I rewatched this last night for the first time since Christmas Day last year (original reaction post here) and I have to say I enjoyed it a hell of a lot more than I did the first time.

I liked David Morrissey this time. I thought he acted the part brilliantlly (though possibly a fraction too tearfully) and there was lovely chemistry between him and David Tennant. And the story of how he 'became' the Doctor was excellent. I do wish they had left the reveal until later, though, because Jackson Lake's story really was the interesting part of the episode and all the Cybermen stuff really should have been just an excuse for him to become overloaded with the datastamp.

I still thought the Cyberking stuff was boring and not a good climax to the show (though at least it did make a bit more sense to me this time as I heard Ten explain that it was actually a spaceship) and not just a ridiculously large Cyberman, which is what I'd previously thought. *g* But I still prefer my drama on a smaller scale - a human scale - and preferably one that doesn't make one wonder why the history books have never mentioned this enormous Cyberman stomping all over London on Christmas Day 1851!

I also didn't like Jackson declaring that the Doctor had never been thanked for saving people. I'm sure that's a downright lie. All right, maybe he hasn't had loads of people cheering him like that before, but individuals have thanked him, haven't they?

Also? Calling the episode 'The Next Doctor' doesn't make any sense, because he's NOT the next Doctor. The episode isn't actually anything about the next Doctor, and even the real Doctor only thinks Jackson is the next Doctor for about the first quarter of the episode! It should have been called 'The Other Doctor' or something like that.

Anyway. I enjoyed it, and now I'm off to see if Planet of the Dead is better than I remember too. :-)

1. Jack/Giles fic is off for betaing. I cannot describe how chuffed I am at finally having written something long enough to get beta'd again! I expect it'll still need a lot of work, but I'm up for the challenge! :-)

2. To finish off this fic, I seriously need to re-watch Children of Earth and to that end I've just finished my re-watch of TW S2. Which, I have to admit, was a lot better than I remembered. I went into most episodes feeling very ambivalent about them, but came out of the most of them having really enjoyed them.

Especially Exit Wounds, which is one of the few I *have* re-watched since its original airing, but I don't remember enjoying it so much. ( Cut for length )

Anyway. It was good, and I think I'm ready now to re-watch Children of Earth. Won't be tomorrow, because I've got rehearsal in the evening, but hopefully I'll get it in this week, and then still have time to rewatch DW S5 before Christmas. :-)

If anyone's interested, my original reaction post to Exit Wounds is here

One good thing that came out of me being so tired and out of it last week was that I actually sat down and watched quite a bit of telly. I watched several episodes of Torchwood, one of Buffy, two of Angel, one of Dollhouse, and finally The Five Doctors. So have a review!

( Review of The Five Doctors )

(Note: review contains spoilers for Children of Earth)

A very long time ago – on 31 July 2007 so just over two years ago – I took part in a 'pay it forward' meme and becky_h requested from me a review or commentary of End of Days. I never got round to it, mainly because when I finally was able to rewatch it, it was during a hurried rewatch of the whole of S1 before S2 aired and I didn't feel able to form any interesting thoughts about it.

However, I watched it again last night (as part of another rewatch of Jack's whole story which will hopefully lead to me actually being able to watch Children of Earth again by the time I get there) and found I did have a few thoughts, so here's my review, two years late but better late than never!

( Review of End of Days )

I'm not writing a long review because I'm knackered and want my bed, but just wanted to say that I wasn't really that excited about the return of TW but I sat down and watched it tonight and it was one *hell* of a lot better than I expected.

( More under the cut - spoilers, obviously )

Well, I have finally seen Star Trek – took my mum (who got me into the original series) because Andy had already seen it. And may I say, I was *very* pleasantly surprised. I'd heard almost nothing but good stuff about it, but I admit I was very sceptical that it could possibly live up to the original series (all of them) and still bring something new to it.

( Cut for length and spoilers )

I'm sure I shall think of more to say as soon as I've posted this, but I shall just conclude with: all in all, this is a wonderful homage to the original series and something I am very much looking forward to seeing more of.

Wow, look at me, actually watching some Angel AND reviewing it! I figured it was about time. It's been about two years, which is VERY scary!

( Reviews here )

Wow. Oh wow.

I remembered it being good, but I didn't remember how good. So much there. Fabulous characters, loads of fantastic lines, lots of tension and suspense - especially the continuing question of how were the seers seeing the future so clearly, and I loved the explanation that they weren't seeing the volcano erupting because in that timeline it wasn't going to - and an absolutely brilliant expansion on the Doctor/Donna relationship. I adore the dynamic between them here: Donna continuously questioning everything the Doctor usually just does automatically, and being exactly what he needs. That's brilliant.

And the moment where he has to make the choice to kill 20,000 people to save the Earth, and all the echoes that must have of having to destroy Gallifrey to save the universe... And the fact that this time he has Donna there to make the choice with him, put her hand over his on the lever, that this time he's not alone... That's just. Wow. Made me shiver.

I watched this ahead of schedule because I am role-playing Jack/Rani and I thought it sensible to learn more about the character. And a fantastic character she is too - cool and sexy and utterly fascinating as a villain who's not intrinsically villainous like the Master but merely absorbed by her science and not at all concerned about the effects of it on anyone else. And the interplay between her and the Master is hugely entertaining, even if they do both give in to the Doctor a little too easily.

Unfortunately, the Rani and the Master are by far the best things in this serial. (Oh, and the scenery of Blists Hill museum, which I visited on a family holiday not that long after this serial was made in 1984.) I'd been interested to see how I liked watching the Sixth Doctor again, because when I first watched his stories (as a pre/early-teen) I thought Colin Baker rather hot. Not as hot as Peter Davison, of course, but still rather hot. But in the snippets I've seen since then, however, I didn't like him. And, yeah, I didn't like him in this either. He has the same arrogance and rudeness that all incarnations of the Doctor display, but in him, rather than being cool or funny, they're just annoying. I couldn't like him.

