Doctor Who - "The Next Doctor"

WHOSCALE: 8 out of 10

Russell T Davies kicks off the final stories with the Tenth Doctor with a Christmas Special. This is clearly the best Cybermen story of the RTD era. Not only does Davies introduce us to some wicked looking new villains - the CyberShades, but he also presents us with an in-depth storyline, and a plot as thick as a Dalek's casing.

One thing that I have always liked about this Christmas special was the fact that it wasn't an episode of Doctor Who that was swamped with Christmas goodies. Instead, it is more of a Doctor Who story set during Christmas. Apart from a few "Merry Christmas" remarks, the episode chiefly stayed clear of any outright Christmas inserts. I have nothing against Christmas, but some of the specials have seen their share of Christmas overdoses to the point that they directly affect a good storyline. "The Christmas Invasion" for example. Killer Christmas trees? Really?

I do think that the episode could have been titled better, even though I'm fully aware it was more or less a publicity stunt to ensure fans would tune in. It's only fitting that Davies would tease fans about The Doctor's next incarnation, since his flirtation with regeneration in "The Stolen Earth" and "Journeys End." But the idea of calling it "The Next Doctor" when in fact Morrissey isn't really the next Doctor is bit misleading, if not pointless. A pity though, in retrospect, because the first time I watched this episode I remember thinking what a great Doctor Morrissey would make.

With the misleading title aside, this episode offered a very deep mystery for The Doctor to solve. We soon discover that the Cybermen are at work, but WHAT they are up to, and what Miss Hartigan's involvement with them is were questions we were frequently asking.

Davies wins more WhoScale points with this one by writing a Cybermen story that only uses three to ten Cybermen in frame at any given time, and no CGI wide angle shots with a jillion Cybermen in the background.

The cemetery scene was nicely done, with maybe one small oversight- two Cybershades hold a man captive while a Cybermen shocks him. The electric charge doesn't seem to affect the two Cybershades.

The episode does take a small downward turn though in the last twenty minutes, where the underground factory scene begins to look like Indiana Jones and the Temple Of Doom merged with a West Side Story musical. Also, the moment the CyberKing arose from the Thames and started marching over Victorian London, I immediately thought, "Go, Go Power Rangers." In Doctor Who's defense, this isn't the first time the Doctor has dealt with giant robots, but it only works when it's tastefully and carefully done, so that it doesn't look like a Victorian Megazord.

My only other complaint with this one is one that is frequently repeated in my reviews of the new series. The orchestrated music. This is another element of Doctor Who that can work if it's done correctly, but in the case of this episode - where a musical score seems to accompany the entire length of the episode - it's just too much music, especially in some quiet, passive dialogue scenes where it was really unnecessary. In those scenes, the dialogue nor the story was trying to invoke an emotion, we were just listening.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and often found myself thinking how different the pace and story of this episode was compared to the last two. Probably the biggest Christmas present Davies could give any Doctor Who fan in an episode was the montage of all ten Doctors. The episode opened with a lot of questions, but Davies was able to answer them all slowly and effectively through the course of the episode, and all the explanations made logical sense. Definitely a positive change from the last season's finale.

Doctor Who - "Journeys End"

WHOSCALE: 5 out of 10

Davies closes the previous episode with several cliffhangers rolled into one, so to start this review, I'll explain how magically these were all taken care of within the first five minutes. The Doctor avoids regeneration by using just enough energy to heal his wounds and then magically vent the remaining energy to his severed hand in a jar. Makes me wonder why the 5th, 6th, and 7th Doctors never thought of using this hidden talent, since they also regenerated inside the TARDIS.

Sarah Jane, who was cornered by two Daleks, is saved by the sudden appearance of Mickey Smith and....JACKIE TYLER??! Come on, Russell!! Let it go, already!!! How the fudge are all of these seemingly idiotic characters suddenly able to wield oversized laser guns (that need cocking?) and jump through dimensions easier than the Sliders team?

Meanwhile, Iato and screamin' Gwen are saved by a time lock placed on the approaching Dalek. Howwwww convenient!! Carrying over from the previous episode, that's plot hole number five: how the fudge was a time lock placed inside Torchwood?? And by whom?? Why not time lock ALL the Daleks?

