1)Now, we're up to the return of Donna Noble. From what I've read, when Catherine Tate was brought in as a companion, there was a bit of a stink, as she was apparently known mostly for comedy, and there were fears that she would "send the show up". Of course, RTD being RTD, he made her first story as a companion a bit of a comedy with lots of near-misses and misdirection, and one of my favorite funny scenes in the show, the "sign language conversation" between the Doctor and Donna. They even managed to get in a "Wile E. Coyote" style fall for Miss Foster at the end, although the comedy is somewhat undercut by the fact that she was dead at the end.
2)Miss Foster was a fun heel, I like a good villainess.
3)Tennant had some good moments in this - I particularly liked the scene in the TARDIS where he catches himself talking to himself, and the scene at the end where he finds himself carting all of Donna's luggage into the TARDIS. He seems almost a tiny bit intimidated by Donna.
4)And we get the return of Bernard Cribbins. His character in "Voyage of the Damned" was originally intended to be a one-off, but with the illness of Howard Attfield, who had played Donna's dad in "The Runaway Bride", Cribbins was brought back to take his place, and the rest is history. The DVD set has some scenes that Attfield shot with Tate before it became clear that he couldn't go on - they're very strange to watch.
5)I'd forgotten how harsh Sylvia came across in this story - really unsympathetic.
6)The Adipose themselves manage to be cute and creepy at the same time. Would it be worse to be killed by something cute than by something horrifying?
7)"Penny Carter" has an interesting history. Apparently when Russell was trying to come up with a character to replace Martha, but before Tate had agreed to re-join the show, Penny was the name of the character Russelll was developing as the next companion. When Tate signed up, Penny was abandoned, but RTD used the name for the reporter in this story as a gag. Speaking of Penny, I'm a little uncertain as to why Miss Foster didn't just have her done away with, instead of just haivng her tied up over and over.
8)I can't help thinking that Miss Foster went about it all wrong. I daresay she that if she'd been up-front about it, she'd've found a fair number of people who'd've volunteered to help the Adipose and lose weight at the same time.
9)We get the three things that will keep coming back this season - the disappearing bees, the missing planets and the re-appearance of Rose "Bad Wolf"Tyler. ("Bad Wolf" Tyler would make a good wrestler name.) Say, if Rose was right there at the end, why didn't she try talking to the Doctor?
10)Some fun quotes:
- "The fat just walks away."
- "You're even wearing the same suit! Don't you ever change?"
- "She fancied me." "Mad Martha, that one. Blind Martha, charity Martha."
- "I'm waving at fat."
- "Some people just can't take it."
- "Ijust want a mate." "I'm not mating with you, sunshine!"
Overall: A nice comedy episode, but with some nice interpersonal moments, as well - I particularly liked the bit where Donna confesses that she hadn't been able to change he rlife since the last time they'd met.
[Part of list of Doctor Who episodes here.]
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