series « 2008 Television Episodes

Posts Tagged ‘series’

Partners in Crime (Doctor Who)

Tuesday, July 7th, 2009

“Partners in Crime” is the first episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 5 April 2008. The episode reintroduced comedienne Catherine Tate as Donna Noble, who previously appeared in “The Runaway Bride”. Donna and the Doctor (David Tennant) meet while separately investigating Adipose Industries, a company that has created a revolutionary diet pill. Together, they attempt to stop the death of thousands of people in London after the head of the company, the alien Miss Foster (Sarah Lancashire), creates the Adipose, short white aliens made from human body fat.

The episode’s alien creatures, the Adipose, were created using the software Massive, commonly used for crowd sequences in fantasy and science fiction films. The episode is stylistically different from other Doctor Who episodes; “Partners in Crime” has no clear antagonist, and the creatures are in a different style to Doctor Who‘s regular “big [and] scary” monsters.

“Partners in Crime” features the return of three other characters. Jacqueline King reprises her role as Sylvia Noble from “The Runaway Bride”. Bernard Cribbins reprises his role as Wilfred Mott from “Voyage of the Damned”. Cribbins was recalled to replace the character of Geoff Noble after actor Howard Attfield died. Billie Piper briefly reprises her role as Rose Tyler for the first time since the second series’ finale “Doomsday”, in a scene that was not included in preview showings.

The episode received many positive reviews. Most critics liked the special effects used to create the Adipose. Critics also praised Tate’s subdued acting in comparison to “The Runaway Bride”; Donna was changed from a “shouting fishwife” to a more emotional person when she became a full-time companion. Critics’ opinions were split over the episode’s plot: opinion on executive producer Russell T Davies’ writing ranged from “pure pleasure” to “the back of a fag packet”.

Synopsis

The episode primarily focuses on Donna Noble (Catherine Tate), a previous companion who appeared in “The Runaway Bride”. After her encounter with the Doctor (David Tennant), she became disenchanted with normal life and regretted declining his invitation to travel in the TARDIS. She started investigating conspiracy theories in the hope she would find him. She confides her regrets to her grandfather Wilfred Mott (Bernard Cribbins), an amateur astronomer who met the Doctor before in “Voyage of the Damned”.

The episode concerns Adipose Industries, which is marketing a diet pill to London’s population with the slogan “the fat just walks away”. Believing the treatment to be otherworldly, the Doctor and Donna investigate the company separately, and find that the slogan is literal—the pills use latent body fat to parthenogenetically create the Adipose, small white aliens which spawn every night, removing a little of the host’s body fat each time. In an emergency, multiple Adipose can spawn by using all of the body’s organic tissue, killing the host. When the Doctor and Donna meet, they are confronted by Miss Foster (Sarah Lancashire), an alien who is exploiting Britain’s overweight population to create the Adipose for the Adiposian First Family. Miss Foster mentions that the Adipose species “lost” their breeding planet and hired Foster to find a replacement; she chose Earth, knowing that it was illegal.

Foster accelerates her plans, feeling threatened by the Doctor’s invocation of galactic law and fearing he may inform the “Shadow Proclamation”, an interplanetary police force. Throughout London, the Adipose begin to spawn, soon numbering several thousand. The Doctor and Donna prevent total emergency parthenogenesis occurring, while the remainder make their way to Adipose Industries. The Adiposian First Family use their spaceship to collect the Adipose, but kill Foster to hide any evidence they used Earth illegally. The Doctor refrains from killing the Adipose because they are children; Donna notes that his previous companion Martha Jones made him more human, citing his infanticide of the Racnoss in their previous encounter.

At the end of the episode, Donna accepts an offer to travel in the TARDIS. She makes a detour to leave her car keys in a safe location for her mother Sylvia (Jacqueline King), and asks a blonde woman to help Sylvia find the keys. The woman turns towards the camera, revealing her to be Rose Tyler (Billie Piper). She fades from view as she walks away from the area. In the final scene, Donna asks the Doctor to fly by her grandfather, Wilfred, who sees her and celebrates on his allotment.

Production

Casting

“Partners in Crime” features several actors returning to the series. Catherine Tate was offered the opportunity to return as Donna Noble during lunch with executive producer Julie Gardner. Tate, who expected Gardner would ask about appearing in a biopic, later admitted it was “the furthest thing from [her] mind”. Tate’s return was controversial amongst Doctor Who fans; the criticism she received was compared to Daniel Craig after he was cast as James Bond. Howard Attfield, who appeared as Donna’s father Geoff in “The Runaway Bride”, filmed several scenes for this episode, but died before his scenes for the remainder of the season were completed. The producers retired his character out of respect, and dedicated him in the closing credits for the episode. Producer Phil Collinson suggested transferring his traits to the unrelated character Stan Mott from “Voyage of the Damned”, and rewriting his role as Donna’s grandfather. Executive producers Russell T Davies and Gardner liked the idea and recalled Bernard Cribbins to the role to re-film Attfield’s scenes, with the character renamed as Wilfred—a name Davies favoured for Donna’s grandfather—in time for the credits of “Voyage of the Damned” to be changed.

Writing

I see her as a slightly warped Mary Poppins. She’s quite austere. She’s a strong woman. When I first read the script, I thought, oh, well, of course she’s a baddie… but the more I read it, I thought, ‘No, she’s doing what she’s doing for legitimate reasons.’

—Sarah Lancashire

Davies took a different approach while writing the episode. David Tennant and Sarah Lancashire noted the character of Miss Foster had good intentions but was morally ambiguous. The premise of the Adipose pill was equally ambiguous with rare side-effects, but was a “win-win situation” for anyone involved. Davies based the character of Miss Foster on the “Supernanny” Jo Frost and Argentine philanthropist and politician Eva Perón, and Lancashire compared her character to Mary Poppins. The Adipose are a different style to regular Doctor Who villains; antagonists such as Lazarus in “The Lazarus Experiment” or the werewolf in “Tooth and Claw” were singular monsters designed to scare the audience; the Adipose were written as “cute” to provide a “bizarre [and] surreal” experience.

Davies made some changes to Donna’s character. The character was “rounded … out from being a shouting fishwife to someone who’s quite vulnerable and emotional”. Donna was written to provide a “caustic” and “grown-up” attitude towards the Doctor, in opposition to Rose and Martha, who fell in love with him. Tate considered Donna to be more equal to the Doctor because her character did not romanticise him, allowing her to question his morality more easily.

Donna’s mime

In this production, the script requires Catherine Tate, as Donna Noble, to reintroduce herself to The Doctor in mime. The stage directions by writer Russell T Davies are as follows.

Donna does a little mime. I came here, trouble, read about it, internet, I thought, trouble = you! And this place is weird! Pills! So I hid. Back there. Crept along. Looked. You. Cos they…

Tate says Davies had suggested that she might come up with something on the day. She improvised her mime during filming.

Filming

The episode was in the fourth production block in the season, and was filmed in October 2007. The out-of-sequence filming allowed producers to use props to “seed” later episodes; ATMOS, a plot device in the episodes “The Sontaran Stratagem” and “The Poison Sky”, is referred to by a sticker on a taxi’s windscreen. As the episode mostly takes place at night, many scenes were filmed in the early morning.

The scene where Donna and the Doctor investigate Adipose was difficult to film. The scene took thirty shots to complete, and Tennant and Tate experienced problems avoiding each other on-screen. The scene was filmed in a loan company’s call centre in Cardiff’s outskirts on an early Sunday morning, with the company’s telephonists serving as extras.

Exterior shots of Adipose Industries were filmed at the Welsh Gas Board building in Cardiff’s city centre. For health and safety reasons, Tennant was prohibited from performing his own stunts in the window cleaning platform. His only shot that required stunts was when he catches Miss Foster’s sonic pen, a shot that took several takes to perfect.

Adipose

The Adipose were inspired by a stuffed toy Davies owned. The name comes from the scientific name for body fat, adipose tissue. Davies’ brief outlined a “cute” child-friendly creature shaped like a block of lard, similar to the Pillsbury Doughboy. Further consultation with post-production team The Mill resulted in the ears and the singular fang each Adipose has.Stephen Regelous, who won an Academy Award for his software Massive, flew to London to supervise the creation of the crowd special effects. Regelous, a Doctor Who fan, was enthusiastic about helping The Mill with special effects, stating that “When I first found out that the Mill was working on Doctor Who, I was quietly hoping that Massive might be used to create hordes of Daleks or Cybermen and with series 4, I jumped at the opportunity to be involved.” The Mill created two types of Adipose: extras with artificial intelligence and independent movement, and “hero” Adipose, which were hand-animated.

Broadcast and reception

Broadcast and ratings

The episode was broadcast on 5 April 2008 at 18:20, the earliest timeslot since the show’s revival in 2005. Davies criticised the BBC’s scheduling department and claimed the show could lose 1.5 million viewers. The show retained a similar time of broadcast for a further four episodes, before returning to around 19:00. from “The Doctor’s Daughter” onwards.

