Christmas 08: the Next Doctor. Review

[TedShatner10]

Here is a good example of negative review that raises some valid points but overall his incredibly OTT picky and histrionic attitude drowns them out:

I will start of by saying that there was one thing I enjoyed in the episode - the flashbacks.
"Rosita...that's a good name" made me hope that this turned out to be an intelligent episode. The call backs to the previous companions (Rosita=Rose, as well as the story of how she met "her doctor" being the same, John Smith as callback to Martha's shining moments in S3 and "some forget me" being a reference to Donna).

Had they focused on the character work, it would have been a great episode. Tennant acted those parts well, especially when explaining why he didn't travel with companions anymore. "They break your heart" - and that was when I remembered that it is at least his fault that his most important companion of the new series is not around anymore.

Likewise, the rest of the episode seemed logically disconnected and in dire need of a proof writer as well. The same problems that plagued Journey's End are visible here, although less so due to this episode being on a far lesser scale and not being overcrowded with useless characters.

- Cybermen having dreadnoughts and spaceships? Yeah right. Remember these are not the original cybermen (referenced in "Dalek" and looking completely different), so there is no reason they could have had access to plans. Furthermore, wouldn't an original spaceship look more orginal-cybermen-y?
- Cybermen being able to operate Dalek technology. Yeah right. This I believe when a neanderthal cracks NASA's servers and built a Saturn V.
- The Cybermen using children as work force - when they have controllable brutes at their disposal and have the resources to zap people at will...especially when "work force" apparently consisted of shoveling coal and turning switches for ten minutes. Yeah, but they operate Dalek technology and are coal-powered...right. If they can built such a monster, they can also shovel coal for ten minutes.
- The firepower of the Cybermen was pitiful. The giant was firing left and right in rapid succession and at best it set one house on fire with one shot. And that thing was supposed to conquer the earth?
- Furthermore, the plot was completely easy to spot. You immediately noticed that the guy was not the doctor when he pulled out the fake screwdriver and who was not expecting the long talk between the doctor and the villain at the end? YAWN.

Know what makes this even more sad? I watched "Rose" before this. And although "Rose" wasn't the greates premier ever, the drop in quality is noticeable. And I had such high hopes for the new series....

I won't give away the name of the poster or website it came from, but does anybody agree with his opinions?

To start with, I don't think it was necessary for the Cyberking to be packing extreme starship level firepower when it was only taking over mid 19th century London, while there was no clear explanation what occurred between the Daleks and the Cybermen in the Void (even though telling from "Doomsday" the former vastly outmatched the latter). Can anybody poke holes into his interesting arguments?

 

[Bacl]

I won't give away the name of the poster or website it came from, but does anybody agree with his opinions?

Yes, actually. He summed up my feelings quite well, and I did not feel his post was snarky, snobby, or whatever else. He criticized the episode for what he felt were its flaws, and I agree with his critique.

*The giant cybermen 'spaceship' was over the top in a bad way. It smelled of Godzilla at best and Mighty Morphing Power Rangers at worst.

*The cybermen using children made no sense. The work to build this massive ship took only a few hours, and the work was nothing the cybermen couldn't have handled themselves.

*The major, massive, deadly cybermen robot sets a couple homes on fire, and apparently kills no one. Again, reminded me of how the monsters in Power Rangers always attacked the abandoned warehouse district.

*The reasons behind "the next doctor" were flimsy at best. He's a human who thinks he's the doctor...only he claims he has amnesia and thus knows nothing about the doctor other than a few buzzwords like Tardis and Timelord. The real Doctor is somehow fooled for a bit, then reveals the truth by the 20 minute mark. What purpose did any of this serve?

I remeber that many people thought this other "Doctor" was going to be a con-man, ripping off the Doctor's image and staging fake battles for profit. Others thought he might really be the next Doctor. Still others guessed he was an alternate version of the Doctor from the parallell world or another timeline. ANY of these would have been more interesting and more clever than, "he's just a human and he thinks he's the doctor, he plays no real role in the plot, and we discover the truth less than halfway through at which point he steps aside so that the cybermen can walks around threatening to kill everyone and yet not ever killing anyone."

