What did you think of these episodes?
Sonic!
Good!
Bumpy-wumpy!
Exterminate!
Now here lies why I love Series 3 so much. Is there a run of episodes this strong starting from now? Just watch the mid season trailer and agree with me please. Granted, the series 4 mid season trailer may have been better, but come on, this still gets me a bit excited!!!
These are so good! Tell me a stronger run than this:
Human Nature
The Family of Blood
Blink
Utopia
The Sound of Drums
Last of the Time Lords
That hits hard, very hard!!
"That’s the Box. The Blue Box. It’s always there. Like a magic carpet. This funny little box that transports me to faraway places."
I think it is the acting in this episode that raises it above some others. Jessica Hynes puts in a gorgeous performance. There are a few times she makes some very dated comments, but where that make you hate some characters you can look at her in the context of the time this episode is set. The moment that comes to my mind was when she tells Martha that "women might train to be doctors, but hardly a skivvy and hardly one of your colour." Not a great thing to say, but as she delivers the line there is a look of shock and horror on her face that she even said that. A look that told me she didn't fully believe what she was saying and a look that said I don't actually agree with the views of this time. It was only a small thing, and maybe I was wrong, maybe she is like everyone else?
Talking about that scene, Martha listing the bones of the hand in reply is a bad ass move!!
David Tennant was also great in this. I love it when Doctor Who tests the audience a bit, as is it really that easy to root for him in these episodes? He throws children into battle, he gives students the go ahead to deck another student, he also makes some dodgy comments about Martha - Oh I see, cultural differences. John Smith is also a bit of a weed when you compare him to the Doctor. Despite all his flaws we are told that he is part of the Doctor, hidden inside him.
Lets not forget the ending as well. The Doctor ran away and basically got a fair few people caught in the firing line - including a lot of children I must add - and it cost them their lives.
Did you like John Smith? Was he a hero or a villain? What about Joan? Did you like her?
"Don’t just stand there, move! God you’re rubbish as a human!"
Can I just take some time to state that Baines is a great character. The performance of Harry Lloyd has stuck with me as much as Jessica Hynes' since the first time I watched this. Some of the looks and movements he makes are pure gold. I say old chap!!!!
Tim is cool as well. I recently found out two things about him:
He still looks EXACTLY the same;
He is married to Miss Evangelista
I then found out that Miss Evangelista was married to the Donald Trump arse licking billionaire Elon Trump. Even more digging made me realise she was the reason Musk brought Twitter to 'get rid of the woke' on it.
Well all this was a complete eye opener to me, I will never look at the Library two parter in the same way again. Get rid of the woke! What the fuck does that even mean?
I assume it means getting rid of people who question that Trump (and her billionaire ex) are lying pieces of shit who are only in it for themselves. Oh how it would be a better place if everybody bragged about how much they would like to shag their daughter, or better still, maybe use our daughters as some sort of pawn in the 'war against woke". Oh it would be so much better.
I could live in a world where women would have no choice over their bodies, where gay couples could be flogged in the street, where the rich get so much more richer, and we can worship them from way down below in our poverty, praising them for being such shining beacons of hope. Proof that if you are selfish enough, greedy enough and a big enough cunt, you too could be obscenely wealthy.
What a world that would be!!
Fuck! Right! Off!
"I’m sorry, John. But you wrote about it. The Blue Box. You dreamt of a Blue Box."
I adored the scene where Martha went to the TARDIS and we had flashbacks of how they came to be in the situation they were in. Murray Gold dropped a banger in there as well for good measure.
Pretty much every scene in this was amazing. The Headmaster confronting the family, the scarecrows approaching, the scene where a scarecrow appears in Tim's window made me jump like buggery! Martha realising Jenny is no longer Jenny and offering her gravy in her tea. Or some mutton.
The Doctor returning in the families ship is a bittersweet moment, as during the course of this story I was kind of rooting for Joan and John. I was certainly rooting for Joan anyway.
This story is elevated even higher by its ending/s. It hits hard, very hard. All that brilliant acting throughout pays off with a number of gut punches. Joan's on a whim question to the Doctor was both brilliant and horrific in equal measure. Her asking the Doctor if he could change back (yes) and if he would change back (no) was equally distressing.
"Because I’ve seen him. He’s like fire and ice and rage. He’s like the night and the storm and the heart of the sun. He’s ancient and forever. He burns at the centre of time and he can see the turn of the Universe. And...he's wonderful."
As if the emotion of Joan realising nobody would of died if the man she fell in love with didn't turn up wasn't enough we have even more terrifying and emotional scenes after. Now I mentioned earlier that I love us being challenged on who we think the Doctor is, and he goes overboard here. Surely he would of been better, I don't know, humanely suffocating them? But no, he is a total prick and basically sentences them to torture, not just any old torture either, torture for the rest of eternity. Jesus Doctor, chill out man!!!!! I love it though!!!
Then to rub salt in my wounds I am always a sucker for an emotional older person. So seeing old Tim having a little weep at the war memorial as Martha and the Doctor watched on was the end for me. The bloody end!!
I can confirm I love this two part story. I may even go as far as saying it is even better than what comes next in the series!!
RATING: Sonic!
BEST LINE: "Answer me this - just one question, that's all. If the Doctor had never visited us, if he'd never chosen this place... on a whim... would anybody here have died?"
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