The preview version of the episode supplied to the press and aired at the press launch omitted the scene that features Rose; before broadcast, only the production team, Tate, and Tennant had seen the scene. The scene contains Rose’s departure theme, “Doomsday”. Tennant commented “on the night of transmission … the Radio Times won’t have told you it’s coming, it’ll come as a genuine [...] prickle up the spine”.

Overnight figures estimated the show was watched by 8.4 million viewers, with a peak of 8.7 million, 39.4% of the television audience. The consolidated rating was 9.1 million viewers. Doctor Who was therefore the most watched show on 5 April, although the Grand National had a higher peak with 10.1 million viewers. The episode’s Appreciation Index was 88 (considered “Excellent”), the highest for any television show aired on 5 April.

Critical reception

The episode received many positive reviews. John Preston, writing for The Daily Telegraph, called the episode an “undiluted triumph”. Opening his review, he said “last night’s episode struck me as being as close to 50 minutes of pure pleasure as you’re likely to get on television”. He noted the episode’s clever tackling of the topical theme of obesity, and its mixture of emotion and special effects. In closing, he said “the dejected critic, denied even the smallest nit to pick, walks glumly away”. Scott Matthewman of The Stage lamented that the Adipose were not threatening enough. He liked the Adipose’s execution of Miss Foster, a “momentary pause in mid-air, gravity only kicking in when the character looks down”, comparing it to Wile E. Coyote and Chuck Jones, which “[was] a nice little touch in an episode … full of them”. He also appreciated Tate, saying that “David Tennant finally has a partner who is approaching an equal”. Sam Wollaston of The Guardian wrote that Tate was “not right for this role” and “too hysterical, too comedy, not cool enough”, and felt her inclusion was an attempt to trade on the popularity of her own series and “broaden the appeal of [Dr Who] still further”. He also found the music “a bit oppressive” but concluded that, despite these criticisms, the show was “still awfully nice television”. Keith Watson of Metro gave the episode 4 stars out of 5. He admitted that despite his dislike of Tate, “she isn’t that bad”. His review of the Adipose was positive, citing them as a reason of the quality of the show. Closing, he said “it split [his] sides”.

Jon Wise of The People said “Doctor Who is a super-galactic way of spending a Saturday night indoors”, and appreciated that Donna was not romantically interested in the Doctor, unlike Martha or Rose. Ben Rawson-Jones gave the episode a wholly positive review, summarising it as containing “pure fantastic family fun, delivering a winning blend of action, comedy, poignancy and one unexpected shock cameo”.

The episode received several negative reviews. Andrew Billen, writing for The Times, lamented that Davies had “forgotten that Doctor Who’s main task is to send children scuttling behind sofas while entertaining their fathers with the odd philosophical idea, the occasional classical reference, a joke or two they would probably not wish to explain and a wee bit of space totty”. Billen also criticised the writing and acting, but commended Tate for a “toned down performance”. Alan Stanley Blair of SyFy Portal summarised it as “a runaway Saturday morning cartoon in desperate need to a solid story”. Blair found flaws with the comedy and the music in the episode, but was impressed with Tate’s acting and Piper’s cameo. Kevin O’Sullivan of the Sunday Mirror criticised Tate and Tennant for overacting, and had concerns about the writing: “It didn’t exactly ooze tension. All we got in the way of terrifying space enemies was Sarah Lancashire hamming it up as an intergalactic super nanny, a couple of security guards with guns and lots of cute little fat babies.”Ian Hyland of News of the World criticised the child-friendly storyline, comparing it to “the back of a fag packet”. He also criticised Tennant for appearing “jaded” and Tate for “still shouting”.

Tags: april 2008, catherine tate donna noble, david tennant tenth doctor, james strong, lindsey alford, minutes, phil collinson, russell t davies, russell t daviesjulie gardner, series, the fires of pompeii
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

The Poison Sky

Monday, July 6th, 2009

“The Poison Sky” is the fifth episode of the fourth series (since revival) of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 3 May 2008. The episode features both old companion Martha Jones and the alien Sontarans. It is the second of a two part story, following “The Sontaran Stratagem”.

Plot

Synopsis

Following from the previous episode, Sylvia Noble (Jacqueline King) manages to free Wilfred Mott (Bernard Cribbins) from the car by smashing the window with an axe. The Doctor (David Tennant) sends Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) back to the TARDIS while he sets off to figure out what the Sontarans are up to. After studying the gas, UNIT determines that it will need to reach 80% density to become lethal. Elsewhere, Martha Jones’s clone (Freema Agyeman) informs the Sontarans of UNIT’s defence systems and helps them to teleport the TARDIS to their orbiting ship. Realising that he is trapped, the Doctor attempts to goad General Staal (Christopher Ryan) into revealing their plan: Staal is smart enough not to fall prey to this ploy, but the Doctor soon works out by himself that the Sontarans plan to use the Earth for their own benefit, since they are beginning to lose their long war with the Rutans. He also tricks Staal into moving the TARDIS out of the main war room, placing Donna in a position to help.

Against the Doctor’s advice, UNIT decides to use nuclear weapons against the Sontarans; however, Martha’s clone has covertly copied the launch codes, and stops every attempt they make to fire the weapons. This in itself shows a hidden agenda, since the Doctor knows a nuclear strike would not have harmed the Sontarans in the first place. This, combined with the unidentifiable elements in the gas, suggest that the Sontarans have an interest in keeping anything from disrupting the atmospheric conversion. At the same time, the Sontarans, under Commander Skorr “the Bloodbringer” (Dan Starkey), mobilize a contingent of troops to protect the factory. With the Sontarans’ ability to jam most conventional firearms by expanding the copper-lined bullets, the UNIT troops are quickly slaughtered and the factory is secured.

Luke Rattigan (Ryan Sampson) leaves the Sontaran mothership to gather his students, explaining that he plans to have the Sontarans take them to another planet and begin the human race anew. The students merely laugh him off, even when he brandishes a gun. When he returns to report his failure, the Sontarans likewise ridicule his efforts, admitting that they had planned to kill his students and never intended to take him anywhere. Rattigan teleports back to his mansion before they can kill him, and the Sontarans lock the teleport pods behind him. Back in his own quarters, he lies sobbing on the ground.

Meanwhile, the Doctor instructs Donna on how to reopen the teleport pods. As she makes her way through the ship, UNIT begins a counterattack, loading their weapons with non-copper bullets and using the aircraft carrier Valiant to clear the gas. The counterattack is a success, and the UNIT troops are able to put the Sontarans on the defensive. The distraction allows the Doctor to make his way to the cloning room where Martha is being held. Having figured out long before that the clone wasn’t the genuine article, he severs its connection to Martha, leaving it to die. Martha convinces the clone to betray the Sontarans in its last moments, and the clone reveals that the poison gas is actually food for Sontaran clones: they are converting the planet into a giant breeding world. With Donna’s help, the Doctor is able to reactivate the teleport pods, allowing him to rescue Donna, steal back the TARDIS, and teleport into Rattigan’s mansion.

With the terraforming equipment Rattigan’s students built, the Doctor builds his own atmospheric converter, igniting the atmosphere to clear out the poison gas as shown in the picture. However, he knows the Sontarans won’t accept defeat so easily, and teleports to their ship with the converter, planning to give them the choice between retreat or death. Staal chooses the latter, content with the knowledge that the Doctor will die with them. At the last moment, Rattigan teleports himself to the Sontaran ship and sends the Doctor back to Earth, sacrificing himself to destroy the Sontarans.

With the day saved, Martha says goodbye to Donna and the Doctor in the TARDIS and prepares to head home. However, before she can leave, the TARDIS suddenly springs to life, locking the doors and piloting itself to an unknown destination as the jar containing the Doctor’s severed hand bubbles.

Continuity

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart is mentioned as being “stranded in Peru”, the first explicit mention of the character in the new series. Colonel Mace refers to him as “Sir Alistair”, implying he has received a knighthood since the events of Battlefield.
Just as Donna moves towards the TARDIS screen while the Doctor contacts the Sontarans, Rose Tyler briefly appears on the screen, silently calling out. This follows a similar silent cameo appearance in “Partners in Crime”. The same happens in “Midnight.”
The Valiant, the primary setting for the climax of “The Sound of Drums” and much of “Last of the Time Lords”, is seen again in this episode when it is used by UNIT to clear the poisonous gas from the atmosphere over the ATMOS factory. It is also equipped with a scaled down version of the Torchwood weapon that destroyed the Sycorax ship in “The Christmas Invasion”.
As the TARDIS traps Donna, Martha, and the Doctor at the end of the episode, the Doctor’s severed hand, last seen at the beginning of “Voyage of the Damned”, can be seen in a similar state of agitation it felt when the TARDIS materialised near it in the Torchwood episode “End of Days”.
In addition to the Sontarans, the Rutans are mentioned for the first time in the revived series.
Lachele Carl reprises her recurring role as Trinity Wells, a US newsreader, seen previously in the episodes “Aliens of London”, “World War Three”, “The Christmas Invasion” and “The Sound of Drums” and in Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures story Revenge of the Slitheen.
The Doctor asks Colonel Mace, “Are you my mummy?”, while wearing a gas mask – a line spoken by gas mask-wearing characters in “The Empty Child” / “The Doctor Dances”.
The episode is revisited in the series four episode “Turn Left”, where Jack Harkness and the remaining Torchwood team of Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones stop the Sontarans in a parallel timeline. Harkness is transported to Sontar while Cooper and Jones are killed destroying the Sontaran ship.
The finale episode “Journey’s End” features a brief flashback of Luke’s sacrifice, among others, as the Doctor remembers all of those who have died for him.
The Doctor doubles back from calling Martha, Donna, and himself the “old team”, and calls them the “new team”. In Series 2’s “Doomsday”, Rose proclaims that the Doctor and herself are the “old team”.
A single remaining Sontaran from this story is the focus of The Sarah Jane Adventures story “The Last Sontaran”.