I'm afraid this special was a disapointment. I love Doctor Who, but they can't ALL be winners, and I am still looking forward to the next special.

And I am glad other people loved this special. It just didn't work for me. Again. they can't all be winners for all of us.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

^I think he was still growing at the time...

becasue what they thought it would be cheaper and better looking when it got bigger?

Kind of ironic with all the Megazord comments going on since growing larger like that is a trait of Power Ranger villains.

 

[davejames]

*The major, massive, deadly cybermen robot sets a couple homes on fire, and apparently kills no one. Again, reminded me of how the monsters in Power Rangers always attacked the abandoned warehouse district.

I thought the robot proved to be plenty dangerous and threatening. I didn't have to see it tear apart the entire town to see that it was fully CAPABLE of doing so. Besides, the Doctor stopped it before it could do any real damage.

That's kind of what he does.

I remeber that many people thought this other "Doctor" was going to be a con-man, ripping off the Doctor's image and staging fake battles for profit. Others thought he might really be the next Doctor. Still others guessed he was an alternate version of the Doctor from the parallell world or another timeline. ANY of these would have been more interesting and more clever than, "he's just a human and he thinks he's the doctor, he plays no real role in the plot, and we discover the truth less than halfway through at which point he steps aside so that the cybermen can walks around threatening to kill everyone and yet not ever killing anyone."

I agree the truth was revealed a little too early in the story, but I thought the character and explanation we got-- of a heartbroken man who becomes the Doctor to hide from the truth-- was absolutely great, and a helluva lot more compelling and emotionally rich than any of those other gimmicky scifi ideas (which frankly don't sound any more original to me).

Plus it allowed for plenty of comedy, and some great interaction between two great actors.

Seemed totally worth it to me.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I remeber that many people thought this other "Doctor" was going to be a con-man, ripping off the Doctor's image and staging fake battles for profit.

The rumor was that "The Next Doctor" was inspired by the audio, "The One Doctor," in which the a con-man (not unlike The Music Man) is running around, pretending to be the Doctor, and then a real crisis happens and the real Doctor has to set things right. That's where the idea that Jackson Lake was a con-man came from.

Others thought he might really be the next Doctor. Still others guessed he was an alternate version of the Doctor from the parallel world or another timeline.

Valid ideas, both.

ANY of these would have been more interesting and more clever than, "he's just a human and he thinks he's the doctor, he plays no real role in the plot, and we discover the truth less than halfway through at which point he steps aside so that the cybermen can walks around threatening to kill everyone and yet not ever killing anyone."

I disagree. I really enjoyed the mystery behind the "Doctor." I wish that the mystery had been drawn out a little longer; I think that once we saw his Sonic Screwdriver, we in the audience knew he wasn't a Time Lord. On the other hand, the mystery of how he built his life around his belief that he was the Doctor was likewise compelling. I mean, who didn't want to know what he called the TARDIS?

I do wish that Jackson Lake had played a role in the climax. His story comes to an end with about twenty minutes left to go, and he stands agog while the Doctor takes off into the sky to confront the Cyberking. I wish that Lake had been the one to save his son. I wish that Lake had suggested to the Doctor, "Take my TARDIS" (because that TARDIS, obviously, wasn't going to take them both. I wish that Lake, a broken and shattered man, had realized that the pieces of the Doctor he used to plaster over the cracks in his mind made him better, that he could still be the hero. Why? Because that's the message of the fourth season -- the Doctor makes people better. The Doctor, even though he didn't meet Jackson Lake until that morning in the snow, had made Lake better, had been a profound influence on his life. For me, the pieces to make the emotional arc of the episode stronger were there; they were just left on the table.

 

[Starkers]

^To be honest you could work around the 'real' screwdriver and hot air balloon TARDIS as well. If the doctor had suffered a major trauma, and perhaps lost his scredriver/TARDIS, then in his befuddled state he might assume these replacements are the real deal.

I much prefer Lake as he was to the con man idea, I'm in full agreement though, Lake should have had more of a role in the finale, and its a shame RTD didn't draw the mystery out a bit longer, although to be honest he could have dragged it too far--once the Doctor listened to his heart that was the clincher.

