Alas, Smith and Jones

[kaliha]

Yes, it's that's time again, the overlong, over pictured reaction post. Hoorah! Enjoy.


Meet Martha and her family

I wish my phone had call waiting. It was a really neat little way to introduce everyone and saved on lots of unnecessary exposition which is always good, allows us more time for running down corridors.

Martha's family are reassuringly dysfunctional and it obvious that Martha spends most of her time trying to soothe troubled waters. (And her mum's a cat!nun)

You can tell it's going to be one of those days when you are accosted in the street by a strange man

What did he say? I really can't make it out. All the squee has damaged my ears I think.

The Stig arrives for his annual check up

Nobody seems to notice this as a strange sight. Even Martha doesn't give him a second glance after her puzzled first one.

Ouch!

I hate static shocks

Say Ahhhhh

Hey! I recognise those pyjamas! Obviously Jackie never asked for them back after he saved the world.

Why yes, I am a medical miracle

At least Martha knows from the start that the Doctor is a bit strange with his two hearts. I'm also quite sure that she's not going to let it lie and will eventually demand to perform a full medical on him. (Get your minds out of the gutter you lot)

And he was mates with Ben Franklin – he's such a skience fanboy. Bless him. Someone really ought to write that fic. Just for the crack!value.

Looks like rain

This reminds me of The Night Watch: the curse that caused a vortex above the tower block.

And I recognise that dressing gown!

I wonder if it still has fruit in the pocket. Maybe a Satsuma or some grapes (with it being a hospital and all). He's such a thieving little Time Lord.

Martha takes being on the moon quite well

She's the only one not screaming or crying. I'd be with Martha if I was in her situation. Going 'oooooh' and then taking lots of pictures on my camera phone. I don't think there's mobile phone coverage on the moon though.

It really is an ugly looking hospital

Really brings down the tone of the place.

But not as much as this crater by the river does

*gets excited because I can see the office where my best friend works. Yay*

The Doctor tries to make the TARDIS look inconspicuous

by hiding it in some bushes. It doesn't really work.



Martha is still going "OMG! I'm onna Moon! This is ace!!!" and I don't blame her really. After all, how many of us are going to end up on the moon?

The Doctor gets his gameface on

And is grudgingly impressed by Martha's non-panicking skills and her knowledge of vacuums. He's also still being a bit of a bastard to those who don't meet his exacting standards (i.e. the panicky medical student) – he never learns, does he? He got changed pretty quick too. He's like Superman.

So he invites her to dice with death

because, you know, it's something to do. And who would have thought that opening some doors would have created so much tension?

They enjoy the view



Martha's taking this strange day in her stride

After all, with all the alien attacks in the last few years it's becoming commonplace to be invaded or kidnapped by aliens and being on the moon sure does beat being upgraded. Anyway, she's still of the "Yay! I'm onna Moon!" frame of mind. And frankly, it's a good place to be.

The mention of Cybermen, however, bring back bad memories for Martha as they remind her of her cousin being killed in the Battle of Canary Wharf. Alarm bells start going off in the Doctor's brain.

Oh Bollocks

The Doctor realises that he pulled Martha's cousin's brains out through her ear and decides to change the subject really quickly. Doesn't look like Martha knew her cousin worked for Torchwood. Because Torchwood 1 was actually good at keeping itself secret. Torchwood 3 take note.

What's that coming over the hill?

Why, it's this week's monsters. In their amazingly unaerodynamic spaceships aka tower blocks with rockets on the bottom.

Anne Reid is a girly drinker

Drinking through a bendy straw, really. Pfft. And oh, look – the good doctor who is about to get his blood sucked is called Stoker. Fancy that, eh?

It's the Judoon

Judoon onna Moon! In a platoon! How ace did they look? Their heads were so well made, beautifully animated. Who needs CGI?


it's this month's must-have toy for kids – a marker pen with a light on the end. Blue Peter will be making them out of a toilet roll and some sticky-backed plastic this week.

Tosh would kill for a translator like that. Make meeting the things that wash up out of the rift much easier to meet and greet.