Production

This episode and the previous episode were filmed over five weeks, beginning in September 2007. Post-production was completed a week before the first part aired.

During production, director Douglas Mackinnon intended to have the episode’s climatic scene in the TARDIS show the moveable column in the center console move up and down much more rapidly than normal. However, when attempting to accomplish this, Mackinnon ended up breaking the prop, which took thirty minutes to repair.

When interviewed on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, Catherine Tate stated that she had been filming alongside ten actors playing Sontarans for two weeks before she realised that there were actors inside the Sontaran costumes. She had assumed the Sontarans “ran on electricity”. It was not until an actor removed his helmet to reveal his real face that she realised her mistake. She stated she was “freaked out” by this and said she “nearly died”.

When the Doctor interrupts the Sontarans’ transmission, animated footage from CBeebies’s part live action, part animationeco adventure show Tommy Zoom is brought up on screen featuring the villanous Polluto disguised as a magician and the heroic Tommy and his dog Daniel as his audience. Originally, the plan was to use Shaun the Sheep, but this fell through.

As in many previous episodes of the revived series, supposed BBC News 24 footage is used featuring reports of unfolding events. However, as with the more recent appearances of such footage in Doctor Who, the channel is simply captioned on screen as ‘News 24′ devoid of the BBC logo. Since this episode was produced, the BBC News 24 channel was rebranded in real life as BBC News.

Broadcast

Unofficial overnight figures indicated that “The Poison Sky” was watched by 5.9 million viewers, giving it a 32.5% share of the total television audience. The final consolidated figure was 6.53 million viewers. It was the second most watched programme of the day, being beaten by ITV1’s Britain’s Got Talent, which got 9.12 million viewers. It was the highest rated programme on BBC1 for the day and the 18th most watched of the week. The episode received an Appreciation Index score of 88 (considered “Excellent”).

Tags: 2nd of part story minutes, catherine tate donna noble, david tennant tenth doctor, douglas mackinnon, freema agyeman martha jones, helen raynor, may 2008, nikki smith, russell t daviesjulie gardnerphil collinson, series, susie liggat, the doctor s daughter
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

The Sontaran Stratagem

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

“The Sontaran Stratagem” is the fourth episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 26 April 2008. The episode features the return of former companion Martha Jones, as well as the return of the alien Sontarans to the series. It is the first of a two part story, followed by “The Poison Sky”. This is the Sontarans’ first appearance since the 1985 Colin Baker story The Two Doctors.

Plot

Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman) calls the Doctor (David Tennant) to ask for assistance during an investigation by UNIT. Minutes after the TARDIS materialises in contemporary Britain, Martha authorises the raid of an ATMOS (Atmospheric Omission System) factory. The Doctor introduces his companion Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) to Martha and UNIT; Donna instantly befriends Martha, but is concerned about UNIT’s ethics and asks the Doctor why he is associated with them; the Doctor ambiguously replies he used to work for them in the late twentieth century.

ATMOS is marketing a satellite navigation system developed by child prodigy Luke Rattigan (Ryan Sampson). The system also reduces carbon dioxide emissions to zero; UNIT requested the Doctor’s help because the technology is not contemporary and potentially alien. UNIT are also concerned about fifty-two simultaneous deaths occurring spontaneously several days before the narrative. The Doctor travels to Rattigan’s private school to investigate the system, and discovers that the episode’s events are being influenced by the Sontarans.

The Sontarans depicted in the episode are part of a battlegroup led by General Staal, “the undefeated” (Christopher Ryan). Instead of an instant invasion, they are tactically approaching an invasion with a combination of human clones, mind control, and ATMOS; Martha is captured by two of the controlled humans and cloned to provide a tactical advantage against UNIT.

A subplot depicts Donna returning to her home to warn her mother Sylvia (Jacqueline King) and grandfather Wilfred Mott (Bernard Cribbins) about the Doctor, having been advised to do so by Martha. Concerned about the implications of telling the truth, Donna reneges from warning her mother. At the end of the episode, the Doctor investigates the ATMOS device attached to Donna’s car and discovers a secondary function: the device can emit a poisonous gas. Wilfred attempts to take the car off the road, but is trapped when Staal activates all 400 million ATMOS devices installed in cars worldwide. The episode’s cliffhanger depicts Donna shouting for help while the Doctor stares helplessly at a street full of cars emitting the gas, while on their ship orbiting the planet, the Sontarans prepare themselves for battle.

Production

The episode features the return of the Sontarans, who last appeared in the 1985 serial The Two Doctors; a centric appearance by UNIT; and Martha Jones, who had last appeared in “Last of the Time Lords” and made special guest appearances in the Torchwood episodes “Reset”, “Dead Man Walking”, and “A Day in the Death.” The brief that executive producer Russell T Davies gave to writer Helen Raynor included the terms “Sontarans”, “military”, and “Martha’s back”.

Martha’s departure allowed Davies to change the character’s personality. In her reappearance, she is more mature and equal to the Doctor in comparison to falling in love in the third series. Several aspects of her character were debated: in particular, her status and reaction to Donna. Raynor elected to emphasise Martha’s medical career over her military career, and avoided a “handbags at dawn” scenario because she felt it would rehash Rose Tyler’s (Billie Piper) initial opinion of Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) from the second series episode “School Reunion”.

The episode is the first centric appearance of UNIT since the show’s revival. Their name has changed from United Nations Intelligence Taskforce to Unified Intelligence Taskforce at the request of the United Nations, who cited the political climate and potential “brand confusion” as reasons for disassociation. The new acronym was coined by Davies after several meetings among the scriptwriters. The UNIT privates Gray and Wilson were specifically written as “alien fodder”. The episode refers to inconsistencies in dating UNIT stories when the Doctor is unsure whether he worked for UNIT in the 70s or 80s.

This episode continues the pattern of having monsters from the classic series return in the new one. Davies commented that the Sontarans were “always on his list” of villains to resurrect. The time and location of the episode was deliberately chosen because every Sontaran story except for The Invasion of Time was set on Earth.

Raynor initially envisioned the poisonous gas would be emitted by factories, but changed it in later drafts to cars for several reasons: the episode would provide social commentary and the idea of an “evil satnav system” was “much more engageable” and “irresistible”; Davies thought the concept was “so very Doctor Who“. Because the series was produced out of order, the “ATMOS” subplot was seeded in the episode “Partners in Crime”. The “fifteenth broken moon” of the Medusa Cascade is also mentioned. The Medusa Cascade was previously mentioned in “Last of the Time Lords”, “Partners in Crime”, and in “The Fires of Pompeii”. In the episode, a system installed in a UNIT jeep undramatically explodes; originally, Raynor wanted it to be a large explosion, but reduced the explosion to several sparks to reduce costs and to lampoon an action movie cliché. The opening scene, which depicts the system driving its occupant into a canal, was filmed at Cardiff’s docks. The scene was the first time a car-cannon had been used since 2005, and was required to be completed in one shot. The car fired into the canal was removed immediately afterwards to clear the shipping route.

The episode, like “Aliens of London” and “The Lazarus Experiment”, properly introduces the lead companion’s family. Unlike the Tyler or Jones families, both Sylvia Noble and Wilfred Mott had met the Doctor before (in “The Runaway Bride” and “Voyage of the Damned”, respectively), providing Raynor with an additional subplot. Expository dialogue explains Mott’s absence from “The Runaway Bride” as the character having Spanish flu. Wilfred’s positive opinion of the Doctor is different to Sylvia, who “joined a long line of mothers that don’t get the Doctor”; Davies had wanted a family member who trusted the Doctor since the show’s revival.

Despite the Sontaran’s clone culture being asserted in the classic series, “The Sontaran Strategem” is the first episode to depict cloning. Originally, all of the factory workers were to be clones, but Raynor reduced it to only Martha to solve continuity problems with the second part. The template clone was portrayed by Ruari Mears, who wore a prosthetic mask which took longer to apply than any mask he had worn. The scenes involving the cloning tank were filmed in a Welsh shampoo factory and reused a prop from “The Fires of Pompeii” as the tank which contained the clone. Davies and Agyeman enjoyed scenes set in the cloning room; Agyeman enjoyed playing an “evil companion”, who she and Davies felt made the real Martha “warmer”, and Davies thought Privates Gray and Harris discovering the tank in a darkened room was “classic Doctor Who“.

