Russell T. Davies kicked off Series 3 of the revived Doctor Who with "Smith And Jones," and introduced us to the Doctor's new companion, Martha Jones.
Davies did a fantastic job in this episode of playing on some of our more obvious fears, such as blood-sucking vampires, unusual weather phenomena, and of course, strange aliens.
The Doctor once again assumes his usual alias "John Smith" so that he can become a patient at the hospital at which Martha works. The Doctor is inv
estigating strange readings around the building, unbeknownst that they are actually the work of the Judoon.
Davies for once doesn't use the non-humanoid aliens as the chief menace, and instead embodies the real threat in human form, as Ms. Finnegan.
The episode begins with the normal goings on of a hospital, with Martha and fellow students examining patients. During some of these scenes, thunder can be heard rumbling outside, doing a great job of giving us a sense of false security because its one of those "early morning storms while I'm at work, but were all safe and cozy in here." Moments later, rain starts to fall, but things get a bit creepy when Martha realizes that the rain is falling UP, followed by violent flashes of light and tremors. Martha recovers and soon discovers that the darkness that has suddenly appeared outside is not night, but in fact the lack of atmosphere on the Moon.
Martha shows remarkable intelligence and courage during a crisis, immediately grabbing my attention and proving that she would make a terrific companion. The Doctor and Martha team up (hence the title, "Smith and Jones" - probably a pun on the 1980s western "Alias Smith and Jones") and use logic to work out whats happening. Martha inadvertently stumbles into a room where Ms. Finnegan - revealed to be a Plasmavore - has killed Mr. Stoker, the chief Doctor at the hospital.
The episode's plot follows a seamless logical order, and every event in the episode is explained logically - something that often wasn't present in a typical Davies story.
The Judoon, who are described as police mercenaries for hire, have no jurisdiction over Earth due to articles of the Shadow Proclamation, and thus to complete their task of finding the Plasmavore, they elect to transport the entire hospital to the surface of the Moon, which is neutral territory.
Davies demonstrates further logic in this episode by writing an extremely clever villain, who intended to avoid capture at all costs. Plasmavores assimilate the blood of their victims, and thus appear to be whatever species they last feasted on to any type of scan. Finnegan kills Stoker in order to change her DNA appearance to humanoid, thus disguising her true species type and allowing her to be cataloged as "human" by the Judoon.
Davies then writes a terrific solution to the problem, one in which solely involves the Doctor himself - the Doctor allows himself to be captured, and later attacked by Finnegan, thus changing her DNA appearance to Gallifreyan. Although it isn't her true species type, it does register as non-human to the Judoon. The Judoon eliminate Finnegan, and with their mission accomplished, return to their ships to leave the Moon. The Doctor, after being revived by Martha, saves the hospital from destruction mere seconds before the oxygen runs out and the Judoon successfully return the hospital to its proper place on Earth.
What really won me over with this episode was how well written it was, and how Davies intentionally had The Doctor and Martha working together as a team from the very beginning. The episode also used minimal music, which certainly added to the uneasiness of the scenes in which the subtle rumbles of thunder could be heard outside at the beginning of the episode. The Judoon were fantastic as well. Although they appeared menacing, their intentions were benign, and they weren't CGI.
The best dialogue in this episode for me is moments after the Doctor expels radiation through his foot, and removes one of his shoes and tosses it into a bin, Martha stares on and says, "You are completely mad." The Doctor stares back and replies, "You're right. I look daft with only one shoe," at which point he removes the other and says, "Barefoot on the Moon!"
Terrific episode, and certainly some of Davies better attempts at a true-bred Doctor Who story.
Davies did a fantastic job in this episode of playing on some of our more obvious fears, such as blood-sucking vampires, unusual weather phenomena, and of course, strange aliens.
The Doctor once again assumes his usual alias "John Smith" so that he can become a patient at the hospital at which Martha works. The Doctor is inv
estigating strange readings around the building, unbeknownst that they are actually the work of the Judoon.Davies for once doesn't use the non-humanoid aliens as the chief menace, and instead embodies the real threat in human form, as Ms. Finnegan.
The episode begins with the normal goings on of a hospital, with Martha and fellow students examining patients. During some of these scenes, thunder can be heard rumbling outside, doing a great job of giving us a sense of false security because its one of those "early morning storms while I'm at work, but were all safe and cozy in here." Moments later, rain starts to fall, but things get a bit creepy when Martha realizes that the rain is falling UP, followed by violent flashes of light and tremors. Martha recovers and soon discovers that the darkness that has suddenly appeared outside is not night, but in fact the lack of atmosphere on the Moon.
Martha shows remarkable intelligence and courage during a crisis, immediately grabbing my attention and proving that she would make a terrific companion. The Doctor and Martha team up (hence the title, "Smith and Jones" - probably a pun on the 1980s western "Alias Smith and Jones") and use logic to work out whats happening. Martha inadvertently stumbles into a room where Ms. Finnegan - revealed to be a Plasmavore - has killed Mr. Stoker, the chief Doctor at the hospital.
The episode's plot follows a seamless logical order, and every event in the episode is explained logically - something that often wasn't present in a typical Davies story.
The Judoon, who are described as police mercenaries for hire, have no jurisdiction over Earth due to articles of the Shadow Proclamation, and thus to complete their task of finding the Plasmavore, they elect to transport the entire hospital to the surface of the Moon, which is neutral territory.
Davies demonstrates further logic in this episode by writing an extremely clever villain, who intended to avoid capture at all costs. Plasmavores assimilate the blood of their victims, and thus appear to be whatever species they last feasted on to any type of scan. Finnegan kills Stoker in order to change her DNA appearance to humanoid, thus disguising her true species type and allowing her to be cataloged as "human" by the Judoon.
Davies then writes a terrific solution to the problem, one in which solely involves the Doctor himself - the Doctor allows himself to be captured, and later attacked by Finnegan, thus changing her DNA appearance to Gallifreyan. Although it isn't her true species type, it does register as non-human to the Judoon. The Judoon eliminate Finnegan, and with their mission accomplished, return to their ships to leave the Moon. The Doctor, after being revived by Martha, saves the hospital from destruction mere seconds before the oxygen runs out and the Judoon successfully return the hospital to its proper place on Earth.
What really won me over with this episode was how well written it was, and how Davies intentionally had The Doctor and Martha working together as a team from the very beginning. The episode also used minimal music, which certainly added to the uneasiness of the scenes in which the subtle rumbles of thunder could be heard outside at the beginning of the episode. The Judoon were fantastic as well. Although they appeared menacing, their intentions were benign, and they weren't CGI.
The best dialogue in this episode for me is moments after the Doctor expels radiation through his foot, and removes one of his shoes and tosses it into a bin, Martha stares on and says, "You are completely mad." The Doctor stares back and replies, "You're right. I look daft with only one shoe," at which point he removes the other and says, "Barefoot on the Moon!"
Terrific episode, and certainly some of Davies better attempts at a true-bred Doctor Who story.
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