PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

Science Fiction Sunday 719

Doctor Who 2 Series 3 Episodes 8-10

 

Human Nature May 26 2007 Written by Paul Cornell and directed by Charles Palmer. First of 2 parts.

 

To hide from the Family of Blood the Doctor hides his Time Lord self in a watch and uses the Tardis to change the cells in his body to human Calling himself John Smith, he hides in 1913 England and takes a job as a teacher at a boy's military academy. Poor Martha gets to be a maid in employ at the school. She's keeping an eye on John Smith as he has no knowledge of his past life, other than his strange dreams. He's written some of them down in a journal.

 

Jessica Stevenson plays Joan the school nurse, she's fallen for John Smith and he's reciprocated. Sadly the aliens show up and things get a bit hairy. Lucky for the Doctor he's got Martha and psychic student to help him, John Smith turns out to be a bit of nervous nelly.

 

The Family Of Blood June 2 2007 Written by Paul Cornell and directed by Charles Palmer. Second of 2 parts.

 

The baddies attack the school. I haven't see that many kids shooting guns in a boy's school since I last saw If... many years ago. In the finale John Smith has trouble giving up his life and Jessica is not happy to see the Doctor when he's back to normal. Can't blame her, she was robbed of a good life as much as John Smith. The Doctor digs into his dark side and the Family of Blood gets some unique personalized punishment.

 

A good two parter with a nice sentimental bit at the end. I like the way that the stories have more connections between them than the stories in the original series.

 

Blink June 9 2007 Written by Steven Moffatt and directed by Hettie MacDonald.

 

In 2007 London Sally Sparrow finds a message from 1969 under the wallpaper of an old and abandoned house. It's to her, from the Doctor, he's warning her not to blink and to duck. That saves Sally from nearly having a fatal encounter with the Weeping Angels.

 

They're aliens who appear to the eye as statues, they can move about when no one's watching but if you look right at them they freeze and appear to be solid stone. One of the side effects of an encounter with the Weeping Angels is being time shifted to another time and place. Sally's friend Kathy got sent back to 1920 and lived a whole new life.

 

The Doctor and Martha have an encounter with them and get time shifted to 1969 London. The Doctor uses Sally and a couple of other people to help him get the Tardis come pick him up. A future encounter between the Doctor and Sally will put even more info in his hands. Oddly the Doctor doesn't do anything to rescue the time shifted people.

 

The Doctor defeats the Weeping Angels with a clever bit of biz. They are a creepy monster and deserve it. Another good story.

 

The commentaries were fair but didn't keep my attention as much as some of the other's have. There's a video diary from David Tennant and an actual Easter Egg. If you find it you get the complete DVD message the Doctor sends Sally. That was a nice fun thing. I hardly hear of anyone doing an Easter Egg on a DVD anymore. I hardly look for them but this seemed like the disc that should have one.

Science Fiction Sunday 718

Doctor Who 2 Series 3 Episodes 4-7

 

Daleks In Manhattan April 21 2007 Written by Helen Raynor and directed by James Strong. First of 2 parts.

 

The Doctor takes Martha to see New York in 1930. There have been a number of people who  have disappeared from the Hooverville encampment in Central Park. The Doctor and Martha stop for a visit. It eventually leads them to the huge new skyscraper being built.

 

The Empire State Building is home to the Cult Of Skaro. There are only 4 Daleks left and they want to use the giant radio mast on top of the building to attract gamma radiation to power their device that will merge humans and Daleks.

 

The Black Dalek Sec opens up and his biological self merges with the site's unwilling project manager. A good reminder that there is no retirement plan but death with the Daleks. They'll just kill you, no matter who you are.

 

Evolution Of The Daleks April 18 2007 Written by Helen Raynor and directed by James Strong. Second of two parts.

 

The end result of the human Dalek merger is rather something of a problem for the remaining trio of metal heads. The new Sec wants to make peace and co-operate with other races. He thinks it's got to work better than the plan they've been following so far.

Makes sense to me, there are only 4 of them left at the start of the episode. Of course the three unchanged Daleks don't listen to him. They lit him up like a neon sign.

