Doctor Who S3: E10--Blink

It's Blink!!!  Okay, before we begin, I'd just like to say that I had a great deal of anticipation for this episode, having seen a meme one of my friends posted that had Philosoraptor on it, and it said, "What if the Statue of Liberty is a weeping angel, but someone has always been looking at it."  So naturally I was confused, and I looked up weeping angels on Wikipedia, and discovered that weeping angels are from Doctor Who, and premiere in Season 3.  So I found out the episode, and have been waiting anxiously for it since season 1, I believe.  So, naturally, the entire world conspired against me watching it.  We watched all the episodes (around five or six of them) all leading up to Blink, and then we couldn't watch any the next day, and every time I thought we might have a chance to watch an episode, something would come up and it wouldn't happen.  But I finally watched it!!!

And it didn't disappoint.  The weeping angels are freaking terrifying.  They did this episode brilliantly. The way they had character development, and dealt with the weird time stuff, and then the scene with the flickering lightbulb and four weeping angels was freaking fantastic.  It was one of the best Doctor Who episodes ever.  So yes.  I won't give a synopsis of this episode, you just have to watch it.  To give anything away would ruin the experience.

Doctor Who S3: E8--Human Nature; E9--The Family of Blood

Wow.  This episode.  Wow.  It was interesting.  Good interesting.  So the Doctor turned himself into a human, and fell in love with this nurse, while Martha is his maid, and remembers everything, while the Doctor has forgotten everything.  Then Will Scarlett (sorry, some dude) gets possessed by some thing, as well as some other people.  They're after the Doctor.  So then Thomas Sangster's character finds a watch which contains the Doctor's essence, and he's supposed to open it when "the time comes."  And then the human Doctor is afraid of turning back into the other Doctor, and leaving his lady friend alone.  I thought this was interesting.  Usually I'd find this sort of thing irritating, but I sort of enjoyed...no, appreciated this.  Because the Doctor has wondered/lamented more than once that he could never have a normal life, and he actually had a normal life that was cut short, obviously, but then we could see him getting married, having kids, growing old...you know, it was sort of fun, and interesting to be able to see this human side of the Doctor.  Not bottling things inside, but feeling fear, and everything.  It was just sort of cool you know?

Doctor Who S3:E7--42

Well, gee, what did this episode remind me of?  Let's see, what do we have...a random ship which the Doctor and his companion come to, which is in danger of calamity very soon; the TARDIS is gone; there's some sort of disease which strikes and leaves one member of the crew; members of the crew die...sound familiar?  Yeah, we ran into this exact formula in season 2, with the Satan Pit.  The difference?  Instead of a black hole, it was the sun.  The living thing that possessed them wasn't "Satan," it was the sun.  And instead of Rose, it was Martha.  Otherwise it was pretty much the same.  But yet, I liked this one better.  I so didn't figure out the sun was alive until the end, and I loved that twist.  Loved it.  It's so interesting.  And I totally saw that thing between Martha and what's-his-face coming.  So saw it coming.  So yeah, I did like this one better than the Satan Pit.

Doctor Who S3: E6--The Lazarus Experiment

I was kind of excited that the Doctor was sending Martha home.  But no.  Of course not.

Instead the Doctor goes with Martha to a black tie event where an ugly old man promises to reinvent the human race.  He goes into a machine, and comes out looking like Mycroft Holmes.  Wait, sorry, wrong TV show...he comes out as a younger version of himself.  He then proceeds to dis his wife, then turn into a monster with a human face, and take off all her skin, and suck her dry in one swift motion.  He then turns back into a human, and rejoins the party.  He then starts to hit on Martha's sister Tish, who's an idiot, before Martha goes to save her.  The Doctor saves the day, once more, and Martha threatens to stay.  I say threatening because she didn't actually stay.  Then she got all these frequent flyer privileges.  I'm so glad that there's only...eight more episodes from this one (about four from the one I'm on right now) with Martha in it.  I dunno who's the companion...oh, yeah, I do.  Donna's next.  Anyways.  Good episode.  Love the Doctor.

