Rate And Discuss 3.1: Smith And Jones

[Alex]

Am I the only one who when the dark cloud surrounded the Hospital heard the tune Darkplace, Darkplace, Darkplace ...

Though I was thinking more of "If there's something strange...in your neighbourhood...who you gonna call...GHOSTBUSTERS!"

[Jonno]

Watched it again tonight with the red button commentary - where once again, Freema's sheer enthusiasm shone through! They raised a good point that I hadn't noticed - the main victim of the "vampire" was Mr Stoker, and on his office door his sign read B. Stoker!

Talking of him, and something I forgot to mention last night, was that I liked the shot of his drained corpse - good make up I thought - and especially liked the moment where the Doctor was going to rush off, but Martha stopped him and went back to close his eyes. Reminded me somewhat of the Doctor/Sarah/Laurence death scene in Pyramids - which of course was but one instance of the orignal series Doctor being "mean", i.e. alien.

I also liked the shot of the TARDIS behind Tish early on, standing in the grounds of the hospital. It was a nice touch that the Doctor was effectively stranded on the moon (a la Seeds of Death), and even had to make do later on without his sonic-screwdriver too.

[Dave Tudor]

Well I thought it was really, really good - surprisingly so, even. I'm always very enthusiastic about the new series, but I wasn't sure what I was going to make of this new relaunch. However, if I had had any worries, I needn't have, as this was an engrossing, slick, fast-paced, funny, action-packed tale with good performances all round, strong direction from newcomer Charles Palmer, brilliantly realised new monsters in the Judoon, and some wonderful dialogue and plotting by Russell T Davies. Yes, there were a lot of introductions to be made, but thankfully a good, exciting - if straightforward - storyline was not sacrificed.

Freema Agyeman was a revelation as Martha, turning in a quietly confident performance, which helped to make the character thoughtful, intelligent, dynamic and caring, and instantly likeable. There's some great chemistry between Freema and David Tennant (another great performance from the man himelf - he's well and truly made the part his own), and I have to say Martha is certainly no replacement Rose, having her own strong identity. Any fears that the series would suffer from Billie's departure soon went out the window - this girl is going to be good.

As for the rest of the cast, Anne Reid seemed to be having a marvellous time as the plasmavore Florence, making her a memorable villainess in the classic Doctor Who mould, while Roy Marsden was equally good as Mr Stoker (I didn't notice the 'B. Stoker' reference - very clever!), although it was a shame that he was bumped off halfway through. Martha's family perhaps didn't have enough screen time for the viewer to take to them properly (although Gugu Mbatha-Raw was quite good as Tish), but RTD cleverly gave us just enough information about the family to help us to start painting a picture.

The effects were typically fantastic (the Juddon ships landing on the moon were astonishingly good), and the Judoon themselves were memorable monsters, not only in their impressive visualisation, but in their (often humourous) roles as bureaucratic policemen with their marker pens and compensation forms.

This was the first new episode of Doctor Who I've ever watched in the company of other fans, and it was nice to talk about what we'd just seen immediately afterwards - I think we were all suitably impressed. I'd have to agree that this was the best series opener in a long while, and I now have very high hopes for series three and the new TARDIS crew of The Doctor and Martha.

[Andrew Curnow]

I'm glad to see it's gone down so well, because I really enjoyed this one. I remembered today the first bit with the Judoon, which made us laugh - you know, the bit before they've assimilated the English language, and he goes something like "Hol kroll roll poll toll noll koll joll doll" and they all get their guns out.

I have visions of schoolchildren all across the land tomorrow drawing Xs on each other's hands!!

[Paul Clement]

It was generally a pretty average story, with one or two moments that were great, such as when they first looked out over the moon, but also containing some very weak elements like the Plasmavore and it's straw.
Again, Martha was at times excellent, and at others a poor imitation of Rose, though I hope this will change as the season goes on. It was certainly the best of the season openers, but then again, Rose and New Earth aren't exactly much in the way of competition.

[Perry Vale]

Oh, forgot to mention, they're still using the same agency to get their extras from.

[Rob McCow]

I gave this story 10 as there is now a Doctor Who character called 'Tish'.

Next week, I'm looking for one called 'Pish'.

[Logo Polish]

It was OK, it rattled through well enough. Set up feels a bit like Stones of Blood in a way. A villain on the run with a couple of henchmen/monsters in tow and bloodsucking involved (they were even called Slabs...not that different to large stones), being pursued by some extra-planetary justices with a habit of executing people who break the seals...I mean, attack them. There's even a bit where Martha tries to get them to scan Anne Reid to discover her true species/identity as with the Megara and the Cessair in the earlier story.

