I have to say that i am pleased with "The Doctor's Daughter" which is the sixth episode of season four of Doctor Who.
I just watched it and yet again, we get another near-absolute masterpiece from Russell T Davis and Co.
David Tennant was of course brilliant- Which makes the rumours that he is leaving the series all the more difficult to accept.
I saw a review of the first episode after it aired (Partners in Crime) in the News of the World. It heavily criticised Tennant's performance. To paraphrase; It said "perhaps it's time to regenerate?"
I didn't understand it at the time and i definitely don't understand it now. Perhaps i am biased since i love David Tennant.
Back to the episode- Georgia Moffat was an absolute star, and since we saw "Jenny" regenerate (sort of- more of a revival really) at the end of the episode (although her appearance didn't change, perhaps a result of her odd creation)
she will likely be returning, which can only be a good thing.
I liked the story surrounding the hath and the humans on messaline, especially the "war raged for generations but it turns out its just a week" thing. Nice touch. Really the plot was pretty simple- war bad. Peace good. Doctor saves the day. The human/Hath struggle gave us some pretty good drama even though it was just the b-story, and really- obviously just a way to introduce Jenny. The real story here is of course the Doctor's daughter. I loved the personal struggle those two endured during this episode- The Doctor refusing to accept Jenny for who and what she was right up until the end- It had some pretty intense moments, and emotional repercussions for the Doctor that drew the viewer deeper into his psyche. I have to tell you, by the time she had died and the episode was drawing to a close and it began to seem less likely that she was going to regenerate- i had began to feel some concern.
All i could think was "why would they spend an entire episode on her and then just kill her, whats the point?" but Davis and Co haven't let me down yet, and they didn't disappoint me here either.
Thankfully that "better late than never" regeneration came along just at the right time to quell the tears.
So what next for our dear Jenny?
Was her introduction to the show just a precursor to another spin-off? This time with a hip young female timelord? I hope not.
I really don't think another spin-off is the right way to go with this. Although it would probably make those "i want the doctor to regenerate into a woman" guys go away for a while, i don't think adding another spin-off to the mix is really going to do anything good for Doctor Who. There comes a time when one has to say "you've taken it too far, enough is enough." I'd imagine if they're going to do this, they'd chuck it into next year, when we are only going to have a few Doctor Who specials, instead of a full season.
Maybe she's coming back for the last few episodes?
I hope so, this will be good to see, although from what i hear, everyone is going to be in the last episode. It'll be a weird reunion of sorts, Doctor, Donna, Martha, Jack, Rose and Jackie and probably Mickey. Damn i hate Mickey...
It would be good to add Jenny to the equation. That could be explosive.
Or another possibility...
Since we know that Catherine Tate is leaving at the end of this season, and we don't yet know who the next companion is going to be...
... Could it be Jenny?
Now i have heard some speculation that Rose is coming back for the next season, and that she will be the companion again, but this all might just be something out of nothing. Admittedly i may have perpetuated these rumours but hey.. What's a girl to do?
I for one would cry tears of joy if Jenny was our next companion, i am just dying to see more father daughter bonding.
They work especially well together.
"The man who never would" just gets better and better, and this episode offered us yet another chance to look into his past.
The scene where he told Donna that he was a father once and had a family was more than just a little sad- He tells her that the loss of his first family left a hole inside of him that couldn't be filled.
It was done well and it was a lovely touch on Doctor Who mythology.
I guess in regards to the Doctor's daughter's return, we'll just have to wait and see.
Now, okay- good stuff done.
Here comes the bad stuff..
Have you ever noticed that the music on Doctor Who is unnecessarily overpowering? I'm not talking about the piece of course, the actual music is consistently good. Its just.. I've missed about half the dialogue since Doctor Who began because the music is just too damn loud. They could really do with toning it down a lot.
I didn't fail to notice, that this episode used pretty much the same plot devices as last week's and the week befores The Poison Sky and The Sontaran Stratagem, respectively. I've now pretty much had my fill of military/cloning story lines.
Another common Doctor Who problem is that everything is always so tightly packed into the episode- something that isn't always a bad thing but in this case, i think they needed longer to fully explore the Doctor/Jenny relationship.
All in all though, we had our usual Doctor Who standards, and despite the occasional problems that they might have- they've always got an amazing story to tell.*
Right, well I'm off to save planets and defeat bad guys and... yeah whatever.
T'Leisha
*The two exception's to that are the first and second worst episodes of Doctor Who- "That annoying one with Peter Kay that i don't even remember the name of and never want to see again..." and "Voyage of the Damned."
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