The Official MZ Doctor Who Thread!

[Dr Kain]

Enemy of the World - Like most of Troughton's stories, this one did not need to be 6 episodes long, however, it was still well done and did not drag on that often. I love the twist with Salamander to show even more "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!" up he was. On the other hand, I wasn't surprised about the other twist dealing with the commander who wanted the Doctor to kill Salamander as that was quite obvious from the get go. I do find it quite intringuing how the dude you thought was going to be a mindless prick at the beginning turned out to be the most intelligent of the officers. Overall, I quite enjoyed this one a lot as it was different. I do need to ask though, what the hell was the music from The Shining doing in here? o_O Was that added in later or did Kubrick rip off the music from this for his film?

[Dr Kain]

This arrived today:



I can now finish off Baker's era and we didn't waste any time to get right into it.

The Leisure Hive - After the garbage stories that filled up Tom's previous season, this was kind of refreshing. It's no where near the greatest story ever, but I did enjoy it for the most part. The first episode dragged on quite a bit, but the other three flew by. I liked the make-up they did for Old Man Baker and there were some interesting ideas. Of course, the lizard bug aliens were kind of meh looking and probably the worst aspect of the story. Lastly, the music was pretty dang awesome here, especially during the clone army scene. Overall, like I said, it isn't anywhere near the best, but compared to Destiny of the Daleks, The Horns of Nimon, and then all of the Colin Baker stories that followed years later.

[Dr Kain]

Meglos - Another pretty enjoyable story with a prick of a villain. The blue screened effects on the desert planet for the most part were really well done too. There's not really much for me to talk about here since there wasn't anything out of the ordinary as far as DW goes, but I'm not expecting that. Tom Baker was great when he was playing the cactus monster, though it did show how spoiled he got with the role.

BTW, do they not show the actors for the Behind the Sofa segments the full episodes? It just seems weird when someone will shout, "HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?!" even though it was shown like 5 minutes prior.

[canofhumdingers]

Been working my way through the modern series again starting with Eccleston. I’m into Smith’s second season and it’s been a fun ride revisiting the series. There’s some darn good sci-fi writing in here and every actor makes for a wonderful take on The Doctor. Tennant is still my favorite, but Smith is much better than I remembered. And Moffat was very skilled at coming up with fantastic ideas that really explore the awesome poetnential time travel brings to fiction. He does play quite fast and loose with creating impossible paradoxes* but it kinda just works with the fast paced flow of the stories. Really looking forward to the rest of this season as I relive the story of River Song and who she really is. I always thought that was a great storyline.

*Two that happened recently and in rapid succession were: the Doctor, having been released from the Pandorica by Rory then going back in time and giving Rory the sonic screwdriver with which he releases the Doctor from the Pandorica. And the Doctor, aware he will meet his doom by the astronaut in the lake, secretly recruiting his younger self to stop the Silence and save himself.

[Dr Kain]

We plan to start rewatching the new series from the beginning over the summer. In fact, ironically enough, this summer will be 10 years since we discovered Doctor Who, which was all thanks to that awful GI Joe movie.

[Dr Kain]

Full Circle - Aside from introducing one of my least favorite companions, this story was quite solid. Although, I do have to say that I didn't find Adric to be as utterly annoying here compared to the Davison stuff. Overall, the twists were interesting even if it did kind of repeat some concepts from Leela's premier episode. I especially loved how the Deciders were very indecisive on everything, making their jobs quite ironic. Though, I guess that is a great social commentary on politics in general. Looking forward to seeing what more this season has to offer.

State of Decay - Oh my god, this story was "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!" awesome!! Not only is it hands down the best Tom Baker episode since Horror of Fang Rock, but it also felt like a Hinchcliff story. I loved every second of it. It was so suspenseful and unique. I loved that the castle turned out to be a space ship and the way the vampires were done was spectacular. I also thought it was an interesting idea due to budgetary constraints not to have the master vampire be shown beyond just a hand as it makes him feel more mysterious. Oh, and that octopus mustache on the king dude was pretty cool. I think my favorite moment of hilarity came when the Doctor was talking to the rebels and they wanted him to be their leader, so everyone cheers, "YEAH!" but when he rejects that idea, everyone mumbles, "Ohhhhhh..."

