Taken on its own terms, this was probably the strongest of the three season openers so far. The idea of the huge hospital building suddenly appearing on the moon made for an arresting image (even if the ensuing hysterics didn't really ring true), and the big rhino fellahs looked great and had a real purpose, rather than just being ?baddies' killing for the sake of it. Anne Reid was deliciously evil too - the Doctor sacrificing himself to pollute her essence was an interesting plot point. (The reference to Planet Zovirax will be meaningless to anyone unfamiliar with a very specific British commercial about a cold-sore cream). This was definitely a better episode than the reheated-feeling Runaway Bride, with Martha Jones probably the most tolerable of the three female new series companions so far. The Doctor latching onto the resourceful and imaginative Martha, while rejecting her friend clearly not up to his standards, was nicely done and gave us a good window into his workings.

But there is a niggling feeling of this all now being done to a formula. On a superficial level the story shares a lot of elements with last year's opener New Earth ? the hospital setting, the animal-headed aliens, peoples' essences being passed around and jumbled up; but deeper than that, it just all felt very familiar. It's Russell T. Davies by numbers ? albeit a good, well-made and enjoyable example of Russell T. Davies by numbers ? rather than Russell T. Davies pushing the envelope and tearing down the boundaries. It didn't leave me with that, "wow, I just watched a brand new Doctor Who" feeling. I was a big RTD supporter during the first two seasons, but now it's time to see what else he can do. Could he give us a Robots Of Death or a Warrior's Gate or a Mind Robber or a Carvival Of Monsters? Or are stories about aliens arriving in London or Cardiff and making ordinary people panic as far as his talent stretches? Now I think back to his impressive (if badly concluded) drama Second Coming, it did contain many of the elements familiar from any average RTD Doctor Who story.

Worse still was the "next time" trailer ? yet another historical featuring an iconic figure early on in the run. For a show whose possibilities are so limitless, it seems ridiculous to do it to such a strict template.

That said, there was a lot to enjoy about this episode. The family stuff was kept to a refreshing minimum (though RTD would do well to remember that the UK population isn't comprised entirely of these kind of people, no matter how hard he wants to appeal to the EastEnders-loving masses ? a bit of variety would be nice), and the plot rattled along at a decent pace with some nice twists and turns. But it really really is time to see some worlds of wonder now and less dull ordinary British people. Heck, even a story set in a village would be nice. For all his talents, Russell has an extremely narrow view of the world, the universe and especially Britain.

Series 3 kicks off with a bang, rather than the whimper which introduced us to Rose. Not that "Rose" was a bad episode ? it just had a big task; re-introducing The Doctor, The Tardis, introducing Rose, whilst still trying to squeeze in a Nestene invasion.

Now that Doctor Who is a popular mainstay of Saturday night television again, all that was required from the series 3 opener was a cracking adventure, which introduced us to the new companion. And she is good. We like you, Martha Jones. Educated enough to not be completely baffled by the Doctor, Martha is level-headed, yet feisty. Her training means that she can look at the events unfolding around her with a detachment that helps her to help the Doctor get the job done. Then, when disaster is averted, she finds the time to wonder.

As for action and drama, RTD delivers in spades. The opening shots of Martha travelling to work, with a cameo from the Doctor to whet our appetites, are well-paced. Roy Marsden delivers a superbly superior consultant. I'll come to the Jones family later, but the set up of Anne Reid as the disguised Plasmavore, the effects of the hospital being displaced, and the arrival of the Judoon happen so quickly that you cannot help but be swept up by it all.

The Judoon are well realised, with their own language (although, we have to ask why we have to wait for them to assimilate human speech ? surely the Doctor at least would be translating via the TARDIS). Although, it has to be said, that Nick Briggs is starting to become a little too familiar behind that vocoder. It seems that every being in the galaxy speaks like an electronically altered Briggs. Prior to this series, there were rumours about old monsters returning, including the Sontarans. It has to be said that apart from the rhino heads and leather skirts, the Judoon bear more than a passing resemblance to the stocky warmongers. Even the helmets are not dissimilar.

A note on the Doctor ? its nice to see that Tennant has toned down his portrayal, with the Roentgen expulsion the only slapstick moment in this one. Sometimes in series 2, he just went a little too OTT.

