|
 The anticipation is over; at last, Episode One of Series Two has aired. So what did we think of it? Well, the deluge of footage which followed the Press Launch on March 28th, was all shown in the first 10 minutes of the episode, making the viewer excited at the prospect of what could happen over the further 35 minutes that followed. There is something so exhilarating about seeing something you know very little about. Just think about the number of times we have gone
to see a movie, where we know what happens, because of a friend or a magazine article. The gems of Doctor Who, have been kept a closely guarded secret, with mere flashes of the jewels within, waved before our eyes.
It is a wonder how, in this day and age, a production team, can keep such a big project as Doctor Who is, under wraps, but then again, this isn’t any old production team…
Last year we saw a northern Doctor, a cockney side-kick, a whole medley of new monsters, as well as the return of a few old ones. We saw drama, as it has never been shown before in Doctor Who. Perhaps, the greatest of all, was the truth that the new series had. Through all the acting and production, the stories were rooted with an underlying truth and believability, which really
helped to set up our personal belief in Series Two.
The adventure starts with the “new new Doctor” entering the TARDIS and tinkering about with the console. We then cut to see Rose saying goodbye to her mother, and loyal on/off boyfriend Mickey – a nice touch, which roots the show with further believability. Rose enters the TARDIS, and asks where they are going, to which the Doctor replies “Further than we’ve ever gone before” –
a nice echo of Episode Two of Season One, where the 9th Doctor says the same thing to Rose.
The titles roll, and the words “David Tennant” fill the screen in big text, almost as if it had always been there. The episode proper, starts with The Doctor and Rose emerging from The TARDIS onto a seaside cliff-scape. We are told it is the year 5,000,000,023, and that they are on New Earth. A futuristic city lies beyond the sea in front of them, as cars fly over their heads. Apple
grass lies beneath there feet (another nice touch that adds to the believability of this alien world). There is a touching line from Rose when she says “Oh I love this… Can I just say… Travelling with you… I love it!”. You really get a feeling that The Doctor is back and that Rose is over the whole regeneration thing.
Unbeknownst to them, The Doctor and Rose are being watched… We cut to “Chip” a humanoid figure with strange henna-type markings, peering though a crystal ball. He states that Rose is a “pureblood human”. We then see one of the Spider robots from “The End of the World” tracking them. We hear the familiar tones of Cassandra as she recognises Rose. The scene cuts back to the Doctor
and Rose, where The Doctor suggests going to the local hospital, after picking up a message on his psychic paper that reads: “Ward 26. Please Come.”.
They walk through the doors of the hospital, which truly looks like it belongs in the year 5,000,000,023. There is a subtle dig at the NHS from Rose, which was quite funny, and yet totally true. Little touches like help us to buy the story, by reminding the viewer that we are not on Earth anymore. This is only further helped by the appearance of Cat Nuns, which happen to have some
of the best make up and prosthetics in Doctor Who history.
The Doctor then enters a lift and asks it to take him to Ward 26, the doors close behind him, leaving Rose to catch the next one. A hilarious scene follows, in which they both get drenched by the lifts in-built disinfection system. The Doctor clearly enjoys this process, unlike Rose, who is genuinely shocked by the whole process. Rose’s lift has been over-ridden by Chip, who instead
of sending her up with the Doctor, has sent her down. Rose is then lured into Cassandra’s domain in the depths of the hospital.
Meanwhile The Doctor is led into the room where The Face of Boe is sleeping. He is informed that Boe is dying. We cut back to Rose who is welcomed into Cassandra’s domain, by a video-reel of footage from the time before Cassandra transformed into the “Bitchy Trampoline”. Rose suddenly realises that it is Cassandra and is understandably wary. Cassandra informs Rose that it was here
that someone said she was beautiful for the last time. We then learn how Cassandra survived after her explosion in “The End of the World”. Without giving it a way, lets just say it has a very simple and yet clever explanation.
Rose then springs the trap that Cassandra has placed for her, and Cassandra takes over Rose’s body, and on realization exclaims the utterly memorable line: “Oh my God! I’m a Chav!” – A line which would never have appeared in Hartnell’s time as The Doctor.
We cut back to The Doctor being informed about a prophecy of a “great secret” that will be imparted on The Face of Boe’s dying breath, to a wanderer like himself. Again we cut back to Rose or rather Cassandra admiring her new human frame, to comic effect. Cassandra can access Rose’s surface memory and realises The Doctor has a new face – calling him a hypocrite as she walks off
exclaiming that she must get the name of his surgeon. The Doctor rings Rose’s mobile. Cassandra (in Rose’s body) asks chip how Rose would speak, to which he replies cockney. Rose then talks in cockney rhyming slang to The Doctor, which, in turn, has some of the funniest lines of the whole adventure.
We cut back to The Doctor and are introduced to the character of Matron Casp (one of the Cat Nuns). She is ushered off by another Cat Nun who informs her that one of the patients is conscious, to which she replies “we can’t have that”. It is at this point, we start to realise that something sinister is at work within the hospital. Later we see the two cats incinerating one of the
conscious patients in the eerie green chambers.
The Doctor and the possessed Rose are now reunited, and he instantly picks up on her accent… and then…. The Kiss! Yes, THAT kiss that has graced the pages of many a TV magazine. To be honest, it wasn’t as we all thought. It’s not the Doctor and Rose kissing, but Cassandra, exercising her new body. It was followed by an out of character remark by The Doctor, where he says “Still
got it”… As far as I was aware, he never had it? Funnily enough, this was the only niggle I had about the whole adventure, but it was a niggle all the same.
They then enter “intensive care” (which at first looks surprisingly like the power station used in “Episode One: Rose” of Series One.). Then we see the eerie green chambers, which look a bit like the Cybermen Tombs from “Tomb of the Cybermen”. I don’t know if these were deliberate winks to the past, but they certainly reminded me of those two stories.