The concluding episode then continues in the same rampant paced fashion the first part did. The story seems to get even further out of control when Donna gets trapped inside the TARDIS and it is plunged into the Crucible's core. How do we fix this no win scenario? Simple: Create another Doctor by allowing Donna to touch the severed hand jar for no other reason other than the sound of a heartbeat.

Rose once again states the obvious for us with "You're still you." Yes, woman!! Geeez, the man just said it!!!

In my personal opinion, this two part story scarcely bordered being an episode of Doctor Who. Davies focused so hard on tying up his loose ends with the series, namely the love story between the Doctor and Rose - which never should have made it's way into this kind of entertainment in the first place, by the way - that the story concerning the actual Doctor Who plot ended up being severely sloppy. There were too many star characters for a two part story. This story should have been four episodes, no less. There was just way too much to try and cram into two 50 minute time slots. That's why the episode's pacing had to accelerated to the point where ten minutes represented thirty in a normal episode.

Davies once again outright rips off George Lucas with his Dalek Crucible design. It looks remarkably similar to a certain "armored space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet." In this case, it has enough to destroy an entire everything.

Now to the ending. All of the other 26 planets are easily returned to their respective homes in time and space, except for Earth (of course, Earth!) which is magically towed home with the TARDIS and deposited back in orbit, where the Moon has somehow managed to hold off the laws of physics. Donna now has equal knowledge to The Doctor. I cannot express how disappointed I am that Davies didn't allow Donna to continue on like that. For a moment I honestly thought we were going to get a companion to rival the likes of Romana. However, that would shattered any love story possibilities, and so The Doctor magically wipes Donna's mind. With the walls of reality never even being touched, somehow The Doctor is able to materialize at Bad Wolf Bay to drop off Jackie, Rose, and the duplicate Doctor. After a romantic overkill scene, the Doctor deposits Donna with Wilfred and then heads on alone.

Thankfully, this was Davies' last regular season episode, and we were just four stories away from what the mind of Mr. Moffat had in store for Doctor Who.

Doctor Who - "The Stolen Earth"

WHOSCALE: 5 out of 10

This episode marks the beginning of the season's two-part finale. It's also the last season finale penned by Russell T Davies, and it's about what you would expect from a final...err...finale by Davies.

The pacing of this episode is perhaps the fastest ever for a Doctor Who episode. Apart from Rose's usual whining, that was my number one complaint with it. Within the pre-title sequence, the plot is completely revealed - someone has plucked the Earth clean out of the Solar System. Plot hole number one: With the Earth gone, how does our Moon maintain position? It has nothing to orbit! Naturally, the suspense is stretched out to breaking point with a series of "Just look at the sky!" remarks, leading up to the hero of the day showing up, The Doc.....WTF?! ROSE TYLER??!! AGAIN???!!

As with all but one of Davies' finales, the Daleks are back; this time stronger than ever. Plot hole number two: In the opener, Iato surmises that the atmosphere and heat have been left intact because the invaders "want them alive." Moments later, a message is broadcast by the Daleks chanting "Exterminate!" Wait, so they stole Earth and kept the inhabitants alive just so they could go on a killing spree? If they wanted the humans dead to begin with, why bother preserving the heat and atmosphere? Seems to me that removing the heat would have "killed all their birds with one stone" so to speak.

Even later, the Daleks are seen capturing humans, which is later revealed to be because of a small test of Davros' Reality Bomb. Hmm....so they needed ten test subjects, but chose to preserve 6 million? Let's call that plot hole number two and a half.

The usual Davies scenes are in this episode, as well; running, frantic, panicky people; news anchors on TV screens, lots of crying, lots of emotion inducing music.

The episode finally gets a shot of Doctor Who when The Doctor opts to visit the Shadow Proclamation for more info. Those scenes were relatively slowly paced, stayed focused on the missing Earth issue, and didn't shoot up over doses of drama.

We soon discover that Rose is on the hunt for The Doctor, even though she was able to pinpoint Donna's position in an alternate timeline numerous times in "Turn Left." Furthermore, why can't she just be a good little past companion and stay put??!! That's plot hole number three.

The episode more or less ties together everything Davies ever did for Doctor Who (save for The Master), as far as characters - Rose, Martha, Martha's mother, Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures, Daleks, Donna's mother, Wilfred, and London suburbans.

