Gridlock

Sunday, 15 April 2007 - Reviewed by Peter Neafcy

Episode three already and the new series is still not doing its job. Gridlock is a worse than usual example of Russel T Davies' "Effect Without Cause" writing policy. A series of pretty cool, yet random ideas strung together without any attempt at a linking narrative or plot, some crushingly badly judged scenes and the new girl Martha's sub Hollyoaks acting prowess all conspire to make this one of the most painful Who episodes in a long, long time.

The story sees the Doctor returning to New Earth. Martha makes a point of getting uppity the the Doctor is bringing her to the same places he brought Rose (ha, ha), yes, the tiresome "Companion is a metaphor for girlfriend" shctick which was done (almost) well in School Reunion resurfaces pointlessly here. Turns out, New Earth is not the Utopia that the Doctor had previously made it out to be - minutes after landing in a drug-filled slum, Martha is kidnapped by a couple and dragged back to their Back To The Future Car. Now, the reason they have done this is because the automated traffic system which governs the city will only let them in the "fast lane" if there are three people aboard.

Now, it's here that the episode really starts to lose the excuse for a plot. First of all, we are expected to swallow the fact that people have spent YEARS in this traffic jam. They live in their cars, give birth, eat, drink, sleep and whatever else in their cars. Which they'e been living in for twelve years. So, aside from the fact that each car must have an inexhaustible food and drinks supply, plumbing system, not to mention a bit of cabin space to ensure the passengers didn't get Deep Vein Thrombosis...aside from that, how did you feel last time you were stuck in a traffic jam for over an hour? Or even half an hour? By the end of the first day, people would be clawing each others' eyes out. Yes, Russel, we know you're attempting to be satirical but your point was so far removed from reality as to be completely innefective.

Interestingly, Russel T Davies, who I am led to believe is an atheist, here throws in a bit of religion for the trapped motorists. A strange U-turn after his "No Religion" line in "The End Of The World". It is quite a nice idea that perhaps religion is all these trapped souls have left to hang on to. Of course, this being a 45 minute RTD script, it's never fully explored, it becomes just another of the random elements tossed into the mix, used and then forgotten. But even this scene is ruined by a hopelessly badly judged "hymn sequence" during which the camera cuts to the pained faces of the various motorists as they meaningfully clutch each others' hands while singing along with the song. Why was Martha crying? Because of the Hymn? Because she felt sorry for the people? Because she was trapped? I really don't know. What was the point in this scene, other than "I saw Magnolia once"?

Of course, one of the strangest things about this episode was the re-appearance of an obscure enemy from the show's past - the Macra. Why it had to be the Macra seems unclear - no one who wasn't a hardcore fan would remember them - their one and only appearance was in a story from the 1960s (which doesn't even exist any more) so it can't have been a nostalgia thing, and the Macra in Gridlock have "devolved into beasts", so they aren't the same Macra that the hardcore Whovians would remember anyway, so it clearly wasn't for the fans. So they could have been any monster really, couldn't they? This has a strange echo of the Judoon a couple of episodes back, a race that was very similar to a classic series race called the Sontarans, but inexplicably...wasn't.

Another point about the Macra - we're told they feed on the gas of the exhaust fumes. So why are they attacking the cars in the first place?

Perhaps the most important point in the episode comes with the Face of Boe's final revalation that the Doctor is "Not Alone" - but even this is problematic. First, how does the Face Of Boe know this? Did the Master pop by and say hello sometime prior to "New Earth?" Why did the Face keep this secret to himself instead of warning the Doctor earlier? Yes, I know it was supposed to be portentous and grandiose, but why would the wisest being in the universe withold information about a potentially dangerous survivor of the Time Lord race?

This sort of writing is "Effect Without Cause". RTD is perfectly willing to sacrifice a logical (or even quasi-logical) explanation in favour of a "cool" scene. Sometimes it comes off, most of the time it doesn't. But there's really no reason why he can't do both.

The episode fizzles out with an appallingly truncated scene in which the Doctor begins to tell Martha about Gallifrey. Tennant's performance as he remembers the Doctor's destroyed homeworld was hear wrenching to watch. Lovely. For about thirty seconds. Then the camera pans away, sting, end credits. Just a nice bit of noise. No emotional payoff, nothing. Almost as if the production team realised "Oh, wait a minute, this bit might actually be GOOD. We can't have that. Quick, pan the camera away!"

