Doctor Who Watch A Thon Season 1 Episode 11 "Boom Town"

As an effort to justify our somewhat obsessive T.V watching Meghan (Of Coffee and Wizards and @MegTao on Twitter) and myself have decided to undertake a Doctor Who Watch-a-long. We'll be starting with the beginning of the 2005 relaunch and will be posting about one episode each Friday, on our respective blogs. We hope you'll join in – whether as a re-watch or to discover the Doctor for the first time!

*just a heads up each post may contain spoilers for that episode and then ones before it*

Epsiode Summary

Written by: Russel T Davies
Directed by: Joe Ahearne

The Doctor has landed the TARDIS in Cardiff, using the energy of the Rift to recharge the time machine. He, Rose, and Jack, along with Rose's boyfriend, Mickey who has met them there, spend the afternoon relaxing, until the Doctor recognises the photo of Margaret Blaine, a Slitheen in her human suit, who has become the new mayor of Cardiff. The four track and capture Margaret, suspecting her of nefarious deeds after escaping the destruction of the other Slitheen ("Aliens of London"/"World War Three"). The Doctor observes her scale model plans for a new nuclear power plant, but identifies it is purposely flawed to cause a meltdown that would open the Rift and destroy the Earth. He also discovers the model contains a functioning tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator that Margaret would have used to flee the Earth. The Doctor decides to take Margaret back to her home planet Raxacoricofallapatorius, but Margaret laments that she is considered a criminal there and will be executed

Thoughts on the Episode
First off - Sorry about last week and my lack of post on "The Doctor Dances". I hadn't forgotten to write about it and then I did write about it and blogger ate the post. So just as a quick summary - love this episode. Everything that's great about "The Empty Child" is echoed here and then some. It's frightening, there's more Captain Jack and you get to see some real sentiment from the Doctor in his interactions with Rose. A+

Poor Mickey

Now onto this week's episode - "Boom Town". This episode brings us the return of our friends (or at least one), the Slitheen. Margaret Blaine escaped the explosion at the end of "World War Three" and has become mayor of Cardiff. Still up to her old tricks however she has concocted a scheme that will destroy the Earth. I found the"science" of this plan a little hard to follow. It doesn't really matter, but it's one of those things I'll turn over and over in my mind, as I try to figure it out.

I loved the continued presence of Captain Jack. He adds an interesting dynamic to the Rose-Doctor relationship, mixing it up so there's not as much strange sexual tension between. Instead they've graduated into a mutual polygamous union and it works for them. I have affectionately begun calling them "Team Tardis". We also see the return of Rose's boyfriend (if we can call him that?) Mickey. A lot of my posts ask about Mickey - every time Rose meets a new guy I wonder about him. As goofy as he is, watching him get his heart broken makes my heart break. He really cares about Rose and, though I love her, it bugs me the way she forgets about him when she's out travelling.

There are some really serious questions put forth in this episode, which is always a plus for me. After they capture Margaret, there's a lot of arguments about who gets to decide who lives and dies, and when mercy should be shown. It's heady stuff but important nonetheless. I like that you get to see some of the Doctor's inner turmoil - as he starts out firmly believing that Margaret deserves what she's going to get, to questioning whether he's making the right choice, to essentially giving her a second chance.

Favourite Moment
I love the scene where the Doctor takes Margaret for her last meal. The dialogue between the two of them is great. She pleads for her life, they talk about morality but there's plenty of funny moments thrown in too. Like when she attempts to breathe poison on him and he gets her with the breath freshener.

Love it.

What to watch

So after 2 months I have finally watched Seasons 1-4 of Merlin. I have absolutely loved the entire journey that has been this show so far but now I have to wait until the fall for more episodes. In the meantime I have a whole list of shows I want to watch and I need you to help me decide what to watch next. Here are the options:
- Stargate
- Downton Abbey
- Dollhouse
- Battlestar Galatica

 Let the voting commence!

*update: Right now the voting is tied between Stargate and Downton Abbey. Such completely different shows! I'm excited to watch either one. I'll keep the voting open for one more day.

Update: So between this blog and Twitter it seems like my next show will be Stargate. Although there are A LOT of seasons of it and there was a strong showing for Downton Abbey so I may watch them simultaneously. 

Doctor Who Watch A Thon Season 1 Episode 3 "The Unquiet Dead"

As an effort to justify our somewhat obsessive T.V watching Meghan (Of Coffee and Wizards and @MegTao on Twitter) and myself have decided to undertake a Doctor Who Watch-a-long. We'll be starting with the beginning of the 2005 relaunch and will be posting about one episode each Friday, on our respective blogs. We hope you'll join in – whether as a re-watch or to discover the Doctor for the first time!

*just a heads up each post will contain spoilers for that episode and then ones before it*

Written by: Mark Gatiss
Directed by: Euros Lyn

Episode Summary

Rose takes her first trip back in time and she and the Doctor travel to 1869 London. They take in a reading from none other than Charles Dickens but in the middle of the performance, a zombie-like creature interrupts the performance and there is a ghostly apparition. Rose is kidnapped and taken to the home of an undertaker where alien creatures are living in the gas lighting system and taken possession of the dead. Rose manages to get information from Gwyneth, the parlor maid, that points to her as the central point of contact for the alien beings. 

Thoughts on the Episode

Although an incredibly creative episode (Charles Dickens fighting ghosts!) this one is admittedly not one of my favourites. There's a lot of really great things in it but also a lot of things that make me do this face: 

So for this post I'm going to talk about what I did like and then what I thought was not so good.

The Good

• Did I mention that Charles Dickens is in this episode? He's such a fabulous character with so much energy and charm (although at the beginning he's such a spoil sport). As a reader it made me giddy to have an episode feature such an important literary figure. Also I LOVED his little exchanges with the Doctor - from the Doctor explaining was a "fan" was to Dickens asking if his books last. Excellent chemistry between the two. 
• The setting. They're back in 19th century England and they've got the outfit and scenery to match. One of my favourite things about Doctor Who is the sheer randomness of location from episode to epsiode. From space to the 19th century, never a dull moment. 
• There is a fairly awesome explosion at the end of this episode. It's a well known fact that every episode gets 62.7% better when there's a good explosion.

The Not So Good

• Everything happens way to easily in this book. Maybe I'm just the suspicious type but I don't think I would go along with everything as easily as everyone else did in this book. Examples?  (not direct quotes!)
  

"Oh you have physic powers? No biggie lets talk about something else." 
"Oh you're an alien race I've never heard of before and I've talked to you for 30 second. You seem trustworthy - we'll do something crazy to help you"
"Oh I've never really used my physic powers for anything major before but I'll totally risk my life so that you can walk around in dead people. No biggie." 

• Seriously people think about your decisions for more than half a second. This whole situation could potentially been avoided if everyone just took a deep breath and counted to 10 before acting.

 Overall this is still a really fun episode and despite my complaints I've watched in a million times now. (Seriously I can't stress my excitement over Charles Dickens enough - he's like a rockstar to me). Not the best Doctor Who effort but not the worst either.

Favourite Quotes

“What fantasmagoria is this?” - Charles Dickens upon seeing the first "ghost"

“Talk about bleak house.” - The Doctor upon entering the morgue.