 

[Mr Awe]

I disagree. I really enjoyed the mystery behind the "Doctor." I wish that the mystery had been drawn out a little longer;

I disagree with that. That Jackson was just a human who thought he was the Doctor was the biggest dissappointment in this story. It was just a diversion to fill time and it really didn't amount to anything. So, I'm glad more time wasn't wasted going down that dead end. That would've been disastrous in terms of bringing down the story with too much wasted time. If they were going to include this plot point, it being fairly short was the way to go.

The most interesting part of Jackson was his "real" tragedy and how he overcame it. The more you play up the illusion (that he is the Doctor), the more that you obfuscate the real meat of his story.

Mr Awe

 

[Allyn Gibson]

its a shame RTD didn't draw the mystery out a bit longer, although to be honest he could have dragged it too far--once the Doctor listened to his heart that was the clincher.

It was a clincher for the Doctor, but not for us; we didn't hear if Lake had one heart or two.

 

[Jim Steele]

Would you like a cocktail?

Ok.

How about a wamdue?

What's a wamdue?

...it has a string of pop hits in the 80s.

 

[The]

.....you're fired.

 

[Jim Steele]

OH COME ON THAT WAS GOLD philistinesad.nasdk.jnsdf,.n

 

[wamdue]

^I think he was still growing at the time...

becasue what they thought it would be cheaper and better looking when it got bigger?

Kind of ironic with all the Megazord comments going on since growing larger like that is a trait of Power Ranger villains.

but dont they just use the action figures when the two giant things battle each other?

Would you like a cocktail?

Ok.

How about a wamdue?

What's a wamdue?

...it has a string of pop hits in the 80s.

he had one hit in the 90s. Unless their is something about this im missing.

 

[Tom]

This story could have worked well if it was instead re-tooled and used for next years Xmas special when we do have a change in Doctors. The Next Doctor would have actually been the 'Next Doctor' played who ever was choosen as the 11th Doc. The story would be similar but we would have have found out that something had gone wrong with the 10th doctors regeneration to the 11th and he had lost peices his memory and was stuck dealing with the Cybermen in 1851. So 10 helps 11 get his memory back (we have a flashback with the regeneration in it) and they deal with the Cybermen. 10 then goes off in his Tardis with a somber moment when he realizes what will happen to him in the near future. This will be the last we see of 10 (we don't know how many more adventures 10 will have before he gets to that Regeneration so it a bit open ended) and all stories after will have Doctor 11 in it. So basicly the 10th Doctors 'swan song' would be fling of in the Tardis vs the traditional linear regeneration ending. Kinda a bizzare way to it but it would interesting I think.

 

[wamdue]

I would not mind it if 10s final episode, we also saw 11 hanging around, before we see the regeneration, of course why 11 would go back and spend time with 10 im not sure.

I wonder if maybe 10 does the wrong thing, he helps the wrong people, is killed, the 11th Doctor realises this and goes back to try and undo what he did as 10.

Of course we know not know that 11 is 11, he would just appear to be a guy working for who 10 thinks are the bad guys, trying to get 10 to switch sides.

 

[WillsBabe]

We had visitors on Christmas day evening so I couldn't catch the special then. I've just watched it now. Thoroughly enjoyed it. It's my second favourite after Christmas Invasion. Might even trump it. I thought David Morrisey did a great job as the confused, amnesiac would-be Doctor, and he brought some real nice moments of emotion and empathy to the role. I really began to warm to him, and when I thought he might be our Doctor regenerated, I was quite upset by his plight. Even when I realised he was an ordinary bloke, I was still saddened for him. I was annoyed that his moment of revelation was cut short by the bleeping of the infostamps.

The whole thing looked great. Dervala Kirwen looked beautiful in that amazing gown and the set pieces looked very striking, particularly the graveyard scene.

There was some stuff I was less chuffed about: the Cybermen for a start. I like them as enemies and I love the look of them but I'm tired of seeing them.

