I am – Hercules!!
The BBC hired the guy who created “Queer As Folk” to write a whole bunch of new “Doctor Who” episodes. They’re now airing every Saturday night in the United Kingdom, and the 10th aired this weekend.
Apologies to our hard-working Brit reviewers; their work is up late this week because the AICN editors were not able to post for a while this weekend, and Herc was hip-deep in some very American Memorial Day weekend activities.
“Zoe F” says:
Dr Who 1.10
The Doctor Dances
Part Two
The Doctor, Rose and Captain Swings-Both-Ways must figure out the origin of the zombified, gas mask headed oedipal mutants before the human race becomes extinct.
I loved this episode, this was up there with Dalek as the best episodes this series. Some great acting and writing along with some good cgi definately makes this worth watching again.
*** Spoilers***
The Doctor's escape from the gas-mask heads is accomplished by the simple use of the words ' GO TO YOUR ROOM!' Brilliant.
We find out that the Time Agents stole 2 years of Jack's memories and that's why he's soo pissed at them.
The Tula Ambulance actually contained the same nanogenes that Jack's ship does and when the ambulance crashed the nanogenes were released into the atmosphere and the first person they came in contact with was little Jamie who had been killed, while wearing his gas mask, a while earlier. The nanogenes assumed that this was the form all humans are meant to have and went about changing everyone they came in contact with into the same dead gas-mask headed freaks, but with the added powers of a tula warrior.
We also find out that Nancy, the central female character, was the little boy jamie's mother, hence the strange zombie meets oedipus mutants. The little scared boy was looking for his mother. When the Doctor realises this he has Nancy tell Jamie that she is his 'mummy', even though he doesnt understand (being a zombie thing and all) the nanogenes recognise the mother's DNA, realise their mistake and change Jamie back to how he was (before he died, this is a tea-time show, people). The Doctor then sends the nanogenes off to fix everybody they altered then destroy themselves.
Meanwhile, Captain Bi-Jack, having disappeared when the zombies commenced their final attack, uses his ship's tractor beam to stop the bomb that was about to land on the Dr, Zombies et al. He takes it into his ship, says bye to Rose and flies off. Unfortunately the bomb can't be diffused, so, just as he is preparing to die, the Tardis appears (with a very fetching dancing Doctor on board) and he escapes. The episode ends with the Doctor and Rose, dancing around the Tardis with Jack watching.
*** End Major Spoilers ***
Good Stuff
Well there was only good stuff in this episode.
Jacks ever changing sexual preferences. The Doctor's delight that 'Just this once, everybody lives!'. Jack ripping the piss out of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver. The cgi head-morphing. Everything!
Best Lines
'Who looks at a screwdriver and says 'this could be a little more sonic'?'
'He saved my life. Bloke-wise that's up there with flossing'
'My leg's grown back!' 'Well there is a war on. Is it possible you miscounted?'
'Red bicycle when you were twelve?!'
5 STARS from me
..........and one more thing. After watching this excellent piece of TV I was left wondering why Doctor Who fans have such a bad reputation for being anal nerds. Then i read the talkback posts/arguments/essays on what fucking series this is. I mean seriously who cares!!! Whatever series you want it to be!
Zoe F
“Supertoyslast” says:
What's it called? The Doctor Dances
Who's it by? Steven Moffat
What does the Radio Times say? A zombie army is on the march as plague spreads through wartime London
The verdict? Following on from last week's first part, a Tulan ambulance has been dumped in 1941 London as part of a scheme by time-travelling conman Captain Jack Harkness. But it was full of nanogenes designed for use on the battlefield. These nanogenes are designed to repair any organism that they come across. But they have never been in contact with humans before and so assume that a human is meant to be like the first example of the species that they come across - a four year old boy killed by a bomb while wearing a gas mask. And so these nanogenes become airborne and begin to infect everyone they come into contact with - turning them all into copies of the four year old boy. A plague which will wipe out the human race if they cannot be stopped.
The first part of this story (The Empty Child) showed great promise but was hampered slightly by the necessity of providing exposition and introducing Captain Jack Harkness. This episode more than delivers on that potential. The cliffhanger is well-handled with some perfectly logical examples of how best to deal with an enemy behaving like a four year old boy looking for his mummy - even one with superhuman strength designed for alien battlefields.
