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.

After what seemed endless trailers and previews, mentions in newspapers , and interviews the new series was back. Having read other reviews, I do feel that it is unfair to criticize RTD , the man who brought back the best TV series in the world and made it good.

It was alright. What does get me though, is why he needs to constantly bring back characters , which were not that good in the first place. The slitheen made an unwelcome appearance last year, and no Cassandra and the The face of Bo. Harriet Jones was the only return that in my opinion worked. The only saving grace with Cassandra was the brilliant voice of Zoe Wannamaker , which brings such life and humor to a fairly plain character. The body swapping was quite funny, but after the fourth time got annoying. The snog, which he said in confidential will ( paraphrase) 'Have funs up in arms'. It seemed pointless to the plot, and a bit of titillation was completely unnecessary.

The story heavily relied on the CGI and prosthetics . This is not Doctor Who, it should be character based, and I feel it went to far and relying on the effects. The zombie like creations were uninteresting and boring and predictable, similar to the traditional zombie, but also the Unquiet dead creations.

As for Mr Tennant, well I think there is no doubt that he is miles better than Eccleston. Having seen him , it all comes so naturally, where as Eccleston performance , with hindsight seemed force to put on the eccentric qualities. But maybe if he went into it, not liking it, just to get a career jump, well what was the point? But then that’s another matter. DT is superb, and thankfully he is sticking around, although I wish he went to Specsavers for the glasses!.

I only hope this is the flaw in the series and we shall see a rise to the glory heights , Pauline Collins as Queen Victoria looks good, although the werewolf’s don’t look that excting. Can’t wait for the Lis Sladen to return , and bring some marvelous talent to the show, not to sure on K9 or the cyberman, but then the proof of the pudding.

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?

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?

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.

Having endured the flatulent self-indulgence of Aliens of London and the infantile pop culture references of The End of the World and Bad Wolf while somehow managing to bite my tongue, I can do so no longer after wincing my way through New Earth.

Was I watching a different programme to the one most Outpost Gallifrey reviewers saw last Saturday? Judging by many of the comments posted thus far, yes. To my mind, this was the episode that, more than any other, saw the light shine through the Emperor's New Clothes. Flabby, smug and erratically paced, it managed to squander some genuinely intriguing ideas amid a sea of painting-by-numbers CGI, ghastly incidental muzak, and gratuitous sexual innuendo.

Aside from some nauseating (if predictable) canoodling between Doctor and companion and a garbled, rather nonsensical 'explanation' of the new colony's origins by the former, the story started out reasonably enough, introducing some amusingly larger-than-life incidental characters and posing interesting questions about the true nature of the impressively realised hospital. The feline nurses were nicely underplayed, and there were some refreshingly subtle references to topical issues such as MRSA - proving RTD does have it in him to use allegory to make a point about the present, rather than simply transplanting Big Brother wholesale to an implausibly far-flung future.

For a good 15 minutes or so it trots along merrily, with our hero letting his curiosity lead him, headfirst, into trouble in refreshingly traditional Who vein. But then it all goes terribly wrong...

I won't bother itemising everything that, in my view, lets this episode down. If I simply confine myself to saying that the whole experience left me with a tremendous sense of deja-vu related to uncomfortable memories of Time and the Rani, I'm sure readers will get my drift. Villainous diva with doting grotesque as sidekick poses as Doctor's companion; otherwise decent Doc forced to ham it up in crassly scripted 'instability' scenes; garishly colourful costumes and effects; frenetic 'rent-a-score' drum beats undermine any iota of tension...Need I go on? Hell, even the Centre of Leisure made an appearance near the end, when Cassandra appeared in her evening dress at that chintzy nightclub. (Incidentally, the dinner suits were 'sooo Five Billion', weren't they?)

To be honest, I am sure this episode was a genuine misfire and that far better is to come later in the season. Next week's trailer looked promising (though I, for one, hope the much-vaunted "Tarantino" camerawork is kept to a minimum to allow the tale itself room to breathe), and the clips of School Reunion and The Girl in the Fireplace bode well. Sooner or later, though, questions must surely be asked about why it is that RTD's own episodes have been so comparatively sub-standard? With the exception of the surprisingly thoughtful Boom Town, none of his episodes have paused for breath. And this "restlessness" (as Nick Courtney describes it incisively in his new autobiography) is starting to become, at best, exhausting and, at worst, tedious.

Yes, RTD deserves praise and gratitude for resurrecting this beloved show and attracting writers and actors of calibre to bring it back to life. Yes, he is a good dialogue writer (though the extent to which this is demonstrated in his Who scripts is open to debate). But look beyond the surface sheen of Saturday's episode (and, let's face it, with the money and technology now at the production team's disposal, they have little excuse for it to look anything but polished) and is there really much there of substance? Referring to the Doctor and Rose, RTD commented in his recent Radio Times interview that there is "an overconfidence" about them at times which could prove "their downfall". On the evidence of New Earth, he'd be wise to bear these words in mind himself...

Twenty years ago, fans were ready to lynch JN-T for the slightest concession to slapstick - or even, dare I say it, popular culture. Today, some are deifying RTD for doing much the same thing. Devoid of today's budget, though, would the wilder excesses of his 'new vision' for Who really compare any more favourably with the work of his predecessor? I think not.