Series 4 Boxset:
Series 4 Part 1:
Series 3 Boxset:
Director:
Graeme Harper
Screenplay:
Russell T. Davies
Cast:
The Doctor: David Tennant
Donna Noble: Catherine Tate
Rose Tyler: Billie Piper
Martha: Freema Agyeman
Sarah-Jane Smith: Elisabeth Sladen
Captain Jack Harkness: John Barrowman
Gwen Cooper: Eve Myles
Ianto Jones: Gareth David-Lloyd
Luke Smith; Thomas Knight
Gramps: Bernard Cribbins
Sylvia Noble: Jacqueline King
Davros: Julian Bleach
Francine Jones: Adjoa Andoh
General Sanchez: Michael Brandon
Themselves: Richard Dawkins, Paul O'Grady
Shadow Architect: Kelly Hunter
Dalek, voices: Nicholas Briggs
Mr Smith, voice: Alexander Armstrong
Synopsis:
When the Earth is transported to a mysterious celestial location, The Doctor
and Donna travel to the Shadow Proclamation for help, as earthbound former-companions
try to defeat the Doctor's greatest nemesis...
In typical Russell T. Davies fashion, "The Stolen Earth" is about as subtle as
a kick to the face; riddled with illogical moments, grating comedy and a handful
of performances that beggar belief. It's also a stupendous amount of fun, once
it manoeuvres around the silly reactions of people as another alien disaster rocks
their world.
If there's one thing Who's had problems with since it returned, it's how it
fails to make these earth-shattering events plausible during, and after, they
happen. Next season we'll meet a character who doesn't believe in aliens,
trust me!
"The Stolen Earth" finds The Doctor (David Tennant) and Donna (Catherine Tate)
returning to Earth fresh from their BAD WOLF scare from Rose (Billie Piper),
bemused to find no danger whatsoever. However, seconds later, the entire planet
is whisked to a secret celestial location, leaving the TARDIS hanging in empty
space with them still aboard...
As the perplexed Doctor travels to the oft-mentioned Shadow Proclamation for
help (revealed to be a rather disappointing asteroid-base, populated by an elderly
lady and some Judoon), the episode spends most of its time showing us the fallout
from four terrestrial perspectives: New York-based UNIT employee Martha Jones
(Freema Agyeman); the Cardiff-based Captain Jack (John Barrowman),
Ianto (Gareth David-Lloyd) and Gwen (Eve Myles) of Torchwood;
Ealing-based Sarah-Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) and her son Luke
(Thomas Knight); and the inter-dimensional Rose, who rather conveniently
stumbles upon Donna's mother Sylvia (Jacqueline King) and her
Gramps (Bernard Cribbins).
Of course, it's no secret that the culprits who've plucked the Earth from orbit,
and deposited it amongst 25 other planets, are the notorious Daleks. Arriving
in waves of B-movie flying saucers, the Daleks ravage the planet in a few
impressive CGI sequences, before proclaiming a total victory – their dynasty
restored thanks to rogue Dalek Caan (last seen teleporting to safety in season
3's "Evolution Of The Daleks" cliffhanger).
It transpires that Caan meddled with the timeline and, at the price of going
totally insane, resurrected the creator of the Dalek race, Davros (Julian Bleach).
It takes awhile for "The Stolen Earth" to settle into itself cursed once again
by RTD's predilection for unsubtle excess, cheesy dialogue, clunking comedy,
and ridiculous cameos. Shoehorning chat-show host Paul O'Grady into proceedings
was eye-rolling stuff that took you out of the reality presented – as if the
TV schedules would trundle on as usual when the night sky fills up with alien
worlds!
The crossover appeal was generally good fun, but only effective regarding the Torchwood
team's involvement – who you can believe they exist alongside Doctor Who,
because crossovers for Captain Jack and Martha Jones have laid some foundations.
Less successful is Sarah-Jane's presence; her kid-friendly spin-off sitting
awkwardly in the context of its parent series.
