Customer Reviews

Doctor Who: The Complete Second Series

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been a Doctor Who fan since before birth. This is a true statement as my mother watched the show with Jon Pertwee (the third doctor) when she was pregnant with me. Like many people I was overjoyed when the show came back. Chris Eccleston was to paraphrase fantastic and I was disappointed when he left at the end of the first season. However in David Tennant they have the perfect replacement. David is by turns funny,sarcastic, brave ,terrified,outraged,sad and noble. He combines the best qualities of his predecessors and puts his own stamp very firmly on the role. Billie Piper is wonderful as Rose Tyler the ordinary girl from London who is gleefully soaking up every second of this wild adventure. The second season is absolutely incredible. You have some great stand alones and some even better 2 parters. The stories with the cybermen are amazing. As the first season managed to pull off the nearly impossible ie. making the daleks scary again, the second season does the same with the cybermen. The special effects are impressive. The relationships make sense and are unashamedly emotional which gives this show a real heart and soul. Roll on season 3 and long may it continue.

David Tennant, the ultimate Doctor. Having been a Whovian for most of my life, this is a welcome addition to my DVD library.

Doctor Who appeals to the child in each of us. Who would not want to step into a time machine and travel the universe, back and forward in time, with such a charismatic companion? David Tennant may be the best Doctor of them all. He is a skilled, talented actor who is able to take a iconic children's character and create a complex being, capable of joy, mischief and grief and to suggest the ultimate loneliness of an immortal being with no home who must inevitably lose everyone he loves. Fun for the whole family is a cliche but, in this case, it is true. The monsters are scary, the love interest is engaging and the final ending is heartbreaking. I also enjoyed David Tennant's video diary. He was new in the role and you can see him taking charge of the part and growing into the role of public figure that first season. His Scottish accent is so clear in his candid diarization and undetectable when he is "The Doctor" (at least to me.) I loved the segment when he comes home for Christmas and is sitting around with his mum and dad, watching the Christmas special, his first appearance in a part he watched as a child. And he nails it! Billie Piper, continuing from the previous season with a new Doctor, is a delight.

Love this series. Sorry to see Billie Piper gone at the end. Would love to buy the first series as well but the cost is prohibitive. Note to BBC - bring down your prices in line with other TV series box sets!

I simply cannot say enough about how fantastic this series is. There were a number of absolute gems, but the season finale is special even amoung them. I laughed, I cheered, and I cried. I even cried watching the Audio commentary!

The 2005 "first" series of the revitalized Doctor Who was astonishing, its darker tone and deeper themes wrapped in humour, warmth, a positive tone about standing on one's own feet, and the astonishing chemistry between Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper. Even when the production team stumbled a bit in pacing in the first block, the acting carried the show and bolstered the long plot arch that had a few minor narrative weak points; it remains one of the most satisfying series of television I've ever seen.

Unfortunately, with the bar set extremely high, S2 was disappointing; the pace was ratcheted up at the expense of follow through; most of the plots are shaky and one fairly hackneyed plot is actually seen twice in close succession. Rose, the bright, sparky character who gave as good as she got with the Doctor, was reduced clinging cheerleader, although Piper's acting remains strong; and despite a certain energetic presence, Tennant is an inconsistent and, to me, largely unconvincing actor who attempts to make up in volume and speed what he lacks in subtlety and depth - he seems less the Doctor and more an actor fulfilling his lifelong dream to perform the part of the Doctor; what many find "charming" can also seem smug and irritating. The powerful sensuality of the Eccleston/Piper pairing is replaced by an insular adolescent mutual admiration society, and it does tarnish the relationship.

The series has some excellent ideas, but the follow through never seems as thorough as in the first series, and contains some of the most manipulative writing I've seen in recent television. The DVDs have a solid presentation of extras. It's entertaining if you don't think about it too hard, but it's a somewhat hollow experience in the shadow of the first series.