The Tardis lands in Victorian London at Christmas. Hearing someone calling his name, the Doctor rushes off, to find a young woman cowering in terror from something behind a locked door. A young man ( David Morrissey ) in Dickensian clothes appears, proudly announces himself as the Doctor, and takes charge of the situation...
Another Christmas, another 'Dr.Who' Christmas Special. I enjoyed this one, but for a change I'll start this review by stating what I did not like about it. Firstly, the Cybershades were awful, reminiscent of the sticky tape and cardboard box monsters of the classic series. It was impossible to be unnerved by creatures that looked exactly like what they were - blokes in gorilla suits wearing coal scuttles. Worse, there was no need for them to be there. Cybermats could have been used instead. Secondly, the mystery of the 'next Doctor' was unnecessarily protracted. All the Doctor had to do was to whip out a stethoscope and listen to Lake's heart ( apparently such a scene was filmed but deleted from the finished broadcast ) to see if he was a Time Lord. Lake believed himself to be the Doctor after being exposed to a backfiring info stamp. Now we know Morrissey will not be the eleventh Doctor - thank heavens for that. Colin Baker was wrong when he said the role of the Doctor was 'actor proof'. The wrong person in the role would kill the show forever. Morrissey was hammy as 'the Doctor' yet first-rate as 'Lake'. Loved his 'sonic screwdriver'! His 'companion' was called 'Rosita' in a nice homage to Billie Piper's 'Rose'.
The Cybermen seemed a bit wasted, getting to do little more than march about and look menacing. The scene in which they attacked funeral mourners was brilliant though, emerging through a snowstorm just as they did back in 1966's 'The Tenth Planet'. The real villainy came from sexy Dervla Kirwan as 'Miss Hartigan', easily the best female villain in the show for some time. She had joined forces with the Cybermen to help them construct a 'Cyber King', a giant Cyberman who proceeded to stamp Godzilla-like on poor old London Town.
Why did the Cybermen need children to work in their factory? Surely adults could have done the job more efficiently.
Tennant as ever performed wonders with what was basically an average script. The appearance of the earlier Doctors was nice, and there were some good jokes. As I said earlier, I liked this very much, and, following its repeat at Christmas 2010 ( presumably to take away the bad taste left by the appalling 'A Christmas Carol' ) enjoyed it even more. The Russell T.Davies era of 'Dr.Who' looks more and more impressive with each passing year.
Another Christmas, another 'Dr.Who' Christmas Special. I enjoyed this one, but for a change I'll start this review by stating what I did not like about it. Firstly, the Cybershades were awful, reminiscent of the sticky tape and cardboard box monsters of the classic series. It was impossible to be unnerved by creatures that looked exactly like what they were - blokes in gorilla suits wearing coal scuttles. Worse, there was no need for them to be there. Cybermats could have been used instead. Secondly, the mystery of the 'next Doctor' was unnecessarily protracted. All the Doctor had to do was to whip out a stethoscope and listen to Lake's heart ( apparently such a scene was filmed but deleted from the finished broadcast ) to see if he was a Time Lord. Lake believed himself to be the Doctor after being exposed to a backfiring info stamp. Now we know Morrissey will not be the eleventh Doctor - thank heavens for that. Colin Baker was wrong when he said the role of the Doctor was 'actor proof'. The wrong person in the role would kill the show forever. Morrissey was hammy as 'the Doctor' yet first-rate as 'Lake'. Loved his 'sonic screwdriver'! His 'companion' was called 'Rosita' in a nice homage to Billie Piper's 'Rose'.
The Cybermen seemed a bit wasted, getting to do little more than march about and look menacing. The scene in which they attacked funeral mourners was brilliant though, emerging through a snowstorm just as they did back in 1966's 'The Tenth Planet'. The real villainy came from sexy Dervla Kirwan as 'Miss Hartigan', easily the best female villain in the show for some time. She had joined forces with the Cybermen to help them construct a 'Cyber King', a giant Cyberman who proceeded to stamp Godzilla-like on poor old London Town.
Why did the Cybermen need children to work in their factory? Surely adults could have done the job more efficiently.
Tennant as ever performed wonders with what was basically an average script. The appearance of the earlier Doctors was nice, and there were some good jokes. As I said earlier, I liked this very much, and, following its repeat at Christmas 2010 ( presumably to take away the bad taste left by the appalling 'A Christmas Carol' ) enjoyed it even more. The Russell T.Davies era of 'Dr.Who' looks more and more impressive with each passing year.