Martha Jones, having been re-branded as a UNIT super-soldier this season, is
better utilized -- but it's amazing how much affection for Martha has dissipated
since she left Who as a regular. Her scenes alongside UNIT superior General
Sanchez (Michael Brandon) are written very broadly ("gentlemen, we are at war!"),
and require suspension of disbelief when she acquires top-secret access to
"Project Indigo" and is given a secret "key" that will likely come in handy
for next week's conclusion. Meanwhile, Rose marches around London with a Men
In Black-style gun, intentionally kept out of the loop until the last
10-minutes, an explanation for her inter-dimensional travel still unforthcoming.
The long-awaited return of Davros is curiously matter-of-fact, after some
shadowy teasing. His arrival isn't a disappointment, it's just exactly what
you'd expect -- and nothing more. It's a testament to Classic Who that Davros' design
and prosthetics haven't been updated much (like Terry Nation's pepperpots),
and actor Julian Bleach (also the villain in Torchwood's "From Out Of The Rain")
does a marvellous job of complimenting the three previous Davros actors;
Michael Wisher, David Gooderson and Terry Molloy. His synthesized voice is
quietly malicious, spine-tingling stuff to give kids the creeps.
With so many superficial treats for the fans in this whirlwind of an episode,
the spectacle of Davros' return doesn't stand apart as anything truly special.
Still, season 4's foreshadowing of missing planets and bees got a decent
pay-off, and the sense of expectation for the "God"-like Doctor to find the
missing Earth and swoop in to save the day (after receiving mobile phone
"prayers" en masse) worked very well, and built some genuine excitement into
the last 15 minutes.
And then, there was the unexpected emotional gut-punch of the cliffhanger. I'm
not going to spoil things here, but suffice to say the Doctor and Rose's
eventual "reunion" was pitch-perfect stuff, with a shocking sting in its tail
that will leave fans gobsmacked and burning up the Who forums 'till next week.
The cliffhanger is one of Who's finest, and I my jaw was on the floor as the
credits rolled.
Have the producers managed the impossible, and kept you-know-what a secret all
these months? Or will there will be a cop-out solution to the frankly stunning last
shot -– probably involving Donna (are we still in a parallel universe?), or
the Doctor's hand in a jar? "Journey's End" can't come soon enough for the
answers to be revealed.
Overall, if you're being critical and evaluating everything separately with a
level-head, this is a solid but unremarkable episode. It's enthusiastic,
everything-and-the-kitchen-sink plot will have fans and especially children
salivating, while the final 10 minutes are admittedly perfect big-scale,
big-stakes storytelling.
It's too cluttered and crazy to be truly affecting, but I certainly enjoyed
the ride after the initial bumps and can't wait for next week's conclusion.
For sheer indulgent joy, "The Stolen Earth" is heartily recommended – but I
wish RTD would craft stories that are logical, consistent and not riddled with
plot-holes. Still, he clearly adores unashamedly huge, broad, kid-friendly,
emotional, dumb, silly, extravagant, excessive stories – and on that level,
this is a pinnacle.
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Series 4 Boxset:
Synopsis:
When the Earth is transported to a mysterious celestial location, The Doctor
and Donna travel to the Shadow Proclamation for help, as earthbound former-companions
try to defeat the Doctor's greatest nemesis...
It takes awhile for "The Stolen Earth" to settle into itself cursed once again
by RTD's predilection for unsubtle excess, cheesy dialogue, clunking comedy,
and ridiculous cameos. Shoehorning chat-show host Paul O'Grady into proceedings
was eye-rolling stuff that took you out of the reality presented – as if the
TV schedules would trundle on as usual when the night sky fills up with alien
worlds!
And then, there was the unexpected emotional gut-punch of the cliffhanger. I'm
not going to spoil things here, but suffice to say the Doctor and Rose's
eventual "reunion" was pitch-perfect stuff, with a shocking sting in its tail
that will leave fans gobsmacked and burning up the Who forums 'till next week.
The cliffhanger is one of Who's finest, and I my jaw was on the floor as the
credits rolled.
