I am – Hercules!!
To anticipate the question? “Doctor Who’s” 29th season, currently unfurling on something called “the BBC,” hits America's SciFi Channel on July 6. All the Britishers seem very keen on 29.8 and 29.9, which aired in their fancy little island a few hours ago. “Doctor Dan” says:

DOCTOR WHO – 3.9 "The Family Of Blood" (Part 2 of 2) WRITER: Paul Cornell (Robin Hood, Casualty, Holby City ) DIRECTOR: Charles Palmer (Marple, Doctor Who) CAST: David Tennant (The Doctor/John Smith) Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones) Jessica Hynes (Nurse Joan Redfern) Harry Lloyd (Jeremy Baines) Thomas Sangster (Tim Latimer) Tom Palmer ( Hutchinson ) Pip Torrens (Rocastle) Rebekah Staten (Jenny) Gerard Horan (Mr Clark) Lauren Wilson (Lucy Cartwright) Matthew White (Phillips) Sophie Turner (Vicar) Lucas Jacobson (Jason Smith) PROGNOSIS John Smith refuses to accept his destiny as a Time Lord as The Family descends on the school... DIAGNOSIS The conclusion to Paul Cornell's two-part adaptation of his own novel fails to disappoint on any level, proving to be an effective, dramatic and poignant climax to last week's set-up. John Smith continues to struggle with the news he's actually an alien time-traveller, forced to choose between a loving human existence and his true nature as the universe's protector. This indecision forms the crux of the episode and David Tennant is a revelation, deftly creating a believable alternate character and making Smith's situation emotionally truthful throughout. Jessica Hynes was somewhat perfunctory last week as love interest Nurse Redfern, but she really shines here. Her scenes with Tennant are very powerful, particularly the moments together in the school and the scenes spent agonizing over whether Smith should transform back into The Doctor. Elsewhere, the episode crafts marvellous moments of tension and violence as The Family instruct their scarecrow soldiers to attack the school, leading to a haunting moment where young schoolboys are forced to slaughter these "straw soldiers" with machine guns. Director Charles Palmer does a great job of milking the emotion, with the scene played in slow-motion as straw flies, boys sniff back tears and John Smith looks on in horror at the carnage. In fact, the parallels to World War I soon come thick and fast, particularly once the episode's denouement shows schoolboy Tim Latimer avoiding death in No Man's Land thanks to The Doctor's watch and a subsequent scene with Latimer (now an old man on Remembrance Day) catching sight of an unchanged Doctor and Martha wearing poppies. It's dangerously close to being heavy-handed and schmaltzy, but the episode has earned leniency and the scene work s well. The production values are very slick. I've mentioned before how Doctor Who always seem in its element when the fantastical meets the old-fashioned. The costumes, sets and location shooting is all brilliantly handled and the performances from the supporting cast are great, particularly Harry Lloyd as lead villain Baines; a wonderful creation. Overall, I really can't fault this episode to any great degree. There are a few irritations with some of the younger performers, but nothing beyond that. This is magical storytelling from writer Paul Cornell that will hopefully inspire further adaptations of the tie-in novels, but it really flies on the performance of David Tennant, who is simply remarkable. THE GOOD NEWS: 1. David Tennant. He's excellent as John Smith, particularly in the scene when he realizes his entire life is just a story and he must sacrifice a lifetime of human bliss for alien loneliness. Superb. 2. Jessica Hynes. She does really well in part 2, acting as great support for David Tennant in some key scenes. 3. Production design. As always, Doctor Who's historical episodes really have an atmosphere and believability to them. The alien ship's interior was plausible and suitably eerie, while the episode even found time to stage a decent WWI sequence! Nice CGI fireballs too. 4. Freema Agyeman. She continues her sterling work from last week, although Martha takes a backseat to Smith and Redfern throughout. But I love the fact it's the companion who saves the day for once and relished The Doctor's embrace with her at the end. Martha's indignant explanation of the human hand's bone structure to an incredulous Redfern was also a brilliant touch. 5. Harry Lloyd. A fine villain, created through pure body language, with his lilting head, gangly body, posh accent and quivering mouth. Excellent work. 6. The eventual fates of each Family member is poetic justice and genuinely creepy. Children everywhere will be staring in horror at scarecrows in fields and trying to catch sight of a little girl in mirrors around the house! Great imagination. THE BAD NEWS: 1. Dum-de-dum... nothing to see here... move on... THE GEEKY NEWS: 1. This two-part episode is an adaptation of writer Paul Cornell's 1995 Doctor Who novel "Human Nature", which featured Sylvester McCoy's Seventh Doctor. Numerous other changes have also been made. 2. Actress Jessica Hynes, who plays Nurse Redfern, was known as Jessica Stephenson before she married in 2007. She is a comedic actress best known for starring in sitcoms The Royle Family and Spaced. Coincidentally, her Spaced co-star Simon Pegg (who starred in season 1's "The Long Game") appeared with her in the Doctor Who audio adventure "Invaders From Mars". 3. Actor Harry Lloyd, who plays Jeremy Baines, is the great-great-great-grandson of author Charles Dickens! Indeed, his mother's maiden name is "Dickens". He may be familiar for his recent role as Will Scarlett in the BBC's Robin Hood series. 4. Director Charles Palmer is the son of actor Geoffrey Palmer, the veteran actor who co-starred with Judi Dench in As Time Goes By and sitcoms like Butterflies and The Fall & Rise Of Reginald Perrin. 5. The Doctor has often used John Smith as a handy alias, starting with Patrick Troughton's Second Doctor in "The Wheel In Space". The revived series has used it very often, most notably in "School Reunion" and "Smith And Jones". 6. You can download a PDF of the original novel here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/ebooks/human_nature/ OPINION: 5/5 OUTLOOK: Next week, a young girl begins to receive mysterious messages, bleeding through the walls of an abandoned house, from someone called The Doctor...

