The Doctor is back for a third go round and this season only gets better. With the departure of constant companion Rose, it was thought that the show might start to degrade but quite the opposite turns out to be true. Vote Saxon.
The season closer saw Rose Tyler (Billie Piper), the Doctor’s companion from the show’s reboot, leaving the show. Now the Doctor (David Tennant) has to find a new one and Dr. Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman) fits the bill. What amuses me is that the Beeb (aka BBC) after unceremoniously canceling the series ignored fans pleas to bring back the series and now the show is the flagship show of the BBC (and has even led to two spin off series – Torchwood and the Sarah Jane Adventures).
Seems that they didn’t know that they had and now that Russell T. Davies has revived the series that they’re more than happy to play like they knew what they had on their hands all along. This season finds replacement Doctor David Tennant coming into his own with this critic. I really love his performance and his Doctor. Martha Jones makes a good companion (although this every gal falls in love with the Doctor stuff seems a bit silly to me).
The Runaway Bride starts off with a strong first 15 minutes and a hair-raising TARDIS chase on the freeway that’s just excellent. However, the rest of the episode does not live up to that beginning as we get into a rather pedestrian story involving a gigantic spider queen who is limited by her costume. Catherine Tate shines as the Runaway Bride (she’ll supposedly be joining up as a companion in series four).
Smith and Jones find the Doctor in hospital and under the care of Dr. Martha Jones. When the entire hospital is transported to the moon by an intergalactic police force called the Jundoon, both Doctors have to team up to find the fugitive the force is after and save the residents of the hospital.
The Shakespeare Code has the Doctor and Martha traveling back to William Shakespeare’s time as a trio of witches called Carrionites are using his skill in language to free their race from another dimension and destroy the Earth.
Gridlock has the Doctor and Martha returning to New Earth and getting caught up in a massive traffic jam that has been going on for decades.
Daleks in Manhattan and Evolution of the Daleks finds the Doctor meeting up with his old enemies in 1930’s New York as they have come up with a new plan to reach another form in their evolutionary process.
The Lazarus Experiment has Martha and the Doctor returning to the present day just in time to witness an age reversing experiment by Dr. Lazarus (Mark Gattis) and things go wrong as they are apt to do when scientists try such in the Doctor Who universe. Mark Gattis also joins a select club of writers who have also acted on the show.
42 sees the Doctor and Martha aboard a ship that is hurtling toward a sun, but an alien presence is murdering the crew, as the ship gets closer to a fiery destruction.
Human Nature and the Family of Blood has the Doctor hiding from a group of aliens by becoming human and disguising himself as a professor at a boy’s school in 1913 England. This episode is based on a book by Paul Cornell and is the best one of this season and my personal favorite (as most of them in this season are).
Blink is a near Doctor-less episode and comes off much better than the silly Love & Monsters from season two. Some evil angel statues stalk a young woman named Sally Sparrow and her only help are DVD Easter eggs clues left by a fellow called the Doctor. Another excellent episode and features some very creepy villains (they won a poll as favorite monsters from this season).
Utopia has the Doctor, Martha and Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) traveling to the end of time. They find Professor Yana (the excellent Sir Derek Jacobi) who is trying to get the surviving human race in a rocket that will be blasted to Utopia. However, things are not as they appear and an old enemy of the Doctor’s (in fact, THE enemy of the Doctor) is revived.
The Sound of Drums and Last of the Time Lords has the Doctor again returning to present time England where his old enemy has been elected Prime Minister (John Simm) and has definitely vile plans in store for planet Earth.
I found this season had far more compelling stories than season two with Human Nature/Family of Blood being the standout. This episode also features some great character development for the Doctor and Tennant performs quite well in both sides of the character.
The return of the Doctor’s old enemy (I’ll not spoil it by naming him but you probably know who it is) is also wonderfully realized, but I’d have to say that Sir Derek does such a grand job at it you really wish that he didn’t have to “change.” However, his replacement is well stacked up against Tennant (although the solution to the tale makes the Doctor a bit too godlike).
Doctor Who is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Special features are rather numerous and spread across the six discs. Every episode has a commentary as well.
Disc one has a commentary on the Runaway Bride with David Tennant and executive producer Julie Gardner. There are also an 18-minute studio tour with Freema Agyeman, 5 minutes of outtakes, a 9-minute video diary by Tennant, teasers, and promos.
The highlight of the disc is the 58 minute “Music and Monsters” that shows performances and behind-the-scenes footage from a concert of music from the show put together to raise money for charity. Too bad they didn’t include the full concert, but what we do see is excellent.
Disc two has a 29-minute Tennant video diary about Smith and Jones, Shakespeare Code, and Gridlock. Smith and Jones has a commentary from executive producer Russell T. Davies and Tennant, the Shakespeare Code has actress Christina Cole and Tennant, and Gridlock has producer Garner, actor Travis Oliver, and visual effects producer Marie A. Jones.
Disc three has commentaries for Daleks in Manhattan (actress Miranda Raison, costume designer Louise Paige, and writer Helen Raynor), Evolution of the Daleks (Tennant, Nicholas Briggs (the voice of the Daleks), and visual effects supervisor Barney Curnow), The Lazarus Experiment (Tennant and Mark Gattis), and 42 (Russell T. Davies and writer Chris Chibnall).
Disc four has a 40-minute Tennant video diary that covers Daleks in Manhattan to Family of Blood. Commentaries for Human Nature (director Charles Palmer, writer Paul Cornell, and composer Murray Gold), Family of Blood (producer Suzie Liggat, production manager Tracie Simpson, and supervising art director Arwel Wyn Jones), and Blink (composer Gold and writer Steven Moffat).
Disc five has the 27-minute Tennant video diary, covering Utopia till the final episode. Commentaries for Utopia (Russell T. Davies and Tennant), The Sound of Drums (executive producer Gardner and producer Phil Collinson), and Last of the Time Lords (Gardner, Collinson, and Davies). Disc six has two and a half hours of Doctor Who Confidential.
Season three is another set of solid Doctor Who episodes and adds a delicious amount of extras to make a Whovian’s dream come true. David Tennant has firmly endeared himself to this critic and this set is highly recommended. Vote Saxon and vote often.
Doctor Who - The Complete Third Series is now available at Amazon . As of yet, this version of the DVD is not available in the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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