The show is none other than the insanely long-running Doctor Who series which I have grown a love for. The first episode I ever saw was "The Doctor Dances" and I did not care for it. About a year later, I started from the beginning and "Doctor Dances" ended up being one of my favorites. Then I got to season two and I was angry that David Tennant wasn't Christopher Eccleston, so I stopped watching again. I got back into the series from random episodes being shown on Sci-Fi Channel and started my endeavor to watch them all in order. This morning, I finished, ending with what was the first of five special episodes for 2009-2010 because David Tennant is busy doing Shakespeare.
The Next Doctor was written by writer Russell T Davies, who has written some episodes such as the revived pilot episode "Rose", the Christmas Specials (which "The Next Doctor" technically is one of), season premiers, season finales, and some other sadly unremarkable episodes. A competent writer, but he's no Steven Moffat to be sure. The episode was directed by Andy Goddard, who was sporting his name on Doctor Who for the first time, having just finished a stint directing a spin-off series, Torchwood. I have no real complaints about either the directing or writing, as it is all done very differently for television and was done in usual Doctor Who style and magnificence. The acting was, as always with the series, fantastic with David Tennant and his long coat, brainy specs, sonic screwdriver and high pitched exacerbated voice. The supporting cast too, was stylish and British and everything it needs to be to work in The Doctor's world.For those who don't know and are still reading for some reason, a history lesson: The Doctor is a Time Lord--the last one, in fact--and in this particular story he is the tenth incarnation of the The Doctor. When a Time Lord dies, he/she regenerates into a different form, having all the same memories and abilities but having a different personality quirk each time and being played by a different actor. Having just been left by everyone he loved, The Doctor finds himself in London 1851 on Christmas Eve and finds the titular Next Doctor as played by David Morrissey. The Cybermen are back and are trying to convert the human race again. David Morrissey's Doctor is trying to figure out a murder mystery surrounding them with his own sonic screwdriver (a screwdriver that makes noise) and his own TARDIS (a hot air balloon).
Now, I had the plot figured out relatively quickly, save for the initial confusion, and that was kind of disappointing to me. I like being surprised by a twist ending, not seeing it coming from miles away. Plus, the Cybermen were really badass when they came back in the revived series, but after the Daleks ripped them apart in the season two finale they kind of lost their appeal as a big baddy. Now they're just kind of lame, and all I can think of is Dalek Sec saying "We can destroy eight million Cybermen with one Dalek." And he was right. Therefore, Cybermen=lame.
The episode as a whole wasn't bad. Had all the things that make Doctor Who so great: humor, drama, running. But as with other Christmas episodes, he didn't have a proper companion with which to directly relate to. I still think Billie Piper as Rose Tyler was a high point in the series, whether she was with Tennant or Eccleston, and Martha Jones grew on you quickly; less so for Donna Noble, but in the end she's the savior of the universe. And now, right after they're all gone, here's The Doctor alone again--which isn't to say that he's bad alone. It just makes it harder to identify with.
I am interested where the next four specials are going to go. It has been announced that Matthew Smith will be taking over the role of The Doctor in season five, and I can't help but want to see how The Doctor is going to kick off and need to regenerate. I also wonder if River Song from the "Silence in the Library"/"Forest of the Dead" serial comes back in any of these specials, as she was obviously very close to The Doctor in his tenth incarnation to recognize him so readily. The next special will air in England on Easter, and in the states some time afterward. But fear not! I will find a way to review that son of a bitch as soon as I can.
-Evan "Dez" O'Connor
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