Doctor Who SE04 EP05: The Poison Sky (spoilers)

[horacethegrey]

The stratagem continues, and the Sontarans have the upper hand. The Doctor and UNIT now must find a way to regain the advantage, and solve the poison mist that now fills the skies. Donna is caught between a rock and a hard place, and Martha is not all that she seems.

Oh how the Doctor wishes the Brigadier was here now...

Despite some minor quibbles, this is a satisfying conclusion to this two parter. Performance wise, it's all good. David Tennant in particular ought to be given high praise, for making the Doctor somewhat of an arrogant prick once more. [sblock]So it was a bit of a punch in the air moment when Colonel Mace and UNIT were able to fight back against the Sontarans without the high and mighty Time Lord's help. [/sblock] Freema and Catherine acquit themselves well. And it's nice that the two of them have such a good rapport since[sblock] the both of them are now traveling with the Doctor again. Nice to see the TARDIS with a three man crew once more. [/sblock]

To be a bit negative now, I'm no scientist, not even a super scientist like the Doctor is, but even I had problems with his solution to the poison gas problem. [sblock]Burning up the sky to convert the gas back into oxygen? Yeah right.[/sblock] I know we shouldn't watch the show looking for scientific accuracy, but my suspension of disbelief only goes so far.

Anyway, looking forward to next week.

 

[Staffan]

Two minor details:

1. When talking to the Sontarans over the video link, Rose appeared miming "Doctor!" for a second.

2. When the Doctor put on the gas mask, his first line was "Are you my mommy?" Nice throwback to the WW2 episode.

 

[Felon]

This episode has a lot of padding to fast-forward through. Don't care about Donna (still kinda hoping she's going to die) so I sure don't care about her loved ones.

I was glad to see UNIT perform an armed response though.

But enough of that. Next week, we get to meet the Doctor's daughter! Just what the series needed: a bigger shot of plucky girl power.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

The solution to the episode was the Doctor Who variant of Deus Ex Machina - once we find out what the aliens _really_ want, it doesn't take long to stop their plans.

Doctor Who Science doesn't make sense. At least not to us. But then, we don't create time-traveling phone boxes whose inside is bigger then the outside and can be jury-rigged to create a paradox.

Two minor details:

1. When talking to the Sontarans over the video link, Rose appeared miming "Doctor!" for a second.

2. When the Doctor put on the gas mask, his first line was "Are you my mommy?" Nice throwback to the WW2 episode.

I missed the "mommy" bit.

This episode has a lot of padding to fast-forward through. Don't care about Donna (still kinda hoping she's going to die) so I sure don't care about her loved ones.

I don't mind her, so it might not surprise you to her that I am somewhat fond of her father.

I was glad to see UNIT perform an armed response though.

Nice, indeed. I found the names of the countries preparing their nukes to fire against the Sontaron ship interesting.

Spoiler

But enough of that. Next week, we get to meet the Doctor's daughter! Just what the series needed: a bigger shot of plucky girl power.

I am not sure if it's a good idea to spoil the preview, too. Someone might have deliberately tried to avoid that. I saw it, and I demand to see the next episode now!

 

[Felon]

I am not sure if it's a good idea to spoil the preview, too. Someone might have deliberately tried to avoid that. I saw it, and I demand to see the next episode now!

Meh. There's a spoiler tag on the title, and if the preview airs during the closing the closing credits, then it's part of the episode. If somebody for some peculiar reason wants to avoid a teaser just so they can go into the next episode completely blind as to what it's about, then they really ought to stay out of threads like this.

 

[Cthulhudrew]

2. When the Doctor put on the gas mask, his first line was "Are you my mommy?" Nice throwback to the WW2 episode.

Seems to me I recall seeing another reference to an earlier Who episode, but now I can't remember what it was.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Meh. There's a spoiler tag on the title, and if the preview airs during the closing the closing credits, then it's part of the episode. If somebody for some peculiar reason wants to avoid a teaser just so they can go into the next episode completely blind as to what it's about, then they really ought to stay out of threads like this.

Considering that the OP went so far (too far, in my opinion )to put story details of the current episode in spoiler tags, a unsuspecting watcher of the current episode might (naively) believe that this will also apply for later posts.
*hyperbole* Your post might ruin someones enjoyment of Doctor Who and make him miserably, and by consequence his friends, family and co-workers! Ever thought about that?!

 

[evildmguy]

When watching Doctor Who, especially recently, I seem to be able to put my brain on hold with regards to the science. I suppose it could have been plasma instead of fire, but any burning creates water and some gas, carbon dioxide? I can't remember. So, to make it oxygen, yeah. But I don't watch this for the science.

I really liked UNIT being able to kick some alien bum once they had gotten past the excitation field. It's nice to see an alien race that isn't immune to bullets but can stop them with technology. Although, there is a part of me that says it's cowardly to fight a race that can't fight back and so that doesn't fit the Sontarans very well.

Overall, I liked it! I thought it was well done!

edg

 

[Staffan]

Nice, indeed. I found the names of the countries preparing their nukes to fire against the Sontaron ship interesting.

Yeah. Not trying to get into real-world politics, I boggled a little at North Korea being mentioned, but not Israel.

I am not sure if it's a good idea to spoil the preview, too. Someone might have deliberately tried to avoid that. I saw it, and I demand to see the next episode now!

The title of the next episode is "The Doctor's Daughter." IMO, any "spoiler" that can be figured out by looking at an episode's title isn't really one.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I enjoyed the competent response from unit.

however...
[sblock]
The doctors decision to teleport up to the Sontaran ship with something to destroy them, and saying "I've got to give them the chance to choose" didn't really work for me. I found it telegraphed the obvious solution with the boy genius too much.
[/sblock]

I don't find the increasingly 'arrogant' Doctor appealing in this series so far. He seems to be missing the elements of compassion and ruthlessness which had been brought to the character in the previous seasons. I wonder whether they are setting up something vis a vis the finale of this season?

One of the things I really liked? For me the stand out moment was Bernard Cribbins (Donna's grampa) comforting his daughter on the floor as it looked like the gas was going to kill them all. I'm a dad with small daughters, but it encapsulated the reality that your children are *always* your children, no matter what your age is.

Cheers