[Dr Kain]

The Warrior's Gate - Not as good as State of Decay, but still an enjoyable story nonetheless. I loved the backgrounds and the time altering stuff, however, I feel like they tried to cram way too much into the four episodes as some of it just didn't gel for me. I also hate the sudden departure of Romana, but this seems to be an issue all around in this series. They half assed Leela's farewell, didn't even bother showing what led to Romana'a regeneration, and even later on in the series when Nyssa, Teagan, Peri, and so on left. I just don't get why they can't write good finales for their companions after Sarah had left.

Anyway, I loved the two maintenance dudes as they reminded me of the guys from Alien with how nonchantly they approached everything.

[Dr Kain]

The Keeper of Traken - Overall, it was pretty solid and I liked the way they reintroduced the Master after the last time we saw him so long ago back in the stone age for The Deadly Assassin. I love the twist that what was thought to be an alien creature turned out to be his Tardis in disquise. The world itself was interesting and I liked the introduction to Nyssa. I do feel it ended a bit oddly though as the Master's plot was foiled too easily. The ending was cool.

Logopolis - So that's how Tom went out, eh? I don't know how I feel about this one. It was just way too overly complicated for its own good with way too much going on and I didn't feel the ending was worthy of a seven year finale. I'm not sure why there is suddenly a cloister bell in the Tardis nor what the point of it was. The way they brought in Teagan was okay, makes sense, but damn, I had no idea they killed her aunt off since it never seemed to be mentioned during Davison's run (then again, I guess I wouldn't have really noticed it if it had). Nyssa just showing up out of the blue was kind of weird though and I'm not sure how I feel about the last segment on Earth. Such great security that facility has there. They wouldn't even be able to catch a blind man running on a treadmill.

Well, we've come full circle now as we are right back where we started since it was Castrovalva that led to this Doctor Who obsession back in December. Speaking of which, I think we're going to rewatch that one tomorrow in order to see how it plays out now having seen what led to the events of that story.

In the end, I highly enjoyed this season, a vast improvement over the previous two seasons with some really entertaining episodes. There was not a single episode I felt was truly terrible.

My ranking of the season goes like this:

1. State of Decay
2. Full Circle
3. Meglos
4. The Keeper of Traken
5. Warrior's Gate
6. Logopolis
7. The Leisure Hive

What a joy it was to finally watch Tom's final season. It is also nice that I can now officially say I have watched everything from Tom Baker to today.

I do still have a ton of bonus features to attempt to watch, along with the K9 special, and then a couple of Troughton stories I haven't gotten to yet I have on my shelf, so there is still more to come. Plus, we plan to start rewatching the new series this Summer. It's going to be great to now watch everything from Eccleston and beyond having a vast amount of knowledge of what came before.

[Dr Kain]

Castrovalva - I know I had talked about this one back in Dec, but I have to say that I enjoyed it a bit more this time around now knowing the entire story. Of course, now I do find it odd how the companions all seem to know what a Time Lord's regeneration considering only one of the three has been with the Doctor for more than like an hour and even Adric should have no idea what a regeneration even is. I'm not sure this story needed to be 4 episodes considering only two of them are actually spent in Castrovalva with a lot of meandering around the Tardis and forest, but I'm willing to give them some leeway since it was meant to build up the dilemma of the Doctor's new persona.

[sentaison]

[Dr Kain]

Come to think of it, they never even properly explained what the Pharos Project was. All they did was go like, "Oh, this is like the Pharos Project," and that's it.

[Dr Kain]

Oops, I forgot to post my thoughts on Web of Fear when I watched it last week.

Web of Fear - I'm not sure how I feel about this one. The first two episodes were great, but then I feel like it fell apart from there and dragged on way too much. It could also just be that the third episode being boring ass photos with the audio playing disrupted the immersion. Either way, this story could have been 4 episodes and nothing of value would have been lost. It was great getting to see the introduction of Stewart. Odd that UNIT hasn't been formed yet and that he was a Colonel, at least since that's what I've known him for being. A shame the first Yeti story is missing given its connections with this one.

