The Lazarus Experiment

After the unwieldy and ultimately disappointing 'Daleks in Manhattan'/'Evolution of the Daleks' comes 'The Lazarus Experiment', an episode that is pure filler, with a clich? ridden plot that sees a mad scientist accidentally turning himself into a monster that devours people, and eventually falls to its death from a bell-tower, but hugely entertaining nonetheless.

Professor Lazarus is like one of those old Marvel super-villains whose name predicts his fate, but rather than going for a simple Jekyll and Hyde scenario, writer Stephen Greenhorn creates an arrogant, cruel and deeply unpleasant character, a fact that starts to become obvious before his transformation when he clumsily gropes Tish's hand. Following his rejuvenation he becomes a proper gloating villain, showing no remorse for the fact that he now has to suck the life-force from other people to survive, and who coldly rejects Lady Thaw, revolted at her decrepit form now that he is a young man again. It all makes for very traditional villainy, and Mark Gatiss is perfectly cast in the role, hamming it up with glee and managing to be enormously entertaining in the process. In contrast to, say, Roger Lloyd-Pack's brand of "Bwa-ha-ha" ham in 'Rise of the Cybermen'/'The Age of Steel', Gatiss reigns in the over-the-top aspects of his performance just enough to make Lazarus rather fun, and clearly throws himself into the part with enormous enthusiasm, which rubs off on this viewer at least. He's also especially good when Lazarus is reflecting on the past, particularly when he's drenched in sweat and wrapped in a blanket in the cathedral.

Greenhorn also uses Lazarus to make comments about the nature of humanity, but does so in slightly less obvious ways than I first expected when I first heard the line "change what it means to be human", and in doing so makes him a suitable match for the Doctor. Simply put, when the Doctor is pompously telling Lazarus what humanity is all about, Lazarus' rejoinder that the desperate need to survive is very human is quite true, and tellingly when he scathingly asks the Doctor "who are you to judge me?" the Doctor doesn't seem to have a convincing answer to hand. The Doctor's initial objection to Lazarus' experiment prior to any obvious drawbacks also briefly makes him look like he arrogantly opposes any scientific development that he doesn't like, and this works well in context, as a mysterious suited figure whispers dire warnings about him into Francine's ear, a fact which the Doctor remains oblivious to here. The end result is that the Doctor's bull-in-a-China-shop approach to meddling without bothering to explain anything to anyone starts to make him look rather questionable to anyone who doesn't know him, and coupled with more references to the mysterious Harold Saxon, who obviously knows who the Doctor is, starts to give the impression that he's being slowly outmanoeuvred.

Tennant continues to be more restrained than in the past, and his frantic game of cat-and-mouse with Lazarus is very entertaining, as he improvises on the fly, blowing up laboratories, and desperately locking doors behind him in a bid to slow Lazarus down. More technobabble is used to get him out of trouble, but when he's forced to improvise inside Lazarus' machine and temporarily deals with his enemy by reversing the polarity of the machine, Greenhorn's insertion of the line "really shouldn't take that long just to reverse the polarity, must be a bit out of practice" makes it feel like a pleasing nod to the past. I also, in principle, like the idea of the Doctor despatching the monster with manic organ playing, although points are deducted for using the Davis ex machina as window dressing, as well as using it as a DNA detector earlier.

Martha's intelligence seems to have diminished somewhat since 'Smith and Jones', as she becomes a generic companion here, but she is quick-witted enough to realised that she has collected a DNA sample from Lazarus, and she also gets to show bravery whilst distracting the monster at the end. The Doctor's casual dumping of her back home also works well, since when he offers her a longer-term trip on board the TARDIS at the end, he looks a bit like a disappointed child when he thinks she's refused: this harkens back to the "my best friend" attitude of the past, and for all of Martha's obvious attraction to him, I find I can cope with the companion fancying the Doctor as long as it isn't reciprocated. In fact I endured it for two years with Sam Jones, and it was by far her least irritating attribute. We also get reintroduced to her family for the first time since 'Smith and Jones', and as I suspected at the time they are vastly less irritating than Rose's were. Most importantly, they also seem to be serving an actually purpose, with Francine's concern for her daughter entirely reasonable and believable, as she is warned that the Doctor leaves death and destruction in his wake. Greenhorn keeps the soap opera to a minimum, with even the sibling rivalry between Martha and her sister seeming like convincing background detail rather than something to be dwelt on.

The CGI monster frequently just looks like a CGI monster, and I can't help wondering if this series flaws derive from the self-congratulatory back-slapping of the production team, with nobody willing to acknowledge the programme's short comings, but for the most-part 'The Lazarus Experiment' is nothing groundbreaking, but is a very entertaining romp. And once in a while, there's nothing wrong with that at all.