Looks like our opinions diverge further by the week. Is the cliffhanger straight out cliché handbook? Yep, but the rest of the episode isn't. A cheesy surface hides a dark core.

After the sombre "The Girl in the Fireplace" a breezy start was welcome, and lulled you into false security. John Lumic wasn't subtle, but neither is fascism, and on a less weighty note, a Bond villain was a pleasure after the run of layered foes. (Even the bloody werewolf had a sympathetic side.) I think they knew what they were getting: you don't cast Trigger if you're looking for nuance.

Neither do you cram London's skies with Zeplins and dress people in black. The fascist overtones were as blatant as Prince Harry's choice of party wear, but they fitted their subject as snugly as a Cyber suit.

The episode was original where it mattered. The biggest alternative character takes Mickey from gormless fool to wounded hero in the space of 45 minutes. Having seen him make the most of minor soap roles I knew Noel Clarke could do better than Mickey the Idiot, and I wasn't disappointed. The split-screen work used to realise it was some of the best I've seen.

Effects also made the Cybermen. Far more than the Daleks, improved production values have realised their potential, transforming camp men in tinfoil into soulless, industrialized murder machines. Approaching with a distant "clump, clump, clump" like so many looming jackboots, the steel Blitzkrieg crushed everything in its path. Borg comparisons are escaped with a twist: you're not forcibly assimilated; you're forced to choose between slavery and immediate roasting. Join our uniform perfection or die. Nasty.

The Doctor, anarcho to his core, is the perfect man to fight them; can't wait to see how he does next week.

ive seen several reviews of this, and heard from several friends who saw this yesterday - and a lot of people seem to think it wasnt very good.
maybe they changed loads of stuff for tonights repeat (damn working til 7 last night!!), buit i thought this was a really good episode - whereas some previous episodes have had a rather light-hearted feel, this was all dark 'n' scary 'n' creepy - not least because of camille coduri coming over all footballers wives!! **shock**
i know its not something we're supposed to do here, but im in agreement with Byron here - the dark undertones here were exceptionally well done, even if there was some really cheesy over-acting (erm, hello, scientest who gets killed by cyberman right at the start?? your lower lip was doing more acting than everyone else in this put together - PLEASE dont do that again!!).
looks like mickey is finally going to come into his won, rather than just being the annoying guy who is hanging on to roses coat-tails so that he doesnt lose her to this weird bloke shes hanging out with - but then again, that would be too obvious...
the cliff-hanger was rather over-done - but then again, surely the job of the last shot in the first part of a 2 parter is to grab people by the danglers in anticipation of the next episode.
all in all, thoug - what we have here is something that is building up to what should be a rather mind-blowing experience next week - what im afraid of is that this is potentially a story that should have been left til the end of the season, and the next few episodes are going to be a big letdown.

and did anyone else spot the oh-so-subtle torchwood reference?
oh yeah - and 2 things i want to see in the out-takes - a show-down between lukic and the dr, where lukic refers to the dr as "dave" - and also work in a gag about a sweeping brush...

I've never been great at reviews so i'll just got with the short and sweet.

My gut instinct is that I didn't enjoy this one as much as previous episodes. Haven't really thought about it to understand why ....

Mad: Yeah i did spot the torchwood reference.

The first two-parter of the series - and the difference in pacing was immediately obvious. Although still character-heavy, the plot was stronger and coming out at a steadier rate, allowing for more of a build-up of tension until the cliffhanger.

As far as the villains go, Roger Lloyd Pack seems to be firmly intent on a Davros impression. It's a pity, really, since we know from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire that he can be more menacing than that (although I'm still going to be interested in seeing him and David Tennant on the same screen again ).

The Cybermen themselves did their job: they strike a fine enough balance between human and inhuman to come across as unsettling (especially after their creation sequence). But I can't help agreeing with everyone who's said that the constant "Delete! Delete!" seems to be turning them into Dalek clones. Surely the writers on a show this successful're paid enough to be motivated into some more original dialogue?

I have to say that after Father's Day, I was somewhat surprised to see Rose determined to chase after Peter again.

It only served to highlight the contrast between Rose and Mickey and the basic unfairness of the way that the Doctor deals with them both. Mickey has a degree of tech-savvy, seems level-headed and - as long as he doesn't listen to Rose - seems capable of learning from his mistakes.

Rose, on the other hand - for all RTD and even Father's Day writer Paul Cornell claimed that the aforementioned episode was "Rose's journey" and a form of resolution - seems incapable of learning from any of her mistakes, be it trying to alter reality or just refusing to stay where she's put.

And Mickey's right: it doesn't matter what he does, because apparently unless he's willing to make a Captain Jack of himself and make a pass at the Doctor, he's not even half as interesting as a Rose who'll hang off the Doctor's every word like a fourteen year old chasing a boyband (even though she's apparently as interesting as an old pair of slippers, until something newer and shinier shows up).

(I'm assuming that some considerable time's passed since the events of The Girl in the Fireplace, if only from the lack of tension between everyone - although Rose throwing a minor hissy fit over the Doctor and "Laura" proves that she hasn't forgotten.)

