New Earth

With 'New Earth', the TARDIS finally lives up to the DIS part of its name, a long-running gripe of mine about the reincarnated series. New Earth itself looked a bit painted to me, but the set up of the feline-run hospital with a secret was intriguing, and I enjoyed the gentle pace of the first half as the series explored a new location & the viewers explored a new Doctor. A reprise of Cassandra, one of the most interesting creations of last year, was welcome -- though RTD seems to be developing positively Whedonian resurrection capabilities.

But... the plot, once it eventually kicked in, was not so much holey as absent (and haven't we seen those one-track-mind zombies before, once or twice?), and all that body swapping got old rather quickly. The Face of Boe teaser was just annoying -- last year's Bad Wolf breadcrumbs worked so well because they were crumbs: this was more like a sandwich where someone had nicked the filling. Like many eps last year, 'New Earth' really suffered from the single 45-minute format: several shorter episodes would have given the abundant ideas here time to breathe.

I'm withholding judgement on Tennant's Doctor for now: so far he's not really grabbing me, but it took me half the season to warm to Eccleston's portrayal. A Rose-lite episode, though Piper got to show her acting chops, outshining Tennant much of the time.

Amusing in places, but so many wasted opportunities.