Doctor Who rewatch: a mini-review thread

Rose: Watched it a few days ago but it’s such a perfect introduction to the new series, and Rose’s monologue about having a BRONZE MEDAL IN PRIMARY SCHOOL GYMNASTICS is iconic.

The End of the World: There’s absolutely no bitch as bad as Cassandra and there’s no choice but to hatestan her (if that’s a thing). Also, JUSTICE FOR JABE.

The Unquiet Dead: a joy to watch back, Dickens is such a fantastic and well-acted character to include so early on, and Eve Myles as Gwyneth was superb on so many levels. Plus introducing the Big Bad Wolf motif in the BEST way, she is fantastic. Plus Rose looks FINE AF.

Aliens in London: Rose May use gay in a negative way but BLIMEY IT’S SUCH A GOOD DOUBLE-EPISODE STARTER! The Slitheen are so iconic and so gross, they make such fantastically camp Doctor Who monsters, WE LOVE TO SEE IT. Brilliant!

Aliens of London (addendum): WORTH NOTING THAT THE ICONIC TOSHIKO SATO OF TORCHWOOD WAS IN THIS EPISODE! CANONICALLY IN DOCTOR WHO!!!!

World War Three: There is absolutely no choice but to stan Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North. She is a remarkable and powerful woman and there should be a spin-off about her à la The Thick Of It. Also Mickey does great but is such a mug, and Rose is class like always. Love it!

Dalek: a forgotten yet incredibly well-done episode imo - a Dalek feeing human emotions? Genius! Genuinely a bit moving towards the end, plus enjoyed the scene where it looked like Rose was taking her pet Dalek for a walk. Honestly a highlight so far!

The Long Game: Simon Pegg is such a good villain, Adam is a selfish dick, Cathica is the vengeful queen we stan, and there has never been a better monster name than The Mighty Jagrafess of the Holy Hadrojassic Maxaradenfoe (Max, for short). Also open-head weirdness is gross af.

Father’s Day: absolutely love the human element of the story, the paradox moment is wild, it’s crazy to see the Doctor actually die (however temporarily!), but my GOD the Reapers were genuine stuff of nightmares weren’t they! Actually terrifying!

The Empty Child: Absolutely amazing episode, Jack is such a fun (and handsome) character, and the horrifying transformation into gas-mask zombies is chilling! Plus, Jack and Rose dance to the same song as Steve and Penny at the end of Endgame

The Doctor Dances: Nancy is a wonderful lady and is the friendlier and cuter version of Kat Slater to Jamie’s Zoe Slater, heartwarming really! Everyone loves a happy ending. Jack is queer and we stan.

Boom Town: An emotional Slitheen? A campy little chase around Cardiff Town Hall? A lovely little dinner date with a deep conversation in the Bay? Blaidd Drwg? AN INCREDIBLE EPISODE OF TELEVISION, BOOM!

Bad Wolf: Captain Jack having his clothes removed made me gay and I am still, to this day, very VERY turned on by him. The Anne-Droid is genius, the Controller is lowkey terrifying, and this episode has my favourite line of telly of all time: “She’s been evicted... from life!”

The Parting of the Ways: WOW MAN. WOW. Rose is absolutely brilliant in this one and totally nails the portrayal of the Bad Wolf, I remember seeing it for the first time and gasping and screaming and crying it’s SO GOOD. And the regeneration! HI DAVID!

Review of Season 1: A MASTERPIECE. The season arc was brilliant and so clever linking the message back to Rose in the finale. Well written, well executed, well done!

Best episode (imo): Dalek / Boom Town

Overall: 8.5/10

The Christmas Invasion: Harriet Jones could take on Coronavirus but Boris could never handle the Sycorax like she does, a true queen (and yes, Harriet, we know who you are). David quotes The Lion King, loses a hand and tears down an empire, Rose cries a lot, and Jackie — we stan!

New Earth: Billie Piper excels at playing the psychotic Cassandra in Rose’s body, she delivers some phenomenal lines (“Wotcha!” being a personal favourite), and inhabiting The Doctor she is just CAMP AS HECK. Also gross hospital patients, but nice happy ending. Cure ‘em all!

Tooth and Claw: FUCKING TERRIFYING. The wolf is quite scary but as the caged man - one of the most haunting sights in the entire show. The portrayal of Queen Victoria is marvellous, she’s kinda fierce, and the formal introduction of Torchwood as the second season arc - brilliant!

