Behind the Sofa - The Collaborative Doctor Who Blog

2007: Fits the Eighth, Ninth - Hey! Teacher! Leave those kids alone!

I almost didn't write this review.  I honestly felt, what little there was to complain about, and wonderful things to say about Human Nature, has already been said.  I'll just focus on a few things though.

So often in Time Travel shows, even in Doctor Who, the past doesn't necessarily feel like a different period in time as much as perhaps being only a few cities over. Everything came together perfectly though, this time, and this genuinely felt like like the 19-teens.  The cast was truly magnificent, and this is despite me constantly being distracted telling myself that Mother of Mine was NOT being played by the slutty barmaid from Two Pints. Cheers to Sangster especially, even though I honestly haven't seen him in anything since Love Actually.  I'm happy for a link to that movie, as I've been known to push for Liam Neeson as the 11th Doctor.

Rebekah Staton is NOT the slutty barmaid from Two Pints of Lager..

John Smith, not so much for most of the story, as he doesn't stand out THAT well, perhaps the mark of being an effective human.  Watching him break down, denying his true self, trying to bargain with himself, panicking at the thought of having to turn back into this alien thing.  Moving stuff.

That ending.  Wow.  Alright, I'm going to go ahead and put forth a thought I had on previous comment.  Sure, it might have been a little out of character, what he did to the Family.  Maybe a little harsh.  Maybe a little cold.  What choice did he have though?  Who else was going to do it? The Time Lords aren't around to clean up the messes that time makes, let alone the Celestial Intervention Agency.  There are no Monan Host, No Warpsmiths of Phaidon, no other major temporal powers left that possibly COULD clean up this mess, and stop the Family from hurting anyone ever again. The Doctor's had to grow up a little. It's his responsibility now, no one else works on his scale anymore.  Yeah, he looked pretty cold while doing it but... better to wear a poker face than break down right? And the music?? I haven't gotten that much of a chill from a piece of music since the end of Back to the Future..

No more Monan Host, Warpsmiths of Phaidon, Celestian Intervention Agency, etc..

I can't get past that half-smirk that Baines had when the Doctor covered him up.  Yeesh. Creepy. Speaking of, if no one else, we need Baines back as the new Cassandra.  Let him come back for a one-off next year, PLEASE. 

By the way, I was going to give a dialogue failures/triumphs, but.. I can't.  Paul Cornell never ceases to amaze me (I read the last issue of his Marvel series Wisdom last night - you must read this as well if you haven't already). Nearly every line everyone says, apart from a few ridiculously over the top lines from the Family and Martha's "not me" moment, this episode was, to borrow a phrase, a slice of fried gold.

A slice of fried gold...

Next week: Doctor Who meets a Japanese Horror Movie! Can the Doctor fix Sadako's vertical hold and chiropractic issues Sonic Screwdriver setting 666d?

The Bumper Book of Made-Up Doctor Who Facts has this to say about The Family of Blood: Paul Cornell deserves to be knighted.  No joke there, that's just the way it is.

Ripping Yarns

Class. Class. Pay attention. Now. Hinchcliffe, stop playing with that bat and concentrate. Dicks, are you chewing boy? What do you mean you always sound like that when you talk? Chibnall? Chibnall? Has anyone seen Chibnall? Ah yes, forgot he was having his scrotal scraping today, the dismally untalented little creep. Nathan-Turner stop that at once, Matron regularly marks those bottles and she'll be a blessed terror if she realises what you've been up to. Right boys, Cornell here has outclassed the bally lot of you. Now, pay attention and learn...

Human Nature

Families. Can't live with 'em. Can't kill 'em. Can't even escape from them as they'll follow you everywhere you go. Even to Solihull. What has the Doctor done to enrage this particular family so? Has he attempted to take a liberty with one of their daughters? Tried to whore a son or three in the Vladsphere Brothel-o-Matics? Overstayed his welcome as a house guest and not replaced the toilet seat after having a Time Lord number 1?

"It was a close call between a boy's school in 1913 and the Zero-G Bra Wars of planet Jugulon 9."

So the TARDIS decides to dump him into Tomkinson's Schooldays, just in time for Michaelmas Term's week long first year grill, where new boys would be turned slowly over a burning pile of hampers their parents sent them to see them through the term. Apparently, it was a close call between a boy's school in 1913 and the Zero-G Bra Wars of planet Jugulon 9.

And it's decided to place him in the middle of a war, as Baines and Hutchinson are vying for the vacant position of School Bully. The previous incumbent having died after representing Farringham School at the InterBully'13 Pageant in Helsinki. He perished after a kick-in of fags ended in a stampede of terrified younger boys. But Baines wins by a length... a length of flared nostril, that even a camel sniffing a Turkish jockstrap couldn't hope to beat.

"He [the Doctor] covered what to do in the event of a 50% blue cross sale at Debenhams."

