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

April Update

Hello!! Hello!! Hello!!

Saints Preserve us!!

The Cheeser is back, back, BACK!!

Well, for one of my less than regular posts, any road.

And how have we all been? I have been popping over to your respective blogs to keep an eye on things, as you might have gathered ... Trust all is hanging, as they say, well, with y'all.

As for me, all is generally okay. Firstly I'm pleased to say that I have started doing some writing, as I said I would be doing in my last post. It's slow but I'm dipping my oar in, as it were. Initial stages and plans all that and I'm keeping things under wraps for now. It has also been nice to just have some spare time back for meself to be honest.

What else do I have to report?

I've been to the gym a bit.

I've varnised the surfaces in my kitchen.

I've been relieved that at long last this bloody English weather is getting warmer (the weekend just gone was a glorious one, especially Saturday).

I've been to Hampton Court which was lurvely. Last time I went was over 20 years ago.

Life, as you can tell, is just TOO exciting.

And, moving on to the things that REALLY matter, what about Dr Who!?

I'm pleased to announce that I'm enjoying the new series rather a lot. Every story broadcast to date has been of a decent standard with no major clunkers as of yet. Although there have of course only been four episodes televised so far. My, aren't I ever the optimist. Still I can hardly believe the show is now into its Fourth Season! One again DW becomes a national institution ... and so it bloody should be! I hope it runs for another 20 years at least!

And contrary to all my previous moanings, Ms Catherine Tate has (in my view) more or less acquited herself as Donna Noble. Okay, I wouldn't class the character as a brilliant creation of writing and there have been some grating Donna-isms along the way, but in general she's been nowhere near as awful as I was feared. Rather Donna has managed to demonstrate ... thoughtfulness (gasp!) ... sensitivity (double gasp!) ... humour (triple gasp!) ... a grasp of thorny issues (quadrupal - okay let's stop this now). Etc. Probably because Ms Tate is a decent actress with good comic timing, and a nack for doing accents and facial expressions... Who would have thought it? I still wish they'd chosen a non-Earth person for a companion though and hope that they break the now very predictable mould next time round.

An authentic Roman set

The Fires of Pompei was DW's attempt at doing an Italian epic and for the most part it worked. Very handy that the Beeb were able to use the set from Rome, must have saved them a bob or two. The set designs and costumes were jolly good and the whole look of the thing was authentic (okay a wee bit CGI above...) Although actually, in spite of the fact this was meant to be "big scale", the focus was quite small i.e. on just a handful of characters.

The rock monsters were quite good. That's about all I'm going to say on that score.

I wonder if my outfit would have made the House of Howard?

Good guest cast and solid performances, in particular Peter Capaldi and Tracy Childs...didn't really like Tracy's red haired perm though. The days of long-haired sloane Lynn Howard are long gone.

Oh great gods Dr, Donna, please send me some nice underpants from TK Maximus ... It gets awfully parky in this toga ...

Their son was quite a cutey (I half-wished there'd been a sudden gust of wind to lift his toga ... Carry on up Pompei anyone?). Loved the touch with him praying to the gods of Dr and Donna at the end.

I'm snarly! I'm nasty! I'm a bit underused!

As for Phil Davis he was okay and suitably snarly but could have been better used.

Going on up to the spirit in the sky...that's where I'm gonna be...when the volcano erupts and I get melted to nothing by the fiery hot magma (original lyrics!)

However the psychic sisters, as one of my friends pointed out, did look rather like the backing singers from Dr and the Medics ...

If you don't go back and save a few people, I'll pull this bleedin' lever! And pull a bleedin' fit while I'm about it! Bleedin' 'ell!

The whole issue of should we-shouldn't we save Pompei from destruction was well handled I felt, with Donna as an appropriate moral voice - her concern for the people and appeal to the Dr to do something was touching and gave a new dimension to the character. Whilst the Doc wanted to preserve established history we were shown it wasn't always that easy. So we got a nice compromise at the end.

Some of the lines grated though, especially "TK Maximus" and the attempt to "normalise" the Romans speech didn't always work - the cockerney stall holder was just annoying. But fairly minor gripes.

And what's this about Donna having something on her back? Whilst it seems that the Dr's number might be up too (or should that be David Tennant? Leading to all those soon-to-regenerate rumours...)

Walking in a (interplanetary) Winter wonderland ... It's all real you know ...

Planet of the Oooooooooooddd! Ooooooh I liked it. And even me old blogging mate Timewarden (and did you know that he too is back, back, BACK?) did as well - blimey. It must have been a decent story to convince him! A cracking tale with proper sci-fi elements - a human base on another planet under seige, aliens going on the rampage ... A nicely bleak (there's an oxymoron if ever there was one) industrial setting with loadsa snow that didn't look too fake (lovely vista shot when the Doc and Donna stepped out of the TARDIS near the start). Liked the Ood marketing bits and the Warhol style Ood pictures. (Might have to get my own to go alongside my Divas one).

Persil balls ahoy ... And someone's tipped a whole box of Persil behind us by the looks of things ...