The pacing is superb, getting off to a breathless start before building mood and atmosphere in some dialogue scenes. Even the getting-stuck-in-one-room works here as it allows for some gentle teasing between Rose and the Doctor.
I liked the moral contrast between the Doctor and Jack - particularly through Rose's eyes. Jack is a dashing former Time Agent who seems to reach for his blaster first in a dangerous situation, whereas the Doctor dislikes such weaponry and prefers bananas - pointing out that they are a good source of potassium.
There is plenty of such humour in this episode and Eccleston and Piper handle it all extremely well. This is easily the episode where the two have the most chemistry together. And the catalyst for this chemistry is Captain Jack Harkness. Rose is quite surprised when the Doctor points out that as Jack comes from the 50th century when humans are used to having relations with all kinds of alien species, the difference between hetero- and homosexual seems quite a lot smaller to him. I can hear 'Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells' reaching for his pen right now!
The joy that the Doctor displays when he finds that "just once everyone can live" is wonderful. He clearly sees this as some kind of penance for being unable to save his own people. And the ending, which reflects the title, is the perfect way to end the episode (I shall just have to try to ignore the teaser which followed it with the return of the Slitheen next week).
Supertoyslast's rating for Doctor Who 27.10?
*****
“Gerald the Dalek” says:
IT’S NOT EA-SY BE-ING A DA-LEK YOU KNOW!!!!! PEO-PLE AL-WAYS JUD-GING YOU, THIN-KING YOU WANT TO EX-TER-MIN-ATE THEIR EN-TIRE PA-THE-TIC, MIS-ER-A-BLE RACE, WHEN ALL YOU WANT TO DO IS VA-POR-IZE ONE OR TWO OF THE MORE AN-NOY-ING BAS-TARDS NOW AND A-GAIN!!!!!!!!! OH NO!!!!!!!!! NO AC-CEP-TANCE FOR GE-RALD!!!!!!! NO-ONE UN-DER-STANDS ME A-PART FROM MY NEW PET!!!!!!!!!! HE IS MY BESHT MATE!!!!!!! I LOVE HIM LIKE AN OO-ZING FLE-SHY BRO-THER!!!!! HE ISH A SACK OF PU-TRES-CENT, STIN-KING WON-DER!!!!!! GAH!!!!!!!!! I HAVE SOME-THING IN MY VI-SU-AL-I-SA-TION SEN-SOR!!!!!!!!!!
There there big guy. See, what’s the best way to make new friends? Alcohol. So what would be the most sensible way to make friends with a Dalek? At the time, the idea of a 24 hour lock-in sounded like the best course of action. However, never, under any circumstances, let an emotionally unstable Dalek drink three bottles of gin and listen to Radiohead. I had the shiny tosser weeping uncontrollably on my shoulder about ‘the companion that got away’ for half an hour (apparently Gerald and Billie Piper had a brief ‘thing’ on the set of ‘Dalek’ but I’m not quite ready to visualise that after 12 pints of Guinness and half a bottle of Jack thank you very much…)
Still, at least we got a chance to catch the latest episode of Dr Who while we were in there! One good thing about having a piss-up with a Dalek is you don’t have to worry about the tab and you get a good view of the telly…
“The Doctor Dances” was a great piece of telly – a cracking script, entertaining dialogue, quality set and costume work and one hell of a creepy little boy. The best bits? There’s quite a few…
“Go to your room! I’m very cross with you!”
“Bananas are good. I like bananas.”
“Are you my mummy?”
“When he gets stressed he likes to insult other species.”
“The tape. It ran out about thirty seconds ago.”
Billie Piper shouting “Going Down”!
“Well I’ve got a banana, and in a pinch you could put up some shelves.”
“I’m coming to find you mummy!”
“This is our song.”
“I think you’re experiencing Captain envy.”
“Watch her Jenkins.” “Yes mummy.”
“My leg’s grown back!” “Well, there is a war on…”
And, of course, the Doctor dances. A solid 9 out of 10 for this one. But I doubt that’ll be the case next week, as the last surviving Slytheen surfaces (their last appearance was the weakest part of the series yet).
Until then I’m off to scrape Dalek bile off the walls and sweep up sizzling bits of landlord.
