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Doctor Who Series 4 (Part 4)

Filed in: Doctor Who.

Trailing on from Doctor Who Series 4 (Part 3), this time we get two Russell T. Davies (OBE) episodes. Marvellous!


Midnight (AKA the spare one)

Unlike the previous two-parter, which was a brilliant script marred by (only a few) lapses in the actual production, this is a brilliant script with a quite smashing execution. Of course, it doesn't try to do anything too ambitious effectswise, so the most we get are a couple of shots of the planet exterior, with the main focus being on the occupants of one fairly small room. Midnight is, IMHO, Russell T Davies' best script so far for the show. It's dramatic and tense, well written, and doesn't bother with unnecessary explanations (in fact it explains very little beyond the experiences of the characters). [10/10]

I have no battle of the seasons category for this episode, so on we go!


Turn Left (Obligatory episode David Tennant didn't have time to do)

Despite not being the most original of stories, and having a plot resolution nicked from Father's Day and Last of the Time Lords, this is another really good episode. If Russell T. can keep this up until the end of the season, I'll be a lot less apprehensive of next year's specials.

On the face of it, this episode is about how special Donna is, but really that's only really relevant to The Runaway Bride bit, and the episode ends up being about the fact that without the Doctor, the Earth is basically screwed. We suck so bad. Though as Jamas points out, there's no reason given for how we survived the stories set in the past. [8/10]

P.S. The street shown in the Adipose clip looked suspiciously non-American, didn't it?

Battle of the Seasons: (Best use of David Tennant in a minor role)
Blink
Turn Left
The One In Series Two We Don't Talk About

Series 1 gets no points, since Chris Eccleston turned up for all his episodes (no Christmas special to film)


So, in Turn Left, Donna retcons the last two seasons of the show. The Earth-based episodes can therefore fall into three categories:

  1. Directly addressed in the episode: The Runaway Bride, Smith and Jones, Voyage of the Damned, Partners in Crime, The Sontaran Strategem
  2. Didn't happen because the Doctor caused them: The Lazarus Experiment, Human Nature, Blink, Series 3 finale
  3. Not addressed in the episode: The Shakespeare Code, Daleks in Manhattan, Fires of Pompeii, The Unicorn and the Wasp

So plenty of room for fan theories there! My own theories:

  • The Shakespeare Code: Shakespeare fell asleep on his script and his drool obscured the text.
  • Daleks in Manhattan: Once they saw how Sec turned out, the other Daleks self-destructed in shame. Sec later joined a travelling carnival.
  • Fires of Pompeii: The volcano blew up anyway. Nature is so unpredictable.

Next time: Everyone and their dog (possibly).

Previously: Doctor Who Series 4 (Part 1), Doctor Who Series 4 (Part 2), Doctor Who Series 4 (Part 3)
Next: Doctor Who Series 4 (Part 5)

Posted June 24, 2008 7:35 PM

Comments

you forgot the dancing hamsters! *hug*

Posted by: Kiri | July 9, 2008 4:53 AM

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