From the moment that we saw the Doctor and Rose giggling away to themselves like school "cool kids" cliques in the corners of playgrounds everywhere, it was obvious that Mickey was getting a rougher ride than his usual role as on-off security blanket until Rose meets yet another bloke with his own transport and a bigger screwdriver. I'd quite like the poetic justice idea of the whole mess being caused by the Doctor forgeting that Mickey was there.

As with last week, once Rose was out of the picture, the Doctor and Mickey seemed to be having reasonable conversations. But only when he had no other options.

The scenes at the Tyler mansion were emotional in the sense of watching Rose realise that somewhere her parents were - if not happy - literally "better off" without her around; but she's such a spoilt brat at the moment that it felt more like a case of just desserts to see her reduced to (no catty comments, please) a dog.

(As in their previous out-of-time meeting, Peter feels an instant connection with her, whilst Jackie shows exactly where Rose gets her charming character flaws from. Nice touch - almost makes you wonder how well Jackie and Rose'd get on if she'd had the option of turning to Peter when she was growing up, doesn't it?)

Maybe Rose suddenly realising how much Mickey's been pushed into the background will be some sort of epiphany. The series seems to be taking what I'd say is a real risk for its timeslot and target demographic - namely, for all their depth of character, regularly making its two leads distinctly unsympathetic.

Mickey's finally getting backstory - which we all know is the Doctor Who equivalent of buying a farm, getting engaged and being two weeks away from retiring (all at once). What's more, it's a highly sympathetic one, which shows Rose in an even worse light than before for stoking insecurities that she's well aware of.

(I suppose that her mention of his mother having taken off years ago could mean that her "I'll have to tell his mother he's dead!" in Rose was trepidation at realising that she'd have to track Mrs. Smith down - but who knows?)

It seems that Mickey could easily meet one of two fates: getting turned into spare parts, or else having found a vision of the "something better" he could be and a second chance with his grandmother, replacing Ricky in the event of his double's disappearance.

If the talk of Noel Clarke leaving the series really is true (and the flashes of next week's episode during Confidential are as ominous as they look), then the series is going to lose possibly the most down-to-earth character it's got - the bridge between the Sex and the TARDIS (RTD said it, not me!) leads and the burlesque bathos of Jackie Tyler.

I know that it probably looks from the amount of nit-picking I'm doing as though I'm not enjoying the series, which isn't exactly true. It's generally fun to watch, and even episodes with downsides're fun to dissect.

It's obviously building up to something, and with the amount of reference to previous events, there's a jigsaw element there that I can't resist trying to put together at times.

I only hope, with all of the OOC oddness and strange directions flying about, that the pay-off is going to be worth it.

But I have to be honest: as much as I respect the quality of the writing for what it is and I don't mind character development, I wish that we could give the whole Doctor/Rose star-crossed adolescent angst a rest, cut out the sexual tension and get back to the sci-fi action taking centre stage for a while.

(And two Torchwood references for the price of one! Whee! )

(Edited by Samanfur 18/05/2006 01:09)

2 torchwood references??
i got the one where pete was trying to get rid of rose - what was the other??
and im still amused with the way i was thinking "why does jackie sound as if shes calling a dog? OHHHH!!!"

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by Samanfur
The series seems to be taking what I'd say is a real risk for its timeslot and target demographic - namely, for all their depth of character, regularly making its two leads distinctly unsympathetic.

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Russell T Davis has said that he's deliberately making Rose and the Doctor too cocky so he can set them up for a major fall.

Don't think it's risking either target demographic though. Character conflict will be interest to adults, while the kids just want to see the Doc kill bad guys and quip real good.

I saw that edition of Confidential, too.

On the second point: I think it depends on the kid.

Speaking as someone who regularly worked with kids on a daily basis until I lost my job at Christmas: there're certain ages at which kids have preconceptions about narratives. These're largely prescribed, but it's still true.

I don't have any of the relevant studies to hand immediately, but... Stories have a beginning, a middle and an end. This end will be happy, and most likely tie up loose narrative threads. Pretty people're inevitably good and usually wear white. Villains're ugly. There's an innate sense of justice. I could go on...

It's an extension of the general search for boundaries and routine that kids work best in. Recent texts like Shrek have pushed the boundaries a little, but a text with a large audience in that age group will still have them expecting the protagonists to be sympathetic or at least nasty in amusing, Dahl-esque ways to people who deserve it.

So seeing characters like the Doctor and Rose picking on Mickey like a couple of classroom bullies is something of a surprise. The emotional overtones may be too subtle for the junior audience, but the behaviour and dialogue aren't.

(Edited by Samanfur 18/05/2006 18:59)

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by Samanfur
So seeing characters like the Doctor and Rose picking on Mickey like a couple of classroom bullies is something of a surprise. The emotional overtones may be too subtle for the junior audience, but the behaviour and dialogue aren't.

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Well if the viewing figures survived the Doc calling Rose "another stupid ape" for saving her dad from a hit & run, can't see a bit of light ribbing doing much harm.

Come to think of it the Doc was beastly to Mickey the entire first series. (He *invented* "Mickey the Idiot" ) The character was introduced as Mr Annoying Boyfriend, and they've only just started to redeem him, so I maybe kids understand why the Doc is being a bit of an arse at the moment.