There is a subgenre of DW stories where the dramatic tension isn’t driven by horror or character, satire or the like but by the impending reveal of a mystery…why is the the doctor’s face carved into a mountainside and the villagers walk around in animal skins and fragments of EVA suits? Why is it that the that the crew of the edwardian yacht don what look like wetsuits and the officers seem so…disconnected, detached? The best of these stories set up enough clues that the viewer can attempt to guess at some of what may come, but never be certain if they are right until the end, creating a sense of wonder. This is why, for me anyways, Blink and The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances were so much fun.

These were my favorite moments watching the old series , and its something damn few other sci fi series try to do…ever. It is something Doctor Who has cornered the market on. It’s also hard to do it in 45 minutes and have any emotional resonance or value beyond being a chinese puzzle box. There is no time in 45 minutes to write a story about how easy it is for individuals to be swept into war and how technology can speed the process up to make it almost impossible to escape.

And yet this story does by focussing in on Jenny, and her growth over the course of the story and her impact on The Doctor. It strikes me as genius–the bizarreness of the people being born as adults in mere seconds is emotionally underscored by the Doctor’s and Donna’s reaction to Jenny. Merely setting up the generator babies as predestined to be soldiers would not communicate the emotional and moral cost for the viewer. Having Jenny born as a soldier immediately willing to kill and be killed, be capable of it, and not know the cost DOES. It does it because it puts the Doctor’s progeny in conflict with his pacifism.

Character serves the plot. Even what may feel like a gimick (the Hath’s bubble-speak) for the kids is a masterstroke. A powerful way to argue for pacifism is to show both sides of the conflict, and how similar they are. This could easily have led to tiresome, repetitious scenes as the camera flips from the Doctor and Cobb to Martha and the Hath. Instead the similarity is broken up by the truly odd communication Martha has with Peck. It feels fresh. It also tells the pacfist theme in a different way by showing Martha successfully communicating with a people, we the audience, can’t understand. There is also the neat stroke of a creature design that at first glance looks like a bug eyed monster and then in the later scenes quikly becomes cute. And all the while RTD gets to touch on all his Martha Jones character arc points at the same time.

And the puzzlebox mystery is great, the clues are there the things that fit together at the end that seem inexplicable at the beginning. The only weak link is casting Cobb as older than the rest of the humans and having him say things like “I’ve waited all my life…”

I also love the fact that Jenny is attracted to the Doctor and Donna because they are SMART. This is a story that makes its point not just by emotional investment, but also by valuing intellectual curiosity and showing it in action. There are even fewer sci fi programs on tv that do that.

RTD & Greenhorn have written the strongest story of the series 4 so far, and one of the best of the revived series.

One thing i liked was the way Col. mace surprised me(i love being surprised by what i perceive as predictible formulaic scripts) when he stopped allowing the Doctor to belittle him,and took charge,showing us WHY he is in charge,he’s not some incompetent grunt,he comes up with the answer and it was a fantastic parrelel to the old days when the Brigadier helped the Doctor save the day..

I just wish we could have had one short scene where the Doctor apologises to Col. Mace and perhaps even see the beginnings of a new relationship akin to the Brig and his previous Incarnations.

The final moment when Luke uses the sontarans war chant of “sontar-ha” was brilliant, the irony was almost missed in the word ” HA” to theiri chant, as Luke’s statement was both Ironic and clever for a last word to show that the Sonatarans knew,in that last moment, they had been defeated, the stopping of their chant and perplexed failure look on general Straals face was priceless as Luke hit the button after “Sontar-Ha” was nothing short of Awesome.

This episode reminds me of the second part of Human Nature/Family of Blood last year,an unexpectedly better second half to a two-parter.

And the Rose on the Moniter bit was just another bit of frikkin Brilliant build-up to the most anticipated reunion in tv history.

At least in my opinion.

George