Broadcast and reception

“The Sontaran Strategem” was the most watched programme in its timeslot, with 7.06 million viewers. The episode was the second most-watched programme of the day, beaten by Britain’s Got Talent, and was the seventeenth most watched programme of the week. The episode’s Appreciation Index was 87 (considered Excellent), the highest figure recorded on its airdate.

Continuity

According to The Sarah Jane Adventures website (before the series started), the website revealed that Sarah Jane Smith was investigating ATMOS and the villainous Luke Rattigan. However, it was evident that she found out that Kaagh and his race were the ones behind the Earth burning.

Kaagh the Slayer (known as Kaagh the Shambles to Mrs Wormwood of the Bane) said that he was fighting off UNIT and the Doctor gave him his scar as a result of the fire.

Tags: 1st of part story minutes, april 2008, catherine tate donna noble, david tennant tenth doctor, douglas mackinnon, freema agyeman martha jones, helen raynor, nikki smith, russell t daviesjulie gardnerphil collinson, series, susie liggat, the poison sky
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Journey’s End (Doctor Who)

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

“Journey’s End” is the thirteenth episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who first broadcast on BBC One on 5 July 2008. It is the second episode of a two-part crossover story, preceded by “The Stolen Earth”. At 65 minutes in length, it is the longest regular episode of Doctor Who, approximately 20 minutes longer than a standard revived series episode. This episode also marks the final appearance of Catherine Tate as continuing companion Donna Noble.

Plot

Synopsis

The episode continues from the end of “The Stolen Earth”; the Doctor (David Tennant) is regenerating inside the TARDIS. Once his body has healed, he halts the transformation by transferring the remaining energy into his severed hand. The TARDIS is captured by the Daleks and transported to the Crucible, the Dalek flagship at the heart of the 27 planets. The Doctor and his previous companions Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) and Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) leave the TARDIS, but Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) is locked in. The Supreme Dalek orders the TARDIS to be destroyed; in the process, Donna collapses by the Doctor’s severed hand, and activates the energy stored in the hand to form a second Doctor who saves the TARDIS from destruction.

Concurrently, Torchwood employees Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles) and Ianto Jones (Gareth David-Lloyd) find safety from an advancing Dalek in an impenetrable time bubble; Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) is saved from a Dalek extermination by Rose’s ex-boyfriend Mickey Smith (Noel Clarke) and mother Jackie Tyler (Camille Coduri), who surrender with her to get aboard the Crucible; and Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman) teleports to a castle near Nuremberg where the Daleks are heard speaking German.

The Doctor and Rose are taken to Davros (Julian Bleach), creator of the Daleks. The Doctor taunts Davros on account of the fact he is not in charge (Davros having been overthrown, imprisoned and kept alive for his knowledge), but Davros in turn retorts that the Doctor is as much a monster as he. Davros explains that the twenty-seven stolen planets form a compression field which can cancel the electrical energy of atoms. The resulting “reality bomb” has the potential to destroy all matter in every universe; reality itself would be destroyed.

After the device is tested, the Daleks receive two transmissions: Sarah Jane, Mickey, Jack, and Jackie threaten to destroy the Crucible using a “Warpstar” that Sarah Jane had, and Martha threatens to use the Osterhagen Key – a last resort device which would destroy Earth by setting off a chain of nuclear warheads. Their actions cause Davros to challenge the Doctor’s reliance on his companions. The companions, however, are transported to the Vault before they can execute their plans, whereupon Davros gloats over his seeming victory and challenges the Doctor over the deaths he has caused and the sheer number of people who have died for him. Davros calls this my final victory; I have shown you yourself, Doctor.

Davros prepares to detonate the reality bomb, before the TARDIS materialises in front of him. The second Doctor and Donna run out but are stunned by Davros’ energy blasts. The blast activates Time Lord knowledge imbued within Donna when she helped create the second Doctor, and she disables the reality bomb, Davros and the Daleks. The two Doctors help her relocate the missing planets, but the control panel is destroyed by the Supreme Dalek before Earth can be relocated. Davros asks Dalek Caan why he didn’t foresee this, but the Doctor realises that he had. Caan confirms this, citing that having witnessed the atrocities committed by the Daleks throughout time and space, Caan sought to bring an end to it.

Motivated by Dalek Caan’s prophecy of the Daleks’ extinction, and knowing the Daleks could still take the Universe by force, with or without the Reality Bomb, the new Doctor destroys the Daleks and the Crucible. The original Doctor offers to save Davros who refuses, accusing the Doctor of being responsible for the destruction and naming him as “the Destroyer of Worlds”. The companions flee into the TARDIS as the Crucible self-destructs, and “tow” the Earth back into its original orbit with the aid of Sarah Jane’s supercomputer Mr Smith, her robotic dog K-9, and the spatio-temporal rift in Cardiff.

In the dénouement of the episode, the Doctor parts ways with his companions: Sarah Jane returns home to her son Luke; Martha and Mickey leave with Jack; and the Doctor returns Rose and Jackie to the parallel universe they were trapped in, in “Doomsday”. The Doctor leaves the other Doctor to stay in the parallel universe as punishment for committing genocide and to requite Rose’s love. After departing, Donna becomes overwhelmed by the Time Lord knowledge. To save her life, the Doctor is forced to wipe her mind, and explains to her mother Sylvia (Jacqueline King) and grandfather Wilfred Mott (Bernard Cribbins) that Donna must never remember him, even for a second, because she will die if she does so. As the Doctor leaves, Wilfred promises that he will never forget the Doctor on his granddaughter’s behalf.

Continuity

The episode is the culmination of all four series of Doctor Who produced by Russell T Davies; dialogue in the episode refers to the events of “The Christmas Invasion”, in which the Doctor had his hand amputated and regrown during a sword fight and to the Ood naming the time travellers “Doctor-Donna” in “Planet of the Ood. The episode refers to Genesis of the Daleks; Davros mentions Sarah Jane’s presence on Skaro at the creation of the race.

The fictional Dårlig Ulv Stranden (Norwegian: Bad Wolf Bay) seen at the end of “Doomsday”, is revisited. The Doctor’s reply to Rose’s statement of love is specified to Rose but left unheard; Davies deliberately left the reply ambiguous when he wrote “Doomsday”. Executive producer Julie Gardner stated on the “Doomsday” commentary and the Doctor Who Confidential special for “Journey’s End” that the Doctor requited her love.

Davros refers to the Doctor as “The Destroyer of Worlds”. The first reference to this phrase is from the novelisation of Remembrance of the Daleks, which states that the Daleks, in their own language, refer to the Doctor as Ka Faraq Gatri, which translates either as “Bringer of Darkness” or “Destroyer of Worlds”.

Production

Writing

Russell T Davies started writing “Journey’s End” on 11 January 2008. Davies originally planned to show Davros prior to his crippling accident and to reveal how this happened. Davies wrote in the original script that Doctor-Donna would use a standard QWERTY keyboard when she takes control of the Daleks but Production Designer Edward Thomas pointed out that Daleks have suckers and so would be unable to use a QWERTY keyboard. Instead Thomas designed the controls seen in the episode. Also according to the original script, the Doctor was to give Rose’s Doctor a small piece of “coral” from the TARDIS so that he could grow his own TARDIS. This was filmed and survived until the last edit of the episode, but was ultimately cut because the production team felt it made the Bad Wolf Bay scene “too long and complicated”. In addition, Davies decided it should not be seen to be so easy to produce another TARDIS. The clip was included on the Series 4 DVD boxset.

In the BBC commentary for this episode, Phil Collinson and Julie Gardner describe a brief additional scene with Donna which was cut from the final episode:

“There was an additional Donna bit after this goodbye from the Doctor, which is when he goes outside into the TARDIS, we cut back into the kitchen, and there’s a moment where Donna hears the TARDIS… there’s a moment of realisation, and then she turns back round and carries on talking into the phone.”

Gardner considered this scene untruthful and too confusing, since Donna remembering would lead to her death, and since she didn’t recognise the Doctor it wouldn’t make sense to assume she would recognise the noise of the TARDIS.

Locations

Castell Coch, situated minutes away from the Doctor Who studios in Upper Boat, is used as the German castle. The beach at Southerndown, a few miles west of Cardiff, is used once more as Norway’s fictional Dårlig Ulv Stranden (Bad Wolf Bay).

Casting

Mickey Smith (Noel Clarke) and Jackie Tyler (Camille Coduri) make their first appearances in Doctor Who since “Doomsday”. K-9 Mark IV (voiced by John Leeson) makes his first appearance since The Sarah Jane Adventures story The Lost Boy, and his first in Doctor Who since “School Reunion”.

Former Blue Peter presenter Gethin Jones controlled one of the Daleks that escorts the human prisoners aboard the Crucible. He previously played a Cyberman in “Rise of the Cybermen” and has made a cameo appearance as himself in Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures in the episode “Invasion of the Bane”.

