The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People

The Rebel Flesh and The Almost People
by Matthew Graham
Originally Broadcasted: May 21st-28th, 2011

The Doctor, Amy, and Rory land outside a medieval monastery in the 22nd century and discover a run-of-the-mill factory that contains something not so run-of-the-mill: Gangers. Humans have developed a way to copy themselves and in this factory, their copies turn deadly...

I was really impressed with this two-parter by Matthew Graham (creator of Life on Mars) when it aired last year. To me it felt like a story out of the David Tennant era, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. It was a nice change from the confusing time travel filled stories of the current era. This story is a really clever one. When a storm hits the monastery, it causes both the Gangers and their human counterparts to be active at the same time. The Gangers, thinking themselves to be a real being, naturally lead their life. But a certain Ganger leads the others to become deadly, and the motto of "Us or Them" is continually muttered. Graham really goes into the morality of the creation of gangers. Disused gangers are left to rot in a liquid state, fully conscious. From The Doctor's point of view, they all deserve to life together in harmony. But neither the humans or the Gangers will have it. It's Us or Them. It takes a horrific mutation from one of the Gangers to make everyone else realize that this has to end. It's worth mentioning just how creepy the Gangers in their half-human state look. Sure Daleks and Cybermen are scary, but it's these almost but not quite human characters that really creep me out! I really love Rory in this episode. He shows true caring for Jennifer, and really wants to help the Gangers. A funny line is when Jennifer says to Rory "I thought I was going to die" and Rory replies with "Welcome to my world", a reference to just how many times Rory has died in the show. Only in Doctor Who. My favorite moment in the two episodes has to be right at the beginning of The Almost People... The Doctor's Ganger is struggling to come to terms with all of The Doctor's past incarnations, and in a moment of relapse he asks "Would you like a jelly baby?" in the voice of the Fourth Doctor. I love references to the history of Doctor Who, and this was one of the more obvious ones.

Luke's Rating: 8/10

State of Decay

State of Decay
by Terrance Dicks
Originally Broadcasted: November 22nd-December 13th, 1980

The Doctor and Romana land on an unnamed medieval planet in the barren depths of E-Space, where the townsfolk are terrified of the "Three Who Rule". Those three beings are in fact vampires who are trying to awake the Great One to return to N-Space and feed on all living beings...

State of Decay was originally written as The Vampire Mutation for the 1977 series of Doctor Who. However, due to a BBC production of Bram Stoker's Dracula, the story was shelved. Rare for a shelved story, this one was dug up three years later and actually produced, with a few changes to include the E-Space story-line and the inclusion of Adric. Now The Doctor and Romana don't actually know Adric is there, for he stowed away on the TARDIS at the end of Full Circle. Adric is a pretty annoying character in mostly every story, but I think this has gotta be him at his worst. Some of the lines he comes out with and his reasoning is just awful. I think Terrance Dicks probably noticed the lack of character in this character and wrote him to be just plain annoying. It baffles me why The Doctor wouldn't just kick him out of the TARDIS a la Adam in The Long Game for the stupid things he says. But enough about Adric... State of Decay is actually a fantastic story. It has such a wonderfully creepy mood to it that is brilliantly enhanced by Paddy Kingsland's score. Terrance Dicks knew how to write for Doctor Who. He's right up there with Robert Holmes and Malcolm Hulke as one of the best writers in the shows history. A seasoned Doctor Who writer was something that became uncommon in the JNT era, and this was actually the second-to-last story Terrance Dicks wrote for the series. The performances of the three vampires are a little overacted, but I think that actually enhances the kind of role they're playing. State of Decay is blood curdling, good-old fashioned Doctor Who fun!

Luke's Rating: 8/10

The Daemons

The Daemons
by Guy Leopold
Originally Broadcasted: May 22nd-June 19th, 1971

An archaeological dig is being excavated at the mysterious Devil's End, little do the perpetrators know that conducting the dig could lead to the awakening of the great Azal. The Master, under the disguise of Mr. Magister attempts to awaken Azal to gain supreme power. Of course, it's up to The Doctor to stop him...

The Daemons ranks highly as one of the most popular Doctor Who stories of all time. It has all the archetypes that make the Jon Pertwee era so perfect. An Earth-bound UNIT story, The Master, and good old Jon Pertwee himself. There's a weird vibe to The Daemons that isn't achieved in many other Doctor Whos. I think it may be down to the way the show was shot and edited. But the weird vibe does  really help the story. I love a Master story, but to those watching in 1971, this was the fifth consecutive story he appeared in. While he's great in the story, I'm sure his surprise reveal was no surprise by this point. So it's better to watch it from a stand-alone perspective. It's also wonderful to see him actually captured at the end of the story. I think that's the only time in Doctor Who history that The Doctor manages to capture him. And of course, The Master's capture plays directly into the events of The Sea Devils in the following season. The realization of Azal is actually really good for 1971! The makeup is fantastic, and he's actually a pretty chilling, scary character. I've never seen someone shout so much... Stephen Thorne, the actor who played Azal, would go on to play two more great Doctor Who villains: Omega in The Three Doctors and Eldrad in The Hand of Fear. An unimportant to the story, but interesting fact was the use of BBC Three during the television broadcast. Doctor Who in the 70s was always supposed to be a little in the future, they just happened to predict something that would happen way later (in this case, 2003). All in all, a great example of Third Doctor era. Perhaps not my favorite, but still fantastic!

Luke's Rating: 8/10

The Doctor's Daughter

The Doctor's Daughter
by Stephen Greenhorn
Originally Broadcasted: May 10th, 2008

The TARDIS is out of control and after some severe turbulence, finally lands on a mysterious planet, where a war is raging. Within minutes of touching down, The Doctor gains a daughter! Will The Doctor and his companions be able to stop a war that is not all it seems...

If there was ever a character I wish we saw more of, it's Jenny. The Doctor's Daughter, masterfully played by Georgia Moffett (daughter of Fifth Doctor, Peter Davison and future wife of Tenth Doctor, David Tennant). Jenny is such a fun character, not to mention extremely pretty! Her lust for life and adventure is just like her dad's, and that would be so much fun to explore in future episodes. I hope someday they decide to bring her back, maybe even as a companion. I would have taken her over Donna any day... Now seeing the title of this episode really made me wonder just how The Doctor suddenly has a daughter. Was it going to go into some sort of backstory from years ago? I was really surprised at just how quickly this was explained. She was born before the opening titles scrolled, and immediately after The Doctor explained the process. I thought it interesting that The Doctor pretty much disowned her for a good deal of the episode. He thought of her as just another soldier. Not the accepting Doctor we know and love. She really had to prove to him that she could be more. And she did, enough to sacrifice her life for him. And that proceeded into a classic David Tennant crying scene. Which then proceeded into a pretty hair-raising moment, where The Doctor actually held a gun up to General Cobb out of anger for him shooting Jenny. The idea to build the society on the basis of a man who never would was pretty powerful to me, and sent shivers down my spine. These were the kind of scenes that David Tennant really excelled in, and is some of what makes me love Doctor Who.

Luke's Rating: 8/10