And as for Peri... What is the point of her character? I don't think it's Nicola Bryant's fault - I've seen her in other things since and she was all right - as much as the writers/directors. All she seems to do is state the obvious, look frightened (which she admittedly does very well *g*) and get in the way/fail to save the Doctor. I don't think she actually did anything useful, apart from collect the plant for the sleeping draught, and even that involved getting caught in a minefield and getting a rather handsome young man turned into a tree!

It's a shame, because it's a relatively good story and it was beautifully shot. Mind you, don't get me started on those atrocious 'northern' accents! *g*

ETA: Nearly forgot to mention, this was my first good look at the Master's TCE and wow. Could that thing be any more phallic????

Also: Has anyone ever slashed Ainley!Master/Avon? Because they should.

Voyage of the Damned: Not a lot to say, really, except that I enjoyed this a hell of a lot more than I remembered enjoying it the first time. Possibly because the first time I'd been waiting months since the end of the last series, so there was a lot more weighing on it, whereas this time it was just something to get out of the way so I could see Donna. *g* But it wasn't bad. It was quite good fun, and there were some great characters, though it was a shame so many of them were killed along the way.

Partners in Crime: I really, really enjoyed this. There's not really a hell of a lot to it, but it works very well as a re-introduction of Donna and her family, and I am completely in love with her grandad, bless him. I loved the cleverness of the Doctor and Donna missing each other so very closely whilst investigating. I enjoyed Sarah Lancashire's performance. The journalist who kept getting tied up was fun. The Adipose were unbelievably cute, for little balls of fat. And Donna just seems to bring out a great performance from DT. And I loved the Doctor's attempt to save the nanny at the end. That's just so him.

(My original, one-line, review of Partners in Crime is here - and heh, that was 6 April last year - very nearly a year ago!)

NB Still need a Donna icon. Must go icon-hunting soon!

I really, really enjoyed this series. It's seven episodes long but the story kept going and didn't feel as if it was dragging at any point. And it kept you thinking too. A great moral dilemma – humans v. the creatures who were there first and wanted to take back the earth. I loved the Doctor trying so hard to get both sides to work and live together, and then, when that didn't work, at least getting the Silurians to go back into their stasis – only to find at the very end that the Brigadier was blowing them up.

Fantastic expansion on the relationship between the Doctor and the Brigadier in this one. Where is the Doctor/Brigadier slash? There must be some, surely? Especially with the Doctor looking so damn sexy in his white t-shirt and jeans and all those muscles… d'you know, I think Three is actually the 'fittest'-looking Doctor of them all, really! Not bad, at Jon Pertwee's age!

Other things spotted:

Bessie!!!! (Bessie is about the only thing I remember about Three.)

Avon!!!! (All right, Paul Darrow – a very young Paul Darrow, as one of the Brigadier's soldiers. It was his voice that made me recognise him. You can't miss that grating voice.)

Geoffrey Palmer!!!! (I don't think I'd ever seen him looking so young.)

And an interesting little note to add to the Doctor's confusion about his age: "You know, I'm beginning to lose confidence for the first time in my life - and that covers several thousand years." I suppose he could be talking about the several thousand years that he's visited over his lifetime, but it's a bit odd. They really should have paid more attention to canon as they were writing it! :-)

(NB. Must get a Three icon. I've still got another three serials with him in! Maybe a 'Three iz fit' icon. Hmmm...)

(Or perhaps I should be referring to it as the 51st DW serial. I'm not sure which convention is used!)

Wow. I don't think I've watched any of the Third Doctor serials (oh, except a short bit of The Mind of Evil on YouTube, in black and white) since I've been an adult. As a consequence, I had no idea that Jon Pertwee was so damn sexy!

( The rest is under the cut )

Overall, very enjoyable and I'm glad I bought it. I've still got the commentaries (I think there's one for each of the four episodes!) and a few extras to watch, too!

And now it's late, I'm tired, and so I'm going to bed. :-)

(aka I've now finished the box-set of the first three serials)

There are some great extras on the Edge of Destruction DVD – on that one because the serial's only two episodes long.

There's a 45 minute documentary about 'The Origins of Doctor Who', which was a fascinating look into how it was thought up and started production and almost got cancelled after shooting the first episode etc. etc. Some interesting shots of 'Studio D' where it was filmed and some of the sets.

There's also a half-hour look at the rather complicated plot etc. of the Edge of Destruction, which works better than a commentary on this one because it gives you a chance to focus visually on some of the things you might have missed first time round.

Then there are other short documentaries about the TARDIS set, the creation of the Doctor Who theme tune (which was fascinating – the whole thing was created by splicing bits of tape together!), and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, which created all the sound-effects and some of the music.

Throughout most of the documentaries there are interviews with several of the behind the scenes people, and also with William Russell (Ian Chesterton), who looks great and is a real sweetie, and Carole Ann Ford (Susan), who looks pretty awful, I have to say! They were on most of the commentaries too.

Finally, there's a very condensed (7 episodes condensed to 30 minutes!) version of the Marco Polo serial which followed Edge of Destruction. Its recording has been lost, but the audio track remains and they've cleverly used parts of this along with a lot of still photographs to make it work perfectly well as a story. I really enjoyed it!

And I'm going to miss the First Doctor, and Ian and Barbara and Susan. I haven't got any more with them on. :-(

My Second Doctor story (Tomb of the Cybermen) hasn't arrived yet so I'm not sure what I'll watch next. I have a feeling I might be tempted to skip to something with the Master in... *g*