The Waters of Mars is the 3rd episode to air since season 4 concluded.  With only a 2-part episode left for the tenth doctor the tension rises.  In this very dark episode, the doctor finds himself on mars.  The doctor realizes that he has come across Earth’s first colonists of Mars, who are doomed to die that very day.

The doctor is brought to the base by the singular weakness of this episode, a “funny robot”.  The robot says “gadget, gadget” and is supremely annoying.  It’s only function in the plot is to enable the doctor several quick get-aways.  First, while fleeing a couple of infected crewmen, and second, the escape at the climax of the episode.  It would have been really easy to write this robot out, but I’m guessing because of how dark this episode was Russell T. Davies and Phil Ford wanted something to pin a couple light hearted scenes to.

There the doctor meets Captain Adelaide Brooke and her crew of Bowie Base One.  Although nobody in history ever knew what happened on Mars (the captain ordered “Action 5″ which set off a nuclear bomb destroying the base), the doctor and the colonists find themselves up against a versatile bad guy – water.  Not just water really, but the waters of mars ability to infect their bodies with a new martian host.  The look of the person after being infected is pretty scary.  Face make-up, contact lenses, and some water effects make up a pretty unsettling costume.  With a couple of exceptions when the water effects are clearly CGI.

 Once the doctor realizes that he is at a “fixed point in time” and there is nothing he can do, he tries to leave.  But he is detained by the captain, who is suspicious that he could be involved.  The doctor hangs around long enough to see what is happening to her crew.  He tries to communicate with one of them speaking in ancient north martian.  But with Earth at stake, the captain and doctor have to make sure that everyone isn’t already infected. 

The doctor spills way to much information with the captain, as time brings her closer to her death.  The doctor tells her about her lineage following her out into space and creating history.  Thinking that she and her crew will get away, she lets the doctor leave (looking very good in his blue suit).

But she stops him in the air lock on his way out, demanding the truth.  The doctor reveals all to her, and we find out that more than just the time lords code is keeping him from intervening.  After The Fires of Pompeii, the doctor has felt that even if he does try to save them, he may only end up causing death.  Torn by the decision the doctor trudges back to the TARDIS, all the way hearing the screams and terror through the head set in his space suit.  He listens to them struggle to escape and one by one are taken over by the “water”.

While he’s walking, the doctor thinks about how he is the last time lord, and realizes that there is nobody who can stop him from doing what he wants.  The episode gets intense as the doctor goes slightly mad with power in his desperation to save the three remaining people.  He knows that his death is coming soon and that “he will knock 4 times”.

His own impending doom seems to only fuel the need he has to save Captain Adelaide.  But she starts Action 5, knowing that it is what is supposed to happen.  With the help of “gadget, gadget” flying the TARDIS into the base (boo robot), the doctor safely delivers the three to earth.  But Adelaide has resigned herself to her death knowing what her family will be inspired to do because of it. 

She tells the doctor that what he’s done is wrong.  But there is nobody to stop him.  She goes into her house and shoots herself.  The doctor is horrified.  Like I said, very dark episode.

“I’ve gone too far.”  The doctor sees an Ood and he says “my death? is it time?”  But it disappears.  The doctor scrambles back into his TARDIS where the cloister bell is tolling.  Defiantly he says ”No!” and begins to take off in the TARDIS.

Very dark and very ominous, this episode has great intensity.  Now, having the broken the laws of time, the doctor seems to be running scared, for the moment.  It will be very exciting to see what happens next in The End of Time – Part 1.  Thankfully, this episode airs only one(!!!) day after it airs on the BBC.  So catch it, the day after Christmas on BBC America 9/8c.

According to an article in The Hollywood Reporter, Tennant will be starring in a pilot titled “Rex Is Not Your Lawyer.” The plot focuses on “Rex Alexander (Tennant), a top Chicago litigator who begins suffering panic attacks and takes up coaching clients to represent themselves in court.”

The casting is reminiscient of Hugh Laurie’s nailing of the part of House on FOX, in that it’s like “the tapping of another established British TV actor with virtually no American TV experience.”

I, like many of our readers, would hope that this show is exactly what Tennant needs to get into mainstream audiences that way that he should and deserves. I hate to see him leave Doctor Who, but I am now thoroughly excited to see him start the next chapter of his career.

Since this is sure to be controversial for any Whovian not named Honk Mahfah, let’s start off with something I’d hope we can all agree on.

That’s right, coming in in last place is the Doctor who ain’t a Doctor, but a Dr.  I’m referring to Peter Cushing, who portrayed a radically different version of the character in a couple of ’60s theatrical films, Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. Now, I’ve only seen the first of those, but based on it, I have no hesitation whatsoever in labelling Cushing’s THE worst Doctor.  Intent on (poorly) playing Dr. Who — yes, that is his actual name — as a feeble old man, Cushing is obviously going for some weird brand of eccentricity that not only isn’t the Doctor we know from the series, but isn’t a satisfying or interesting character in its own right.

But enough of that.  Let’s get to the real Doctors.

#10 — Eighth Doctor, Paul McGann

Obviously, there’s not an awful lot to go on with the Eighth Doctor, because he only had one two-hour movie for his entire run … and he wasn’t even in the entirety of that!

The Eigth Doctor has at least two qualities not apparently possessed by any of the other incarnations: he’s half human, and he’s entirely cool with the idea of snogging his companion.  Both of these are hotly contested issues within the kinds of social circles concerned with things such as the canonicity of McGann’s tv movie.  Me, I tend to be of two minds about them: on the one hand, these were probably intentional alterations to the character to try and make the (proposed) relaunch of the series both more relatable and sexier; on the other hand, I can easily reconcile them with existing Who canon by simply chalking both (the lie about being half-human and the slip-up of kissing Grace) up to quirks of the regeration process.

For the truly hardcore Whovian, there is an entire series of Eighth Doctor audio dramas (starring McGann and produced by Big Finish Productions in conjunction with the BBC) that help make the tenure of this briefest Doctor a bit more expansive.  I look forward to hearing those one of these days, but for the time being, all I’ve got to go on is the ’96 movie.

I’m going to find it useful to provide some quotations from the various Doctors’ Wikipedia pages, and here is one on the Eighth Doctor: “The Eighth Doctor, a Byronesque figure who is arguably the most human and romantic of all of his incarnations, encouraged those around him to seize life instead of withdrawing from it.  He also seemed to enjoy giving people hints of their own futures, probably to prod them into making the right decisions.  It is unclear if the Eighth Doctor’s knowledge of people’s futures comes from historical expertise, psychic power or precognitive ability.”  (Full article here.)

#9 — Fifth Doctor, Peter Davison

I can practically smell the gasoline on the torches of the Whovian villagers as they come to smoke me out and lynch me.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t dislike the guy; I just don’t find myself at all engaged by his incarnation of the Doctor.  Maybe it’s that celery on his jacket; maybe it’s his abysmal taste in companions.  I dunno, I’m just not a big fan.

From Wikipedia: “The Fifth Doctor was far more vulnerable, sensitive and reserved than his previous incarnations, and would often react to situations rather than initiate them.  Unlike his more authoritative predecessors, he would treat his young companions as parts of a team, and would often willingly participate in situations under the leadership of someone else who had the strong command presence that he apparently lacked.  However, the Fifth Doctor’s boyish appearance, nervous energy and charm all hid the fact that he was a Time Lord of great age, compassion and experience.  This Doctor greatly abhorred violence and would often hesitate about taking matters into his own hands.  For the first time indecision weighed seriously on the character, and it had its consequences – yet this Doctor was also one of the most courageous of his incarnations.”  (Full article here.)

Maybe it’s that reservedness and timidity that don’t sit well with me in comparison to other Doctors.  But one of the great things about this character is that he doesn’t have to be — and shouldn’t be — played the same way by each actor who takes on the role.  As such, it seems likely that almost all of them will have a group of fans who whom he is THE Doctor.  Davison isn’t mine, but that’s okay; he needn’t be.

#8 — Seventh Doctor, Sylvester McCoy

I’ve only seen a handful of the Seventh Doctor’s stories, all from the show’s final season … and I hated them all.  In fact, not only did I hate the stories, I hated the Doctor in them, and I hated the way McCoy played him.

Why, then, isn’t he at the bottom of my list?

Two words: Big Finish.

