purplecat

NLSS Child was hugely excited by the end of the pre-credits sequence to this, even though she had had to have the identities of Gwen and Ianto explained to her. I've observed before that things clearly designed to excite the fans, excite her even when she lacks the fannish context. So she was really excited by the convergence of all things Davies Doctor Who, and particularly impressed by the number of names appearing before the logo in the pre-credits sequence. She was also excited by the appearance of Davros and Sarah Jane in the same story (having watched the first episode of Genesis of the Daleks with us for the Randomiser but subsequently opted out of the rest of the story). In fact she was so excited I was a little concerned she would fall off the sofa, though in the event the worst that happened was she bounced on top of the keyboard for the computer that runs the telly and exited us out of the DVD*.

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To be honest, I enjoyed this two parter a lot more than I expected to. A lot of it was the sheer enjoyment of revisiting a group of characters who vanished when Moffat took over, but then that was always a part of the point and to do the story credit it gives everyone an reasonable amount to do. All things considered it makes a good end to Davies time on the show, pulling a lot of plot threads (e.g. the Dalek storyline) and themes (the way the Doctor changes companions and they change him) together and rounding them off in a story with Davies' typical over-the-top ambition and eye for spectacle.

*In her defence she claims she merely moved a blanket that it happened to be resting on.

This is the first story this season that doesn't feel like it is a part of the larger story and, instead, is just marking time and being an adventure. Fortunately it is enjoying itself a lot which makes, I think, its lack of direction less of a problem that it was for, say, The Idiot's Lantern.

First time around I recall being very concerned about the kiss in an "oh no, not again" kind of a way. It raised the fairly real spectre that the season was aiming for a plot line in which the Doctor and Donna would discover they were in denial about their feelings for each other and we'd be back to a dynamic that seemed rather mined out. NuWho has, oddly, never really been comfortable with the idea of the Doctor and companion as platonic friends even though it has now had more such such relationships than it has romantic ones - but even so it still seems to feel the need to alternately suggest that the companion, at least, has romantic feelings for the Doctor, and then heavily underscore the point that there is no hanky-panky here. While I like this season a lot, certainly the most of Tennant's seasons, it never feels easy in its own skin with the relationship between the Doctor and Donna which is a shame.

Fortunately the kiss really was just another (I would say misguided) attempt to emphasise that the Doctor and Donna are not attracted to each other. Otherwise The Unicorn and the Wasp is revelling in its silliness, wheeling out the conventions of televised Agatha Christie stories with enthusiasm. The backstory is implausible but that's less of a problem here than elsewhere since we're not being expected to take it all that seriously.

I feel that The Daleks In Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks failed in part because it didn't have the courage of its convictions and the sets and costumes weren't quite up to the job. On the other hand I think The Sontaran Strategem/The Poison Sky succeeds quite well at what it is trying to do, I'm just not that interested in it.

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It's just, at the end of the day, this is one of the show's big spectacular two-parters with an emphasis on action and humour. It knows what its doing and, like Planet of the Ood feels less like a place-holder than many episodes in seasons 2 and 3, but I think I prefer Doctor Who stories when they are being a bit cleverer than this and possibly that when they are silly, that they are a bit cleverer (and possibly more serious) about the silliness.

The Fires of the Pompeii was the story that definitively sold Donna to me. It came as a bit of a surprise to discover Tame Layman had no recollection of it at all and so was persuaded to watch it with us. I don't think it really converted him to Donna, but at least he didn't complain about her at all while it was on.

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I think this is my favourite episode of this season, and my favourite Donna episode over all. I think part of my fondness may derive from extrinsic factors (particularly over-exposure to the NAs dark seventh Doctor), but even putting that aside, I think this is a pretty well put together episode, that has clear central moment that is important to both the main characters as well as a surrounding plot that is rather better constructed than many of the plots in Davies' run... and, as mentioned above, Tame Layman at least forbore from complaining about Donna for the duration.

Because of their position relative to the seasons of the show, it isn't surprising, really, that so many of the Christmas specials have had to work with one-off companions of one sort or another. It is, perhaps, more surprising how well they often work, even when the story they are in often has more spectacle than substance.

