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??

Doctor Who Christmas 2007 Voyage Of The Damned - Did It Float YOUR Boat?

Now ... IS THIS part of Series 4 or NOT? Well the Christmas Special story of Doctor Who always seems to be regarded as the start or possibly pre-start of the series to come later in the year. So I think I'm quite safe to talk about it here. What's that? SOME of you reading this DIDN'T WATCH IT on Christmas Day like you were told to? Some of you are just going to be lazy and watch it on New Year's Day? SHAME ON YOU! Well so if you read this, your fun will just get spoilt then and you'll have to find something else to do at 2.15pm New Year's Day.

OOPS I've told you now! Yes, OK, for those of you who regarded eating as more important than watching both David Tennant AND the adorable Kylie Minogue TOGETHER IN ONE SCREENSHOT, then yes, you CAN see the repeat at that time. On BBC One of course!

So how was it for you?
OK, so down to business then. So what did YOU think of it? Inevitably we have to compare it to the previous two with those pesky Sycorax types and that yukky Racnoss lady-thing.

I must say this: I did not enjoy it nearly as much as the Racnoss Christmas Special last year. And the Sycorax were real BAAAAAD! The villain this year didn't show up right until the last fifteen minutes or so and his exit was already guaranteed by then. The mysterious Max Capricorn who, it seemed, oversaw everything and overtook everyone he could to .... plan the perfect retirement.

The political bit for the grownups
Ohhh THAT MAN Russell T Davies does it AGAIN! He just LOVES getting in those little oh-so subtle political back-stabs into his stories. Yes, THIS time its the pensions chaos of all those poor unfortunates who had company pensions only to lose everything when their bosses refused to pay up on collapse of the corporation they had all given their entire working lives for. EHHHH no politics here!! This is a family programme! Ahh, but we adults watch it too AND we got it even if the kids didn't!

What about Kylie? Was she any good?
If you're one of those people who worships the very ground Ms Minogue walks on, then you certainly had your fill a-plenty of the pint-sized princess of pop. Personally I am NOT one of those. And sorry to say, but I thought she was pretty naff. Yes, she's got the most carefully choreographed movoes to PERFECTION when it comes to music, but stuck here in a role like this she did NOT shine. I did not like her delivery and was not really very convinced by her character. Even the little in-joke when she had to run off to get a box to stand on to kiss David T. was .... well, I'm actually surprised she let them use it. I thought all those jokes about her height disappeared with Charlene in 'Neighbours'. And so yes - I'm not at all unhappy that she won't be riding with the Doc in the Tardis.

The character of Astrid Peth
Acting aside, there are several important things to note in your Doctor Who fact-file about Astrid Peth. The most notable is that we must surely consider her to be an official 'companion'. She had joint top billing in the credits so that confirms that for me. Given this, Astrid Peth is the shortest-living companion (literally) EVER of The Doctor in ANY series. I trhink I'm right in saying that NEVER BEFORE has ANY companion of Doctor Who been introduced and KILLED OFF in the same episode.

Now, another thing RTD is well-known for by now is his use of anagrams. And the name Astrid Peth has just GOT TO BE an anagram of SOMETHING.

Well, I have tried. But nothing plausible comes up.

You can try it too with THIS COOL TOOL I found today:-


The best one I could make was 'Tepid Trash' which is .... err ..... well, NO!

So she got fried in the engines and was then 'brought back' as atoms to float in space forever. Does this mean she could make a comeback someday? Or develop strange powers to help the Doc and his merry men? Everything is possible in sci-fi, but THIS writer thinks not.

Now to the Story Itself ...
If you loved those old disaster movies of the 1970's then THIS would be right up your shipping channel! Because THAT is what most of the story was about. The Doctor and a dwindling number of trapped survivors finding their way out to the bridge where the brave survivor Midshipman Alonzo Frame (Russell Tovey) was hanging on to life after having been shot by the Captain (Geoffrey Palmer) who, it seems, had been persuaded that it really was a 'good thing' to lower the shields of the ship so that any oncoming meteors could inflict whatever damage they could. Ah, how convenient! There they were! But were they MEANT to be there? Did he take down the shields on the off chance of a meteor shower or were they radio-controlled or guided meteors being lured onto the Titanic's side? That wasn't clear, but hey, I suppose in THAT part of space in orbit above the earth anything can happen! OK, I'll let that pass.

Anyway, the meteors hit - about four or five slammed into the side. Badly damaged, many crew and passengers dead and damaged engines. Ah, but not just ANY OLD engines you know - THESE ones are NUCLEAR. The Titanic is a very large ship, and so the idea is that the Titanic is now falling through space and is on collision course with us here on Sol 3. Nuclear engines, nuclear explosion and a VERY nasty hole in the ground would result so therefore has to be stopped.

The Doctor is already in and is with Astrid, Mr Copper (Clive Swift), Morvin and Hoon Van Hoff (Clive Rowe and Debbie Chazen) and cyborg Bannakaffalatta (Jimmy Vee). But now they have to contend with The Host - a number of robot angels with VERY NASTY halos to match. They press on to try to reach the bridge but the Van Hoffs are lost and Bannakaffalatta also dies heroically using a large electromagnetic pulse (EMP) from his robotic innards which disables The Host angels which are closing in. Having established that they now have a weapon, Astrid takes it from the dead cyborg's body to use when needed.

The Doctor finds a way too to get information out of The Host angels and discovers that Deck 31 is the place where it is all controlled from. He heads off there and sends the survivors on with their weapon. And AT LAST - over 1 hour into the story we finally meet our Bad Guy #1 Max Capricorn. He is revealed slowly to us - his chair trundling out of its indestructible "impact chamber". The story is that he was forced out by the company directors due to their prejudice against cyborgs. A simple revenge story! Revenge against the board who would be charged with mass murder of humans and revenge against human-kind itself! He would survive in his impact chamber and then retire very nicely.

BUT Astrid has teleported down to Deck 31 to The Doctor to see him struggling in the grip of The Host Angels and facing a grim end. Ah hah, a fork-lift truck! Just what she needs! So in she gets and rams Max Capricorn and herself in the truck off and down, down to the engines to be incinerated. And a very sad Doctor results.

The Titanic is still on crash course with the Earth with no engines working. BUT using the heat from re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere they manage to restart the engines and avert a disastrous collision with Buckingham Palace moments before impact and sail off back into the stars.

One more vain attempt to save Astrid, but all The Doctor can do is bring back her atoms using the teleport. So now she can go and explore the universe after all! AHHHH how SWEET! Oh, and there is a happy ending for Mr Copper who has a cool million pounds on his ship's expenses credit card to do with as he pleases on the planet. Some guys have all the luck!

OK, that completes Part 1 of my review. I didn't want to do it like this but the other night I couldn't save what I was doing and so couldn't finish at that time. But patience my brethren - it will be done. All comes to he who waits!