Monday 5 May 2008

Spoilers

Here is Lizo's review of The Doctors Daughter, he gives it a 3/5

At the end of the last episode the Tardis doors slammed shut and it hurtled off taking The Doctor, Donna and Martha with it.


The Doctor and his daughter
And when it lands on a distant planet things go from bad to worse as they end up in the middle of a bitter war between two groups.

Martha is captured by one group, aliens called the Hath. The other group, who are human, want The Doctor and Donna's help in continuing their war.

And that's when The Doctor comes face to face with his daughter.

Family ties

Georgia Moffett is superb as Jenny, The Doctor's daughter. Like him, she has astonishing abilities.

And she challenges him at every turn, making him think about things that he's never considered before. And as the story goes on, they continue to learn from each other.


Hath soldiers
This episode also picks up the anti war theme of the previous Sontaran stories, with The Doctor trying to stop the violence between the Hath and the humans, as well as trying to explore what actually makes a person a person.

It tries to cram an enormous amount into 45 minutes. And, in a way, that's its biggest problem.

Jam-packed action

There are so many interesting ideas, things that the series hasn't really tried before, that most of them don't get the attention they deserve.

As a result, you don't really end up caring about either the human fighters or the aliens. Or who's right or wrong. Which means there's never a strong sense of danger or menace.


Martha
There are some wonderful scenes with The Doctor trying to come to terms with fatherhood, and yet again Catherine Tate is fabulous; always forcing him to confront things that he'd rather not.

But Martha's story in this episode works less well. Since she's returned, she's hardly spent any time with the Time Lord. And that, in turn, makes her goodbye at the end of the story much less emotional than it should be.

This is still a terrifically ambitious episode, but one which never quite manages to live up to its potential.

And now some spoilers from digital spy

It's a case of cracking premise, lacklustre execution in this excursion to the planet Messaline. The Doctor is joined by both Donna and Martha as he is confronted with a serious case of "dad shock" after encountering a young blonde lady called Jenny. We'll spare you a full on rant about the disappointing quality of the episode (check out the full review on Digital Spy immediately after the episode has aired) and instead serve up a few spoilers (and two false spoilers)...

The Doctor is "processed".

Donna refers to The Doctor's daughter Jenny as "GI Jane".

falls into a bog.

Doctor puts a gun to a man's head.

There is talk of a being called 'The Great One'.

The Hath are genetic descendants of a race known as the Haemovores.

Martha puts a fish's shoulder back in place (or perhaps in plaice?).

The Doctor doesn't need a female to spawn a daughter - he is capable of doing it all on his own.
(I think this is false)

Jenny tells The Doctor that she saw someone called Susan die in the Time War, which upsets him greatly. (I think this is false)

After putting a stethoscope to Jenny's chest, The Doctor is surprised by what he hears.

So which ones are false and which ones are true...you decide.

No comments: