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show: Doctor Who (2005)

episode: Utopia (1)

The Bottom Line: "Superb"

Captain Jack's return was something that I was looking forward to. When the TARDIS appeared at the end of the universe I became interested in the plot. I was inspired by "Utopia" when it was mentioned by Professor Yana and others in the year 100 trillion. Honest Truth: I am totally in love with Chantho. I feel love often and I love the feature of her speech and everything about her. Chipo Chung plays her brilliantly and the episode itself is exciting. The dialog between Martha and Chantho in one scene is other part I love. The Doctor showing Professor Yana activation of the rocket is outstanding. The only scene I found difficult to watch was after Professor Yana opened the watch (the following parts of the scene speak for themselves).

I would like to go to the year 100 trillion and save Chantho because I REALLY love her. Since watching Utopia, I can't stop thinking about Chantho and every time I think about Utopia, I think about her. I love you Chantho!

show: Doctor Who (2005)

episode: Tooth and Claw

The Bottom Line: "Great"

This episode starts with a group of hooded monks traveling across the Scottish moors, entering the Torchwood Estate belonging to Sir Robert MacLeish. There, Father Angelo demands possession of the house and when the Steward refuses, beats him into submission with a quarterstaff. The monks remove their cassocks, revealing red robes, and exhibiting incredible martial skill they make short work of the rest of the men. The music reflects this powerfully. They take over the house, chaining everyone they find in the cellar, including Lady Isobel MacLeish. The monks then carry a covered cage into the cellar. Father Angelo says, "May God forgive me," and unveils the cage. Lady Isobel sees its contents and screams... After the opening credits, presenting the name TOOTH AND CLAW, in the TARDIS, the Doctor offers to take Rose to Sheffield in 1979 to see Ian Dury in concert. However, they exit the police box to find themselves surrounded by armed soldiers on horseback. From their accents and attire, the Doctor realises that they have arrived in 1879 Scotland instead. Captain Reynolds amuses us when he asks the Doctor, "You will explain your presence, and the nakedness of this girl." (Meaning Rose). And then the Doctor says, "(Scottish accent) Are we in Scotland?" Then Reynolds asks, "How can you be ignorant of that?" then the Doctor replies, "Och, I'm dazed and confused... I been chasing this wee naked child over hill and over dale..." The Doctor then uses the psychic paper, convincing Captain Reynolds that he is a Scottish doctor. An authoritative voice issues from the carriage the soldiers are escorting, asking the Doctor and Rose to approach. When they see who is within, the Doctor introduces Rose to Her Majesty, Queen Victoria, who is on her way to Balmoral Castle. When Victoria sees the psychic paper, she notes that it says that the Lord Provost has appointed the Doctor as her protector. The royal carriage is travelling by road because a fallen tree had blocked the train line to Aberdeen. The two travellers accompany the carriage on to the Torchwood Estate, where the Queen plans to spend the night. Sir Robert watches from the window, with Father Angelo (disguised as a servant) behind him. Things start to get a bit tense at this point. Sir Robert goes to receive Queen Victoria, but despite hinting that all is not right, the Queen insists on staying, as the estate was a favourite place of her late consort, Prince Albert, who used to visit Sir Robert's father. They go into the manor, with Reynolds deploying his men to guard the estate. He also carries a small leather box inside, which he locks in a safe. Sir Robert shows Queen Victoria, the Doctor and Rose the Observatory, which contains a telescope his father designed. Examining the telescope, the Doctor notices that it has too many prisms, causing too much magnification for simple stargazing. Sir Robert says that he knows little of his father's rather eccentric work. Queen Victoria mentions that Sir Robert's father was a polymath, equally versed in science and folklore, and that Albert was fascinated by local stories of a wolf. While Rose searches through the wardrobes for more appropriate attire, the disguised monks serve the soldiers drugged drinks, which knock them unconscious. Rose discovers a frightened servant girl, Flora, hidden in one of the cupboards, and Flora tells Rose what has happened. However, when they leave the room to find the Doctor, they are captured, taken to the cellar and are chained with the others. At the dinner table, Sir Robert tells them the story of how, for the past 300 years, livestock would be found ripped apart every full moon. Once a generation, a boy would also vanish, and there would be sightings of a werewolf. In the cellar, Rose notices the caged man's alien-looking eyes, and asks him what planet he is from. Amused that he has actually encountered intelligence, he tells Rose that the human body he possesses was born ten miles away, a boy stolen by the Brethren, but he comes from a much longer distance. Rose offers to take the alien intelligence back home, but he does not wish to leave, instead intending to bite Queen Victoria, migrate into her body and begin the Empire of the Wolf. He notes that Rose has "something of the wolf" about her, but while she has burned like the sun, all he requires is the Moon. Things get more tense at this point. Upstairs, Sir Robert relates that his father believed the story as fact, and even claimed to have communicated with the beast and learned its purpose. Sir Robert asks, what if the monks had turned from God and started worshipping the wolf? The Doctor sees Father Angelo face the full moon through the window, chanting in Latin, "Lupus magnus est, Lupus fortis est, Lupus deus est," which translates as, "The wolf is great, the wolf is strong, the wolf is God," — and realises that the enemy is here. The monks throw open the cellar doors, and moonlight streams into the cage, triggering a horrifying transformation. Rose rallies the other prisoners, telling them not to look at the cage but to pull on the chains. Sir Robert apologises to the Queen for his betrayal, explaining that they were holding his wife. The Doctor demands to know where Rose is, but Father Angelo ignores him, continuing his chanting. The Doctor and Sir Robert rush down to the cellar, leaving the Queen while Reynolds trains his pistol on Father Angelo, asking him what his goal is. Father Angelo replies, "the throne", and swiftly disarms Reynolds. The Doctor and Sir Robert reach the cellar just as Rose and the other prisoners manage to break their chains, but the