Doctor Who S3:E4, E5--Daleks in Manhattan; Evolution of the Daleks

So the Doctor and Martha go to New York in 1930, and take a little trip to Hooverville, the homeless village set up in Central Park.  There they discover that people have been going missing.  They also discover Pig Men, and then the Daleks.  The main four Daleks we saw in the season finale of season 2 (I miss Rose!) apparently escaped the void because "They always survive, while I [the Doctor] lose everything." Great line!  Greatest line in the whole freaking series!!!  Augh!  Okay, geek out moment is over.

So these episodes were...interesting.  I've used that word before, but I mean it differently this time.  It was interesting, but in a good way.  It was sort of interesting to see a human Dalek, and I don't just mean physically (though, that was a bad interesting) but the way it acted.  It sort of stressed again the worldview that humans are supreme, and can overcome anything and everything, but whatevs.  And it was Spiderman!  haha, it was so fun to see Andrew Garfield.

On the Martha front, I don't mind her very much, but I still just miss Rose.  Um...yeah, I think that pretty much covers this (these) episodes.

The joys of re-reading posts

For those of you fellow-bloggers who are reading this:  re-reading your past posts is such a wonderful experience.  Being a writer, I was familiar with the feeling, which I get when I go back and re-read stories I wrote years ago.  I was skeptical about whether this feeling would carry over into blogging.  Good news:  it does.  I just re-read my posts about season 2, and now i just feel so happy.  When you re-read something you've written, it's more than just reading the words you wrote; it's experiencing the words as you wrote them.  Feelings, thoughts, experiences that you felt, thought, or experienced while writing that post come flooding back, and you're filled with a strange sort of nostalgia.

Not to mention that  re-reading your posts gives you encouragement for what you're doing and writing about.  I often feel (or, really, wonder if) my posts are rather poorly written, but going back, I can see several which are written very well.  I particularly enjoyed my post about the Christmas Special from Season 2.  It also gives you purpose, because now I can see my accomplishments over the last month or so, and remember why I'm doing this.  I'm finally blogging regularly, and while it's almost all on the same subject, I'm at least writing something, and it also gives me an excuse to write about something off-topic.  I feel like this blog has a purpose finally, and it's not just ramblings.

All this from simply re-reading my posts.  Just sayin'.

Doctor Who S3: E3--Gridlock

So in this one the Doctor decides to take Martha to the future, to New Earth, back to New New New New New New New New New New New New New New York.  It makes me smile every time he does that.  But this time they're in the Under City, and everyone is going onto the Motorway (British for freeway, for those of you Americans) and never coming back.  People are going 6 miles in every 10 years or so.  Martha is kidnapped by a couple who wants to go to the fast lane, which requires at least three passengers.  But the fast lane is home to malicious creatures of legend.

So the Doctor freaks out trying to save Martha, because he promised to keep her safe.  She sort of whines in the car, but does credit the Doctor with the ability to save her, and is ecstatic when he does, indeed, save her.  Probably my favorite part about this episode (apart from David Tennant as the Doctor, which is always my favorite part) was the different cars they had, and how the Doctor was dropping into all of them.  My particular favorite was the guy with the bubble wrap.

The Face of Bo (sp?) kind of scares me honestly.  It's just sort of weird, and then he only communicates telepathically despite having a huge freaking mouth.  And the cat lady was a little too devoted to him, almost to the point of creepiness.  And I think the Doctor played down the fact that the Face of Bo (spoiler!) told him that he was not alone.  I'm not quite sure why; I mean, of all people, the Doctor should be the one most willing to believe that there is at least one more Timelord in the universe.  Maybe he did it for Martha's sake.  I'm not sure.  But his planet sounds freaking awesome!  It's really too bad that we couldn't have seen it...ah well.  My imagination probably does it better justice.

So in conclusion, good, interesting episode, but I'm still just not a fan of Martha.  It'll probably go the way of Christopher Eccleston, where I'm just not into her until the last two episodes, and then she's gone forever.  But whatever.  I'll live.

Doctor Who S3: Episode 2--The Shakespearean Code

For Martha's present, she and the Doctor go to the time of Shakespeare, and go to see Love's Labours Lost in the Globe Theater.  There Shakespeare promises to reveal, the next night, his new play and sequel, Love's Labours Won.  But some witches (or Carrionites) are wanting to use this play to release their fellow Carrionites and bring them into the world to take it over.