Dan
BOLLOCKS!!!!!! SENTIMENTAL RUBBISH!!!!!!!!! AN EXTERMINATION RATING OF 0%!!!!!!! I HATE YOU ALL!!!!!! BLEEEERGGHHHHAAAHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GERALD.
“Amir” says:
The Doctor Dances
Well, another nail-biting cliffhanger countered by a light-hearted beginning of the following episode. I thought last week’s episode was pretty tense, scaring the poodoo out of my seven year old sister. But that’s where the difference between this and the previous episode is made clear. I thought last episode was pretty cool; my sister loved this episode.
See, those scary “Mummy… Mummy…” zombies from last week have the Doctor, Rose and suave ‘Captain’ Jack cornered, never ceasing their spine-chilling mantra of doom (okay, that was hackneyed writing, cut me some slack, I have a pretty tight deadline to work with here). The Doctor then chastises the mob and tells them to “Go to your room”. I figured that was just too neat a way to escape that situation. Maybe predictable (I didn’t predict it since I’m pretty slow on the uptake), but just too neat.
Anyway, blah-de-blah, more situations where they get trapped, they find the room where the first victim was kept, that’s his “room”, so all the zombies come there… run out, chase scenes, Jack teleports out, teleports them…
Actually there was a cute (OK, I didn’t want to use that word but it seems apt), scratch that, quaint scene where Rose asks the Doctor to dance. I like this whole “humanising the Doctor” thing.
Anyhoo, turn’s out that “harmless vessel” that Jack was trying to con
the
‘Time Agents’ into buying contained Nanogenes: “[ok, I’m paraphrasing,
but
this was the gist] Microscopic robots in the air which repair human
injury,
and there’s enough nanogenes in there to create an entire species.”
This wasn’t a terrible episode, and I’m glad that at least Captain
Jack has
a happy ending and becomes a new companion (I hope he lasts longer than
that
annoying prick they had to put up with before), and I knew I shouldn’t
have
laughed, but I couldn’t suppress when the Doctor starts dancing merrily
at
the end. Christopher Ecclestone has the role nailed, I’ll give him
that.
“Bananas are good for you, full of potassium.” Cheesy for others, but
Chris
gets it right. Oh yeah, this week’s episode was only 40 minutes. At
least it
didn’t have 11 overly sentimental endings (not that I’m looking at you,
ROTK…).
No star rating (not no stars, just I don’t do star ratings)
NEXT WEEK: A Slitheen survived, eh? Innaresting.
Dear Herc,
I didn't see a Doctor Who talkback this week, is that because no one
sent a
review in? If that's the case here is a nice short review of the
episode
for your site. If you use it, please use my name Kelvington.
Keep up the great work -
The Doctor Dances – A review
We will truly miss Christopher Eccleston as The Doctor in a few short
weeks
and this episode is one of the biggest reasons. Not only do we get to
see
The Doctor’s moves as a dancer, we get to see a gleeful doctor say as
he
figures it all, “Just this once everyone lives”.
The episode starts out with the hanger part of last week’s cliffhanger
as
zombie-esqe gas masked victims of an unusual outbreak of plague are
cornering The Doctor, Rose and Capt. Jack.
When the moment started I really wondered how the hell is he going to
get
out of this one? Well he simply told them he was very cross with them,
and
they are to go to their room! Oddly this very nonviolent approach
worked.
As it has done many times in this new incarnation of the series.
Once the “gas maskers” have returned to their beds, we spend some time
running around trying to figure out what caused all this in the first
place.
The Doctor investigates the room where patient zero was originally
put,
and in a very stylized moment, we get a nice little fright as we hear
the
little boy question, “Are you my mummy?” over and over on a reel to
reel
tape, only to hear the thapping of the tape end and realize that the
tape is
over and the boy is now here. After all The Doctor did tell him to go
to
his room.
As the story progresses we see the group escape the clutches of the
little
boy and his clan using a sonic gun, a teleporter, and just some old
fashion
trap door escapes. All the while trying to figure out who’s sonic
device is
bigger/better than who’s.
Plus we get the sub-plot of the kids who are roughing it, as they learn
a
little more about their leader Nancy, and the abilities of the little
boy
who loves all things tech it would seem.
