Doctor Who – Series 4 Volume 1
Reviewer: Tom Leins
Issue 105 July 2008
(1 votes, average: 8 out of 10)
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A threesome with David Tennant…
The Lowdown: Following on from last year’s Christmas special ‘Voyage of the Damned’, Doctor Who is back on Earth and finds himself teaming up with a handful of familiar faces – not least Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) who makes her presence felt once more as the Doctor’s new assistant.
Review: First and foremost, don’t be duped into thinking that you’re getting some kind of early bird bargain with this hasty Doctor Who release. This embarrassingly slight release contains just three of the new series’ 13 adventures. Doctor Who has got plenty of flak in the past for its no-frills Vanilla releases, but this lightweight package takes the biscuit. It may represent awful value for money, but are the episodes themselves any good?
After three phenomenally successful crowd-pleasing series, Russell T. Davies was under a huge amount of pressure to prolong Doctor Who’s winning streak. After a divisive debut stint in ‘Voyage of the Damned’ at Christmas, fans were understandably wary when it was announced that Tate would be joining the cast full-time as Donna Noble. Her comedy appeal is wearing thinner by the week, so it remains to be seen whether or not she can cut the mustard in the family drama…
Davies himself scripts the opening episode in a bid to combat skeptics, and successfully ushers in a brand new era. The episode itself isn’t a classic, but it perfectly encapsulates Davies’ aims for the new series. Whereas previous series have all followed a thematic arc, this fourth offering draws on disparate elements from previous series – be they characters, planets or mysteries, before culminating in a potentially eye-opening finale. (In this respect even Billie Piper pops up for a surprise reprisal during these opening episodes, although I won’t tell you exactly when!).
Opening episode ‘Partners In Crime’ sees our intrepid double act renew their acquaintance whilst investigating the sinister Adipose Industries and its dastardly plan to breed fat little aliens using human body fat! Donna (Tate) is welcomed aboard the Tardis at the end of the episode, kick-starting her stint as the Doctor’s fully-fledged assistant. The following episode ‘The Fires Of Pompeii’ takes things up a notch with an absorbing story concerning the Doctor and Donna’s ill-timed visit to Pompeii – the day before Mount Vesuvius erupts! The Doctor must decide whether or not to try and alter history and save the city, all the while fending off the stone beasts running amok. The final episode in this set lets us get reacquainted with the Ood, who were last encountered by the Doctor and Rose back in Series 2.
All in all it’s a solid start to another entertaining series. Previous series’ episode patterns suggest that the best episodes are still to come, but this rush-released treble-whammy should give hardcore fans their Who fix for now. Catherine Tate may be more subdued than she was in ‘Voyage of the Damned’, but her presence still feels forced, and nowhere near as natural as the involvement of Rose Tyler and Martha Jones (both of whom will return later in the series). Only time will tell how the rest of the series pans out, so it may be a safer bet to hang on until the full box set comes out in the autumn…
FILM: 6 EXTRAS: 1
DVD Info:
Certificate: PG
Starring: David Tennant, Catherine Tate, Sarah Lancashire, Bernard Cribbins
Directed By: Various, 2008
Distributor: 2entertain
Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0
Visuals: 16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen
Running Time: 135mins
Price: £17.99
Special Features:
Episode Selection
Scene Selection