So...I miss Rose.  To start.  I just don't like Martha as much.  Sometimes she's cool but mostly she's just sort of irritating, I think.  And I know this is sort of irrational, but it irritates me that she gets jealous all the time.  It's like, he's not into you, get over yourself.  I dunno, I just don't like Martha as much.  But I very much appreciated the Harry Potter references, especially the "Expelliarmus!" at the end.  Again, two geek-iverses collide...but much more obviously I guess.  I dunno.  I feel sort of ambivalent about this episode, and part of that might just be that there was no Rose...though the part where one of the Doctors' hearts gave out and he had to revive it was freaking hilarious.  It makes me smile even now.  Yeah, I think I just don't like Martha.

Doctor Who S3:E1 Smith and Jones

In this one we meet the Doctor's new companion for Season 3, Martha Jones, who is played by the same girl who died in episode 12 of the last season.  They came up with a very convenient explanation (the girl who died was a cousin, who just happened to look exactly the same...).  But Martha is a medical student whose hospital gets transported onto the Moon, where it is cataloged by these rhino aliens who are looking for a nonhuman who wants to kill half of Earth (the other half is a gift).  At the end of the episode, the Doctor promises to take Martha on a trip as a thank you gift.  Which leads us to our next episode...

But first to deal with this one.  So...I did like this one.  My brother pointed out this fun little reference where the Doctor is thrilled that her hospital has a shop, which refers to S2:E1 New Earth, where the cat nun hospital doesn't have a shop in the hospital.  So that was fun (after the fact).  And it's kind of fun watching the Doctor have to explain everything all over again, and watch Martha come to terms with it.  It was funny.

Doctor Who S3 Christmas Special

Continuing off of a hook left in the finale of season 2, Catherine Tate as Donna, a bride to be, randomly disappears from her wedding and into the TARDIS.  The Doctor tries to get her back to her wedding, but then they miss it, so decide to go to the reception instead.  The plastic Santa robots from the previous Christmas special return, but this time they're controlled by a Raknos (sp?) who wants to reawaken her children.  Eventually (spoiler!) it comes out that Donna's fiance has been poisoning her for the last six months with this old sort of energy that the Raknos needs to reawaken her children.  At the end of the episode, the Doctor offers to let Donna come, but she doesn't want to.

Doctor Who Season 2 Finale, Parts 1 and 2

Army of Ghosts, and Doomsday.

To start, I had lots of expectations about this episode, having had a guy friend who tends to be rather heartless at times actually cry at the end.  So I was all excited for it.  And I must say, it didn't disappoint.  I mean, I didn't cry (but I came very, very close) but it was still very well done, and I loved it.

For Part 1, we have these "ghosts" which creepily show up at a certain time every day.  Then the Doctor and Rose and Jackie go to Torchwood Tower.  They discover the Genesis Ark and Daleks, as well as some Cybermen (as well as the girl who plays Tatticora in Little Dorrit).  Part 2, Mickey, Rose's Dad, and Jake come back from the alternate dimension, having crossed the Void which was opened by the Daleks.  The Doctor discovers that the only way to save planet Earth from the Cybermen and Daleks is to have the Void open and suck everyone with the taint of the Void in with it before it closes.  So Jackie goes with Rose's dad, Mickey and Jake back to the alternate dimension, but Rose decides to stay with the Doctor.  I won't say anything else because it's a major spoiler, but they couldn't have ended it better, or more satisfying and yet frustrating all at the same time.  But David Tennant is just amazing, and he does the whole thing perfectly.  Perfectly.  So yes, I did like (and yet hate) this season finale.

Doctor Who S2: Love & Monsters; Fear Her

This was an interesting episode.  Nuff said.  It was very, very, very weird.  I was getting into it, right up until the end.  Then it was just weird.  So whatevs.

Fear Her was a fun one.  The Doctor and Rose go to see the 2012 Olympics in London.  That was particularly fun/funny cuz those are coming up in what, two months?  But there's all these disappearances happening, and it turns out that a little girl is possessed by some sort of alien who is kidnapping people and animals to make itself less lonely.  A few things to be said:  Just to be funny, at the actual Olympics Opening Ceremony, they should take a shot of the empty stadium, and show it after they've shown shots of people in the stadium, to kind of duplicate it ("Everyone's gone!  Oh, no, they're back!  They're all back!")  And then have David Tennant carry the torch the rest of the way.  That would make my life.  Second, they didn't pull off the sentimental in this episode at all.  And I think the main reason is that neither the little girl nor her mom were likable in the least.  So we sort of didn't care that they were afraid or that they were lonely.  So that was a fail on their part.  But this was a good episode, a nice little finishing up before the finale...

