For some reason, I found this to be one of the best Doctor Who episodes of the season, and possibly of the entire 'modern' run. I think it's the original style of the episode. And David Tennant is just very good, and it's nice to see him play a slightly different role from the usual Doctor. And also.. the aliens are of the classic UFO-with-searchlight variety, and those shots of the 'Family' looking right into the camera with their weird sniffing.. seemed like classic 1950s scifi.
Story-wise.. the weirdest thing was probably the biology chameleon helmet thingy, that apparently can rewrite an individual to any species you want... and stores a backup inside a convenient early 20th century human timepiece.
Another interesting bit.. that boy Tim. He is something special, but still left quite mysterious in this first part. The whispers he hears when he opens the timepiece (hmm.. for a Time Lord.. seems to fit, actually). They mention the ominous 'coming of the darkness' again.
Well, great set-up for a mystery. Here's hoping the followup episode can do it justice.
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I really, really enjoyed this episode for many of the reasons you mentioned. It was different, and yet it also harked back to old fashioned alien invasion stories. My only concern is whether Tim is naturally gifted, or if the Doctor's presence has effected him. It'll be annoyingly convenient if it's a coincidence that a human with powers is involved.
posted
I loved the episode. I thought it was the best of the season (to date).
My step-son hated it. Thought it was the worst episode over. But he's 14 and more interested in FX and creature of the week stories.
We've seen hints and flirtations with the Doctor falling in love with his companions since the new series started (or revived) two years ago. Were there any earlier companions the Doctor may have had some romantic involvement with (well, besides the TV movie from the late 90s.)
Of course the Doctor, even as John Smith, didn't fire the gun. He can't bloody his hands in such a fashion. Hasn't the Doctor been responsible for deaths before though? It seems his methods are more the grandiose, large scale type.
But I'm willing to admit I'm not near as savvy about the Doctor as I am Star Trek. I'm a Yank, though, so go figure.
Yes, great episode. I wish more of them were like this one. Wonderful story.
Harry Lloyd was waayyyyy freaky.
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
For those not in the know, this episode is a televised version of an early 'Doctor Who' novel of the same name (and from the same writer). In the novel, though, it was Sylvester McCoy's Seventh Doctor, not the Tenth. There is also another episode coming this season called 'Blink' that is an extensive adaptation of a Doctor Who Annual short story. Back in the first season of this New Who, 'Dalek' was also a re-working of a novel called 'Jubilee'.
For me, the best part of this episode was the fleeting appearance of all nine past Doctors. A huge nod to the fans.
The story was pretty good, too
-------------------- 'Whether you think you can, or whether you think you can't, you are probably right.' - Henry Ford
Registered: Apr 2004
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posted
It's in the Journal of Impossible Things. Which, by the way, is going to be an actual book published this year or next.
The Doctor has wielded, and even fired a gun on several occasions, notably as the (arguably most violent) Sixth Doctor. That particular incarnation had no hesitation in using a cyber gun to kill a cyberleader, a machine pistol on a Dalek, and even cyanide in a hankerchief on an Androgum out to eat him! In each case the Doctor was fighting defensively, but if any Doctor would show up in a John Woo film blazing away with a gun in each hand, it's the Sixth. Still, most of the Doctors are responsible for the destruction of hundreds, if not billions of aliens, monsters and the occasional human. Not so many up close, though.
And love - prior to the Eighth Doctor, love an sexuality have been strictly taboo on the show. If there were any hints of a more-than-platonic relationship or attraction with any of his companions, it tended to be at the very end just AS they were leaving. The Third Doctor was visibly shaken when Jo left, and the Fourth was on the verge of tears when Sarah left IMO. Thing is, the Doctor is at his core a very lonely person. I was thinking that in his later incarnations he'd place his companions automatically on a superficial front as a result, but Rose seemed not satisfied on that perch.
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I REMEMBER that now!!! Colin Baker's Dr. even referred to the gun as a phaser. I can't remember the episode title or what it was about, but it was during the Trial of a Time Lord arc, the Doctor had landed on a ship traveling through space. I can still see the image of the Doctor holding the phaser at the camera and a woman standing next to him...
When Jo and Sarah left I never took the misty-eyed sentiment to be romantic love. I'll have to see those again sometime.
Registered: Feb 2004
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As for violent Doctors, let's not forget one particularly discussed (well, within Whovian circles at the time) scene in 'Earthshock' when the Fifth Doctor brutally killed the Cyber Leader using Adric's golden star. And then shot him. Several times
-------------------- 'Whether you think you can, or whether you think you can't, you are probably right.' - Henry Ford
Registered: Apr 2004
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posted
I forgot about that - it was mostly the gold star, and the subsequent death of Adric, that most of my circle was lamenting/cheering at the time.
I think the first time the Doctor ever used a gun to kill anyone was when the Third Doctor, the first of the physically "adventurous" Doctors, used an Orgon's gun to disintegrate him.
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