Doctor Who For Dummies: Series 4

Doctor Who - Series 4 (2008)

I've been enjoying "Doctor Who." A lot more than I initially thought that I would. It's been far from perfect and there have been a lot of growing pains in the first three series. It's easy to overlook a lot of those because of the performances of the principals, especially David Tennant's Tenth Doctor. But, things like that can only be overlooked for so long and I was a little nervous that "Doctor Who" would never live up to the potential and greatness that it sometimes showed. Then series 4 came along. It is by far the best I've seen so far and the apex of Russell T. Davies work on the series. A lot of that has to do with the stellar work done by the Doctor's newest companion, Donna Noble played by the effervescent Catherine Tate. Let's take a deep dive into series 4 of "Doctor Who."

Can't get you out of my head.

The series begins with the Christmas episode, "Voyage of the Damned." The Doctor hops aboard a spaceship replica of the Titanic after the TARDIS crashes into it. There he runs into a cheeky waitress named Astrid Peth, played by a game Kylie Minogue. It's all fun and games until some baddies called the Heavenly Hosts show up and decide they are going to crash the ship into the Earth. Like most of the Christmas episodes, this episode mainly serves as a palette cleanser for series 3. It's kind of a lark, but there are some great moments. We care just enough about the people trying to escape with the Doctor that when they self-sacrifice we are upset and Astrid's sacrifice is especially gut wrenching. It's a great start to series 4. 

"Partners in Crime" is the proper start to series 4. It finds the Doctor investigating Adipose Industries, while Donna Noble last seen in "The Runaway Bride" does the same. It seems that Donna's encounter with the Doctor changed her and she is determined to make a difference. It turns out that Adipose Industries is using the fat of people to create little aliens. The plot of the episode is fine, but it's really Donna that elevates this. From the beginning, you know that Donna is going to be head and shoulders above Rose and Donna in the companion department. Tate reins it in and is less broad and hammy then she was when she first played Donna, but still leaves room for humor. The scene where Donna and the Doctor first spot each other through two different windows across the room, is one of my favorite scenes of the series so far. Donna is a different kind of companion. She makes it clear from the beginning that she has no romantic interest in the Doctor. It immediately changes the Doctor/companion dynamic for the better.

"The Fires of Pompeii" gives us a clearer picture of how this new dynamic is going to work. The Doctor takes Donna on her first journey to the past and they end up in Pompeii on the day it is meant to be destroyed by Mount Vesuvius. The Doctor knows that the destruction of Pompeii is a fixed point in time, but Donna challenges this, especially once they realize that Vesuvius is being manipulated by the Pyroviles and their allies the Sibyelline Sisterhood. Donna challenges the Doctor in ways that Rose and Martha didn't. She makes the Doctor question himself and it's nice to see this more uncertain, human Doctor.

In "Planet of the Ood," the Doctor and Donna travel to the future where the Doctor once again encounters the alien Ood. They are still being used as slaves, this time by a corporation who markets them as docile servants. The corporation, Ood Operations, claims that the Ood are fine with this, but it just takes a bit of investigating by the Doctor and Donna to find that Ood Operations are making dangerous alterations to the Ood. It's nice to see the Ood return and again Tate steals the show. I dare you not to tear up when Donna hears the Ood's song.

Weirdest dating show ever.

The first two-parter of series 4 is "The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky." The Doctor and Donna return to Earth when the Doctor receives a call from his former companion Martha Jones, who now works for UNIT. The Doctor's old enemies the Sontarans are planning on poisoning the Earth using ATMOS units in cars with the help of the pissiest teen ever on. These are probably the weakest two episodes of series 4, but there is still some entertainment value. It's nice to see Martha back and doing something other than pine over the Doctor. Donna continues to be a delight. The main issue is that the Sontarans never really feel like a threat that justifies making them the center of a two-parter. It seems like they only got chosen because they were the last of the Doctor's classic enemies that hadn't really gotten a showcase. 

"The Doctor's Daughter" finds the Doctor, Donna and Martha on the planet Messaline in the middle of a war between humans and the fish like Hath race. When the humans hit the Doctor with a DNA ray he finds himself with a fast aging "daughter" who goes by the name Jenny. The concept of the episode is good and the Doctor has some solid moments with his "daughter" but the emotional beats don't always land because the pacing of the episode feels really accelerated. It's also a little weird that Jenny is played by Georgia Moffett, David Tennant's real-life wife.

The Doctor and Donna encounter Agatha Christie prior to a time where she briefly disappeared in "The Unicorn and the Wasp." I love this episode. It reminds me of the movie "Clue." It's over-the-top in the best way. Comedy is always hit or miss for me on "Doctor Who" but the jokes really land here. I got a kick out of the Doctor's interactions with Christie and the brief flashback shown when he is recounting a past adventure made me want to see a whole episode that focused on that. Shout out to future Jyn Erso, Felicity Jones, as a cockney jewel thief.

Spoilers.

The quality two-parter in series 4 is "Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead." The Doctor and Donna visit a planet that is a library but all is not as it seems. They soon encounter a group of archaeologists led by the enigmatic River Song played by Alex Kingston. River seems to know quite a bit about the Doctor. With her and her team's help, the Doctor learns that the library has been invaded by the Vashta Nerada. 

