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 as well right now. 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.

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.