IN BRIEF: Doctor Whooooooo-HEY! The TARDIS! Doctor Whoooooo-HEY! New series! Doctor Whoooooooooooooo! Catherine Taaaaaaaaate!
Series four of the revived Doctor Who (or series thirty if you’re an old school Whovian) kicked off in April 2008 after months of speculation regarding how new companion, Catherine Tate as Donna Noble, would fare over the upcoming thirteen episodes. She had previously appeared in the 2006 Christmas special and her shouty, moany personality was just about tolerable through that. When the return of the character was revealed, the announcement was delivered with promises that the character would be toned down, grounded and, perhaps, likeable. At the very least, she wouldn’t continue accidentally slipping into Tate’s alter egos from her BBC2 comedy series.
At the time of writing, series four is still on the air, so it’s impossible to say what kind of impact this character is going to have, but what’s the harm in making presumptions based on incomplete knowledge and gut instinct?
This is the first of four ‘vanilla’ releases planned for the next few months, that collect together the new episodes a mere month or so after they air. As the first, it presents us with Donna’s re-debut and her first three adventures.
Partners In Crime is where it all kicks off. The Doctor has returned to Earth from his gallavanting with Kylie Minogue on the Titanic spaceship, and once again he is without a companion. Donna is regretting not joining the Doctor on his journeys, and so she is on Earth, investigating alien paranorma, in the hopes that she will bump into the Time Lord again. The pair are independently investigating Adipose Industries and the unnatural dieting pills they are hawking, and eventually, after a few frustrating moments and comedy pieces, bump into each other.
This episode isn’t so much about the storyline, which is based on cutesy alien babies and an evil Mary Poppins-type who is desperate to ensure their birth, but rather about the reunion of the protagonists and how they have changed since their last meeting. Donna has become a more rounded, warm character, yet still maintaining the likeable aspects of her outspoken side. The Doctor, according to Donna, is more “human”, having learnt about compassion and the consequences of his actions from his time with previous companion Martha. The weakness of the script is that very little seems to happen: - there are no threatening enemies, nor an overwhelming sense of danger, just some running about and sweet CGI moments. Still, the comedy and the quality of the acting, plus the unexpected shock at the end, saves this forgettable story. 7 out of 10.
The psudo-historical story The Fires of Pompeii comes up next, the first of the new Who stories to be filmed abroad. Set in Pompeii on the eve of its destruction under the lava of Mount Vesuvius, we see the Doctor and companion take on a new enemy (the Pyroviles – yes, that’s an amalgamation of ‘pyro’ and ‘vile’) and about a million soothsayers of different types.
The most intriguing and exciting element of the story is the friction between Donna and the Doctor, with the human wanting to save as many as she can from the impending danger, and the Time Lord knowing that time needs to be left alone and cannot be interrupted by their travels. Although it is laid on quite thick at times, Donna’s confidence in her sense of right results in some quality acting and some excellent moments, and once again it is the acting and the writing that are the high points, and they distract from the weakness of the threat (some visually impressive, but conceptually weak Pyrovile creatures) and some of the scenes with the Pompeii residents. There are a good handful of spine-chilling moments which makes this a jaw-dropping episode. 7 out of 10.
The highlight of the disc, and in fact he first half of the series, is the third episode, The Planet of the Ood. An encore for series 2’s fan favourite aliens the Ood, this one takes us to their home planet, the Oodsphere. The revival and fleshing out of the Ood was a welcome idea, and the storyline is strong enough to justify it. Here, we explore the darker side of human nature, and it is for moments like this that Donna’s character was seemingly created – to represent the downtrodden and disrespected. A touching storyline, highlighted by magnificent performances from the regular cast once again. 8 out of 10.
Three quality episodes shake up everything that was previously believed about Catherine Tate’s Donna, and serve both as a wonderful surprise and an exciting beginning to the new series. The DVD itself presents little more than the episodes themselves. Presumably, this is so the cost can be kept low so the kiddies can pick it up for pocket money, but that’s just speculation and it could just as easily be because the BBC want to start selling them as soon as possible. All the extras will be saved up for the boxset in November, so if you’re a hardcore fan, you’re better off holding out for that. That’s not to weaken the value of this DVD though – the three episodes are individually superb moments of television, each for completely different reasons, and all of them are worth watching. By everybody. In the universe. Ever.