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.

Doctor Who (2005) 2-08: The Impossible Planet

Episode:

718

|

Serial:

174

|

Writer:

Matt Jones

|

Director:

James Strong

|

Air Date:

03-Jun-2006

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about another Doctor Who two-parter, starting with The Impossible Planet! They didn't give us much of a break after the Cybermen two-parter, all we got was The Idiot's Lantern and then they went right back into another epic story. I guess they wanted to get this out just before the 6th of the 6th, 2006. For... reasons.

The season's basically structured the same as last year though, and the series is going to continue giving us three two-parters a year (more or less) until a couple of seasons into Steven Moffat era. After that point they threw the idea of a regular format out the window, with some seasons having no two-parters, some being all two-parters, and one being a six parter! Honestly, it's very true to the original series, which was also all over the place.

Anyway, this is the first episode to be written by Matt Jones and also the first to be directed by James Strong. So next time I write about one of their episodes I can mention that they did this too. Though Matt Jones had written a Doctor Who novel, Bad Therapy, plus some articles for Doctor Who Magazine, so he wasn't completely new to the universe.

There will be SPOILERS below for the episode, but it's actually June 2006 for me right now so I can't give away anything that happens next. Just ignore all that stuff I just mentioned about future two-parters.

Doctor Who (2005) 2-07: The Idiot's Lantern (Quick Review)

Episode:

717

|

Serial:

173

|

Writer:

Mark Gatiss

|

Director:

Euros Lyn

|

Air Date:

27-May-2006

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, it's the 20th anniversary of The Idiot's Lantern, an episode from Doctor Who's second series.

It was directed by Euros Lyn, who had already done a few episodes this season and would be back to do more, but it was writer Mark Gatiss' only script for this series.

In fact it was Gatiss' last script for the whole Russell T Davies era. He did series 1's The Unquiet Dead, then this, and then he was done until Steven Moffatt took over the show. Though he did cross over to the other side of the camera in series 3's The Lazarus Experiment, making him one of the few Doctor Who writers to also be a guest star. In fact I think at this point there may have only been one name on the list, Glyn Jones, who wrote The Space Museum for the First Doctor and then appeared in Fourth Doctor story The Sontaran Experiment.

Okay, I'll be going through the episode quicker than usual, but there'll still be plenty of SPOILERS. Only for this and earlier stories though, nothing that comes later.

Doctor Who (2005) 2-06: The Age of Steel (Quick Review)

Episode:

716

|

Serial:

172

|

Writer:

Tom MacRae

|

Director:

Graeme Harper

|

Air Date:

20-May-2006

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm watching the second part of Doctor Who's Rise of the Cybermen two-parter, The Age of Steel. So they're continuing series 1's approach of giving each part its own title.

The episode was written by Tom MacRae and directed by Graeme Harper, just like the previous one. Some series, like Star Trek, tend to get a different writer and director for every chapter, but Doctor Who treats its two-parters like they're a single story.

I hope you've seen this one already, as there will be SPOILERS below. For this and also the Third Doctor serial Inferno. Though I won't say a thing to ruin anything from the next 20 years of episodes.

Doctor Who (2005) 2-05: Rise of the Cybermen (Quick Review)

Episode:

715

|

Serial:

172

|

Writer:

Tom MacRae

|

Director:

Graeme Harper

|

Air Date:

13-May-2006

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, it's been exactly 20 years since they aired Rise of the Cybermen! It was actually a bit of an anniversary story, as it came along approximately 40 years after the Cybermen's debut. Which means that The Tenth Planet turns 60 this year!

Some titles leave you guessing what to expect, but this one's not hiding that it's the reintroduction of a classic villain. It's like series 1's Dalek in that way... plus both episodes came at the same point in the season, and they're both inspired by existing stories. In this case it was based on the Big Finish audio drama Spare Parts, by Marc Platt, and once again I haven't heard it. I need to try listening to one of these audio dramas already.

This was the first Doctor Who story to be written by Tom MacRae and he didn't write many more. His next was the Eleventh Doctor episode The Girl Who Waited, and that was pretty much it. He had been commissioned to write another David Tennant episode but it was cancelled.

Director Graeme Harper had a lot more history with the series, as the guy started in the Tom Baker era, directing parts of Warriors' Gate after Paul Joyce was too much of a renegade. The story felt unusually modern for its era and Harper brought a similar energy to his first full serial: the legendary Fifth Doctor story The Caves of Androzani. He also directed Revelation of the Daleks, which is widely regarded as being 'pretty decent for a Sixth Doctor serial'.

Harper took a 20 year break from the show, mostly because they stopped making it, but with this he became the first and only director to have directed episodes of both the classic and modern eras. He's basically the Jonathan Frakes of Doctor Who.

There will be SPOILERS below, but only up to 13th May 2006. I won't even spoil part 2.

Doctor Who (2005) 2-04: The Girl in the Fireplace

Episode:

714

|

Serial:

171

|

Writer:

Steven Moffat

|

Director:

Euros Lyn

|

Air Date:

06-May-2006

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm watching the Hugo Award-winning The Girl in the Fireplace, by Steven Moffat, the guy who wrote the Hugo Award-winning The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances last season. This 'winning Hugo Awards' thing developed into a habit for him, so that must have given Doctor Who's credibility a bit of a boost.

The episode was directed by Euros Lyn, the guy who'd just done Tooth and Claw. The poor guy didn't have much luck this season, as by the end he'd directed three of the least loved stories, but at least he got this to make up for it.

I'll be going through the episode scene by scene, so there will be lots of SPOILERS. But only for this, not any future episodes.

Doctor Who (2005) 2-03: School Reunion

Episode:

713

|

Serial:

170

|

Writer:

Toby Whithouse

|

Director:

James Hawes

|

Air Date:

29-Apr-2006

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Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, it's the 20th anniversary of the Tenth Doctor story School Reunion!

It was written by illustrator-turned-actor-turned writer Toby Whithouse, who'd go on to write another seven episodes for the series. He also turned back into an actor and played a German soldier, though that's in a later story. When he's not writing Doctor Who the guy creates TV series, including the UK version of supernatural comedy-drama Being Human.

The director this time was James Hawes, who'd already proven his skill with episodes like The Empty Child and The Christmas Invasion. This was his last episode however, he was busy on other shows. I don't actually know why directors tend to work on a bunch of episodes for a series and then never come back, maybe he just got too expensive.

Anyway, I'll be going through every scene of the episode, so beware of SPOILERS. I may even spoil elements of classic Doctor Who episodes from ancient times, but nothing from later stories.