Doctor Who (2005) 1-11: Boom Town (Quick Review)

Episode:

707

|

Serial:

165

|

Writer:

Russell T Davies

|

Director:

Joe Ahearne

|

Air Date:

04-Jun-2005

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm watching another episode of the endless first season of the 2005 Doctor Who revival. 13 episodes, man; it just keeps going and going.

The writer this time was showrunner Russell T Davies himself, back after a three-episode break to land the season personally. Though those three episodes by other writers were Father's Day, The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances, so the bar has been raised a bit.

RTD had actually brought in acclaimed writer Paul Abbott to script this one, but he had his own show, Shameless, and he was ultimately too busy. It would've had an entirely different story so I'm not sure how that would've affected the season finale.

Anyway I'm not talking about the finale right now, because this is only going to contain SPOILERS for this episode and earlier stories. If you're watching for the first time you've got nothing to worry about from me.

Doctor Who (2005) 1-10: The Doctor Dances

Episode:

706

|

Serial:

164

|

Writer:

Steven Moffat

|

Director:

James Hawes

|

Air Date:

28-May-2005

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm back in 2005 writing about the second part of Doctor Who series 1's The Empty Child two-parter.

It's called The Doctor Dances, which has always seemed like a bit of a strange title to me. It's weirdly playful for a Doctor Who story, which are usually called things like The Mysterious Planet or Planet of the Daleks or Dalek Invasion of Earth. Or Earthshock.

Even if you know what happens in it, which I do, it's still weird that the title references dancing. The episode takes place in London during an air raid, but it's not exactly a ballroom blitz. And if you know what 'dancing' refers to in the story... well I bet Steven Moffat and RTD thought it was hilarious that they got away with it.

Alright, everything past this point will be safe for new viewers as long as you've seen everything up to this point. Otherwise, beware of SPOILERS.

Doctor Who (2023) 2-07: Wish World

Episode:

891

|

Serial:

319

|

Writer:

Russell T Davies

|

Director:

Alex Sanjiv Pillai

|

Air Date:

24-May-2025

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm watching an episode called Wish World. I don't know why, but I get the feeling this may stray into fantasy a little bit. That's just the vibe I'm getting.

I'm at episode 7, so this is the halfway point of the season. Actually hang on, Doctor Who seasons are tiny these days, 8 episodes, so I'm already at part 1 of the finale. I suppose you could argue that there are 9 episodes in total, counting last year's Christmas special, though if you include it then something weird happens: it means that 'world' episodes always come in pairs, no exceptions.

Series 1: The End of the World and World War Three.
Series 10: The Pyramid at the End of the World and World Enough and Time.
Season 2: Joy to the World and Wish World.

The classic serial Enemy of the World doesn't have a pair, but it's a six-parter so you've got three pairs of 'world' episodes in that season. The pattern still works!

Here's another coincidence: the episode shares the same director as Joy to the World, Alex Sanjiv Pillai, though it's the big two-part season finale so this time showrunner Russell T Davies was the one who wrote the words. This is what we've been heading for this whole time, May 24th, the beginning of the end. Though hopefully not the end of the series, I don't want it to be cancelled.

There will be SPOILERS below.

Doctor Who (2005) 1-09: The Empty Child

Episode:

705

|

Serial:

164

|

Writer:

Steven Moffat

|

Director:

James Hawes

|

Air Date:

21-May-2005

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm watching The Empty Child, the first part of Steven Moffat's very first story for Doctor Who. Unless you count the Comic Relief skit The Curse of Fatal Death, which I don't. Though I have to admit that it has an amazing cast, with most of them playing the Doctor.

It's probably fair to say that no writer has had more of an influence on modern Doctor Who than its first showrunner, Russell T Davies. He's the Gene Roddenberry of the revival. But Steven Moffat is a close second place and the guy still dominates 'Best Doctor Who Stories Ever' lists. People sometimes include episodes by other writers just for the sake of variety, but up at the top you'll find stories like Blink, Day of the Doctor, Heaven Sent, World Enough and Time, and occasionally The Empty Child.

But I've seen 40 of his stories now, enough to be extremely aware of his idiosyncrasies and tired of his gimmicks, so am I even going to enjoy it this time around? Did I really enjoy it that much to begin with? Keep reading and I'll let you know.

There will be SPOILERS below for The Empty Child and earlier stories, though if you're watching through the series for the first time you'll be fine as I won't mention anything that comes later. Except for all those episode titles I just mentioned.

Doctor Who (2023) 2-06: The Interstellar Song Contest

Episode:

890

|

Serial:

318

|

Writer:

Juno Dawson

|

Director:

Ben A. Williams

|

Air Date:

17-May-2025

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This week on Grumpy Miserable Cynical Reviews, I'm hating on the latest episode of Doctor Who season 2! Okay to be honest I'm writing this bit before watching the episode, so I have no idea whether I'll like it or not. But the season really hasn't been working for me so far and The Interstellar Song Contest is the story I've been dreading the most this year.

I haven't seen any trailers, I don't know what happens in it, but I have zero interest in Eurovision so the premise has no appeal to me and all the references are going to fly over my head. And if The Devil's Chord is a harbinger of what's to come, then the soundtrack is going to be an assault on my ears. I'm going to have to leave the room and listen to the rain again.

Okay, there are going to be SPOILERS below for the episode and stories that came before it. I couldn't spoil anything that comes later if I wanted to though, as I haven't got a clue.

Doctor Who (2005) 1-08: Father's Day (Quick Review)

Episode:

704

|

Serial:

163

|

Writer:

Paul Cornell

|

Director:

Joe Ahearne

|

Air Date:

14-May-2005

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm watching Father's Day, by veteran Doctor Who writer Paul Cornell. He only ever wrote two stories for the TV series, with this being the first, but he'd been writing Doctor Who novels, audio dramas and comics since the start of the '90s, so he'd had a bit of practice by this point.

The episode wasn't released on Father's Day, by the way. Wrong month entirely. Just like how the Christmas episode, The Unquiet Dead, wasn't released on Christmas. It's a weird thing to point out, but the series loves its holiday specials so much that these days that if you see a character eating an Easter egg, for example, the episode probably aired at Easter.

Alright, this is where the SPOILERS start, so it's your last chance to get off. Though I'll only spoil things that happen in this episode or earlier. As far as this review is concerned I've time-travelled back exactly 20 years to 2005, so if you're watching the series for the first time this will be safe to read.

Doctor Who (2023) 2-05: The Story & the Engine

Episode:

889

|

Serial:

317

|

Writer:

Inua Ellams

|

Director:

Makalla McPherson

|

Air Date:

10-May-2025

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about The Story & the Engine, the latest episode of Doctor Who.

It was put together by black writer Inua Ellams and black director Makalla McPherson, and I'm bringing this up because this may be the first time in Doctor Who history that the writer, director and Doctor have all been black. Though if you change 'Doctor' to 'one of the regular cast', then Rosa was first.

This is one of the episodes I've been most curious about this season. Partly because the middle three episodes were the best ones last time, partly because of all the new people involved. I think it's easier to get enthusiastic about seeing new names on an established TV series, as it's like a safety net. Whatever this is, it's going to be Doctor Who, and I typically like Doctor Who!

There's apparently a prequel story this time. Not a video like in the olden days, it's text on the website. But I generally skip the prequels unless everyone's yelling at me to stop what I'm doing and check them out right now (like with Day of the Doctor), so I have not seen it.

There will be SPOILERS past this point (and also SPIDERS) so if you haven't seen the episode yet you might want to go do that first (unless you don't like spiders).