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The Doctor's Daughter Reviews

Hell Hath No Fury

Let's get over the hype. The hype has nothing to do with this episode.

An interesting set-up is what we have here, and let's try to side-step the fact that it was sabotaged by the speculation built around the title.

The episode is extremely fast-paced and opens with gusto, following on from the previous story's cliffhanger, something which harks back to the very beginnings of the show, and something I would like to see more of. It was in point of fact a plot contrivance to get Martha onboard when she'd already opted for a life on Earth, but with Freema Agyeman contractually obliged to appear again, it was their way of scooping her into an adventure.

So the Doctor's arm gets abused by a machine and, in a gorgeous musical homage to the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, we are presented with his gorgeous offspring.

She's a reasonbly credible kid version of the Doctor. Considering the fact that his real granddaughter Susan was naieve, whimpering, cowardly, irritating and generally useless, this new version seems a much more likely member of his family. Cheeky, slightly irritating in a nice way, bold, and good-looking.

I love Doctor Who most when it has a very traditional format. That's not to say I like ordinary or boring stories, but if I had to give an example of the perfect Doctor Who adventure, I'd say it would be one where he lands in a mysterious tunnel, discovers some classically designed aliens (two arms, two legs, with fun heads), then is forced to side with humans against monsters whose agenda is unclear, until he can figure out the mystery at the centre of the plot. This can loosely be applied to the likes of The Web of Fear, The Silurians, Terror of the Zygons, and various other classics from down the ages. This same template can be applied to The Doctor's Daughter and for that reason alone it pleases me.

Add to this the concept of the Doctor dealing with fatherhood and you have a very interesting story. It bats backwards and forwards between the simpler, classic tale of human versus monster, and the deeper more emotionally-driven scenes of 21st century Doctor Who. The moment when the Doctor tells Donna he's been a father before, and how they left a painful gap in his life is probably the most stark and honest the Doctor has been since he last mentioned his family in Tomb of the Cybermen. It is simply beautiful. These moments where the Time Lord opens up and lets his true feelings show are a rare delight. Every Doctor puts on a show most of the time. Constantly performing for their companions. But sometimes the mask slips. Like when Steven storms out of the TARDIS at the end of The Massacre and a deflated first Doctor is abandoned to sit, alone, reflecting on all the people who have left him. This Time Lord cuts a very tragic figure even before we learnt of the loss of his family, possibly at his own hands if they were destroyed in the Time War. The Seventh Doctor in The Curse of Fenric didn't even seem to know if his family was alive.

The episode's traditional path continues as one companion (in this case Martha) is separated off and joins in with the aliens. The Hath have come in for a bit of a hard time but they're a great design and there's far more movement in the masks than people are giving credit for. The head is flexible on the shouders and the eyes move. I think that their lack of a mouth hinders their performance, and the fact that the one who sacrifices himself can't even mimic a scream perhaps bolsters the idea they're one-dimensions. But I like them anyway.

The story is cleverly layered with biblical references.

The Doctor mentions early on that the whole premise of the society is a creation myth, so that is staring us in the face. But then consider the fact that we have the Doctor, a god in his own right, who decends from on high with his suddenly created child, of immaculate conception, who is ultimately sacrificed for the humans, whose sins are forgiven by "god" - who turns the other cheek when he could have taken revenge.

Then you have the fact that their underground world was created in seven days, and the story ultimately leads back towards the dawn of the creation of the settlement, where we find a lush Eden paradise.

After the human Judas reveals his true colours, the marty child of "god" rises again and ascends into heaven to join her father, in spirit at least.

And a good thing too. The youthful brilliance and over-eager qualities of the eponymous heroine make her a very interesting character and one who it would have been foolish to kill off. If only the story hadn't been so otherwise crowded with other leading females, things could have been more evenly balanced.

The story does okay handling both Marth and Donna, although the former is still a very inconsistent character. We're supposed to believe she's walked the Earth and become some world-weary super-woman who has seen the dessimation of life on Earth, and yet she becomes totally hysterical when some fish-bloke disappears under muddy water. Even if we were to assume the Hath couldn't breathe the water, he can't breathe air either, which is why he has his bubble box on his face. So I'm guessing that the Hath is still down there, getting very bored, and assuming she's coming back to rescue him at some point.

Personally, another exceptionally high-quality and thought-provoking episode

A Poor Relation

If any episode in the fourth series had been eagerly anticipated, it was this one. The title, “The Doctor’s Daughter”, has fuelled no end of rumours over the last few months as to how the eponymous heroine would be introduced. It took less than three minutes to end all of the speculation. The ‘Doctor’s Daughter’ was nothing to do with the Looms, Susan, or the Time War. She was the product of a swiftly healing scratch on the back of his hand!

