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Old January 4th 08, 03:28 AM posted to rec.pets.cats.rescue,rec.pets.cats.the.other.white.meat,rec.pets.catshealth,rec.pets.catsrec.pets.cats.rescue,alt.usenet.legends.lester-mosley
marika
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Posts: 12
Default freaks


"marika" wrote in message news:...
Wow.

I better get caught up on my Whoviana.



P.S. Obviously, the U.K. is at least one full season ahead of the Sci-Fi
Channel.




---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: [Doctor Who Online]
Date: Sun, 16 Apr 2006 18:28:37 GMT
Subject: New Earth - A Review by Sebastian J. Brook
To:

Hello everyone, below is my review of New Earth. It's quite long, and
feel
free to correct me e.t.c. Let me know what you think.
----------------------------------

New Earth - A Review
By Sebastian J. Brook

The anticipation is over; at last Episode One of Series Two has aired.
So
what did we think of it? Well, the deluge of footage which followed the

Press Launch on March 28th, was all shown in the first 10 minutes of
the
episode, making the viewer excited at the prospect of what could happen
over
the 35 minutes that followed. There is something so exhilarating about
seeing something you know very little about. Just think about the
number of
times we have gone to see a movie, where we know what happens, because
of a
friend or a magazine article. The gems of Doctor Who, have been kept a
closely guarded secret, with mere flashes of the jewels within, flashed

before our eyes.

It is a wonder how, in this day and age, a production team, can keep
such a
big project as Doctor Who is, under wraps, but then again, this isn't
any
old production team.

Last year we saw a northern Doctor, a cockney side-kick, a whole medley
of
new monster, as well as the return of a few old ones. We saw drama, as
it
has never been shown before in Doctor Who. Perhaps, the greatest of
all, was
the truth that the new series had. Through all the acting and
production,
the stories were rooted with an underlying truth and believability,
which
really helped to set up our personal belief in Series Two.

The adventure starts with the "new new Doctor" entering the TARDIS and
tinkering about with the console. We then cut to see Rose saying
goodbye to
her mother, and loyal on/off boyfriend Mickey - a nice touch, which
roots
the show with further believability. Rose enters the TARDIS, and asks
where
they are going, to which the Doctor replies "Further than we've ever
gone
before" - a nice echo of Episode Two of Season One, where the 9th
Doctor
says the same thing to Rose.

The titles roll, and the words "David Tennant" fill the screen in big
text,
almost as if it had always been there. The episode proper, starts with
The
Doctor and Rose emerging from The TARDIS onto a seaside cliff-scape. We
are
told it is the year 5,000,000,023, and that they are on New Earth. A
futuristic city lies beyond the sea in front of them, as cars fly over
their
heads. Apple grass lies beneath there feet (another nice touch that
adds to
the believability of this alien world). There is a touching line from
Rose
when she says "Oh I love this. Can I just say. Travelling with you. I
love
it!". You really get a feeling that The Doctor is back and that Rose is
over
the whole regeneration thing.

Unbeknownst to them, The Doctor and Rose are being watched. We cut to
"Chip"
a humanoid figure with strange henna-type markings, peering though a
crystal
ball. He states that Rose is a "pureblood human". We then see one of
the
Spider robots from "The End of the World" tracking them. We hear the
familiar tones of Cassandra as she recognises Rose. The scene cuts back
to
the Doctor and Rose, where The Doctor suggests going to the local
hospital,
after picking up a message on his psychic paper that reads: "Ward 26.
Please
Come.".

They walk through the doors of the hospital, which truly look like it
belongs in the year 5,000,000,023. There is a subtle dig at the NHS
from
Rose, which was quite funny, and yet totally true. Little touches like
help
us to buy the story, by reminding the viewer that we are not on Earth
anymore. This is only further helped by the appearance of Cat Nuns,
which
happen to have some of the best make up and prosthetics in Doctor Who
history.

The Doctor then enters a lift and asks it to take him to Ward 26, the
doors
close behind him, leaving Rose to catch the next one. A hilarious scene

follows, in which they both get drenched by the lifts in-built
disinfection
system. The Doctor clearly enjoys this process, unlike Rose, who is
genuinely shocked by the whole process. Rose's lift has been
over-ridden by
Chip, who instead of sending her up with the Doctor, has sent her down.
Rose
is then lured into Cassandra's domain in the depths of the hospital.

