The new Doctor Who series

[Xenorama ™]

well, you make it sound interesting, anyway. i wouldn't put too much stock into "what went before" with this series, since it's been such a LONG time since the last Doctor aired.

i'd just enjoy it (or not) like it was a new show, with some ties to the past.

i think.

[Zone Fighter]

Aliens of London: The Doctor attempts to return Rose to her home 12 hours after she left, he miscalculates and returns her home 12 months after she left. An alien space craft hits Big Ben then crashes in the Themes. Is it a geniune accident or prelude of an invasion? THis is the first two part story in the new series (there are others). Note: if you look closely you'll notice the face of the giant clock is backwards. This happened because the plan was for the left wing of the ship to hit it but later it was decided the right looked better so the already shot scene had to be flipped.

World War Three: The aliens have taken over the British government and intend to start World War III. Can the Doctor, an MP (Member of Parilimant not Military Police) from a small town, Rose, Rose's mother and Rose's boyfriend save the world?

Dalek: The Doctor finds himself inside a museum of alien artificats. The only living exhibit is a Dalek, like the Doctor the last of its kind, sole suvivor on the Dalek side of the Time War. In the end the Doctor allows an extra passanger into the TARDIS,

[Zone Fighter]

I've started to re-read "The Gallifrey Chronicles" by John Peel. He says that the original premise of Doctor Who was that the Doctor and his grandaughter Susan left their home planet to escape some kind of catastrophe. This idea which was never actually stated in the show was eventually replaced with the idea that the Doctor left Gallifrey because he was bored with the quiet, peacefull life there. Filled with a desire to see the universe the Doctor stole (he says "borrowed) an old model (type 40) TARDIS which was in need of repair. The second Doctor once claimed that his family was dead. On the other hand the 7th Doctor did not know if he had any family still living. So, it seems that this new series has gone back to the old idea that the Doctor survived a disaster. When Rose suggests that since a Dalek survived and he thought they were all dead it was possible that other of the Doctor's people may have survived he said he would know it and he feels alone.

I just don't see how the Time Lords could lose a war. They wouldn't even have to fight it. All they would have to do is travel back in time to a point before the enemy existed and arrange for the enemy to never exist. In the case of the Daleks which are a geneticly engineered species there are several ways they could keep them from existing. The simplest would be to assassinate Davros before he created the Daleks. We know from previous stories that they don't even have to do that. They can erase an entire planet from history without leaving the comfort of the Time Control Center on Gallifrey. Besides, although most Time Lords prefer the quite, peaceful life of the Citadel on Gallifrey there are always some Time Lords off world studing the "lesser" life forms. So its absurd to think they could all be wiped out. Logically, if the Doctor survived than others must have as well. Besides, being a time traveler the Doctor could in theory change history (though Time Lord's laws forbid it) so that the Time Lord's win the war. And of course there must be Time Lords existing in the past who if they knew of the future war could arrange for it not to happen.


John Peel has some interesting theories about how Gallifreyans became Time Lords. According to him they were once like us, a single heart, relatively short life spans and no telepathy. One of their scientists eventually created a "virus" which did nothing to 85% of the population of Gallifrey, killed 10% and gave 5% the power of regeneration. Since William Hartnell's Doctor apparently had only 1 heart, John Peel surmised that it is only during the first regeneration that the Time Lord gains the second heart, bypass respetory system and telepathic powers. Until the first regeneration a Time Lord is little different from an Earth born human. According to Peel this "virus" itself needs regeneration after regenerating the Time Lord 12 times. Normally, they don't give each other a booster shot, but they could choose to do so.

Peel also surmises that Time Lord's do not marry and have children, at least not after the first regeneration. He thinks they have no sex drive, because regeneration and the quiet peaceful life on Gallifrey makes them nearly immortal they have no need of reproduction. What you don't need and don't use you eventually lose. Its only Time Lords, like the Doctor, the Master and the Rani, who leave Gallifrey and put themselves in danger who use up their regenerations quickly. On Gallifrey a Time Lord can live for thousands of years, regenerating only because of extreme old age.

