There’s great excitement in the barbedwords household as tonight brings the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary special episode. Which, unfortunately, we won’t be able to watch until tomorrow as we’re having an infrequent night out (no spoilers, please!) I’m particularly looking forward to tonight’s episode as it brings back my all time favourite Doctor – David Tennant (yum yum). And sees the demise of Matt Smith, who I haven’t taken to for some reason. Oh, ok – it might be because he has a really big head. I know that’s not a reason to dislike someone but, seriously, when I’m watching, that’s all I can focus on.
I watched Doctor Who a bit as a child but it wasn’t until the genius of Russell T Davies brought the series back in 2005 that I became a devoted viewer. Stephen Moffat has been a great successor but gets minus points for writing Blink – the scariest episode ever.
So here are just some of my favourite episodes:
Doomsday: In this episode, Rose (Billie Piper) almost slips into The Void (not good) but at the last moment, her (dead) Dad appears to transport her through a breach to a parallel universe. The breach closes, leaving a devastated Rose trapped in the parallel universe – with the Doctor (David Tennant) on the other side. Later, she has one last chance to say goodbye to the Doctor when he uses the energy of a supernova to transmit as a hologram via a tiny breach between the universes. I cried when Rose told the Doctor she loves him just as the breach seals for good and he disappears before he can reply. Who knew that Billie ‘Because We Want To’ Piper would turn out to be such a great actress?
Boom Town: The Doctor (Christopher Eccleston – my number two favourite Doc), Rose and Jack Harkness (good ol’ John Barrowman) come to Cardiff to meet Rose’s boyfriend, Mickey (the lovely Noel Clarke). They end up in a huge battle with the Slitheen, an alien family from the planet of Raxacoricofallapatorius, who are noteworthy for disguising themselves as humans in skin suits, using a gas exchange system that causes them to fart loudly. A lot.
School Reunion: The Doctor goes undercover in a comprehensive school where strange things are happening. There he meets his former companion Sarah Jane Smith (the greatly missed Elisabeth Sladen) and the robotic dog K9. Despite some rivalry between Sarah Jane and Rose, they work together to defeat a bat-like race called the Krillitanes and prevent them taking over the universe. At the end of the episode, Sarah Jane turns down the chance to travel in the TARDIS again (is she crazy??) but at least gets a chance to say goodbye properly to the Doctor.
The Runaway Bride: This sees the introduction of Donna Noble (inimitably played by Catherine Tate). I love Donna’s gobbiness and the matey relationship between her and the Doctor. Donna materalises unexpectedly in the TARDIS dressed in a wedding dress. The Doctor returns her to her wedding, after which she discovers her groom is working for the Empress of the Racnoss, a giant (seriously, HUGE) spider-like creature, who is trying to use huon particles to free her trapped children (keep up…) and has a spaceship which begins firing upon Earth. The Doctor offers to take the Empress and her children to a safe planet where they can’t harm anyone but she refuses. So he drowns her offspring and the Empress teleports back to her ship just as the army destroys it.
Any other Doctor Who fans out there? Who’s your favourite Doctor? Do you have a favourite companion? Would you take the Doctor up on an offer to travel through time and space – or would you rather watch from the safety of your sofa with a nice cup of tea and a custard cream??
BARBED WORDS 