Tooth and Claw (addendum): Sir Doctor of Tardis. Dame Rose of the Powell Estate. OF THE POWELL ESTATE!

School Reunion: got very sad seeing Sarah Jane Smith, she really was wonderful wasn’t she? She’d have found the cure for Coronavirus with ease. Anthony Head is a spectacular villain, the human-form Krillitanes are creepy af, and K-9 is dorky as heck. Mickey is a tin dog. Fun!

The Girl In The Fireplace: truly one of the best episodes of modern-era Doctor Who, Reinette is beautifully acted, the Clockwork robots are menacing, and the story – in particular the ending – is so moving and heartbreaking. Glorious. (Why does Rose crimp her hair though? Girl!)

Rise of the Cybermen: a weird one to watch with the Mickey/Ricky thing and the alternate Jackie bitching at Rose, but a cool reintroduction to the Cybermen! Very very cool one, also @AndrewHaydSmith is hot af (even with the super-noughties hairstyle, would bang!)

The Age of Steel: A really good episode with some gratuitous explosions and a decent story, Lumic’s Cyber Controller is a first-rate nutcase, and a touching ending with Rose saying a permanent goodbye to Mickey the Idiot. Mrs Moore was a bit of a hero too, love her!

The Idiot’s Lantern: Maureen Lipman as a camp electrical-themed 50s villain in the television is absolutely fantastic, by far the campest thing so far. Plus David Tennant’s hair is to DIE for with the quiff. Good on Rita for kicking out the abusive husband too! HUNGRY! FEED ME!

The Impossible Planet: Toby Zed is unlawfully hot, like sexy as hell (literally), especially under Satanic possession. The Black Hole depiction is fantastic and dark. The Ood are brilliant, genius! Oh, and Rose and the Doctor have a conversation about getting a mortgage together.

The Satan Pit: throw in a chase through confined tunnels from demon-possessed beasts and a fall into a literal Devil pit of blackness and you get an absolute smorgasbord of terror, fear and genius. Discussions of faith and evil make great dialogue. Ida is a standout tbh. Amazing!

Love and Monsters: LINDA United is really cute, bastard Peter Kay is a real bastard, the ending is a bit gross, but blimey Jackie Tyler is yet again an absolute standout - from femme fatale (iconic purposely spilling wine) to emotional savage (LEAVE ME ALONE!!). Decent enough!

Fear Her: rewatching it, this is a tremendously good episode with really intense human elements (domestic violence and lonely children) and a really good story, Rose naturally delivers some amazing lines! Chloe Webber is a bit annoying though, let’s be honest. Olympics too! Fun!

Army of Ghosts: Finally seeing Torchwood in full force is awesome! The reveal of the ghosts as Cybermen is also brilliant and then throw in that the Void Sphere has DALEKS in it... a phenomenal setup for an amazing season finale! (Jackie is also camp and hilarious, as per!)

Doomsday (pt. 1): The throwbacks to earlier episodes are fab, from the Dalek episode in Season 1 to parallel Earth, sheer genius. So many revelations — the Genesis Ark and world-hopping technology — plus the AMAZING Dalek line: “We would destroy the Cybermen with one Dalek!” YES.

Doomsday (pt. 2): Seeing Rose fight so hard to stay with The Doctor, almost seeing her get dragged into the Void, seeing her get trapped impossibly far away from him, and then the final declaration of her love of him - it’s genuine heartbreak right there. She was truly fantastic.

Review of Season 2: it really is one of the best seasons of modern-era Doctor Who, not a lot else comes close. David Tennant is phenomenal, Billie Piper is perfection, from start to finish it’s just brilliant.

Best episode (imo): The Girl In The Fireplace

Overall: 10/10

The Runaway Bride: The Empress of the Racnoss is camp and so overdramatic, the end scene with the fire and water is really really cool but let’s talk about the sensational introduction of ICONIC QUEEN DONNA NOBLE! QUEEN OF SPACE SASS! QUEEN OF MOUTHING OFF! QUEEN OF HUON ENERGY!

Smith and Jones: Judoon platoon upon the Moon, what about an amazing introduction to a series! Martha’s strong personality is a perfect match for The Doctor, she’s so smart and bold and I really love her for that. Plus, the Plasmavore is a camp old lady with a straw, love it!

The Shakespeare Code: Lilith is super camp as a witch, The Doctor is great at turning words, Shakespeare is canonically bi (and really hot too!), the Carrionites are cackling demonesses like Hocus Pocus, Martha is naturally brilliant and the Expelliarmus ending, oh boy it’s good!