 

There's a lot of running about battling the Daleks and their pig men. Eventually most everyone is dead and the last Dalek manages to escape. Those pricks always seem to get away. The Doctor and Martha take off for their next adventure.

 

The Lazarus Experiment May 5 2007 Written by Stephen Greenhorn and directed by Richard Clark.

 

Mark Gatiss plays a 75 year old business man who's invented a machine to reverse aging. He's the test subject and he looks much younger. The Doctor suspects that things aren't looking so good on the inside.

 

Sure enough Mark turns into a monster that sucks the life energy out of the locals. He's not bothered by the killing, they're unimportant people. The Doctor isn't on the same page and soon he has to put an end to Mark's life. It was for the best, he was a scumbag.

 

42 May 19 2007 Written by Chris Chibnall and directed by Graeme Harper.

 

The Tardis drops the gang onto a space ship that's about to fall into a sun. Another story where nearly everyone dies. Just less of them, it's a small ship.

The last story was OK but the least interesting of the lot. The rest were busy and entertaining.

Science Fiction Sunday 717

Doctor Who 2 Series 3 Episodes 1 - 3

 

Smith And Jones March 31 2007 Written by Russell T Davies and directed by Charles Palmer.

 

To investigate strange activity at a hospital in London the Doctor goes undercover. He meets medical student Martha Jones. The Judoon transport the hospital to the moon while they search the place for an alien life form they want to kill. Problem is, the Doctor is an alien life form.

 

The one the Judoon want is disguised as an old lady. She's really a Plasmavore who's been sucking the locals blood. That helps her defeat the alien detector the Judoon's carry.

 

Sucking the Doctor's alien blood gets her caught and blasted to bits. The Doctor invites Martha for a ride in his Tardis and she goes right along.

 

The Shakespeare Code April 7 2007 Written by Gareth Roberts and directed by Charles Palmer.

 

In 1599 the Doctor and Martha run into William Shakespeare and a trio of witches that are really aliens called Carrionites. They're another ancient race that's supposed to be long gone. Turns out some other aliens imprisoned them somewhere. Three witches got through the barrier and want to release the rest of the Carrionites. The Doctor puts a stop to their plan.

 

Gridlock April 14 2007 Written by Russell T Davies and directed by Richard Clark.

 

The Doctor takes Martha to New York in the year 5,000,000,053. They find most of the people were killed off by a virus 24 years earlier. The Face of Boe is keeping the few remaining people alive in the under city. The nearly immortal Boe is facing the end and he gives his life to save the last of the citizens.

I liked seeing the Face of Boe again. I was sad to see him die. Martha is turning out to be an interesting companion.

Three good episodes I enjoyed watching. Each episode has a commentary, the first two eps have David Tennant yakking. There's a 29 min Video Diary from David and some trailers.

Science Fiction Sunday 716

Doctor Who 2 Series 3 Episode 0

 

The Runaway Bride December 26 2006 Written by Russell T Davies and directed by Euros Lyn.

 

Catherine Tate appears in the Tardis, she's playing Donna Noble, and Donna is filled with Huon particles. The Tardis has them too and during Donna's walk down the aisle at her wedding the Tardis pulls her aboard.

 

Turns out Donna works for a company that's secretly owned by Torchwood. They've built a secret lab under the Thames and they've been producing Huon particles there. A alien called the Empress of the Racnoss has taken over the lab and is hoping to use the Huon particles to release a trapped ship in the middle of the Earth. It was hidden there when the Earth was created. The Racnoss were nearly all killed off by the Time Lords because they were the sorts of aliens that devoured whole worlds. If Doctor Who has taught me anything, it's that plenty of aliens need killing off.

 

The Doctor has to sort all that out. Lucky for him he's got an extra 15 mins because it's a Christmas Special. The Empress gets blown up and Donna says she's not interested in travelling with the Doctor. Who could blame her for saying no.

 

I liked the story quite a bit. Plenty of things going on and a nice quick pace.

