The Stolen Earth: Doctor Who Series 4 Episode 12

It is often difficult for those who have not fallen under the spell of a certain Time Lord to understand the emotion that the universal wanderer engenders in those who have. During the late sixties and early seventies my mother scratched her head in bewilderment at the state of rapture a TV show would produce in her second and youngest son and, no doubt, wonder why and how it would not channel itself in to something more useful! That state of rapture overtook the child again last night, when the BBC screened the penultimate episode of the fourth (new) series of Doctor Who.

It is going to be difficult for me to not to gush, so good readers, apologies beforehand. Russell T Davis last night delivered to a waiting nation the episode we have all been waiting for – the ultimate Doctor Who adventure. To recount the plot would make this more story time than review but some elements of it will have to be revealed as we proceed. Read no further if you have not seen the episode and do not wish for it to be “spoiled”.

The episode opens with one of the longer pre-title sequences we have ever seen. The questions piled up as one by one we visited various large cities and the companions who inhabit them. We see Martha in New York, Jack in Cardiff and Sarah Jane in London (plus a milk man too). The action is very much from their perspective, these “children of time” as the Doctor and Donna retreat in to the Tardis and effectively miss the action.

I have to admit here and now that I found it difficult to contain my excitement and sat awestruck through the opening sequence. So, the TV series is preaching to this converted one already, but several of the episodes of this season have left me feeling distinctly cheesed off (particularly the risible “The Doctor’s Daughter” and the shambolic “Midnight”). However, the excitement the first five minutes of this episode elicited from me was reminiscent of that I experience during my child hood. What the real six and seven year olds were going through during this broadcast is anyone’s guess.

To say that the episode was hugely enjoyable is, from my perspective, an understatement. In fact, it was more of an event than anything else. It dealt realistically with what might happen if the earth were suddenly to disappear. There was a great moment when Rose appeared and strode, calm as ice and sharp as diamonds through the riot strewn streets of London. Though later she displayed some signs of what I can only describe as petulance when she was unable to link up with the others on the subwave channel and was a little impolite about Martha, she seemed in total control of the situation – at least to begin with. Billie Piper was excellent (the lisp seems to have somewhat abated, fortunately for her and audience alike) as the primary companion a little usurped by the others.

Martha Jones – what can I say? Seeing both her and Rose together in an episode has made me ponder that question which many fans have debated for it seems like eons. Who is the better companion? I think I must betray my liberal tendencies here and sit firmly on the fence. They both have their strengths. They both take situations in their stride. However, they were both here without the Doctor and despite this stood on their own two feet and acted on the situation rather than being passive about it.

It may be because of the pre-pubescent crush I had on her all those years ago but I must give the highest honors here to Elizabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith. It wasn’t that she acted the others off the screen it is just the immense amount of pathos that she puts in to her performance. With just minor changes in facial expression she manages to pull of a huge range of emotions, from motherly concern to flattered middle-aged lady to the horror of the dawning realization that an old enemy was still alive. She cannot be just exterminated, surely? I would like to see her give Davros a good slap at least before she gets blown in to atoms!

Plot wise the episode was one that had to be seen again to be understood fully – much was given away in hurried dialogue that was hardly taken in before the next crisis happened – and so forgotten. I am sure that many people will have watched the episode again, with a finger on the pause button, ready to use should rumination be required. The missing bees were finally explained in this episode. I am guessing that many people will be pointing the finger of plagiarism in the direction of RTD. After all, the late great Douglas Adams had an alien nation leaving a doomed planet of earth many years ago in “The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy”. Then, it was the dolphins who flippered away with the message “Goodbye, and thanks for all the fish”. Now it is the turn of the bees who give the Doctor the clue that he needs to find the missing planets. Rather than a case of plagiarism going on here, I see it as much more a cheeky homage to Adams. It was, in any case, a relief that it was a pivotal plot device, rather than a confusing red herring.

The build up to the invasion of Earth was superbly done. That one Dalek utterance sent a chill down my spine (rather unexpectedly because it has been over used). However, “Exterminate!” was more than appropriate – even though a lot of people seemed to be taken away for experimentation of some sort. “Experiment!” just doesn’t have the same fear inducing tenor, though, does it?

There was a great deal of death and destruction in the episode. Good golly, we even had the extermination of an entire family at one point, something which will no doubt get the complainers going that the show has, once more, too much violence in it. It could be argued that “off screen” deaths such as these – and here we could count the demise of former Primer Minister Harriet Jones – are much more horrifying than the ones we actually see as so much is left to the imagination. This is an example of good direction at its best. Keep the deaths off screen but turn up the fear factor as a result. Nice. Lots of fantastic special effects, the Medusa Cascade and the transmitted waves were cheesy though!

To counter the pandemonium and general all round gathering horror there were some moments of comedy in the episode that deserve mention here. It is a credit to Russell T Davis’ writing skills that he managed to place so much light heartedness in a very dark episode without it teetering on the edge of ridicule. There were some great lines – Wilf’s immediate reaction to the invasion was to suggest his daughter remove herself indoors, “(Aliens) always want the women”. Plus the Doctor’s password code delivery to the Judoon guarding The Shadow Proclamation was pricelessly funny. He also managed to get a line in about being a kid at the age of ninety. My best funny moment here, where I found myself guffawing along with Ianto, was when Paul O’Grady appeared on screen and made a comment about furniture polish. These were some excellent light hearted moments in the middle of slaughter. As for the Outer Space Facebook moment. No comment! Then there was the solution to the age old Dalek weakness of their single eye!

The music of this series has been attacked a great deal for being too loud and overwhelming. Here, loud and overwhelming was the order of the day – in fact the only way that the events could have been accompanied. If Wagner was still alive he should have been hired to do it, but this was a great job well done. As well as the familiar companion themes we had some marvelous choral moments as the planets were revealed. Plus the almost spaghetti western type moments when the Doctor is thinking about what to do next and not coming up with much.

Many questions were left unanswered. What is the Crucible? What is or was the Mister Copper Foundation? What is the human population of the earth to be used for? What was the woman at The Shadow Proclamation going on about – “I am so sorry for your loss, the loss that is yet to come”? What on earth is The Osterhagen Key? The last question is the most important here – my greatest fear is that it will be used as some sort of Deus Ex Machina for everything to be put right. However much a certain former Prime Minister urged people to forget about it, I imagine that it will be pivotal in the next episode.

Dalek Caan made reappearance. You may remember that he effected a temporal shift in “Daleks in Manhattan”. Somehow he had managed to save Davros but has become a precognitively insane as a result. Another unanswered question is who is the Doctor’s most faithful companion and how will (s)he die? This must surely be the first time we have ever heard a Dalek laugh, and the childlike giggles from this “abomination” were pretty scary. Can any songwriter reading this pen a “When I hear a Dalek laugh” song along the lines of “When I see an elephant fly” please?

Scarier still was the return of the nemesis Davros, who reveals at one point how he has managed to revive the Dalek race, quite horribly. I am sure that his appearance alone will give some viewers nightmares but this display of Kaled flesh (or lack of it) was one of the more stomach churning moments of this episode.

This was a superb episode. Of course, I haven’t mentioned the “R” word at all – and neither shall I as I hope, hope, and hope that this will be resolved early on in the next episode. Ten out of ten, however, for a stirring, exciting, brilliant, breathtaking, extraordinary episode that must win awards in the near future, surely? Please don’t let next week’s episode be another cop out!