Anyway it was enjoyable, if lightweight.

[SiHart]

If only there'd been a reference to Plymouth...

Si xx

[Si Hunt]

Can your Plasmavore ride a bicycle?

I gave it 8 bloodsucking alien fugitives out of 10. Really enjoyable, and surprisingly hole-free plot for RTD. A promising, if unspectacular start for Freema and I REALLY took to the Judoon. I'm proud to welcome them to the ranks of classic Who monsters!

Si.

[Antony Cox]

I gave it an 'average' vote.

It was OK, but overall rather dull. Martha was OK but didn't grab me in the same way that Rose did. The supporting cast was excellent, particularly Roy Marsden who played the pedantic and patronising consultant perfectly.

DT himself was OK in this one, too. There wasn't too much OTT-ing on his part, and thus this aspect of the show wasn't as distracting as I found it last year.

I just hope the season gets a bit more exciting as it progresses and I enjoy things overall more than I did the last one.

[Perry Vale]

So what do we make of the Doctor mentioning having had a brother?

[Si Hunt]

Of course, that was Roy Marsden! I oddly recognised him as the neighbour in "Ever Decreasing Circles" but not as Danny Driscoll in "Only Fools". He was a bit too sinister, it made me suspect he was behind it all.

The sequence shaking the radiation out the shoes was surplus to requirements, I thought.

Si.

[Darren]

What I liked was that the Doctor actually looked a bit haggard when he regained conciousness and the fate of all the people in the hospital rested on the Judoon. Hopefully there will be less arrogance and self- assurance from the characters in this series to make the episodes more exciting.

[Ralph]

Just in case a lack of response is considered discourteous on a DW dedicated forum to the start of a new series I should explain I only caught the tail end of the episode on BBC3. To be honest I don't feel disadvantaged by such a turn of events though I will endeavour to catch the rest of the series. Therefore in the meantime I'll have to pick the default option of being a "don't know" and cannot vote.

[Perry Vale]

And DT didn't, iirc, say "I'm soooo sorry" to anybody.

I thought that was a nice touch, how it was Martha who thought to close Stoker's eyes when he was dead, a pointer towards how it was Rose who had made him 'more human' than he is.

[Si Hunt]

what do we make of the Doctor mentioning having had a brother?

It's about time! Obviously the series is ABOUT a lone wanderer, so we don't want that to change, but it's ridiculous that fans baulk at the Doctor having relatives when it was a staple of the first series that he had a granddaughter! He's got, or had, a child. There's no fact more established in the entire series.

So the fact that he has a brother shouldn't be a revelation. And if it's who I think it's going to be, well then that just makes sense of a whole lot of things that otherwise don't.

Si.

[Perry Vale]

Just in case a lack of response is considered discourteous on a DW dedicated forum to the start of a new series I should explain I only caught the tail end of the episode on BBC3.

That was a good dinner date!

[Pip Madeley]

I plan to write up a review later in the week (and get round to watching Confidential 3.1), but I just thought I'd point that the average rating for "Smith and Jones" is currently 7.42 - pretty good!

[Matthew T]

I voted an 8. I thought it was great - definitely the best season opener yet. Fast moving and lots of fun. And Freema was fantastic.

[Perry Vale]

Good to see RTD introduce yet another 'broken' family, where the father is a womanising cheat.....

[Zbigniev Hamson]

What did the Doctor actually say during the time-travelling tie-removal bit? To me it sounded a lot like "Lighter. See?". But obviously it wasn't that as that makes no sense at all.

[Perry Vale]

What did the Doctor actually say during the time-travelling tie-removal bit? To me it sounded a lot like "Lighter. See?". But obviously it wasn't that as that makes no sense at all.

I think/thought, iirc, he said "Like so." ?

[Rob McCow]

I think it was 'It's done like that. See?'

But to be honest, it's anyone's guess!

[Jon Masters]

I gave it a 6/10.
Things I liked - Martha, the stuff on the moon, the Judoon (though how they could see through those helmets when their eyes are on the sides I don't know), the banter (far less smug so far)

Things I marked it down for - the Eastenders style soap family bust up (I was expecting the drums at any minute), RTD's inability to not mention Rose, the name Plasmavore (let's not p'## about - she drinks blood that makes her a Haemovore at least), and the very dodgy science bits and plot holes.

(as a science teacher I long for the day when DW does some science properly, and avoids all the cliched mistakes that sci-fi usually makes, if only so I can use it in my lessons. Sadly that day wasn't Saturday )

On the basis of this & New Earth I hope RTD never gets asked to write for a medical drama

Overall - a better start than last year.