Doctor Who - Season 3 Report Card...

Hello fellow Whovians!!

I guess we are are now also; to greater & lesser degrees... Tennantians, Barrowmanians, Simmians & Freemian Agyemians...

Anyway, I digress, I am not yet ready to commit my thoughts about 'Last of The Time Lords' to the cold, yawning vastness of cyber space. However, now seems an apt time to (very) briefly summarise my thoughts about the season, story by story, to bring things up to date.


Runaway Bride - Flashy chase set-piece aside, utterly wretched. Red card...5/10

Smith & Jones - Suprisingly good romp that transcends it's silliness...8/10

Shakespeare Code - A shallow confection & a wasted opportunity...6.5/10

Gridlock - An unexpected heart string tweaker, against the odds...8/10

Daleks In Manhattan - Sub par & disconcerting...6.5/10

Evolution of The Daleks - Imagine drinking your own urine with some toe-nail clippings & belly button lint thrown in for good measure &..Voila! You're half way to imagining this travesty!...5.5/10 (So bad it deserved a three line review!)

Lazarus Experiment - Slight but fun, with a cracking climax...7/10

42 - Gripping & genuinely scary. Add two hunks & you've got a happy Lucozer...8.5/10

Human Nature - Stylish, adult & only just short of perfect...9/10

Family Of Blood - Something of a let down, but still highly watchable...8/10

Blink - By turns charming & terrifying. A splendid oddity...9/10

Utopia - This is the stuff! Silly savages aside, I was on tenderhooks...9/10

Sound of Drums - Lots of dressing, not quite enough green leafy vegetables...8/10

Last of the Time Lords - TBA....


The Co-Pilot & I have decided to team up for our final blog onslaught for season 3. We will each contribute our LOTTL thoughts & the Co-Pilot will also deftly deliver a sweeping examination of the last 4 stories of the season, in one final gargantuan tome. Keep your eyes peeled wuunda-nougats!? wuundanoo-gettes?....


Sincerely, Lucozer....

Alien Nurture - Co-Pilot blows kisses to Paul Cornell.

Human Nature

Exciting. Mature. Enters new territory for the show. Human Nature is terrific really. At times it evokes the best memories of eerie 70s Who with creepy faced villains, well-realised period setting and creepy monster set pieces. It is perhaps not the all conquering epic I was hoping for, but heh, expectations schmecpectations...you have to take it for what it is...and all things said and done I'm happy to take this (wherever you want to put it!)

This is a story full of interesting characters. Martha is fabulous - we feel her confusion and pain and Freema manages the range required well. The flashback sequences in the Tardis are fantastic and full of drama. Sorry Lucozer you are wrong on this one, she is terrific.

Tennant is actually very good here as well–. On first viewing I thought he was a bit too samey as John Smith - not enough distinction between the roles, but on a second viewing, I think he gets it just right.

Of the others, Joan is a very sympathetic character, despite her dissing of Martha. The intriguing child from Love Actually is rivetting - one– can't wait to see how his involvement unfolds...is he going to feature in future stories? Are there clues here for the rest of the season? He does look a touch like a wee Sir Derek or a wee Sir Simm...

Flaws: Baines doesn't look right. His face has a weird, unearthly quality - even when he is playing it straight. Before he is possessed, as he stands and watches the green lights decend, there is a strange close up on his face in which he looks totally bizarre. Thankfully when he is possessed he is quite chilling.

Other flaws: The ludicrous green guns, the cricket ball scene - a bit silly really and the cliffhanger was a tad obvious too.

The Jack Straws are OK –though perhaps not as threatening as they might have been. I can see kids freaking out however.

And just what do we make of the trailer: the Doctor married? And with a baby?!!!

A character drama which could go into facinating darker territory, Human Nature is very tasty and edges 42 as the premier story of the season, thus far. Nice work Paul.

The whiff of brilliance?! - A 'Human Nature' review from the desk of the Lucozer...

If I was to wax away about the good aspects of this weeks episode, I would be writing until the wee hours. As it happens, I'm hungry, tired & a little grumpy, so I'll just point out the problems with 'Human Nature' & anything I DON'T mention..well..you can assume it was masterful, gripping or fabulous, whichever you prefer. Or perhaps various combinations of the three? Up to you entirely my loves! The myriad of exciting permutations are virtually endless as you will see...well, at least 4, no...5, hold on...

Anyway, the scarecrows look a smidge silly in the bright lights of the dance hall under the harsh of eye of the digital camera. I would dearly have loved to have seen them on grainy early 70's style film stock (ala Silurians & Ice Warriors). Alas, 'tis nigh on impossible to find such pleasures these days. They do look great lurching across overcast corn fields though. Their movements were somewhat variable too. Some of the actors got it right, others looked as if they were auditioning for an RTD christmas panto version of the Elephant Man (claw!, hiss!! goes the Lucozer)

The last scene in the dance hall was a bit awkward & stagey don't you think chums? The previously subtle & refined dialouge turned all soapy & melodramatic for the big showstopping 'her or her' cliffhanger set-piece. 'Twas a bit of an anti-climax for mine. The lack of believability deflated the tension just as it was meant to be raised.

What else...Freema struggling a little this week perhaps?. The plot ambiguities & the 'acting within acting' may have wrongfooted her a little, but she's still smashing & the Sun can get *&^%. She's staying put!

So yeah! Next week! Rah rah rah!!! I'm doing a solo cheer leader pyramid. That's probably naughtier sounding that I intended it to sound. So fabulous! Leave that with you....


;) The Lucozer.