Another Doctor

One significant feature of this episode is the creation of a second Doctor. Unlike the multiple Doctors of stories such as The Two Doctors, where his previous incarnations were played by actors or depicted in old footage, this Doctor is identical in appearance to the Tenth Doctor. In the accompanying Doctor Who Confidential for this episode, Davies explains “This is so busy and so mental and so epic and universal in scale that of course you need two Doctors to solve it.” Phil Collinson, Graeme Harper, and David Tennant discuss the use of the double, a musician called Colum Regan who is a very good physical match for Tennant. Collinson explains that while with an unlimited budget they would use Tennant in every shot, “we only have a certain number of effects shots where you can see the two Doctors together, so we have to pick those carefully.”

Harper is then shown directing a scene in which both Regan and Tennant are shown around the TARDIS console. Harper explains that in “two or three wide shots” they were able to use Regan and Tennant together. For the most part the double is used for scenes where one or the other Doctor is only seen from behind, or only an arm or back of the head is seen in a shot. The double has appeared in other episodes throughout the series. Over documentary footage showing the shooting of the scene where the new Doctor emerges from the TARDIS, Tennant describes the procedure for making an effects shot involving Tennant as both Doctors. The camera is locked in place while Tennant goes off and changes clothing, with Regan holding his place. A shot is made for reference with Regan, then another shot is made without Regan. This enables the shots to be merged during editing to create the effect of having David Tennant in two places in the same shot.

Broadcast and reception

Broadcast

The episode was screened free in Trafalgar Square in London as part of Pride London 2008; the third series finale was planned to be shown during the 2007 event, but was cancelled as a security measure. A teaser trailer was appended to promote the 2008 Christmas Special featuring the Cybermen in their first appearance since “Doomsday”.

“Journey’s End” was watched by 10.57 million viewers when broadcast on BBC1, giving it a 45.9% share of the total television audience. The episode was the most-viewed programme of the week; “Journey’s End” is the first Doctor Who episode to receive this rank. It also received an Appreciation Index score of 91, equalling the record for the programme set by its predecessor “The Stolen Earth”. A story on the BBC News website described fan reaction of the serials on the Digital Spy and Ain’t It Cool News forums as “mixed”.

Canadian Broadcast

The episode was premiered in Canada on 12 December 2008. Although the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is credited as a co-producer, the CBC cut 21 minutes from the episode to fit it in a 60-minute timeslot with advertising. This edit removed numerous subplots as well as the final farewells by the various companions, as well as the final scene of the Doctor alone in his TARDIS. The CBC subsequently streamed the unedited version of the episode on its website.

Critical reception

The Telegraph’s John Preston states that this episode of Doctor Who “[a]s usual…served up a lot more than mere excitement.” He credits Doctor Who’s success partly to its “richly defined characters behaving in readily identifiable ways.” Also of The Telegraph, Sarah Crompton wrote that the episode was “exciting, incomprehensible, satisfying and slightly irritating all at the same time”. Although Crompton said “It was inevitable that the start would be an anti-climax”, she praised the special effects and also noted that she would miss “the warmth and humour” that Tate brought to the series.Lucy Mangan in a humorous review for The Guardian that rewrites the dialogue between Tennant’s and Cribbins’ characters at the end as a discussion of the plot, described it as providing “something for everyone”. In The Times, Andrew Billen called “Journey’s End” “a spectacular finale that…gave the lie to the truism that more always, dramatically speaking, adds up to less.”

Mark Wright of The Stage likens “Journey’s End” to “one big house of cards…[that] will come crashing down” if thought about too much. However, he had no problem with the resolution of “The Stolen Earth”’s cliffhanger and is critical of those who complain about feeling cheated by the lack of a regeneration. Though he expresses that he saw little need for Mickey and Jackie in this episode, he asserts that Donna had “the saddest end for a companion ever” and praises Davies for just managing to keep the plot together. He argues that as Davies “writes the emotions and big themes so well…blow logic and rational plot moments if they get in the way!” He compares Davies’s writing style to “PT Barnum showmanship” and praises both the dark and light elements of the episode. He concludes that, if not overthought, the episode remains “an audacious, big, silly, often poignant season finale”.

Writing for The Mirror, Jim Shelley is highly critical of this episode in his review describing it as “[d]emented rather than dazzling”. He was confused by the two Doctors played by David Tennant, saw little development in Donna across the series and was puzzled by the Doctor’s attempt to save his arch-enemy, Davros. He claims that “amidst all the shrieking, shouting, and mock operatic bluster, [he was] sure [he] saw a kitchen sink thrown in for good measure. Riddled with scientific mumbo-jumbo, it was too chaotic and long-winded to be the classic farewell Russell T Davies promised.” He argues that the plot “went haywire” and that “Rose and the two Tennants acted out a sort of twisted menage a trois.” In conclusion he states “Tennant’s cheeky chappie mannerisms made the show into an extraterrestrial EastEnders.”

In Scotland’s Daily Record, Paul English called the episode “yet another fizzing Doctor Who adventure” and said that “Writer and producer Russell T Davies makes TV with the epic feel of the movies. He gets more tension, humour and emotion into an hour of telly than many films manage in twice the time with double the budget.” He lamented that “Journey’s End” “lacked the goofiness” of the series’ 2005 return, but concluded that the finale was “TV gold”.

Dave Golder of SFX says “If, while your brain is telling you, ‘This is crap!’ your heart is still doing backflips then it’s your kind of episode. ‘Journey’s End’ is almost a two fingers up at technobabble; there’s certainly tons of it in the episode, but it’s largely irrelevant.” He praises the action sequences and the portrayal of Donna, Davros, Rose and the Doctor, but remarks that the overcrowding of minor characters made parts of the script seem “underdeveloped” and describes the Daleks as mostly “[c]annon fodder”. “[The] plot does hang together, but only just”. Overall, he describes the episode as “exceptional” but “not perfect”.

Ben Rawson-Jones of Digital Spy describes the episode as “a satisfying and epic crowdpleasing conclusion” to the series and particularly praises Tate and Donna’s exit. He states the episode mixes poignant and haunting scenes with “‘punch the air’ moments and fan-pleasing twists.” Noting the episode is “not entirely flawless”, he is critical of the Daleks’ seemingly “too convenient” demise arguing that it undermines their menace. Writing for the Doctor Who blog on the Radio Times website, William Gallagher called “Journey’s End” “event drama” and “party television”. He stated that the resolution to the regeneration cliff-hanger left him feeling “a bit cheated”, but praised the episode’s characterisation, concluding that David Tennant “has been the best Doctor of them all” and that “Doctor Who is the best drama on TV: it’s the one with most verve and spark and exuberant excitement.” John Beresford of TV Scoop called the finale “just about the most exciting Doctor Who episode [he could] ever remember”, and “a fantastically imaginative, exciting and action-packed finale to the fourth series.”

Tags: 2nd of part story minutes, billie piper rose tyler, catherine tate donna noble, david tennant tenth doctor, elisabeth sladen sarah jane smith, freema agyeman martha jones, graeme harper, john barrowman jack harkness, july 2008, lindsey alford, music of the spheres mini episode, noel clarke mickey smith, phil collinson, russell t davies, russell t daviesjulie gardner, series, the next doctor special
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Meat (Torchwood)

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

“Meat” is the fourth episode of the second series of British science fiction television series Torchwood, which was broadcast by BBC Two on 6 February 2008.

Plot

Synopsis

Rhys Williams is out driving when he is telephoned by a work mate to inform him that one of their firm’s lorries has crashed. He drives to the site of the crash and see that one of his employees and friends has died. Torchwood appears on the scene and Rhys spots Gwen amongst them.

The Torchwood team confiscates the meat that the lorry was transporting when they suspect it of being alien. Gwen recognises the lorry as one from Rhys’ firm. Back at the Hub, Toshiko rings Rhys’ office for information, pretending to be the police. Rhys texts Gwen asking for her to come home. He attempts to get her to confess to being at the crash site but she is evasive.

Rhys sees Gwen meeting up with Jack near the invisible lift in Roald Dahl Plass and follows her to a factory. While there he is captured by a group of men and taken into the factory. Jack and Gwen see this and mistake his actions for collaboration. The men show Rhys that they have captured a live “space whale” (nicknamed the “cash cow” by its captors) which is the source of the meat and which continues to grow despite them cutting chunks of its flesh away while it is still alive. In an act of self-preservation, Rhys agrees to replace his dead employee for the men.

Back at their flat, Rhys and Gwen argue over her being at the crash and Gwen admits to the nature of her work for Torchwood. Rhys is disbelieving until she shows him around the Hub. With Rhys’ help the team manages to inflitrate the factory so they can free the alien creature. The team hides in one of Rhys’ vans and Rhys drives them to the factory where the team sneaks in.

They locate the creature and plan to stun the men and sedate it so they can move it back to the Hub until the Cardiff spacetime Rift reopens. They confirm that the creature is sentient, but the men discover them and in the fight Rhys is shot. The creature becomes distressed and Owen can see no other option but to euthanise it when it poses a threat to them by struggling; he injects it with a chemical solution, tearfully apologizing to the dying creature as it slowly expires, and as Toshiko lays a comforting hand on his shoulder. They are able to stun the men and feed them amnesia pills. Back at the Hub, Owen patches up Rhys’ wound and Jack orders Gwen to give Rhys a pill too. She finds that she cannot bring herself to do so and Jack relents, disappointed about this but unwilling to fire Gwen and face losing her from the team.