I’ve become a definite Seventh Doctor fan through the few Big Finish audio dramas I’ve heard, some of which (The Sirens of Time, The Fearmonger, The Genocide Machine, and especially The Fires of Vulcan and The Shadow of the Scourge) star McCoy.

I don’t know if the television episodes of McCoy’s I’ve seen are a poor representation, or if his seasons of the show were a disaster in general, or if the Big Finish productions are simply that good, but somehow, while having the Seventh Doctor’s deceptively sad tones piped directly into my ears, I feel as if I’ve gotten a handle on the mixture of charm and callousness and, yes, alienness that I was probably supposed to be getting in, say, Ghost Light and The Curse of Fenric.

From Wikipedia: “The Seventh Doctor displayed perhaps the most profound change in attitude of any of the Time Lord’s personae, beginning as perhaps the most outwardly amiable and bumbling (to the extent of putting himself in danger but not at the cost of his overall great intelligence and benevolent intentions) and progressing into a driven, dark gamemaster whose plans to defeat his adversaries, both old and new, would play out across space and time.  He generally displayed an affable, curious, knowledgeable, easygoing, excitable and charming air.  However, as he began to choose his battles and keep a tighter grip on his secrets – from his plans to his very identity – he also presented more serious, contemplative, secretive, wistful and manipulative sides with undercurrents of mischief and authority, constantly giving the impression that there was more to him than met the eye. Concerned with the bigger picture, he would sometimes overlook the finer details and his planning, both pre-prepared and improvised, would sometimes have fatal results and consequences.  When he acted to end threats, it was usually a ruthless, destructive and final maneuver.  He was also not above hiding the truth from his friends and allies and using them in order to complete his schemes and gambits.”  (Full article here.)

#7 — Second Doctor, Patrick Troughton

From here on out, we’re talking about Doctors whom I do truly, fully like.  Of those, I suppose I like the Second Doctor the least.

Troughton was, however, magnificent in the role, and in some ways, I think he had the hardest job of any of the ten so far.  After all, he was the first one to not the be the First; he had to be his own character without managing to lose the audience the show had built up over its first several seasons.  He did so by retaining the air of distractedness William Hartnell often manifested in the role, and also occasionally summoned up Hartnell’s imperiousness … but otherwise, he made the role his own, and in so doing, freed the character to be interpreted in any number of ways.  Troughton is a bit like Roger Moore’s James Bond in that way, and like Moore, if he hadn’t been popular in the role, it would likely have killed the series.

From Wikipedia: “He has been nicknamed the ‘Cosmic Hobo^‘ as the impish Second Doctor appeared to be far more scruffy and child-like than his first incarnation.  Mercurial, clever, and always a few steps ahead of his enemies, at times he could be a calculating schemer who would not only manipulate people for the greater good but act like a bumbling fool in order to have others underestimate his true abilities .  But despite the bluster and tendency to panic when events got out of control, the Second Doctor always acted heroically and morally in his desire to help the oppressed.  More than any other perhaps, this incarnation of the Time Lord was a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”  (Full article here.)

#6 — Sixth Doctor, Colin Baker

I’m a bit surprised by how much I like Colin Baker’s Sixth Doctor.  His wardrobe alone was enough to convince me that I was going to hate him, but in actuality, I took to him from the first of his stories I saw, “Vengeance on Varos.”  Those episodes are dreadful, as are most of the other Sixth Doctor stories I’ve seen (“The Two Doctors” is a mild exception).  However, the Sixth Doctor’s bluster was amusing, and the rage that seemed always to be just under the surface was interesting.

As with the Seventh Doctor, I’ve become a bigger fan of Colin Baker’s incarnation through several Big Finish dramas.  The Sixth Doctor is especially good in The Marian Conspiracy and The Holy Terror, both of which are excellent.  I’ve heard only the first dozen-plus-a-few of the Big Finish line, and I look forward to hearing more.

From Wikipedia: “The Sixth Doctor was an unpredictable and somewhat petulant egoist, whose garish, multicoloured attire reflected his volatile personality.  He was both portentous and eloquent — even for any Doctor, of whom he saw himself as the finest incarnation yet — and his unpredictability was made even wilder by his mood swings, manic behaviour, bombastic outbursts and glib, unflappable wit.  His personality also displayed occasionally fatalistic overtones.  The Sixth Doctor was almost supremely confident in his abilities and did not suffer fools gladly; he sometimes seemed to endure Peri’s presence far more than he actually appreciated it, and his superiority complex applied to almost everyone he encountered.  His intellect could support his ego — for instance, the Sixth Doctor was the only one who was able to repair and operate the chameleon circuit within the TARDIS, allowing it to change shape to suit its surroundings rather than looking constantly like a police box (although the appropriateness of the TARDIS’s appearance to its environment was more-or-less nil) in Attack of the Cybermen.  However, not only did his melodramatic arrogance and caustic wit eventually subside, it actually hid the fact that he had a strong moral sense and a heart of gold (glimpsed in Revelation of the Daleks, in which he showed great compassion to a dying mutant).  Underneath his blustering exterior, he was more determined than ever in his universal battles against evil, possessed of a tenacity and a thirst to do what was right that was far more visible than ever before.  Despite his often unstable demeanour, he was always ready to act when necessary, and very little — even his companions — could hope to stand in his way.”  (Full article here.)

#5 — Ninth Doctor, Christopher Eccleston

In some ways, Christopher Eccleston will always be my favorite Doctor, because he’s My Doctor.  “My Doctor” is a Whovian way of saying that he’s the actor who, while in the role, made me a Doctor Who fan.  I’d seen the ’96 movie years earlier, but Eccleston earns the distinction of being My Doctor because it was his one season in the role that won me over.  When the revamped series began airing on the Sci-Fi Channel, I watched it only out of what I felt was an obligation to the genre; I try, generally, to at least give a chance to any new sci-fi series.

However, I wasn’t committed to it.  I’d DVRed the first episode and when I got home from work on the Friday night it had aired, I turned on the television, pressed play, and immediately went to the computer to check email, feeling that it would probably be good enough to just let this one play in the background.

However, when Eccleston started in on his first meaty dialogue scene, I stopped reading whatever I was reading and turned ’round, interested.  After a few minutes, I’d made the migration from the computer desk to my recliner, and that was that.

Eccleston is certainly one of the better actors to ever take on the role, and he’s one of only a few whose work I know a bit outside of Doctor Who.  Despite that, he’ll probably now forever be the Doctor to me.  He’s tough, haunted, funny, goofy, needy, and entirely capable (if not always immediately).  As much as I like David Tennant, I regret that Eccleston stuck around for such a short amount of time.

From Wikipedia: “The Doctor’s ninth incarnation was perhaps the most gritty, and informal, masking a lonely, guilt-ridden and melancholic personality with a jovial, witty, forthright and almost manic exterior.  Similar to the Fourth Doctor, he would often make jokes in the face of danger, but then become grim and serious when on his own.  Like the Sixth Doctor, he also tended to be fatalistic at times, to the point of near-panic when he and Rose were cornered in “The Unquiet Dead” and he realised that he was going to die (this despite the knowledge that he would probably just regenerate).  Despite being impatient with humans, whom he often referred to as ‘stupid apes’ — and Mickey receiving particular scorn and being dubbed ‘Mickey the Idiot’ — the Ninth Doctor was far more tactile with, and reliant upon, his human companions than previous incarnations.”  (Full article here.)

#4 — First Doctor, William Hartnell

I was tempted to nudge the First Doctor even farther up the list, quite frankly.  He is unquestionably one of my favorites.  His episodes have a sort of tone — mostly, but not entirely, due to the nonexistent budgets and the resultant ambitiousness/garishness — that none of the other Doctors’ episodes possess.

Hartnell, who was prone to line fluffing (the BBC apparently couldn’t afford retakes, or at least couldn’t always afford them), has a true imperiousness in the role that simultaneously makes him the most alien and the most aristocratic of the Doctors.  The only incarnation who could genuinely be called elderly, he also — unsurprisingly — gives off a genuine sense of a centuries-long life, and the wisdom, arrogance, distractedness, and disdain that would go with it.  He could be entirely sympathetic one moment, and entirely disinterested the next.

