Smith and Jones

So, series 3 of Doctor Who has finally began, and this is pretty much exactly as I expected the first episode to be.? Light-hearted, fun and chock-full of witty humour and comic aliens, as well as making the new assistant, Martha Jones, extremely likeable.? I was not surprised at the result of Smith and Jones, though I was perhaps slightly disappointed.

The main focus of the episode is obviously Martha Jones, played brilliantly by Freema Agyeman.? She genuinely acts as a strong-headed human being would in that bizarre situation, disbelieving, scared, and yet determined to discover what exactly is going on.? All the looks of surprise, anger, amusement and sadness on her face are all so believable, and her intelligent points make it obvious that she is the perfect companion for the Doctor, and she is so unbelievably likeable that Billie Piper, wonderful as she was, has been more or less forgotten.? The whole point of the episode was really to get the audience to warm to Martha, and this could not have been done more successfully.

David Tennant also does well here, though his comedy performances seem a bit forced at times.? Having said that, he does make for some genuinely funny moments and gives an overall entertaining performance.? His acting here is very well done, and one of my favourite scenes with him is after he has just barely regained consciousness after the kiss of life and stares up at the controls that are wrecking the ship.? He looks genuinely sick and rather ill, and I was surprised at how convincing the expression on his face was.?

Plotwise, the story is alright.? Pretty easy to understand.? The Judoon transport the hospital that contains an evil alien to the moon(not sure why?the moon was chosen of all places)?so they can scan all the humans to find out which one is the alien who killed some princess.? A few unecessary sub-plots, like with Martha's rather annoying family who I hope we've seen the last of, and that rather worthless and unfunny comment about the princess, but overall the story was OK, but not one of this episode's strong points.

Another let-down are the monsters featured in this episode.? None of them are either interesting nor original.? The Judoon are basically a rehash of the Sontarans, with Dalek-like speech(or is that Cyberman)who don't pose as much of a threat, even when they are trying to kill the Doctor, and after they kill the foolish man who attacks them, this makes a very minor impact, possibly because it was so predictable and now an over-used cliche in the show, or because it wasn't a very dramatic death scene.? There are also the insignificant and incredibly boring Slabs, which are the new Adherents of the Repeated Meme, only far less menacing and intriguing, and the Slabs are pretty much a boring and forgettable race.? As for the Plasmavore, this probably works the best out of all the creatures, though it could have been creepier and more disorientating, and the whole idea of it borrows heavily from the classic series' Curse of Fenric.? If they are going to redo this, they could use better special effects and make the idea of it scarier.? At its core, this could make a pretty freaky monster, but the whole idea of it is thoroughly wasted.

This is a so-so episode, the strong points being the excellent performances from David Tennant and Freema Agyeman, spoiled by the mediocre storyline and dull monsters. 6/10