And this brings me to my next point. David Tennant is amazing. I've always known he was a good actor, but you put him in a situation where he has barely a script to work with, his companion acts like she's reading an autocue and everyone else on the production team seems to have become complacent with the show's flagship status and he STILL delivers above and beyond the call of duty. The Gallifrey reminiscence scenes are amongst my favourite of the new series so far, and it's all through Tennant's performance. What a shame he was struggling through this turd of an episode.

Poor Freema Ageyeman. Billie's shoes were always going to be hard to fill - and I admit I was a Billie naysayer until I saw "Rose". She proved is all wrong by being an incredibly versatile, believable actor. For once, the companion was as good an actor as the actor playing the Doctor. Freema is nothing of the kind. Her stilted, soap opera delivery makes any scene she's pivotal to clunky and awkward. To be fair to her, she is giving it a good stab, and good luck to her. But she needs to adress certain issues pronto lest the "non actor companion" becomes the norm again.

As always, the script is full of flimsy story points ("He protected me with his smoke" etc), some worse than usual supporting acting (with the exception of Ardal O'Hanlon's cat person), and a complete lack of narrative through line. The Macra living down below, the malfunctioning traffic system and the virus that killed the senate seem to have nothing to do with each other - it wouldn't have been hard to link these elements together and provide us with a bit of dramatic satisfaction, surely? How about this: The Macra were controlliong the senate in order to ensure a steady supply of cars to the lower levels perhaps? Wouldn't that have been better? No? Well, you know best Russel, you have got a Bafta after all....

From essential viewing to banal drivel in less than three seasons. What a terrible shame.





FILTER: - Television - Series 3/29 - Tenth Doctor

Gridlock

Sunday, 15 April 2007 - Reviewed by Paul Hayes

Well that was terrific. By far and away the best episode of series three thus far for me, although as we're only three episodes in it admittedly doesn't have huge amounts of competition yet. But it's also one of my favourite episodes in the whole of the new series to date ? full of spirit and adventure and clever ideas, funny bits, dramatic bits and mysterious bits. Just, basically, a damn good slice of Doctor Who, one of those episodes that makes you thrilled to pieces that the show is back and putting out stuff as good as this.

Rather shockingly, I had been secretly hoping that the infamous football match beforehand would end up as a draw at ninety minutes and thus Gridlock would be put back a week, as that would mean the grand finale of this series would no longer clash with my father's sixtieth birthday party, which is going to present something of a problem in ten weeks' time. Watford's porous defence put paid to that idea, sadly, but no matter ? a minute or two into Gridlock and such thoughts were far away from my mind.

A return to the year five billion era makes sense, as it's a chance to revisit some of the mythology the new series has laid down for itself, rather than having to mine the classic series for it. Having said that, there was a slight concern in my mind given the problems with last year's New Earth, which had seemed disjointed and lacking. Fortunately, this episode was more in tune with the original five billion story, The End of the World, which is also one of my favourite episodes from the new series ? so ambitious and at the same time assured. Gridlock had that same sense of everyone being involved being at the top of their game.

In some sense, though, this was quite an atypical episode for modern Doctor Who, as despite all the impressive special effects work and CGI for the cityscapes and the Macra, much of it was contained within those tiny car sets. A bit retro, really, and harking back to what the classic series always managed to pull off so well ? making three people talking to each other on one small set seem so engaging. I am not entirely sure how gripping it may have been for the younger members of the audience, but they still had the thrill of the Doctor jumping from car to car, the talking cats and of course big giant crabs!

Speaking of which, wasn't the presence of the Macra a nice little nod for all the Troughton era fans watching? How marvellous to quite randomly revive one of the programme's more obscure and, let's face it, originally quite rubbish foes. They didn't really do a great deal, but it was nice for them to pop up and wave a claw about. I'm only sorry that I accidentally found out about their presence in the episode a couple of days before it aired, and thus wasn't as surprised as many others were by the revelation of them. Fortunately for most, though, they seem to have generally been one of the better-kept secrets of the new series.

The same alas can't be said for the Face of Boe's final words, which everyone and their brother has known or guessed for the past eighteen months or so. Davies made sure of this himself, admittedly, by having the cryptic message at the end of the Doctor's profile in the 2006 annual and then telling DWM that the message would be four words long, so he probably wanted the hard-core fans to guess it, knowing at the same time the general audience and the kids wouldn't know or wouldn't care. In the scheme of things it's not a major issue, as it's just a teaser, setting up as-yet-unguessed at events for the series finale. It's not so much what he said that's as important as what he meant, and we can't yet be sure of that.

