Smith and Jones

I was not, I have to admit, looking forward to the start of a new series as much as I should have been. Previous RTD start of season scripts had been...how to phrase this politely? Lame. Amidst good jokes and ideas the episodes sort of hobbled along trying to get the science fiction out of the way as much as possible in case anyone fell asleep, before plunging with all the enthusiasm of an Pro-plussed toddler into the shallow end of the 'How to resolve all your plot threads' pool, before being asked to leave for splashing too much. This time, RTD has got sci-fi ideas that are fun, rather than the rather dull but worthy Human farms of New Earth and generic invasion of Rose so that while we get to know the character of Martha better we can also have a rollocking good time. Oh yes. So we get talking rhinos as policemen and have an alien race who are presented in a more interesting way that merely generic bad guys, which is always a good thing. Then we have Anne Reid playing a creepy old lady with a straw. This is a delightfully squeamish idea for adults, and an excuse for younger brothers who like annoying people (Yo) to run around trying to suck their elder sister's blood out of their neck with a bendy straw. Whoever said Doctor Who had to scare the crap out of children week in week out? Giving them some respite for a week, THEN scaring the bejeezus out of them works just as well.

The straw however, has proved contentious. Many people have objected that a straw could not in fact be used to drain someone of blood. So, based on this, these people will have to object to the fact that spaceship doors and walls in Doctor Who are often made of lightweight wooden or polystyrene materials, which wouldn't stand up to the rigours of space travel. If they object to this, saying it isn't obvious that the walls are wooden, have they ever seen one being blown up? The shards of pre cut balsa wood fly neatly over the set and the bad guys march on through, usually. It's obviously not real. It requires the use of imagination. Say that in the future a way to make ultra light yet immensely strong materials used in spaceship manufacture is invented, and due to the nature of its structure it happens to look like MDF or plasticene when an immensely powerful alien device (ie. A box with a lightbulb on the end) is used on it? Or that a lightweight plastic material is developed with a special sharp end with a metal tip (transparent aluminium anybody?) enabling penetration of the flesh and enough heat to be applied so that no blood escapes the end of the straw? If people are going to insist on thinking about these things rather than just watching it and accepting it, why stop at 'Oh that doesn't work, the episode is ruined for me now!'? Why not continue thinking about it until you can come up with a scientific explanation for it? That's what Doctor Who does.

Anyway, rantette over with, RTD wrote a script with a simple agenda ? to make the show as much fun as possible (Of course there is such a thing as overdoing it). I thought the balance was just a bit too much on the side of the wacky but got away with it through sheer breathless enthusiasm. However I can see how some people may have wished David Tennant (who now looks as if he could play the Doctor in his sleep, probably because he has been for the past twenty years) would stop hopping about and just get on with it, and didn't Jon Pertwee's Doctor die of radiati ? oh hang on was that a different type? It was? Good, that's alright then ? but anyway he should hurry up and stop goofing around *arms folded, glare at TV screen*

Martha's family did not come across very well in this episode, but I think it'd be unfair to cast judgement on them just yet. If they're still annoying in series four though, then we know something's gone wrong. Hands up anyone who thought they'd miss Jackie Tyler after Rose? Exactly, so I'm prepared to wait for their characters to develop beyond this cursory introduction. Martha herself feels like she's been there for years. And it is a slightly different character arc to Rose, in that the Doctor is too busy getting over Rose to really fall for Martha (or at least that's what we've been led to believe), however this is missing the big question over the relationship between the Doctor and Martha, which is this: Is anyone else hoping the Doctor will say that he used to have a tattoo on his shoulder as well?

He so should.

NB: Anyone hoping for an in depth review which goes into great detail about the minutiae of the episode will hopefully appreciate the dramatic irony in not getting one.