The disc has a good number of extras. There's a nearly 60 minute featurette called Music and Monsters about a concert of Doctor Who music for Children In Need. Be nice if they had the whole concert in the set. Here's a link to that. Ignore the Russian subtitles. There's an episode commentary with David and Executive producer Julie Gardner. The other bits include a bit of David's Video Diary, Freema Agyeman's Studio Tour, some deleted scenes, out takes and BBC trailers.

Science Fiction Sunday 715

Doctor Who 2 Series 2 Episodes 11-13 The last three episodes of the series, each with commentary.

 

Fear Her June 24 2006 Written by Matthew Graham and directed by Euros Lyn.

 

The Tardis takes the Doctor and Rose to a London street day the Olympics start. Some thing is stealing the children out of the neighborhood. It's alien. It's almost always aliens, isn't it. The Doctor figures out what's happening and puts a stop to it. Great job from Abisola Agbaje who played Chloe Webber. For some reason the episode gets called one of the worst episodes ever. Typically, I enjoyed it.

 

Army Of Ghosts July 1 2006 Written by Russell T Davies and directed by Graeme Harper. Part 1 of 2.

  

On a visit to Rose's mom Jackie the Tardis gang learn that ghosts have been visiting the Earth on a regular schedule. Jackie thinks the ghost in her flat is her dead father but the Doctor isn't sure. Turns out he was right. It's aliens.

 

Torchwood is mixed up with phenomenon and the Doctor finally meets up with the secret organization that was created by Queen Elizabeth after meeting the Doctor in 1879.

The ghost eventually turn into Cybermen and the planet is under siege. The strange globe in the Torchwood One office building is revealed to have Daleks in it. One thing after another with these aliens.

 

I still haven't seen the Torchwood series but an thinking about when I want to watch them. From what I read Torchwood is as arrogant as the Queen that started it was and as interested in rebuilding the British Empire again. I see that Captain Jack helps put a stop to that. 

 

Doomsday July 8 2006 Written by Russell T Davies and directed by Graeme Harper. Part 2 of 2.

 

The Daleks and the Cybermen duke it out. Mickey and others from the alternate Earth come to help. The Doctor figures out what to do and poor Rose has to spend her life on the alternate Earth with Jackie and Pete and Mickey. The Doctor makes a Zoom visit to say goodbye. Then a lady in a wedding dress shows up in the Tardis. Now I've got to wait another week to find out who that is.

 

I enjoyed the last two eps a fair bit. There's an entertaining story and plenty of exciting things going on, plenty of explosions and a tear jerking ending. The effects looked pretty good.

 

I did watch the special features disc. There's a featurette for each episode, that lump of making of runs 2 hours and 28 minutes. It's a lot. I ramped up the speed to get through it quicker. I did the same to the 85 min long video diary from David Tennant. I don't want to speed as much time on these bits of info as they want me to. Yay for VLC player and it's variable speed option.

Science Fiction Sunday 714

Doctor Who 2 Series 2 Episode 8-10 Another 3 episode disc, each ep with it's own commentary. So far those have been entertaining, some a little more so than others.

 

The Impossible Planet June 3 2006 Written by Matt Jones and directed by James Strong.

 

The Tardis takes the Doctor and Rose to a small planet orbiting a black hole. Some immense power is holding it there. That power also has created an entrance tube and some human's are built a base there to study it. An evil entity possesses one of the human's and weird writing appears on his face and hands.

 

Earthquakes have opened a pit. The Tardis fell down the hole and the Doctor decides to go take a look. The Doctor finds a giant disc on the floor of a giant cave with giant statues scattered about. He figures the disc is really a door but even the Tardis can't read the writing and it can translate all languages. He figures it must be really old.

 

The Satan Pit June 10 2006 Written by Matt Jones and directed by James Strong. 

 

The disc opens to reveal even more pit. The evil entity turns out to be trapped down in the pit. The "Beast" tells the Doctor that he's the evil of a lot of religions, trapped there ages ago. The Doctor finds the Tardis, rescue's Rose and they escape as the planet falls into the black hole. The left over human's get away on their space ship. 

 

Despite the Satan - Devil biz it was a mostly entertaining 2 parter.

 

Love & Monsters June 17 2006 Written by Russell T Davies and directed b y Dan Zeff.