After getting hooked on the show through first Christopher Eccleston and then David Tennant, I decided to buy the DVDs of “An Unearthly Child” and “The Daleks” to see how the show had begun.  When I’d gotten a few minutes into “An Unearthly Child,” I was almost appalled by how stagey and cheap the show seemed.  But as soon as Hartnell showed up, I knew I was going to enjoy it, and I did.  He was undoubtedly an enormous part of the reason why the show is still around today; after all, if it had never caught on, it couldn’t very well have survived, now could, it, hm?

From Wikipedia:  “From the beginning, the First Doctor was a mysterious figure.  He appeared to be a frail old man, despite the eventual revelation that he was actually the youngest of the Doctor’s incarnations, and yet was possessed of unexpected reserves of strength and will.  (An early writers’ guide by script editor David Whitaker describes ‘Doctor Who’ [sic] as ‘frail-looking but wiry and tough as an old turkey’.)  He obviously held tremendous knowledge of scientific matters, and yet was unable to pilot his TARDIS time ship reliably; his granddaughter Susan explained this by saying that her grandfather was ‘a bit forgetful’.  He was abrasive, patronising, and cantankerous towards his human travelling companions, yet shared a deep emotional bond with his granddaughter Susan.  He also harboured a streak of ruthlessness, being willing to lie — and in one case attempt to kill — to achieve his goals. I nitially, he distrusted his first two human companions, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright, who were forced on him.  Over time, however, as they shared adventures together, he grew closer to them, and the TARDIS crew came to share almost a family bond.”  (Full article here.)

An Honorable Mention goes to Richard Hurndall, who played the First Doctor in the mega-crossover event “The Five Doctors.”  He did so quite well in place of the decased Hartnell, and deserves credit for it.

#3 — Tenth Doctor, David Tennant

I’m a bit surprised to find myself ranking Tennant this low, but there you have it.

A lot of the credit for Doctor Who becoming a bit of a phenomenon again must be attributed directly to Tennant, who is not only a great, charismatic actor, but is also a truly geeked-out fan of the show, one who has promoted it tirelessly and will undoubtedly continue to do so for years to come.  (I definitely smell some “The Two Doctors”-style crossover appearances in Tennant’s future.)

As probably THE most eccentric of the Doctors to date, the Tenth might easily have been seen as little more than a hyper buffoon if Tennant wasn’t so good at playing more than one emotion simultaneously: you can sometimes see that his exuberance is a mask over his anguish, and you can at other times see that he even though he’s frowning, he’s not actually in much distress.  It’s a complicated, intricate performance that Tennant builds upon episode by episode, making it not necessarily crucial to see every episode in order, but certainly rewarding and informative to do so.  In terms of pure acting skill, Tennant may well be the best the series has yet seen.

From Wikipedia:  “The Tenth Doctor generally displays a light-hearted, talkative, easy-going, witty and cheeky manner, but combines this with a somewhat egocentric sense of unstoppability when facing his enemies.  He is perhaps as ruthless and dangerous as his seventh incarnation ever was, although much less inclined to complex schemes and set goals.  Like his past selves, he is critical of weapons, going as far as to describe people with guns as “the enemy” in “The Sontaran Stratagem”.  His strong personal sense of justice makes him quick to anger when he feels it is violated, as in “New Earth” when he learned of the plague farm run by the Sisters of Plenitude, and after Prime Minister Harriet Jones had given the order to destroy the retreating Sycorax ship, the Doctor warned her that he could “bring down” her government with six words.  Like the Seventh and Ninth Doctor, the Tenth sometimes uses a cheerful, energetic façade to mask inner emotions.  He has a tendency to babble, mixing apparent nonsense with vital information, sometimes acting erratically to put his enemies off guard like some of his earlier incarnations.  He can also be rude on occasion, and is not always aware of it, being prone to making comments that to outsiders seem obtuse or rude, sometimes to his own embarrassment.  He has a tendency to use technobabble to describe scientific concepts before substituting it with a simpler, analogous explanation.  Further to this, he tends to infantilise names and concepts — his description of non-linear temporal physics as “a big ball of wibbly wobbly, timey wimey stuff” is perhaps the most well known example^. He is also able to rapidly switch between moods, from mania to anger to nonchalance and uses this as a form of reverse psychology on several occasions (“Fear Her”, “Love & Monsters” and “Army of Ghosts”).”  (Full article here.)