But John Smith keeps dreaming that he's this other-worldly adventurer, called the Doctor, who's got two hearts, a magic box and a mighty schlong that would frighten not only wildlife but also welders. Pity the Doctor didn't think these possibilities through when leaving messages for Martha. He covered what she should do if he got attacked by giant gherkins, what to do in the event of a 50% blue cross sale at Debenhams and what action should be taken should he ever be tempted near Sven's Adult Books Store... again. But because he plain forgot to add in a sexual history when this actual avatar was created also led him to call his "journal of impossible things" a Virgin New Adventure, on account of the fact he'd never porked a lady and these were new adventures.

"Being mauled by the school maggot."

Double French takes an unusual turn when live ammunition is used to conjugate those pesky French verbs and piano wire is employed to garrotte Monsieur Lafayette. French usually took place in Big Hall, which was unavailable due to Mr Harrison, the Geography master, being mauled by the School Maggot and the whole room needed stripping to erase the stench of rotting, entrails stained textbooks.

"A girl in every fireplace and he never looks at the mantle whilst poking."

As for John Smith, maid or matron. A girl in every fireplace and he never looks at the mantle whilst poking the fire. He's a positive lothario compared to the Doctor. Unquestionably, John Smith is extra smooth.

So, in summary, Human Nature = Good. London 2012 Logo = Bad.

The Bumper Book of Made Up Doctor Who Facts has this to say about Human Nature: the first world war was started when Arch Duke Ferdinand was accidentally shot whilst performing the lumbering Scarecrow dance.

Vote Result: Human Nature

After a record 388 votes cast the results are in for the fifth blog poll for Human Nature:

• 94%: Superb: Scarifying Scarecrows!
• 6%: Not Good: Worzel Gumage has got his carrot hanging out!

Come back after The Family of Blood for the next poll.

Canon & Paul

If I were Cornell
I'd make sure the dreams left out
Dimensions In Time.

Human Nature

Well that's that then; all you armchair Irvines who deny the existence of the TV movie are just going to have to suck it.

Sometimes I think the Radio Times staff writers could use a slap or two. I mean, what's with all this implied nonsense that Doctor Who has to be a frightfest every week in order to be successful? Hinchcliffe and Holmes nontwithstanding, how often during the greatest highlights of the classic series was this ubiquitous cliched epithet actually true, rather than for being good drama? Because - particularly in light of my wildly overenthusiastic write-up of 42 last week, a story that would dazzle you once, rather than inspire Human Nature's sense of wonder time after time - 'fear' is just one more layer of surface gloss, and just because you enjoyed an episode a lot doesn't necessarily mean there's all that much to it when you really start looking. City Of Death? Not scary. Tom's Ark In Space and Genesis speeches? Not scary. Androzani? Tense, dramatic, exciting, but NOT SCARY, and it had a shit monster in it. Human Nature becomes suitably unnerving with the premonitions of wartime death and the warped fish-eye lens right into Banes' skewed smile; but the only thing I found terrifying about the red balloon girl was the flashback to Keff McCullough's ear-splittingly awful dance music score for Remembrance Of The Daleks. S'there.

"The only thing I found terrifying about the red balloon girl was the flashback to Keff McCullough's awful dance music score for Remembrance Of The Daleks"

Having been absent for the weekend viewing, it took me until Friday to finally get around to watching Human Nature; not out of any lack of enthusiam on my part - or chivying on anyone else's - but simply because I wanted to be in the proper reviewing frame of frame to do it justice, without any other work pressures to distract from its meaty goodness. Goddamn, I'm glad I did that - because Paul Cornell's masterpiece isn't just a revelation for the parent show, it also gives us a taste of the heights Torchwood could aspire to if a writer really tried who knows exactly how his characters function. Human Nature is to Who what Captain Jack Harkness was to the latter (couldn't we draft Catherine Treganna instead of the workmanlike Chibnall next season?) - there's no great galactic menace or portent of doom for the entire universe, it's a lower-key localised event in an otherwise typical microcosm; where every single person matters to the story, made all the more poignant since even if they survive the current misadventure, their lives will likely be futilely cut short before much longer by events we don't see. Martha doesn't react to Banes' racism and class snobbery because she knows better, but because there wouldn't be any point. There is no gloss over the ideals and attitudes that modern society would find abhorent, but there's no deliberate effort to mark them out as such either; instead, as with John Smith's instant off-the-cuff espousement of corporal punishment as an acceptable form of discipline, it's left more shocking just for being something that happened so casually by people who, any other time, you'd consider to be role models. Helen Raynor and Lazlo, hang your heads in shame.

Leaving aside the whole 'falling in lurrve' subplot a la The Girl In The Fireplace, there are really only two television Doctors for whom I can wholeheartedly accept this story being tailored for without question, and that's Tennant and McGann. Human Nature was a Seventh Doctor novel, but I can accept McCoy doing it only as part of a grand scheme instead of the spur-of-the-moment decision it is. Patrick Troughton might just about have a stab at it. But the Peter Davison Doctor was always on the point of a nervous breakdown from his human foibles anyway, and the others are all too larger-than-life or full of themselves. And as for Big Ears with his leather jacket and working-class Northern trappings, forget it. In fact, Human Nature is one of those episodes that really demonstrates how the Ninth Doctor's one and only season, rather than denying us a potential we never saw, makes perfect sense in relation to the development of the character. Eccleston was the Doctor that would kick shit, take names and throw himself into his agenda because he had nothing left to lose (the Daniel Craig Doctor); whereas Tennant is the one slowly and grudgingly accepting there is more to live for, which again, is why Human Nature is so perfect for him.

