New Earth

I felt rather let down by the previous season of Doctor Who and in particular by Russell T.Davies and Christopher Eccleston. I love their previous work but for some reason they just didn’t work for in the Doctor Who context. So when I found out the first episode of the new series was another Davies script I was more than a little worried.

We had yet another goodbye scene with Jackie and Mickey, how boring? Added nothing at all to the episode and didn’t need to be there. And when we last saw these two it was Christmas but judging by the weather this time around it was summertime. Surely Rose and the Doctor didn’t stay that long?

I don’t like the idea of the Doctor and Rose fancying each other, at all. It’s just wrong in my mind. The Doctor doesn’t fall in love with everyone to come through the Tardis otherwise he’d be a bit of man-slapper. And its such a boring and unoriginal plot as well. So why even bother? And all the sentimental crap surrounding it is so tedious. It almost makes me reach for the remote.

For the most part the special effects were good but the odd one brought the show down. Which is a great example of why storyline must come before effects! I get the feeling the production crew are trying to show off and amaze us all with these brand new special effects the old series never had. Problem is they actually look rather cheap and don’t stand up to the likes of Battlestar Galactica. Now there’s a show that has got the balance right. Yes they have very good special effects but they have excellent storylines to match, dark and moving. Doctor Who needs to look at this re-invented show and learn some lessons. I want to see story to the episodes and less showing off and far less humour. Doctor Who always worked best when it was scary and there was nothing scary about this episode.

On the plus side Billie Piper proved what an amazing actress she is during this episode. Switching between Rose and ‘Cassandra’ was brilliantly done. And the Lady Cassandra was a welcome return. She was by far one of the better things about the previous series. She’s so witty and bitchy, she’d be perfect for Footballers Wives. I do hope we see her again because there’s plenty of potential there. Her change of heart was rather sudden so I’m hoping it was all a trick on Cassandra’s part otherwise its just a little of a cop-out. The cats costumes were another high point as well as their characterisation. They’re another species I hope we see again. The Face of Boe added a little mystery to the episode, what does he have to say to the Doctor? Could it be a warning about the Cybermen or about his own people?

The dialogue for the most part was good. Although I doubt that Cassandra, five billion years in the future, would actually use the term chav it was all very funny. The plague victims looked a little…..dodgy. I couldn’t help but think of Terminus and how dodgy that make up was. And how on earth can they speak and why do they have clothes? The Sisterhood bred them for experiments and finding cures not to try out different fashions on them. Why bother clothing them? It’s pointless. And if they are bred for experimenting on, and kept isolated from each other, how do they possess the skill of speech? Children learn to speak by watching and listening to their parents and copying their behaviour.

Deep down under all the humour, special effects and bitchy comments there was actually some kind of moral to this storyline. It’s all about animal testing and human testing. It’s wrong. And in this case I can’t help but agree. Breeding animals just to experiment on them is totally and utterly wrong.

Overall not a bad episode really. An improvement on some of the direness of the previous season and a much better actor in the role. However, I’m still not sure of Davies and prefer other episodes to his.