Canon-Strike XVI: Doctor Who

[Neon Ignition]

Doctor Who: Series 27 - The Empty Child & The Doctor Dances
Arriving in London during the 1941 London Blitz, the Doctor and Rose explore the city to find people have been overtaken by something that turns their faces to hollow gas masks. A lone child with the same condition wanders the streets calling out for his mummy as others cower from him. Finally, a time travelling agent from the future, Captain Jack Harkness, arrives in the show - the first long term recurring character of the modern era. An award winning two-parter, these buck the common trend by being well regarded and also represent the first contribution to the show by future showrunner Steven Moffatt.






As the first introduction to Jack Harkness, did you warm to the character from the outset?

[QualityChimp]

This one was brilliant and it's amazing how effective a kid in a gasmask is at being terrifying!

Jack Harkness is a brilliant character.
I loved the subtle bit about asking to dance but not necessarily with Rose.
They weren't scared to take him down a much darker route later on, so he wears the uniform of a war hero, but he's not as clear-cut as that.

I've forgotten a lot of these other episodes until you mentioned them, Neon, but that's OK because it'll be fun to eventually revisit them.

Empty Child was particularly memorable, though. "Everybody lives!" was a tremendous finale.

[Atticus]

I love period eps/stories of DW and this one (two) pushed all the right buttons. The WWII era setting is really well done and the story is brilliant. Ecclestone and Piper were a class act.

[Neon Ignition]

I always found it interesting as well how they go straight into Harkness being in the following episodes and beyond whilst Moffatt himself, having created the character, was never a fan and planned him to be a one-off which is why Harkness was absent throughout the entire Moffatt era of the show

[Neon Ignition]

Doctor Who: Series 27 - Boom Town
A sequel of sorts to the Slitheen two parter, this episode sees the Doctor, Rose and Jack catch up with the last survivor of that prior story. Though she plans to destroy the Earth in order to get home, they capture her and find themselves stuck in Cardiff waiting with a condemned woman - forced to debate the morale implications of delivering her to her death.




Did the episode redeem the Slitheen?

[CMcK]

That episode is right up there with the Dalek story that season. A change of pace and focus ably handled by Ecclestone. Pity he didn’t stay in the role.

[QualityChimp]

Annette Badland is such a brilliant actor.
She's been in a zillion things over the years and I first remember her in "Making Out" (1991), but she's one of those people who really add to whatever she's in.

Here, she looks like a friendly town mayor, but can turn sinister at the flick of a switch.

[Neon Ignition]

Doctor Who: Series 27 - Bad Wolf
The Doctor, Jack and Rose find themselves transported to future versions of popular TV series. As they work to survive these deadly versions and escape the studios the Doctor and Jack make their way out to realise that they are aboard the media space station from the episode Long Game. Arriving too late, the Doctor witnesses Rose being shot by and Anne Droid and filled with rage he breaks into the control room to discover that the Tardis is there and that the contestants aren't being killed but are transported to a hidden Dalek fleet resulting in him committing to crashing through their hordes in a bid to rescue Rose.




Did the Bad Wolf seeded arc pay off for you?

[Neon Ignition]

Doctor Who: Series 27 - The Parting of the Ways
The finale of the first series had huge media interest in it long before it aired. The behind the scenes fallout between the heads of the show and Eccleston had meant that it had been known already that this would be his only series of the show and that a regeneration was inbound. The episode finds the Doctor racing through the Dalek army to rescue Rose before tricking her into the Tardis, sending it on a one way trip back to her home on Earth to save her from dying by his side. As the Daleks wipe out everyone on Station 5 including Jack, the Doctor primes a weapon that will wipe out all nearby life including himself. Meanwhile Rose, notices the Bad Wolf term all around her and sets about opening the heart of the Tardis in order to return to the Doctor. Successful, she returns possessed by its power with the Doctor faced with sacrificing his current life to save her. Had the issues not taken place, Eccleston had planned to stay till as far as Series 4 but with his exit confirmed Davies offered the role to Tennant who appears in the closing seconds as the Tenth Doctor.




What was your final review of Christopher Eccleston's tenure as the Ninth Doctor?
Disappointing or Fantastic?

[QualityChimp]

That’s exactly what I did a few months back and it’s aged a lot better than I expected and seeing these stories through adult eyes made them a lot more interesting. Want me to post the DVDs to you?

I need the forum to know these discs arrived yesterday and that @CMcK is a diamond!

The discs are actually really good examples of when physical media was a great way to catalogue a film or show.
It's got commentary from the stars and writers, making-of articles and interviews from the time. There are even DVD-ROM files like the Radio Times articles from when it aired!

I watched the first episode of McCoy's first series as The Doctor, "Time and the Rani", where The Doctor has amnesia from the regeneration and from Rani injecting him with some McGuffin serum.

There's a bit of fun to be had as McCoy tries to find his style, trying on several outfits like previous doctors in the TARDIS' wardrobe.

Highlight so far has to be Kate O'Mara as Rani, trying to trick the doctor that she is the companion and Bonnie Langford is the evil enemy. She's having a blast flipping from twee assistant trying to coax him into completing her invention to evil baddie constantly irritated by the insufferable idiots she's surrounded by!

McCoy is great and has some great comic moments that I'd forgotten.
Even the special effects are decent for the time, with CGI prison spheres bouncing off quarry walls to practical explosions.

I even popped on the commentary afterwards and was surprised that Langford was watching the episodes for the first time and the prison sphere effects were the first use of CGI in a BBC show.

One thing that stood out was how much it felt like I was watching a live play in the way the actors stood and delivered their lines and how long some of the talking takes were. It really felt like TV of a bygone era, with long sections with no real sound, whereas modern shows need to fill that with music or talking.

[Neon Ignition]

I had and have nostalgia for Eccleston, especially given he got such a short run and it's a shame he's never joined in on the reprise train. But, given now I know what came in the following 5-7 years of the show it was probably something that worked out well. On its own Series 1 is a fun and all encompassing way to be introduced to all the shows concepts.

[Neon Ignition]

Doctor Who: Series 28 - The Christmas Invasion
The first of the annual Xmas episodes that would become normal from here on, this first installment picks up straight after the end of the previous finale and takes the bold choice of having the new Tenth Doctor be out of action for much of the runtime. Rose struggles with the 'death' of her Doctor and the unconscious replacement she now faces as a new alien threat arrives in the skies of London threatening to force half of the worlds population to leap off rooftops to their deaths. Despite his absence the episode saw viewing figures rise back up into the 9m range and is considered one of the best Xmas specials of the show.




For you, did Tennant work in the role immediately or take time to convince?

[QualityChimp]

Is this the one where a UFO crashes into Big Ben and everyone then knows aliens are real?

[Neon Ignition]

Nope, that was several eps earlier but there are a few parallels including bringing back Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North as the nations Prime Minister for a second outing having been in that Big Ben smashing prior episode also. This is the one where they leave on more bitter terms

[Neon Ignition]

Doctor Who: Series 28 - New Earth
The second modern era run begins in full with this trip to the future where the Doctor and Rose visit a medical center that is treating serious illnesses way ahead of their time. They discover that the nurses are up to something all whilst Lady Cassandra has returned in secret and plans to steal Rose's body for herself.




Are the future episodes your preference?