A season opener, introducing a new Doctor. The return of a camp villainess, who assumes the identity of the Doctor's companion. A story which derives from popular science headlines, but which is not remotely scientifically plausible. Ring any bells? OK, so New Earth isn't as bad as Time and the Rani, but the fact that the comparison is possible is worrying.

What a curiously unengaging first episode. If you've not yet seen it, here's my advice: forget all the hype about this season being bigger and better, turn off your critical faculties, and sit back and enjoy the spectacle. Good points first: it's visually stunning (full marks to everyone in the production and design departments), well directed, and both lead actors are clearly having a ball. Anything else? Well, here's where the reservations start creeping in. We get our first visit to an alien planet (hurray!) - but not only is it a dead ringer for Earth (I know, the title tells us that much), complete with human extras who could've wandered in off the street, but most of the story is set indoors. Mystery is piled upon mystery (who has summoned the Doctor? who is spying on Rose? what is the Face of Boe's secret? etc.) - but we're either given the answer straight away, or not given an answer at all. Either way, no tension is generated. Oh, there was one other positive (in fact, the only time for the whole 45 minutes I felt gripped) - the trailer for next week looks great.

What went wrong? Is it just that expectations were too high, and that after the marvellous 'The Christmas Invasion', anything was going to be a disappointment? I don't think so. Sadly, the fault lies in the script. First, the pre-credits sequence. Rose's mum and boyfriend say goodbye to her as she catches the train to go off to university - or may as well do for the amount of excitement or emotion in the scene. (Actually, that would have been an improvement; it would at least have made us wander what was going on.) Second problem - in their first full episode together, Rose and the new Doctor get separated very early on and spend very little time with each other. Third problem - the attempts at comedy felt forced and (to this reviewer at least) just not funny. Everything had to be heavily signposted and laid on with a trowel - what happened to lightness and wit? There are quotable lines in 'The Christmas Invasion' that still make me laugh, so RTD can do humour; but when he gets it wrong, it seems to go badly wrong. (Cassandra-as-the-Doctor dancing and Cassandra-as-Rose's false Cockney speech particularly grated).

Other reviewers have commented on aspects of the plot that just didn't make sense (e.g. mixing the various intravenous drips and curing the Flesh by spraying them with the resulting mixture, and then having them transmit this cure by touching each other). I'll mention one more: how come, if the Flesh suffer from all (human) diseases, the plague is not airborne? (Answer: having it being transmitted by physical contact enables lots of running away down corridors, and also makes the AIDS symbolism stronger. Fine; so just don't say they have all diseases, then). It was also unclear how the different elements were connected. Was it just a coincidence that Cassandra and the Face of Boe ended up in the same location again? And why re-introduce them when neither had anything to do with the Cat-Nurse-Nun plot? RTD clearly loves his creation Lady Cassandra, but I'm afraid he didn't make me care about her in the slightest. Consequently, the ending just felt flat and dull, rather than emotional. Overall, it felt like plotting by numbers, formulaic and derivative. (Which is a concern, this early in the Who revival). Is the problem that the other producers and writers are so in awe of RTD that no-one submits his scripts to the same level of scrutiny as those from other writers?

Maybe I'll revise my opinion when I've seen it again, but my first impression was that this is the weakest of the 'New Whos' to date. I'm still looking forward to next week; but let's hope that along with the spectacle (Werewolf! Queen Victoria! Matrix-style Kung-Fu Monks!), there's also some excitement, wit and engaging characters.

So series Two began with hope
That the Who would not begin
A downward slide
Down that slippery slope
Where familiarity sets in
And comparisons are as regular as the tide.

So Number Ten smiled forth with pride
That belied menace within
Like ‘god’ to act
With power to decide
The fate of Spotties –the new human-
And procrastinate His ordination as a fact!

So effects vivid and profuse
Nicely shaping a city
Of great advance,
Which made strangely obtuse
Elevators of my century
And basement corridors; the new quarries perchance?

So Russell delivered once more
A script of charm and ideas
Logically
Linking secrets in store,
Zombies to inject fears,
And under-using felines made-up brilliantly.

So too many themes, too briefly
Explored with little detail,
And break-neck speed
Sequences, too quickly
Flashing by, makes us think of the tail
Pandering to youth, setting Who’s agenda indeed?

It's a generally accepted truth that fandom usually has a problem with the current incarnation of the show. Classic examples are the DWAS's Deadly Assassin demolition, the demonisation of Graham Williams and DWB's anti-JWB hate campaign.

While there is no denying that there are differences in quality and tone between the periods mentioned above, the fact remains that when the shouting died down fans realised that they actually quite liked the period they'd just been decrying. How does that work? Because now the show was silly / violent / not on the air anymore, and they didn't like that even more.

