DOCTOR WHO - SERIES 2

DOCTOR WHO – SEASON 2 by Ken Leicht

After the triumph of the first season of the new Doctor Who, expectations were bound to be high for the second year. The only worry came from Christopher Eccelston’s still unexplained departure from the lead role. The show caught a break by having new Doctor David Tennant who took the part and ran with it. While it took some getting used to, having Rose around in the TARDIS helped ease the transition. Though once the transition was complete, it became obvious that Rose, an ingredient of the show’s success but also a problem in that she undermined the show by overshadowing the Doctor, needed to go away if things were to really move forward. Ultimately, that’s what happened. But some fun was had beforehand. Here’s the breakdown:

1.) NEW EARTH – The Doctor takes Rose to earth WAAAYYY in the future where we meet up once again with Cassandra from last season’s END OF THE WORLD. A serviceable and somewhat amusing story has a nice ending for Cassandra.

2.) TOOTH AND CLAW – The Doctor and Rose cross paths with Queen Victoria and some werewolves from outer space. This story introduces TORCHWOOD, the secret agency that fights aliens on earth. This agency of course is the subject of the spin-off series bearing the same name. This episode is pretty much what has become the standard for new Doctor Who. More amusing than scary and with a slight hint of doom to come.

3.) SCHOOL REUNION – This episode featured the highly anticipated return of Elisabeth Sladen as the Doctor’s most popular companion Sarah Jane Smith. The actual plot of the episode was fun. The “reunion” is sort of a mixed bag. My memory of Sarah Jane’s odd departure had it as her idea. Her weird jealousy and feelings of abandonment seem out of place. But I guess that’s just part of the new Doctor Who where the drama of the supporting characters is just so much more epic. Plenty of nice moments such as when Sarah Jane sees the TARDIS again for the first time and when she gives some seasoned advice to Rose about what traveling with the Doctor can really do to a girl. Finally K-9 makes a much welcome return. Despite my quibbles, I’m quite fond of the episode overall and of the happy news that Sarah Jane gets her own show.

4.) THE GIRL IN THE FIREPLACE – Writer Stephen Moffat really knows how to write Doctor Who the way it should be. Snappy dialogue. Great supporting characters. In a way, he’s the writer whose episodes most resemble the Who of old while also staying in tune with the new. The Doctor and Rose stumble on to a ship which has portals in time back to 18th century France. Strangely a young girl is haunted by robots from the future and the Doctor must save her though he is not sure why she would need to be saved from robots in the first place.

While the series tries to play up the Rose relationship it is the Doctor’s relationship with Madame de Pompaneau which feels more real. The witty banter they exchange is simply brilliant. This comes as no surprise given that Moffat was behind COUPLING. And the heartbreaking ending carries much more emotion than the season ending departure of Rose IMHO.

There’s too much in this that is good to list here. Suffice to say that rumor has it Stephen will take over the producing reins when Russell T. moves on. Here’s hoping that comes true. Because of all of the writers who currently working on the series, Stephen is the one who nails it the best. He won a Hugo for his first season entry Empty Child/Doctor Dances and another one for this superb episode.

5. & 6.) RISE OF THE CYBERMAN and AGE OF STEEL: The two part return of the Cybermen was successful enough but somewhat suffered from being a little tame. A conscious decision was made to not be too graphic with the horror of humans being technologically upgraded as the show is still, after all, for all ages. But it feels like a cheat. Especially since the message and horror of the Cybermen seems to be about the dangers of too much technology making us inhuman. As this is slowly coming true in the real world, I think a little more horror was called for. But as this is Russell T. Davies’s Doctor Who and not Philip Hinchcliffe’s Doctor Who, then that’s the way things are. And it’s not bad…it just when things in Who-land cry out for darkness, let the darkness come. It’s always so much more exciting.

7.) THE IDIOT’S LANTERN – A historically interesting but mostly silly story about an evil force coming thru TV’s to eat the world feels like a wonky old Twilight Zone with a bit of a hammy message. Still fun though.

8. & 9.)THE IMPOSSIBLE PLANET AND THE SATAN PIT – The new Who finally goes into outer space with a great premise that ultimately under whelms though I’m not sure why. It has elements of a lot of the great old ship under siege stories but somehow it seems flat. It could be because none of the supporting cast grabs my attention or just that the villain, despite being visually arresting, doesn’t create enough menace that the overall climate of doom calls for.

10.) LOVE AND MONSTERS – A very amusing episode about a bunch of oddballs who form a club based on their mutual obsession with the Doctor only to find out that hanging out is much more fun than why they got together. The Doctor is soon forgotten in favor of eating and playing music. Sadly, the fun comes to an end with the arrival of a mysterious stranger who wants the group to get back to the business of the Doctor and who has some deadly needs. A largely Doctor-less affair, the episode works better than it should. You actually feel sorry for the characters and the destruction of their club by the evil Absorbaloff. The guest cast is top notch with a notable turn by Shirley Henderson (Harry Potter’s Moaning Myrtle).

11.)FEAR HER – The annual saving money for the big finale episode has a neighborhood in big trouble because a lonely girl has attracted some alien attention.
This episode and its first season kin BOOM TOWN under whelm and there’s no need to. Doctor Who was never about the budget. While at least BOOM TOWN had some interesting Doctor insights, this is just filler before the feast that follows.

12. & 13.)ARMY OF GHOSTS AND DOOMSDAY – Season 2’s apocalyptic two-parter had a lot to do. Not only did it have to navigate the first ever(not counting Anniversary specials of course) Cybermen Dalek meeting and war, but it also had to deal with the departure of Rose and all of the supporting cast that surrounded her.
As for the Cybermen-Dalek story, it was serviceable enough and had a lot of great moments but ultimately it felt anti-climactic. Again, why? I have no answer. My theory is that Russell T. Davies reaches too far some times. While it was a long time fanboy dream come true in concept, in reality it was a lot of running around and shouting and explosions….a problem the show continues to have. Must it all be so busy and loud and RUSHED? Rose’s departure was sad for everyone on screen but overdue for me. Her overshadowing of the Doctor was really starting to drag things down. The Doctor was sure sad to see her go. Not me though. Liked her but, the show is called Doctor Who not Rose.