While part of me thinks it was a bit too soon after Rosa for Doctor Who to do another historical that focused on racial prejudice and related issues, Demons of the Punjab managed to outdo Rosa in the storytelling stakes and delivered a really interesting drama, with a bit of Who alien-related stuff around it (so we’re still not in pure historical land just yet…) So let’s take a look at the story and see just why it took me by surprise…
The Tsuranga Conundrum was a step up after last week’s effort, not that it was particularly hard to do that, but it does seem to highlight a quirk of the Thirteenth Doctor’s run so far: a focus on the companions and their relationships at the expense of the villain of the story. Let’s take a look at this most recent example and see how that affected the story this time round…
Remember in my Rosa review when I said “while I wouldn’t want all of my Doctor Who this blatantly educational” ? Well, I meant it, so I was kind of annoyed when “Arachnids in the UK” not only had one of the worst titles in Who history, but was also all about the effects of not properly disposing of waste… plus we got another heavy-handed, unsubtle Trump-a-like, which if you’ve read my review of Who audio story “The Silurian Candidate” you’d know how I feel about those! … So… yeah. Let’s take a look…
Rosa is a hard episode to review. As a Doctor Who episode it was alright, the lead villain was bit pants but on the upside Jodie Whittaker felt much more funny and interesting this time round. As an episode made to highlight both how horrible racism is and as a history lesson to show how one lady refusing to give up her seat on a bus lead to such a big change, it was good. I guess it all comes down to what you want out of the episode, but let’s have a look one way or another…
Doctor Who begins to settle into its new groove with The Ghost Monument, which was a fun trek across a dangerous alien planet, and while it won’t win any originality awards (which at this point are incredibly hard to “win” thanks to there being just so many Who stories anyway) it was a fun way to pass an hour. New TARDIS interior and new opening completes the “new era” package, and we even get the old “hint of a future plot point” thrown in! Let’s take a closer look…
The Thirteenth Doctor has arrived, and with her a certainly fresh feeling episode Doctor Who. The Doctor herself isn’t anything new at the moment (well, apart from gender!) which is of course a common post-regeneration thing, but I did enjoy the new cast that surrounds her. It was a fun opener to her run, and promises a different experience in the weeks ahead. Let’s take a closer look, then, at “The Woman Who Fell to Earth”.
Well, here we go, the first time I review a Twelfth Doctor story in retrospect, rather than after it airs. Deep Breath not only introduces us to a great new Doctor (well, great for the rest of this series, anyway…) but also gives us a fun villain and a waves a goodbye to Vastra, Jenny and Strax by giving them one final adventure. It’s a damn fine story, with only a few minor quibbles, so let’s take a good look!
Although the era of Doctor #11 declined as it went on (not as a whole, there were still some good episodes here and there) watching the Eleventh Hour is a stark reminder of how amazing a start Matt Smith’s time on the show got. In just an hour a lot of new cast got introduced and a new Doctor got to show his thing, while an overall season-long story arc got teased and a few new enemies got thrown in. It’s really well done, and filmed with an interesting and unique style. Comparing this to Series 6 or 7 shows how much the series fell… Still, we’re not here to talk about that, this is about Doctor debut stories, so let’s look at this Doctor’s debut story!
Not even a year later (release-wise) from the previous debut story, we have David Tennant’s debut in the role, as well as the first Doctor Who Christmas Special (of the modern era, anyway…) The Christmas Invasion, as the title suggests, certainly doesn’t forget to remind you of what time of the year it was, but it at least doesn’t forget to tell a story about how the 10th Doctor came to be, and how Rose managed to adapt to the sudden change. So… let’s take a look! Ho-ho-ho! (it’s September as I write this…)
This is not just a Doctor Debut Story, but it was the story that re-debuted the series in general and made it a success all over again. Writer Russell T. Davies looked back on past debut stories for this, specifically Spearhead from Space, and then weaved a more modern family story into it. The result is a very good adventure indeed, and a great debut for both Christopher Eccleston’s Doctor and Billie Piper’s Rose Tyler. Let’s take a closer look!
Hogan Reviews 