Continuity

The Pterodactyl makes a brief appearance in this episode, its first of this series.

Outside references

There are passing references to Scooby-Doo, Captain Ahab, and Band Aid.

Reception

On overnight returns, The Guardian reported that the episode gained a healthy 11% share, 2.9 million viewers on BBC2 in is first broadcast at 9pm on February 6 while BBC One showed a live Match of the Day featuring the debut of new England football manager Fabio Capello in a match with the Switzerland team and ITV fielded the drama series Honest starring Amanda Redman.

Tags: adam, brian minchin, catherine tregenna, colin teague, february 2008, mins, richard stokeschris chibnall co producer, russell t daviesjulie gardner, series
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Silence in the Library

Saturday, June 27th, 2009

“Silence in the Library” is the eighth episode of the fourth series of the revived British science fiction television series Doctor Who, first broadcast on 31 May 2008. It is the first of a two-part story, followed by “Forest of the Dead”, and is the second two-parter Steven Moffat has contributed to the series after “The Empty Child”/”The Doctor Dances” in 2005. A few days before the episode aired, the BBC announced that Moffat will become Head Writer of the programme for the show’s fifth series in 2010, replacing current Head Writer Russell T Davies, who has held the role since Doctor Who returned to television in 2005.

Plot

Synopsis

The Doctor and Donna arrive in the 51st century at a planet-sized book repository simply called “The Library”, summoned by an anonymous request for help on the Doctor’s psychic paper. However, they find it completely devoid of humanoid life, and the Library’s computers even claim as such, though when the Doctor widens the search for non-humanoid life, the Library’s computers claim over “a million million lifeforms” exist. A Node, an information drone which presents a donated human face to the user to facilitate communication, warns them to count the shadows, which appear despite the lack of objects to cast them. As they try to search for answers, they meet a team of explorers, led by archaeologist River Song, who have come to ascertain the meaning of the Library’s final communication, which states “4022 saved, no survivors”. River Song seems to know the Doctor, has a diary with a cover matching the Doctor’s TARDIS, and even possesses a sonic screwdriver. She also later displays knowledge of the TARDIS’s “emergency programme one”. She only admits that she will know the Doctor in his relative future, refusing to disclose more for fear of spoilers. Professor Song also recognises Donna’s name, but avoids explaining why Donna was not present when she knew the Doctor.

The Doctor organises the team to make sure the area is well lit as he explains that they are surrounded by Vashta Nerada, microscopic carnivorous creatures that disguise themselves as shadows to hunt and latch onto their prey. He notes that they are usually nowhere near as aggressive or numerous as the ones here seem to be. Before he can fully explain, however, Miss Evangelista wanders off and is stripped to the bone in moments. The Doctor and Donna learn that the exploration team wears communication devices which link to their nervous systems for thought-based communication. As a side-effect, these devices tend to retain an imprint of the user at the moment of death, creating a short-lived “Data Ghost” of that person’s consciousness, which is capable of communicating with the living (being ‘unaware’ that it is dead) but eventually dissipates to the point where it simply repeats the last thing it said or nonsense.

Curiously, the Library’s operations seem to be tied to the imagination of a young girl; she sees the Doctor and Donna through the eyes of a security camera when they first break into the central room, the exploration team appears on her television when the Doctor attempts to hack the Library computers, and books fly from the shelves when she fiddles with the television’s remote control. The girl is under the observation of Dr. Moon, a child psychologist, at the request of her dad, but Dr. Moon insists to the girl that what she imagines in her nightmares is in fact real, while the real world is a lie. He also states that there are people in her library who need to be saved.

The team’s investigation is interrupted when a shadow of Vashta Nerada latches onto the pilot, Dave. Although the Doctor attempts to save him by sealing him inside his suit, the creatures manage to get inside, eat him alive, and then animate his suit in order to chase the other explorers. The Doctor attempts to teleport Donna back to the TARDIS while he leads the rest of the team to safety, but something goes wrong with the teleport and Donna fails to materialise properly. As the team races away from the possessed suit, the Doctor is horrified to find a Node with Donna’s face on it, which claims that Donna has left the Library and has been saved. The show ends in a cliffhanger as the Doctor is forced to leave the Node behind, but is trapped by the approaching suit on one side and the Vashta Nerada shadows on the other.

Continuity

As shown on the BBC Doctor Who website, there are a number of books in the library either written by former Doctor Who writers or featured in previous episodes. Among those seen are the operating manual for the TARDIS, Origins of the Universe (Destiny of the Daleks), The French Revolution (An Unearthly Child), the Journal of Impossible Things (”Human Nature”/”The Family of Blood”), The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy (written by Douglas Adams, former Doctor Who writer and script editor), Everest in Easy Stages (The Creature from the Pit) and Black Orchid (a book first seen in the Fifth Doctor serial of the same name).

The Doctor mentions that “emergency program one” will send Donna home should she be left alone in the TARDIS for five hours. In “The Parting of the Ways”, this program was activated by the Ninth Doctor to send Rose Tyler home.

According to Steven Moffat, the squareness gun used by Professor River Song to help the party escape from the impending Vashta Nerada is intended to be the same sonic blaster that was used by Jack Harkness in the episode “The Doctor Dances”. Moffat suggests that it was left in the TARDIS after “The Parting of the Ways”, and taken by River Song in the Doctor’s future. The name “squareness gun” was coined by Rose in the earlier episode.

The psychic paper has previously summoned the Doctor to a location in “New Earth”, where the Face of Boe called the Doctor to his supposed deathbed.

The Doctor also mentions that he loves “a little shop”, a sentiment previously expressed in the episodes “New Earth” and “Smith and Jones”.

The Doctor says, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” to Dave once he realises the Vashta Nerada have latched onto him. This has been a recurring phrase throughout the new series.

Broadcast and reception

“Silence in the Library” was scheduled against the final of ITV’s talent contest Britain’s Got Talent and suffered in the ratings as a result. BARB’s final figures recorded an audience 6.27 million when adjusted for time shifting. Britain’s Got Talent was viewed by 11.52 million in comparison. This was the first time since the series’ revival in 2005 that Doctor Who did not have the largest audience share in its timeslot.

However, the episode did receive an Appreciation Index score of 89 (considered “Excellent”), the joint highest figure the new series had received to date, alongside “The Parting of the Ways”, “Doomsday” and the following episode “Forest of the Dead”. BBC Three’s repeat of the episode was watched by 1.35 million viewers, almost double the figures for the equivalent repeat of the previous episode, “The Unicorn and the Wasp”.

This episode, along with “Forest of the Dead”, has been nominated for a Hugo Award in the Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form category.

Production

Casting

For the role of River Song, whom producer Russell T Davies describes as “sort of the Doctor’s wife”, the production sought to cast Kate Winslet. One of Winslet’s first acting roles was in the BBC teen drama Dark Season, written by Davies. The role of River Song eventually went to Alex Kingston, about whom Davies said, “I bloody love her!”

The role of Strackman Lux went to Steve Pemberton, who is best known for his work as a member of The League of Gentlemen. Pemberton’s fellow League member Mark Gatiss wrote the Doctor Who episodes “The Unquiet Dead” and “The Idiot’s Lantern”, and appeared in the episode “The Lazarus Experiment”.

Locations

Certain scenes were filmed at the Old Swansea Central Library and the Brangwyn Hall in Swansea, Wales.

Tags: 1st of part story minutes, catherine tate donna noble, david tennant tenth doctor, euros lyn, forest of the dead, helen raynor, may 2008, phil collinson, russell t daviesjulie gardner, series, steven moffat
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

A Day in the Death

Saturday, June 27th, 2009

“A Day in the Death” is the eighth episode of the second series of British science fiction television series Torchwood, which was broadcast by BBC Three on 27 February 2008. This episode is the last of three to feature Doctor Who companion, Martha Jones, and also features guest star Richard Briers.

Plot

Owen Harper narrates the opening of the episode, detailing his life and his death, which he is living through. On top of a building Owen sits with a woman, asking her if she is ready to jump.

After revealing his undead state, Owen tells the woman about the days since his death, shown as a series of flashbacks. Jack relieves Owen of his duties so he can be monitored and protected. Owen is angry when Martha Jones assumes his position, and further disheartened when he is given Ianto’s job of making coffee. He feels useless, conscious that he’s always been alone while each one of the Torchwood team has or has had someone in their life (Ianto and Jack, Gwen and Rhys, Martha and her boyfriend, Tosh and Tommy).

Martha concludes that Owen is 100% human yet will not age. The team discusses a series of energy spikes coming from the estate of a reclusive collector of alien artifacts, Henry Parker. Parker has not been seen since 1986, leading the team to wonder what he has inside his house. They devise a plan to find out the origin of the energy spikes, excluding Owen from the task.