And then we did The Invasion today. The Invasion was odd for me because I could have sworn the Cybermen were in this story a lot more than they actually were. I guess I was getting some of the scenes between this and Davison's Aftershock mixed up (with a touch of the Colin Baker ep). Nevertheless, it does suffer from some pacing issues. The first four episodes were fantastic, but then the second set of four seem to drag on quite a bit. This story would have been perfection at 6 episodes instead of 8. Vaughn was a cool villain despite making James Bond-esque dumb decisions. The dude could have been successful if he had actually killed the Doctor, Jaime, Zoe, and Isabell the moment he met them for the first time. Instead, we get these dragged out sequences of each group going into one area and hanging out for a while. I do love the scene when Zoe gets the computer to self destruct and of course the scene when the Cybermen walk down the streets is epic looking. There is a lot of great camera work and lighting. Not to mention it was nice getting to see the first appearance of UNIT now knowing what UNIT actually was (especially Stewart, who looks so young).

Overall, it's a great tale, but I think I like Tomb of the Cybermen the best between the 3 Troughton Cybermen stories I have watched (I can't bring myself to watch Wheel in Space due to it being telesnaps). Regardless, it is a near solid adventure overall.

[Dr Kain]

The Krotons - A simplistic, yet entertaining story. There's nothing utterly spectacular about it, but it was refreshing to watch a 4 parter again after having 6 and 8 parters for the last several stories I watched. The Krotons were an interesting idea and I loved how they were taking advantage of this primitive civilization. Zoe managed to have another batch of fantastic scenes full of wit and joy.

Well that brings an end to what I have at my disposal of Troughton's era without leaning towards some "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!" ass telesnap reconstructions (Wheel of Space). While I do think a lot of his stories are longer than necessary, I highly enjoyed the vast majority of what I watched. Troughton himself was a top notch Doctor and Jamie is one of the best male companions in the entire franchise period.

If I were to rank the stories I've watched of his, it would go as this:

1. War Games
2. Tomb of the Cybermen
3. Enemy of the World
4. The Invasion
5. Power of the Daleks
6. The Ice Warriors
7. The Moonbase
8. The Krotons
9. Web of Fear
10. Underwater Menace

Glad I've gotten to see nearly half of his run, especially considering how much of it is lost. Maybe one day they can animated all of the missing episodes and release his entire run either in one giant Blu-Ray set or spread out across its three seasons.

With that said, aside from the K-9 special and all of the bonus features from the bonus discs of the Blu-Ray seasons, my journey into Classic Doctor Who comes to an end, at least for now. I'll step back into this realm closer to when the Pertwee season 4 set is going to hit stores in October. In the mean time, this Summer I will be revisiting all of the newer stuff through Capaldi's run. Regardless, it's been a joy to run through so much of the original DW run in such a short time span.

[Dr Kain]

K9 and Company - You know things are going to be bad right when your ears start screaming in pain from the horrible theme song. At first, I totally expected this to be some sort of 80s parody thing due to how bad that song was. Instead, it tried to take itself way too seriously, though, all things considered, I guess it could have been worse. It was watchable. However, the village this event takes place in is clearly the same village from Hot Fuzz. All that was missing were the cultists shouting, "FOR THE GREATER GOOD." I'm being serious here, it's practically the same concept just set in the Doctor Who universe and not even remotely as well written. I do have to give them credit though as the night scenes are pretty cool as are the sets and costumes. There's a reason it never got picked up for a full series though and I have no intention of ever watching this thing again.

[Dr Kain]

[Dr Kain]

Tomorrow marks the 10th anniversary since I got into Doctor Who so we are celebrated today by watching the first disc to Eccleston's run and are planning to spend the next several months watching everything until we complete Capaldi's run. It will be the first time I've seen some of these episodes since then, and also the first time I'll be watching all of these episodes having now seen more than half of the original show's run.

Rose - Well that was an interesting start. It's so quick paced that there never really seems to be any time to breath during the show. It's cool, but I wish they had done a lot more with plastic Mickey. Then again, how the hell was Rose not able to tell that was not the real Mickey when he straight up looked like a plastic doppleganger? Speaking of which, had Mickey died, it would have served him right since he was the idiot who decided to touch a walking garbage can. How moronic can you be? He clearly has never watched a horror movie before. Speaking of which, I do love how atmospheric the basement was with Rose when she first encounters the Automatons. A very good first episode and it was interesting to see the Doctor looking at his freshly regenerated body since the first time around I clearly had no idea that was why he was poking and proding his ears and stuff whlie in Rose's apartment. My favorite scene is when the Doctor is talking about how the Automatons must be using something big and round and Rose keeps pointing towards the ferris wheel behind them.