Alas we can be sure that the big old Boe Face is dead and gone, and as one of the elements that are purely new series to have caught on and been a success, that's rather sad. Like a little piece of the new mythology brought to us in 2005 dying off. There are only Jack and the Daleks left now from the comeback, just two short years ago ? frightening sometimes just how quickly the pace of this series moves on!

Things have moved on for Novice Hame from New Earth too, and I liked the way her prosthetic make-up had been 'aged up' ? not the sort of detail you suspect they would have bothered with back in the day. I'm quite glad that she gained redemption for her crimes, although it's rather sad that the fate of the city means all of the Doctor's actions back in New Earth were essentially pointless, and the people he saved all died off anyway, or at least most of them.

Hame's not the only cat we encounter, although we'll gloss over that weird black thing who becomes a victim of the Macra along with her two young ladyfriends ? best not to go too far into that one, I think! What I will go into is how good the prosthetics were on all the cat creations, although that's to be expected after the success of their appearance in New Earth, one of the few elements from that episode that could be said to have been an unqualified success.

I think Ardal O'Hanlon as Brannigan was probably the best guest star of the third series so far, an excellent character and it's a shame Davies has indicated we won't be going back to New Earth again as I thought he was well worth a return appearance. He didn't get to do all that much, admittedly, but then again nobody in the traffic jam really did; that was the whole point of them, sad little character sketches trapped in their hopeless, go-nowhere lives forever.

Sadly, Martha didn't really get to do all that much this episode either, although she did get to show flashes of her intelligence once more when she suggested the 'turn everything off' submarine-type trick to evade the Macra. A shame that without the Doctor they would all have thus suffocated, but hey ? the woman can't be expected to think of everything! Nice to see though how much faith she already has in the Doctor in only their third adventure together.

The Doctor was terrific throughout ? especially when David Tennant was given some of the more contemplative stuff he's really not given enough of sometimes. As I have said in many of my Doctor Who episode reviews, I love it when we are given little snippets of information that enhance the mystery of the character and his background and history, so I of course loved the descriptions of Gallifrey he gave to Martha, especially so given that some of them were directly taken from Susan's description of the planet to Ian and Barbara back in The Sensorites.

Admittedly, the final scene of the story was very similar to that of The End of the World, but I thought they just about got away with it, partly because Rose and Martha's approaches to the Doctor were so different. This was underlined when Martha was asking if she was the one the Face of Boe was referring to, and he was firmly and a little rudely of the opinion that she was not! So, despite all its echoing of that End of the World scene, I liked that ending as the Doctor sadly reminisced about his home.

Plus of course it worked well for introducing Martha to the concept of the evil Daleks, something that might stand her in good stead in the not-too-distant future.





FILTER: - Television - Series 3/29 - Tenth Doctor

Gridlock

Sunday, 15 April 2007 - Reviewed by Eddy Wolverson

"You're taking me to the same planets you took her to? ever heard of the word rebound?"

I wasn't really looking forward to "Gridlock" all that much. Don't get me wrong, like every other Doctor Who fan out there I was on the edge of my seat praying that Man Utd vs Watford didn't go into extra time, but even so I wasn't looking forward to "Gridlock" with the same sort of bated breath that I am, for example, the "Human Nature" two-parter, or even next week's Dalek story.

I think that this is largely down to "New Earth". David Tennant's first regular outing as the Doctor was a bit too light for my liking; it was fast and it was fun, but it didn't possess the same sort of weight that a lot of my favourite new series episodes do. However, whilst "Gridlock" may be set on New Earth, this time around the tone is much darker.

Russell T. Davies' script is a rare example of a Doctor Who story that is about the Doctor. In this episode we tend to see things from his point of view, as opposed to his companion's. At the start of the episode when Martha incessantly interrogates him about his homeworld, the whole audience is cringing because we know she's opening up a can of worms. She sends the Doctor off into his own little world, talking about Gallifrey as if it still exists, vividly describing the magnificent Citadel and the "burnt orange sky".

However, as much as the emphasis of "Gridlock" is on the Doctor, the episode certainly does not neglect his newest friend. This episode sees Martha have an "End of the World"-style epiphany. When she is kidnapped by Milo and Cheen, much like Rose on her first trip into the far future she realises that she could die and that her parents would never know her fate. She realises that she doesn't even know the Doctor at all.

