Doctor Who - Series 2 - Complete (Box Set) (DVD)

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Special Effects	Good
How does it compare to similar films?	Outstanding

Advantages:	wonderfully entertaining, detailed enough for enjoyable repeat viewings
Disadvantages:	sad endings !

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Rose has come home for Christmas, but The Doctor is still recovering from his latest regeneration and looks to spending this holiday in a coma. It's up to Rose, Jackie, and Mickey to keep him safe until he recovers. Any easy task... until the Sycorax arrive on earth and hold one third of the world's population hostage! It's a "Christmas Invasion", but will the Doctor recover in time to act once more as the Earth's Champion?

Favorite quote: "Ahh, not bad for a man in his Jim-Jams. Very Arthur Dent, now there was a nice man." ~ The Doctor

Season two of Doctor Who unwraps itself with like a Christmas cracker... a bit of noise and flash to celebrate some simple fun. Throughout the season, we see Rose coming to terms with some of the less pleasant aspects of time traveling with the Doctor, and their friendship strengthen. This incarnation of the Doctor seems generally happier than the one we were originally introduced to in the first season, and we get the sense that Rose is someone truly special to the Doctor; unlike his other companions. Her friendship eases something within this alien adventurer, and helps to rejuvenate him in ways that a complete bodily regeneration can't!

He exhibits a child-like enthusiasm and delight in this adventurous life that is as contagious as a good laugh. His first reaction is always keen interest supported by an amazing well of compassion for all life. When the more difficult aspects of his own life emerge, we see the storm so often hidden behind his pleasant exterior which made the Daleks, his eternal enemies, experience a true emotion... fear.

It is easy to forget that the Doctor is truly a force to be reckoned with as he travels about with his ready wit, easy manner and friendly smile. It is easy to forget the tremendous burdens he bears with so little complaint. Then, the curtain will slip, and we'll catch a glimpse of the wounds upon his soul or the swift justice of his righteous anger, and remember... The Doctor is not one of us. This is when we realize that his good friend Rose it there to remind him of his own beliefs when he falters, to keep him grounded, and always mindful of the awesome beauty and splendor to be found everywhere you look...

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For those not interested in a break down of season two, please continue at the next marker...
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In "New Earth", the Doctor takes Rose to one of the original Earth's best colonies in the future. Upon arriving though, he receives a curious message that someone at the hospital run by the Sisters of Plenitude urgently needs to see him. Just who is it that awaits the Doctor within the hospital and why have they contacted him? The catlike nuns are infamous for their ability to cure every disease in known existence, but just how are they able to do so... and at what cost?

Favorite quote: "It's like living inside a bouncy castle!" Cassandra

In "Tooth and Claw", Rose and the Doctor are aiming for a concert in 1979... but end up in Balmoral, Scotland in 1879! Fate puts them directly in the path of Queen Victoria herself who is diverted to the Torchwood estate after an assassination attempt is foiled. Only a few local citizens are aware that the Brotherhood of the Wolf has taken over the Torchwood estate. Can the Doctor and Rose save the Crown from becoming a host for this werewolf-like entity controlling the Brotherhood, or is this the beginning of the Empire of the Wolf? Is this the beginning of the Torchwood Institute, or will it be destroyed before it's even begun? In any event, the Queen is not amused!

Favorite quote:
Rose: "I want to hear her say 'I am not amused'. Bet you five quid I can get her to say it."
The Doctor: "Taking that bet would be an abuse of my time traveling privileges."
Rose: "Ten quid?"
The Doctor: "You're on."

Mickey is sure that something is wrong in "School Reunion", and tells Rose. At a London high school, disguised as a teacher and a lunch lady, our Doctor and his nurse discover students who are frighteningly intelligent, and a sinister faculty. Two former companions help our dynamic duo out along the way.

Favorite quote:

Doctor: "They're Krillitanes!
Sarah Jane: "And is that bad? "
Doctor: "Very. Think how bad things could possibly be, then add another suitcase of bad."

A girl in 18th century France meets the Doctor through anomaly in her fireplace. Our heroes must discover the connection between Madame de Pompadour, a band of clockwork robots, and a spaceship in the future...

Favorite quote:

Doctor: "What did you see?"
Reinette: "That there comes a time, Timelord, when every lonely little boy must learn how to dance!"

Somewhere in a parallel London, the year is 2006 and everything is run by the Cybus corporation, a multi-million pound conglomerate owned by John Lumic, a crippled genius. Lumic tries to convince the President of Great Britain of his own vision to make humanity immortal! Meanwhile, Rose is determined to meet her father in this alternate world where her father lived rather than dying when she was a toddler.

Favorite quote:

Doctor: "She goes wandering off! Parallel world; it's like a gingerbread house! All those temptations calling her."

In an eerie parallel, a crippled genius and his creations fill the Doctor with nightmarish echoes of his encounters with the Daleks, his greatest enemies. John Lumic and his Cyberman are forcing everyone to upgrade!

Favorite quote:

Doctor: "Don't! You'll cause a brainstorm. Human race, you're such an intelligent lot. You aren't half susceptible. Give anyone a chance to take control and you submit. Sometimes I think you like it, easy life."

Taking a wrong turn while looking to attend a performance by Elvis, Rose and the Doctor land in London, 1953... and everyone is eagerly huddled around their brand new televisions for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Behind the bright smiles and banners are sinister rumors of monsters roaming the streets. Who is the tormented Mr. Magpie, and can our heroes unveil the dark secrets within this episode before it is too late?