 

An odd story from the perspective of a YouTube blogger who's investigating the Doctor. He'd seen him when he was a boy. He's found other's who have seen them and they've formed a club.

 

Unbeknownst to them the club has been infiltrated by an alien that absorbs human's for lunch. Comedian Peter Kaye plays the alien and he's OK. I'm normally not a big fan of him as a comedian. It's a fun story that had some laughs.

Science Fiction Sunday 713

Doctor Who 2 Series 2 Episode 5-7

 

Rise Of The Cybermen May 13 2006 Written by Tom MacRae and directed by Graeme Harper. Part 1 of 2.

 

The Tardis malfunctions and drops the Doctor, Rose and Mickey in a parallel London. Unbeknownst to them a dying businessman has been creating Cybermen to keep human brains alive. He's going to force the process on everyone.

 

The Age Of Steel May 20 2006 Written by Tom MacRae and directed by Graeme Harper. Part 2 of 2.

 

 

The Doctor puts an end to the evil plan and Mickey decides to stay on the parallel London because his nan is still alive here.

 

The Idiot's Lantern May 27 2006 Written by Mark Gatiss and directed by Euros Lyn.

 

The Doctor takes Rose to London but lands in London in 1953. It's the day before the Queen's coronation. An entity from space called the Wire has taken residence in the TVs of a local shop owner. He's been selling cheap TVs and the Wire is using them to steal the faces of the locals. The Doctor soon puts that to rights.

I listened to all the commentaries and they were mostly entertaining. It's nice that the people doing the show are still alive and there's plenty of them who want to comment. No other extras on the disc.

Science Fiction Sunday 712

Doctor Who 2 Series 2 Episode 2 - 4

 

Tooth And Claw April 26 2006 Written by Russel T Davies and directed by Euros Lyn.

 

In 1879 Scotland the Doctor and Rose meet Queen Victoria and visit the Torchwood Estate. The Queen's encounter with a werewolf causes her to start the Torchwood Institute. Nothing blows up but the werewolf comes close when it's destroyed with what everyone thought was a telescope. It's really a werewolf killer that's focus moonlight through the Koh-i-noor diamond. It's a much more massive diamond than the real thing.

 

School Reunion April 29 2005 Written by Toby Whithouse and directed by James Hawes.

 

Anthony Head plays the head of school, something about him and the school has made Mickey suspicious. Mikey calls Rose for some help. The Doctor poses as a teacher and Rose as a dinner lady. Turns out Mickey was right to be suspicious, Anthony and his staff are alien bat creatures. They're turning the children into a super computer using chips. The chips that go with fish not a kind that go in a computer. The school staff has also eaten a lot of the locals.

 

Elizabeth Sladen returns to the series playing Sarah Jane Smith and she brings K-9 with her. Next year she'll have her own series. The Sarah Jane Adventures aired until 2011 when Elizabeth passed away.

 

The Doctor and Sarah Jane reunite and deal with the trouble at the school. There's a bit of a look at the problem with dating an immortal. K-9 sacrifices himself to blow up the alien bat creatures. When Sarah Jane turns down a chance to go along with them on their next adventure Mickey decides he wants to take a ride on the Tardis.

 

The Girl In The Fireplace May 6 2005 Written by Steven Moffat and directed by Euros Lyn.

 

Mickey's first adventure takes the gang to a spaceship floating in space thousands of years in the future. Some clockwork men have built time windows to 18th century France. The Doctor meets a young girl through a fireplace. He visits her through another window and she's older. Other windows are the same. Eventually it all comes to a head and the clockwork men are defeated. Nothing gets blown up but the Doctor explodes through a mirror into a 18th century ballroom.

Another good batch of episodes. Good commentaries but no other extras. That's OK it takes hours to get through the disc with just that much stuff.

Science Fiction Sunday 711

Doctor Who 2 Series 2 Christmas Special - Episode 1

 

The Christmas Invasion December 25 2005 Written by Russell T Davies and directed by James Hawes. David Tennant wakes up from his regeneration only to crash the Tardis in London. Rose enlists her mom Jackie and part time boyfriend Mickey to help her with the Doctor.