The Doctor and Martha find a cunning hiding place

The foliage hides them beautifully. The Doctor is extremely happy that this hospital has a shop – because all hospitals should have a shop.

Martha takes the knowledge that the Doctor is also an alien in her stride. (Her analytical mind is going "well it explains why he has such a strange heartbeat" whilst the rest of her is going "OMG! He's an alien" only hiding it really well.) And let's face it, he's much prettier than the rhinos in skirts standing around in reception.

Crazy alien hair


Martha is keeping her trust in the Doctor even with hair like that. Although her face betrays the couple of doubts she may be having. David Tennant fails computer technology though. He's trying to pull data off the monitor rather than the computer itself. D'oh!

And then there's some running down corridors, really, really long corridors. Brilliant. I find myself starting to get a bit worried for them, whilst simultaneously thinking that Martha's shoes really aren't designed for running, she's going to go over on her arse in a minute.



Loved, loved, loved the way you could see through the Doctor and The Stig. Note how The Stig is the same all the way through, with no internal structure, matching what the Doctor tells Martha a couple of minutes later.

Oh, and it is now canon that the Doctor's skeleton closely resembles a human.

Planet Zovirax

Damn you, Martha, you stoled my joke. *grumbles* The Doctor's brilliant get the radiation out of me dance made me laugh – a lot. It's going to be a hit on dancefloors across the country this summer, you mark my words.

Supernanny would have a lot to said to the Doctor's mum/nanny/au pair – letting him play with radiation was a baby – terrible. It's the naughty step for you.

Oopps

How telling was his "I loved my sonic screwdriver" line before chucking his beloved bit of kit over his shoulder without sparing it a second glance. Shame it reappeared before the end of the episode though.

Quick, some unresolved sexual tension

Martha still isn't really very believing of the Doctor's claim to alienness (after all, he does look so pretty and our view of how aliens should look is very warped – hence the rhinos)

And that's how you lock a door,

None of this silly messing around with a sonic screwdriver. When I watched this for the first time, I was thinking "blimey, that's good attention to detail" only to have Phil Collinson shatter my illusions by saying in the commentary that they cocked up and had David closing it with the screwdriver – so they had to reshoot it.

The Doctor Who drinking game gets off to a flying start

With some more back of the head scratching/self-ruffling.

Does this count as the Doctor licking something?

If it does then it's time to down your drinks. Thems the rules. I think if this had stayed secret until the episode aired there would have been a lot more wankiness on t'internets.

And that's the effect David Tennant has on most women

And this is probably the moment Martha falls a little bit in love with the Doctor (it's practically a requirement of being a Companion (being in love with him, not the snogging)) after all you wouldn't go flinging yourself in danger every week if you just thought he was alright.

Where there's blame, there's a claim

Why did the Judoon compensate her? I must have missed a line or something.

Oh Noes! You've killed the Doctor, you b******d!

There was another banana reference, and this time not from teh Moffat – the Doctor's favourite milkshake is banana (insert your own 'Doctor likes having his banana sucked joke here)

Cue some confusion over him being dead or not and small children asking their parents "why isn't he going all glowy and changing again if he's dead?"

Martha Jones: Saviour of the world

CPR on a dead guy seems a bit redundant, but Martha won't give up on him (that's the whole being a little bit in love with him coming into play).

I don't think anyone else has commented on this yet, but did anyone else notice that when Martha was performing her heart massage she was massaging both his hearts and not just pressing randomly on the centre of his chest? And going for pretty much the exact same spots she listened to with her stethoscope earlier? Now that is brilliant attention to detail.

And she gave him her very last breath too. Awww.

Looking a bit rough now



Red wire or blue wire?

It's always the red wire, always. (Apart from that time in Life on Mars).

He's only happy when it rains

Why did he carry Martha all the way through the hospital? Apart from showing off just how heroic he is. (Which is very, obvs) I half expected him to smack some poor part of Freema against a door or a wall (quite prophetic considering the commentary).

The worst establishing shot ever

It may have helped to put the name of the hospital in view somewhere, it just looks like a boring tower block.