"Isn't it wonderfully ironic how the Doctor is just so bad at being human until his own uniquely Doctorish qualities start to manifest themselves again?"

Only it doesn't really turn out that way, does it? Isn't it wonderfully ironic how, even though his life depends on it, the Doctor is just so bad at being human until his own uniquely Doctorish qualities start to manifest themselves again? And yet the stumbling, embarrassed, self-conscious John Smith is exactly what Elizabeth Sladen always meant by how she saw the Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith as children for whom the mush and yuckiness of love was a grown-up thing. And this is Paul Cornell's other masterstroke - normally the companion is the link between the viewers and the Doctor, but here, the role is reversed; John Smith respresents us, the Peter Pan imagination of the kids of all ages in the audience, so naively innocent to the world that he honestly doesn't realise that his dream journal would have him consigned to a 1913 madhouse by a less scrupulous figure than the Matron. It's a wish-fulfilment story in many ways - it may be a more cynical world now than we shared with Tom Baker back in the 70s, but how many children wouldn't still beam with wistful delight at how magical life would be if stories like his were true. Whereas for poor Martha, that journal is a knife in the gut; responsibility has been entirely entrusted to her, but even in a book she's still never going to be able to extricate herself from playing second fiddle to that certain shadow (Murray's Rose theme in the background being a less-than-subtle hint). Human Nature, with its different brand of storytelling, pushes this particular envelope as far as it can reasonably go, but crumbs, this girl needs a break; Rose would never have thought to have the aliens betray their own lack of Earthly culinary knowledge. There will be no justice if Martha isn't awarded a stonking end-of-season payoff from all the brownie points she's been saving up.

And how much better is the cliffhanger when the Doctor really is out of his depth and doesn't know what the hell to do for a change?

Season Three has also rediscovered the valuable BBC principle which the series seemed to have lost sight of last year; that if you have to save money, do so via the corporation's impeccably efficienct standards in historical costume drama, and leave the expensive CGI to the likes of 42's sentient sun. Who needs elaborate fake imagery in a believable period setting? We get a few laser zaps and an impressive forcefield outlining the surface of the invisible ship, but other than that, it's spooky landing lights on a crane right out of The X-Files, and a green torch shone onto a model diorama just like Gerry Anderson used to do it. Forget all the fan jism over the cricket ball or the 'Gallifrey is in Ireland' gag lifted verbatim from The Invisible Enemy, that's your old-Who sensibilities right THERE.

"A green torch shone onto a model diorama just like Gerry Anderson used to do it. That's your old-Who sensibilities right there"

The only small complaints I have about the episode: I felt they threw away too much of the mystery right at the very start; the 'dream' scene in the TARDIS was basically an infodump to reassure the kids that yes, they were tuned to the right channel. Dude, that's what the TITLES are for. For a story that dared to meddle with the established storytelling norms of Doctor Who, it didn't seem daring enough. Wouldn't it have been better to start from John Smith's waking-up point, mutter something more vague about his dreams while panning enigmatically across to the watch to ingrain it upon the audience, and then leave that unanswered 'WTF?' hanging on everyone's lips at the two leads behaving completely unlike the Doctor and Martha they know? I just think those final two words would have been a much more effective mindboggle all the way through the opening credits if they'd waited until after to start the piecemeal explanation of what it might all mean. Also, if the Doctor had such absolute trust in Martha, why didn't he give her the watch to keep safe in the TARDIS? Surely a Time Lord with a close fondness for the human species would also be aware of how one curious human could easily cock the whole plan up?

I also hope that tomorrow they bother to point out what's so special about the Family Of Blood that the Doctor was so quick to run away and hide, as opposed to all the other galactic bugaboos who've been partial to a snack of Gallifreyan knowledge or DNA over the centuries. No wonder Mawdryn just wanted to die; the embarrassment would have been enough.

Suppose you were invited to a costume party and wanted to go as Davros. Could the chameleon earphones take care of that too?

Next week: Doctor Who Unbound, or, When AUs Attack. Fer sure.

The Bumper Book Of Made-Up Doctor Who Facts has this to say about Human Nature: The estate of Dave Martin's royalties from this episode were enough to cover his funeral expenses.

This Charming Man

Human Nature

Even on first impressions Human Nature is a bloody good episode of Doctor Who. Far and away the best episode of the third series so far, it is also not far away from being the best episode of the series period!

There is actually very little you can say bad about the episode, because the who entire production team and guest artistes are in all such fine form that the only little niggles that I have with episode are so minor they are almost not worth mentioning, but I will anyway.

One little niggle is the hymn at the start of the episode. I know it was probably used for the line that mentions the word Master but the orchestration used for that hymn was not done until 1917, a good four years after this episode is set. Like I said it is only a minor niggle.