Doctor Who S2: The Impossible Planet; The Satan Pit

Nearly every TV show has at least one episode where they take the worldview they're representing in their show, and put it into a neat little package and hand it to you in a single episode.  These episodes (which essentially count as one, because it was two parts) were that for Doctor Who, though no doubt more are to come.  I found it very interesting, being interested in worldviews and philosophies.  Key things I noticed:  scientific exploration at almost any cost is admirable, it's all about discovery.  Also, that human beings are supreme, and can overcome everything if they use their intellect.  Third, human beings are essentially good at heart.  Four, gods and devils are nothing more than ideas that can be disproven or squashed using science.  And finally, that we should believe in the human race, and particular humans, particularly those we are in love with.  ("But if I believe in one thing...just one thing...I believe in her!")  So I found these episodes very interesting, for them to just so blatantly tell us their worldview, and the worldview of the Doctor.  I dunno.  I rather enjoyed it.

Way way way too much to post about!

Doctor Who overload!!!  It's fantastic, and yet terrible at the same time, because I have my loyal (I'm assuming I have loyal readers) readers who are waiting to hear about the next episode(s) and my thought(s) about it (them).  But suffice it to say that I finished the second season, and started the third, and will be getting to those as soon as I have an hour...or two...to write about them.  Augh!!!  At least my Doctor Who intake should slow down over the next couple of days...oh, but that makes me sad.  Conflict!!!  I just counted, and I have nine episodes...oh goodness.

DW Season 2: Tooth and Claw through the Idiot's Lantern

So to make my life easier, I'm going to encompass a few episodes, and the numbers are all off because "The Christmas Invasion" is considered episode 0 on IMDb.  So I will be blogging about a few episodes, namely:
Tooth and Claw
School Reunion
The Girl in the Fireplace
Rise of the Cybermen
The Age of Steel
The Idiot's Lantern

To cover Tooth and Claw, briefly, was the one with the werewolf, and I loved this episode.  The werewolf was fantastic graphics, and definitely one of the coolest werewolves I've seen ever.  I also loved the little bet between Rose and the Doctor, which was awesome.  Loved it!!!

School Reunion.  Frustration with Sarah Jane, but I would like to be fair, and say that while the Doctor has had his little flings, Rose did have sort of a thing with Jack, and for some reason still puts up with Mickey, who joins their little gang at the end of this episode after lots and lots and lots of complaining.  Can't stand him!

The Girl in the Fireplace.  Again, to be fair, it's not just the Doctor, but really the show just frustrates me because it has to just stick to one story.  It sort of has, towards the end of the season, but still.  Just pick.  I thought they pulled off the sentimental bit with Madame de Pompadour and her dying, which again, is hard to do.  But I believed it, regardless of my frustration with the writing of the "romance."  But, good episode.  Mickey was tolerable.

Rise of the Cybermen and The Age of Steel.  I loved seeing Mickey being something other than a whiner (haha, whinger), but of course (spoiler!) Ricky had to die.  Anyways, I did like these episodes, and thought it was funny that David Tennant, who plays Barty Crouch Jr. in the 4th Harry Potter movie, was in an episode with Barty Crouch Sr., from that same movie.  Two geek-iverses collide.  I was more than thrilled that Mickey stayed behind, so I wouldn't have to deal with him anymore.  Oh, spoiler....anyways, seeing the parallel universe with Rose's parents was interesting.

The Idiot's Lantern.  Is it just me, or does it seem strange that the Doctor, who's supposed to be brilliant, keeps putting him and Rose in places that are not where he says they are?  So they're supposed to be in New York, going to see Elvis perform on a TV show, but somehow they end up in London, the day before the Queen (Queen Elizabeth II)'s Coronation.  It's just weird.  This episode was good, though I thought the resolution with the dad was left wanting, and the TV lady was just insanely annoying.   Also, David Tennant can't pull off a comb-over.

So that's it for now.  More episodes to come!!!