It just felt like the episode was in a "super hurry" to get past the initial plot line, so that we could reach the massively climatic cliffhanger. What killed this episode's score was the fact that instead of passively, slowly revealing the plot and storyline to us, we were constantly being slapped in the face with it and beat over the head from start to finish. LITERALLY. I just felt like I was having what should have been no less than a trilogy of episodes crammed into one shoved down my throat.

During the video conference with Harriet Jones (yes, Harriet Jones, former Prime Minister is back too....and I KNOW you KNOW who she is!), Rose is shocked to discover that other women have been travelling with The Doctor since she left in "Doomsday." UH-OH! SCANDAL IN THE TARDIS!! Seriously, Russell? Why is this soapy shit in an episode of Doctor Who? What was even more annoying was the fact that Rose was about to leap through the laptop monitor screaming "ME! ME! ME!" like an eight year old.

Loyal fans of the original series probably yelled at their televisions when Rose gruntly comments, "Me too, and I was there first!" Hmm....I hear a "WTF did she just say?!" echoing across time and space from a long line of past companions. Susan, Ian and Barbara were the first, if memory serves. The worst part is, Rose had MET Sarah Jane previously in "School Reunion," so she KNEW that The Doctor seldom traveled alone. Why was that such a shock to her?! Plot hole number four, if you're still counting.

Once again, there are numerous scenes where drama was poured on so thickly that the episode was almost like a TNT original....they know drama. Get it? Two examples are the "What do we do?!" plea from Donna in the TARDIS, and then Gwen firing her rifle at a Dalek. Does screaming dramatically increase the effectiveness of the rounds? If so, someone should tell Iato - he was dead silent.

This episode's two saving graces are 1) the re-introduction of Davros, portrayed here by Julian Bleach, and 2) Davies actually nodding to an original story with The Doctor thinking aloud, "Someone tried to move the Earth once before." Unfortunately, Davros had a complete Davies revamp, as well. Now possessing a metallic hand, modern day controls and a radar dish for a headrest.

The episode comes to a climatic end with a Casablanca-inspired Doctor/Rose reunion, only to be interrupted by a conveniently placed Dalek. The Doctor is shot clean through both hearts, but unlike normal Dalek victims, including Cybermen, who are killed instantly, The Doctor is still well enough to start the regeneration process. Could it be? A regeneration within a season? Not seen since "The Tenth Planet?"

Doctor Who - "Silence In The Library"

WHOSCALE: 9.5 out of 10

I have to be honest, since I started my reviews of Series 4 (Season 30), I've been eagerly looking forward to this episode and the next. This one was written by Doctor Who mastermind Steven Moffat, and had more or less earned it's 9.5 on the WhoScale within the first ten minutes.

Moffat once again goes full-on suspense, chills, mystery and terror, which usually secures an episode of Doctor Who as being top-notch. The pacing

of this story follows traditional Doctor Who serial format by devoting the majority of this half of the two part story to asking questions, but allowing us to only take our wildest guesses at what's actually going on, and so we patiently wait for our good Doctor to work it out.

As I write this review, my mind is bursting with things I want t

o be sure and mention, so I'll do my best to cover it all concisely.

This episode is considered by many fans - both old and new, and including me - to be their favorite of the David Tennant years.

"Silence In the Library" also introduces us to River Song, whose past....er, well The Doctor's future...ummm.....that is, HER past, but HIS future is as much shrouded in mystery as The Doctor's was prior to "An UnEarthly Child."

Everything about this episode felt like true Doctor Who, and we're able to sit through 45 minutes of unraveling the mystery of the silent Library, without any "domestic" intermissions like that of Jackie and Pete during "Doomsday."

The music was subtle, and sparingly used throughout the set up of the story in the Library, which added to the creepy mood.

I absolutely LOVED the cliffhanger, since it was more true to the Doctor Who spirit by being more of a pause in the unfolding of the story until the next episode, rather than utterly defeating The Doctor and then allowing him to face such impossible odds be the cliffhanger. Example? "Bad Wolf," "Army Of Ghosts," "Utopia," and "The Sound Of Drums."

Those stories were all penned by Russell T Davies, so don't get me wrong - Davies has contributed some masterpieces to Doctor Who, such as "The End of the World," "The Long Game," "New Earth," "Tooth And Claw," and the upcoming "Midnight;" but let's face it - Steven Moffat OWNS when it comes to Doctor Who.