I'd heard a lot about River Song from my Whovian friends and she didn't disappoint. Alex Kingston is dynamite. She is cheeky and charming and emotional. Her face is so expressive and tells us so much while saying nothing. This episode is one of the "Doctor Who" episodes that uses it's budget limitations to great effect. We never see the Vashta Nerada but they are genuinely upsetting. It reminds me a lot of "Blink" except this time you have to stay out of the shadows. Things look dire for River in the end, but I have a feeling we haven't seen the last of her.

The Doctor/companion-lite episodes have a reputation for being the weakest in the series, but of course, series 4 bucks the trend and are two of the best. "Midnight" finds the Doctor and Donna taking a break on the planet Midnight. While Donna gets pampered, the Doctor goes on a four hour train trip to the Sapphire Waterfalls. When the train stops without warning, the Doctor is faced with a threat that might finally get the better of him. This is another example of the show not allowing it's budgetary limitations get the better of it. The episode capitalizes on paranoia and claustrophobia. The Doctor normally engenders confidence in the people he encounters so it's startling to see the passengers on the train turn on him, especially after he had short circuited the entertainment. It's the Doctor being called on his hubris and it works really well.

Donna meet Rose.

After barely being featured in the previous episode, it's Donna's turn to take the spotlight in "Turn Left." On the planet Shan-Shen, Donna visits a fortune teller, who attaches a giant scarab to her back and launches her into an alternate timeline where Donna and the Doctor don't meet.  I'm a sucker for alternate timeline stories and this one doesn't disappoint. We get to see Donna sort of back at square one and it's cool to see all these events we've seen before but without the Doctor's intervention. Oh yeah, and Rose Tyler shows up. That's right. After being teased in the premiere, Rose is back. She's somehow found a way to get out of her alternate universe and she periodically shows up to offer cryptic messages to Donna. Catherine Tate finally gets the showcase she deserves and she slays. I could have used less Billie Piper but that is how I feel most of the time. What was with her voice?

Series 4 concludes with the epic two-parter "The Stolen Earth/Journey's End." Russell T. Davies tries to close out his four year run on the series in this two-parter and he crams a lot into it and it feels overstuffed. When the Earth is stolen, the universe begins to crumble. Davros, creator of the Daleks, is responsible. While the Doctor and Donna search, the Doctor's former companions, Jack Harkness, Sarah Jane Smith, Martha Jones and Rose Tyler, mobilize to try and save the Earth. 

Like I said, there is a lot going on and while some of it works, some of it doesn't. I'm probably a bigger fan of the companions than I am the Doctor, so it's nice to see them all take charge and use the lessons learned from the Doctor to take it to the Daleks. I enjoyed the brief but heroic return of former Prime Minister Harriet Jones. The cliff hanger of the Doctor being shot and maybe regenerating didn't land for me, probably because I knew that David Tennant still had some specials left before he retired the Tenth Doctor. The Davros thing didn't have the impact that it probably had for long time Who watchers. I do know Sarah Jane had met Davros when she originally traveled with the Doctor so their moment I did appreciate.

There were some things in this finale I was not a huge fan of. The first was the Doctor clone. It felt like the show having it's cake and eating it too. It felt like Davies really wanted to have the Doctor destroy the Daleks, but he knew that if he did then all the growth the Doctor had shown and experienced would basically be for nothing. Enter the Doctor clone. Oh, Rose can't be with the Doctor, well, here is a human Doctor who needs to be taught morals that she can bone. It totally undercuts the ending of "The Parting of the Ways" which for me was probably Rose's best moment on the show.

Then there is Donna. Lovely, magnificent, perfect Donna Noble. When Donna becomes imbued with Time Lord energy she becomes half Doctor/half human. So she is basically perfect. The sequence where Donna shows up and basically just fucks with the Daleks is probably my favorite of this two-parter. It's joyous and it has Donna living up to her true potential which is basically what her arc has been all about this series. Then, Davies had to go and ruin it. After dropping off the human Doctor with Rose, the Doctor and Donna plan to continue their journey but then the Doctor realizes the Time Lord energy is killing Donna. So, the Doctor does what he does. He ignores what he knows Donna would want and plays God. He removes the time energy but basically returns Donna to who she was before she met him. All the growth that she has shown, all the change she has undergone for nothing. It feels like a plot device to get the Doctor to a low point as the series moves David Tennant to his endgame as the Tenth Doctor. 

Now, I know, I know. This is show is called "Doctor Who" not "Doctor Who's Companions," but ever since introducing Rose in series 1 and making her for all intents and purposes the POV character, Davies seems to have been stressing that the character arc of these companions are just as important, if not more so, than the Doctor's. So, buggering Donna just so the Doctor can have his sad moment feels really cheap and awful and does Donna a huge disservice. 

I really loved series 4 of "Doctor Who" and maintain that it is the best of the revived series so far, but I really wish they hadn't done my girl Donna so dirty.

Next up, Davies and Tennant complete their Doctor Who journey in a series of special that span two years.