KOOL TV REVIEW: 'DOCTOR WHO' - SERIES 7 PART 2 DVD SET

A smashing entrance for the Doctor (Matt Smith) and Clara (Jenna-Louise Coleman) in the latest series of DOCTOR WHO released on BBC DVD. Images: BBC.

Fans of Matt Smith's incarnation of the heroic space wanderer DOCTOR WHO must surely be gutted by the sudden news of his departure from the long running sci-fi show, scheduled this coming Christmas, but they can at least console themselves for the time being with the recently released BBC DVD and Blu-ray set of part two of his third season in the role, containing nine stories that will surely prove a tonic.

Doctor Who: Coming Soon in 2013 trailer - BBC One - YouTube

Up above the London skyline: the Doctor and Clara.

My own personal enjoyment of this new era for the show, however, continues to be erratic, and I found this season once again something of a mixed bag. As always the series is well made and Steven Moffat's writing/producer-ship reign is inventive and surely pleasing for the Harry Potter generation, but the series just doesn't quite have the heart it used to, and the storytelling often seems all over the place, with style sometimes very clearly overriding substance. Last years Xmas story, The Snowmen, is a case in point- better than the previous years saccharine and abysmal effort The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe, the menace of the titular creatures and the emergence of villain Richard E, Grant as a returned old nemesis from the Second Doctor's past, The Great Intelligence, was a good idea lost in a storyline that actually proved to have very little at its core and once again felt painfully overlong, though the proper introduction of sexily perky Jenna-Louise Coleman, as the first of many incarnations of new companion Clara, was solid. Moffat's next entry, The Bells of St. John, launching Series 7 part 2 in Easter, was thankfully an improvement in some respects- a zippy chase through modern day London to stop a wi-fi invasion of London and the world by the revenge seeking Intelligence, bolstered by a good guest appearance from popular comedian/actress Celia Imrie. However, the subsequent The Rings of Ahkaten, written by Neil Cross, featuring Clara's first trip to an alien society, and seeing her and her Time Lord partner saving the life of a little girl songstress from being a sacrificial lamb to an an angry planet, would sadly prove a complete nosedive in terms of storytelling, and proved a rather twee and dated fantasy that failed to ignite mine, and many others, viewers imaginations- truly a low point of the season and the series in general.

Clara gets personal with an Ice Warrior in Cold War.

Fortunately, the returning presence of a bulky and dangerous enemy- the intimidating hostile form of a martian Ice Warrior in regular series contributor Mark Gatiss's atmospheric, 1983 set cold war drama, aptly enough titled Cold War, was a tonic to all the Ahkaten nonsense,  Bolstered by a lot of visual atmosphere, a hunt the monster plot that evoked the early ALIEN films, and a brilliant redesign for the classic monster-again, another great invention from the Troughton era- plus great guest star performances from Liam Cunningham and David Warner, the story, despite running out of plot in its last ten minutes or so, proved welcome relief and a reminder that the show could recapture its former classic era glories, whilst also setting the scene for a future rematch with the creatures on a hopefully bigger scale. The seventies-set Earth-bound horror/romance Hide would continue the overall quality upscale with its haunted house setting, and Neil Cross improves his WHO reputation with this second script, though the plots transition from edgy ghost story to sci-fi MILLS & BOON ultimately robbed it of its early scares and full impact, as well as easily wasting a strong guest star presence in the form of film actor Dougray Scott.

Lost in infinite danger in Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS.

Lofty ambition and lots of hype almost get the better of the next story, the expeditionary romp Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS, slightly hampered by some poor guest star acting from Ashley Waters, one of three salvage worker brothers capturing the TARDIS for scrap metal value, but ultimately forced to assist the Doctor in saving a trapped Clara and the now critically unstable time vessel from death. This promised and most anticipated look inside the legendary and mysterious TARDIS had a few choice moments of inspired cgi wizardry, but proved nowhere near as spectacular as expected, though the idea of the "creatures" running around the ships fiery core were well handled by director Mat King, as were some nice continuity love-letters from the classic series.

Having broken the Ice Warriors back into the series, Mark Gatiss returns next with a second WHO script that proves a far more experimental and not altogether successful mix of ultimately high camp comedy with occasional chills- the period tale The Crimson Horror, which sadly failed to live up to my expectations and desire for a genuinely serious and disturbing horror story, becoming a poisoned chalice of sorts in the way that legendary actress Diana Rigg and her lovely daughter Rachael Sterling, both of whom were well cast and excellent in the story, stole the show rug out from underneath Smith and co's feet. With some additionally nice visual touches, and occasional, genuinely funny laughs from the returning Sontaran warrior Strax (Dan Starkey), the final reveal of the alien creature influencing the villainous plans of the Gillyflower family ultimately turns out to be a damp squib, looking like a cheap rate version of the Pepperami animal stick creature fom the funny British TV commercials!

