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On Location: BBC Basement, London, UK

Welcome to the second half of The Talking Crow’s review of David Tennant’s maiden voyages in the TARDIS.  Back in mid-June I posted the first half, which you can check out here.  To give you some background, as Doctor Number Ten Tennant had apparently made quite a stir over in jolly ole England – so I, hardcore journalist that I am and purely with the benefit of my loyal readers in mind, departed for the old country and carved out a secret underground spy lair deep beneath the BBC from where I could deliver the good (and bad) scoop on the latest incarnation of our favorite time traveler.

And now, without further ado: the second part of my Doctor Who Season Two Progress Report:

Please be warned – spoilers ahead!

(TV wasn’t always as available as it is today, folks).  It’s discovered that there’s some kind of baddie ‘living’ in the network and sucking up peoples energy and, subsequently, their faces as well.  Look for some creepy zombie-like scenes with the no-face people.  The Doctor saves the day (and Rose) in the end of course, with a final confrontation clinging to the side of a television transmission tower.  A simple, yet well executed episode of Who.

The Good

• Enjoyable secondary character development.  The incidentals that we encounter give us a more up close and personal feel to the episode.
• The Doctor and Rose being separated.  I’m increasingly becoming aware of the fact that I like David Tennant much better when he’s working alone.
• Creepy effects.  And the network alien shouting “Hungry!” as it yearned for more faces to suck off was disturbing in a way I can’t really explain.

The Bad

• Rose.  She’s getting more giddy and annoying.  I don’t know how I could have enjoyed her character so much last season, yet have this developing resentment for her this year.
• A ‘thingamabob widget’ device saving the day.  I find these to be rather weak plot resolutions.
• EARTH.  AGAIN.

3 Jun – The Impossible Planet
Oh yeah… now we’re getting to the good stuff.  This week we finally slingshot out into space – so far out, in fact, that our heroes landed on a starbase perched on a planet inexplicably defying the gravity of a uncomfortably close black hole.  We’ve got aliens (the Ood, pronounced oouuud), we’ve got a ragtag crew of explorers stuck here, and we have some mysterious writing and ominous foreshadowing about what lurks at the center of the planet. Now that is just what I've been

waiting for.  Turns out that the explorers are drilling down into the planet to discover the source of the power that keeps it suspended over the hungry black hole.  The TARDIS goes missing.  There are some subtle (and some not-so-subtle) references to Satan and Hell.  And some creepy things happen… people vanish, a human and an entire group of aliens gets possessed.  And it all wraps up with one hell (get it?  That’s a pun) of a cliffhanger. 

The Good

• The effects were marvelous.  I know I keep trumpeting them, but this is such a far cry from the cardboard sets of the classic series that it continues to grab my attention. 
• The Ood.  Unique aliens; and the idea of a casual ‘slave race’ is something I found morally thought provoking.
• The ‘we’re doomed’ ambiance of the episode was delicious.  You could practically feel the tension and fear in the air. 

The Bad

• Rose and the Doctor’s prattle at the beginning of the episode.  It’s like they get fucking piss-faced (British slang for drunk) before they step out of the TARDIS.
• Again… sonic screwdriver pointed at someone like a weapon?
• Rose, again annoying, and full of bad jokes – example: Crewmember: “Those are the Ood” Rose: “Well… that’s ooodd” (a play on odd).  Yes Rose, very clever.  I’m sure they never heard that one.

10 Jun – The Satan Pit
All hell breaks loose now.  Literally.  The Doctor and one of the crew are trapped at the bottom of the ten mile shaft dug to the center of the planet.  Rose and the rest of the crew are on the defensive from possessed Ood. And something very closely resembling the Devil is making menacing threats via various channels.  This was a great wrap up to last week’s episode.  Tennant has some fantastic reflective moments as the Doctor waxes philosophical about the human drive to push

the limits and explore.  And the finale is just cool.  Do we ever find out for sure if it’s Satan at the bottom of that pit?  In another well done move, there are never any real concrete conclusions drawn. In my mind, they left it up to the viewer.  Perfect.  Oh, and computer generated Satan-like creature is quite menacing actually.

The Good

• Every scene with the Doctor this week was enjoyable, furthering my resolve that Tennant is at his best when not around Piper’s character.
• The moral and philosophical undertones were handled with a just enough to nudge you into thought.
• Some seriously dark foreshadowing about events to come as the season winds down.  You’ll know what I’m talking about when you hear it.

The Bad

• Rose taking charge of a bunch of seasoned space explorers because they all freeze and can’t think of anything to do.  Come on now.
• Rose thinking she can blow out a space ship window without checking what kind of safety measures might be in place.  Damn, I would have slapped that girl if I’d been flying with her.
• Yeah… so I guess just Rose overall bothered me.  In related news, it’s been released that she’ll be departing at the end of Season Two… so I suppose I won’t have to deal with her for too much longer at least.

17 Jun – Love & Monsters
Ugh… yuck.  That’s about all I can muster up right now.  Off the high from last week’s action-fest, my hopes for this trend to continue were dashed blatantly against an unforgiving wall of stupidity with all the grace of a beggar swinging a dead cat.  Love & Monsters was an episode, if you can even call it an ‘episode’, which appeared to have been pulled out of the BBC’s trash and pieced together from tossed out script ideas from the past few years.  It centers on a small

group of people in London who have, at one point in their life or another, been touched and affected by the Doctor.  Suffice it say that a big human-eating alien shows up disguised as a man looking for our hero, lame attempts at wackiness ensue, and in the end a few people are dead and the Doctor and Rose depart having completed whatever mission it is we never get told about in the first place.   Lame, lame, and triple fucking retarded back-flip lame if I ever saw it.