This is not about an episode

It's irritating about how the show cannot just decide what they're doing with the Doctor and Rose.  They've made it painfully obvious that Rose loves the Doctor, and then they go, oh the Doctor probably loves Rose, yes, he definitely does...Just kidding!  He's in love with Sarah-Jane!  No, just kidding, it's Madame de Pompadour!  No, just kidding, this whole time he's loved Rose!  It's so aggravating.  It's not like they're keeping us in suspense, they're really just being irritating.  If the Doctor just didn't love Rose, and was really just a philanderer, I could live with that.  If the Doctor was madly, head over heels in love with Rose, I could live with that.  But they really just need to pick one!!!

DW S2:E2--New Earth

Does anybody care about the synopsis?

So the Doctor and Rose (totally like a couple in love, just sayin') go to New Earth, to New New York.  And they go to the hospital there, because the Face of Bo (sp?) had sent for the Doctor to tell him some earth-shattering (or, probably more accurate, universe-shattering) secret.  Then Rose gets kidnapped by Cassandra, the irritating skin from Season 1.  And Cassandra enters Rose's body, and wreaks havoc in the hospital, as well as discovering a huge secret about the cat nuns, who totally remind me of Khajiit from Skyrim...haha.

To start:  Cassandra drives me freaking crazy.  Always has.  I'm just glad she's (spoiler!) dead now.  The part where she went back and forth between Rose and the Doctor made me irritated, but it also made me laugh.  Anyways, overall I did like this episode.  It was a good story, though the ending was disappointing.  I mean, the Face of Bo called the Doctor there for the purpose of telling him a secret because he was dying--but, oh no, just kidding, I'm not dying, and there's no secret for you for a long time!  That was lame.  But the story was good, and they sort of managed to pull off the whole sentimental storyline with Cassandra, which can be hard with an annoying character.

Taking a brief break from Doctor Who, AKA "I hate figure drawing"

Not that I did take a brief break (indeed, I have probably 6 or 7 episodes to write about).  But I'm taking a brief break in my posts ABOUT Doctor Who.  Because I feel like my blog has been overrun with it all since we've been watching a ton of it in the last week.

Instead, I shall discuss unicorns.  Or...something related.  To be completely honest, I had nothing to write about in this post, I just knew it wasn't going to be Doctor Who.  So what do people usually blog about?  Politics...TV shows...Definitely no politics on here, and there's been a bit too much about TV shows...

No, instead I will rant about figure drawing.  I'm taking a drawing class, and right now we are in the "figure drawing" unit.  And I'm hating pretty much every second of it.  The only thing I enjoy is finishing a drawing (unless it sucks, which is getting less and less frequent, but still happens).  I can't exactly say why I hate it so much.  It just sort of sucks.  And for this class, I have an entire packet with a ton of figure drawings in it due.  And I'm putting it off, obviously, by blogging first about putting it off, then later by trying to tackle my ever-growing list of Doctor Who episodes...but when I finish, I will work on it.  That's a promise that I'm currently intending to keep...

...but we'll see when I finish.

Doctor Who S2:E1--The Christmas Invasion

Can I just start by saying that I loved this episode?

Okay, now to business.  So David Tennant is the new Doctor, and apparently he doesn't control the TARDIS very well.  But they arrive back in London, and meet back with Mickey and Rose's mom.  We are informed that it is Christmas Eve, and the Doctor is sick, and must lay down.  So they go back to the apartment, and Rose has a good 20 minute cry about how the Doctor is gone, and how everyone is going to die.  Meanwhile, these plastic-faced Santa Clauses send a Christmas Tree of Doom to them, which the Doctor blows up, and, just before he collapses in bed again, informs them that something else terrible is going to come.  Sure enough, the British government discover a new alien species with their new probe.  With the Doctor out of commission, it is up to Harriet Jones (who we met in Season 1), the new Prime Minister, to deal with the threat.  Using blood control, the Sycorax put 1/3 of the world's population on the edge of something, threatening to push them over if earth does not surrender.  Rose continues to cry about how everyone is going to die, and they all go hide in the TARDIS.  The PM and several of her people get transported onto the Sycorax ship, and the TARDIS takes Rose, Mickey, and the Doctor there as well, without them knowing it.  Rose, trying to stand up for her planet, makes the Sycorax leader laugh.  Then, suddenly, everyone can understand what the Sycorax is saying, because the Doctor is back!

