Sunday, January 07, 2007

Doctor Who Season Two Review



I've just finished watching part of my Christmas present - the DVD boxset of Doctor Who Season 2 (OK, I confess, I've still got the "Doctor Who Confidential" and David Tennant's video diaries to watch - and boy, am I looking forward to the latter ?!), which was David Tennant's first season in the role of the Doctor.

I had watched the series before after my brother kindly taped it for me (I don't have access to broadcast television), but watching it all over again was my post-Cybils treat - and what a treat. The only real stinker of an episode was "Love and Monsters", which was just utterly silly and not worth watching in full a second time (I fast-forwarded through most of it - stopping just to watch the Doctor and Rose).

My favourite episodes are "The Girl in the Fireplace", in which the Doctor meets Madame de Pompadour - and saves her life (and gets giddy with excitement when she kisses him (lucky woman !)) when some clockwork robots want to capture her; "School Reunion", in which the Doctor meets up with Sarah Jane Smith, who was the Doctor's assistant during his third reincarnation (played by Jon Pertwee) and his fourth reincarnation (played by Tom Baker), and they fight a character played by Anthony Steward Head (two lovely men in one episode !); and "The Idiot's Lantern", which features Maureen Lipman in quite possibly her scariest role ever !

Some viewers have criticised Tennant's portrayal of the Doctor as too wacky, but I think a 900+ year old time-travelling alien would be a bit wacky ! And after the very serious (mostly) Ninth Doctor (played by Christopher Ecclestone), a mostly cheerful Tenth Doctor made a nice change.

6 comments:

Liz B said...

I am really enjoying the current Doctor Who; and I'm only half way thru the season. Glad to find another fan!

And it has definately got me wondering, how DVD sets really change things for viewer.

Michele said...

Oh excellent ! That's something else we have in common then (besides Buffy and Firefly)...

What I like best about watching shows on DVD is the subtitles. Not that I'm deaf - but because quite often the background music can drown out the dialogue...

Camille said...

I have been a sporadic Dr. Who viewer for decades. It shows here unevenly on PBS and other places but NOW my wonderful BBCAmerica is showing this season and I am hooked.

I love David Tennant I think he is really perfect as the Doctor. I had not heard of him (or so I thought) until I stayed up to watch Casanova one night. Then I looked him up and thought "Hello, Barty Crouch Junior" You knew the face was familiar, Camille. He was also in a Foyle's War. How I love IMDB.

Michele said...

Oh yes, he's a very talented actor (and yes, I've totally got a crush on him !)...

I did see Doctor Who when I was younger, but I was never a huge fan. Now though, I'm a definite convert - and hoping to catch up on some of the earlier seasons during this year... (Yay for library DVD collections !)

Anonymous said...

My girls are enjoying this, too. Isn't Madame Pompadour now David Tennant's girlfriend as a result of this episode? Cathy and Jenny like that one too. Cathy rented "Tristan and Isolde" recently, with M de P as Isolde. And in one of those weird "6 degree of separation" events, Jenny is currently obsessed with some ghastly thing called "High School Musical", so she actually rented the non-puppet version of "Thunderbirds" as part of our monthly Amazon quota as the same girl was in it. And who cropped up as Lady Penelope? You guessed it, Madame de P!

Michele said...

That's Sophie Myles, and yes, last I heard, he was dating her for real - I'm not so obsessed with his personal life (unlike some acquaintances) that I've been checking to see if that remains true...