The End of the World - Honestly, I didn't think this one was as enjoyable as the first episode ten years ago, and I still think that way, however, it was a necessary one to reintroduce the audience to the vast universe full of all kinds of aliens and weird manifestations. Cassandra is such a weird, lackluster villain. In fact, you could say she is the most one dimensional villain of the entire franchise. <puts on sunglasses> Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah... Anyway, it's fine for what it is, although it's a good thing the sun shields lowered a lot slower for Rose's room than it did for the blue host guy.

The Unquiet Dead - This one was quite exceptional, though yet again, I think the pacing is way too quick. A lot more could have been done, but still, it is an enjoyable one. I loved Rose's enthusiasm for being back then and the guy they got to play Charles Dickens is superb. It's a darker tale and a nice horror one at that as it mimics some of the early Tom Baker stories. Just great stuff all around.

[Dr Kain]

Aliens in London/World War Three - An interesting two parter with some kind of disgusting set of aliens. I do like that they were there just to sell the planet and nothing more, but did they really need to constantly have the fart jokes going on? Harriet Jones could have been a bad character had it not been for Penelope Wilton's oustanding personality who really gave that character life. The drama with Rose was fine but it kind of sucks that her mom decided to blame the black dude for her disappearance. I think my favorite scene though is when everyone is watching the TV and between news reports more people are suddenly in Rose's apartment. Very hilarious, especially when the Doctor has to fight with the baby over changing the channel. Speaking of the Doctor, I do love that they reference his connection to UNIT.

Dalek - Just brilliant, absolutely brilliant. It reintroduces a classic villain for those who were fans of the original show while adding in a backstory for new fans without it feeling like forced exposition. It's also cool to see the Dalek's plunger arm have a purpose. Easily the best Dalek episode since Genesis. I also love the scene with the stairs where everyone assumes they are safe because it can't go up them and then BAM, it flies, harkening back to that McCoy episode.

The Long Game - Simon Pegg is just supremely stunning in this one. It's actually funny getting Wilton in an earlier episode, who played his mom in Shaun of the Dead, and then getting him here with an eventual appearance by Nick Frost in Capaldi's era and Bill Nighy in Smith's. The only one were missing is Ashfield. Oh, and holy "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!", that's the mom from Black Lightning!! Anyway, the story is kind of bare bones, but having Pegg as the villain really amps it up due to his performance as the Editor while the Doctor and Rose try to figure out what is going on with this place that no one seems to pay attention to. The weakest part of the episode is the stray dog boy that joined them, yet, he works to show that the Doctor is not always forgiving.

Father's Day - An interesting plot that I have no idea why it took them essentially 27 seasons to tackle. You really feel bad for Rose in this one and it doesn't help that her dad was a very likable guy. The only negative aspect is the dated CGI as it is just a solid heart wrenching episode all around.

[Dr Kain]

The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances - Easily the best story of the season thus far. It's pacing was spot on, the mystery is wonderful, and there is a lot of great chemistry and banter between the three heroes. Psycho Mantis Jr is a really creepy antagonist with a great mysterious backstory to boot, which is exactly what this show needed. There's a lot more that I can say, but I feel like being lazy right now. Just perfection all around.

[Dr Kain]

Boom Town - Never been one of my favorites, especially since I don't care for the Slyvine, but it's got some great moments in it such as when the lady is trying to teleport away and the Doctor keeps bringing her back and then in the restaurant when she keeps trying to attack him but he already knows what she is trying. I'm not sure I get Mickey's aim though. Am I supposed to feel bad for him or cheer for him? The show is giving me mixed messages here.

Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways - What an epic finale this was. Everything related back to every episode that happened throughout the season and gave it all a grand standing ovation. This is how you do a season finale as it makes it feel like the entire season was worth it. It's a great payoff. The return of the Daleks was interesting because they're not truly Daleks, but artificially created ones (well they were always artificially created, but you should get what I mean). Rose going God Mode was badass too and I loved the Weakest Link game show they were mimicking in the first half. It's still sad to see Eccleston go, but on the grand scheme of things, it makes sense.

My ranking of the episodes are as follows:

The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances
Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways
Dalek
The Unquiet Dead
The Long Game
Rose
Father's Day
Aliens in London/World War III
Boom Town
The End of the World

Eccleston was my first Doctor and while I don't think he is anywhere near the best, he was a great one. He had the kookiness of Troughton and the arrogance of Tom Baker. The way he was written also made it wasy for new viewers to come in while pleasing old viewers with subtle hints of the show's past. However, for as enjoyable as this season was, now the real fun is about to begin.

