New Earth

Mixed emotions about this one if IВ’m perfectly frank but the positives still far outweighed the negatives. It was a typical RTD story, crammed with ideas, imagination, fantastic dialogue, excellent characterisationВ…no complaints on any of those scores. It also had some murderously funny moments too, which for once are entirely performance driven rather than inherent in the script.

My biggest problem was with what we didnВ’t see. This felt like a much longer story squeezed into fourty-five minutes, you can literally feel the plot bursting to be free of that minute time frame and allowed to breathe. The plot isnВ’t, so the viewer isnВ’t either than the episode moves so fast you donВ’t have any time to consider anything that is going on. There is just far too many ideas here for any of them to be dealt with satisfyingly; the mind invasion, the sinister nuns, New Earth itself, CassandraВ’s return, the mutant rampageВ…any one of these concepts could have held the episode up but instead they all command your attention. What is it like to have your mind taken over in such a perverse manner? Why did the citizens of New Earth come to this particular planet? What is their culture like? How long have the Nuns been experimenting on humans? How did Cassandra end up under the hospital? What happened to the mutant population after their release from the diseases? There is so much potential here, so much to explore that this would probably have been better had it been one of the books, with their unlimited running time and chance to get inside the characters heads.

But what about everything we did getВ…

The look of the episode was fantastic as we have come to expect but to actually have the Doctor and Rose step out onto a new planet with spaceships whizzing by and a whopping great alien city in the background is marvellous and proves the show is willing to go much further this year now they have won over their audience. What with the Sycorax and now the Cat Nuns they are clearly ready to experiment with some more imaginative looking aliens too and the Nuns look painstakingly realistic, and shockingly beautiful. Add to this some stylish sets (arenВ’t they huge?), some clever visuals (such as the expanse of mutant cells) and a foot tapping (if repeated from last year) score from Murray Gold.

I can say with my hand on my heart I know I am going to absolutely adore David Tennant as the Doctor; a far more laid back and fun loving Doctor than Christopher EcclestonВ’s exciting portrayal. He creates a great deal of entertainment just being on screen, regardless of the story and director James HawkesВ’ comments that Tennant is bounding with energy in each shoot is apparent with every take. Whilst he clearly hasnВ’t forgotten his past he is far more willing to let go, with the ninth Doctor it was more like he needed to show Rose wonders to convince himself the universe is still a marvellous place but with the tenth it is like he is re-discovering that joy for himself. That great image of him lying back on the apple grass, hands behind his head, spaceships floating by, flirting like mad with RoseВ…he is clearly loving every second of his life. Which is what makes his stronger moments all the more shocking and his reaction to the Nuns mutant battery farm is astonishingly good (В“HOW MANY?В”). Unpredictable, just as he should always be. Even better is his ecstatic reaction to curing the diseased humans and brilliantly, cuddling up to one of them.

IВ’m sure there will be people out there who are horrified at the whole mind swap plot but for me this was the best part of the episode, a chance for Billie Piper to truly let her hair down and show us what she is made of. I expressed my dissatisfaction at RoseВ’s characterisation in The Christmas Invasion because she was a bit useless (I know I know that was the point but it still rankled) but here she is right back on top. Her excitement at stepping out of the TARDIS onto an alien planet is affecting and the relax atmosphere between herself and the Doctor bodes very well for the future. But surely she steals the episode with her interpretation of Cassandra (В“IВ’m a chav!В”), who ever knew Billie was capable of being such a bitch! ItВ’s brilliantly funny (especially when she snogs the DoctorВ…oo-er!) and things get even more slapstick when Cassandra dives into the Doctor allowing Tennant to really do some scenery chewing of his own. Frankly Cassandra in these two is so much fun I wanted her to stick around at the end.

Once again I am amazed at RTDВ’s skill at making something so insanely absurd extremely poignant. He pulls it off a few times here. The whole mind invasion is clearly being played for laughs until suddenly Cassandra jumps into one of the diseased and back into Rose and her description of their loneliness and desperation to be touched is real reality booster. But even more compelling is the ending, which sees Cassandra (a totally ridiculous character) travel back in time and visit herself when she was still flesh and blood and tell herself she is beautiful before dying in her own arms. It is written and performed beautifully and if IВ’m perfectly honest I found this ending more affecting than the end of Parting of the Ways. Something about the way the shallow human Cassandra suddenly realises what she is being told and her selfless attempt to save the life of somebody she has never met. Plus it is great to see Zoe Wanamaker in the flesh.

So what weВ’ve got here is a fast paced, enormously entertaining and surprising episode, leaving you feeling shortchanged only because as a two parter it could have been so much more. It is a confident and stylish opener, rich with performances and special FX and is more than enough to keep the kids happy.