Fazzinchi

Hello, Dave

Mmmm… the bottom half of a Dalek with a top half being mostly hidden in the shadows, trundles towards us: what can it be? The only-just-aired “rest of season” trailer, designed in part to appease to appease the Ming Mongs when the show has its mid-season, Eurovision week off and half to remind Joe Public to tune in at 7pm next week, featured the return of everyone’s favourite mad scientist, Dave Ross (as he so hilariously (more…)

The Eyes Have It

Steven Moffatt has written a story in each of the two series of the Doctor Who so far (this two parter, The Empty Child/ The Doctor Dances, and The Girl In The Fireplace in series two) and while Paul Cornell got a Hugo nomination for Father’s Day, Stephen went on to win the gong for this double bill. However, it is not just anonymous award’s committee that say this is good, in any survey of stroies you care to read you can guarantee that these stories will always do well. Take for (more…)

Doctor Who Retrospective #7 of 10 “Father’s Day”

Wow, just realised that I wanted to finish this retrospective series of reviews before Series Three debuts and suddenly the day is here and I still have the final four reviews left to do. Ah well, I may save the remainder for another time (or even squeeze ‘em in via a blitz of watching and reviewing today… we’ll see how the Other Viewer feels about that). Father’s Day was the eighth episode of the first series and it introduced an extremely significant character into Rose’s life, her father, (more…)

Doctor Who Retrospective #2 of 10 “The End Of The World”

So, the revitalised Doctor Who was back on our screens and those viewing figures proved that it was back with a bang. No longer a cumbersome millstone around the neck of Michael Grade as it was in the 80’s but an invigorated, modern show, with great lead actors, high production standards and a sense of fun and adventure that was hard to find anywhere else in the schedules. While the previews had been cautiously optimistic the critical response was astonishing, with barely a (more…)

Christmas Review #12 of 12

Who’d have guessed that my 12th and final Christmas review would have been the Doctor Who, Christmas day extravaganza, “The Runaway Bride“? And it’s the twelfth day after Christmas too, genius eh?! After just two installments of a Christmas Day DW special and following the success of “The Christmas Invasion” in 2005, it would now seem that the good Doctor is becoming a fixture in the BBC1 schedules. It comes with plenty of extras too: last year we were treated to an (more…)

“Get back, get back, get back to where you once came from”

And so, Billie Piper’s 27-episode run as Rose has come to an end: trapped in a parallel universe with her family but with no chance of escape. The “Army of Ghosts” and “Doomsday” double-part series finale lived up to the expectations of a demanding audience, not only did we get to see the inseperable duo seperated but we got a Dalek/Cybermen war thrown in for good measure. I say “war”, more of a “battle”. I say “battle”, more of a “brief encounter”. There was a lot crammed into these two 45-minute segments and so many memorable moments, all of which were built in to the script to lead us in to that ending. Rose going head-to-head with the Cult of Skaro, Pete and Jackie being re-united, and the Daleks and the Cybermen in a war of words were all sequences that will stay with the viewer for quite some time. None of them however can hold a candle to the last 10 minutes.

In a brilliantly crafted scene, the Doctor and Rose were on either side of the corridor in front of the breach into the Void, holding on for dear life as all beings contaminated with “void stuff”, themselves included, were being dragged relentlessly back into the Hell. It all went wrong as Rose’s lever slipped, she risked everything to save the situation and very nearly paid the ultimate price but Pete came back to rescue her in the only way possible and jumped back into alt-Earth. With the breach closed and the heroes separated there was one last chance to say for the lonely angel to say “Goodbye” to his Rose. Even the coldest of hearts cannot fail to have been moved as the Doctor appeared in alt-Earth for a final farewell. Billie is gonna be a tough act to follow.