[Dr Kain]

Start Season 2 today:

The Christmas Invasion - I loved this episode when I first watched it ten years ago, but I haven't watched it beyond that time. Now, I have to say, it's actually not all that great. It still has enjoyable moments, but for being Tennant's premier, he didn't exactly go in with a bang. The worst part is how the aliens seem all threatening but the moment the Doctor comes onto the stage, they suddenly become these bumbling idiots, which completely diminishes their threat. The episode suddenly felt like a comedy routine was happening.

New Earth - Ugh, I seriously forgot this one as I have never rewatched this episode. It's quite bad, actually. Really bad. It doesn't help that I still hate Cassandra, so I'm glad she never returned after this episode, but still, none of the plot makes any sense.

Tooth and Claw - Oh here we go, a really kick ass horror based episode that has a lot of great moments from the cool kick ass monks to the badass Werewolf scenes. I love the mystery and I most certainly love how Rose keeps trying to get Victoria to say she is not amused. Honestly though, I know next to nothing about Victoria beyond that she would supposedly say, "I am not amused" all of the time. I know I learned about her way back in elementary school, but that was pretty much it.

School Reunion - Oh my god, this episode makes so much more sense to me now. I actually understand every single reference piece being spoken now. That ups this episode even more in the enjoyability factor than it did previously. I even enjoyed seeing K9 show up despite not being a fan of him. Not to mention I get now why they called him Mark III. The monster bats were cool, though I do not get why they suddenly turned back into their human forms towards the end of the episode. Did the production team run out of budget?

The Girl in the Fireplace - An absolutely brilliant and gorgeous episode. The entire story is just pure beauty. The plot is original, engaging, mysterious, the robot villains are creepily badass, and Pampadour is such a compelling character, far more compelling than you can even get in a lot of movies. This is truly one of Doctor Who's finest moments and by far the best episode of the franchise since The Talons of Weng-Chiang.

[Dr Kain]

Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel - This was my introduction to the Cybermen and it is still freaking amazing. I love the new designs and this alternate universe's take of them being created by a selfish sack of human "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!". The story itself is very well done and it was nice to finally see them do something with Mickey. A shame his best moment was his send-off, yet, that is the way it should be. The music is incredible, especially the new Cybermen theme, and watching an entire army just march down a street all at once was badass. Good riddance to alternate universe version of Jackie as she seemed to be an utterly unlikable "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!" with how she treated Rose just for asking some questions all because she thought she was "the wait staff." Rich people that treat their servants in that manner need to die and go to hell. Anyway, just a great story all around.

The Idiot's Lantern - Another solid episode thanks to its kooky horror vibes. Felt very much like the 50s era of horror it was invoking. The dad deserved to die, but oh well, even the best episodes aren't perfect. Still, watching the Doctor go off on him was perfect, as was when Rose went off on him. There is a reason she is my favorite companion for the new series as she doesn't take "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!" from anyone, even abusive wastes of skin ike the father. The make-up work for the removed faces was well done too.

[sentaison]

Watching Rise of the Cybermen and The Age of Steel and how well the Cybermen suits looked my first thoughts were of the upcoming Iron Man movie and how I hoped the Iron Man suit would look at least as good as those Cybermen. Little did I know....

This was the season that this long time Whovian went from "They've done a pretty good job with the revival" to"OMG they're really hitting this out of the park!" It was like I was 17 again watching the Tom Baker episodes for the first time.

[Dr Kain]

The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit - Another absolutely fantastic round of episodes here. This one is just oozing with horror and suspense. The Ood are an odd ball group, yet, they are quite terrifying for being slaves. All of the mythology put into these episodes is intriguing and really stands out. Not to mention the giant demon body at the end is easily one of the Doctor Who's finest. Imagine if they were able to pull off something like this back in the old days. Oh man that would have been glorious.

Love and Monsters - Good god, this episode is bad, really bad. I mean, it was better than the first time I watched it a decade ago, but I think that is just because I knew what to expect from it now. It's just so awful to sit through, yet, it does have a couple of enjoyable moments. It's an interesting idea, it just isn't interesting to watch. Easily one of the worst episodes of the franchise. I can't believe this followed the Satan two parter.