Now here comes the good part:  the Doctor comes out, and engages in a wonderful conversation with the leader of the Sycorax, which included existential ponderings, and references to the Lion King, as well as saving 1/3 of the world's population.  Then he challenges the Sycorax to a duel, which he consequently wins, after growing back the hand that the Sycorax had cut off.  The Sycorax does not honor the honor code, so the Doctor makes him fall off the ship.  The Doctor sends the ship on its way, but Harriet allows "Torchwood" to blow it up.  The Doctor, obviously, is furious, but I can also understand why she did it.  It's sort of a moral dilemma, really:  protect your planet, or save the lives of an alien species you know nothing about (save that they tried to take over your planet).  But whatevs.  The Doctor takes down her government with six words.  Six.
"Don't you think she looks tired?" I love him so much.  He gets a legit outfit from the TARDIS closet we never knew existed, and he and Rose ride off into the sunset...

Doctor Who S1:E12--Bad Wolf; E13--The Parting of the Ways

So this post will be fraught with spoilers.  Just FYI.  So...First, Rose and the Doctor get transported into two different game shows 100 years after the thing with Simon Pegg (back in episode 7) where mankind has, once again, been held back.  These game shows are deadly...or so they seem.  Rose gets disintegrated, which makes the Doctor angry.  But then they realize that the people who are "disintegrated" aren't disintegrated at all--they are sent to Dalek ships for them to be killed and harvested to be created as Daleks.  This episode stepped dangerously close to weird (as, indeed, did the next) with the Daleks literally worshiping the Dalek Emperor...but it was nice (if that can at all be said about the Daleks) to have them come back and have that resolution, which I was having trouble with, if you remember, from back in episode 6.  Moving on to the next one, the Doctor gets Rose back, and comes up with a dangerous idea to create a delta wave that would kill the Daleks, but also the entire human race in earth.  So he sends Rose back to earth in the TARDIS, and she wallows for a bit--as, indeed, does Mickey, who just cannot get it into his head (no matter how many times he asks) that the Doctor will always mean more to Rose than he will, but I digress--but eventually comes up with an idea to open up the heart of the TARDIS, and tell it to go back to get the Doctor.  Meanwhile, Captain Jack (who is such an idiot) and some girl the Doctor met on a game show who was totally in love with him, try to fight off the Daleks while the Doctor prepares his ray thing.  Then the girl dies, then Jack (well, lots of other people died, but no one else major).  And then the Doctor decides he won't do the ray thing (the emperor totally calls his bluff), when tah-dah!  Rose appears in the TARDIS, positively glowing.  Literally glowing.  She's like taken in the time vortex, and now knows everything, and can control everything.  She's become Bad Wolf.  She kills some Daleks, declares the Time War over, then starts to go crazy cuz the knowledge is overwhelming her.  So then the Doctor kisses her, sucks the time vortex out of her, she passes out, and they get back on the TARDIS.  Oh, and Rose revived Jack (convenient, yes?), but they left without him.  So now the Doctor is dying, when he reveals that Timelords have this "trick" where they "die" but don't really die, just have a new face (convenient, yes?).  So he dies, and then tah-dah!  David Tennant.

Doctor Who S1: E11--Boom Town

I actually have a lot of episodes to blog about.  So this is the one where the weird thing who zips herself out of the human body and farts a lot comes back.  Long story short (w/spoilers!), she gets captured, tries to get the Doctor to let her go, opens a rift, which is going to tear the world apart, but then the Doctor does something cool, and it closes, and the weird (and insanely annoying lady) gets turned back into an egg, for them to return her to her planet to be "reborn" and have a new, hopefully better life.  The end.
P.S. I didn't love this episode, especially cuz Mickey is starting to get on my nerves.