“Jadstersdad” says:

Dr Who - The Family of Blood (part two of two, begun with 'Human Nature') Adapted by Paul Cornell, from his Who novel Human Nature. Directed by Charles Palmer I didn't review last week's 'Human Nature' but, for the record, I found it extremely impressive. Probably amongst the best 'Who' of the new incarnation (and, if we're honest, at least the equal of the better classic stories). The Doctor, fleeing and hiding from a predatory MacGuffin race who wish to drain the life force of a Time Lord. The real 'meat' to this story, though, was the chance for Tennant to play essentially a different character. The 'human' John Smith. It was refreshing and a revelation. This Doctor began to fall in love and was allowed a (first?) genuine kiss. It was really exciting and I found myself, i'll guess along with multitudes, awaiting part 2 more eagerly than any in recent history. The big question was, as it always is in these cases - will the conclusion live up to the premise? The answer? Virtually, yes. I'm being churlish! I would have liked this part to begin, as continuations used to in the old days, with the Doc escaping his dilemma, of course, but then some quiet moments of exposition. Not this time. We were hurtled headlong into the all-too-familiar manic chase with crazy scarecrows and their leader Murray Gold (sorry....) pursuing our gurning hero. But because of what followed, I can ignore that and revise my assessment into... triumphant! Apart from the great script, most of the success of this story can be attributed to the casting. Jessica Hynes (nee Stevenson) was note-perfect as the Doctor's true (?) love. She made you believe - perhaps even wish - that he would give up his wandering, arrogant persona for her. Later fantasy scenes involving the two were genuinely moving. Harry Lloyd as Baines, the chief villain, was sneering with the best of them and surprising effective despite/because of this. Martha played well, as always, and deepened her longing for our Mr Smith. Rounding out the standout performances was young Thomas Sangster as Timothy. A really compelling turn and, in the story's inspired coda, his character (if not him) was completely heartbreaking. A genius way to end things. It was a period story and you don't need me to tell you the advantages of that, for this series. The team are really in their stride now. Only note of strangeness is how oddly resentful this viewer was, at least, when the real clever Doctor showed up. His 'hero' moment overshadowed by the loss of a truly involving character (his alter ego). But perhaps that was the point. 10/10 (i'm done being churlish!)

“Palimpest” says:

Hi Herc A quick rundown on DOCTOR WHO 3.9: "The Family of Blood", which has just premiered in the UK. The second half of a two-parter (last week we saw part one, "Human Nature", based on scripter Paul Cornell's original WHO novel of that name), the story picks up with The Doctor having shed his Time Lord identity and hiding out in 1913 England as unassuming schoolteacher John Smith, as he is being pursued across spacetime by The Family, who want him for his regenerative abilities. Smith, though, is beset by dreams of space adventure, which he records in a journal, and about which he confides to the school nurse Joan (guesting Jessica Stevenson) and his maid, Martha (Freema Agyeman). Smith and Joan begin a halting romance while Martha, who knows what's really going on, watches over both The Doctor/Smith and a pocket watch that holds the key to restoring his Time Lord being. Except the watch has gone missing, and The Family have turned up with an army... The story has two things really going for it. First and foremost of these is Paul Cornell's script. It's a real shame that Cornell's not one of the writers signed up for season 4, as this two-parter is not just the best thing that's been screened so far in the revived series, but might just be the best WHO serial ever. It really is that good. This is something that deepens and expands the Whoniverse in all manner of intriguing ways. I'm not going to tell you quite how it all pays off (this second half is more action-heavy than the first), but in this episode you get a WHO version of your favourite siege movie (ZULU? RIO BRAVO? PRECINCT 13?), a WHO version of THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST, the single greatest description of The Doctor ever, some stunning examples of the ruthlessness that this Doctor is capable of, and a coda of startling tenderness and humanity. The second aspect worthy of particular comment is David Tennant. Particularly as schoolteacher Smith, he shows an incredible range as an actor, and demonstrates how good he can be with a decent script to work with. In short, awesome. Expect awards. It'll be very hard, given some of the very variable writing that this show has seen, for the rest of the season to get anywhere near this, as here we've got something that transcends the limitations and expectations of genre fiction. Incidentally, Cornell has a blog here: http://tinyurl.com/3btqaj - he seems like a nice chap, too, which is always a bonus. Thanks for listening.

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