"I didn't really think? I just followed the Doctor? There's so much he never says?"

Yet she trusts him. Implicitly.

The plot itself is intriguing in concept and audacious in scale. "New Earth" saw Russell T. Davies get on his soapbox about 'animal' experimentation, but here he chooses a topic that far more people can relate to; one that affects almost everybody's daily life - traffic! On the motorways of New Earth it takes on average ten years to travel six miles. The pollution is so dense that if you breathe it for any length of time it is rumoured to make your head explode. Untold numbers of cars are packed into the undercity, not only in horizontal queues but also in vertical ones. It is the ultimate Gridlock. A prison. A nightmare.

"You think you know us so well, Doctor. We are not abandoned. Not while we have each other."

Somehow though there is charming and uplifting sense of unity amongst this mass of imprisoned 'humanity'. Their singing of "The Old Rugged Cross" and "Abide By Me" in unison is a moving and a powerful moment, and their 'Friends Lists' are a wonderful reflection on modern society and people's inexplicable obsession with things like My Space and Facebook. Says I, www.myspace.com/historyofthedoctor. Here once again, Davies manages to unify the profound and the (seemingly) trivial into one whole that manages not only to entertain, but also make a strange sort of sense.

And then living amidst the gas in the depths of the Fast Lane lurks an old foe of the Doctor's. In all the pre-season hype many speculated about which 'old enemy' would be returning. Zygons? Ice Warriors? I would never in a million years have guessed the Macra would be making a comeback! It was the biggest shocker since the Nimon showed up in "Seasons of Fear"! And what's more, they're awesome. The C.G.I. Macra look phenomenal. Okay, they could have been substituted for any ravenous monster - new or old ? but their inclusion is a lovely nod to the series' long history; it certainly can't hurt. In "Smith and Jones", the Doctor appeared to know all about the Judoon, yet they never showed up in the classic series. His knowledge of the Macra (and his lovely pr?cis of "The Macra Terror") is no more conspicuous than his familiarity with the Judoon. Newbies won't even have blinked.

"Gridlock" is also populated with a trademark collection of Davies' weird and wonderful aliens. Red people. White people. Hippies. Nudists. Even a Mr. Benn look-alike! And of course we have the return of the Cat-People, albeit in a much more benevolent guise. Brannigan is a wonderfully endearing character; Ardal O'Hanlon imbues the cat with his innate amiability so that even the Doctor can't help but get over his recent bad experiences with his kind. Until "Fear Her", the Doctor had always been a cat-lover, and he should be again in my opinion! I wanted him to keep one of the kittens! Maybe he'll get a cat in "Human Nature"?

In it's darkest moments, "Gridlock" is also an allegory about the dangers of drugs. Those cars may all be trapped on the motorways, but that is a much better fate than the armageddon that 'Bliss' wrought upon the cities on New Earth. Literally everyone above ground is dead and were it not for the Face of Boe, those in the undercity would have perished alongside them.

Now the return of Boe is something that I was very excited about. I'm not ashamed to admit that I had goosebumps as his theme tune played (you know the show is a hit when a character who has been in just three or four episodes has his own theme) and I heard his telepathic voice. His entirely expected demise was also an incredibly touching moment, but even that was overshadowed by his final revelation:

"Know this, Time Lord. You are not alone."

And with that he dies, leaving the Doctor to puzzle out the conundrum. The Doctor knows that his world is gone and that he is last of his people. He is also sure that Boe wasn't referring to Martha ? in fact, that possibility was dismissed far too quickly for Martha's liking. So what could it mean? I think we all know really, the only question is how? Personally I'm hoping for a characteristically blas? explanation: "Ah, so you escaped from?"

The final scenes of "Gridlock" are a thing of beauty, both literally and figuratively. The mass exodus from the undercity is a stunning image; the splendour of New, New York looks like a stunning hybrid of contemporary New York and Coruscant from the Star Wars prequels. The 'folding chair' scene is an equally beautiful character moment; it marks a key stage in the relationship between the Doctor and Martha, and it also sets up next week's Dalek adventure very nicely. Under the burnt orange sky of New Earth, the Doctor sits Martha down and tells her of the Time War.

"I lied to you 'cos I liked it. I could pretend. Just for a bit I could imagine they were still alive underneath the orange sky. I'm not just a Time Lord. I'm the last of the Time Lords. The Face of Boe was wrong; there's no-one else. They've all gone now. My family. My friends. Even that sky."

