Doctor Who Revisited: Series 2 (Part 1)

"Oh, mate, the missus and the ex. Welcome to every man's worst nightmare!"

In the first half of this series, The Doctor throws a satsuma, the Face of Boe is enigmatic, and a certain tin dog makes a comeback…

The last time we saw the eponymous Time Lord, he’d started to look suspiciously like that bloke from Casanova. Before we’d been properly introduced to the tenth Doctor, however, we had to deal with murderous Santas and killer trees in ‘The Christmas Invasion,’ through which the Doctor was largely unconscious. Bit rude. Fortunately, he awoke just in time to save the worl- well, okay, London - from an alien invasion, and to babble about his new character. He doesn’t give second chances. And he’d rather be ginger.

David Tennant bounded puppy-like into Series Two. Similar to Series One, the initial episodes were far less intense than those to come, but ‘New Earth’ offered much more than just some well-executed chase sequences. A bundle of scenes, including one memorable moment in which Lady Cassandra possesses the Doctor’s body, brought warmth to Tennant’s portrayal, and a different style of humour from Ecclestone’s. Chuck in some zombies with chicken pox, a collection of cat nurses, and the reappearance (and disappearance) of the Face of Boe, and you have a jolly good series opener.

The second episode ‘Tooth and Claw’ was not particularly remarkable - apart from the pre-titles kung-fu monk sequence, which must have blown the entire series budget in one go – but it was enjoyable nonetheless, and started to forge an even stronger relationship between Rose and the Doctor. The same could be said of ‘School Reunion,’ an episode not strong in storyline (Doctor investigates school, teachers are aliens, aliens try to harness children’s power to take over world etc.), but what a cast! Who else could play the smug, creepy headmaster other than Anthony Head? The return of K-9 and the late Elizabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith also put a grin on many parents’ faces. Below the surface though, it’s not so light-hearted: while the jealous sniping between Rose and Sarah-Jane contained some of the funniest dialogue so far, this episode also explored the repercussions of the Doctor’s time travel on his companions.

Moving on, ‘The Girl in the Fireplace’ was a change in tone, with the appearance of the first genuinely chilling monsters in the series so far - as we all know, eighteenth century French aristocracy and masked clockwork robots go hand in hand. An intricate and sinister tale, the Doctor protects Madame de Pompadour (Sophia Myles) by use of time trickery and a horse. When he fails to return to her, however, this is the first time we see true, painful sadness in the new Doctor. But how can you fall in love with Madame de Pompadour when you’ve got Billie Piper waiting for you on a spaceship?! You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone, that’s all I’m saying…

Back to the usual, cheery tempo, and Rose, Mickey and the Doctor arrive on a parallel Earth in ‘Rise of the Cybermen’/‘The Age of Steel.’ Once the Daleks had made a return of course, it was only matter of time before the Cybermen showed up, stomping their way across parallel London like grumpy teenagers. “Look at how not made of tin-foil we are!” their shiny new body armour shouted. “Couldn’t wrap sandwiches in this, could ya?” Stomp. Stomp. Stomp. And before the novelty wore off, the Cybermen were actually frightening, with their soulless eyes and “Delete” battle cries, converting the human population – which included Rose’s parallel mother – into machines. It’s always thrilling to see the Doctor looking scared, and this terrifying and exciting episode was a satisfying way of bringing the classic monsters back. But even though it’s a happy ending, the danger isn’t over yet…

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