Favorite quote:

Tommy: Who did he think you were? Doctor:
Doctor: "King of Belgium, apparently."

The Doctor and Rose land in a rundown spaceship stationed around an obscured planet. Shrouded in darkness, this planet is trapped in a permanent orbit around a black hole. The Oods, a servile race, exhibit strange behavior when they suddenly take over the station, spewing ominously enigmatic statements like, "The beast is awakening." Which adds a certain element of urgency when the Doctor realizes that the black hole has swallowed his Tardis! "The Impossible Planet" is a thrilling two-parter!

Favorite quote:

Doctor: "Did you have to say that? 'There's no turning back?' That's almost as bad as 'Nothing could possibly go wrong' or 'This'll be the best Christmas orphans ever had.'"

The Doctor and Rose find themselves working separately with a team of humans responding to the Ood crisis. Ida and the Doctor are deep below the planet trying to decipher the markings that seal "The Satan Pit", but when the Doctor passes beyond contact, Rose is faced with the prospect of life impossibly far from home... without her beloved Doctor!

Favorite quote:

Doctor: "Except that implies - in this big grand scheme of Gods and Devils - that she's just a victim. But I've seen a lot of this universe. I've seen fake gods and bad gods and demi gods and would-be gods - out of all that - out of that whole pantheon - if I believe in one thing... just one thing... I believe in her."

"Love & Monsters" gives us an entirely different view of both the Doctor and Rose. Elton is just a simple bloke who had a half-remembered encounter as a child with the Doctor. As an adult, he finds himself part of a group who gather to discuss the Doctor and his strange blue box. This tight-knit group of friends enjoys sharing their odd hobby and Elton may even have found the love of his life.

But will their interest in the Doctor make them susceptible to other, more sinister lifeforms, also interested in the Timelord? One of my favorite episodes, this darkly comedic tale from an outsiders point of view raises some interesting questions and offers a lot of laughs. The adventures of Elton and Ursula foretell a dark future for Rose and the Doctor.

Favorite quote:

Doctor: "Someone wants to have a word with you."
Rose: "You... You upset my mum!"
Elton: "Right... Big absorbing alien over there, and you're having a go at me?!"

Next we travel to 2012 to catch the next Olympics. But children disappearing in a London neighborhood sidetracks our heroes from another simple pleasure holiday. Can they keep this latest threat from hijacking the Olympic torch? What does little Chloe Webber have to do with it all, and why does her own mother "Fear Her"?

Favorite quote:

Doctor: "No, I'm not really a cat person. Once you've been threatened by one in a nuns wimple, kind of takes the joy out of it."

The Doctor brings Rose home to visit her mum, and they are both disturbed to discover an "Army of Ghosts" being cheerfully embraced by the world populace! What is causing these regular shifts of ghosts? Are they really the souls of the dearly departed and can they be trusted? This tale brings back two of the Doctor's greatest adversaries and leads us to the brink of destruction!

Favorite quote:

Rose: "Planet Earth. This is where I was born. And this is where I died. For the first nineteen years of my life nothing happened. Nothing at all. Not ever. And then I met a man called The Doctor. A man who could change his face. And he took me away from home in his magical machine. He showed me the whole of time and space. I thought it would never end. That's what I thought. But then came the Army of Ghosts, then came Torchwood and the war. And that's when it all ended. This is the story of how I died."

The season ends, appropriately, with "Doomsday". The Earth has become a battleground between the forces of this universe's worst nightmare, and the horrific army of a parallel universe. The walls between worlds are breaking down and if the Doctor doesn't put a stop to it... Life as we know it will come to an abrupt end. As if that weren't difficult enough... Jackie's along for the trip! The Doctor and Rose face their biggest challenge yet. Will end in victory or in tears?

Favorite quote:

Rose: "If these are going to be my last words then you're going to listen. I met the emperor and I took the time vortex and poured it into his head and turned him into dust. Do you get that? God of all Daleks and I destroyed him."

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For those reading the general review of season two, continue here...
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We see a tremendous amount of character development throughout the season. Rose and The Doctor, of course, but also quite a bit from other regular supporting characters, like Mickey and Jackie. It was a bit of a relief to see Micky grow up and strike out on his own. The development of the Torchwood Institute, founded by Queen Victoria who both knighted the Doctor and declared him an enemy of the state, adds an interesting new element to offset the rapidly familiar threats of the Dalek and the Cybermen.

We see the Doctor and Rose through some of their happiest moments in this season, but we are also witness to one of the worst losses of his long and interesting life. We begin to see how the many seemingly random encounters throughout the Doctor's life not only interweave, but spill over into the innocent lives of others, often with dire consequences. For all the evident excitement and joy that results from being the Doctor's traveling companion, by the end of season two we also understand his crippling, yet unavoidable, loneliness, his greatest fears, and his deepest sorrows.

A wonderful continuation of the saga of Doctor Who, reasonably priced and endlessly entertaining on many levels. Season Two stands up to repeated viewing extremely well. This is the Doctor Who I looked for amongst those original episodes, and never really found. The exploits of my favorite time traveler open up worlds of thought with it's social commentary and ready wit. Saving himself and the world with a simple cup of tea, the Doctor has become a beloved national icon for Britain. He represents the very best we could become with a brave and willing heart.

Favorite quote of the season:

Sarah Jane: "No. The universe has to move forward. Pain and loss, they define us as much as happiness or love. Whether it's a world, or a relationship... Everything has its time. And everything ends."