Turn Left

A little later than planned, here’s the Doctor Who review! So on Saturday night, it was the now-annual Doctor-light episode, this time spotlighting Donna (hoo-ray…) along a parallel universe. Well, mostly Donna, anyway.

While I appreciate the intention, the last thing I wanted to see was Donna Noble circa The Runaway Bride. Yes, it showed us how far she’s come (and she is a lot better than she was then), but if I never hear that shout again it will be too soon. Luckily, Tate did a pretty damn good job with the rest of the episode, despite Bernard Cribbins nearly stealing the show as cuddly old Wilf.

Of course, there was only one woman I was looking out for – Billie Piper! Woohoo. Can’t help wondering why she was talking a bit funny, though – I hope that’s some weird universe-hopping side effect and will go away next week – but she radiated awesomeness as Rose throughout, despite us learning absolutely nothing about what the heck’s happening to her (“all the universes are being pulled together” isn’t as expositionary a piece of dialogue as it thinks it is). Looking forward to seeing more of her next week.

I do have to wonder if they couldn’t have done the back-bug (as it will surely become known) in a slightly more convincing fashion. I’ve been impressed with a lot of the monster work in this series but the obviously plastic creature was one of the worst I’ve seen and really undermined the danger of the situation. Budget-saving for the finale? Probably.

I loved all the little nods to other episodes and the spin-offs, of which more in the finale – brilliant news. According to those evil media types who got to see the episode already, the entire of episode 12 (titled “The Stolen Earth”) is a massive ’squee’ moment. I cannot wait. I cannot wait at all.

Talk is Cheap

After a clash with the football last night I was able to watch Doctor Who this afternoon, and – wow. I wasn’t expecting much from Midnight, mainly because of the clever way that the producers disguised the episode as a fun romp in the vein of Voyage of the Damned – last week’s trailer showed us none of the chilling tension that we saw throughout the full episode. All of my attention had been on the next three episodes anyway. Yet still – wow.

Midnight turned out to be the scariest episode of the series so far, easily surpassing the creepy Silence in the Library, and though it was a different type of fright than Blink, I think it was right up there with my much-trumpeted favourite ever episode for the scare factor. Lesley Sharp was mesmerising as the woman possessed by the voice-stealing monster without a name. As commented on by the (pretty good) supporting cast, her eyes were what really did it. I was expecting some hideous face contortion when she turned around to face us after that build-up, but the simple reveal of the same face but different aura was excellent.

The best bit was how scary we humans were made to look. The mob mentality kicked in subtly, and though as a viewer you knew the Doctor was right, you empathised totally with the passengers and genuinely feared for his life. It was sickening, but utterly compelling.

And I have to say, while she’s been getting a bit better recently – wasn’t it lovely to have an episode almost entirely sans Donna? I didn’t notice until she came back at the end just how much I really wasn’t missing her in the slightest. Luckily for me, next week’s ep is the Doctor-light one with much more of her, but it doesn’t matter, because ROSE IS BACK! YES!

I’m excited.