The only negative comments I would have about "Gridlock" are that a couple things didn't make all that much sense to me. If it takes ten years to drive six miles, why not walk? And what happens to the Macra? Do they live happily ever after in the gaseous Fast Lane?

Those two points aside, "Gridlock" came as a wonderful and welcome surprise to me. The quality of this third series continues to astound me. Doctor Who now has more episodes in the canon than in the entire Star Trek franchise and, to end on a clich?, year after year it just keeps getting better. It's three hits out of three for Series Three.





FILTER: - Television - Series 3/29 - Tenth Doctor

Gridlock

Sunday, 15 April 2007 - Reviewed by Billy Higgins

In the days when I used to partake of an ale or 12 of an evening and come home with the munchies, I would scour the kitchen and deposit various (vaguely edible) objet da in a frying pan, apply severe heat, and see what the results tasted like. It was a bit hit and miss. Sometimes, it found the spot, and I prepared my application form for Ready Steady Cook. On other occasions, it set me en route to frequent conversations with the big white telephone in the bathroom. I'm getting to the point . . .

Gridlock was a bit like one of those death-or-glory fry ups - writer Russell T Davies chucked a lot of ingredients in there. But you know what? The results were mighty tasty.

I was rather ambivalent about this one pre-transmission - neither The End Of The World nor New Earth are anywhere the top of my favourite New Who episodes, so the prospect of a third trip to Year Five Billion (ish) didn't greatly enthuse me. However, as part of RTD's attempts to build a new mythology for the series, the logic of The Doctor taking new companion Martha to New Earth for her first trip into the future was sound.

It was a very bleak future, though - the TARDIS landing in a distinctly lo-tech slum, where chemically-enhanced patches were sold to the desperate few who lived there. Before The Doctor could investigate further, he faced a more-pressing matter - rescuing Martha, who was kidnapped by a young couple, to provide them the numerical requisite to speed their passage on the severely-congested motorway. To Martha's horror, she then finds out this is the traffic jam from Hell, taking years to travel a short distance in flying cars which double as tiny mobile homes. And not only that, something terrifying is lurking in the depths below the gridlock.

Meanwhile, The Doctor has also joined the traffic jam in pursuit of his young charge, hitching a lift with Brannigan, a cat person, and his human wife. Realising that there's a probability the jam never ends when he hears Brannigan has been flying this road for 12 years, The Doctor sets hopping from car to car when he encounters an old acquaintance, the giant crab creatures, the Macra, which are the monsters from the depths, devouring those in cars who venture too low. Then, The Doctor meets another familiar face, Novice Hame, the cat nurse from New Earth. Hame has been tending the mysterious Face Of Boe, and teleports herself and The Doctor to the dying Boe's side.

The Doctor learns that the inhabitants of New New York (so good they named it 15 times) had been all but wiped out by a virus, and the sole survivors were trapped below ground for their own safety. Boe and The Doctor combine to bring the motorists back into the now-disease-free city and saves Martha from the claws of the Macra.

Sadly, the effort expanded by Boe leads to his death, but not before he imparted his great secret to The Doctor - "You are not alone" . . . does that mean The Doctor isn't the last of the Time Lords?

I really enjoyed this episode, maintaining the consistently-high standard at which this Series 3 has started, and this was my favourite of the "New Earth trilogy". Of course, it was far too short to be developed properly at 45 minutes, but that's the nature of these single episodes. The pace is absolutely unrelenting, but the highlight of the episode for me was when it did slacken at the end to allow some lovely interaction between the show's stars.

In the opening scenes in the TARDIS, The Doctor is extremely cagey about revealing details of who he is and where he's from. In fact, he even goes as far as to lie when he gives the impression Gallifrey still exists. But by the close of this adventure, he has realised Martha is someone in whom he can confide, and gently explains about the Time War, how he is the last of his race (despite what Boe says) and mention of the Daleks sets up next week's episode nicely. A touching closing scene, totally in contrast to the high-octane action beforehand and beautifully played by David Tennant and Freema Agyeman. Three episodes in, and Freema has barely put a foot wrong. She's been such an impressive addition to the show that the loss of the excellent Billie Piper hasn't been felt at all.