Host has finished his transformation, and is breaking out of the cage. The others run out of the cellar, with the Doctor transfixed at the werewolf saying, "That's beautiful!" until the wolf breaks free of the cage. The Doctor seals the door with his sonic screwdriver as the werewolf howls at the moon. Upstairs, Victoria surmises correctly that the monks had sabotaged the train tracks to bring her to the estate. However, she is not unprepared, and threatens Father Angelo with her own revolver. He sneers at her sceptically, calling her a "woman". Queen Victoria retorts, "The correct form of address is 'Your Majesty'!" and fires. The women are told to leave the house through the kitchen, while the Steward organises his men. The werewolf has broken through the sealed door, but is driven back momentarily by rifle fire. The women find the kitchen door locked, and the courtyard beyond guarded by monks with rifles. The Doctor tells the men they should retreat upstairs. The Steward says that nothing could have lived through the rifle barrage — and is promptly grabbed and killed by the werewolf after the Doctor sharply tells him, "Bullets can't stop it!". Sir Robert, Rose and the Doctor then run upstairs. It gets even more tense at this point. Meanwhile, Victoria retrieves the mysterious box from the safe, and meets up with Sir Robert, Rose and the Doctor. However, as they try to escape through the windows, the monks outside open fire. The four run upstairs, pursued by the werewolf. They meet Reynolds, who after confirming that Victoria has the contents of the box, says he will buy them time until they can get away. He fires at the werewolf, but is quickly torn apart as the others enter the Library and barricade the doors - but the werewolf does not try to break through. Queen Victoria demands to know what the creature is, and why the Doctor has lost his Scottish accent. The Doctor tries to explain, but she will have none of it, declaring angrily that this is not her world. In the kitchen, Lady Isobel notices that the monks are wearing mistletoe around their necks, a charm against werewolves. She then notices sprigs of mistletoe scattered on the kitchen floor, and orders the other women to gather the scraps up. In the Library, the Doctor notices wooden decorations on the doors carved into the shape of mistletoe. He then realises that the walls are varnished with viscum album — oil of mistletoe. The werewolf is allergic to it, or the monks had trained it to be to control it, and Sir Robert's father knew this. Sir Robert laments that they do not have an actual weapon against it, but the Doctor points out they have the greatest weaponary available: the Library itself. The books speak of an account of something falling to Earth in 1540, near the monastery. The Doctor theorises that perhaps only a single cell survived, passing itself from host to host while it grew stronger with each generation. Now it wants to establish an empire, advancing technology and building starships and missiles fuelled by coal and driven by steam, laying waste to history. Queen Victoria breaks in at this point, telling Sir Robert that she would rather die than let herself be infected, but asks him to find a place of safekeeping for something more precious. She reveals what was in the box: the Koh-i-Noor diamond. The Queen had been transporting it to the royal jewellers at Hazlehead for it to be recut. The Doctor remembers that Prince Albert kept insisting on having the diamond cut down and was never satisfied with the shape or size and how it used to be 40% bigger than the size it is now. Suddenly, the Doctor has a brainstorm. The diamond, the telescope, Prince Albert and Sir Robert's father are all connected. Just then, the werewolf crashes through the skylight, forcing the others to escqpe the Library. The werewolf nearly catches up with Rose, but Lady Isobel appears, throwing the mistletoe broth in the werewolf's face and forcing it away. Sir Robert kisses his wife and tells her to take the women back downstairs, while he and the others head for the Observatory. The Doctor needs time, however, as the doors to the Observatory are not barred against the werewolf — Sir Robert's father intended the wolf to come in. Sir Robert offers to place himself between them and the werewolf, willing to die with honour to make up for his betrayal. It gets VERY tense at this point. He holds the werewolf off with a sword, and as his screams are heard through the door, the Doctor and Rose manoeuvre the telescope so that it is aligned with the full moon. The telescope is not just a telescope: it is a light chamber, magnifying the Moon's rays. The werewolf may thrive on moonlight, but it can still drown in it. It gets EXTREMELY tense at this point. The werewolf crashes through the door and prepares to slash at Victoria, but the Doctor tosses the diamond on the floor and it catches the light beam, which intercepts the werewolf and suspends it in mid-air. The werewolf reverts to human form and asks the Doctor, "Make it brighter. Let me go." The Doctor obliges, and the werewolf form reasserts itself, howls and fades away in the moonbeam. The Doctor notices Queen Victoria's wrist is bleeding, and wonders if the werewolf managed to bite her after all, but the Queen defensively dismisses his concern, saying it was just a splinter from the door. The following morning, Queen Victoria dubs the two travellers Sir Doctor of TARDIS and Dame Rose of the Powell Estate. Having rewarded them, however, she banishes them from the Empire. Queen Victoria says that she does not know who or what they are, but observes that their world is steeped in terror and yet they consider it fun. She will not allow this in her world, and warns them to consider how long they might survive such a dangerous lifestyle. The two make their way back to the TARDIS, where the Doctor reflects that it was always a mystery where Victoria (and from her to her children) contracted haemophilia from, and perhaps that was just a Victorian euphemism for lycanthropy. Back at the Torchwood Estate, Victoria tells Lady Isobel that her husband's sacrifice and the ingenuity of his father will live on. Queen Victoria saus that she has seen that Britain has enemies beyond imagination, and proposes to establish an institute to research and fight these enemies: the Torchwood Institute. And if the Doctor returns, Torchwood will be waiting... that is how Torchwood began. The preview for the following episode SCHOOL REUNION, is very interesting indeed. Like Rose as a dinner lady and the return of two of the Doctor's previous companions - Sarah Jane Smith and K9. Tension builds again at the end of the preview: Mr. Finch telling the other Krillitanes, "The time has come my brothers. Today we shall become gods."

