After the second series collection of flop and damnwright unpopular stories Doctor Who returns in a stronger and more sinister manner. This 3 episode DVD contains the first 3 stories from series three.
Smith & Jones
Martha Jones is a trainee doctor working in a busy London hospital, when she happens to examine a patient called John Smith her suspicions are aroused. And rightly so John Smith is not whom he see’s he is in fact a time traveller known as the Doctor. But there is no time for Martha to investigate her new acquaintance because its not long before the hospital has been sucked up off the ground and taken into outer space.
On the surface of the moon the hospitals staff and residents are shocked to discover that they are all alive. This relief is short lived as a fleet of space craft land on the moons surface, inside an army of Judoon (Space Police) who have been sent to locate someone in the hospital that is not from Earth. Suspecting that he is the target the Doctor needs to confide in Martha in order to stay ahead of the game, because penalty if caught is certain death.
The first episode of the previous two series was a bit of a flop, so I had concerns over
this episode. My concerns were quickly addressed as the story moves along at a vigorous pace. Anyone who had concerns over Freema Agyeman’s portrayal as the Doctors new traveller in time Martha had little to worry about. She turns out a great little performance as someone who is mentally as strong as the Doctor, as well as having the physical attributes that Billie Piper had as Rose. David Tennant as the Doctor is on top form enjoying his first totally well series of Who. He carefully sucks Martha into his world and she after a little struggle quickly takes his mentality onboard.
The story itself in focus is a relatively strong one; a series of major occurrences will keep the audience on the edge of their seat. There is an awful lot to fit into 42 minutes; not only is a new character introduced, but so are her entire family and a big vision of her life. Then having contended with that there is this mammoth outer space adventure, which will not only need dealing with but the hospitals patients obviously need to get home. Some great cameo performances from Roy Marsden, Anne Reid, and a reasonable performance from Blue Peter presenter Reggie Yates.
Saxon is coming....... You have been warned. After being mentioned twice before once in the previous series, and once in the Christmas special edition you get a taste of who the mysterious Mr. Saxon is, although you’ll have to wait 11 episodes to find out the truth. This episode moves closer to developing the story arch that has been hinted at over the previous two series.
The Shakespeare Code
In her first journey in the Tardis (a space craft that travels through time and space) the Doctor takes Martha to Shakespearian London where they become involved in the story of Shakespeare’s missing play.
This tale of theatre and witchcraft delivers a real impressive message. Streets of houses and building have been created to make the set as realistic as possible; as sewage flies out of windows you can almost smell it. The Doctor’s assistant Martha, who is black, receives her first sense of racism, which while not being a good thing, is actually good from the perspective that in Shakespearian time’s people of non British origin were not often seen. I personally found after the impressive sets and special effects that this second story is one of the weaker ones of the series. After the build up the story itself is quite a transparent one, and the characters involved don’t get the chance to live up to their full potential.
Guest starring Dean Lennox Kelly as Shakespeare.
Gridlock
Returning Martha to New Earth a place The Doctor had previously visited with Rose, Martha begins to feel uneasy with her travelling companion. But is quickly given the opportunity to prove herself as she is kidnapped to get into the fast lane of a air-motorway. Even in the fast lane things are not that fast, but quicker than the estimated 50 year travel cycle it will take the thousands strong fellow travellers to reach their journeys target, whatever exactly that is. While Martha tries to get back to meet the Doctor, and he tries to catch up with her The Doctor encounters an old friend who has a very important message for the Doctor. But there is no time to ponder this message (which actually turns out to be the most important message of the series), as the Doctor has to confront a race of creatures not seen in the show since 1966.
A much better story than the previous one this what initially looks like a relatively basic story turns out to be incredibly action packed, funny, and chilling. Anyone old enough to have been alive and a fan of the series from the 60’s will probably swing from their banisters (if they have any), or at least the lampshade by the big reveal of the enemy in this story. Also nice to see is the return of the Doctors “friend” seen in each of the previous series of this new version of the Who legend. All this excitement actually means that the story can be allowed to get off lightly in respect of plot.
The story has some lovely moments including a hymn which I believe is called the Rugged Cross, which is sung by all the travellers on this expressway to who knows where. That and the realisation in the Doctor’s eyes that Martha is capable of more than just travelling along, make this a memorable and at times sweet story.
This DVD is out now priced £10.99 from play.com; the DVD has no special features as is common place in these individual releases. However the Christmas box set is bound to have lots of special features. All in all this is a great start to the third series, and in my opinion the stories actually get better from here.
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Production Year: 2007 - Science Fiction - Director: Francis Lawrence - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan, Dash Mihok, Will Smith, Salli Richardson, Willow Smith
Good review. The Doctor Who reviews seem to be popular the last few days ; )
brereton66 06.06.2007 10:22
Good review. In what way is this series three though, series 2 of David Tennant maybe but they must be on about series 30 overall. DT is a great Doctor though.
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![Doctor Who - Series 3 Vol.1 [2007] [DVD] [2005]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78053119.jpg "Doctor Who - Series 3 Vol.1 [2007] [DVD] [2005]")
Jun 4th, 2007
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