I really wanted to enjoy this episode. On second viewing, I warmed to the concept of the ‘generations’ of troops going to war over a mere seven days. That was until I realised that one generation would have survived for seven days to put up the date signs before all the other generations happened In the intervening time – a major plot hole! This wasn’t the only plot hole. The whole premise for the TARDIS being hijacked in the first place was flawed. I struggle to buy into the concept that the Doctor’s hand suddenly steered the TARDIS to Messilene at a time before Jenny had been created thus allowing her to be created. This was another example of poor scripting that was lazy and clumsy.

On a positive note, the realisation of Jenny was fantastic (primarily due to the wonderful portrayal by Georgia Moffett). Was it me, or did Murray Gold inject a theme reminiscent of ‘Hitch Hikers’ just prior to the opening titles as a homage to her mother? I really believed in her as a character and loved the acrobatic scene through the laser beams. I look forward to future appearances, particularly if she is given a good script to work with (cue Moffatt for Moffett!)

Sadly, however, the episode failed to hit its mark. The regular cast struggled with Tennant reduced to a ‘shouty and moody’ Doctor that is not appealing. Martha had a better outing than previous episodes but still struggled. She managed to fall into a glaringly obvious ditch and suddenly seemed to be an expert on Time Lord regeneration and the associated ‘signs’ despite never having witnessed such an event.

Dialogue and characterisation were poor, in particular with General Cobb. His sole existence seemed to be to shout “At arms” and act as sole preservation for the Bristol accent in the future of mankind. He was also lumbered with the worst line of the episode – “erase every stinking Hath”. The one saving grace was Catherine Tate who is swiftly becoming the best companion of all time.

Which brings me to the Hath. They were reminiscent of Davison era Sea Devils and have to be the most poorly realised aliens of the new series. At the beginning when one kidnaps Martha, it looks just like a man in a rigid plastic costume. Hardly the high standards we expect nowadays. The interesting plot device of making them communicate in bubbles was negated by the fact that Martha seemed to understand everything they ‘said’.

Scratch the surface on this episode and it shows its true colours as one of the poorest of the new series. There were so many elements that could have been better. Even Murray Gold had little to contribute with a lot of rehashed musical themes being used. The one positive element was Jenny and I look forward to her return with keen anticipation.

Andy from Doncaster

A

Since the announcement of the title of this story DW fandom had been going mental. It was going to be sacrilege to the show to give him a daughter.

Forums were busting. The writers were saying it "will do exactly what it says on the tin". Me, I try to let that go past me these days. DW forums are almost as nutty as darts forums!

And anyway, his first companion was his Granddaughter, so where's the problem?

Anyway it was a trick. She wasn't really his daughter. Just an artificially genetically created person. Technically part of him, but not really his daughter.

So what did it do for the story? Well it added a layer to what at the end of the day was fairly standard sci-fi stuff. Not bad stuff, pretty enjoyable, but maybe not as good as what we had seen before. The concept of the story was fairly old hat.

Maybe they were counting on the who daughter stuff to make up for some of the stories failings? For example the Hath masks. These looked OK but were all a bit static and dry looking. Maybe too colourful aswell?

So I enjoyed it overall, but not blown away. Its interesting to know this new character will be out there somewhere just waiting for a spin-off show!

Jay from Bristol

The answer is revealed even before the title sequence kicks in but it takes the rest of the story to play out all the details.

Bit of a first for the revamped Doctor Who (at least since the end of Frontios into Resurrection of the Daleks in the classic series) in that last week's story ends on a cliffhanger despite the stories being unconnected.

The Doctor, Donna and Martha arrive on a distant planet at war, we're quickly introduced to both sides and our heroes are separated. Martha unwittingly joins the Hath (a kind of fishes head on a humanoid shaped body that comunicate by blowing bubbles in a little glass cylinder in their mouths) and the rest are taken by the humans.

A rather gloomy episode unfolds of the battle between the two sides but, like Utopia before it, this is really a backdrop to the relationship between the Doctor and Jenny, 'the daughter' of the title. There's some nice moments toying with both their differences and their similarities and Donna works brilliantly as a relationship councellor between the two.

David Tennant is especially superb and acts his socks off here as a man sickened by war. The 'will he, won't he' scene will leave you holding your breath.

You'll see the ending coming a mile off and, although it lifts the mood, it feels a bit rushed and bolted on.

Not a classic but a strong story with a satisfying twist to the war plot.

Gary from London

Next episode - The Unicorn and the Wasp