Doctor Who (2005): Series 2 Review

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm going to be looking back at the whole of Doctor Who series 2 (or 28, depending on where you start counting). I've already written about the individual episodes and now I want to see if I liked the season overall.

I've been covering Doctor Who way out of order, starting with Peter Capaldi, then eventually working my way around to the classic series before finally reaching David Tennant. But I'm here now, in Doctor Who (2005)'s golden age, so now I get to ask the question "But was it really that good though?" Was the Tenth Doctor and Rose's time in the TARDIS really the stuff of legends, or does this run look very dated 20 years later?

I can tell you right now that I still don't like that logo much. It looks like it should be mounted in front of a shop somewhere on the trendier side of a high street, not mucking about in the time vortex.

Okay, there are going to be SPOILERS here mostly for The Christmas Invasion up to Doomsday, though I may also mention something from an earlier story. I'll not be saying anything about The Runaway Bride, though you can probably assume from the title that it has a bride in it.

Doctor Who (2005) 2-13: Doomsday - Part 2

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, hi! Sorry, I wrote too many words again, so I decided to split my Doomsday review into two parts. Even though the episode is already the second half of a two-parter.

If you want to go back to part one, click HERE.

Alright, I will continue to write words under screencaps for basically every scene and there may even be SPOILERS for Classic Who stories too. I'll not say a thing about anything that happens afterwards though, even if it had been given away in a press release by this point.

Doctor Who (2005) 2-13: Doomsday - Part 1

Episode:

723

|

Serial:

177

|

Writer:

Russell T Davies

|

Director:

Graeme Harper

|

Air Date:

08-Jul-2006

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, it's another Russell T Davies Doctor Who finale, as I'm going to be watching Doomsday.

Actually, this will be a rewatch for me, so I already know where it's going. I can't make any wild theories about what could happen in it. Well, I could make some fake predictions as a joke, come up with something too absurd and implausible for anyone to take seriously, but I don't want to accidentally guess the plot of the 2026 Christmas special.

Hang on, people are saying that the Christmas special has been cancelled? Damn that's a relief! Uh... I mean, oh no!

I'll be going through this episode scene by scene, so if you want to avoid SPOILERS it would be a terrible idea to read any further. If you're looking for a recap though you're in luck! And I won't be spoiling anything that happens later in the series.

Doctor Who (2005) 2-12: Army of Ghosts

Episode:

722

|

Serial:

177

|

Writer:

Russell T Davies

|

Director:

Graeme Harper

|

Air Date:

01-Jul-2006

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Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, it's 1st July 2006, exactly 20 years after the first episode of Doctor Who's epic two-part series two finale, Army of Ghosts! So I thought it'd be a good time to write about it.

The episode was scripted by Russell T Davies and I could write a lot about him right now as well. But I won't. Graeme Harper is also a familiar name at this point, as he directed the big mid-season Cybermen two-parter. He didn't return to direct this though, as he never actually left - the two stories were filmed back to back. They could've given the poor guy a bit of a break!

This wasn't anything strange for the Doctor Who revival though, as it was standard procedure to shoot episodes out of order. In fact, it wasn't even unusual that there was an overlap and they were filming shots for both stories on some days! Compared to the old American sci-fi show production line where they'd get an episode done in 6-7 days and then move right onto the next, it seems like it was chaos.

Okay, I'll be going through the whole episode a scene at a time, so there will be SPOILERS. But I won't spoil anything that happens afterwards, even if I can remember it.

Doctor Who (2005) 2-11: Fear Her (Quick Review)

Episode:

721

|

Serial:

176

|

Writer:

Matthew Graham

|

Director:

Euros Lyn

|

Air Date:

24-Jun-2006

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, it's the 24th of June 2026, the 20th anniversary of Fear Her. So now I'm writing about it.

It was the fourth and final episode of season 2 to be directed by Euros Lyn. If you sort the season by IMDb rating, three of those stories are down near the bottom and one is right at the top. This is not the one at the top. Lyn came back for the Christmas special and then disappeared for most of the RTD era, only returning for two more stories, which are often regarded as being 'bangers'.

This time the writer was Matthew Graham and it was his only story for the Tenth Doctor, though he did eventually come back for an Eleventh Doctor story. His episodes aren't generally considered to be top tier Doctor Who, though he's had some success outside of the series. He co-created Life on Mars and wrote half the episodes for instance. Then he came back to that universe and co-created Ashes to Ashes, writing six episodes of that.

Incidentally the main character of Life on Mars has the same last name as Rose Tyler, because the guy's daughter was a Doctor Who fan and suggested it.

Okay I need to cut the trivia short as I'm going to go through the episode more quickly than usual, instead of examining every scene. There'll still be SPOILERS though. I won't spoil anything from the next episode however, even though the trailer did.

Doctor Who (2005) 2-10: Love & Monsters (Quick Review)

Episode:

720

|

Serial:

175

|

Writer:

Russell T Davies

|

Director:

Dan Zeff

|

Air Date:

17-Jun-2006

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, it's the 20th anniversary of Doctor Who series 2 episode 10: Love & Monsters!

Here's a pointless fact for you, Love & Monsters aired 448 days after Rose, the story that kicked off this era of Doctor Who.

Another fact: if you start at the air date of An Unearthly Child, the first episode of classic Doctor Who, and go forwards 448 days, you'll land on episode one of The Web Planet, my least favourite story of the whole show, possibly television in general. It's that one with the dancing moth people (I don't like it when the series gets too silly).

Has history repeated here? Is this the worst episode of the RTD era? You've probably made your own mind up about that already, but just in case you haven't seen this yet I'll warn you about SPOILERS. I won't spoil anything from the episodes that come after this, but I may talk about earlier stories if something gets referenced, or if I feel like going on a rant about The Web Planet.

Doctor Who (2005) 2-09: The Satan Pit

Episode:

719

|

Serial:

174

|

Writer:

Matt Jones

|

Director:

James Strong

|

Air Date:

10-Jun-2006

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm watching the second half of the second two-parter of the second series of Doctor Who, The Satan Pit. Just in time for its 20th anniversary today.

Both parts were written by Matt Jones, and this turned out to be his only work for the series. On the plus side, this meant he never wrote a bad story. In fact if you average his IMDb scores he's one of the best writers Doctor Who ever had with 8.7! He's right up there with Paul Cornell (8.8), Steven Moffat (8.4), Phil Ford (8.2), Neil Gaiman (8.1) and Jamie Mathieson (8.0).

(If you're curious, Russell T Davies averages 7.7 for his Doctor Who episodes and Chris Chibnall has 6.4.)

Speaking of ratings, this episode apparently had the lowest viewer count of the Russell T Davies era, and wasn't beaten for 9 years, until The Witch's Familiar, when the series' ratings finally began falling for whatever reason. Other low points for viewing figures include: Bad Wolf, Blink and the Silence in the Library two-parter. Seriously.

I heard a pretty convincing explanation for why this happened though: they all aired around the same point in June, the same time that I'm publishing this in fact. So it was probably a really nice day outside.

Okay, there will be SPOILERS below, but nothing for later stories. In fact I can't even remember what episodes came after this! Hang on, I remember what they are now. Oh no.