The death of Boe was also quite moving - wouldn't go as far as to say I shed a tear for old giant rubber chops, but what a great piece of work from the prosthetics team he was. Sad to see him go. Of course, his dying message has to be significant in the context of the series - and the wordage was one of the worst-kept secrets in Doctor Who history.

Guest star Ardal O'Hanlon put in a pleasing performance as a cat person, and it was a decent supporting cast. Director Richard Clark did a fine job of delivering the claustrophobic feel required inside the cars, and there was hints of Blade Runner in there, plus numerous other sci-fi genres, RTD never having made any secret of the fact he's quite happy to borrow - to be generous - ideas from elsewhere, and sourcing Judge Dredd as his inspiration for the bowler-hatted businessman encountered by The Doctor in one of the cars. Also loved the scenes of The Doctor dropping from car to car - gave a real idea of scale.

The Macra are borrowed from Doctor Who history - 1967, to be precise, and it was a nice touch to revive a little-known historical monster. The Patrick Troughton story, The Macra Terror, in which they featured, is visually familiar to few. However, a nice little nod to fans. I didn't think the Macra were quite as well realised from a CGI point of view as the flying cars, but another impressive effort from The Mill, as the bar continues to be inched up episode to episode.

Eight out of 10. Slightly the pick of the three episodes so far. Great stuff - but looking forward to getting a two-part story now, to allow the story a bit more time. And can't wait to have the pepperpots back, of course . . .





FILTER: - Television - Series 3/29 - Tenth Doctor

Gridlock

Sunday, 15 April 2007 - Reviewed by Charles Martin

The short summary: I liked this one a LOT more than I expected I would, given the setup. Davies shows no signs of giving up his excessive indulgences, but his gifts -- the characterisation of the Doctor, the dialogue, the lovely amounts of real emotion he works into those scripts -- all win out.

That said, that doesn't mean I don't half have some nits to pick. Martha isn't the only one who groaned when she found out she's retreading planets Rose visited, I was right there with her. There was absolutely ZERO need to revisit New Earth to make this story work (particularly as the Face of Boe was seen LEAVING the planet at the end of "New Earth"), other than getting to hear David spit out "Newnewnewnewnewnewnewnew York" again (and it's fun, but that's still no good reason!).

There were some logic problems as well. As the story really begins, we found our heroes have landed in NNY's undercity. It's revealed later that this area is completely sealed off, but when we first see it, it's raining (how does that work in a sealed off area, we wonder?). That whole sequence paid a nice homage to both Blade Runner (the rain, the drugs) and Brazil (kidnapping Martha because you need a third adult to get into the Fast Lane?!), and was the first of many surprises in this story that gave it a more original feeling than we'd reckoned.

Much of the rest of the episode takes place on one set, the (continually re-dressed) car that people live in. One wonders why they can't just walk to where they're going (easily explained a half- dozen ways, but not made clear in the story), or why they want to get away since the non-Motorway part of the undercity doesn't seem THAT bad, but put those things aside and enjoy the campy, overplayed stereotypes of drivers the Doctor cleverly comes across (a very Sixth Doctor idea of getting from A to B, I felt).

My other major issue with Gridlock is down entirely to the writer, Davies. As with the Daleks, I do think RTD is overamping the necessity for a "gay statement" in nearly every episode he writes. I love gay people but this nearly-constant reference to them (particularly when the story has to take a significant detour to get there) is wearing. Note to RTD: No Daleks AT ALL next season, and you can only put gay characters in if they're significant to the plot (like Capt. Jack).

Lastly, I'm afraid I didn't care much for Brannigan. Unlike most people in similar roles/disguises, Brannigan came over painfully as a guy with lots of makeup on his face rather than selling the character. I felt much the same way about the Absorbaloff (Peter Kay), but I recognise that sometimes the public love of a personality (like Ken Dodd) overcomes the lack of sincerity in their performance. I don't think Brannigan (Ardal O'Hanlon) has that kind of admiration. I also think I may be getting old, since I was a bit bothered by the idea of a human female giving birth to kittens. Probably just me though.

So a few things not to like. There were, as balance, plenty of things to like. I was surprised, and deeply moved, by the inclusion of the "Old Rugged Cross" scene in the show. This is precisely what I love about Doctor Who: no other show throws me these curveballs so delightfully well. It was a really touching moment beautifully handled, and again at the end when they sang "Abide in Me."

