Partners In Crime - but WHO'S the REAL Bad Guy (or Girl)?

WOWWWWWW!! Who says that Doctor Who is only for kids, eh??

I haven't been so excited by a first-of-series Doctor Who story since it was brought back in 2005. Which, come to think of it, isn't really that long I suppose, But HEY don't dampen the upswing that is my current mood after seeing the FIRST of Series 4 of Doctor Who starring Catherine Tate as Donna Noble alongside the ubiquotous Mr Tennant as the good Doc.

ALL SORTS of plot threads have been put before us and which should we take up first? Hmm, that's a tricky one. Perhaps we should first consider the episode itself.

Well, I have to say that the start of a new Doctor series is always a bit of a tenuous one. It has always been the Doctor and his coming together with yet another new companion. OK, so Donna Noble isn't strictly speaking NEW but she's a new full-timer. And at least she now moves off the "Almost Companions" list onto the fully paid members list!

The Noble return of Catherine Tate
I wasn't quite sure what role they had for her at the start. In "The Runaway Bride" Christmas episode of 2006, she was cast as a rather dippy, almost bimbo type who gets duped by the smart guy in league with our eight-legged friend the Empress of the Racnoss. Here in this episode we see her in a sharp suit, striding along on a mission ..... "investigating"! Yes, she used her previous short-lived job as Health & Safety Inspector (two days according to her mother) to get into the Adipose building to check out what is going on.

Amazing, isn't it, how one encounter with the Doctor can do that do a person! From dizzy secretary to inquisitive in-the-know investogator in what must be just a few months. Well, the time difference between the time they last met to now wasn't clear but it didn't seem to be so long. Maybe a year? Not sure, but since the memory of the Racnoss was still fresh in her mind, you could deduce it couldn't have been long.

She also mentioned a number of other things she had been aware of or had been investigating too. Maybe only from a reading point of view, but crop circles and UFO's were mentioned when they were on the roof. BUT something significant that she DID mention were "the bees". This must refer either to the Doctor Who episode much later in the series "The Unicorn And The Wasp" or to the Torchwood episode, "Reset", that I caught a few weeks back which was to do with giant mayfly and experiments at 'The Pharm' on people recovering from previously uncurable diseases. No, I too did not quite get the mayfly connection, but there was one and it may have some crossover potential to Doctor Who.

SO FUNNY though the moment when they first saw each other!! They had been kept apart quite comically for ages with their paths almost crossing on two or three occasions. Well, that part was classic comedy, but their final meeting was a classic moment. He, in window cleaner's cradle outside window. She, outside the door and looking through the 'Round Window'.

The Catherine Tate mime was BRILLIANT! On "Doctor Who Confidential" they said it had been left up to her how to do it in practice. From worded 'directions' on the script to the final result - a fantastically funny moment from a very funny lady!!

And when they finally met it was like they'd never been apart. She excited to see him and he just getting on with it all as normal. After he had rescued her from hanging outside, she came in and was angry at first and then just glad to see him. He of course reminded her that this is what it was all about with him!

Welcome back Donna Noble and welcome back Catherine Tate! I am SO looking forward to seeing her in action as the series goes on!!

And WHO WAS the Lady In Black?
I am very sure we haven't seen the last of the mysterious "Miss Foster" who was introduced to us today for a number of reasons. Firstly, there are none-too-concidental parallels with her and with The Master from the last series. Why? Well, obviously because of her being this 'enigmatic businesswoman' who said she had travelled far and wide until she found a species to use the Adipose 'birth' on. Yeah yeah - just like The Master and Toclafane. Next her Sonic Pen. Technology obviously NOT from planet Earth! And third (and last for now) the fact that we didn't actually see her dead on the ground. A sure sign that she will be "resurrected" .... or should I say ..... "regenerated".

Yes, there have been rumours a-plenty that The Rani will make a reappearance this series. Well, I must say that I did not see these two encounters with Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy. Wikipedia says that she was a woman, " whose villainy comes not from the usual variety of lust for power and suchlike, but from a mindset that treats everything (including morality) as secondary to her research", and that, "Her major interest is in tinkering with other species' biochemistry". I think you get the idea! It certainly was an experiement with humans and their biochemistry and the result of it was the birth of the Adipose children. In the Doctor Who episode she said she was, "hired by the Adipose parents to bring them up, 'like a nanny'".

We must not forget that right at the end of the previous series there is a mysterious female hand who takes the Master's ring from the fire with the sounds of evi laughter in the background. There is no way that was for nothing. Unless the Rani will carry over into the so-called 'Specials' that will take the place of Series 5 next year, there will SURELY be more to come. Will this be at the end of Series 4? That would be a likely place, though it would be a bit predictable. However, since there are also rumours of Ben Kingsley playing Davros in Series 4 (also see THIS STORY from DenofGeek.com), that doesn't leave a lot of scope for a Rani story AS WELL.

The seeds are sown for this series and the Specials next year ....

What is this 'Adipose' thing anyway?
No, for once it is not yet another Russell T Davies anagram! According to Wikpedia, "Adipose tissue or fat is loose connective tissue composed of adipocytes". And, "Adipocytes are the cells that primarily compose adipose tissue, specialized in storing energy as fat." In other words, adipose is body tissue that stores fat. Got it now? So it's not a made up sci-fi name after all!

Of course, we don't know WHAT the adipose children will turn out to be later ....

This brings me to another rumoured 'comeback kid' for Series 4. Now, you'll have to be a real hardened Doctor Who follower to remember the Axons from Jon Pertwee days and the story, "The Claws Of Axos". As the third Doctor left them, they were in a perpetual time loop. BUT these things can be broken out of - that is how sci-fi goes! The adipose were shown to also be capable of dissolving a whole human body if needed - tissue, fat, bones, the lot. Axons too needed to drain the life source of the whole planet including all life forms living there. Concidence? In the Doctor Who world, I don't believe in them!

The 'Yellow Girl' is back in .... time and space
One thousand points if you spotted my reference to ROSE TYLER from the name given her by the Sycorax in "The Christmas Invasion". Yes, there we were, episode over, enemy apparently defeated, The Doctor and Donna back safe in the Tardis. But, ah-HAH! NOT the end! Who should we see Donna talking to without knowing but our very own Rose Tyler!

I had seen the reports of her return but they said that Rose was to be back at the END of Series 4. But here in EPISODE ONE?? Never! And she just walks away and vanishes into thin air!

OK OK, she was working with the parallel Torchwood in the parallel universe and OK OK travel between parallel worlds is impossible. Yeah Yeah we KNOW that! BUT ...... ohh, RTD! To drop her in here at the end of Episode 1? PURE GENIUS! WHO would have suspected it??

Mr Davies, I know I was very rude about your ending to Series 3 and how naff I thought it was. I stand by those comments. However, you have truly redeemed yourself here and got me, for one, hooked on your line like a hungry shark after the fish-meal! WILL there be ANOTHER candid appearance by Rose? We will have to see.

So there you go, folks! Doctor Who Series 4 is finally UPON US! And don't you DARE be anywhere else except in front of your TV's for the next 12 weeks. OK??