The other one is the fact that the Doctor, in this episode, appears to be running scared from this alien threat. I mean this is the first time that the Doctor had run scared from anyone, and with the fact that with the 10th Doctor seemingly being indestructible why the hell is he running scared and hiding from an alien menace? To me this does not make sense, but I am willing to accept that it may make sense by the end of the episode, or the end of the season.

That is about it for criticisms of this episode; see what I mean about them not being anything more than the merest of minor niggles.

Let’s start with the acting: all of the guest actors in this episode gave fine performances including David Tennant who is much better as John Smith than he is as the Doctor (I actually believe him when is playing Smith, something I don’t do when he is playing the Doctor). Harry Lloyd is excellent as Baines and, from the moment he is taken into the invisible space ship and taken over by the aliens, is incredibly creepy in the latter half of the episode. He is much better in this episode that he was in the entire first series of Robin Hood.

The young lad from Love Actually, Thomas Sangster, is good in what little he has to do in the episode and there is definitely more to him than meets the eye (for one thing why does he seem to appear to bump into Martha in present day earth, still dressed in contemporary clothing of the episode?).

Freema is great as Martha once again and the heart and soul of the episode is the wonderful Jessica Hynes as Joan Redfearn who is superb in her role as the widow who claims the heart (singular) of John Smith, much to the consternation of Martha who really seems to be hurt that the Doctor has fallen in love with a human who isn’t her. In many ways the character of Joan Redfearn is not that different from that of Madame du Pompadour and you can believe that the Doctor would fall in love with her.

Now I don’t care how often people will argue that John Smith and the Doctor are not one and the same person but as far as I am concerned they are the same person. I know there is this chameleon arch thingie that has literally rewritten the Doctor’s DNA and all that, but I still think that he is still basically the Doctor. I mean if John Smith is killed does that not also mean that the Doctor is killed as well?

I liked the fact that the story began right in the middle of the adventure and that we didn’t really know what had happened until about half way through the story. That made a nice change from coming straight in at the beginning of the story and I think it is a shame that they don’t do that more often. The direction in the story was also very good and once again the set designers and the costume designers have come up trumps by flawlessly recreating 1913. This is not surprising as the BBC have always been excellent at doing this sort of thing with all of the fine costume dramas that they have made over the years. You really believed that you were back in that era so top marks to all those people responsible.

I thought that the line about Smith’s mother and father (apparently added by RTD and not in Cornell’s script) and the fact that Gallifrey might be in Ireland (a joke that has been around for thirty odd years) were nice little additions that will make the fan’s smile but won’t mean very much the majority of people watching the episode, just like the fact that the story is based on a book that only a few thousand people have read at most. Even if everyone who read the book didn’t watch the episode it would still get very good ratings as they would only account for a very small percentage of the Saturday night audience.

Then there was Smith’s notebook with all its little fan pleasing images and references including sketchily drawn renditions of Daleks, Cybermen, Clockwork Droids, Autons, Moxxy, the TARDIS and a couple of old Doctor’s including centre of the page Paul McGann.

If you look closely at the page with the Doctor’s on it and look on the right hand side of the page you can see the line “a war of time” as well as various references to him changing faces many times or words to that effect. Personally I can only recognise four of the five Doctors on that page: McCoy, McGann, Hartnell and Davison. I am not sure who the one of the bottom left side of the page is; it could be Tom Baker, Colin Baker or even Troughton for all I know.

Considering this a prop that was only seen a few times in the episode the amount of detail that went into it was remarkable. I thought it was a nice way to introduce the idea of there being previous incarnations of the Doctor previous to Tennant and Eccleston, for those viewers who aren’t aware of the face, without drowning in continuity. I can just see all the fans now clamouring for something like this to be released by BBC Books. Hell, I’d probably even buy it myself!

The cliffhanger is pretty good too. Who will John Smith save: his friend or his lover? As for the next week preview there are certainly some interesting things happening in the next episode most notably the Doctor getting hitched and having, not one, but three children with Joan Redfearn.

There is also plenty of questions to be answered:

• Who are the Family of blood and what do they actually want with the Doctor?
• Who sent them after him, if they are not doing it for their own ends?;
• Why is Timothy Latimer seen in modern day Earth still wearing the school uniform from 1913?
• Can the Doctor change back?.

Personally, I can’t wait.

Don't you want me baby?

Well, that was another cracking example of getting adventurous and trying something new, wasn’t it?  A human Doctor, eh?  Definitely not something that I would have thought of before.

According to a friend of mine in work (Well, I say friend because there’s a slight chance that he might read this, but you know…) this story is based on a book that Paul Cornell has written previously.  Not having read the book, I had no idea what was going to happen nor why (initially) this had come about.

It really is nice living spoiler free and actually having things be surprising once in a while.

My money’s on the inhabiting/possessing thing.

