Doctor Who Series 3, Episode 11 Review: Utopia
- doctorbrick
- Aug 30, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Jan 27
What did you think of this episode?
Sonic!
Good!
Bumpy-wumpy!
Exterminate!
RTD doing RTD things, casually dropping a banger cliffhanger in! Utopia was a slow burn, but this review will always be giving praise for the ending. I don't think anyone had wind of who was coming in this episode when it aired? I could be very wrong on that, as I know John Simm had appeared in a trailer beforehand, but did anyone know who he was going to play?
Anyway, this was a nice slow build up to a crazy last five or ten minutes. The kind of cliffhanger I can picture Russell enjoying the hell out of writing this.
"You two! We’re at the end of the Universe. Right at the edge of knowledge itself. And you’re busy blogging!"
I know there are some issues that never really fully resolved themselves when it comes to John Barrowman, however, I do enjoy seeing Captain Jack back. I do wonder about everything that was said, how bad was it working for Doctor Who in the early days? It is such a joyous show, it seems such a shame to have it tainted. Now all I ever see of Captain Jack is him complaining about self checkouts - a point I fully disagree with him on! I bloody love a bit of self service being a socially awkward bugger that I am - no awkward conversations, no telling anyone how I feel, not having to talk about the weather, best invention ever if you ask me!!
Where was I? Ah yes, this was a pretty slow burner - lots of dialogue with the Doctor and the fantastic Derek Jacobi as the Professor! I love it!! Did anyone guess YANA from YANA? Me being me, I didn't have a scooby at the time.
"Hermits United. We meet up every ten years. Swap stories about caves. It’s good fun. For a hermit."
Russell knows how to do a cliffhanger!! He really does!! Honestly, an RTD cliffhanger is one of the best things that happen in my life, the Daleks in the sphere, Sutekh, and this one is probably the best of the lot.
The build up from when the Doctor and Jack start chatting as they fix the rocket couplings is on another level. Ten and Jack chatting about what has happened to Jack, about Rose, Martha and the Professor over hearing things, absolute delight.
There is always a lot of chat about how much Doctor Who you need to watch to know what is going on. I had never heard of Sutekh, and I had only very brief memories of the Master, but these cliffhanger reveals still hit me hard! The pure drama of it all, Ten screaming at Martha to see if the Professor knew what the watch was. Ten trying to talk himself into thinking it might, just might, be a decent Time Lord, when he knew, and we all knew, that would very much not be the case.
"This new regeneration, it’s kinda cheeky!"
Freema, David, Derek, superb!!! Chan - Special mention to Chipo Chung as well, she was amazing as Chantho - tho! I love the scene where Martha gets her to speak without her chan and her tho - and the chan and tho driving the Master insane!!!
Also, I have a massive soft spot for John Simm as I bloody love him as an actor and am a huge, huge fan of Life on Mars.
The Futurekind were a bit meh, but they didn't really matter to be honest.
RATING: Sonic!
BEST LINE: "I...am...the...Master!"
Comments