The revelation of the "devolved" Macra was a nice touch, but if they wanted a true homage to the original story they could have at least put together ONE scene where the Macra weren't CGI (specifically, I wanted one giant half-offscreen cardboard claw to grab someone!).

Martha continues to find her feet, but the qualities that make her a companion are starting to come to the fore. Whatever worries I have about this "crush" business are starting to fade. She can even say things Rose would have said and it doesn't bother me a bit.

At last we come to Novice Hame and the Face of Boe. I'll admit it for the record -- I got a tear in my eye when Boe passed on. This is the only show in the entire world that can make me cry for a prop head. Damn that's good television. Anna Hope (as Hame) really got to show all sides of her character, and I was greatly amused when the Doctor recognises her and moves to embrace her -- before remembering that she was attacking him last time they met.

I was annoyed that Boe's "last great secret" as prophecied in "New Earth" was merely to let the Doctor know that he is both the last of his kind (Time Lord) *and* not alone. I think I've got that meaning worked out, but of course we'll see. Martha finally puts her foot down and demands to be brought up to speed, and the Doctor reluctantly agrees -- a nice scene nicely realised.

Overall, "Gridlock" was better than "Smith & Jones," and probably on par with "The Shakespeare Code." It's a tribute to the production team that they can go from richly historical location shooting at the Globe Theatre to a small prop car set on a greenscreen stage in Wales and still make everyone buy into it. Season Three might not yet have really taken off, but while we wait for the "Fast Lane" of Important Stories with Major Plot Revelations, the entertainment factor we've seen so far is pleasingly high.





FILTER: - Television - Series 3/29 - Tenth Doctor

Gridlock

Sunday, 15 April 2007 - Reviewed by Rob Stickler

I thought Gridlock was visually impressive from the off. A shame all the cars had to be the same (especially after such a variety of designs in New Earth) but the CGI sequences were great I thought. And the lovely grimey feel of the 'undercity' was your classic dystopian future - marvellous stuff.

If you hold your magnifying glass up to the plot you're going to notice the odd flaw, definitely but as far as Saturday night entertainment goes Gridlock was it. Martha is an absolute pleasure, and a breath of fresh air after Pouty Pants Tyler. The dynamic between Rose & Martha is so much more interesting than;

Rose: I love travelling with you.
Doctor: Yeah, we're bloody great aren't we.
Audience: Bleuuurgh! Oh look I've sicked up on my egg and chips.

DT is consistently spot on in all his scenes now. Witness the shouty softly shouty approach to reasoning with Martha's kidnappers. The sad smiles as he tells Martha about Gallifrey like it's still spinning away in the constellation of Kasterberous. And the lovely ending - but back to that in a second.

Father Brannigan was great fun, I really wasn't looking forward to him being in it (it's his fault for doind that superhero dross for the BBC) so that was a pleasant surprise.The sequence where the Doctor descends through the traffic to get to the Fast Lane was just great. It looked great on screen, it showed the Doctor as your proper dynamic action hero and it let the Who design team recreate great bits of 200AD history, (just a shame Max Normal didn't have his authentic speech pattern!).

The Macra! How cool is that? 'Why?' Scream a thousand crabby Macra fans on Outpost Gallifrey (who knew there were Macra fans?), Why not? Says I. Then I sing to them; 'Whats-a Macra you, eh? Why you look-a so sad?'

The end of that big old Boat Race. Do I get a prize for guessing his message. Yes I do, but not for another few weeks. A bit touched by the passing of the Face, and the idea of Hame stuck there with him for all those years keeping the surviving population alive.

Anyway, it all comes down to two plastic chairs in an alley. There's the pay off. The middle thirty five minutes is quite possibly a bit of candy floss and very enjoyable too. But the episode is bookended with lovely Doctor/Martha scenes that show more depth of character in the old Time Lord than forty years of the old show. The look on his face when Martha asks if the Face meant her; just lovely. Maybe I enjoyed it in spite of it's flaws but I loved this episode.

Series three is raising the bar as far as I can see. I just hope they sustain this level of quality.Some bad ju-ju next week methinks. 'They always survive while I lose everything.' Dalek Sec and his bretheren back again. I hope he manages another emergency temporal shift at the end. I like Dalek Sec.

The best thing about keeping pretty spoiler free is that the series can surprise me this year, and it's doing so. Despite what we know, or think we know, I wonder if there's more to this last of his kind/you are not alone stuff.Here's to another ten weeks.





FILTER: - Television - Series 3/29 - Tenth Doctor