Doctor Who: Season Thirty

Regular Cast:
David Tennant (The Doctor)
Catherine Tate (Donna Noble)

Semi-Regular Cast:
Billie Piper (Rose Tyler)
Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones)




Episode 30.2 - “The Fires of Pompeii”
Written by James Moran
****

The Doctor's promise of a visit to ancient Rome goes awry when the TARDIS lands in Pompeii – and worse still, it's volcano day! Donna is horrified when the Doctor refuses to avert the catastrophe, advising her of the rules surrounding fixed points in time, but the pair are soon forced to intervene when they discover evidence that Vesuvius' eruption may be extraterrestrial in origin...

Review
If, like most of the British public, you were horrified when it was announced that Donna Noble would be returning to our screens, prepare to be amazed; this week Catherine Tate finally shows the acting talent that the industry has claimed of her all along. Picking up the emotional thread that was left dangling at the end of “The Runaway Bride”, Tate slips effortlessly into the role of the Doctor's conscience, reminding him of his (for want of a better word) humanity and pulling him back from the brink whenever darkness encroaches. This proves for an interesting dynamic, and it will be interesting to see how it develops.

Thankfully, the rest of the episode is equally polished. The script, by recent TORCHWOOD alumnus (and writer of Brit-horror hit SEVERANCE) James Moran, reminds of a time when DOCTOR WHO was largely historical in its storytelling, presenting the viewer with an image of Roman life which allegories wonderfully with modern London. Whilst the inclusion of an alien threat behind the eruption of Vesuvius is, perhaps, a touch predictable, Moran makes up for it by putting a very human face on the disaster; the final scenes depicting the destruction of Pompeii are particularly harrowing as a result.

This is the kind of story that New Who needs to tell more often – danger, excitement, adventure and emotion, all flavoured with a touch of historical fact. If this is what Moran is going to deliver every time he enters the Whoniverse he's welcome to stay as long as he likes.



Episode 30.1 - “Partners in Crime”
Written by Russell T Davies
**

The Doctor is reunited with Donna Noble whilst investigating Adipose, a pharmaceutical company promising a miraculous diet pill. Naturally nothing is as it seems, and soon the pair are fighting to save the lives of millions of people...

Review
If you're one of those people who feels that there's far too much bile sloshing around the internet, please allow me to save you the trouble of reading the rest of this review; this is possibly the worst season opener that DOCTOR WHO has ever seen. For the rest of you, however, some qualification...

It may surprise you to learn that Catherine Tate is not the worst thing about “Partners in Crime” -- and no, that's not damning praise. Tate, in fact, does a fair job, only descending into her original shouty, stroppy “POKKITS” self once or twice during the episode's run. In fact, Donna provides two of the episode's best scenes; staring listlessly into space whislt her mother bustles around her, endlessly nagging, illustrates perfectly how it must feel to be left behind in a mundane life after adventuring with the Doctor, whilst the scene with her grandfather at the top of the hill is a beautifully quiet, subdued moment. No, the problem here is the plot.

Certainly it's easy to see what Davies was trying to achieve – supposed alien invasion actually turns out to be quite benign in nature – but in order to pull this off there needs to be a sense of menace, and frankly having overweight people shed unwanted pounds by painlessly giving birth to dozens of cute little CG Pokemon just doesn't cut the mustard. You end up watching them out of the corner of your eye, expecting them to suddenly mutate, GALAXY QUEST-style, into big scary things with razor-sharp fangs, so it's exceptionally disappointing (not to mention distinctly un-Who like) when they don't. In fact there's only one scene that even comes close to scary, in which one unfortunate fat fighter gets transformed into dozens of the little buggers, and even that comes across as more comical than everything else.

So once again Davies stumbles at the first hurdle. It's clear from interviews and from the humongous popularity of the show since its return hat he doesn't feel he has anything to prove, but if he wants to sell Donna's return to the masses he needs to make a better effort than this. Disappointing.




Matt Dillon