This is the best series opener so far. More ambitious than Rose, more accomplished than New Earth, it has key advantages over both of them. Unlike Rose, the audience is fully acquainted with the show and completely comfortable with the Doctor. Unlike New Earth, this episode still benefits from introducing a new companion. Smith & Jones is a fresh start that merely requires a cursory reminder of the programme's essentials without the weight of having to relaunch the show from scratch.
It's altogether very satisfying. Apart from that silliness with the radiation in his shoe, the Doctor's on excellent form, bright, breezy and mischievously playful. He lies to the doctors with glee and then mugs his way through his confrontation with Mrs Finnegan. It's a classic Doctorish trick to persuade the enemy to underestimate him but one we rarely see anymore, which is a shame. It works especially well here where, although he has already outwitted the plasmavore, Martha must understand what he has done in order to secure the victory. It's as neat a way as any of letting them share the credit.
The whole point of this episode is that Martha proves herself worthy of being a companion, but she manages to do this without being plucky or homeless like some of her predecessors. Her intelligence is key and she uses reason to analyse her lunar surroundings, but what really marks her out from her fellow medical students is her open-mindedness. She is a good thing, level-headed compared with her family, resourceful compared with her colleagues. And she gets her own wonderful theme from Murray Gold too, one of the best in the series, surely a good sign.
The introduction of a new companion might have taken up too much room but Smith and Jones is nicely balanced. The story itself is cleverly contained, almost a base-under-siege, and makes good use of novel locations (a hospital, the moon) to keep things interesting and provide strong visual elements. The plot is tight and clear with key moments hingeing around things we know already: the Doctor's alienness, or the lack of air on the Moon. At no point does the audience feel it has been shortchanged.
Anne Reid is thoroughly pleasing: Mrs Finnegan, far more than just an archetypal witch, exhibits a palpable menace and a real sense of appetite. She sells the gruesome and visceral nature of her villainy in a way kids can understand, even if they can't be shown it.
And the Judoon are good too. To be honest, I'm getting a little bored of this 'alien animals' idea. I can see how it works as useful shorthand for the audience but there comes a point where it begins to feel like an unnecessary shortcut. It will certainly be taken too far in the future, but we're not there yet. The Judoon are effective and the well-executed rhino design is part of that. Their bureaucratic nature works too, making them a formidable obstacle without them necessarily being 'evil'. In a universe of Daleks, Cybermen and (let's face it) Mrs Finnegan, this nuance is very welcome.
The boys couldn't quite share my enthusiasm. Will gave it only 7, Chris an 8. More than anything else, they were very concerned that they didn't understand how the hospital had got to the Moon. "They explained that," I said. "It was an H2O scoop."
"That doesn't explain it!" They cried. "How can water do that? Is it magic?"
"No, does it matter? It's just a teleport. The hospital just has to get there for the story to work. You're missing the point."
"Well, it could have been explained better," said William.
Maybe we'll try Season 18 next, and see how they like that.
NEXT TIME...
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