It's another generally accepted truth that those who cannot learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. Here we are in 2006, and the accepted orthodoxy is that Russell T Davis cannot write "good Doctor Who".

I have just finished watching New Earth, and I thought it was lovely. There was humour, action, some great acting, some medium-good effects and a perfectly good plot. Russell T Davis seemed to have taken heed of some of the criticisms of his plotting last year and carefully foreshadowed the things he'd need to hang turning points around - good for him.

It seemed to me that there would be plenty here to please even the grumpier sections of fandom - dingy, green-lit corridors. A Doctor who saves the day. The suggestion of a "story arc". A very "New Adventures" moment when the Doctor takes Cassandra back to meet her old self. All this and pustulent zombies too.

Yet, upon logging on to Outpost Gallifrey I find that the same old depressing sledging has started up again. Grumbling from people who think that Doctor Who should be a dark, adult show like it used to be, despite the fact that it has never been any such thing.

I would suggest that a portion of fandom isn't doing itself any favours here, and could probably do with a bit of a paradigm shift if it is going to walk proudly towards a happy future.

Firstly, Doctor Who is a children's show. Always has been, always will be. The books might have fooled a few folk into thinking that it was actually a textually dense sci-fi series with lots of intricate plotting and death and space battles and stuff - but the actual series was a bunch of ropey old nonsense with plot holes galore, that got across the line with jokes, the occasional scary set piece and a clutch of inspired performances from the leads.

So you guys making big lists of But It Just Doesn't Make Any Sense would be advised to check out Lawrence Miles and Tat Wood's excellent About Time series, and be comprehensively assured that it was ever thus.

The other problem that faces the weird mass mind of organised fandom is prejudice. It has become received wisdom in much of online fandom that "RTD's episodes are the weakest". Ideas like this have power to influence our expectations, and I genuinely think that a lot of people are sitting down to watch an RTD episode with a preconceived notion that they will not like it. With this mindest, they are more likely to nitpick than laugh, shiver or expirience all the good things.

New Earth was a great, fun piece of television. I reckon some of you know in your hearts than when Producer X is in charge in 2008 you might well dislike his vision too - if Producer X knows what he is doing, that is. Fans dislike change, and change and renewal are vital to a show's continued success - and a show that panders exclusively to its fans will die a death.

If that happens, you'll be desperately wishing you could have Doctor Who as good as New Earth every week. Why not enjoy it now? This is what Doctor Who is like in 2006, and it's wonderful.

The wait is over, the Doctor is back, and, erm, the season seems to have opened with a pantomime. The 45 minute format should be a canvas for creating richer stories than the 25 minute format of yore, with greater emphasis on characters and their plight, not an excuse to fill the show with bad jokes and improbable set pieces. I was looking forward to having my fears about David Tennant proved wrong, but after watching him gurn, shout and simper for the duration of the episode, I'm still to like him at all as the Doctor. Every single previous Doctor has been played with some weight, a distinct feeling that this character is ancient and that behind his humourous nature there lies a huge alien intelligence. Instead, here we get him saying 'I've still got it' when Rose/Cassandra kisses him, and generally being a bit damp for the whole episode (and not just during the disinfectant shower). Once he settles into the part and decides on a coherent portrayal I'm sure he'll be many people's favourite Doc, but for now, to me at least, he's David Tennant playing dress-up.

Thematically this episode not so much borrows as steals outright from other sources. It's a shame that Doctor Who, of all shows, is reduced to stealing ideas from lesser programmes. I spotted elements of Farscape, The Matrix, Star Trek and The Outer Limits that had been lifted outright. Suspending disbelief was a chore throughout, with dodgy CG vehicles, worryingly contemporary sets and garb, and something of a cop-out ending. RTD is a wonderful ideas man, and has brought the Doctor back in such a way that a current audience will accept him, but after the superb Christmas Invasion, New Earth is an enormous let down. The episode has already instantly dated thanks to the use of the term 'Chav'.

Its one saving grace, for me at least, is the gorgeous Billie Piper. What a girl! She handled the hackneyed possession subplot and cringe-inducing dialogue really well, and no doubt made Dads up and down the country grin while 'examining' herself when possessed by Cassandra.

Actually, it did have another saving grace, and that was the onscreen appearence of Zoe Wanamaker as the human form of Cassandra. I was very impressed with the final scene, not just her performance, which was spot on, but also the scripting of the scene; the kind of scene where RTD really shines. This pleased me immensely.