As Owen toys with a scalpel in the autopsy room, Martha tries to reassure him that she doesn’t want his job. While talking, she realises that Owen has sliced his hand – a wound he can’t feel, which won’t heal. Owen heads home, where he begins to clear out his apartment. Tosh arrives to keep him company, and Owen zones out.

On the roof, the woman says Owen and Tosh sound like a married couple. She tells him that her husband died in a car accident on their wedding day. She asks Owen if things get better when you die, and Owen flashes back to his apartment. He asks Tosh why she is there, and becomes angry when she offers to help. After insulting Toshiko, Owen intentionally breaks his finger to show her how ‘broken’ he is, before attempting suicide. He fails to drown since he has no need for breath.

At the Hub, the team realise that heat-sensors on the Parker estate make it impossible for them to get inside. When Owen points out that he has no body heat, Jack agrees to take him on the mission.

After successfully entering the house, Owen reaches Parker, an old man linked up to many ventilators and medical machines. The man says he suffered a failed bypass and three heart attacks, but is being kept alive by a glowing object he calls “the Pulse”. Owen explains that it isn’t keeping him alive; hope is doing the job. Owen promises to help Parker face his fear of death, but Parker suffers another heart attack. Unable to draw breath himself, Owen cannot perform CPR, and Parker dies.

Tosh tells Owen that “the Pulse” will explode with nothing to prevent it. Owen holds the object, telling the team he’ll try to absorb its energy. Owen begins to say his goodbyes, praising Martha as his replacement, and apologising to Tosh. Tosh says she loves him and Owen hugs the object as it begins to glow. On the roof, the woman looks at Owen incredulously, asking what happened next. Owen mentions that life is sometimes not as bad as we think, and retrieves “the Pulse” from his backpack. They had falsely identified it, as it was actually a reply to one of humanity’s satellites, launched to make contact with alien life. The object produces a beautiful light and Owen answers the woman’s earlier question: it does get better.

In flashback, after the team says farewell to Martha, Owen promises to tell Tosh whenever he’s feeling bad, admitting he’s scared of the darkness and becoming trapped. Walking along a footpath, Owen picks up a photo of the woman on the roof, which had fallen from a building above. This is what brought him there: not to jump himself, but to save her. Owen tells her that if she cannot see anything left for her, then she should jump; but if she can see a glimmer of hope then it’s worth taking a chance. She introduces herself as Maggie; and as Owen holds her hand, they watch the light show from “the Pulse”.

Continuity

One of Henry Parker’s purchases was a Dogon Eye, an item last seen in “Random Shoes”. The official website states that he has recently purchased a Cyberman arm and chest unit.
In the opening scene, archive footage of Louise Delamere as Diane Holmes, Owen’s first series love interest, is shown. Also in the opening montage, clips from episodes such as “Everything Changes”, “Ghost Machine”, “Out of Time” and “Meat” can be glimpsed.
This is the second episode in which Owen is relieved of his duties. He was previously dismissed by Jack after he opened the rift in “End of Days”.

Outside references

Owen says that Torchwood filed Henry Parker as “Mostly Harmless,” a reference to the book by the same name by Douglas Adams, who used to write for Doctor Who. “Mostly Harmless” was the revised entry for planet Earth in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, also written by Adams. The original entry for Earth was “harmless”.
Owen criticises Ianto for liking Tintin. Owen thinks Tintin is weird, and reckons “he was shagging the dog” (his pet Snowy). Later in the episode, Owen is given a Tintin T-shirt. Doctor Who writer Steven Moffat is currently writing a screenplay for a forthcoming Tintin movie.
In reference to his reclusiveness, Parker is stated to be “a bit Howard Hughes”.
The symptoms of Owen’s death (numbness, inability to heal) have similarities to leprosy, as suffered by the protagonist of Stephen R Donaldson’s The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. The alien words spoken by Owen in the “Dead Man Walking” (melenkurion, abatha, duroc, minas, mill and khabaal) were also taken from Donaldson’s novels.

Production

Cast notes

Richard Briers previously played the Chief Caretaker in the Seventh Doctor serial Paradise Towers.

Music

The song playing in Owen’s apartment is “Atlas” by Battles.

Tags: andy goddard, february 2008, gary russell, joseph lidster, mins, richard stokeschris chibnall co producer, russell t daviesjulie gardner, series, something borrowed
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Secrets of the Stars

Friday, June 26th, 2009

Secrets of the Stars is a story of The Sarah Jane Adventures which was broadcast on CBBC on 20 and 27 October 2008. It is the third serial of the second series.

Plot

Part 1

The scene opens up on a woman, Cheryl visiting an astrologer to see her future in the stars. The man is a con artist, deceiving his customers to get money out of them, to which he finally admits this to the woman who has been visiting him frequently. He walks to the window where a shooting star is heading exactly for his house, and he is possessed by an unknown being in front of the woman. Later, Luke, Clyde and Rani are visiting an exhibition with the astrologer, Martin Trueman, as the event is free. Rani’s Parents and Sarah Jane also show up and each person fills in a card with their birthday and star signs on it and hand it to Cheryl who is now working with the astrologer. Luke is slightly upset given that he does not have a star sign as he was never born, but activated.

The show starts and Trueman begins to ask random dates and three people including Clyde stand up, as this is their birthday, although Clyde is unsure why he stood up. Sarah Jane tells him its a trick of persuasion and she is sceptical about the entire show. Next he asks for a person and begins to tell truths about her life, as the woman herself is shocked but enjoying the show. Sarah Jane then tells Luke, Clyde and Rani that the woman was a plant and that Martin Trueman already knew her. Next Martin calls on Rani, and starts detailing that she has recently moved house and gives few details about her family. Rani is slightly amazed but not suspicious. Next he calls on Sarah Jane Smith, and begins detailing her travels with the Doctor in front of the audience, no-one but Sarah Jane, Luke and Clyde (and possibly Rani) could know of these stories and Sarah Jane is instantly suspicious. Martin Trueman then predicts her downfall.

Part 2

Clyde threatens Sarah but they manage to talk him out of it, which leads Sarah Jane to believe that Trueman’s control on people can be repressed by persuading them to do something that they do not normally want to do. Meanwhile, using in his broadcast to the world, Martin Trueman takes over each star sign one by one, starting with Gemini – including Rani’s mother. The world is in confusion as people are accepting the ‘Ancient Lights’. Sarah Jane and the gang head to the New Theatre in East Acton to stop the broadcast, but the possessed Children of Gemini threaten to stop them. Clyde bluffs his way through by making up horoscopes.

The Ancient Lights create a portal through to the theatre. Martin reveals that Luke’s theory on the Ancient Lights is true. Martin insinuates that in the old universe, they used to control all lifeforms. The Ancient Lights survived the Big Bang and needed Martin Trueman to rule the world because, he was the ‘Chosen One’. Sarah Jane tries to talk him out of it but to no avail. Rani and Luke try to shut down the broadcast by flicking the mains switch off, but it is protected by the Ancient Lights’ energy. Rani is an Aries and eventually becomes possessed, leaving only people with the star-sign of Taurus, which includes Sarah Jane, not under Trueman’s control. However Luke, who was not born and so does not have a star-sign, realises he can stop the power of the Ancient Lights by breaking Trueman’s circle. Realising that he has been beaten, Trueman cannot bear to return to his former life and instead chooses to become one with the stars, disappearing in a trail of golden dust. In the aftermath, the unaware Earth authorities begin a search for Trueman, and Sarah Jane declares the date will be Luke’s equivalent to a birthday.

Continuity

“Part One” features an uncredited cameo by David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor using previously broadcast clips from “School Reunion” and “Journey’s End”.

Sarah Jane mentions that she knows “what it’s like to be taken over”. Previously, she had been possessed in Planet of the Spiders, The Masque of Mandragora and The Hand of Fear.

The idea of godlike entities from the universe before our own, deriving their powers from alien laws of physics which no longer apply, is a nod to Virgin Publishing’s Doctor Who New Adventures range, for which scriptwriter Gareth Roberts wrote three novels.

The Draconians are mentioned in “Part One”. They featured in the Doctor Who story Frontier in Space.

Clyde mentions Luke nearly bringing the moon crashing down on Earth in The Lost Boy.

Broadcast and reception

Tags: amp october 2008, and, episodes minutes each, gareth roberts, gary russell, michael kerrigan, series, the mark of the berserker
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Enemy of the Bane

Friday, June 26th, 2009

Enemy of the Bane is a two-part story from the Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures. It was broadcast on CBBC on 1 and 8 December 2008, and is the final serial of the second series.

Plot

Part 1

Gita is kidnapped from her florists late one night by Mrs Wormwood, who leaves a cheque with her name on it. In the morning, Rani calls upon Sarah Jane to help her find her mother. Upon investigating the flower shop, they discover the cheque and take it back to Mr Smith for analysis. Mr Smith’s scan reveals that the sort code and account number are fake, but are actually a code. When translated, they give an address of an abandoned warehouse. Rani and Sarah Jane find that the door is open and find Gita in a trance. Mrs Wormwood enters and remarks on Rani being taller than Maria. Mrs Wormwood tells Sarah Jane she needs her help. She says that since the Bane’s plan to take over the Earth failed, she has been exiled and is being hunted. The Bane attack, but they manage to escape.