And darker undertones too with the story's treatise on the wrongs of slavery as presented via the Ood. It was great to see the spaghetti heads back - definitely one of the most successful of the new Who monsters, so deserving of a resurrection - and this time we got to find out more about them. I loved the Ood "song" which brought a poetry to their plight and the feel of the whole story.

No, I don't know who Edmund Blackadder is ...

Good performances from Tim "Blackadder" McInerry as Mr Halpin (his Ood transformation at the end was disgusting but arguably deserved).

I'm a gorgeous marketing person and I don't want to die!!

And the gorgeous doe-eyed Aeyesha Dharker as marketing girl Solana who also met a nasty end.

And I've just watched The Sontaran Strategem and thoroughly enjoyed it. Hoorah for the return of the two-parter! Hoorah for another Earth invasion story! (Yes I know we've had a lot of 'em, but...) And there are a few other hoorahs are in order too ...

If you ask to see Rik, Vivien or Neil one more time , I'll shoot you with my scary Sontaran shooting stick! (Oooh lovely siblilance ...)

Hoorah for the return of the potato heads! Yes after a 23 year hiatus, the mighty Sontarans are back, back, BACK! Their outfits were nicely militaristic and bulky and their faces didn't look as bad as some of the early publicity shots seemed to suggest, even if they were a bit rubbery and fake. Christopher Ryan as General Staal was great, full of swagger and typical rhetorical Sontaran warrior-talk and his (small) stature as an actor was an obvious blessing when it came to this role. I couldn't help thinking of Mike from The Young Ones though, as his voice wasn't exactly disguised or anything like that. The guy playing his sidekick, Storr, sounded even more human and not very menacing for a supposed alien warrior. Sack the voice coach!

And has anyone told the spud-heads that the Judoon nicked their uniforms? Another reason to get mad…

Oh and I loved the "Sontah" - chant! Very football holligan-ish.

The gassing everyone through car exhausts strategy was quite clever although why didn't Bernard "Wilf" Cribbins just smash the window of the car at the end?!

Colonel Mace at your service, Maam! I'm a military stereotype and I'm a bit bland!

Hoorah for the return of UNIT! They're back, back, BACK!! A proper resurrection this time after their not very proper appearance in "Aliens of London/World War Three". Here they’re obviously much more to the fore, with their own mobile HQ and led by the very English Colonel Mace who it has to be said is rather…bland. He doesn’t really possess the charisma of Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, although I guess it's still early days. Why couldn’t they have brought the Brig back for a cameo anyhow?

And there was a nice jokey reference to the DW Unit stories of yore when Donna asks the Doc when he worked for them - "The 1970s. Or was it the 80s?" playing on all the past controversy about precisely WHEN the Unit stories did take place (which geeky DW fans always get sooo worked up about).

Crossroads motel can I help - sorry I mean, hello Dr! It's Martha! And I'm bringing you BACK toEarth! Back to life! Back to reality! Back to the - sniiiiiiiiip!!

Hoorah for the return of Martha! She's back, back, B - okay this is getting tiresome...But I’m pleased to say that Ms Jones appears to have improved since Season Three. Probably cos the “Dr I lurve you” strand has finally been ditched and she's now working for UNIT as a proper medical scientist. (And her Torchwood appearances most likely helped to bolster up the character as a more mature, independent personality too). Okay so Ms Agyeman still delivered some of her lines somewhat woodenly, but overall she IS better. Talking of poorly delivered lines, at least Ms A CAN get away with that when playing Martha’s “evil double” – a fun sub-plot with the potential for some good drama, although personally I think the Dr is a tad thick not to have noticed the difference in Martha’s phone manner…And now she’s engaged to Dr Tom Milligan! (Who we didn’t even get to see, how cheap…) And no Donna-Martha bitchfight either – such a shame – it could have been just like this. Or maybe not. Actually there was a bit of tension at the start when the Dr and Martha were reunited and Donna gets acquainted with the former companion, but this was dealt with sparingly and convincingly with some sharp dialogue and soon got forgotten about … just as well, really as there were other things for the story to focus on.

Luke Brattigan looking pretty in pink but frankly rather annoying ...

The only thing I didn't much care for was the annoyingly clever-clever character Luke (B)Rattigan. (Who probably solved the Rubics cube the moment he came out the womb. Except he's probably too young to know what a Rubics cube is ...) But his irritating brattishness was kind of intentional. Let's hope he gets his just deserts in Part Two ...

Anyway, this looks set to be a classic Earth invasion story provided Part Two delivers! Here’s hoping!

I almost forgot to mention David Tennant. Now into his third series as the Doc, he's really hit his stride and thankfully quite a lot of his irritating tics and mannerisms seem to have vanished. Which I'm not especially sorry about. Okay we're still getting the wide-eyed, shouty Dr sometimes but on the whole he's doing alright and is very much THE DR. *

Well, that's about it for now. Byeeeeeeeee!!

* Actually I've just realised I said almost exactly the same thing about DT in a post below. Ahem!

Saturday nights are cool again...

It's back!! Unbelievably, last night I wasn't able to sit down and watch DW when it was actually on (we had friends round) so me and my hubbie caught up with it on BBC iPlayer instead. What a marvellous invention it is.