I really enjoyed the ending. The Doctor accepting Christmas dinner really chuffed me, and I liked that Jackson got to look around the TARDIS.

Nice try to everyone involved. 7 out of 10.

ETA: I had a total, major fangrl squee at the showing of the previous Doctors. I don't know which one of them got the biggest squee - Hartnell, McGann or Eccleston. Frankly, it was wonderful!

 

[davejames]

This story could have worked well if it was instead re-tooled and used for next years Xmas special when we do have a change in Doctors. The Next Doctor would have actually been the 'Next Doctor' played who ever was choosen as the 11th Doc. The story would be similar but we would have have found out that something had gone wrong with the 10th doctors regeneration to the 11th and he had lost peices his memory and was stuck dealing with the Cybermen in 1851. So 10 helps 11 get his memory back (we have a flashback with the regeneration in it) and they deal with the Cybermen. 10 then goes off in his Tardis with a somber moment when he realizes what will happen to him in the near future. This will be the last we see of 10 (we don't know how many more adventures 10 will have before he gets to that Regeneration so it a bit open ended) and all stories after will have Doctor 11 in it. So basicly the 10th Doctors 'swan song' would be fling of in the Tardis vs the traditional linear regeneration ending. Kinda a bizzare way to it but it would interesting I think.

I'm happy with how this story played out, but I DO like your idea of simply jumping forward in time to the new Doctor's run without having to see the 10th one die and regenerate.

I know that's a tradition the fans love to see, but personally this is one Doctor I just don't want to watch die on screen. Tennant has brought so much joy and love of life into the character that I prefer to think he goes on MANY more adventures before passing the torch.

Who knows, maybe they could save that "last adventure" for the eventual big screen movie, if it ever gets made.

 

[wamdue]

but personally this is one Doctor I just don't want to watch die on screen. Tennant has brought so much joy and love of life into the character that I prefer to think he goes on MANY more adventures before passing the torch.

you know I thought loosing Ten would be hard, but the moment he regenerated into himself what said something like "why change, why get rid of me im perfect" was the point when I was ready to say good bye. After that his treatment of the other 10th Doctor was shocking, who is he to decide what happens to him? is that not something he should decide for himself.

 

[davejames]

you know I thought loosing Ten would be hard, but the moment he regenerated into himself what said something like "why change, why get rid of me im perfect" was the point when I was ready to say good bye. After that his treatment of the other 10th Doctor was shocking, who is he to decide what happens to him? is that not something he should decide for himself.

I never got the impression this Doctor was any more full of himself than the others. Whenever they go on about how great and wonderful they think they are, I always figure most of that is just for show (and Tennant is so sweet and loveable that it wouldn't bother me anyway.)

Although I agree the fake regeneration in the season finale was pretty lame. And just because I don't want to see the 10th die, doesn't mean I'm not ready to see a new Doctor on the show. As great as Tennant is, I think it's probably about time for a change.

 

[wamdue]

you know I thought loosing Ten would be hard, but the moment he regenerated into himself what said something like "why change, why get rid of me im perfect" was the point when I was ready to say good bye. After that his treatment of the other 10th Doctor was shocking, who is he to decide what happens to him? is that not something he should decide for himself.

I never got the impression this Doctor was any more full of himself than the others. Whenever they go on about how great and wonderful they think they are, I always figure most of that is just for show (and Tennant is so sweet and loveable that it wouldn't bother me anyway.)

and I dont mind the Doctor going on about how good he is (well to a point) but the idea that he would not want to regenerate into a new personality, because the current Doctor thinks he is so much better & more important to the universe than the past or future Doctors which gets me.

 

[DWF]

but personally this is one Doctor I just don't want to watch die on screen. Tennant has brought so much joy and love of life into the character that I prefer to think he goes on MANY more adventures before passing the torch.

you know I thought loosing Ten would be hard, but the moment he regenerated into himself what said something like "why change, why get rid of me im perfect" was the point when I was ready to say good bye. After that his treatment of the other 10th Doctor was shocking, who is he to decide what happens to him? is that not something he should decide for himself.

I thought he pretty much decide it for himself, once he told Rose how he feels about her he had made his decision.