The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit: this is one of the best stories of the modern era so far, and on this season two rewatch, one of the few that still holds up to how I felt about it at the time.
Notable for the introduction of the Ood… and that orange spacesuit! #DoctorWho
A proper old-school #DoctorWho quarry… but with some CGI enhancements made to look about a million times better than they ever have before.
The multi-threat cliffhanger of the pit opening, the Ood turning evil, the planet starting to lose orbit, etc, is excellent.
“I couldn’t save the Ood. Only had time for one trip.”
You’re in a time machine! Just go back a bit earlier and bundle them all in the TARDIS ffs!
Poor old Ood. No one gave a shit. 🤷🏻♂️ #DoctorWho
Love & Monsters: well here we are, the most RTD of all RTD episodes. Peak RTD. The ultimate litmus test of whether you’re on board with his vision of #DoctorWho or not. A brilliant love-letter to fandom accompanied by a warning of its obsessive side.
Best episode of the season.
Not to mention it’s Camille Coduri’s best performance as Jackie, as we get an insight into “those left behind” in the Doctor’s world.
Oh, but a minute of Peter Kay running around in a green fat suit and it’s “Worst. Episode. Ever!!!” 🙄 #DoctorWho
To be fair, that chase sequence at the end is slightly cheesy, but it’s a minor moment in an otherwise superb story.
And then we have the audaciousness of that ending with paving slab Ursula… 😅 It’s that sort of ‘not-giving-a-fuck-ness’ I want to see again in RTD2. #DoctorWho
“Not you too Bob!”
The commentary on the Olympics throughout is utterly mental, some of the most bizarre dialogue ever in #DoctorWho, especially “the Olympic dream… is over!”
Just because the runner dropped the torch??
Army Of Ghosts /Doomsday: RTD takes the ‘TV show references’ bit from the season 1 finale and tweaks it into his patented trick of a montage of actual celebs reacting to whatever wacky events are going on.
And why does Jackie’s TV pick up French and Japanese channels? #DoctorWho
But first, their bitch-off was quite entertaining too…
“You are superior in only one respect!”
“What is that?”
“You are better at dying!”
And it’s not helped by the fact that there are no words to express just how much I. Do. Not. Give. A. Shit. about the Ten/Rose “romance”. 🙄 It leaves me completely cold.
Top comedy moments here. Should have had a laugh track. 😜 #DoctorWho
Donna pulling the Santa mask off the taxi driver to reveal a robot is a nod to Terror Of The Autons, surely?
That whole motorway chase sequence is still brilliant. Pity the poor guy whose car roof gets bumped by the TARDIS. How do you claim that on the insurance? #DoctorWho
It’s a feature of RTD’s #DoctorWho that he always kept in mind how kids / casual viewers might only have general memories of previous stories, not specifics.
People don’t care about the exact details of the Robot Santas, they’ll just remember “Oh, the bad guys from last Xmas!”
Unfortunately we’re now into the era of the Tenth Doctor moping over Rose every bloody episode.
Cheer up mate, it’s Christmas! 😜 #DoctorWho
The Racnoss Queen is such a crazy character, with her peculiarly mannered way of speaking and a seeming fascination with Christmas, weddings, etc.
And the creature itself looks great, just a shame they couldn’t stretch to a single CGI shot of her scuttling about. #DoctorWho
“Where are they from, the planet Zovirax?”
The single most dated reference in all of #DoctorWho! 😄
Martha gets one of my favourite ‘bigger on the inside’ moments, with the Doctor mouthing it along with her.
Welcome aboard, Miss Jones! 😀 #DoctorWho
They literally do the “there was only one bed” thing from fanfiction. 😄
Honestly Doctor, Freema Agyeman in bed next to you, looking longingly… and you go and ruin the moment blathering about bloody Rose…
You idiot! #DoctorWho
“Oh, 57 academics just punched the air!”
There it is - Russel’s favourite number! Is that the first time it was used in dialogue? #DoctorWho
The bit about “Time Lord DNA” being conveyed down the lighting strike (?) is the point where the plot feels like its unravelling.
And the scene of the Doctor saving Lazlo seems rushed and almost improvised, sort of “oh, just do what you can with the available props.” #DoctorWho
The Lazarus Experiment: there was often a bit of a mid-season slump in the RTD years, and never more obviously than in season 3. There’s nothing too terrible here, there’s just much better episodes coming soon.
Still, a whole episode without a mention of Rose. Result! #DoctorWho
The CGI for the creature is generally very good and holds up well… except for the human face. 🫤
On DW:Confidential the CGI artists proudly talked about how they’d managed to get Mark Gatiss’ features in there. Er, really…? #DoctorWho
The Saxon story arc is ticking away nicely in the background. It’s worked into the season much better than Bad Wolf or Torchwood ever were, which were just… words being mentioned.
So who was this guy and what did he whisper to Francine to make her go so mad? #DoctorWho
42: I recall there being some very daft criticisms of this one, mainly people claiming that it was “exactly the same!” as Impossible Planet/Satan Pit from the previous year.
What, just because you can’t see past the grimy industrial aesthetic? #DoctorWho
Also fans grumbled because they thought it was our sun that’s revealed as a living entity, when its actually far across space.
Like the later ideas of ‘the Statue of Liberty’s a Weeping Angel’/‘the moon’s an egg’. People can’t cope when this stuff’s too close to home. #DoctorWho
Gavin Winters