Meanwhile The Doctor is led into the room where The Face of Boe is
sleeping.
He is informed that Boe is dying. We cut back to Rose who is welcomed
into
Cassandra's domain, by a video-reel of footage from the time before
Cassandra transformed into the "Bitchy Trampoline". Rose suddenly
realises
that it is Cassandra and is understandably wary. Cassandra informs Rose
that
it was here that someone said she was beautiful for the last time. We
then
learn how Cassandra survived after her explosion in "The End of the
World".
Without giving it a way, lets just say it has a very simple and yet
clever
explanation.

Rose then springs the trap that Cassandra has placed for her, and
Cassandra
takes over Rose's body, and on realization exclaims the utterly
memorable
line: "Oh my God! I'm a Chav!" - A line which would never have appeared
in
Hartnell's time as The Doctor.

We cut back to The Doctor being informed about a prophecy of a "great
secret" that will be imparted on The Face of Boe's dying breath, to a
wanderer like himself. Again we cut back to Rose or rather Cassandra
admiring her new human frame, to comic effect. Cassandra can access
Rose's
surface memory and realises The Doctor has a new face - calling him a
hypocrite as she walks off exclaiming that she must get the name of his

surgeon. The Doctor rings Rose's mobile. Cassandra (in Rose's body)
asks
chip how Rose would speak, to which he replies cockney. Rose then talks
in
cockney rhyming slang to The Doctor, which, in turn, has some of the
funniest lines of the whole adventure.

We cut back to The Doctor and are introduced to the character of Matron
Casp
(one of the Cat Nuns). She is ushered off by another Cat Nun who
informs her
that one of the patients is conscious, to which she replies "we can't
have
that". It is at this point, we start to realise that something sinister
is
at work within the hospital. Later we see the two cats incinerating one
of
the conscious patients in the eerie green chambers.

The Doctor and the possessed Rose are now reunited, and he instantly
picks
up on her accent. and then.. The Kiss! Yes, THAT kiss that has graced
the
pages of many a TV magazine. To be honest, it wasn't as we all thought.
It's
not the Doctor and Rose kissing, but Cassandra, exercising her new
body. It
was followed by an out of character remark by The Doctor, where he says

"Still got it". As far as I was aware, he never had it? Funnily enough,
this
was the only niggle I had about the whole adventure, but it was a
niggle all
the same.

They then enter "intensive care" (which at first looks surprisingly
like the
power station used in "Episode One: Rose" of Series One.). Then we see
the
eerie green chambers, which look a bit like the Cybermen Tombs from
"Tomb of
the Cybermen". I don't know if these were deliberate winks to the past,
but
they certainly reminded me of those two stories.

The special effects of The Mill, can be seen in the wide shot of all
the
chambers, which really look quite stunning. It is in these chambers
that The
Doctor discovers that there are humans deliberately infected with every

disease known to man - lab rats. This is closely followed by an
exchange
with one of the Cat Nuns, to which The Doctor, shows a touch of the
anger we
last saw in "Episode Six: Dalek" of Series One. He insists that
whatever
they have done to Rose, had better be reversed, to which the nun denies
any
involvement. After being caught out Cassandra reveals to The Doctor
that she
has taken over Rose's body. She then sprays the Doctor with her
"perfume"
and he passes out.

The Doctor awakens in one of the green chambers, with Cassandra (as
Rose)
antagonising him with the ways she has thought of killing him. She
tells
him, that he has approximately three minutes before his chamber is
pumped
full of every disease known to man.

She is then interrupted by the Cat Nuns, whom she tries to bribe into
giving
her money. After a failed attempt she resorts to "plan B" which
involves
opening all the green chambers, which in turn releases the
zombie-esque,
disease-ridden humans. The Doctor is released as the doors open, and
what
follows, quickly becomes a game of escape the zombies.

