TV News and Reviews

The Doctor’s latest Easter special gives us one of the more “fun romp” style Doctor Who episodes. We begin the “Planet of the Dead” with Lady Christina de Souza (Michelle Ryan) pulling off a Mission Impossible-esque heist of an ancient gold goblet from a museum. The lady thief barely escapes the authorities by paying off a bus driver–just seconds before the Doctor boards that very bus.

Tracking down small tears in the fabric of the universe, the Doctor is stunned when the bus stumbles directly into one of those suddenly very-much-larger-tears and spits the bus down onto a vacant, hot, desert planet. As the other passengers panic to varying degrees, including a psychic woman who hears the voices of death and fears oncoming dangers, the Doctor and Lady Christina do their best to puzzle themselves out of the situation.

The Time Lord and the Thief Lady make for a nice pair, discovering their similar interests in risk-taking, cleverness, and disregard for the rules as they lightly spar for dominance. Christina starts off taking charge, but like the Doctor, she’s willing to take help from those with skills in the areas she lacks.

Throw in a couple different scary alien races, danger to the Earth, elite military forces (led smoothly and efficiently by Captain Magambo (Noma Dumezweni)), a genius human scientist who worships/loves the legendary Doctor, and scared but gutsy civilians and you’ve got yourself a rip-roaring Doctor Who adventure that even includes a sexy snog between the Lady and the Lord.

*SPOILER ALERT* While most of this Doctor episode is standalone fun, we do get sucked back down into harsher realities twice. The first when the Doctor refuses to have another companion because he just can’t handle anymore loss. Rose was certainly a heartbreaker for him, but I think what happened with Donna really left its mark on him. And then the close of the episode, with the psychic’s prediction that something bad was coming that would basically be the end of the docto–well, you know when the Doctor looks afraid that things are bad.

With only two episodes left of David Tennant’s reign, we know that something big is about to happen. Unfortunately we’ve got to wait until Christmas to find out what…

Read all of my Doctor Who and Torchwood posts. Check out the Shrine blog for Doctor Who screencaps.

PHOTOS: David Tennant as Doctor Who and Michelle Ryan as Lady Christina de Souza, “Planet of the Dead”, Doctor Who, c2009 BBC.

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If you thought 13 episode Torchwood and Doctor Who series were too small, you’re in for a surprise. This year you’ll only get 7 episodes–total. That’s right, season 3 of Torchwood will be a five episode mini-series that will run all in one week on BBC, and then very soon after will air on BBC America. (That’s the good news for American fans!) There’s still no set air date for Torchwood’s new season, but the DVD is set for release in July, so obviously it’ll be airing some time before then. I’m trying not to read up on any spoilers for the “Children of Earth” miniseries, but will say that the offical poster over at FEAR.net looks pretty cool. (There’re also some good interviews with Eve Myles and the director at that link.)

As for Doctor Who, according to both Den of Geek and Outpost Gallifrey, the next “special” in David Tennant’s last season is set for Easter on BBC. Then it’s nothing until Christmas. The finale of Tennant’s Doctor likely won’t occur until 2010. This is a depressingly long wait for Doctor Who goodness, and with Torchwood slated for a mere five episodes in the first half of this year, it’s going to be a long summer, fall, and winter for fans of these two series.

Not that I’m in any hurry to see Tennant leave, but I would have preferred a real length final season for him. The only upside to the latest news about the specials is that the wonderful Lindsay Duncan (Rome, Under the Tuscan Sun, An Ideal Husband) will be appearing in the Christmas special.

Stay tuned for further developments/confirmations on air dates for both shows. When I know it, you’ll know it.

The Two Doctors, Two Davids: Morrissey and Tennant.

As if there already weren’t enough wonderful things to look forward to during the holidays, every year we get a brand new Doctor Who Christmas episode. This year it was “The Next Doctor“, where our favorite Time Lord drops down into Victorian London on Christmas Day for a perfect, picturesque holiday–that is, until the Cybermen arrive. The added twist is our hero runs to a woman shouting his name, only to find that she’s expecting a totally different man known as “The Doctor”. And this Doctor has a sonic screwdriver and a Tardis, and has no idea who our Doctor is.

The episode is a fun mysterious dance as we try to figure out if this new Doctor is the real thing, having regnerated with memory loss, or something else entirely. Actor David Morrissey does well with the role, adding depth, sincerity, and emotion, and some wonderful chemistry with David Tennant. It was a bit of a relief to me to have a Doctor Who episode that wasn’t dwelling on all the women fighting for The Doctor’s attention–it was nice to just have a bit of male bonding and adventure as the focal point.

Due to the constraints of the time period, Velile Tshabalala as “Rosita” didn’t have a huge role as the next Doctor’s Gal Friday. Dervla Kirwan had a much meatier role as the Cybermen’s accomplice Miss Hartigan, and she was brilliantly creepy in her blood red gown as she stood amongst the glittering metal Cybermen. She gave the character layers, as all good Doctor Who villians do, inspiring both chills of danger and flashes of empathy from the audience.

This was one of the more light-hearted Doctor Who episodes, for while it still had melancholy and giant robot madness, it also had some truly happy moments for The Doctor that we haven’t seen in awhile. This episode wasn’t “Girl in the Fireplace” or “Silence in the Library” good, but it was still an enjoyable romp through Doctor Who-verse. And it was a chance to enjoy David Tennant while he’s still on the show. I hope they have a good replacement lined up, because it’s been an absolute joy watching him work and he will be greatly missed.

*Check your local listings or the fabulous site Outpost Gallifrey for Doctor Who airings in your area. Be aware that US showings of Doctor Who are generally a season behind.