Review
More about Doctor Who
More about this episode
Review
More about Doctor Who
More about this episode
This episode was first broadcast on 14 April 2007. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: the Doctor takes Martha on a trip down memory lane, but the two of them get stuck in traffic.
This is another episode set in New New (New... New... New...) York in the year five-billion-and-change, and I'm still not sure what to make of it.
There's a lot to enjoy about this episode. We get a lot of cool stuff to look at (the Doctor jumping from car to car as he makes his way through the gridlock down to the fast lane is particularly memorable) and the episode moves along at a steady pace. We also get a cryptic revelation from the Face of Boe, who is an enigmatic recurring character who we first met in the 2005 episode 'The end of the world', we get monsters that first appeared on a now-lost 1960s serial, and a heart-to-heart between the Doctor and Martha.
Unfortunately we also get a story that makes no sense whatsoever, and monsters that have no real reason to be there and that have surprisingly little impact on the plot.
At the beginning of the episode the Doctor talks about his home planet, pretending it still exists. At the end of the episode he admits to Martha that Gallifrey is gone, and that everyone he's known there is dead. The writing is fine, Tennant's performance is outstanding, and though listening and showing concern and compassion doesn't seem to be Agyeman's forte she's giving it her best shot. And yet, I'm having a hard time believing in what I see on the screen. It's only at the very end of the episode, where we go into the end credits as the Doctor and Martha are still sitting there, still talking, that I get some sense that the two of them are actually bonding.
My verdict:
Just enjoy the ride.
An introduction:
Doctor Who reviews: introduction
More "quite good, actually" Doctor Who:
Doctor Who reviews: quite good, actually
More Doctor Who with David Tennant:
Doctor Who reviews: 2005 - now
Similar stories:
Doctor Who reviews: space opera
Episode guides:
BBC Episode guide
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Behind the sofa
Outpost Gallifrey
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