New Earth

A smart sequel to Rose and the Doctor's first ever off world story that, whilst fun, has the odd technical issue and storyline flaw that stops the episode reaching the top tier.

The Doctor (David Tennant) and Rose (Billie Piper) travel to New Earth, a colony set up on a planet whose orbit and atmosphere are aligned with the previous Earth, prior to the destruction we saw in the episode "The End of the World". They are called to a hospital on the outskirts of New New York, where amongst some miraculous and ahead of schedule medical breakthroughs, the Face of Boe appears to be approaching the end. But another former acquaintance, the villainess Cassandra (Zoe Wanamaker) is hiding in the basement, and on seeing Rose again, formulates a plan.

There is some bad CGI work to kick off this episode, that shows things haven't really improved that much yet, despite what must have been a higher effects budget than before. Cassandra herself, in her first form, and the transition effects, later in the episode, as people succumb to the disease are also pretty bad. The practical effects though are much better, with the cat nurses looking particularly good, along with the infecteds general boils and sores. It was interesting to read about the weather issues that affected the episode in the trivia section, as that helps explain a few times when sets are reused even when that doesn't make a lot of sense for the episode - this is particularly evident in the Zombie-esque finale.

But what the episode does do well is humour. The conceit of Cassandra jumping into other people gives, particularly Billie Piper, a chance to show some more of her comedic ability - she does this better than either Tennant or Sean Gallagher, who both just do generic posh women. There are also a couple of gags based on not quite swear words that were good too.

But ultimately those moments can't fully make up for the questionable science that makes up all of the episodes conclusion.

Twenty three years after The End of the World, the Doctor and Rose are drawn to New Earth by a psychic note, to a hospital run by cat nuns (honestly) where their miracle cures they promote. There's a couple of cast reunions, pussy lumpy lesions and coloured infusions, intimate exchanges without ablutions (several in fact) and an uprising or revolution that's the start of evolution, it's all a bit bemusing - just like chasing a ball of wool. All in a not too dissimilar story to Never Let Me Go (by Kazuo Ishiguro), though a lot more extreme, but with a happy ending, for those who survive at least.

Having revamped the series to great effect with David Tennant's introduction in The Christmas Invasion, Russell T. Davies moves on to the start of the regular season with a basic Doctor Who story: fun, danger, and weird creatures. Sadly, it's a rather disappointing season premiere compared to series opener Rose.

In its own way, though, New Earth is a bit of a landmark in the revived show, in that it's the first episode that actually takes place on another planet (sorry, spaceships and satellites don't count), namely the eponymous new home for mankind, chosen as their home-world after the original Earth was destroyed (in Season One's The End of the World). Here, the Doctor and Rose have an encounter with a race of feline nuns that are able to cure a surprising amount of diseases. Inevitably, something's not quite right about it, and the situation worsens when it turns out that the villainous Cassandra (Zoe Wanamaker), presumed dead after the events of The End of the World, is actually scheming against the time-traveling duo.

Despite a steady pace and the welcome return of both Cassandra and the Face of Boe, the episode is let down by a distinct lack of the novelty that made the first season such a delight to watch. Part of the problem is that Davies usually writes with a bigger picture in mind, but in this case, notwithstanding an intriguing mystery regarding the Doctor's relationship with the Face of Boe, it just feels like a filler story thrown in to start the season.

On the plus side, as mentioned earlier, Wanamaker's bad "girl" (well, an abnormally stretched human face or whatever) is a hoot, and the Doctor/companion relationship is given plenty of room to evolve in light of The Christmas Invasion, even if the contrivance to make them kiss is rather bland, not to mention used too early in the series, as opposed to the truly touching romantic moment between Eccleston and Piper during the climax of The Parting of the Ways. Fortunately, there's 12 more episodes to prove the first season wasn't a fluke...

This is an episode I skipped when I first began watching Doctor Who. Several people online suggested skipping this one, along with several others this season. So I did. However, when I got to the end of season 4, I just didn't want to let go of Tennant yet so I came back to watch this. I loved it. The city design was great. I laughed aloud at the antics involving Cassandra, The Doctor and Rose. I thought the case to be solved (wrong to be righted) was creepy but good. Overall, a solid "9" for me.

Great episode, Tennant stole the whole damn show. What an amazing Doctor he is. =^]