And now the downsides. Firstly, Martha's family. While I'm all for giving modern companions some depth, and a grounding in the here and now, do they all have to live their pre-Doctor life in a sort of Eastendersesque mini-soap?

Secondly, the Doctor, having apparently been asexual for the last 900years, suddenly fields the need to snog every female he meets ? he's more rampant than Captain Kirk. Again, I was not one of the HANG THE PRODUCERS brigade for the Mcgann movie, but since RTD brought the Doctor back, he's been positively promiscuous!

To be fair though, this was by far the strongest of the 3 season openers yet. Lets hope season 3 lives up to this kind of quality.

Good, overall. A nice little season opener.

Longer version: I do wish RTD would hand over the season kickoff to someone else for a change. I actually quite like RTD's stories (mostly for the dialogue), but he does tend to stuff too much into the 45-minutes he's got, leaving you breathless but a bit dazed and confused at the end.

The story itself is quite fun: Doctor is investigating the hospital by disguising himself as a patient is a nice touch (you'd think he'd pretend to be ... a doctor!), nice intro to Martha and her family (very compact but sufficient, nice one RTD!) and the story begins with only the "Slabs" making the thing look amateur. VERY amateur. ALARMINGLY amateur, actually. I swear I've seen -- wait, BEEN IN -- at least one fan vid with the exact same costume for a henchman!

The hospital taking off was nicely done, the moon shots were superb and the story picks up nicely from there. Ann Reid was a little charming nugget of old Avenger-y, Doctor Who-y goodness and I just loved her. Lovely to see old Roy Marsden as well, first time in Doctor Who I think though I can just dimly recall his name being bandied for the lead part itself during the Tom Baker era.

But as with any RTD script, there's a fair amount of indulgence and ridiculousness (and yes, I accept that the universe of Doctor Who has these things). The Slabs were just plain poorly done (a little digital touching-up would have made all the difference, but not explained why nobody in the post-terrorism world would have acted like they didn't see them), the whole radiation-in-the-foot schtick was overdone, the Doctor took a completely ridiculous risk (too much blood gone) to unmask Finnegan, and the idea that one over-excited x-ray device can blow up half the earth -- even when supplemented with alien tech -- is just too silly for words. The Earth would have been destroyed a hundred times over long ago if it were really that easy.

I enjoyed the further sequence where Martha finally comes aboard the TARDIS, and while it's too soon to judge her just yet the relationship looks promising. Overall, you put aside most of the silliness and enjoy it, and I did because I can remember that I'm too old now to be the target audience anymore (something I think a few old fans would do VERY well to remember!).

Having had two occasions to judge Charles Palmer's work as a director, I have to say honestly that so far he's not impressing me, but Ernie Vincze (DP) and the Visual FX team continue to amaze. Overall, a pleasing little nugget with not much substance, but offering an adequate kickstart to get things going. Let's hope the next one is more substantial (can't see how it wouldn't be).

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.

The one thing that screamed at me from the screen during Smith and Jones was CONFIDENCE. Doctor Who is walking tall and proud, and from the very outset of this Series Three opener, it was evident that the show has got into its own stride with coat tails flapping behind in the wind. It's as if the production team from the three producers downwards have sent round a memo saying, "OK, we know what we're doing now, let's just do it." And they have, and it shows.

The writing is brisk and clever and witty. RTD, previously a little shaky from his usual top notch form in series openers (and I'm in no way denying it's an easy thing to do by a long chalk), seems to have relished the "reboot" of having a new companion in Martha. From the off, it seemed like a completely different show with new compelling characters in the busy lives of the Jones clan. And that's no bad thing. Change is good, change is exciting.

Once the action kicked in and the hospital was transported to the moon, the confident pace picked up and we were delivered with the kind of writing that made Doctor Who great in the first place. It had a subtlety to it, the Who humour that slips under the radar, but becomes an integral part of the show and the key to your enjoyment, never undercutting or sending up the scenario, but pulling your emotions this way and that. The wonderful lines about compensation and Zovirax really did it for me and root this version of Who squarely in the modern world, as it should. Not only that, RTD has really nailed the Doctor in his writing, which brings me to DT.

