New Earth

First off, this is SEASON 2. Not Season 28 or whatever. Season TWO. The SECOND season of the NEW SERIES. Number TWO in a SERIES that is A NEW PRODUCTION with DIFFERENT PRODUCTION COMPANY.

Sorry, getting that off my chest.

Now then:

First off, if anyone noticed, this is the first time the new series has actually left Earth (or vicinity) and visited an alien world. So of course, they go to... New Earth. Um.

So we're at a hospital. Run by cats. I wonder if the "universal symbol" for hospitals being a crescent moon is some sort of commentary on the use of a red cross as it currently is in the Western world. Look closely at ambulances on the news when they're showing bodies blown apart in Iraq and you'll see a red crescent.

Ah ha! Two familiar faces now -- the Face of Boe and Lady Cassandra. Boe gets the plot moving but Cassandra figures into it a bit more.

"Oh my God, I'm a chav!" Oh come ON... yeah yeah, commentary on fandom, I know. Seems to me Rose is most chavish HERE being possessed.

And that's another thing -- the Doctor and Rose spend half the story being possessed by Cassandra. How does this show how the characters *themselves* are to new viewers? Remember, this is only the second story with the 10th Doctor, and he was incapacitated for most of "The Christmas Invasion." So, er... I'm not really getting any sense of what this Doctor is all about quite yet, beyond he's a bit bouncier and smiley than Eccleston, perhaps more conventionally attractive and Doctor-looking, and he's given to trying to shout like Keifer Sutherland at the odd moment. So is he still as haunted as the 9th Doctor? Would HE have quite as psychotic reaction to Daleks? There's a lot more that needs to be built up here, and so far spending 3/4 of one story incapacitated and part of another one possessed doesn't impress me much.

Not Tennant's fault by any means -- indeed, it's the same situation with Paul McGann's Doctor. I loved the actor's performance, but the story(ies) haven't really told me dick about the character. McGann turned in an excellent performance, but a) his Doctor came in only 1/4 through the story b) half of which was spent amnesiac [a common problem with regeneration stories, really] c) in the very end, the Doctor didn't really DO all that much. On this hand, Tennant is good so far, yet the Doctor is leaving me a bit blank at the moment.

...although maybe he needs to keep the glasses on.

Anyway.

Billie was great in this, having to play basically two different characters, one the embodiment of negative fan stereotypes about Rose. Fandom was all afluster about that kiss in the early trailers, but oh, wait, possession again!

Liked the cats, liked the Matrix-looking clone disease farm idea, but a "New Earth" with a "New New York" just seems, I dunno, done before. Even in Doctor Who, I can think of at least 2 novels with a New Earth.

And the Face of Boe is such a tease, innit he?

Overall... I liked the episode, but really wanted to love it. "Rose" was a bangstart, this one is a bit more steady, and I'm not sure it was the way to go. Still tho, 12 more episodes to go. Werewolves, ooo...