show: Doctor Who

episode: Earthshock, Part One

The Bottom Line: "Superb"

It begins with Lieutenant Scott and his men climbing up a bleak hillside, escorting Professor Kyle to a camp set up by Scott's team. The opening scene to this episode is interesting as the scanning equipment at the campsite is directed at a cave and set up to detect mammalian life forms. Kyle had been part of a scientific expedition investigating the caves for fossil remains, but the expedition has all but disappeared. The lack of readings suggests they are all dead. Kyle insists on accompanying Scott and his men into the caves to find out what happened, while two remain outside to maintain a constant scan. As they investigate, the squad is being stalked by two dark figures. Meanwhile, in the TARDIS, Adric is arguing with the Doctor about the lack of attention and respect he receives compared to Tegan or Nyssa. A Website page explains how the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davidson) was far more human than any of the previous Doctors. This episode is an outstanding example of that. Like when the Doctor and Adric enter the control chamber arguing about the dangers of the TARDIS going back into E-Space. However, Adric is insistent that he can calculate the coordinates to guide the TARDIS back into E-Space. Back on Earth, Scott's squad splits into two groups, but a strange jangling sound comes over the communications system, and a flare appears on the outside scanner indicating members of the squad who are killed. This starts the tension in this episode. Outside, Walters and Synder see more lifeforms appear on the scanner — the TARDIS crew, whom have just landed in the caves. However, Scott instantly assumes that the newcomers must be responsible for the deaths, especially when he is informed that one of the new lifesigns shows two heartbeats. The Doctor, meanwhile, is examining the fossils of dinosaurs on the cave walls and musing about how he had always wanted to find out how they died, 65 million years previously. As the wounded party is making slow progress, Snyder goes in to help, but they are attacked by the two dark figures. The jamming increases, and Snyder is reduced to a pile of smoking remains. As the survivors start to investigate, they continue to be picked off one by one. Scott and the remainder of his squad come across the Doctor and his companions and capture them. Scott very wrongly accuses the Doctor of the murders and while the Doctor tries to convince him otherwise, the dark figures continue their approach. Digging away at a recent rockfall, they discover the remains of the scientists as well as a metal hatch which begins to emit a trilling sound. The dark figures pick up their pace and begin to attack as everyone dives for cover. The Doctor realises that the attackers are androids, which is why they did not show up on the scanner. The androids appear to be defending the hatch. Kyle recognises the sound the androids are making, and realises that they were the ones who murdered the others. As an android focuses its gaze on the Doctor, the image is transmitted elsewhere to their masters: the Cybermen. The Cyber-Leader orders, "Destroy them! Destroy them at once!"... and the credits start rolling. However, do not fear. This is only Part 1 of Earthshock. Three more Parts remain...