Caitlin Moran in The Times said that "David Tennant is getting periliously close to becoming definitive," and she's right. He bats between utterly serious and completely barmy in a way we haven't seen since, well... Tom Baker. He nails the Doctor completely, from foot-jiggling dance to get rid of his shoes to the jokey, cheery banter as he tricks the baddie into sucking his blood in self sacrifice to save a thousand people. Not once during the episode, did I think of him of anything other than the Doctor, and in this cynical day and age, that's some acheivement. Today's kids are very very lucky. RTD, DT et al, are all old hands at this now and their enjoyment shines out. But what of the new girl?

I wouldn't like to have been in Freema Agyeman's shoes, but my dear God, she pulled it off. She was utterly convincing as Martha, the medical student caught between her fracturing family. I feel like I've known people like her in real life, but I can't quite place who she reminds me of. Of course, that's down to the wonderful collaboration of a good actress delivering a good script. Her role is identification and she succeeds. The thing that really struck me was this - I think Martha will truly be the Tenth Doctor's companion, rather than Rose. This is not to diss Billie Piper in anyway, I mourned her leaving the show along with the rest of the country, but I always thought of her as the Ninth Doctor's girl having to cope with a changed man in Series Two. Maybe what the Tenth Doctor needed all along was his own girl? Anyway, we'll soon see as the Series progresses.

The Judoon and the supporting cast were nothing short of brilliantly realised in the only way DW can; by playing the utterly ludicrous (rhino police in a hospital on the moon??) straight down the line and to the best of it's ability. Anne Reid was just marvelous as the Plasmavore and her straw, too. And did you notice the little Saxon references? Of course you did.

Having seen Smith and Jones, I am looking forward to what may be the best of the new series yet. It just brims with confidence and panache as it revels in it's second hey day. A time well earned, too. Why was it not like this when I was a kid, eh?

More please.

I must say right off that I thought it might be possible that this new Doctor Who episode may not be as good as the previous two seasons. I love David Tennant in the role and I think he is every bit as good as all the previous doctors (I have a tough time saying "the best" or even "one of the best" because I believe all 10 have had excellent episodes). That being said, I did grow a bit tired of 99% of the episodes of both the previous series being on Earth. Still, that is pretty much my only gripe with RTD's reboot of the series. Well, that and "Love and Monsters" from last season. "Army of Ghosts" and "Doomsday" were brilliant but maybe it's possible that the series might be getting a little dry, especially with the appearance of a new companion right off the bat.

Well forget all that. I believe that this is the best episode of the new series yet! I know, it's a tough thing to say but seriously, this was just about the most entertaining episode I have watched in this new series. The introduction to "Jones" is perfect, just a quick shot of her family and their current situation, a shot of her running into the Doctor and one of the upcoming threats and off we go! Ok so the old lady is not the most exciting baddie Who has ever dreamed up but for the most part, she is funny, clever and has a wickedness that could rival even the Master of old.

"What did he say?! He he just compare a crappy throwaway character to our beloved renegade Time Lord?!"

I love the Master but I'm talking in terms of evil and the willingness to destroy simply for their own gain. This plasmavore used human blood to survive, to mask that she was non-human and to escape she was willing to kill half the human population! Just about to do it and get away with it too!

Not only that, but Judoon are introduced (I don't know the spelling...sorry) and are very very cool for simple space policeman-type thugs. The Doctor is charming as ever and Jones will make an excellent companion. She is very book smart, pretty much street smart as well, beautiful and with a bit of sass. I can see her growing into an excellent companion. (A little annoying that The Doctor gives the whole "One trip for saving my life and off you go. I'd rather be alone" speech when we all know Martha is here for the long haul. Still, we'll see how that is resolved next week.)

Last of all, I am never one to comment on the music in an episode. I feel that the best music is in the background and you hardly even noticing it means it's good. Well, the music in this episode was certainly in the background but the score was simply brilliant. Every scene seemed to have the perfect music and it all sounded perfect. This will be a soundtrack I would actually want.

So to sum up, I said a few things long time Doctor Who fans might laugh at (I am one by the way...), but all in all I think if you go into this episode with no preconceptions and watch purely for enjoyment, I am excited as hell about this new season. I really wish the previews for next week were previews for the whole rest of the season like they were last year...I can't wait to see the Daleks in Manhatten!! Still the Shakespeare episode looks awesome and thank god Doctor Who is finally back!! If this episode is any indication, this is going to be a superb season!