New Earth

On initial inspection, ‘New Earth’ rather seems to have continued the upward trend in Russell T Davis’ writing for the series; this is a busy and blisteringly fast story (almost too fast – other reviewers have mentioned various components of the storyline such as the Doctor’s winch and the planets in the sky which I didn’t spot and have no memory of).

Nevertheless, the sound is still overly brash, bordering on incoherent, and the obligatory ‘cringe’ moments are still there, all right. Boy, are they there. This time around we have a fresh outbreak of Russell’s taste for mythic-sounding SF schlock (“the wanderer… the man without a home… the lonely God” – I don’t mind writers “bigging up” the Doctor, but not like this: with the subtlety of an atom bomb), capped with an almost masturbatory scene as Cassandra, invading Rose’s body using a psycho-graft, “inspects” herself. Poor old Russell – he just can’t seem to help himself. But the way this scene is lingered over when there’s such an overwhelming weight of plot and incident (this episode is surely more crammed with stuff than any before it) is not only crass, it’s a bit odd. And the effects remain gaudy masterpieces of unrealism, although I must concede that in their way they are attractive.

The one thing I was hoping against hope not be disappointed by in the week before ‘New Earth’ screened (and it’s a measure of how far Series 1 let me down that unlike in the pre-Rose furore of last year, I didn’t even think about Series 2 until a few days prior to the launch, and even then my pulse hardly spiked!) was David Tennant – the Tenth Doctor! Was I? Well, yes and no. From thinking that he’d be as bad as Eccleston in the final moments of the nightmare that was ‘The Parting of the Ways’, to suddenly realising during CiN that he could actually be brilliant, and then watching the Christmas Invasion coming to the conclusion that “he could do great things, if only he’d tone it down a bit in episodes to come”, I now find myself thinking – well, “he could still do great things, if only he’d tone it down a bit… etc.

This was DT’s least distinctive performance so far. It was by no means bad. In fact it was good. This Doctor is a lot closer to being ‘nice’ that Eccles, that’s for sure. But I’m a little uneasy about his tendency to chop and change between cheeky smirking and serious rage. I get the impression that the Tenth Doctor is meant to be scary, but there’s a clear line between moral outrage and madness: the Tenth Doctor, in ‘New Earth’, comes across as slightly unhinged.

Picture, particularly, his confrontation with the poor novice, whose good intentions, whether misguided or not, were plain to see: “I’m the Doctor and if you don’t like it, if you want to take it to a higher authority there isn’t one! It stops with me!”. This is more than eccentricity – the Doctor is talking the language of megalomania!

It’s not Tennant’s fault, of course, it’s Russell’s; it’s part and parcel of his ‘big idea’ of characterising the Doctor as the most arrogant man alive: “I’m the Doctor and I cured them. Pass it on”. In the Ninth Doctor, a Time Lord not exactly notable for his good qualities, this was unbearable – in the Tenth, it remains to be seen whether or not it can be sustained.

No actor can make a completely good impression without good lines and characterisation, and if David Tennant’s incarnation does end up falling as flat as Christopher Eccleston’s, it will, like as not, be Russell T Davis’ – if you don’t like it, if you want to take it to a higher authority, there isn’t one, it stops with him.

But what of the good? The most startling part of the story for me, apart from its engorged plot, was the proactive nature of the resolution – and, for the second time in a row – count them, TWO! – the Doctor does the work. And in style. This is big stuff; it sets a new record for the ‘Doctor Who’ revival. Never before has the Doctor played a decisive role in the story’s conclusion for two consecutive episodes. It is primarily because of this that I am willing to forgive the story its faults. If only they can keep it up, I will be quite happy, barring any unforgivable howlers such as, ooh, I don’t know, killing off Sarah Jane Smith or making the Cybermen stupid/comic/unthreatening.

The Doctor’s ability to “pull the cat out of the bag”, as one essayist put in relation to ‘Robot’, is seen again here, as he uses already-introduced plot devices and his own special ingenuity to achieve victory, providing the most extraordinary and welcome twist that RTD has given us so far: he takes an apparently irretrievable situation, and a bog-standard rampage of ‘plague zombies’, and gives us ‘The Doctor Dances’ Mk II (the not-nearly-so-effective-but-still-good sequel!). Not everybody lives; we don’t know or care for the incidental characters; and coming from a plot which replaces Steven Moffat’s sheer skill with RTD’s trademark breathless about-faces, the resolution isn’t so touchingly brilliant… but you have to admit, having the Doctor cure – not destroy, but CURE – the poor zombies was classic Doctor Who.

Fitz said of the Eighth Doctor, “God, you’re cool!” when he resurrected millions of people in ‘The Gallifrey Chronicles’. This was a comparable moment.

Cassandra, of course, warrants a mention. Her bizarre powers of mind-swapping without the psycho-graft needed a little thought, but it isn’t really important. What is important is that Russell’s compassion for the villains reappears (arguably, he cares more about the Cassandras and Blon Fel Fotches than he does the ‘good guys’!) – and strangely enough the apparent paradox of Cassandra meeting herself and dying in her own arms was far from cringeworthy. Instead it was a great idea, touchingly and not over-statedly redeeming Cassandra, as the Doctor, Rose, and the viewers see what could very well be the last spark of humanity and tenderness in her entire life. The moody final shot of the Doctor was great too, and helped the feeling that he is more in the centre of things than Eccleston was.

Redemption. I would rhapsodise about how beautifully appropriate it was for Easter, if only I thought that atheist Russell meant it that way.