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) 2-06: 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.