11 May 2008

Doctor Who 4.06 The Doctor's Daughter

After viewing The Doctor's Daughter, I sat back and said to myself that this was a silly, silly, episode -a bottle episode, also - but that acting and the other bits of the plot are very interesting. The story picks up from last week's cliffhanger, where the TARDIS is hijacked and brought to this planet where the Doctor is forced to procreate a person who will aide some warriors in a battle with the Hath -some pretty good looking fish creatures.

It's an unimpressive war, due to the fact that it is an bottle show. Because if there was this huge war going on, it seemed to happening with only a handful of Hath and humans. Meanwhile, Martha Jones has been taken by the Hath, who appear for some reason to trust her. Maybe when she helps an injured Hath and stands up to its fellow Hath by proclaiming she's "Doctor Martha Jones, and who the hell are you?" they're impressed with it -after all, the Doctor does it all the time and it works for him.

Anyways, the plot goes no where, until the Doctor, Donna and his "daughter" Jenny (played by Georgia Moffett, who is the daughter of Peter Davidson, Doctor number five) begin the search for the source - some holy grail that will bring an end to this destructive conflict.

Its then, when things start looking up. Actress Catherine Tate once again brings much weight to Donna, making her one of the more rounded companions of the recent re-boot, bringing not only smarts like Martha, but an emotional depth with her in her releationship with the Doctor.

And Freema Agyeman's performance, always good, gets top mentions for her emotional take on the death of her Hath friend. It was touching. And while the death of the Jenny was predictable, it was still a sad scene. Her regeneration, however, and departure kinda made her more than you thought of her to be - a disposable character. How this will -if any - impact the series is unknown. I'm guessing we've yet to see the last of her.

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