That said, after this episode was aired, it was announced that Davies would step down as Executive Producer and Head Writer for the series, to be replaced by Moffat starting with Series 5. Brilliant episode, and gives "Blink" a real good run for it's money when I'm picking a favorite.

Hello, my name is Ethan. I am without a doubt one of the most diehard sci-fi fans you will meet. I have enjoyed anything that has been solid sci-fi, and didn't need a love story or gorgeous actors to prop up the plots.

My experience includes Blake's 7, Star Trek (TOS, TNG, DS9, Voyager, Hidden Frontier, Odyssey, & Helena Chronicles/ all of the films with the exception of the 2009 film by Abrams.) Red Dwarf, StarGate (the film), Babylon 5, Battlestar Galactica (the original), Star Wars (both trilogies), Indiana Jones, Space: 1999, Buck Rodgers, and ofcourse, Doctor Who.

When I was the age of 7 (in 1989), I often heard my older brother and Dad talk about a show that wasn't on PBS anymore, called Doctor Who. All I knew was that it was science fiction, but I knew if my brother and Dad liked it, it must have been good.

In the early 90s, when satellite TV was becoming all the buzz, we got news of a new channel solely devoted to science fiction - the Sci-Fi Channel. That's not a mispelling by the way, I know its now referred to as SyFy, but in the old days it was OK and a normal part of society be uncool and geeky, and it was "science fiction," not "SyFy" to be cool. When Sci-fi came on the air, their programming was a gift from Heaven - the early morning hours were filled with Gerry Anderson's Stingray, and other sci-fi cartoons like Transformers. Mid day offered Space:1999, Lost In Space, Buck Rodgers, The Prisoner, Amazing Stories, Tales from the Darkside, and others. Commercial breaks were also a minimum. During the weekdays at 1 PM, the Sci-Fi channel hosted "The Doctor Who Hour." I finally got a taste of this priceless nugget of science fiction. At 1 - 1:30 was an episode of Doctor Who, and from 1:30 to 2 PM was a classic cliffhanger, such classics like "Zombies of the Stratosphere," "Flying Disc Man from Mars," and "The Purple Monster Strikes." The Sci-fi channel could only get their hands on a string of Tom Baker episodes, starting with "Robot," and ending with "The Androids of Tara." Nevertheless, it was more than enough for me to get addicted.
Ever since then, I have been following Doctor Who religiously - inspite of NuWho's many shortcomings brought on by Mr. Davies. I refer to them as "shortcomings" because from a pure bred sci-fi fan's perspective, thats what they were, but to the iGens, soccer moms, teenage girlies, Twilight fans, and channel surfers, they were blessings, because for them, DW without those shortcomings would otherwise be a "boring, geeky show only for nerds." Incidentally, that's more or less what the original series was. It's creator, Sidney Newman, even said, "it's a show for smart kids."
Now that you have my background on golden television, let me explain the purpose of this blog. I have loyally followed the new series of Doctor Who, even though there are many things I disliked about it (it was difficult to find dislikes in old Who). Nevertheless, I always try to view episodes from a classic Whovian's perspective, since that is the only way to tell how much an episode is staying true to what the show was intended to be. Mind you, intended by Newman, not Davies. In this blog, I will rank each episode's closeness to that of the original Who, on a scale of 1 - 10. 1 meaning that the episode was a horrible example of Doctor Who, and not in the least bit paralleled the original series. 10 meaning the episode was bloody brilliant, and that it often unfolded, sounded, and felt like something plucked out of the original series. In the event of a just utter dislike for an episode, "0" may be used, in which case, no review would be necessary - there was nothing appealing about that episode at all. That's unlikely, though. RTD has wrote some stinkers, but I don't think any of them were that bad. Just as I do on my YouTube channel, (sixstanger00) I welcome comments, discussions, and thoughts as long as they are contructive and civilized. So that means no ranting "You suck!!! David Tennant is hot!!! Rose was the best!!!" and ending all of your sentences with seven or eight exclamation marks or question marks.

One final thing, I pride myself on appeciating great television, sci-fi or not, so if you would like to know what some of my other favorites are besides sci-fi, just let me know.