At one point we see Nancy get captured by the family who’s meal was
taken
over during the raid. She quickly, and cleverly takes the upper hand
and is
off to figure this thing out once and for all.
While I don’t want to ruin the ending for you, needless to say, they
all
meet up near the mauve tube that started the adventure and sus it all
out in
great fashion. Including a little extra at then end with Capt. Jack.
who
will be traveling with The Doctor and Rose for the rest of the series.
Overall this is an amazing episode, up there with Rose, and Father’s
Day,
and shows the new direction the series is taking at the hand of Russell
T
Davies and company. With less emphasis on spark and more on character
and
plot. And just this once… Everyone lives.
Hi guys,
i saw there was no DR Who review this week so I
decided to send this in. I'll attach it also.
This weeks DR Who was more of the same as it
continued from last week storyline. Very good
production values. Story was just ‘ok’ for me but if
I’d seen it when I was 10 which was when I was a DR
Who fanatic then I would have crapped myself alone in
my bedroom for the rest of the night as I remembered
all those creepy gas mask people asking for their
mummy.
Let me state this, I lived in the USA for ten years
and like America and Americans. I respect them as a
people, as a nation and I love American history. I
think American TV is some of the Best in the world
with Deadwood being about the best thing in TV ‘or’
movies. . . but I’m sick to death of the new DR Who
having to feel that it needs to insert American
accented characters into the storyline all the time
(usually badly done by Brit actors too). They either
do it when they need to show someone is a loudmouth
braggart or to make it appeal to Americans more. The
Hitchhikers movie shows the same insecurity too.
"oooooo the Americans won't like our little TV show
unless a few of the characters speak like they do."
Look at shows like the Office. Gervais knew it might
translate to the states yet doesn't compromise one bit
on the dialogue. Look at TLOG, I come from Wakefield
which is the part of West Yorkshire where the lads are
kind of from. Almost every episode I heard phrases
that only people within a few city radius of that
place would get yet they knew the show might be a hit
Britain wide and perhaps even internationally.
Example: "I brought you a doc leaf in case you still
wanted that bab". 'bab' meaning shit/crap/poo. None
Yorkshire people might know what 'bab' meant but many
wouldn’t and there were many other examples. (yeah i
know one DR who was written by a leaguer.
Anyway DR Who is a lot better than expected and as I
said when you consider it's for kids it's far better
than we had in the John Pertwee/Tom Baker days.
Despite the '90's sensitive man/new age claptrap. I
mean to say a ‘navel gazing Dalek' for Gods sake???
(which I pray said state of mind it was using as a
deception so it could teleport out during the
explosion in order to multiply and conquer another
day.) Anyway the conclusion to this weeks DR was a
mixed bag. Cool and dumb at the same time. The
logic/science of it will thrill kids and inspire their
minds like all good sf ideas do but to adults it was a
bit groan inducing. I try not to mind though and to
appreciate DR Who with my 10yo mind. I’m still very
much appreciative that the theme tune has gone back to
it’s raw roots a bit.
Can you believe that people tell me that I used to
'literally' hide behind the sofa during Who. I don't
remember doing so but I like to imagine it's true. ;).
If I did I bet it was during that episode where the
leather couch was really an alien and when the guy sat
on it, it ate him . . . . oh the farting sound of his
skin screeching on the leather and his screaming as
the couch slowly pulled him in and swallowed him,
that’s one couch you don’t wanna stick your hands down
to look for money. Oh the emotional scars. Despite the
evil of DR who monsters though I still love em all in
all their shaky scenery and rubber costumed glory. And
the greatest of all, The Daleks, Man I love Daleks.
“Kelvington” says:
“Filmrage” says:
What is this “Doctor Who” we speak of? The Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to Doctor Who: The Television Companion
Keen to learn more of Time Lord physiology? Doctor Who: Gallifrey Chronicles
Were Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader two different people in the early drafts of “The Empire Strikes Back”? All is revealed in The Annotated Screenplays (Star Wars, Episodes IV-VI)
Look! A fabulous new book co-edited by big-deal "Buffy"-"Firefly"-"Gilmore Girls" TV writer Jane Espenson. She introduces each of the essays, and the whole book besides:
Finding Serenity : Anti-Heroes, Lost Shepherds and Space Hookers in Joss Whedon's Firefly
