Doctor Who at 10 - New Earth (S2E1)

And we're back! Doctor Who returned with a bang for Easter weekend 2006 with a brand new series with a brand new Doctor, who had previously been introduced in The Christmas Invasion a whole four months prior. And with the series' return came a multitude of promises, with old friends and enemies reuniting with the infamous Time Lord in his new set of adventures. The first of which? New Earth, which acts as a sequel to 2005's The End of the World and immediately kicks things off in a light-hearted fashion. With returning players such as Zoë Wanamaker as Lady Cassandra O'Brien.Δ17 and the Face of Boe, and a nice little continuation to Rose's own worries about the fate of the human race (which in turn lead to Christopher Eccleston's incarnation revealing why he is how he is), could this comedic romp be as entertaining as it should be for an opening episode? Or is it perhaps a little too heavy on the laughs and lacking in the actual Doctor Who department...

With some time having been passed since the events of The Christmas Invasion, the Doctor and Rose (David Tennant and Billie Piper respectively) are ready to say goodbye to life on the Powell Estate with Jackie and Mickey (Camille Coduri and Noel Clarke) and depart to a whole new slew of adventures through time and space. Their first stop? "Further than we've ever gone before", proclaims the rejuvenated alien, as they arrive 23 years after the events of The End of the World to a brand new version of Earth called – rather aptly – New Earth. With advancements to the original given to the new home of humanity such as different grass and, of course, spaceships a-plenty, the two time travellers seem immediately enamoured by the new world. But when the Doctor answers a calling given to him via psychic paper to go to the New New York hospital, Rose is kidnapped by an old and assume deceased enemy: Lady Cassandra (Wanamaker). The piece of skin and her submissive clone Chip (Sean Gallagher) believe that the Sisters of Plenitude, who act as the nurses at the hospital, are hiding something which explains how they can cure practically everything, and the only way they can discover what is with Rose's help. Understandably, she declines, which is where the hijinks begin; Cassandra takes over Rose's body – which causes the original form to die – and aims to use the Doctor in her scheme. And with the Doctor already curious by some of the illnesses the Sisters appear to have vanquished, the unlikely duo must band together to discover what's hidden in the hospital, albeit with different intentions. 

As far as an opening episode goes, this one is very light on the heavy-hitting elements which made the first season of the revitalised sci-fi show so strong. It is quite simply a comedy adventure that comes across much raunchier than anything the previous 27 seasons of the show suggested ("It's like living inside a bouncy castle!" exclaims Cassandra/Rose as she jumps up and down), and as such isn't quite so focused on the actual mystery element – which explains why, despite a good idea at hand, it plays second fiddle to Billie Piper and David Tennant interacting in different ways than before. The journey Cassandra herself goes through during the episode is a little tacked on for the sake of having her change allegiances and takes place within a single scene (and even then is mostly portrayed in a humorous light before shoe-horning in the emotion), whilst the nurse storyline is not entirely well-integrated with the main Doctor/Cassandra/Rose antics that surrounds it. At most, it lends to a very small but very good idea for a story filled with interesting morals, and one which if analysed would make for an interesting case against animal cruelty, that isn't given all the focus it deserves because funny. And unfortunately, not every joke works. Some may be deemed a little too inappropriate by Doctor Who standards at this point (not that later runs of the series improve on that, *cough* Moffat *cough*), but most are more with little actual laughter. Occasionally it works, but not entirely. 

It's unusual that this is the second full David Tennant-headlined episode that his Doctor isn't entirely there throughout the episode. Much like how he was asleep for a good percentage of the 2005 Xmas special, here he occasionally takes on the role of Cassandra/Doctor - opting for a fully camp performance, which is entertaining more for his acting than Russell T. Davies' writing – making it perhaps a little more difficult for some viewers to exactly pinpoint whether or not they actually like this incarnation of the classic character. But fortunately, Tennant gives it his all and is obviously having such fun throughout the episode. From parading around the TARDIS with glee to being so happy about his plan working, he makes the episode as it is. Billie Piper is also having a lot of fun in her dual performance of Rose and Cassandra/Rose, what with the different accents and snogging her male co-star, but is written perhaps a little too crudely than one would have hoped for the character by this point. Zoë Wanamaker is rather underused despite her vocal tones being what made her character so fun to begin with, but she does get given a satisfying pay-off with Sean Gallagher, whose clone Chip isn't exactly given much to do in terms of story nor character traits but serves his minimal purpose well, with Gallagher giving a small but somewhat touching final performance by the story's end. The various Sisters of Plenitude (Doña Croll, Adjoa Andoh and Anna Hope) also do their minimal roles fine, but lack any real depth despite their actions; and the various background characters, ranging from elite hospital patients to the stumbling infected clones, are given very little of note to actually do. 

New Earth is a rather safe opening episode which, as far as one can tell from such an early point in the series, airs out all the large comedic moments for the sake of a mostly serious season ahead of it, but as such leads to the demise of a story which not only could packed a real punch but also a strong sociological theme about testing on living creatures. Some fine performances from the main batch of actors, but pushed down by a script who's purpose of being a funny sequel only just about fails at being either overall funny or a good sequel to its predecessor. Add some bland visuals and special effects which somehow look worse than the year before (the lift shaft sequence being rather ugly to watch), it's a somewhat disappointing start – but not necessarily a bad episode itself. 4/10.