Well, I really enjoyed it.

A few Cheeser criticisms out of the way first though. Like Steve, I thought the Adipose plotline was kind of daft and ultimately they weren't really the "sinister" threat that the pre-programme publicity made them out to be - ultimately just a load of baby aliens waiting to be born and then depart Earth to return to their home world. The Adipose themselves were more cuddly and cute than scary, and reminded me of something out of Ghostbusters, with their Pilsbury Dough Boy/Marshmallow man appearance, baby/giggly noises and waddling - hardly a worldwide menace. Definitely one for the kiddie audience. Consequently the tone of the episode did sometimes veer towards the silly rather than serious. On reflection though it was probably a deliberate ploy on the part of the writers to start off with a fairly lightweight story, in order to focus on the reintroduction of Ms Donna Noble and the dynamics of her relationship with the Dr.

And, whilst on the subject of Ms Catherine Tate/Donna...

I thought... ... she was actually pretty good!

OMG!! Yes, after numerous posts slagging off RTD et al for deciding to resurrect the character of Donna, I may well have to go and munch on some humble pie. For this was a far more "reigned in" Donna that we got to see, some time after the events of Runaway Bride - and generally a much more restrained and reflective lady after the fishwife performance of her debut story. A lot of the screeching and moaning of yore had vanished. Okay, there were still some "comedy" CT moments but on the whole these slotted in quite well with everything else. For instance, the scene with the Dr and Donna silently mouthing at each other through glass. Dr: "Donna?" Donna: "Oh-my-GOD!"Dr: "How?"Donna: "It's me!" Etc... Odd, cos when viewed in the original Season Four trailer, Donna's "Doctaaaaaaaaaaaar!" bit seemed awful (prompting me to do a "What's Donna saying?" post) but here it was very funny (the p*ss-take "tense" orchestral score in the background was a nice counterpoint too).

It was also good to see Donna getting more backstory - having to put up with her nagging, continually whinging mum (now we know where the fishwife characteristics originated) her scene with her Grandpa (a lovely cameo from Bernard Cribbins) where she talks about the Dr (nicely acted/done) and the bit at the end with Donna and the Doc waving to Gramps from the airborn TARDIS was actually rather touching and sweet!

Another positive aspect of Donna is the fact that, unlike Rose and Martha, she's a stronger and older character who is NOT romantically fixated on the Dr. Actually that's rather inaccurate as Ms Tyler and Ms Jones DID have their "strengths" as well, but the fancying the Doc thing at times seriously undermined their respective personas. It was established pretty much early on in "Partners" that Donna didn't like the Dr "in that way", Donna's amusing lines "Mad Martha that one...blind Martha...charity Martha..." firmly establishing her p.o.v. on that subject. And I liked the clever bit of dialogue with the Dr stating: "I just want a mate" which Donna mistook to mean "I just wanna mate" (!) leading to her response: "You're not mating with me, sunshine!" Again, in the original Season Four trailer, the latter Donna declaration had sounded pretty cringeworthy, but here worked much better when viewed in the context of the whole scene. And now that one's under their belts the Dr and Donna can embark on a more mature relationship. Here's hoping...

I was pleasantly surprised by Catherine Tate overall. One thing I will say is that unlike Freema Agymen, she is an accomplished character actress (having played a variety of roles in her own comedy show to perfection) and she's also got depth, range and excellent comic timing. There were several times during "Partners in Crime" when her facial expressions and line delivery were spot-on and this bodes well for the future.

What else? Having the Dr and Noble both investigating Adipose industries at the same time was a definite coincidence but a way of bringing them back together. The way in which they kept missing each other by a hair's breadth until their eventual "reunion" - e.g. the popping up and down between the cubicles - was a bit farcial and far-fetched though...

The "Close Encounters" style spaceship looked impressive (and funny when Gramps, watching out for alien lifeforms, totally misses it).

Sarah Lancashire as the villainous Miss Foster was excellent, a far cry from the days of Raquel Woltenshulme - icy, efficient, businesslike and humorous albeit in a controlled fashion. Even if the Adipose plot wasn't up to much, she helped to carry the whole thing. I couldn't help feeling sorry for her when she twigged that the Adipose had just used her and she plunged to her death. But what was she doing with a sonic device? Early rumour had it that she was Time Lord, even the Rani, but this was not the case...

David Tennant, now entering into his third season as the Doc, has really hit his stride in the role. His sometimes annoying tics and mannerisms were far less evident on this occasion. A good thing too. We got some of his "wide eyed acting" but on the whole he was good and his scenes with CT worked well.

And finally! Totally out of the blue we got a ... cameo from Rose Tyler!! Looking very moody and serious. How did she get back from the other side of the void? Why was she there? It was a great and genuinely surprising addition to the episode (even if she was only onscreen 10-15 seconds) and added nicely to the sense of anticipation re: the "proper" return of Rose later this season.

So, an entertaining start to the new series. Roll on the rest of Season Four!

PS I am intending to finish off my Torchwood reviews of Season Two... but as you know DW always take precedence for moi. Nah nah nah!