"Doctor Who" The Next Doctor (2008)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Andy Goddard

Writers:

Russell T. Davies (written by)
Kit Pedler (characters: Cybermen) ...

TV Series:

"Doctor Who" (2005)

Original Air Date:

25 December 2008

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

Plot:

The Doctor arrives in London on Christmas Eve in 1851 where he encounters the Cybermen and a man who claims he's a Time Lord called the Doctor. |

Plot Keywords:

Christmas | Red Dress | Memory Loss | Cyberman | Meeting Future Self

Cast

David Tennant	...	The Doctor
David Morrissey	...	Jackson Lake
Dervla Kirwan	...	Mercy Hartigan
Velile Tshabalala	...	Rosita
Ruari Mears	...	Cybershade
Paul Kasey	...	Cyberleader
Edmund Kente	...	Mr. Scoones
Michael Bertenshaw	...	Mr. Cole
Jason Morell	...	Vicar
Neil McDermott	...	Jed
Ashley Horne	...	Lad
Tom Langford	...	Frederick Lake
Jordan Southwell	...	Urchin
Matthew Allick	...	Docker
Nicholas Briggs	...	Cyber-Voice (voice)

Runtime:

60 min

Certification:

UK:PG (DVD rating) | Australia:PG

Company:

BBC Wales

Trivia:

The balloon TARDIS has a bell. This may reference the Cloister Bell, a feature of the real TARDIS.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: As the TARDIS (balloon) is ready to take off the assistant starts releasing the tether ropes. Despite being buoyant, the last tether tied to the post is still hanging loosely.

Quotes:

[Rosita is calling out for the Doctor]
The Doctor: It's alright, it's me, I'm here!
Rosita: [Looking at him] There can't be two of you!

Movie Connections:

Features Doctor Who (1996) (TV)

Christmas Special 2008: Solid special that entertains even as it gets silly

The Doctor arrives in Victorian London just in time to meet two very familiar creatures that he did not expect to ever see. The first is some form of creature that is instantly recognisable as being, at very least, some derivative of a cyberman. The second is the man who is chasing the cyberman creature whose memory is blocked for some reason but whose name is The Doctor, who has a Tardis and has a feisty female assistant helping him out. Naturally, the Doctor (the other one) is curious about all of it.

Last year the Doctor Who Christmas special offered much and had lots of noise but was essentially a noisy and rushed version of the Poseidon Adventure that was too full of sacrificial "disaster movie" death to be much fun and too lacking in heart to really engage. As a result I was concerned about yet another special that just seemed to offer easy spectacle to distract you away from the fact that you saw all the "big" movies about three years ago on DVD or Sky. The Next Doctor offered more though because it was talked p for potentially being a handover to a new doctor, or that it had former doctors in it or several other theories. It plays with the audience in this regard early on as the suggestion is that the Next Doctor may either be another time lord or potentially a future version of the Doctor himself. While this concerned me in regards fitting in with the series, it did interest me.

The plot is simple but it helps that there are several threads that are developed across it as it did make it more interesting and engaging. I wasn't ever gripped but it did have a solid pace to it that made it easy to enjoy. The spectacle is there as well and, being Christmas, I didn't really feel inclined to make a big deal out of the logic of the cyberman ship or whatever it was – I can understand why some would have been annoyed by it but for me I was enjoying the special so wasn't in the mood to pick on it. The reason I was enjoying it was that the pace to it also gave some quieter moments and some comic moments that both the "doctors" were able to deliver quite well. I thought Tennant was on good form as he slightly toned down the "OH OF COURSE" delivery while also keeping the essence of "his" doctor. Morrissey has an interesting character throughout and his performance adds much more than another female assistant would have done. Speaking of which – was the casting of Tshabalala as Rosita a plot to make Agyeman seem like a better actress by way of comparison? If so then it worked. If not then I'm afraid I cannot see why she was cast. Kirwan is enjoyable as the main human villain whether it is at her most confident or most frightened. The extras run on command and the cybermen march on cue.

The Next Doctor did not hold the revelations that it was marketed to perhaps have maybe, but it was still enjoyable. The device of the other Doctor makes the plot engaging and I was interested even as the running and explosions started and, as it got silly, I still hadn't stopped enjoying it. A solid Christmas special that did what it was expected to do.