The Impossible Planet

I wish I could put my finger on what makes this episode so brilliant. I think David Tennant's run so far has been phenomenal and I really love him as the Doctor. This episode however was just incredible. I think it has to do with it being off planet for just about the first time in the entire series. Not Earth, not New New New New New Earth, not a space station revolving around Earth in the year 5,000,000,000, an entirely new planet! I love the Pertwee era of Doctor Who but since he was mostly stuck on Earth for his run, as a kid I fell in love with Doctor Who mainly because Tom Baker was my Doctor. Not just because he was such an awesome Doctor, but the worlds he visited and the adventures he had. It's been said many times before but you never knew where he would land next week. With the ninth and tenth so far you didn't know when you would show up and it was always an adventure but you had a pretty good idea it would involve Earth in some way. Granted there are Earthlings in this story but this episode takes from some very excellent previous Doctor stories most notably Ark in Space and The Daemons.

If anyone I knew was about to start watching the new series of Doctor Who this would easily be the story I would want them to see. The effects are so incredibly top notch, the actors playing the support roles all have a personality and work as they really are a crew and the story pulls you in almost from the first minute. As several Doctor Who's this season have done, this episode seamlessly blends top notch Sci-Fi (which alone is awesome because without Battlestar, TV is SORELY lacking in quality SF shows), a little mix of Horror and a bit of drama into one of the most satisfying hours of TV I have seen in a long time. I dare people to find faults with this episode if they are truly SciFi and Doctor fans. As always I'm sure there are plot points you could find fault with but in terms of acting, SFX and musical score, this one was a slam dunk!

If I had to find any fault with this episode, I would say that the whole "losing the Tardis" bit is bad. We all know he will get it back and I point out like I have in previous reviews that it's like when the first few minutes of Star Trek Voyager would show a possibility of getting to Earth or in any popular show really when a main character would randomly die. As well established television watchers in the year 2006 we're a little past this I believe. However, I will gladly put both my feet in my mouth if the writers take advantage of this to possibly have a non-Tardis story arc. That would actually be way cool. But I'm not holding my breath. Also, I find myself thinking that some of Billie Piper's acting has been a little off this season. The scenes with her and the Doctor flirting just seem weird. It's not because I don;t think they should, the scene where they talk about "settling down" possibly together I thought was really touching. It's her acting plain and simple. She is very good but some laughing and flirting scenes seem just a little forced.

A very very small gripe though about a really stellar episode. If you love science fiction you really deserve this type of show. I can't wait for next Saturday and the whole rest of the season for that matter.

What's with no previews for next week?! That was a first!