Journey's End

Ooooooweeeeeeoooooo!! It’s Dr Whoooooooo!!

Except it isn’t any more, cos the last episode of Season Four has now been and gone!! * The Cheeser starts sobbing uncontrollably….* How am I (and many others for that matter) going to spend my Saturday evenings now?! And next year we don’t even get a proper series, just a few specials!! Oh well, better than nowt…

And have you heard the current rumours about how much the Beeb are offering David Tennant to stay on for Series Five? (Which would seem to indicate he might be departing some time next year….) (Oh and if you click on that link before there's a birrova spoiler at the end - just to let you know!)

Anyway. In the meantime, what were my thoughts on the second part of the Dalek “epic”? Yes, I'm late, I know... just for a change.

The Good

Just let me get me old fingers on that old Dalek joanna! All together now....any old iron, any old iron, any any any old iron...

Donna’s amazing transformation into half human half time lord. Okay, so it was a convenient plot device that the “temp from Chiswick” with a low self-image was finally imbued with the intelligence, know-how and wisdom to enable her to render the Daleks and Davros impotent, free the Dr and co and ultimately save the day, if not the entire universe (and rather similar to what happened to Rose’s transformation into an omnipotent, god-like being at the end of Season One, don’t we think?) However Catherine T played it very well and proved Rose’s remark that she really WAS the most important human in all creation. “Ooooh yes, I’ll just the render the thingamy whatsit thus doing the thingamy…..” (Sorry can’t remember the lines but you know what I mean). This in part was down to Catherine Tate’s brilliant rapid fire delivery and comic lines –The comedy really did work this time.

Look I know I've only got a one series contract, but you can't wipe my brain, Dr! No! No! No! I don't wanna appear in a West End play in the nude!

Donna’s “death”. Very poignantly done and tragic. Some of my fellow bloggers have said that it was horrible and diminishing. Yes it was, but then wasn't that the whole point? Having Donna forget all that happened to her since she’d met the Dr; all of her travels through time and space; all of her extra terrestrial encounters and so forth and then having her revert back to the self same unchallenged temp from Chiswick she was at the very start of “Runaway Bride” rendered her whole situation far more tragic than just being blown up, Adric style. And although the outcome for Donna was obviously negative, wasn’t it more realistic NOT to have an entirely happy ending sometimes? (Whereas on the bright side they did manage to defeat the Daleks and return the planets to their rightful place, which was something wasn't it? If Martha had had her way, the whole of planet Earth would have been nuked!!)

All together now. You put your left leg in...you put your left leg out...hang on. The TARDIS ain't no bike...

The companions all operating the TARDIS console. The console room had never been so crowded! But good to see the literal “hands on approach”.

Greetings Village People! Any vacancies for a decrepit old Kaled with a Gucci tunic and a disco fixation? Look! I can do the hand wave to perfection...

Julian Bleach as Davros. Great performance. There was only one bit which seemed non-Davros, when he threw his hands up in the air in a rather YMCA fashion (see above).

However (and this should really go in the “not so good” section below) they could have done more with him. Old Dave Ross was stuck in the vault for all of the two episodes. Couldn’t we have seen him out “in the field” (no, NOT with Phil Lynott and Gary Moore) supervising the Daleks’ takeover of the Earth/the Cosmos? Or iconically trundling across Westminster Bridge with his creations following him behind? Or shopping in H&M on Oxford Street for a trendy new tunic? Then again, we did get the bit about how the Daleks wanted to “contain” Davros, hence him being stuck in the “basement”. It was just a bit kind of limiting for old tortoise face.

Mistress! Master! Oh this is a bit boring being stuck in an attic...

The return of K9. Not quite how I predicted but good to see everyone’s favourite dog back all the same.

I liked the "helping to fly the Earth back home" bit and the fabulous accompanying choral music. Very uplifting and magnificent.

The okay but could have been done better

Who you gonna call? Chavbusters!!