The Good

• The Doctor’s long brown trench coat is seen almost through the entire episode.  He should wear it more often, makes him look more authoritative than he does in just the geek suit.
• That’s – uh… yeah… about it.

The Bad

• The group of people our episode centers on are idiots.  Real, certifiable, dipshit morons.  Example: as their group dwindles in size because the big absorbing alien who’s pretending to be human eats them, they just wonder aloud where everyone might have gotten off to without ever saying ‘goodbye.’  No “Hmmm… that strange guy was the last to see them.  Coincidence?”  C’mon people.  Even the dumbest of the dumb have a base survival instinct.  I think at one point he even burped directly after one of them vanished.
• The music.  Honestly I’ve no clue if it was ELO or some other lame seventies British pop band.  But it hurt my head and made my ears bleed profusely.
• Pretty much everything else too.  If you’re a hard core Who fan, watch this one when you can.  But do not go out of your way to see it.  And if you’re only a passing fan, don’t bother.

24 Jun – Fear Her
All right… I’ve got to confess – after last week I had low expectations.  The preview for this basically painted the picture of a little girl who drew people into her drawings and trapped them there.  But that was truly only the tip of the iceberg.  The Doctor and Rose land in the not-too-distant future to view a few games of the Olympics, being held (predictably) in London.  They happen into a neighborhood where the previously mentioned little girl is indeed drawing people

into her pictures, thereby erasing them from reality.  I don’t want to give too much away here, but the episode is laced with some clever dialogue, an excellent plot idea, and some genuinely frightening moments.  And it all is meshed with an undertone of sci-fi twist.  De-licious.  My only complaint was during one of the final scenes, where the Doctor inexplicably appears carrying the Olympic Torch.  Cheesy, and unnecessary.  But only a small mote upon the clear and comfortable eye of Doctor Who vision that Fear Her turned out to be.

The Good

• Clever plot.  I know these sci-fi story devices have been used to death now-a-days, but when one can use an idea in a way that’s still unique in presentation, I’m impressed.
• The Doctor and Rose spending time apart.  Yes, it happens again in this one and I’m still sorry to say that they are far more enjoyable as characters when they’re not giggling with each other.
• The fright moments played wonderfully of some base childhood fears.  I challenge you to watch it and not check your closet before going to bed.

The Bad

• Earth again?  If we’re here, can’t we at least be in a different part of the world?  Or a different time period again?  Something??  The shows limited budget is rearing its ugly head now not in effects (as with the old series) which are top notch, but in the limitation of locale.
• The Olympic Torch scene.  Completely retarded.
• Rose is still slightly annoying in this one.  The tart really needs a good slap.

1, 8 Jul – Army of Ghosts, Doomsday
The final two episodes of Season Two, and Rose Tyler’s last journey with the Doctor.  I’ve decided to treat these last two as one because – more than any other two-parter we’ve seen so far – this was one single story.  Much foreshadowing and anticipation had brought me up to these, and I was ready for some gratification.  And I can happily report that I was not disappointed.  The story begins with Rose and the Doctor returning home to visit Jackie Tyler, the overused character of

Rose’s mother (or ‘mum’ as these Brits are fond of saying).  Upon arriving in London, it’s obvious though that something is amiss. 

There are shadowy ‘ghosts’ wandering the city at certain periods of time.  Further investigation leads our heroes to the Torchwood Institute, where we finally get to see the grand design that’s been hinted at all season.  Torchwood, it turns out, is an institution dedicated to acquiring and putting to use for England, alien technology.  What they did not realize is that in punching through to examine another dimension, they unwittingly opened a doorway for the Cybermen (and Mickey) to come through into the home dimension.  The shadowy figures turn out to be crossing Cybermen, and suddenly before anyone (including the Doctor) can get their mental thumbs out of their arses, the Earth is being taken over.  Apparently if they can’t get us in one dimension, the Cybermen will get us in the next.

The second half begins as, not only the metal men from the middle of the season, but some Daleks arrive as well, having been squirreled away in a sphere-like thing that hides between dimensions (how many times can I write dimension in one article? Dimension… oh yeah, say it…).  An all out war ensues between the two metallic baddies, and in the middle are our heroes.  The finale ends with Rose being stranded in the second dimension.  Not alone of course.  She’s with Mickey, Jackie and her father from dimension two, but with no way back to the Doctor.  The final scene between our two heroes was, despite all the annoying giddiness between them, quite touching.  I might even venture to say a tear could have run down my cheek during the exchange, but Max would kick my ass for admitting it. 

The Good

• Cybermen vs. Daleks?  Fucking bring it ON!
• Despite her annoying qualities, Rose somehow manages to leave with dignity and grace.
• The final goodbye.  Really, truly touching in a way only fantastic science fiction can be.

The Bad

• … Nothing.  Except that I had to deal with the family dynamic of Jackie, Mickey & Rose again.  Although being the last time, it’s more or less excusable.

And so, we depart Season Two of the new Doctor Who on a somewhat tragic, if not heart-wrenching goodbye.  But along with that, what a grand finale it was: fantastic explosions, all sorts of sci-fi gadgets and madness being thrown around, and a damn good story.  Did the season have its ups and downs?  Absolutely.  But it closed out with style, and will hopefully mature into something even better as the Doctor moves on to travel alone again (until he picks up a new companion, which should be the first episode of Season Three). 

Until next time, this is Jay Devers, desperately seeking a way off this bloody island and back to the States – signing off.

-End Transmission