So, there’s this mysterious “Family” who for some reason require a Time Lord and they can smell what  species you are - Parties round their house must be a blast – They have these odd weapons that wouldn’t look out of place in Blake’s Seven (or Classic Who, come to that) and they can either inhabit other peoples bodies or can change shape to look like other people.  My money’s on the inhabiting/possessing thing.

In order to avoid these people the Doctor takes the rather drastic step of turning himself into a human.  You know that sentence makes for very strange reading no matter how many times I go over.  I suppose my initial thought would be “Since when did the Doctor run from an enemy?”  Even old grumpy Doctor One stood and fought (eventually) when he was being chased thorough time and space by the Daleks, but this latest chap runs away from a family whose only apparent threat is the ability to smell (Which a good deodorant should be able to take care of).

And why would he just happen to have a chameleon arch (or whatever it was) hanging around the control room?  He said that he never thought he’d use it, so why was it there at all?  Did he think that he might wake up one day with a hankering to know what it felt like to be a tree frog or something?  It just makes no sense to have something that you never think that you’re going to use so close to hand.

I just want to add here that I thought DT did  a very good job of being Mr John Smith.  He was quiet, a little more English than ususal and just great in the role.  I don't think that this characterisation would suit the Doctor, but he did very well as an old style school teacher.

So, the TARDIS decides to create a back story for the Doctor in 1913 and he settles into the life for about two months.  Martha gets herself a job as a maid instead of, oh I don’t know, staying in the TARDIS, keeping the watch safe and popping out once in a while to keep an eye on the Doctor.  Why did she need to work in the school?  It’s not like she needed to money and she’s doesn’t exactly fit in terribly well, what with her suffragette notions of drinking inside a pub and the like.

what it felt like to be a tree frog

If you think about it, if she had stayed in the TARDIS with the watch, then she could never have dropped any hints to the maid about leaving for the stars or about how special the Matron was and Timothy would never have nicked the watch and opened it at inopportune times.

Talking of Timothy, don’t you think that it was pretty mean of Liam Neeson to ship him off to boarding school just because he’d learnt to play the drums?  Speaking of which, the Doctor was doing a fairly good Hugh Grant impression when Matron was hinting at being asked to the dance.  I don’t know if I should still call him the Doctor as he’s really just Mr John Smith.  Maybe that’s being just a little bit too pedantic.

If the Doctor was hidden and the TARDIS powered down so as not to attract attention, how did the Family manage to pick that era on that planet?  The chances against picking the right time and place out of anywhere in the universe must have been (if you’ll pardon the pun) astronomical.

So, back to the plot and young Banes who wanders out into the woods and happens to stand right next to the Family’s landing site.  This man’s uncanny ability to be in the “right” place is further evidenced by the fact that he manages to open the door on an invisible spaceship with his second hit.  This man should play Roulette – He’d break the bank in no time!

the ability to sniff visibly

I have to say that this chap was seriously creepy after he’d been possessed (Not that he was a model of normality beforehand).  I can’t work out if it was the little smile, the staring, the head tilt or a combination of all of it.  Certainly the ability to sniff visibly must have played a part in the Casting Directors decision.

Whilst the Doctor falls for Daisy the Matron, Timothy nicks his watch and causes all sorts of difficulties.  Did anybody else think that Matron was being a little too forward with the Doctor?  She first tells him to call her Joan, then starts calling him John without his permission.  She then more or less tells him to invite her to the dance and a bit later points out what good wives nurses make.  All this before snogging him.  I mean how brazen is this woman?  Mind I did half expect a wittier retort from the Doctor when she asked him if he could dance.  Something along the lines of “Well, it depends what you mean by dancing…” or “It depends on the partner” But, then he is just John Smith and not the Doctor.

And why is Matron calling herself Jessica Hynes now?  She was Jessica Stevenson when she was doing Spaced – Is this an attempt to distance herself from the comedic days or has she just decided to change her stage name for a laugh?

When Timothy opened the watch, I’m sure there was snippets of the future popping up as well as the past.  I recognised a lot of the images, but there were definitely a couple that were new.  When you consider that he also saw himself dying during the war, I think we’ve had a little sneak preview of things to come over the next few weeks.  And there’s me been trying to avoid spoilers.

Actually you’ve got to feel sorry for the wee lad, really.  Not only is he telepathic and possesses a conscience, but he gets beaten by five other people merely for not feeding the ammo belt properly.  Did they take turns hitting him or did he need a few people to hold him down whilst the biggest one laid into him?  That did seem a little excessive to me – But then I did agree with him that it’s not exactly sporting to use machine guns to mow down ten thousand D'watushi warriors armed to the teeth with kiwi fruit and guava halves.

Of course, they aren’t the only bullying ‘muscle’ of the piece are they?  There’s the homage to Jon Pertwee with the attack of the scarecrows.  Although they owed more to Batman Begins than they did Worzel Gummidge.  I must say, though, that even these characters were a little sinister and creepy.  I do wonder where the Family came by quite so many scarecrows or indeed had the time to make them all.  They were only there for half a day or so before them mobilised the troops.  Unless of course they happened to have a hold full of scarecrows just in case they ever needed them.  Now that’s planning ahead.