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NLSS Child picked up very clearly the message that it isn't always the most sympathetic people who survive, though she was charmed at the end by Mr. Copper dancing away into the night with his new found wealth - a necessary Christmas counterpoint, presumably, to Davies' brief indulgence of misanthropy.

Courtesy of Father Christmas, NLSS Child has a "How to be a Timelord" book. This contains a number of spoilers and there was some anxious discussion about this on Christmas Day. I thought this explained her anxiety about the open Tardis door in the second half of the story. But it did not, the surprise twist was as much a surprise to her as it was to us on first viewing.

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I like Utopia. It may look like a 1980s pop video, but it does very well by the two characters it is (re-)introducing. It doesn't try to do anything particularly fancy, just focuses on those two particular stories, and is the stronger because of it.

Having gone through a bit of a rut of episodes which, if they weren't actually bad, weren't particularly exceptional, season 3 suddenly produces something really excellent out of its hat.

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Apart from the fact that Human Nature/Family of Blood rather magnifies all the problems season 3 has had with Martha's character, it is actually an excellent story. I'm not sure the show has tried anything quite like it since, a story which is steeped in some serious themes that the production team and actors all understand how to explore and convey. It may be very much business as usual for a BBC production, but that means that everything is working together to realise the ideas on the screen.

I really didn't remember much about The Lazarus Experiment going in, which is pretty odd given that it is clearly meant to be the lynchpin around which this season turns: the moment Martha is properly accepted as a companion, where her family become a part of the Doctor's life, and where the Saxon plot thread kicks into gear.

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For all that, the story still feels oddly throwaway. In season 2, I attributed the weakness of some of the episodes to the fact they had no real role to play in the larger story unfolding for the audience. Despite the fact that The Lazarus Experiment is anything but inconsequential to the larger narrative it still feels a little slight and I can't quite put my finger on why.

The Runaway Bride is better if you watch it after you've decided Donna is great. Back in 2006 I was simply "Catherine Who?" and I found Donna rather over-the-top and irritating (NB. Tame Layman still considers Donna over-the-top and irritating. There was no way we were getting him to rewatch this with us). Since she dominates the story, if you haven't warmed to her you are never going to get much out of it.

Rewatching, I can see that it is actually quite carefully constructed. Once Donna accepts that something has happened then she moves on remarkably quickly with very little rancour. We get lots of opportunities to see beneath her surface bluster, if you are looking for them. You can see why the Doctor comes to like her (OK, given Tame Layman, I can see why the Doctor comes to like her).

The scene on the segways is, I think, the key turning point. Donna is laughing at the ridiculousness of the whole thing while Lance is bemused, irritated and anxious. It's like a litmus test for who would make a good companion. As an aside, given an equally ridiculous segway scene in Waters of Mars, I'm given to wondering exactly what Davies thought was so great about segways.

NLSS Child, who has google and Youtube (mostly Youtube, tbh) at her fingertips, informs me that Donna Noble translates as "Time Lady". That's not quite correct - it's more Noble Lady or Gentlewoman, perhaps - but it is still an interesting coincidence given I'm sure Donna's arc wasn't even a glimmer in Davies' eye at this point.

It's a better Christmas special than The Christmas Invasion. The Doctor is awake, for a start, and Donna is such a breath of fresh air as a companion and, even if you don't like her, a useful contrast to Rose. Catherine Tate, apparently effortlessly, conveys both her brashness and her decency and vulnerability. The story is also more self-contained than The Christmas Invasion which was trying to introduce Torchwood as well as tie into Rose's backstory and family while The Runaway Bride is expecting to be standalone.

I really enjoyed rewatching this, though, of course, I had been converted to a Donna fan since seeing it first time around.

*I think, anyway, Tame Layman notwithstanding.

About halfway through Fear Her I was wondering why it was generally rated so poorly and then everything started to go down hill.

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A potentially nice story spoiled by not knowing where to stop. The first real disappointment of the rewatch.