#2 — Third Doctor, Jon Pertwee

Man, I love me some Third Doctor.  Not like that, although I will say that he is the manliest of the Doctors, despite the cape and lisp.  You sense that if the Doctors all met up and had a boxing tournament, he’d probably be the champion.

He also drives a fine yellow car, has superior taste in companions (Liz Shaw, Jo Grant, and Sarah Jane Smith are all among the best of the entire series, to say nothing of the Brigadier), and is just sorta generally awesome.

The Doctor’s relationships with his female companions have varied greatly with each Doctor, of course, but I find Pertwee’s to be the most interesting.  Until (arguably) McGann, of course, it’s all in how you read it, but with the Third Doctor, he seems very much like a ladies’ man who is already several years past the point of realizing that he’s simply gotten too old to pursue the type of women to whom he is attracted.  If the First Doctor had a grandfatherly air with all of his companions, and the Second had an air of a favorite daffy uncle, the Third has what I would describe as an air of unstated and mostly repressed sexual desire.  That might be creepy, I guess, but I think it’s there, all right.

If you want proof, see the Doctor’s reaction to Jo’s departure in “The Green Death”; she decides to end her travels with the Doctor in favor of marrying a young professor, and if that’s not barely-stifled heartbreak on Pertwee’s face, then I don’t know what barely-stifled heartbreak looks like.

From Wikipedia: “The Third Doctor was a suave, authoritative man of action, who not only practiced Venusian Aikido, but enjoyed working on gadgets and riding all manner of vehicles, such as the Whomobile and his pride and joy, the canary-yellow vintage roadster nicknamed “Bessie” which featured such modifications as a remote control, dramatically increased speed capabilities and even inertial dampeners.  While this incarnation spent most of his time exiled on Earth, where he grudgingly worked as UNIT’s scientific advisor, he would occasionally be sent on covert missions by the Time Lords, where he would often act as a reluctant mediator.  Even though he developed a fondness for Earthlings with whom he worked , he would jump at any chance to return to the stars with the enthusiasm of a far younger man than himself.  If this Doctor had a somewhat patrician and authoritarian air, he was just as quick to criticise authority too—having little patience with self-inflated bureaucrats, parochially-narrow ministers, knee-jerk militarists or red tape in general.  His courageousness could easily turn to waspish indignation.  It is thus no surprise that a common catchphrase of his was “Now listen to me.” Despite his arrogance, the Third Doctor genuinely cared for his companions in a paternal fashion, and even held a thinly-veiled but grudging admiration for his nemesis, the Master, and for UNIT’s leader, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, with whom he eventually became friends.  In general, this incarnation of the Doctor was more physically daring than the previous two, and was the first to attack an enemy physically if cornered (both of his previous incarnations would nearly always attempt to dodge, flee or negotiate rather than directly defend themselves).  This often took the form of quick strikes, with the occasional joint lock or throw – usually enough to get himself and anyone accompanying him out of immediate danger – but usually not to the extent of a brawl, in keeping with the Doctor’s non-violent nature.  He would only use his fighting skills if he had no alternative, and even then generally disarmed his opponents rather than knock them unconscious.”  (Full article here.)

#1 — Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker

The best of ‘em all, as far as I’m concerned.  Part of it is the voice, which is simply as good as a voice can be without a name ending in “Earl Jones.”  Baker also had a tremendous sense of humor in the role, one that — as with future incarnations — turn on a dime into contempt or dismay or outright intimidation.

To this day, Baker is probably, visually speaking, the most iconic of the Doctors, with that hat and scarf and nose and curly mess of hair.  Like the Third Doctor before him, of whom he certainly seems a direct descendant in some regards, he has an impeccable taste in companions (Sarah Jane, Leela, Romana), although he loses a few points for picking up Adric, Nyssa, and Tegan.

For the time being, at least, I think it is Tom Baker that all of the successive actors have had to try and live up to.  Only a couple of them have truly been up to the task, and it’s a ghost actors will be chasing for years to come.