Blog Traffic

So, since posting about Doctor Who, the number of pageviews I've had has increased considerably.  One reason for this was that when I wrote about episode 8, I briefly mentioned Matt Smith, which is apparently a highly searched for item on Google.  Thus one of my goals/reasons for posting about Doctor Who has been fulfilled:  more page views.  =)

Doctor Who S1:E9--The Empty Child; S1:E10--The Doctor Dances

This episode begins with the Doctor and Rose chasing some sort of metal thing that is hurtling towards earth.  They land on earth in 1941, on the night of the London Blitz.  They are trying to find this object, which is difficult when bombs are falling from the sky.  Shortly after they land, Rose spots a small boy calling for his mummy.  She calls to the Doctor to help her, but he was already inside.  So, according to TV logic, she goes after the child wearing a gas mask all by her self.  She gets carried off on a blimp, where she is saved by a rogue Time Agent, Captain Jack.  With his help, Rose and the Doctor figure out what happened to the metal object and what it's doing to anybody who comes in contact with it--and how the small boy is involved.  Episode 10 is simply a part two of episode 9.

While I realize that's a crap synopsis (I should just take them from IMDb), that is essentially what the episode is about.  I liked the creepiness of this episode.  Because the people in gas masks are essentially zombies who call out for their mommy (sorry, mummy) every few seconds.  I also liked the mystery, and how they brought up little parts of the answer throughout the episode, and if you weren't paying close attention, you would miss them.  Examples being: the little boy's seeming obsession with his older "sister," the little light thingy bots whose name escapes me...which I totally figured out were significant, FYI.  I also liked the addition of Jack, though I thought they did the whole "We're attracted to each other" thing with him and Rose a bit too thick.  It sort of became irritating after a while.  In episode 10, I appreciated the sort of competition between Jack and the Doctor, which was entertaining.  And I really liked (spoiler!) that moment when the Doctor and Rose were trapped in a room by the zombies, and Jack had left, and they were about to dance, but they were talking about Jack, and then it turned out that Jack had teleported them who knew how long ago, and they hadn't even noticed.  I thought they did that really well.

And then of course, the Doctor legitimately dancing at the end, and getting the dance out of Rose even when Jack asked for it.  I also appreciated their incorporation of the title of the show:  Doctor Who.  Rose was asking who she should say it was, and he said the Doctor, and she asked, but Doctor who?  I've only seen half of the next episode, so I shall wait til I finish it to write about it.  Later!

Mask Creatures: [with increasing intensity] Mummy, mummy, mummy, mummy, mummy, mummy, mummy, mummy, mummy, mummy. 
The Doctor: Go to your room. 
[mask creatures stop] 
The Doctor: Go to your room! I mean it. I am very, very angry with you. I'm very, very cross. Go... To... Your... Room! 
[mask creatures turn and go back to their beds] 
The Doctor: [sighing] I'm really glad that worked. Those would have been terrible last words.


UPDATE:  This is one of my favorite episodes of all time, despite it being in Season 1, easily the worst season.  Even to this day, in season 6, I remember these episodes as two of my absolute favorites.  I'm rewatching them, now, in fact.  Just sayin'.  

Doctor Who Again: S1:E8--Father's Day

In this episode, Rose wants to go back in time to be with the father she never knew in his dying moments.  Being soft-hearted and a bit naive, the Doctor agrees.  She doesn't have the heart to go out to him the first time, so she begs a second time.  Being even MORE soft-hearted and insanely naive, the Doctor takes her back in time again, warning her that there is a copy of them already there from the first time, and if they get seen, everything will be lost...and Rose runs out and pushes her dad out of the way of the car.  This creates a wound in time and (spoiler!) these creepy dragon-like things have to come and fix it by killing everybody.  

I must say, from watching the clips, I thought I was going to hate this episode.  But I really didn't.  Even worse, I'm actually starting to like Eccleston as the Doctor.  Really like him.  So it's not any longer like I'm counting down the seconds to David Tennant and Matt Smith, but more like, I could wait for them to come, I'm going to enjoy Eccleston for the time being.  So, that was a very scary thing to realize...But moving on to the episode.  

I liked a lot of things about this episode.  I liked how Rose screwed up, and her and the Doctor had their little tiff, but then she apologized, and he forgave her--after some comments on her intelligence or lack thereof.  But then they were okay again.  And I liked how they managed to make the reunion between Rose and her father sentimental and heart-felt, without making us groan.  We believed it, and we were a little bit sad when it had to end.  I also liked how they gave her father a chance for redemption, even in the middle of time where it would never be recognized except by Rose and the Doctor.  So Rose had that memory of her father, saving her life.