Mickey and Jackie’s return. They didn’t do very much. Granted, they saved Sarah from destruction (though as an all-action adventure girl with her own series, I would have preferred to see Ms Smith doing this herself) but overall The Mickster and the Jackster were rather underused. And the rumours have it Mickey is back in the next series of Torchwood! Mmm. I’ve never been a fan of Mr Clarke’s acting in spite of his good intentions and directorial aspirations, but we’ll see….if we get lots of scenes of him showing off his naked bod like in Rise of the Cybermen, that might just help to compensate. Or a three-way with Jack and Ianto?

No! I don't want the camera to pan down any further! This is a kid's programme!

The second Dr being reborn in the TARDIS. This did just about work but was a tad too convenient e.g. having “another” Dr on hand to help Donna whilst the other Doc was held captive, and of course, ultimately partnering up with Rose, which is what she’d wanted all along. Quite nice to see DT topless too, a first I think. What might the rest of him have looked like, we wonder? One clue might be Billie Piper's nickname for him, which was "David Ten-inch". Anyone know why?

The not so good

The non-regeneration thing – a swizz and a cop out? We all knew the hand would, erm, come in handy, somehow didn’t we?

Haven't we been somewhere like this before? Deja vous or what...

Some of the companions felt under-used (in spite of the aforementioned TARDIS scene). And sticking The Dr, Rose and Jack in a very similar scene to "Parting of the Ways" wasn't very original.

Mmmm...mmmm....oh what's that? Oh. So, it's true what they say about your nickname, David...

After her butch-Sigourney-isms of Part One, Rose didn’t get much of a chance to flex her muscles in this episode. I would have loved to see her going hell for leather with her giant gun, blowing up Daleks left, right and centre, but no such luck. A waste. And whilst still on the subject of Ms Tyler, her presence was...well...kind of swamped by everything else that went on, and the Return to Bad Wolf Bay scene felt a bit too familiar. And yeah, getting a Dr Number 2 to snog made it nice n'easy...

The gappy-toothed one and the comedy doorman from Torchwood also didn’t do very much in Part Two. I suppose if they’d let them out of the hub and into the TARDIS all of the guest stars would have been squeezed up in the console room far too tightly, worse than a London bus during rush hour.

The rather convenient placing of the device machine thing (forgot what it was called) in the Vault that enabled Donna to defeat the Daleks and save the day. Would it really have been so easily accessible?

That's right, Ms Jones. Have the decency to look a little bit guilty...

The key thing – would Martha really be prepared to blow up the whole world? Her transformation into ruthless killer prepared to zap all of mankind for the greater good was slightly hard to stomach. Had her time with UNIT turned her into a hard-nosed military b*tch? It didn’t really wash.

Well it seems I have as many criticisms as positive things to say about the whole affair. Sure it had it's drawbacks. But it was still one hell of a lot better than the Master-Mess of 2007 and on the whole I enjoyed it lots.

And now we have to wait until 2010 till another full and proper series!! But there's a few specials to console us along the way.... until then, I shall probably dig out a few more of my DVDs...

Oh and like last year, I shall shortly post my Top 13 list of Season Four (thanks for the reminder, Tim) - erm, actually that doesn't make much sense as there were only 13 stories, but you know what I mean. All the stories in order of preference. Watch this space!

The Queen is BACK (Donna Summer that is)

Hello! Hello! Hello! Yes it's your part-time pal Cheeser here again. Once again, there's been a bit of a hiatus from moi...just for a change. But (here it comes) I have been rather busy of late...At present I'm doing some extra "work" in addition to my day job and it's taking up much of my time...life's chocca! Plus last week there was a VERY interesting development which I shall share with you soon, once I have official confirmation of things...let's just say that I'm feeling very happy and smug at the moment.