 

While that's all going on the Earth is once again invaded. This time it's the Sycorax who've got profit from slavery in mind. They'll kill a third of the human population if they don't sell half of humanity into slavery. Prime Minster Harriet Jones pops up, she get transmatted to the alien space ship with some of her people. The aliens detect the Tardis and bring that along too. The Doctor remains asleep until the smell of a cup of tea revives him.

 

When the Doctor wakes up he gets right to work saving the day. He has a sword fight with the alien leader and tosses him off of his space ship. It's a long way down to Buckingham Palace. The Doctor has gotten harder in his new body.

 

The PM blows up the alien ship and the Doctor turns against her, ruining her career with 6 words whispered in the right ear. We hear more about Torchwood.

 

Rose has a nice Christmas dinner with her family before she jumps into the Tardis with the Doctor for a new adventure.

 

New Earth April 15 2006 Written by Russell T Davies and directed by James Hawes.

 

Human's have moved to New Earth after the sun blows up. The Doctor has gotten a message about some trouble in Ward 26 in the fancy hospital the Tardis lands near. The place is run by the Sisters Of Plenitude, they're an order of humanoid cats.

 

They seem to be doing good work but the Doctor uncovers the nasty truth. They experiment on cloned humans. That pushes him over the edge and it's off to jail for the cat ladies.

 

I enjoyed both of those episodes, they're both on the first disc of the 6 disc set. I thought I'd cut back a few eps each week, 6 or 7 was too many to get though in one day with all the extras too.

I listened to the episode commentaries and thought they were fair. There's a short video diary by Billie Piper, some deleted scenes and outtakes. Nothing too special in any of those bits.

Science Fiction Sunday 710

Doctor Who 2 Series 1 Episodes 7-13

 

The Long Game Aired May 7 2005 Written by Russell T Davies and directed by Brian Grant.

 

The Doctor and Rose wind up on a space station above the Earth in the year 200,000. It's got an alien blob guy who's controlling the humans with 24 hour a day TV. Simon Pegg is the Editor. The Doctor turns off the air conditioning and the over heated blog blows up.

Father's Day Aired May 14 2005 Written by Paul Cornell and directed by Joe Ahearne.

 

Rose saves her father from death and unleashes some monsters from another dimension. The poor guy has to kill himself to set it all right. Some monsters blow up with the rift closes.

 

The Empty Child Aired May 21 2005 Written by Steven Moffat and directed by James Hawes. First of 2 parts.

 

German's are bombing London during the Blitz. Plenty of explosions in London Town. Rose gets rescued by Captain Jack, played by John Borrowman. He's a crook from the future who's scam could turn the human race into zombies. Captain Jack joins the Tardis gang to help set his big mistake to right.

 

The Doctor Dances Aired May 28 2005 Written by Steven Moffat and directed by James Hawes. Second of 2 parts.

 

The German's are still bombing London and Jack's ship get blown up.

 

Boom Town Aired June 4 2005 Written by Russell T Davies and directed by Joe Ahearne.

 

The Tardis is refueling in Cardiff when the Doctor finds that Margaret Blaine Slitheen survived the explosion at number 10 and is mayor of Cardiff. She's got a great new scheme to create employment and power by building a nuclear power plant in the middle of the city. The Doctor figures out it's all part of an escape plan that will blow up the Earth. Only some bits of Cardiff get blown up.

Bad Wolf Aired June 11 2005 Written by Russell T Davies and directed by Joe Ahearne. First of 2 parts.

The Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack are al kidnapped and transmatted into futuristic versions of Big Brother, The Weakest Link and What Not To Wear. Losing gets the player disintegrated. The Doctor breaks out of his show and he's surprised to find he's on the space station from The Long Game. Turns out some aliens had moved in to start controlling the humans. Plenty of small explosions during the episode.

 

The Parting Of The Ways Aired June 18 2005 Written by Russell T Davies and directed by Joe Ahearne. Second of 2 parts.

Turns out the baddies behind the subjugation of the humans are the Daleks. The Doctor will blow up the Emperor Dalek.

All in all a pretty good lot of shows.