One might be excused for thinking it might not work, but it does. Sure,
some
of them have the typical "arms out" pose, but this is explained as they

merely want to have contact with humans. Beneath the surrealism, lies
an
ironic, but yet sensical reality that draws the audience in further.

We see one of the disease-ridden humans touch the Cat Nun, who
instantly
gets infected with a Mill-doused sprinkling of CGI-effects. We see Chip

trying to escape the zombified humans, as he comically slides down a
waste
chute, and ends up locking himself in one of the empty green chambers.

The Doctor and Cassandra (as Rose) find a room where they can briefly
talk,
and The Doctor orders Cassandra to leave Roses body, to which she then
enters The Doctor's with predictable, but yet hilarious results. This
happens back and forth a few times, but isn't overused, and certainly
doesn't
tire.

At one point Cassandra possesses one of the diseased humans, and for
the
first time, (when she re-enters Rose's body) we see some humanity from
her
character. They then get back to Ward 26, where the Doctor assumes an
authoritarian position, and truly becomes the hero that I personally
think
was missing a little from Series One. What I mean by this, is that it
was
usually Rose, or someone else solving most of the situations in Series
One.
For example: Episode One - Rose saves the day by using her gymnastic
skills
to kick the auton carrying the anti-plastic into the nestene
consciousness.
Episode Two - Jabe gives her life to enable The Doctor to activate the
switch. Episode Three - Gwyneth gives her life to defeat the Gelth.
Episode
5 - Mickey activated the missile. Episode 6 - Rose liaises with the
Dalek to
stop killing people. E.t.c. So as you can see, it's nice to see The
Doctor
who we all know and love, do what he is best at - saving the day. He
does
this by strapping rope to himself and attaching all the intravenous
solutions for all the diseases. We then see a wonderful action scene
where
The Doctor and Cassandra (as Rose) slide down the lift shaft to the
bottom.
It is here that The Doctor adds the solutions to the lifts disinfectant

pool. He bravely encourages the diseased humans (waiting below) to
enter the
lift, where they are sprayed with the cure. The Doctor then encourages
them
to spread the cure by passing it on, in a tag like fashion.

David Tennant's Doctor then gives a brief speech about these new sub
humans
that he has saved, in a very Tom Baker-esque fashion, which was very
pleasing to watch. We then cut to the NNYPD (New New York Police
Department)
arresting the remaining Cat Nuns.

The Doctor then realises he has forgotten about The Face of Boe, and
runs to
him. There then follows a rewarding scene, that also has traces of
Doctor
Who past, where Boe, telepathically informs The Doctor that he will
meet him
for the third and final time and tell him his great secret. Boe then
teleports, and is gone. And just like The Doctor says - it is
enigmatic.

Chip reveals himself to be alive and well (for the time-being). The
Doctor
insists that Cassandra now leave Rose's body. She sees her chance and
enters
Chip's body. You could tell that the actor playing Chip really enjoyed
playing the Cassandra-ized version of himself. But alas we soon learn
that
Chip is dying. It's actually quite a touching scene, with some
particularly
good acting from the actor playing Chip.

The Doctor says there is one last thing he can do. He then takes
Cassandra
(as Chip), back to the time that we saw her in the video footage, as
her
human form. He tells Chip to "go, and don't look back". This has to be
my
favourite scene in the whole story, as Russell T. Davies' genius shines

through in spades. It turns out that Chip was the one who told
Cassandra
that she was beautiful for the last time, and it is here that he (and
the
Cassandra from the future) dies in Cassandra's arms. I like to think
that
maybe it changed Cassandra for the better... Maybe it did?

Overall it was a great story. Not the strongest to begin a brand new
season
with, but it was new new Doctor Who! "New Earth", definitely feels like
a
continuation of "The End of the World". The writing is very indicative
of
the latter, and there is a feeling of familiarity with the setting.

A tremendous job by all those involved. Although incomparable to
classics
such as Genesis of the Daleks, it firmly has its place in modern who,
and I
feel that this isn't the last we've seen of the year 5 billion.


Kindest Regards,

--
Sebastian J. Brook
Site Editor
Doctor Who Online

**********************************
[Doctor Who Online - one show. one website]
http://www.drwho-online.co.uk
**********************************

 




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