From Wikipedia:  “More so than his previous incarnations, he is thrilled by discovery and adventure.  Galvanised by higher purpose, he is disarmingly loopy, brilliant and entirely serious, all at the same time.  To an extent, the Fourth Doctor is the most unpredictable of his incarnations, befuddling all with his intelligence, constantly leaving others wondering if they have his full attention and using his more off the wall mannerisms against adversaries to distract them while arranging to take control of the situation.  His keen judge of character also enables him to navigate his way through situations with new people, helping him to discern friend from foe.  Although like all his selves he prefers his brain over his brawn, he is a capable swordsman and wrestler, following on from the martial expertise of his immediate former self.  Despite his charm and offbeat humour, the Fourth Doctor is arguably more aloof and sombre than his previous incarnations.  He could become intensely brooding, serious and even callous, and would keenly scrutinise his surroundings even when playing the fool.  He could also be furious with those he saw as stupid, frivolous, misguided or evil.  When taking charge, he could be considered authoritative to the point of egocentricity, but as it is, he is usually the only one capable of solving the situations he finds himself in.”  (Full article here.)

At the end of the day, it is this fairly marvelous stable of lead actors that has probably been THE biggest contributing factor to the decades of success Doctor Who has enjoyed.  It currently shows no signs of abating, and come this time next year, we’ll have a fresh new Doctor to compare against the others.

I don’t know how Matt Smith is going to turn out, but he’s certainly got his work cut out for him.

The three-hour film will be shot on location, and will air later this year on BBC2.

The key supporting cast of the production, including Patrick Stewart, will also appear in the film.

BBC America will also be running the five-episode third season of Torchwood this July.

It is unclear how this will affect next year’s new season of Doctor Who starring eleventh doctor Matt Smith.  Also unannounced: any American scheduling info for the already-finished second season of The Sarah Jane Adventures or its upcoming third season.

However, BBC America will be showcasing several other sci-fi/fantasy series, including Being Human (about the relationships between a vampire, a werewolf, and a ghost) and Survivors (a drama about a viral apocalypse co-starring Freema Agyeman).  Both shows are expected to air in July.

According to producer Russell T. Davies, Tennant’s appearance will be a substantial role, and not merely a cameo.  The 12-episode third season begins in September in the U.K.; an American airdate has not been set (hardly a surprise, given that the second season has not yet been aired here).

The BBC also announced that it is actively developing a screenplay for a big-screen version of Doctor Who.  No cast or crew details have been announced.

Now with 30% more spoilers!

Fringe has been a mildly frustrating show during its first season, not because it’s been bad — it hasn’t — but because for a show with such rich potential and with such pedigree in its production team, it’s been slow to really find its stride.  There have, however, been isolated episodes which have been fully as good as the series feels like it ought to be consistently, and “Bad Dreams” was certainly one of them.

I follow news about the show, but I tend to only see the major stories, such as Leonard Nimoy’s casting as William Bell.  So when I was watching this episode’s credits and learned that it was written and directed by Akiva Goldsman, I did quite a double-take.  Now, I’ve never been a big fan of Goldsman; this is the guy who wrote dreck like Batman Forever, Batman & Robin, and Lost In Space; this is the guy who wrote a terrible third act for A Beautiful Mind and who utterly failed to give Tom Hanks anything worthwhile to do in The DaVinci Code.  This is NOT the name I wanted to see on an episode of Fringe.

This is also the guy who wrote Cinderella Man, which I loved, and I Am Legend, which I liked.  And this is now the guy who’s written my favorite episode of Fringe to date.

Not only that, he made his directing debut with it! And it’s directed pretty darn well.  This episode seems expansive, visually; it feels at times (due to the location shooting) almost as if somebody has made a Fringe feature.  Goldsman has a sharp eye, and while it’s nothing terribly special, per se, it’s promising; the guy might have a future behind the camera.

The performances from the main cast seem to be the biggest benefactors from Goldsman’s direction, however.  Anna Torv has never been better on this show.  Joshua Jackson also crackles a bit more than usual, and John Noble, who is always great, brings even more depth than typical to his role.  I don’t know if Goldsman got more rehearsal time than is standard, or if the actors simply responded to the material, or if he’s just gifted with actors; whatever the case, the performers feel more alive here than they have felt during the majority of the series to date, and it lasts for the entire episode.

Major spoilers from this point forward, so if you haven’t seen the episode yet, you’re advised to watch it before continuing.

There are some fascinating developments, and what seems initially to be a stand-alone is eventually revealed to be perhaps the most mythology-intensive episode thus far.