And off he goes

World saved, the Doctor toddles off for some more adventures, on his emo-own. Probably sniffing Rose's top or something. Or writing bad poetry.

Meanwhile Martha's family starts to implode with Martha stuck in the middle trying to keep it all together.

Intergalactic alien slutboi stalker

The Doctor is a bit like Alan Sugar in The Apprentice, putting potential companions through the wringer, to see if they are up to it. Deciding that Martha is hired he hangs around street corners waiting for her.

Wanna come with me?

He tries to impress her with a shiny new sonic screwdriver and grandiose claims (which are actually true) although you can tell Martha doesn't really believe him.

Realising that the screwdriver may not be enough of an incentive for someone to leave their family behind and join him for adventures on the high seas he decided to try out the last chat-up line that got him a companion.

Still, Martha isn't convinced, and wise as she is, wants some proof

Did you know it also travels in time?

And off he disappears. For a moment you can almost see Martha thinking "what if he doesn't come back?"

Unkempt Doctor is a very good look



Now there's the face of someone who wants to go adventuring



But won't it be a bit cramped

After all it is just a little blue box.

Cue the obligatory awe-struck look

Absolutely loved the Doctor miming along to Martha's "But it's bigger on the inside" quickly followed by a "I hadn't noticed." It was such a lovely little thing, and all David's idea, bless him.

"You're not replacing her!"

Quite right too. No companion has ever been a replacement for one who has gone before, and that shouldn't start now. You get the feeling this is reinforced for the more, erm, passionate, fans. Martha is no replacement, she's an assistant in her own right and just as good than those who have gone before.

I don't go for aliens

Even though he's trying to persuade Martha of exactly that, he's almost put out by how readily she agrees with him. Bless him and his little bruised ego.

Saxon watch: Two mentions this week, another one of those 'Vote Saxon' posters and a bit in the radio interview near the end where apparently Mr Saxon is concerned by an attack form outer space. Hmmm, curiouser and curiouser.

In Conclusion
I'm disappointed by the distinct lack of glasses!porn in this episode. But on the upside I really like Martha. I like her excitement about being onna Moon and her taking the whole OMG they're aliens thing in her stride. She's also a bit no-nonsense and hopefully she'll keep that for her entire run. The Doctor needs someone who will argue with him. He stops him getting into so much trouble. Makes you wonder if Rose would have stayed this side of the void had she argued with him more often.

The Doctor used to have a brother (oh, I wonder who that'll turn out to be? Hmmmm)

All of a sudden it becomes clear as to why it takes ages for our post to be delivered anywhere, it's sitting in a corner of the Console Room while the Doctor's off having fun adventures in time and space.

It may not have been as explosive as previous openers, but it's got rid of that zoom into the London from space and the day wasn't saved by a deus ex machina, so all things told, it's all good.

I am looking forward to next week though. Yay.

8/10

Comments

[indigo-blind.livejournal.com]

I liked it too. It was funny and my favourite line -"I've even brought my own straw"


And the bit in the Tardis at the end with him mimicking and his 'I hadn't noticed' Fab.

Shakespeare and is that Witches next week?

Bring it on.

[sanda56.livejournal.com]

I got to explain to Little'un, "No, Sweetie he's called the Doctor, not Doctor Who." How cool is that? ;)

[tweets.livejournal.com]

I picked up a couple of things you didn't...

When the Doctor confronts Martha at the start, and takes off his tie, he says "Just so." which basically ties in with the bit at the end when he goes into the past to teach her that the TARDIS does time travel.

How telling was his "I loved my sonic screwdriver" line before chucking his beloved bit of kit over his shoulder without sparing it a second glance. Shame it reappeared before the end of the episode though.

Actually, I'm a bit worried what will happen if someone picks it up! It would have to be done by Torchwood, really, though. Think of all that damaged alien tech just tossed to one side. The Doctor is very good at leaving bits laying around.

The Doctor used to have a brother (oh, I wonder who that'll turn out to be? Hmmmm)

I have a thought on this! :) But I'm not going to spoil anything by saying it out loud.