Sarah Jane takes Mrs. Wormwood back to her house and Mr. Smith locks her in a forcefield. Mrs. Wormwood says that an ancient immortal, Horath, tried to take over the galaxy, but was defeated three thousand years previously. Unable to destroy him, Horath’s body and consciousness were separated and placed at opposite ends of the galaxy. Mrs. Wormwood says that the Bane have discovered Horath’s consciousness, and are trying to find his body, which is located on Earth. Once united, she says the Bane will be able to conquer the galaxy. The only clue to the body’s location is in the Tunguska Scroll, which is kept in UNIT’s Black Archive, a secure storehouse of alien artifacts.

Sarah Jane visits her old friend, the Brigadier, to get his help to enter the Archive. Sarah Jane and Rani obtain the Tunguska Scroll, which has information on the location of the body of Horath. UNIT personnel stop her, but she uses her sonic lipstick and escapes with Rani and the Brigadier. Meanwhile Luke talks to Mrs. Wormwood and when the Bane attack the house, he releases her from the forcefield. She is about to escape when a Bane tries to eat her. Sontaran Commander Kaagh shoots it and reveals himself to be her agent.

Part 2

Mrs Wormwood saves Luke ,trying to tell him something, then Clyde and Sarah Jane arrive. Sarah Jane, Luke, Clyde, Rani, the Brigadier and Mrs Wormwood all hide in Gita’s Flower shop so that UNIT cannot find them. Mrs Wormwood asks Sarah Jane for the Scroll but she refuses. Commander Kaagh arrives and forces Sarah Jane to give it up by threatening Luke, Clyde and Rani. With the scroll in hand, Mrs Wormwood forces Luke to go with her and Commander Kaagh. Mrs Wormwood, Kaagh and Luke arrive at a factory where Kaagh has hidden his space pod. He places the Consciousness of Horath in a scroll. Meanwhile the others go to Sarah Jane’s House to speak to Mr Smith, to try to find the whereabouts of Luke, Mrs Wormwood and Kaagh. Once they find out, they borrow Gita’s van and go after them. Mrs Wormwood, Luke and Kaagh arrive at a stone circle where they force Luke to insert the scroll. Sarah Jane arrives. Mrs Wormwood betrays Kaagh and he stops her by jumping into the portal and dragging her in with him.

Continuity

Mrs Wormwood last appeared alongside the Bane in the series one episode “Invasion of the Bane”. Commander Kaagh last appeared in the series two story The Last Sontaran. Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart last appeared in the Doctor Who serial Battlefield, although he had a brief cameo in the charity special Dimensions in Time. This is the first time that Sarah Jane and the Brigadier have met on screen since The Five Doctors, almost exactly 25 years earlier.

The Brigadier references several of his previous adventures including Day of the Daleks, The Invasion, Terror of the Autons and Terror of the Zygons. Clyde makes a reference about the events about his dad in The Mark of the Berserker.

The Brigadier refers to the recent change in public awareness of aliens (in episodes such as “The Stolen Earth”). Sarah Jane mentions that even Queen Victoria knew about aliens. This is a reference to the Doctor Who episode “Tooth and Claw”.

The Brigadier has just returned from his trip to Peru; this visit was mentioned in the Doctor Who episode “The Sontaran Stratagem” when the Doctor asked where he was.

Outside references

Mrs Wormwood introduces herself as “Wormwood, Mrs Wormwood”, a play on the line “Bond, James Bond” used in the eponymous series of films. Samantha Bond who plays Mrs Wormwood played Miss Moneypenny in the four Bond films starring Pierce Brosnan.

Tags: amp december 2008, and, episodes minutes each, from raxacoricofallapatorius with love mini episode, gary russell, graeme harper, phil ford, series
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith

Thursday, June 25th, 2009

The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith is a story of The Sarah Jane Adventures which was broadcast on CBBC on 17 and 24 November 2008. It is the fifth serial of the second series.

Plot

Part 1

A child, Oscar, from the 1950s walks into a time fissure and is transported to the current year. Unbeknown to Sarah Jane, who takes him back, he did it deliberately under the command of the Trickster. Having spotted a milestone, she later asks Mr Smith about the village she could see in the distance, discovering it was Foxgrove, the village where she was born. When Luke inquires about her odd behaviour, she shows him a photograph of her parents and tells him of how they abandoned her as a baby by the side of the road before being killed in a car accident, leaving her to be looked after by her aunt.

Though realising that the time fissure was a trap and initially refusing herself the opportunity to go back and meet her parents, that evening she does so, but accompanied by Luke who had anticipated her actions. Rani and Clyde ask Mr Smith where they have gone, and realise that she has gone back to when her parents were alive. Then the box from the episode Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?, the box that Maria had lights up. Sarah Jane and Luke spot her mother at the village fete carrying Sarah Jane as a baby. When they shake hands with Sarah’s father, they introduce themselves as David and Victoria Beckham. Luke spots the child they ‘helped’ earlier and follows him. Sarah Jane has a conversation with her mother, who reveals her plan is for Sarah Jane to have siblings. Sarah Jane leaves before she is forced to hold herself in baby form, which would have created a paradox. On seeing a newspaper, Sarah Jane realizes that the day she has visited is the day her parents died. She ignores Luke’s warning that changing time was a trap, and sabotages her father’s car thereby preventing the accident. The child, Oscar, reveals that he is in fact a Graske. Sarah Jane and Luke go through the time fissure again and discover that present-day London has been destroyed. The Trickster then appears before Sarah Jane and mockingly thanks her for all she has done for him.

Part 2

Sarah Jane demands to know how saving her parents could have altered time so drastically, to which the Trickster explains the village was built on a fault in time. Sarah Jane’s tampering with a fixed point in time opened this fault, allowing the Trickster to physically enter their reality and ravage Earth for the last half century. Sarah Jane and Luke go back through the fissure as the Trickster gloats he has already won.

Meanwhile, Clyde and Rani explore the ruined London, reduced to rock formations and worked by the last surviving human slaves who are led by the Trickster’s Graske. The slaves are being made to mine resources so that the Trickster may create a ship and extend his reach to the rest of the universe. Clyde and Rani implore the Graske to help them restore the original timeline but he explains that if he did the Trickster would punish him; years ago the Graske had nearly died in space, but had been saved by the Trickster in return for eternal servitude. Clyde promises the Graske that if he helps them, they will give him the puzzle box to free him from the Trickster. The Graske agrees and reopens the fissure so that Rani can tell Sarah Jane the new information.

In the past, Sarah Jane’s parents come to realise who she is and what she was trying to prevent. However, their touch now instantly withers any organic life they hold and they realise it is their destiny to drive off this day. After telling their daughter how proud they are of her, they both enter the new repaired car and drive off. The Trickster begins to fade, unable to see how the timeline could have been restored. Sarah Jane proudly states that the Trickster’s plan never considered that her parents would willingly sacrifice themselves to save the world. The Trickster vanishes, howling in pain.

Back in the modern day, the timeline is restored around the Graske and Clyde, who gives the alien the box. The Graske teleports away, beaming over its newly returned freedom. The fissure reopens as Sarah Jane, Luke and Rani return.

Later at home, Sarah Jane reminisces over her parents. Although she could not save them, she finally knows why they left and is incredibly proud of them. Mysteriously, the camera pans to an old piece of paper reading “Mr Smith, I Need You” on Sarah Jane’s desk.

Continuity

The Trickster is a returning villain. He previously targeted Sarah Jane in series one’s Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? and following this, the Doctor via Donna Noble in the Doctor Who episode Turn Left. Flashbacks to the events of Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? are shown and Yasmin Paige makes an uncredited appearance in these as Maria Jackson.

Sarah Jane refers to how many innocent people have accidentally been abducted by random time fissures and rifts. This situation was previously explored in the Torchwood episodes “Out of Time” and “Adrift”. When recounting all the people she has saved, she mentions the events of the Doctor Who serial The Monster of Peladon and the series one premiere “Invasion of the Bane”. Clyde also recounts various adventures he has had, including Revenge of the Slitheen, The Lost Boy, The Last Sontaran and Warriors of Kudlak.

The TARDIS is mentioned for the first time by name on the show. In part 2, Sarah Jane encounters a genuine police box and briefly mistakes it for the Doctor’s TARDIS. During this sequence the Doctor’s Theme was also played. Sarah Jane is aware of the paradox effects that may occur if she held herself as a baby. This was further explored in the Doctor Who stories Mawdryn Undead and “Father’s Day”.

Sarah Jane mentions having been brought up by her Aunt Lavinia, who appears in K-9 and Company. The description she gives of Lavinia, “never in one place long enough to lick a stamp”, is the same description that Lavinia gave of Sarah Jane herself.

Tags: amp november 2008, and, enemy of the bane, episodes minutes each, gareth roberts, gary russell, graeme harper, series
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »