TND - Review

We had to wait 6 months and at 6pm, BBC ONE on Christmas Day, 11 Million of us sat down and watched Doctor Who - "The Next Doctor". The opening 2 minutes we had all seen thanks to the BBC snippet aired a few weeks ago to tantalize our WHO buds. The opening sequence from when we meet "the other Doctor", I laughed out loud. Where DM's Doctor lassoos a Cyber Shade and is dragged up the side of a building with the Doctor trying to help pull the Shade down woith no luck. Dragged upwards and through a window and then both dragged through an empty warehouse until Rositta cut the rope . From that moment on, both Doctor's become friends. At Christmas tea time that is what you want - a bit of laughter. TND part 1 below

The episode on didn't have the usual rush of previous specials, in that this one was more slower and played on the loneliness factor - which according to RTD, is what we can expect from the following specials of 2009, where the focus will be on the Doctor's solitary life style (even though he does pick up the odd companion here and there). We learnt what most of us knew but wished the opposite, that Morriey's 'Doctor' was not The Next Doctor nor the one after that, but in fact a man by the name of Jackson Lake, whose wife had been deleted by the Cybermen and who had abeen temporarily brain washed from opening an Info-Stamp. Everything about the Doctor became stamped into his memories. He became the Doctor quite literally despite not being the Doctor.

There was all this chatter about the Cyber King - What was he? What did he look like?. These questions were answered 40 minutes in - Miss Mercy Hartigan became the Cyber King, and then we saw what the Cyber King actual was - a gigantic mechanical Cyber space craft. I felt let down at this point. Being a mega Doctor Who fan, I expected a whole lot more than seeing some Dickensian mechanical monster grace the night's sky. Then again, this is Doctor Who and on the other hand it is reminiscent of the classic series.

On the whole; I enjoyed the episode. It was funny, all the characters were 3 dimensional and classic Doctor Who at Christmas. I will give it 7 1/2 nudging on 8 out of 10.

As for David Morrisey (I am a BIG fan of his work), should he get THAT call, I believe that that TARDIS key will be in very safe hands indeed with "THE ONE, THE ONLY AND THE BEST!"