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"...and, Doctor, remember to put your shields up..." |
PLOTLINE
There's a problem. Two TARDIS Temporal Converge, and who is the man with the stick of celery stuck to his lapel?
The Doctor?
EPISODE REVIEW
I am a child of the sixties. And, as such, my formative years were "groomed" (a word that was attributed to me by a friend having bought his Son a DOCTOR WHO Dalek action figure and, subsequently, got the child hooked on WHO - "Whoming" so to speak, I suppose) by both the CLASSIC SERIES' Pertwee and (Tom) Baker but it was with the Fifth Doctor that the series attached a pair of jump leads and re-sparked into life (though SEASON 18 - THE LEISURE HIVE to LOGOPOLIS - was a remarkable set of stories that would not be out of place in the NEW SERIES).
Peter Davison was key to this success, a highly adaptable actor, youthful and with boundless energy. He may not have been born to play the part of the Doctor unlike Tom Baker and, yes, David Tennant but Davison developed into a consummate Doctor - allied with an impressive set of viewer ratings (on par with highest ratings met for the NEW SERIES).
For Davison to re-appear within the legitimate timeline of this NEW SERIES even for less than 8 minutes was hearts warming indeed.
TIME CRASH finally breaks the DOCTOR WHO curse of "episodes-with-time-in-the-title-are-usually-rubbish" in presenting a credible & entertaining "vignette". And it all made sense. Paradoxically.
Collisions in time - with two of the Doctor's TARDIS occupying the same space - were bound to happen and I wonder if BBC WALES has been misguided in slipping this opportunity through their fingers; it would have made an entertaining 45 minute episode.
The merging of the TARDIS created, within the heart for the time-ship, the paradox black hole appearing - enough to create a hole the size of Belgium. However, in a quick recall (remembering what the Fifth Doctor had done during that very encounter in his own past) the Tenth Doctor cancels out the black hole in creating a supernova to balance out the time-space anomaly.
Steven Moffat's script was as sparkling as you would expect, with a hint of irony and charm that would be lapped-up by new and (very) old fans alike. With drop-ins about the Tenth Doctor's own nemesis (LINDA and the Master - sans the "rubbish" beard but with Wife seemingly affixed to his face) and the Fifth Doctor's assistants (Nyssa and Tegan), his lack of dependence of the faithful Sonic Screwdriver and his enemies (Mara and Cybermen), it was surreal checklist.
It was as if the cricketing Doctor had not gone away.
More, please. |