctor is stuck in a hospital on the moon with a bloodsucking convict on the loose, thick-headed judoon on the patrol for the criminal, no Tardis, his screwdriver destroyed and only Martha Jones to help him out as they begin to lose air as time passesmoreless

10

"Perfect"

By 10thdoctorfan, Apr 15, 2011 Report Abuse

The Doctor has begunm his new travels without Rose, still greiving inside from losing his love, but soon finds excuitement in this adventure with new companion Martha Jones.Is it me or did they deliberitely choose Marth because the wanted a different racial backround companion ulike the orginal series? Back to the story; the doctor has a new suit and loses his sonic screwdriver to an upgraded x-ray machine, but later gets a new one. With the help of martha and the logical stupidity of th judoon, the doctor manages to expose the vampire-like alien Florenece Finnigen by having her suck a few sips of his Time Lord blood to register her as a non-human on the judoons scanners. With the 3 series, a new story arc begins, the Saxon Arc, leading up to the return of the Doctor's mirror image Time Lord rival, the MASTERmoreless

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1 0
We first get to meet the new assistance of The Doctor, Martha Jones as the hospital she works in is transported into space, gets invaded by Rhino aliens and has two people inside who are alien. One's the Doctor so whose the pretend patient?moreless

9.4

"Superb"

By Zoey10220, Nov 06, 2010 Report Abuse

After getting my hands on advanced tickets I couldn't wait to see the new episode of Doctor who. And it was fantastic. Everything you wanted you got, humor, sadness, fighting, and the Doctor throwing hhis trainers into a bin. People are going to love the new episode. I was expecting a bit of disappointment that Billie (Rose) wasn't in it anymore (And I did feel a bit sad) but on the whole it was brilliant.moreless

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Back with a bang

8.8

"Great"

By fgyjmyrjmetdgjh, Nov 06, 2010 Report Abuse

And so the Doctor returns and we get a new assistant, and more importantly a new sonic screwdriver. I was a bit wary at first about what the new assistant Martha would be like, after two years with a chav, what would her replacement be like? And to be totally honest, Martha almost instantly feels like a smarter version of the chav we spent two years with. She's the first black assistant (I think, my knowledge of classic who aint that good) I'm actually glad that people didn't find racism in that up until now Martha is the first black assistant, I mean there was an outcry about black jelly abies for christs sake (never mind, they taste like crap anyway) Anyway, Martha isn't much of a change, glad to see that they've realised that we sort of got used to Rose and made Martha sort of like her and...why am I just focusing on the new assistant?
The episode in itself wasn't too shabby, set on earth/near earth (Again!!) and I would've seen this as a chance to bring the sontarans back into the fold, I mean the Judoon are a great idea but sontarans, the sontarans! Anyway, onto something that just isn't me moaning. The plot I liked, disagree if you want but I thought it was a well written idea, it had its flaws in script occasionally sure, but you can't argue with the quality of this episode that's introduced the world to a new assistant. Its a great story (and its great to see Anne Reed go evil) I througholy enjoyed this episode, but it wasn't without its dissappointments, the obvious could've been better's but I'm not gonna hold petty grudges, we've had the set up for a great series ahead of us, looking forward to next Saturday whether the Shakespeare code is any good or not.moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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Trivia
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- When Martha and the Doctor leave in the TARDIS, the Doctor makes a point of telling her he's releasing the handbrake. In the previous episode, The Runaway Bride, Donna demanded to know if the TARDIS had a handbrake. Edit
- The scene where Tish is walking down the street (to meet Martha) and sees the rain was filmed on Queen Street, one of Cardiff's main shopping streets. Edit
- The hospital used was Singleton Hospital in Swansea. Edit
Notes
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- The Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver is destroyed after interfacing with an X-ray machine, after which, the Doctor either builds or finds a new one. The new version is similar to it's predecessor, but with an all-silver finish. Edit
- International Air Dates: Australia: 30 June 2007 Canada: 18 June 2007 New Zealand: 26 August 2007 on Prime United States: 6 July 2007 Thailand: 14 October 2008 on BBC Entertainment Turkey: 17 October, 2010 on CNBC-e Edit
- Trevor Laird (Clive Jones) previously appeared as Frax in the 1986 Doctor Who episode Mindwarp. Edit
Quotes
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- The Doctor: Judoon platoon upon the Moon. Edit
- The Doctor: It's raining, Martha! It's raining on the moon! Edit
- Martha: It's bigger on the inside! The Doctor: Is it? I hadn't noticed. Edit
Allusions
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- Martha: What else have you got? Laser spanner?
  Spanner is called a wrench in North America. Edit
- Martha: I had a cousin. Adeola. She worked at Canary Wharf. Never came home. Martha references the events at the end of series two, at the Torchwood installation. The character of Adeola, killed and supplanted as a drone of the Cybermen, she was played by Freema Agyeman, herself. Edit
- The Doctor: She's hiding, she's on the run. Like Ronald Biggs in Rio de Janeiro. Ronald Biggs was a participant in the Great Train Robbery of 1963. He escaped from prison and after several years, was discovered living in Rio de Janeiro, but he could not be extradited back to the U.K., partly because his Brazilian girlfriend was pregnant and the Brazilian government refused to deport the father of one of their citizens. He has enjoyed a cult status as an outlaw ever since. Edit