WOULD YOU GET OVER IT ALREADY!!

Talking of Doctor Three, I did like the drawings in his little book, especially the previous Doctors page – Although it did remind me of one of the anniversary covers that Radio Times did a while ago.  And how could anybody make sense of that book?  He’d written his dreams down in the form of fiction, he said.  Apparently, he’d also fictionalised grammar, spacing and any of the more normal methods one uses to write stories.  Poor Nursie didn’t stand a chance.  She probably just glanced at the pictures then handed it back with a soothing tone saying “That was very good”

My only complaint (honestly it’s the only one.  Everything else is merely observation) would be Martha’s lament that he fell in love with a human that wasn’t her.

WOULD YOU GET OVER IT ALREADY!!  This is really starting to annoy me now.  Okay, so he’s quite cute and exciting in an intergalactic kind of way and he may have saved her life a few times, but really let it go.  Why can’t she just hang out with the man and make out with random spacemen like she did last week?  Really that’s the only problem I had with this weeks episode.

Whilst I’m talking about Martha – What do you suppose she was going to call him before she settled for a sound slap instead?  “Oh you complete…” she said and then whacked him one.  I’d like to think that as is Doctor Who and not Torchwood, she would have settled for “complete git”, but you never can tell these days, can you?

Finally, wasn’t that a fun little cliff hanger?  Does the Doctor save the maid who he’s already dismissed from service or the nurse who has already slipped him the tongue?  Hmm, let me think….

This all seems to have been some kind of stream of consciousness this week, doesn’t it?  Sorry about that.  I’m sure once Doctor Who starts to make sense and explain what’s going on then so will I.

Bloodlust

WOW!

That has firmly cemented Paul Cornell as one of the top writers in the series. Whereas Steven Moffat has a better way with comedy, Cornell has characterization down to a T. Perhaps a little more explanation for the chameleon arch would have been handy, but that is about the only thing I would consider changing about this wonderful script. Any comments on the subject of racism could have been risky, but it is handled well in this episode, and Martha's status as merely a maid adds to that, like the Doctor brushing off her greeting near the start. Just, fantastic.

And once again, the Doctor doesn't fall in love. John Smith does. I know believe that the Doctor can't fall in love, he doesn't allow himself to, and so when he becomes human something in him allows him to be everything he couldn't as the Doctor, and allows him to fall in love. Brilliant.

The direction is superb. Maybe the odd cliche camera shot, and the first of the wonky angles looking at Baines seemed too much distorted, but it was all very enjoyable, and got that perfect blend between Period and Sci-Fi that best makes for pseudo-historicals.

Music good, with that waltz that symbolizes the Doctor's love recurring (A few years ago I wrote a piece of music, and it had the exact same melody. I think Murray Gold must have hacked into my computer).

Baines is utterly fabulous, with his voice cracking just enough to be inhuman. The best of the bunch. Mind you, the entire ensemble play to the same standard, with David Tennant the best he's ever been. He is just wonderful, his entire attitude and personality make him a different person, and for a while it's a toss up between whether this is in fact the Doctor or a different man. Martha does her best in this episode, and I'm very happy to finally be this impressed by her.

What else can I say? The cliffhanger is delightful, and it really is terrible realising that I have to wait until next week. I cannot wait until I can watch the full story as a film (I find that a lot of Doctor Who serials are best viewed this way, and I think this will be similar). Paul Cornell, you are a god of writing. Please do another next year. Oh, and don't balls up the second half (although I doubt you could).

10/10. EXCELLENTE!!!

Human lifeforms detected.

When it was announced that Paul Cornell was to pen two episodes of series 3 I did internal back-flips of joy.  Father's Day was a triumphant exploration of one of the key themes of the first series- Rose's paternal issues and how she uses the Doctor as a surrogate for her father. It is and always will be, one of the best episodes of Eccleston's tenure as Doctor.Similarly, Human Nature should expand upon one of the dominant themes of the third season- what it means to be human, literally human nature. I'll state outright that I've never read the novel, as during my childhood, when it was published, Doctor Who wasn't high on my list of entertainment priorities. Power Rangers, on the other hand..  Cornell's second episode of New Who explores in several surprising ways, humanity's defining qualities.

"It's the first time we see the TARDIS's internal space violated by an enemy in the new series."

The episode explodes onto the screen, with the Doctor and Martha being pursued through time by unseen enemies. It's the first time we see the TARDIS's internal space violated by an enemy in the new series. The Dalek in The Parting of the Ways is deliberately allowed inside in order to save Rose and is quickly dispatched with. The Family manage to blast the TARDIS console, immediately establishing themselves as a formidable enemy. The Doctor, too,  seems genuinely disturbed by the revelation that they can track them through all of creation and finally succumbs to the use of the Chameleon arch, a device that allows him to hide himself. Within the space of five minutes and the occasional flash back (flash forward?) Cornell has expertly established the Family of Blood as a group to be reckoned with. The Doctor has defeated Cybermen, Daleks, Satan and the Master, but he's finally forced into using the hitherto unseen Chameleon arch (retcontastic as it is) to physically hide. We've never seen the Doctor so fearful before, and where Chris Chibnall simply states that the character is afraid, Cornell actually establishes this throughout the entire episode, retroactively expanding on what makes the Family so dangerous. They're at their most powerful during the pre-credits sequence and seeded throughout the episode, we see what their other formidable abilities are. Their ruthlessness, their ability to assimilate and dominate other people, their animalistic instincts: All are frequently traits that we try and disguise within ourselves as individuals and as a culture.