The special effects of The Mill, can be seen in the wide shot of all the chambers, which really look quite stunning. It is in these chambers that The Doctor discovers that there are humans deliberately infected with every disease known to man – lab rats. This is closely followed by an exchange with one of the Cat Nuns, to which The Doctor, shows a touch of the anger we last saw
in “Episode Six: Dalek” of Series One. He insists that whatever they have done to Rose, had better be reversed, to which the nun denies any involvement. After being caught out Cassandra reveals to The Doctor that she has taken over Rose’s body. She then sprays the Doctor with her “perfume” and he passes out.
The Doctor awakens in one of the green chambers, with Cassandra (as Rose) antagonising him with the ways she has thought of killing him. She tells him, that he has approximately three minutes before his chamber is pumped full of every disease known to man.
She is then interrupted by the Cat Nuns, whom she tries to bribe into giving her money. After a failed attempt she resorts to “plan B” which involves opening all the green chambers, which in turn releases the zombie-esque, disease-ridden humans. The Doctor is released as the doors open, and what follows, quickly becomes a game of escape the zombies.
One might be excused for thinking it might not work, but it does. Sure, some of them have the typical “arms out” pose, but this is explained as they merely want to have contact with humans. Beneath the surrealism, lies an ironic, but yet sensical reality that draws the audience in further.
We see one of the disease-ridden humans touch the Cat Nun, who instantly gets infected with a Mill-doused sprinkling of CGI-effects. We see Chip trying to escape the zombified humans, as he comically slides down a waste chute, and ends up locking himself in one of the empty green chambers.
The Doctor and Cassandra (as Rose) find a room where they can briefly talk, and The Doctor orders Cassandra to leave Roses body, to which she then enters The Doctor’s with predictable, but yet hilarious results. This happens back and forth a few times, but isn’t overused, and certainly doesn’t tire.
At one point Cassandra possesses one of the diseased humans, and for the first time, (when she re-enters Rose’s body) we see some humanity from her character. They then get back to Ward 26, where the Doctor assumes an authoritarian position, and truly becomes the hero that I personally think was missing a little from Series One. What I mean by this, is that it was usually Rose,
or someone else solving most of the situations in Series One. For example: Episode One – Rose saves the day by using her gymnastic skills to kick the auton carrying the anti-plastic into the nestene consciousness. Episode Two – Jabe gives her life to enable The Doctor to activate the switch. Episode Three – Gwyneth gives her life to defeat the Gelth. Episode 5 – Mickey activated the missile. Episode 6 – Rose liaises with the Dalek to stop killing people. E.t.c. So as you can see, it’s nice to see The Doctor who
we all know and love, do what he is best at – saving the day. He does this by strapping rope to himself and attaching all the intravenous solutions for all the diseases. We then see a wonderful action scene where The Doctor and Cassandra (as Rose) slide down the lift shaft to the bottom. It is here that The Doctor adds the solutions to the lifts disinfectant pool. He bravely encourages the diseased humans (waiting below) to enter the lift, where they are sprayed with the cure. The Doctor then encourages them
to spread the cure by passing it on, in a tag like fashion.
David Tennant’s Doctor then gives a brief speech about these new sub humans that he has saved, in a very Tom Baker-esque fashion, which was very pleasing to watch. We then cut to the NNYPD (New New York Police Department) arresting the remaining Cat Nuns.
The Doctor then realises he has forgotten about The Face of Boe, and runs to him. There then follows a rewarding scene, that also has traces of Doctor Who past, where Boe, telepathically informs The Doctor that he will meet him for the third and final time and tell him his great secret. Boe then teleports, and is gone. And just like The Doctor says – it is enigmatic.
Chip reveals himself to be alive and well (for the time-being). The Doctor insists that Cassandra now leave Rose’s body. She sees her chance and enters Chip’s body. You could tell that the actor playing Chip really enjoyed playing the Cassandra-ized version of himself. But alas we soon learn that Chip is dying… It’s actually quite a touching scene, with some particularly good acting
from the actor playing Chip.
The Doctor says there is one last thing he can do. He then takes Cassandra (as Chip), back to the time that we saw her in the video footage, as her human form. He tells Chip to “go, and don’t look back”. This has to be my favourite scene in the whole story, as Russell T. Davies’ genius shines through in spades. It turns out that Chip was the one who told Cassandra that she was beautiful
for the last time, and it is here that he (and the Cassandra from the future) dies in Cassandra’s arms. I like to think that maybe it changed Cassandra for the better... Maybe it did?
Overall it was a great story. Not the strongest to begin a brand new season with, but it was new new Doctor Who! “New Earth”, definitely feels like a continuation of “The End of the World”. The writing
is very indicative of the latter, and there is a feeling of familiarity with the setting.
A tremendous job by all those involved. Although incomparable to classics such as Genesis of the Daleks, it firmly has its place in modern who, and I feel that this isn’t the last we’ve seen of the year 5 billion…
Rating: 
» Review
by Sebastian J. Brook
,
Copyright 2006.
|
Cassandra (as Rose to Chip): “Oh my God, I’m a chav”.
Well it took me two screenings of the first episode to be able to write down
how I felt. My anticipation was so high that I was a nervous wreck watching
it. I watched it - thought it was OK - looked at the reviews later that
night and was not surprised by the mixed reaction. I think everyone's expectation was very high. 
From the opening scenes with Rose entering the TARDIS, you know that this Doctor
is back to the days of old. Gone is the nasty streak. Instead you have
someone very similar to the Second Doctor and Fourth Doctor with a Touch of the Fifth Doctor.
Rose also appears to like this one a lot more. I think she has a bit of a
crush on him.
)
