  |
|
|
|
An overview of the second series, starring David Tennant and Billie Piper, which came with massive expectations, that were not always met.
The second series of Doctor Who came with enormous expectations in the wake of the success of the first. The first series in some ways had had it comparatively easy ; expectations had -- despite the hype surrounding the launch -- been low. Christopher Ecclestone had turned in a tour-de-force performance throughout the whole series. Billie Piper had been a revelation as Rose. And the Doctor's back-story had provided a real depth to the storylines. Now David Tennant had taken over as the Doctor. Initial signs were good, to an extent. Episode 1, New Earth, provided a chance to re-visit five million AD -- but 23 years on. The Doctor and Rose found themselves in the middle of a medical mystery, and re-united with an old friend, The Face of Bo, and an old enemy, Cassandra (Zoe Wanamaker). Cue a chance for the Doctor to empathize both with the new strain of humanity that arose from the experiment, and with his old adversary. And yet. It may have been because expectations were so high, or it may have been because the Doctor was different, or it may have been because Russell T. Davies was trying to popularize the series, but whateverthe reason, there were major plot flaws, an over-reliance on the extras rushing about, and a political point (that animal testing is wrong) that was so ham-fistedly made, that it all but undid the good points. There was also an over-reliance on body-swap humour, which given the number of versions of Freaky Friday and similar films, was hardly original. The second episode, Tooth and Claw was better. The story -- a variation on the old werewolf story -- was handled in a fresh way, that the cause was an alien parasite passed on by the creature's bite, and there was a lovely steampunk evocation, with it's 'Empire of the Wolf' imagery. The episode ended with Queen Victoria showing an unexpectedly, but almost believably hostile reaction to the Doctor, and raising once again the image of Torchwood, while Pauline Collins was a revelation as Queen Victoria. But once again, the episode showed flaws not present in most of the first series, a set of juvenile running gags with Billie Piper and the Queen that was irritating, to put it mildly; overall, the relationship between Doctor and assistant was becoming almost incestuous. Perhaps this was deliberate; in School Reunion, Davies turned this cosiness on it's head, in one of the two consecutive episodes that were amongst the series highlights. But if The Girl in the Fireplace was amongst the best ever episodes, the two-parter The Rise of The Cybermen was amongst the weakest. Most of the suspense around the first episode is based around the revelation that the villains of the piece are the Doctor's old enemy, the Cyberman. Given that the revelation had been trailed for weeks beforehand, the suspense was wasted. Other problems were the weakness of the rationale for the Cybermen, and the tendency of the script to become a Tyler-family soap opera. The cosiness of the Doctor and Billie's relationship surfaced again in The Idiot's Lantern, a piece of 1950s nostalgia only partly redeemed by Maureen Lipman from the idiocy of it's premise, that facial features are reliant on brainwaves. Fortunately, after three poor episodes, the series returned to form with a two-parter set on The Impossible Planet. Love and Monsters, the strangest story of the series, was followed by the poor quasi-horror of Fear Her, which plumbed new depths of banality, with the Doctor carrying the Olympic Torch. The series finale will be reviewed separately.
The copyright of the article Doctor Who Series 2 Overview in Sci-Fi TV Episode Summaries is owned by Colin Harvey. Permission to republish Doctor Who Series 2 Overview in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
|
|
|
|