[Dr Kain]

Fear Her - Whoa, it's like "It's a Good Life" from The Twilight Zone meets Dr Who. It's not creepy like Idiot's Lantern, but it's still an interesting one. My biggest issue is really how hokey the last act gets, especially with the way the alien just flies out of the girl. Also, the girl's acting was not exactly stellar, but it's a child, so meh, whatch'a going to do? I wish we had actually gotten to see the father drawing walking around though. That would have been cool.

Army of Ghosts/Doomsday - Who you gonna call? GHOSTBUSTERS!!! I love that scene. This entire story is just amazing. The second best story of the season. I never tire of watching the Daleks and Cybermen debate who is the superior species. Also, the Cybermen just marching down the street is very reminiscent to The Invasion from Troughton's era. The only thing I don't get is how no one at Torchwood knows who the Daleks are when they have invaded the Earth multiple times. Well, whatever, that is such a miniscule flaw that it's nothing more than a nitpick. Another favorite scene of mine is when the lady is going to have them activate the ghosts and the Doctor just grabs and chair and sits. I'm surprised he just didn't grab some magical popcorn or something to add to the scene. The ending is quite sad, at least until the Donna scene at the end breaks the immersion. I know they were doing it on purpose to lead into the Xmas special, but seriously? By this point people were going to tune in, so ending it like that was not cool.

Overall, it was a blast to revisit this season after so long. Of course, doing so also meant that it wasn't the perfection I quite thought it was as it has a shaky start and features one of the worst episodes of the franchise in the second half. Nevertheless, this is without a doubt the best season since Tom Baker's third and Tennant was just a joy to watch, espeecially once he found his footing. I'm sad to see Rose go, as I felt they could have gotten one more season out of her, but hey, that's just how the cookie crumbles.

My ranking for this season would follow:

1. The Girl in the Fire Place
2. Army of Ghosts/Doomsday
3. Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel
4. The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit
5. School Reunion
6. Tooth and Claw
7. The Idiot's Lantern
8. Fear Her
9. The Christmas Invasion
10. New Earth
11. Love and Monsters

Can't wait to start Season 3 up, but it's going to have to wait a week or so for me to finish up some other series. Plus, I'm thinking about rewatching Torchwood too.

[Dr Kain]

We started watching Torchwood today since the first season takes place before DW Season 3. Back when we first watched this season ten years ago we didn't find it to be all that great. It's still not all that great so far.

Everything Changes - This is a long as freaking hell premier. It's only 50 minutes, yet feels like it is 2 hours. They also failed to explain how Torchwood went from some giant big military organization to being a small task force nor how Jack managed to take it over.

Day One - Terrible, just down right terrible. The whole sex craved alien is so god damn stupid, even by Doctor Who standards. Also, the scene of having Gwen and the girl make out seems quite forced and nonsensible. Not surprised to learn this episode was written by Chris Chibnall as it felt very much like a "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!" Season 11 Doctor Who episode.

Ghost Machine - Okay here we go, an episode that is intriguing, suspenseful, and doesn't feel like it is sucking my life away. The ending is kind of hokey with the one dude somehow slowly ramming himself into such a short knife somehow managing to kill him, but that aside, it was well done. Easily my favorite of the season thus far.

Cyberwoman - Oh god, there is so much wrong with this episode, yet, it is still bettery than Day One. First off, the Cybermen do NOT do that. They do not start converting people whole. No, just no. They are a calculating race and would never do that no matter what. They are also way too egotistical and single minded to even consider the possibility that they would lose, so again, they would not just start converting people in such a half-assed way. Secondly, there has been absolutely NOTHING at all to hint that Yanto had any such disdain for Jack. Maybe they should have actually built this scenario up and shown us it happening instead of having Yanto exposite this bullshit to the audience? He hasn't had enough screen time in the previous three episodes for the audience to sympathize with him one bit. He also covers up the Japanese dude's death, which makes him highly unlikable right from the getgo. If I was supposed to feel sorry for him, they sure as hell failed at it. Oh, and no one is ever going to want to deliver pizza to Torchwood again.

Small Worlds - Almost as good as Ghost Machine, yet, it still lacks something. I do think the lack of a happy ending really makes the episode stand out. The step-father deserved what he got, as did the pedophile. It was odd to see Jack act so helpless though. It's not like he had ever come face to face with the fairies and why was he so afraid of them since he knew they could never kill him? Well whatever, another episode with some intense scenes, making it the second best.