"Freema Agyeman gives a stirring performance as Martha this week, finally cementing herself as a companion who has the potential to become one of the greats."

There are four dominant characters in this episode, at times representing various aspects of human nature. Smith is at times charming, eloquent, shy and affable. At other times, he indulges other character's racism (a theme daringly tackled by Cornell, skirted about earlier in the series by Gareth Robert's The Shakespeare Code), is cruel and allows students to beat another child. Joan is a tender, damaged, but also stern figure. She's portrayed excellently by Jessica Hynes, one of several astoundingly good actors in this episode. Baines' characterisitics are ugly, like Smith's at times. He's a predator, like the rest of his Family. He's everything that human beings try and rise above. Martha is there, indulging in jealousy, sorrow and grief at the Doctor's changes but she's also determined to defeat her pursuers and return the Doctor to his natural state. Freema Agyeman gives a stirring performance as Martha this week, finally cementing herself as a companion who has the potential to become one of the greats. Agyeman seems to delight in the nuances of the character now and we finally get an explicit statement of her love for the Doctor. It's all very promising. Outside of these characters who represent the good, the bad and the ugly of humanity is a very odd little boy.

"Is he a personification of the TARDIS?"

As I've said, I have no idea what transpires in the 1995 novel. Could the little boy be the distillation of the Doctor's memories? Is he a personification of the TARDIS? If I were to hazard a guess, I'd wager that he is some part of the Doctor, personified and will doubtlessly play a key role in Smith's return to Doctorhood. The sketches of McGann, Rose and other characters are welcomed and are only some of the minor details the raise this episode above being just "very good." Murray Gold's score is more understated than usual, but while previous bombastic efforts this season have provoked reactions varying from "fantastic!" to snoozy indifference, this week is above par for this season. Joan's theme is evocative of Rose's theme, the old Bad Wolf musical cue makes a return and several familiar action themes make an even more welcome return. Superb!

I sincerely doubt that Cornell will fumble the ball with The Family of Blood and if its as thematically exciting as Human Nature, as well as being even more emotionally involving, then we'll have a mid season 2-parter that rivals The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances.

The Bumper Book of Made Up Doctor Who Facts has this to say about Human Nature: Paul Cornell later apologised to Ben Aaronovitch for the intellectual property theft of the creepy little girl from Remembrance of the Daleks.

John Smith's No-Nonsense Man

The Doctor Dances…Again

Human Nature

Isn’t it nice when - for once - your expectations for something actually turn out to be fully realised. In fact, better even than you had secretly hoped for. Like a few fellow bloggers, I recently re-familiarised myself with Paul Cornell’s seminal novel during a train journey to Leicester and whilst ‘Human Nature’ is certainly a cut above 95% of all the original novels to be spawned from our beloved television programme, it’s perhaps not quite the Woodstock of fan fiction that you’re led to believe. I mean, I personally could never quite imagine the seventh Doctor - human or not - having a romance; nor that the Doctor would just give up being a Time Lord because he was a bit fed up. And the aliens pursuing him in the book version are a bit generic, a bit dull and lacking in some iconic moment of pure evil.

Fast-forward twelve years and ‘Human Nature’ is now a bona-fide television episode. The Doctor is now younger, sexier and not exactly averse to the odd dalliance with a lady. He’s given up being a Time Lord in order to hide from a family of foes seemingly obsessed with his Gallifreyan uniqueness. And the aliens are a bloody creepy bunch who literally sniff out their prey like a pack of extra-terrestrial bloodhounds.

The result? Arguably the closest this show has got to perfection since 2005.

I don’t use that term lightly either. Fellow bloggers might know that I hold ‘The Girl in the Fireplace’ up as the definitive slice of nu-Who goodness of the past two years (Neil certainly will…18,342 viewings at last count, mate). But I’ve got a gut feeling that following this barnstorming, elegant, gentle and terrifying forty-five minutes (with the prospect of another forty-five that’s about as likely to drop the ball as Johnny Wilkinson) that I’ll be beholden to a new love. ‘Human Nature’ is so good that you literally want to run into the street and hug people; it’s so rich with imagery and dialogue that you want to phone up Pip and Jane Baker and yell ‘That’s how you do it’; it’s so scary and creepy that you feel like you’ve been transported back in time a la Sam Tyler to the living room of your childhood and are watching this show with fresh eyes from behind the obligatory sofa.

‘Human Nature’ is so good that you literally want to run into the street and hug people

So, yeah I loved it. But I still had one or two niggles.