Maybe I am being a little harsh about the episode. No doubt kids loved it, and I am ecstatic that the BBC and the crew have put so much blood, sweat and tears into making the Doctor an icon all over again, its just that they can do so much better than this. SO much better. They have some of the finest talent in the world, and this is their chance to show those damn Americans how to make original science fiction. They did it it the last series, here's hoping that this one improves rapidly.

However... The teaser for next week's episode looks utterly brilliant (not to mention the looped trailer on BBCi- the rest of the series looks superb). Here's hoping.

New Earth- 4/10 for the story, 10/10 for Billie.

More than anything, this opener to season two (or 28! We may get to see season 30 yet!) made me long for the old days of longer stories. In 45 minutes it was OK- as a 4 parter it would have been superb.

To start at the beginning though- Rose kisses Mickey goodbye with affection , reaches new earth, and promptly talks about her and the Doctors first date. Ho hum. Mickey is indeed a tolerant boyfriend. Moving on.....the New Earth immediately presents as being effectively realised. Enter the hospital, and the mystery begins......the cat nurses are wonderfully different. The dominant species of a planet now colonised by humans, reaching out to them motivated by a mixture of philanthropy and profiteering- or not being infected by them perhaps. Not a hint of wanting to conquer the galaxy. A good change of breath.

Getting through the humorous disinfectant scene , things really kick off. Rose meets Cassandra! Who this time, in my view, gets a much better episode. END OF THE WORLD , for me, was likeable for the poignancy of the earths demise and the beginning of the Time War revelations, but the actual murder plot was too fast to be engaging or convincing. Here she gets a better plot. The hospital plot was good, and Cassandra's bit worked better.Partly, at least....

Her initial mind swap with Rose was okay, and allowed her liberty to roam. Yes, she probably wouldn't have known what a chav was, but oh well. Billie Piper acted it all well, but thereafter it became tedious. Halfway up a ladder she bodyswaps as easily as breathing- several times-cueing increasing camp reactions from Piper, Tennant and a plague-human. Unbeleivable and irritating, though her inherent "poshness" and consequent dislike of Rose was likeable humour. Less time on camp reactions and bodyswaps and more time to expand the main plot would have been better.

This said, I liked the fact that the fact she had released the bred humans from their cells (and didn't those cells look good? very cybermen!) unwillingly bonded them together for a while, and her understanding of one such human's loneliness was poignant. In really living again she learns to accept dying. Cue a nice, if treacly, ending for her. Nice. If only it had had more room to breathe.

Regarding the hospital plot itself, battery farmed humans is not a breathtakingly original concept but it works nontheless. The plight of these humans (where did they learn to talk however?), the Doctor's moral outrage, and their realease- all good stuff. But these scenes really could have been more horrifying- creeping infected humans need to scare the pants off us. James Hawes can do it, we know that from EMPTY CHILD. Maybe they are saving the scares for later......

And the Doctor saving the day? Good solution, if again way way fast. The Duke of Manhattan's secretary made a good foil at the end- it makes for good character drama when people are obsessed with their petty problems while there's a bigger picture at stake. The disinfectant bit worked but it was all over so quickly......

Not a bad starter, in the end a better one than ROSE for me. Just needed more time to breathe. TOOTH AND CLAW looks better though- and the Cybermen are back!!! Yeah!!!!Wrapping up, I really like David Tennant. He is commanding when he needs to be and grasps both the comedic and serious aspects of the role. His fianl "life will out!" was a bit OTT but fitted the episode's themes well- Natural evolution vs Cassandra's stagnation natural life vs the sister's experimetns, etc etc. And precisely what do we still have to learn from the Face of Boe?

With 'New Earth', the TARDIS finally lives up to the DIS part of its name, a long-running gripe of mine about the reincarnated series. New Earth itself looked a bit painted to me, but the set up of the feline-run hospital with a secret was intriguing, and I enjoyed the gentle pace of the first half as the series explored a new location & the viewers explored a new Doctor. A reprise of Cassandra, one of the most interesting creations of last year, was welcome -- though RTD seems to be developing positively Whedonian resurrection capabilities.

But... the plot, once it eventually kicked in, was not so much holey as absent (and haven't we seen those one-track-mind zombies before, once or twice?), and all that body swapping got old rather quickly. The Face of Boe teaser was just annoying -- last year's Bad Wolf breadcrumbs worked so well because they were crumbs: this was more like a sandwich where someone had nicked the filling. Like many eps last year, 'New Earth' really suffered from the single 45-minute format: several shorter episodes would have given the abundant ideas here time to breathe.

I'm withholding judgement on Tennant's Doctor for now: so far he's not really grabbing me, but it took me half the season to warm to Eccleston's portrayal. A Rose-lite episode, though Piper got to show her acting chops, outshining Tennant much of the time.

Amusing in places, but so many wasted opportunities.