177 Army of Ghosts/Doomsday

Watched 18-Jul on Bluray

The starting premise is just ridiculous. Why would modern people in an exciting forward looking universe think mysterious apparitions are ghosts of their recently dead relatives?

They don't look, sound or act like them. Even a bit. it's not credible.

The Torchwood Institute arrives and it isn't very credible. A mix of Van Statten and weird neo-colonialism.

Tracey Ann Obermann as Mrs "I did my duty' is OTT and wrought from very strange posh stuff.

The Cybs' arrival seems inevitable.

The parallel worlds hyperjumping is kinda handwavey and the Genesis Arc is an obvious plot contrivance.

The Daleks jumping out was an effective surprise at the time but this excitement has dimmed more than somewhat in 14 years. Pete, and Mickey and Jake (the blonde guy) were surprising too but boil down to cameos.

The fall of Rose is the story. It intro's both eps and its resolution takes something like a quarter of the screen time in the 2nd ep. Billie Piper makes her (first) exit from the show in a blaze of (not really) deathly glory. She is rightly remembered as an archetypal modern DW girl. Unlike more than a few of her predecessors her career has gone on.

As far as real Earth goes she and Jackie T and Mickey are all goners.

David Tennant as the Doctor is finishing his first season with good points. To me he's like a show-off Doctor. He shouts, he makes his hair spiky and he talks loud... and then goes straight to the sincerity angst. There is something like credibility lacking in his portrayal but I can't work out what it is. His jokes aren't very good. He has little of the patrician attitude of Pertwee or Baker, T. The gentle charm of Troughton is absent.

A direct comparison with Chris E at this point is fair. I think Chris had shown a great deal more depth and range in his series. David T has mastered the cool though. (Spoiler: he gets better...)

I think this works well as soap opera but it fails a little as either SF or DW because of the hand waving explanations and the comic-ky action. 

 

But it does the business and draws in the viewers, so stop yer whinging.

ABM Rating 2.90+2.91/4.00
LJM Rating 3.80+3.79/5.00
SPJ Rating 7.80+7.75/10   

No. 79 (out of 185) + 80 (out of 186)


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