Firstly, how come the Doctor has never felt the need to use the chameleon arch before, seeing as the likes of Daleks, Cybermen and (ahem) the Master have been baying for his blood these past forty-plus years? Maybe I’m missing the point, but isn’t he a tad too keen to strip off his Time Lord persona for the sake of hiding away from aliens we’ve barely even seen? Then there’s the pocket watch - there’s a brief mention of it containing some sort of dampening effect so that Smith would only see it as a watch, but would he really never open it just out of curiosity? Does the man never need to know what time it is? Timothy Latimer - mysterious, enigmatic little bugger that he is - manages to open it within seconds of getting his posh little mitts on it, so why doesn’t Smith? Oh well, I guess even the best of episodes require some element of suspension of disbelief. And in the case of Latimer, you kinda guess there’s much, much more on him before this story completes its course.

Because that’s exactly what this episode is - the very best of Doctor Who. I’m a sucker for the period pieces like most people because they add a sheen of class to this show that even the futuristic ones never quite muster. ‘Human Nature’ may ostensibly be about the Doctor hiding away from aliens and adopting human form, but it’s set against a backdrop of boarding school ritual and the spectre of impending war. The Great War of 1914-18 hangs over this episode like a black cloud, the pupils of Smith’s school - like the raw recruits of Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket - being moulded into killing machines. There’s a great moment when Smith condones the beating of one of his pupils for simply being a bit wet; about as un-Doctorly a moment as could be imagined. And Martha’s very obvious cultural difference in 1913 allows this show to once more beat the drum for tolerance and acceptance in the face of human cruelty. Freema Agyeman is potentially given the short straw this week, given the focus on her former Time Lord chum and his new beau, but it’s a testament to her that Martha is arguably the strongest character here.

the moment when Smith condones the beating of one of his pupils is about as un-Doctorly a moment as could be imagined

So, what are we to make of this new man Smith? The Doctor and yet not the Doctor. David Tennant has come in for no shortage of criticism in the past on this blog for his occasionally wacky interpretation of the Time Lord; so it comes with no little irony to discover that he gives one of his best performances in the role by not being the Doctor at all. Just a slightly stiff schoolmaster who dreams of a world far beyond his reality of timetables and mortar boards and yearns to be more heroic during a time when heroes were becoming just ordinary people. Not least of which when he inadvertently reveals his hidden Gallifreyan and saves the lives of a mother and child with nothing more English than a cricket ball. Fans of the fifth Doctor in particular were probably doing cart-wheels at this point.

On which point, has there ever been a more fan-pleasing orgy than this episode? Smith’s parents being called ‘Sidney’ and ‘Verity’? The suggestion that Gallifrey is in Ireland? And most of all the Journal of Impossible Things which whilst acting like some sort of tie-in merchandise for the show’s recent past, also shows a heart-stopping glimpse of the Doctor’s previous incarnations. Man, I nearly wept with joy.

But there’s so many moments like this that you’re just left reeling with the sheer sensory overload of it all. Charles Palmer’s direction which makes scarecrows into the best Doctor Who monster since this show’s return. Harry Lloyd’s face being somehow creepier than any special effect. The simple spaceship and its slightly familiar-looking interior ('stolen' technology indeed). And the way the Family of Blood sniff their way to their target. ‘Human Nature’ at its best is the power of Doctor Who in microcosm: making the mundane extraordinary. It may riff in time-honoured nu-Who tradition on the oh-so rich oeuvre of Joss Whedon (with Buffy’s ‘Normal Again’ being its most obvious antecedent) but when it’s done with the style and panache shown here it would be churlish to complain.

has there ever been a more fan-pleasing orgy than this episode?

And fundamentally it’s a very human story about love and loss. How fitting that the first thing the Doctor does when he finally becomes human is arguably the most human thing of all: he falls in love. The gentle romance between Smith and Joan Redfern - helped no end by the perfect playing of Tennant and Jessica Stevenson (sorry, to us Spaced fans she’s always be Stevenson…) - is the emotional heart at the centre of this perfect drama. And given those tantalising flashes to next week’s denouement, this could usurp even ‘Girl in the Fireplace’s position as most heart-tugging, something-in-my-eye emotion-fest that this show has yet produced.

Just time for a few more bouquets. Murray Gold’s beautiful score, once more showing the power of a great choir. Tennant screaming his head off again like it really hurts. The voices calling out to Timothy Latimer from the pocket watch and the flashes of his destiny, be it the trenches of WWI or modern-day Earth (just what is going on here?!?). And that cliff-hanger that raises the stakes to the Doctor choosing between the woman he loves and the woman who loves him.

See you next week; just don’t forget the hankies.

Next time: Births, Deaths and Marriages. And there’s bound to be tears before bedtime.

(The Bumper Book of Made-Up Doctor Who Facts has this to say about Human Nature: following his cameo in last year’s ‘Fear Her’, Jon Pertwee makes a more familiar return to the show in the guise of Worzel Gummidge)

Human Behaviour

Excellent episode, excellent ratings.  Hoorah!

7.1 (36.3%)

Top of the shop for both audience and share.  Toppo!  What!