Olivia is dreaming about murders, dreaming that she herself is committing the acts, and upon waking learns that the victims are actually dying; Dunham is, somehow, dreaming actual events, and possibly causing them.  Eventually, she discovers that the murders are being caused by Nick Lane, a former test subject in the same cortexophan trials she herself may have been involved in during childhood.  It turns out that Lane isn’t murdering people at all, that he is instead what Walter calls a reverse empath: his emotions infect people around him, who are then compelled to act on the feelings they inherit from him.

Lane, it seems, believes that he has been trained as a warrior in a battle against “citizens of a parellel universe.”  If so, he would seem to be some kind of a mirror image of what the Observer represents.  We don’t know for sure about the Observer himself, but the bald boy from “Inner Child” (who seems to have been a younger version of whatever the Observer is) possessed empathic abilities; he sensed emotion, whereas Lane creates it.

Someone, it seems, has weaponized Lane, who has lain dormant for years.  Who could that have been?  Were they targeting Dunham in some way, or did that connection result only from the childhood connection between Nick and “Olive”?

It was pretty awesome to hear Leonard Nimoy’s voice at the end of the episode; that was quite a surprise, too, since he’d only been announced as appearing in the season finale (though, to be fair, he didn’t actually appear here).  It was not entirely shocking to learn that Walter was very much in attendance for the experiments on young Olivia.  I’m going to heartily resist trying to predict what this revelation means for the series, but it certainly lends more depth to Walter’s increased sense of guilt last week in “Unleashed.”

One thing I’d like to take a moment to consider is the nature of the first two dreams Olivia has this episode.  Now, during these two sequences, we’re meant to feel as if Olivia herself is having the dreams.  With that in mind, it’s worth noting that during those scenes, it should feel as if what Olivia is dreaming about has some sort of connection to her own life.

And in both cases, it does.  During the first scene, we see a mother and child in danger; this relates to Dunham’s normal worries about Rachel and Ella, but could also be more deeply related to her fears about Rachel’s comparative instability.

The second dream, the scene in which the woman becomes irrationally convinced her husband is cheating on her, relates to her obvious jealousness over Peter’s interest in Rachel. That still-undefined relationship is not mentioned in this episode, but I think the moment still plays if you have that development from “Unleashed” still in mind.

Do these observations have any actual relevance toward the plot?  I’m not sure that they do; they could end up being entirely coincidental.  I can’t quite bring myself to believe that the writer of Batman & Robin might be capable of that type of subtlety.  But who knows?  It’s possible to look at what happens as Lane being infected by Dunham’s emotions and then passing them on to other people.  I don’t think the rest of the episode bears that idea out, but it’s probably worth thinking about a bit, if only to rule it out.

One final thing I’d like to mention: toward the end, the people on the rooftop against their own will made me immediately think of “The Christmas Invasion,” the excellent Doctor Who episode which introduced David Tennant as the Doctor.  There were also some shades of The Happening in there, I suppose, but I made the Doctor Who connection first.  Logistically speaking, it seemed awfully convenient that when all the people collapsed upon Dunham’s shooting Lane, they each collapsed backward away from the ledge and not forward toward the street.  However, earlier, one of them did fall to her death, and as a result, Walter got the classic line, “I do hope Agent Dunham meant to do that,” delivered by Noble as nonchalantly as any Walter line ever has been delivered.

All in all, a great episode, and possibly a turning point of some sort for the series.

Airdates for the final Doctor Who specials for Davies and Tennant have not yet been finalized, but they are expected to hit tellies in the UK before the year’s end.  The next special, “Planet of the Dead,” airs on Easter Weekend.

Of course, this episode will only bring us one step closer to the inevitable death and regeneration of the doctor.  The 10th doctor, David Tennant, will be replaced by the very young Matt Smith.  Hopefully, Matt will have as much success in popularity as David has had.  In a 2006 survey of 4,000 readers of Doctor Who magazine, Tennant knocked Tom Baker down from 1st to 2nd place, as the fans’ favorite doctor.  David Tennant was the first doctor I ever watched.  I joined the series on the episode “Tooth and Claw” of the second season.  Since then I have watched every episode of Doctor Who possible, past and present.

Here’s to “Planet of the Dead” making it’s way across the pond as soon as possible!