Sunday, April 01, 2007

Verdict:

Reserved. But then I’ve always been a cautious wee soul.

But I will say that I enjoyed last night's episode hugely and think that the injection of Miss Jones (o-oer, Rigsby) will be a very good thing. She’s got a fire and an upfrontness which works well with Tennant’s frenetic Doctor. Straight in and no messing. In yer face geezer. Take it or leave it. Which was just what this first episode needed: a few nods to the past but mainly chowing down on the breakneck action of the present.

And what great action it was. Stompy aliens with massive horns and leather skirts rampaging around a hospital inexplicably sucked onto the moon, talking like Barry White farting into a biscuit tin and marking everybody with an X. Wow. Just like going to a nightclub in Birmingham. Only with more expensive looking women.

Talking of which, didn’t Freema look lovely. Always helps, doesn’t it, eye candy?

For me the only real question mark is over her family. How long before they grate so much on my tits that I start praying for another Darlek invasion to wipe them out? To be fair the only ones that really annoyed me were the dad and his blonde dolly bird. They were like a couple of characters from Eastenders only without the benefit of two dimensions. Too cartoony. The mother was good though.

Anyway, I think it’s far too early to say whether it’s an out and out success. The first episode gets a thumbs up but I’m going to give it a couple more weeks to see how it all beds down before I deliver my final judgment.

Unlike the Judoon, my judgment is not swift. Though it might be Swiftian

4 comments:

Old Cheeser said...

Oh my God!! Steve!! You have beaten me to it. As a hardcore Whovian, I feel positively embarrassed that you got your review in before mine. Gulp.

Really glad to hear that you enjoyed it though and I do agree with most of your sentiments. Freema was great, I really like her and I think she's going to be a fab companion.

And I feel the same way about the Jones clan - not terrrible characters in themselves but rather intrusive and soap opera-ish. We've had all this with the Tylers in series one and two and I think we need a break from it. Russell T Davies has rather too much of a fondness for the "domestic".

Yes it's a promising start, now let's wait and see what comes next. By all accounts it does sound like there are some great stories coming up...and John Simm is definitely due to feature in the season finale (I've seen a clip of him in front of what looks like the Houses of Parliament looking menacing ... oooer!)

Andrew Glazebrook said...

I thought it was great, my kids enjoyed it too,all round family fun !! Loved those huge spaceships too !!

MOTHER OF MANY said...

We really enjoyed watching Dr Who and we thought Miss Jones was brilliant. We are definitely looking forward to the next episode.

TimeWarden said...

The Dad's been in "Doctor Who" before so he should know better, although it was over 20 years ago! Maybe the long wait to reappear accounts for his midlife crisis!!

I'm sad enough to be able to remember some of actor Trevor Laird's lines from that 1986 serial. "There's nothing down that way," he says menacingly to sixth Doctor Colin Baker, "Only the Lukoser"! The Lukoser turns out to be a werewolf...