Fazzinchi

4×11: “Turn Left”

In much the same way that Martha Jones’ arrival in Torchwood for three episodes heralded the begining of a trilogy of stories based on Owen Harper, we have now seen the hotly anticipated return of Rose in a story focussing heavily on the new companion, Donna.  Many will argue that this is all just and proper given the tour de force that Catherine Tate delivered in this, the 11th episode of Series Four. The same people will be (more…)

4×01: Partners In Crime

Season premieres from year’s past have all been thematically similar.  Russell T Davies pens a tale that introduces the audience to the new dynamic of Doctor/Companion that serves to set the scene for what’s to come over the next 12 weekends with the story generally seeming of secondary importance to character.  In 2005, Rose kicked off the new era as the very first story (re)introducing us to the mythology of the show through the wide eyes of the eponymous, (more…)

Doctor Who Retrospective #10 of 10 “Bad Wolf / The Parting Of the Ways”

Okay, it’s weeks late but at last it is here (and incongruously lumped in the middle of the ongoing reviews of Series Three)! This is the final installment of my Series One Retrospective of the new Doctor Who. I had been hoping to rattle all ten of these off during the build up to the new series but time (and idleness) got the better of me. It was the worst kept secret in Doctor Who circles (and pretty poorly kept in general public circles too) that, once the departure of Christopher Eccleston (more…)

Old New York

The Doctor and Martha’s tete a tete at the end of “Gridlock” must’ve been enough to encourage the Time Lord to treat his new companion to another detour in the TARDIS and so, from the New New York of 5-billion-and-something in the far-flung future, they stay where they are in space but move a long way back in time to arrive on Liberty Island of 1930. The secret location filming in New York was clearly worthwhile as the settings were sumptuous and evoked a genuine feeling of (more…)

Just One Trip

The Doctor meets Shakespeare. When you write it down, it just seems such an obvious thing to do. So, when The Shakespeare Code was revealed as an episode of the new series expectations were high for this season’s “celebrity historical” that followed in the footsteps of The Unquiet Dead (Charles Dickens) and Tooth and Claw (Queen Victoria). He may have been a newcomer to the series but writer, Gareth Roberts, is a Doctor Who stalwart of old and he was given the (more…)

Doctor Who Retrospective #9 of 10 “Boom Town” 

Boom Town got mixed reviews on first showing and in hindsight this may have been because it was shown following after The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances double bill, which will undoubtedly become one of the classic stories of the 43 years of this show’s history. It is certainly a filler episode, set in contemporary Cardiff (i.e. on the doorstep of the production team’s home) and features a re-use of the Slitheen (thankfully fart-free) so soon after their debut, so from a production (more…)