The Cybermen lose some of their horror credibility in Nightmare in Silver.

Bigger, but not necessarily better, monsters came with the return of another classic villainous race- DOCTOR WHO's number two nemesis, the Cyberman, in Nightmare in Silver, written by acclaimed fantasy author Neil Gaiman, though this proved to be a "number two" of a very different kind by the time the end credits rolled. Nightmare for the Viewers would have been a more apt title! Pretty much everything about this other highly anticipated tale would turn out to be a savage disappointment- a tragic shame and waste of time and money, especially considering how good Gaiman's previous story, the nostalgic and often haunting The Doctor's Wife, had been. The plans by the production team to make the redesign-improved Cybermen scarier than ever are ultimately unsuccessful, within a story whose intergalactic fairground setting just doesn't work, alongside poorly written characters you just don't care about- easy cannon fodder for the now running metal monsters, and lots of unwise trick guest casting (Tamsin Outhwaite as a soldier? Please!). Plus two annoying, cringe-worthy school children, currently looked after by Clara, accompanying her and the Doctor in this hopefully one-off visit, who just can't act for toffee! Even Matt Smith gives a laughably poor performance when he's fighting against the controlling influence of the ambitious Cyber Planner, in scenes that should have been scary and terrifying- a rare moment when the Doctor is possessed by an alien force. Ultimately, only LIFE'S TOO SHORT actor Warwick Davis, as a diminutive leader in exile, manages to emerge from this mess with any dignity intact, whilst also proving he has the talent to make a good Doctor himself.

The Great Intelligence (Richard E. Grant) returns for the series finale.

Fortunately, away from the criminally disappointing, very smelly mess, there is a  redemption of sorts for the season with Steven Moffat's ultimately triumphant season wrap-up and lead-in to the all-important 50th Anniversary Special, coming November 23rd. The Name of the Doctor is the evocative, ultimately misleading and misdirecting title to this planetary sized tease of a story, which shows us the Doctors seemingly final demise on the war torn graveyard world of Trenzalore, his beloved TARDIS equally destroyed, its interior dimensions now outwardly spread across its surface, as Richard E. Grant's Great Intelligence returns to threaten the Doctor's entire timeline and absorb it into himself. as if the hero had never lived, whilst the mystery of Clara is finally revealed in a way that proves ultimately obvious from the start (well, at least to me anyway!). Its all enjoyable enough, though, with the return of the Victorian- era alien investigator favourites Lady Vastra (Neve McIntosh), her lesbian servant Jenny (Catrin Stewart) and hot-headed, blaster-toting Sontaran Strax back to aid the weakened Doctor, and helping Clara reach the finishing line in her long time-spanning journey to save her friend (though Alex Kingston's guest contribution as the Doctor's real wife, River Song, is seemingly a waste of time and the actresses talents).

As with previous Moffat efforts, Name was yet another complex puzzle to unravel- so complex I'm surprised many Average Joe viewers could follow it, but there were many slots of classic series nostalgia dotted along the path that could be enjoyed, especially the way the story cleverly mixed classic old Doctor footage with stand-ins (nice to see the colourful Sixth Doctor once again striding down the TARDIS corridors-bit where was Paul McGann's incarnation?). The opening footage, giving us William Hartnell's original and iconic Doctor, alongside Granddaughter Susan, stealing a Type-40 TARDIS on his home planet of Gallifrey, aided by a little hint from Clara, was easily one of the best moments of the new series, whilst John Hurt's mysterious figure of a future, possibly battle-scarred and corrupted version of the Doctor looming on the horizon looks intriguing-oh, how I wish that Hurt wasn't just a guest star and was actually the Doctor for the next couple of years. I wouldn't mind the series having a shorter season run just to accommodate the character actor's busy career...

Special features (DVD): Clara's White Christmas, Vastra Investigates, BBC Children in Need Special: The Great Detective, and The Bells of Saint John - a prequel.


KOOL TV RATING (overall episodes and extras): 3 out of 5


Get the set here: Doctor Who - Series 7 Part 2 [DVD]: Amazon.co.uk: Matt Smith, Jenna-Louise Coleman, Richard E. Grant, Dan Starkey, Catrin Stewart, Neve Mcintosh, Ian McKellan, Dougray Scott, Diana Rigg, Warwick Davis, Tamzin Outhwaite, Nicholas Briggs, Alex Kingston, John Hurt, Saul Metzstein, Colm McCarthy, Farren Blackburn, Steven Moffat, Mark Gatiss, Neil Gaiman: Film & TV