"Doctor Who" The Doctor's Daughter (2008)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Alice Troughton

Writer:

Stephen Greenhorn (written by)

TV Series:

"Doctor Who" (2005)

Original Air Date:

10 May 2008 (Season 4, Episode 6)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Caught in the middle of a war between the Humans and the Hath in the planet Messaline, the Doctor finds himself once again a father.

Plot Keywords:

Father Daughter Relationship | Alien | Time Lord | Tardis | Companion

Cast

David Tennant	...	The Doctor
Catherine Tate	...	Donna Noble
Freema Agyeman	...	Martha Jones
Georgia Moffett	...	Jenny
Nigel Terry	...	Cobb
Joseph Dempsie	...	Cline (as Joe Dempsie)
Paul Kasey	...	Hath Peck
Ruari Mears	...	Hath Gable
Akin Gazi	...	Carter
Olalekan Lawal Jr.	...	Soldier

Runtime:

UK:45 min | 45 min (50 episodes)

Certification:

UK:12 (DVD rating)

Company:

BBC Wales

Trivia:

The scar that the cloning machine leaves on the back of the Doctor's hand is the same shape as the scar on the back of the child's hand in Season 1's _"Doctor Who" The Empty Child (2005)_.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Unless the generated soldiers age at an extremely accelerated rate (or are created old, which is somewhat illogical, as they're supposed to fight), General Cobb should know all about the fighting and what the Source is, not to mention how everything works, what the numbers mean, and so on.

Quotes:

Jenny: And Time Lords, what are they for?
The Doctor: For? They're not for anything.
Jenny: So what do you do?
The Doctor: I travel. Through time and space.
Donna Noble: He saves worlds, rescues civilizations, defeats terrible creatures and runs a lot. Seriously, there's an outrageous amount of running involved.
The Doctor: [opens hidden door] Got it!
[shouts echo]
The Doctor: Now, what were you saying about running?

Movie Connections:

References First Blood (1982)

Average episode with strong performances from Tennant and Tate

"The Doctor's Daughter" is a fast paced episode with the title explained within minutes of the titles rolling.

The Doctor's daughter is played by the wonderful Georgia Moffett. Moffett's natural beauty is hardly surprising given that her parents are Peter Davison and Sandra Dickinson. She gives a great performance here and delivers her lines with zeal.

My only reservation about the episode is the level of emotional porn that is shoe-horned into the 45 minutes. Even Spielberg would blush at the audience manipulation present here. Still, despite this criticism, I cried like a baby in this tale so the makers are doing something right.

8 out of 10. The eagle eyed will recognise one of the locations out of Torchwood's "Captain Jack Harkness" episode.