What else? Firstly a mega, massive THANK YOU to those of you (i.e. all of you as far as I am aware) that responded to my Top 10 albums tag. Well done, boys and girls! I was impressed with the breadth, depth and length of your, erm, posts (no cheeky comments, purlease, that's strictly a Cheeser prerogative). Seriously, I loved reading about all your fave musical raves! And many of you listed exactly the kind of things I would have expected. Unfortunately I still haven't responded to all of your postings yet! (That's what happens when you tag a lot of people and ask them to write about 10 albums I suppose - it makes for a lot of reading - am I making a rod for my own back?!) But once again, enlightening stuff and thanks!

Doctor Who continues to thrill, excite and delight. Steven Moffat's two parter was probably the best of the season yet and proof that his appointment to the post of Exec Producer was indeed a wise move. There's something about this writing style that's wonderfully unorthodox and different which bodes well for the future. The whole library-saving-people-in-a-giant-PC concept was well-executed and clever.

Shall I tell you a secret, sweetie...? I don't just have corkscrew hair on my head...

Waaaaay too much information, Professor. Still at least you didn't tell me I was once Mr Moll Flanders...I'm just not the bodice-ripping type...

Alex Kingston was intelligent, sultry and fab as Professor River Song. The whole "previous relationship with the Doc in the Doc's future" thing (shades of "The Time Traveller's Wife") was intriguingly done and by the end we were still none the wiser as to exactly what her involvement with the Doc was (although husband and wife is a good guess). I do hope she comes back for a reappearance and further exposition. Otherwise it's just all toooo frustrating.

Mmm, maybe you're overdoing the whole "goth chick" thing just a bit, love...

The "Donna in the Matrix" plotline of part two was also a welcome and an unexpected surprise, eerily done and proving Catherine T's acting abilities even more as well as taking the character of Donna down new avenues (married and with kids). The bit when she screams when her kids "disappear" was very well done and the scenes with "woman in black" Ms Evangelista (was she related to Linda?) convincingly creepy.

Last week's "Midnight" was one of RTD's better offerings and I really enjoyed this one too. It was obviously low budget and a bit of a "filler" episode, not to mention "Donna-lite" as opposed to "Doctor-lite" (is the latter a new concept then? Shades of "The Deadly Assassin" with the Doc going it alone!) but as psychological dramas go, it was very well done and proof that a lot can be achieved with even limited resources (i.e. a story taking place largely on just one set). The whole possession thing was marvelously creepy - who would have thought that so much nastiness could come out of two people just staring at one another and repeating each other's words??

I'm weird! I'm scary! I'm stary (not sure if the latter is a proper word...)

Lesley Sharp was a nasty lady with her staring eyes and weird manner, and well supported by the rest of the class, who were all in suitable "Disaster movie panic" mode.

Biancaaaaaaa!!! Oh, sorry. Wrong programme.

Lindsey Coulson, who I always thought was brilliant as Carol Jackson in Eastenders was a bit shrewish and whiny though.

Nothing wrong with being a ginga, darlin'. I was married to one once, you know....

And tonight we see the return of...The Pipester!! The story sounds likes it's got an interesting angle (what would have happened to Donna if she hadn't met the Doc) and apparently Ms Tate's best performance yet...we shall see. After which we get the season finale...it's come round quick. There's already been a mass of spoilers and I'm not going to reveal what they are here. You only have to go onto a DW website to find out...or The Sun's (who recently blew the gaff re: pics of returning monsters...) Suffice to say it all looks exciting but I hope to god it's a better offering than Season Three's "camp Master" conclusion...please, please, PLEASE!!

And on the music front...of late I have mostly been listening to:
Cut Copy - Aussie band with an 80s retro fixation, and their latest album, In Ghost Colours, is rather excellent...
Donna Summer's new album, Crayons, which is a magnificent return to form after a mere 17 year hiatus. The Queen is BACK!! Which, coincidentally, is the name of one of the tracks...more on her later...

Cyndi Lauper's new one in which the caterwauling Cyndi has gone all dancey a la Madonna! Saints preserve us! But it works and it's rather good. Thanks to Alan for giving me the lowdown on her...

Well, that'll do for now. I shall return in a few weeks...Ciao for now my lovelies and take care...

OC xxx