show: Doctor Who (2005)

episode: New Earth

The Bottom Line: "Superb"

After 'The Christmas Invasion', this episode begins the series very well: with the Doctor starting up the TARDIS console as Rose says goodbye to Jackie and Mickey at the Powell Estate. (I noticed the words 'BAD WOLF' just about visible in the shot looking over the top of the TARDIS). I became even more interested when the Rose asks the Doctor where they were going, and Doctor replies , "Further than we've ever gone before." New Earth is outstanding! The flying vehicles, the city of New New York in the distance and the apple grass! When I saw the small robot spider I realized that something not good was beginning to occur. I like the sequence in which the Doctor explains how New Earth came to be: In the year five billion the Sun expanded and Earth was roasted. Rose then says, "That was our first date," and the Doctor says, "We had chips," and they laugh. I was also interested when the Doctor explains how the humans found that place: same size of the Earth, same air, same orbit - perfect. It's tricky but possible, David Tennant saying the word 'new' fifteen times after saying that the city is the 15th New York. The psychic paper recieving messages as well as saying whatever you want to to say is new one. The 'hospital' as the Doctor calls it, it very futuristic. I could not believe it when saw that Cassandra had survived after what happened in the episode 'The End Of The World' in the previous series. I like the way the scene cuts to Rose and the Doctor entering the hospital. I recognize that room from that place in Cardiff. This sequence is well written:

ROSE (to the Doctor) They're cats.

THE DOCTOR Now, don't stare. What do you look like to them, all pink and yellow? That's where I'd put the shop right there!

The showers in the lifts are very amusing. Did James Hawes tell Billie Piper that was going to happen? David Tennant certainly knew. Sometimes the directors don't tell the actors/actresses what's going to happen because they want their natural reactions. Well Rose's reaction is VERY natural. The hospital obviously wants all it's vistors to be clean before entering the wards. Rose meeting Cassandra again is funny to watch, until Cassandra goes into Rose's body and posesses her. The Doctor meeting the Face Of Boe again is also interesting, but the atmosphere gets tense when Novice Hame tells the Doctor that the Face is dying. I became interested again when Novice Hame tells the Doctor that legend has it that the Face Of Boe will give his dying message only to a wanderer without a home, to "the Lonely God". The Doctor then realises that he fits the description in the legend. Thoughout the rest of the episode, after the Doctor realizes that Cassandra has survived, confusion and suspense builds as hundreds of plague carriers like zombies start taking over the hospital, infecting anyone they touch. I like the scene where the Doctor points his Sonic Screwdriver at the Cassandra-poseessed-Rose and says, "Give her back to me." Then Cassandra goes into the Doctor and gives his body an impressive review, followed by 'the flesh' breaking into the room and the Doctor pushing past Rose saying, "Out of the way blondie" and starting to climb a ladder, followed by more confusion and humour! The Doctor and "Rose" reach Ward 26, which seems to be the only place still untouched by the 'the flesh'. The Doctor takes all of the intravenous solutions and straps them to his body. Together with "Rose", he slides back down the shaft (I love that scene!) to the lift car, where he empties the solutions into the disinfectant reservoir. The Doctor then says, "I've got an appointment. The Doctor is in!" and drops into the lift. The Doctor opens the doors, luring several plague carriers inward as "Rose" starts the shower. The spray drenches the carriers, curing them. The Doctor encourages them to pass it on, and they wander back out to spread the cure to the others. This scene is very uplifting and the Doctor says how the human race just keeps on going in the excitment. I did not expect the surviving Sisters to be arrested by the New New York Police Department. It's just as well the cured New Humans (as the Doctor calls them) were to be taken into care. At that moment, the Doctor remembers the Face Of Boe. No longer dying, the Face tells the Doctor telepathically that he had grown tired of the universe, but the Doctor has taught him to look at it anew. The Doctor asks the Face about his message, but he enigmatically replies that it can wait for their third and final meeting. The Face then teleports away. Just wait until the next series. The truth will be told. The Doctor then orders Cassandra to leave Rose's body. Cassandra transfers her consciousness to a willing Chip instead, but his cloned body begins to fail, and Cassandra accepts her impending, true death. When Cassandra was posessing Rose, she really did not want to die. Whereas after going into Chip, she accepts death like a fine agreement. The Doctor does one last thing for Cassandra, taking her back to the party seen earlier, to see herself on the last night someone had called her beautiful. "Chip" approaches the Cassandra of the past and tells her just that, and collapses into the younger Cassandra's arms as she comforts him. As the older Cassandra finally dies, the Doctor and Rose silently leave in the TARDIS. I can't help feeling a bit sad after that final scene, but it's like the Doctor says, "Everything has its time, and everything dies." By the way, the preview for the episode following this one looks very tense indeed...