And finally, I didn't notice that bit with the x-ray! Thank you so much for pointing that otu!

[jerel.livejournal.com]

"I have a thought on this [the Doctor's brother]. But I'm not going to spoil anything by saying it out loud."

I'm sure it won't be...if we're thinking of the same person. Although I guess that would official declare the BBC books as not canon: it's mentioned he is from a different family from the Doctor.

[cscottd.livejournal.com]

There's also the line where [SPOILER] started to ask the Doctor, "You would show no mercy to your own--"

[SPOILER] never completed the question, but is it possible that the next word would've been... "brother"? :)

[tweets.livejournal.com]

HEH! Well, I guess we're gonna find out or not later this season! ;)

[i-like-doctors.livejournal.com]

Bwahahahaha!! I love your picture reaction post..
This episode was so good.. but yeah, no glasses. *sob*
David was so yummy.. especially when he winked at Martha at the beginning. OMGosh.
xxxx

[deadflowerss.livejournal.com]

I *really* do enjoy your episode posts,and this was just as wonderfully observant and funny as ever.

[ionlylurkhere.livejournal.com]

(And her mum's a cat!nun)

I thought I recognised her ... Thank you for removing that niggle for me. (And having gone to Wiki, I realise that I recognised her voice from being Mma Ramotswe on the radio.)

He's only happy when it rains

Yay, Garbage reference! That does it, I'm friending you. (Been meaning to for a while, actually.)

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

It was a toss up between that and 'Why does it always rain on him' by Travis.

[abby-i.livejournal.com]

The Stig arrives for his annual check up.
Glad I'm not the only one who thought that! My dad just gave me a look. LOL

I liked this one, and I like Martha. Hopefully I'll like this season now we have a new assistant, and that this Doc will grow on me.

[taperoo2k.livejournal.com]

A masterly review as always *coughs*looks the other way*coughs*
I thought the TARDIS was parked neatly outside the hospital.

And i have an image of the Doctor and co playing with radioactive blocks as Time Lord tots lol :-D

[khallandra.livejournal.com]

:lol: I had to rewind the tie bit to figure out what he said! And now I can't remember.

[alysscarlet.livejournal.com]

Haha! Lovely review as ever!

I think that the ruffled, collar-up Doctor made up for the lack of glasses porn this week.

And I also noticed that Martha was doing CPR on both his hearts. Very resourceful, bless her.

And I too made a comment about Zovirax earlier on and so it was hilarious when they referenced it onscreen. :-)

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Your pictures have inspired iconry!

[txvoodoo.livejournal.com]

Martha has a lovely combination of characteristics: she still has a childlike awe at the, well, awesome things, but she's also smart and practical and no one's fool.

That bodes well.

[scarlettgirl.livejournal.com]

So. Much. Pretty.

And yes..unkempt Doctor is a VERRRRRRY good look. Huzzah.

[cscottd.livejournal.com]

I love your "picspam reviews"!

[doylefan22.livejournal.com]

Makes you wonder if Rose would have stayed this side of the void had she argued with him more often.

My wonderings also go in a similar direction to yours.

Also, do you think there's something subconscious in the fact you loved the kiss shot so much you used it twice? ;) :D

[marcella-riddle.livejournal.com]

What did he say? I really can't make it out. All the squee has damaged my ears I think.

"Like so" they were trying to work that out on some random radio station DT was a guest on and he confirmed it for them (I think it was Moyles).

David Tennant fails computer technology though. He's trying to pull data off the monitor rather than the computer itself. D'oh!

But that's more aesthetically pleasing than him bending down and going for the...hang on. Wait. No, it isn't!

[staceyuk.livejournal.com]

*gigglesnorts*

I LOVE your review posts!

[fallenangeldead.livejournal.com]

am i a bit stupid or is there a massive plot hole by the fact the ailen sucked all the doctor's blood out yet through a bit of CPR he is brought back...surely he has no blood left?

still, fantastic episode!!

[http://users.livejournal.com/skyglass_/]

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for reviewing this. I missed the ep. (stuck without a telly) and so you've not only made me scream with laughter, but made my day. Thank you.