I am – Hercules!!

“Palimpsest” says:

Hi Herc

A quick review of the rather magnificent DOCTOR WHO 3.8, which has just aired in the UK...

Episode title: "Human Nature"

Guest starring: Jessica Hynes (AKA Jessica Stevenson from SPACED)

Script: Paul Cornell, adapting his own novel of the same name

Director: Charles Palmer

Synopsis: The Doctor and Martha are being pursued across spacetime by baddies known only as The Family. They're after a Time Lord, it seems. As a last-ditch measure, The Doctor pull out a device called a "Chameleon Arch" and hurriedly gives Martha a complicated set of instructions involving a pocket watch...

...then we pop up in 1913 Britain, where a certain John Smith (David Tennant), a teacher at a minor public school, is being troubled by dreams of adventures in space, which he writes up in his journal, as illustrated stories of fantastic fiction. He confides in two people; his maid, Martha (Freema Agyeman), and the school nurse, Joan (Jessica Hynes/Stevenson). Meanwhile, aliens are crash-landing in nearby woods, people are being possessed, and scarecrows are coming to life...

Verdict: Hands-down, best of the series to date. The two-part structure (next week's "The Family of Blood" rounds the tale out) gives WHO proper time to establish setting and story before the running about begins. Tennant is terrific throughout, demonstrating more of his range. Freema wears a maid's outfit. You get sneaky racist English toffs, a touching romance, a man battling with powerful dreams, almost memories, of another life altogether, you get Gatling guns, cloaked spaceships and creepy-as-hell scarecrows and a sinister kid with a red balloon. The Martha character has plenty to do, there are a couple of neat in-jokes for the geeky, and it all gets topped off with a good old-fashioned WHO cliffhanger. Not bad for 45 minutes. The period detail, as you might imagine from the BBC, is spot-on, and there's a minimal use of either prosthetics or CGI.

So far, there's not a duff note in the story. Let's hope the second half lives up to the promise of the first...

“A Nice Guy” says:

Hi AICN

It is the first time I have written a review and it is all inspired by tonight's excellent episode of Doctor Who, Human Nature, a 2 parter that really makes you wish it wasn't, in the good way not the Cyberman dull way.

What an amazing slice of Who we had tonight, from the opening moments with the Doctor and Martha under fire right through to the closing moments I was totally gripped.

Every scene seemed important and it is the first episode of this season that felt like Classic Who, and by that I mean it was about the Doctor, in every sense of the word.

I will try and do a review and not a analysis of what happened, Doctor Who takes drastic action and a trip to 1913 to avoid an enemy that remains mostly unseen, the family of Blood are there name and they take the form of human, they are chasing the Doctor as they want his Timelord mojo, subsequently the Doctor takes refuge in heavy disguise, Martha accompanies him and is basically responsible for his safety, the Tardis is powered down and unused though the Doc has left Martha some information on what to do, though he apparently forgot the basics of being alive, IE love.

I hope this does not come across as too fan wank but tonight's episode was art, pure art, from the historic details, which some say the BBC does well, I say all TV does historic well as it is something we feel we know, making artistic choices simpler, to the feel of the characters, everyone felt like they stepped up it a notch, from Martha's simple love for the Doctor to the supporting cast who included the lady from Spaced as a Matron also with love on her mind.

I actually turned my lights up during this episode, there where quite a few very simple yet very effective scares, good use of nighttime and light, the possessed humans are terrifying though I do not know why, they seem very alien and quite mad, I think Mr Saxon is one of them, he is a mentioned but until now unseen player in this season.

There where Scarecrows too, which sounds a bit Worzel but they turned out to be well executed as creepy henchmen and the sonic screwdriver makes its most useful appearance yet.

I am not a person who looks for fault so no bad from me, I like to simply enjoy what is, zen TV if you like, some cool things included the drawings the Doctor made of his life, which included a shot of Paul Mcgann, nice touch, racism reared its head which will satisfy those who felt Martha unabused enough in the past, she is treated with contempt by quite a few characters and one makes a racially offensive joke which to my super evolved sensibilities was like a slap and Tennant's acting continues to be a high point and he really flew tonight as did Freema as Martha, she is a good companion as she is canny, not fooled by obviously possessed people like so many dim companions in the past, I am typing about you Teegan.

As mentioned a 2 parter so 7 bloody days to wait, after last weeks Eurovision debacle I feel that the £10 a week the BBC charges me for basically Doctor Who and Eastenders means they should utilise on of there 4 channels and show it tonight, its not happening though.

I say 10 out of 10 for tonight's episode though as mentioned I am a nice guy.

I am on AICN Smashing if you like this do me, cheers.