[Zone Fighter]

Disc 3 has 4 episodes:

The Long Game - the Doctor takes Rose and her new friend Adam forward to the year 200,000 to show them the human race at its hight of acheivment, but of course something has gone wrong. Someone or something has held mankind back by nearly a century. At the end Adam is left behind in his own time. The number of aliens that manipulated humans in Doctor Who means that even the Doctor cannot possibly know how the human race was supposed to develope.

Father's Day - the Doctor takes Rose back to the day her father died. Rose saves her father, causing a wound in time which will lead to the exitinction of the human race in 1987. The Doctor comments that there used to be laws against this sort of thing and his people would have repaired the damage but they no longer exist.

The Empty Child - part 1 of another 2 part story: responding to an universal distress call the TARIDS follows an alien craft through time and space, to London during the blitz. The Doctor meets a young woman who helps children seperated from their families by the war but strangely runs from one small child wearing a gasmask and calling "are you my mommy?" Rose meets a man who claims to be an American volunteer with the RAF but is actually another time traveler (from the 51st century). He thinks Rose is a time agent sent after him.

The Doctor Dances - part 2: the Doctor has to stop a small boy infected by an alien virus from turning the human race into zombies. At the end Captain Jack Harkness joins the Doctor and Rose in the TARDIS. I could do without the suggestion that 51st century humans go around meeting alien life forms just so they can have sex with them or that Captain Harkness may want to dance with the Doctor rather than Rose. The homosexual writer should keep his habits out of the show.

Bonus material: a documentary on making the scene of Rose hanging from a barrage balloon during the bombing.


Disc 4 contains 3 episodes:

Boom Town - the TARDIS returns to Earth 6 months after it left (in other words a year and a half after the Doctor first met Rose). The Doctor discovers that the last surviving Slitheen (alien from episodes 4 and 5) has got herself elected mayor of Cardiff and is still ploting the destruction of the Earth.

Bad Wolf - part 1 of the 9th Doctor's final adventure: in the year 200,100 the Doctor, Rose and Jack find themselves forced to take part in programs based on 21st century tv. The Doctor is stuck in "Big Brother", Rose in "The Weakest Link" and Captain Jack in some kind of makeover series. This episode is actually a sequel to "The Long Game".

The Parting of the Ways - part 2 of the 9th Doctor's final adventure: The Emperor Dalek survived the Time War, recreated the Dalek race and now half a million Daleks plan to invade Earth (again). At the end the Doctor regenerates, with David Tennant taking over as the 10th Doctor.

Bonus material: documentary on "Designing Doctor Who", documentary on Captain Captain Jack Harkness and episode trailers.

Although this ends the first season of the new Doctor Who there is a 5th disc containing bonus material.

According to the IMdb Captain Jack Harkness is to appear in his own series titled "Torchwood". In which he works for an agnecy investigating strange phenomena. Torchwood is mentioned in episode 12 and is apparently the setting of episode 25 (12 of season 2).

I feel sorry for Mickey Smith, Rose treates him horribly. The worst is in episode 13 when she thinks she will never see the Doctor again and says to Mickey that there is nothing left for her on Earth.

Between the first two seasons of this new Doctor Who was a Christimas special "The Christmas Invasion" since it features the 10th Doctor its apparently not included in this first DVD set. There is also to be a Christmas special between the 2nd and 3rd seasons.

Season two will see a new Doctor, guest appearances by Sarah Jane Smith and K9 and the return of the Cybermen. Hopefully it will available on DVD in US next year while the 3rd season runs in the UK.

[Zone Fighter]

disc 5

14 documentary videos. The first 12 are all part of a series called "Doctor Who Confidential". The last which is making of video of the 1st Christmas special apparently stands alone as it does not have the same opening credits sequence.

"Bringing Back The Doctor"
"The Good, The Bad & The Ugly"
"TARDIS Tales"
"I Get a Side-Kick Out of You"
"Why On Earth?"
"Dalek"
"The Dark Side"
"Time Trouble"
"Special Effects"
"Weird Science"
"Unsung Heroes & Violent Death"
"The World of Who"
"The Last Battle"
"Backstage at Christmas"