That’s Not Even a Proper Commentary

Hello, dear listener, and welcome back to Flights for Entirety, the only Doctor Who commentary podcast which spent all of 2006 either hung over or scuba diving in Spain and ended up missing any number of alien invasions as a result. I'm Nathan. I'm James. I'm Todd. I'm Peter. So this is Christmas in July for flight through entirety. We are actually recording this on the day that we release it, much like a late Trouton episode, as Peter observed earlier, before I started recording. So we are currently on the um, DVD screen or the Blu-ray screen for um, series 3. And we've got the Runaway Bride selected. So when I next say the code word, I want you to press play on your remote control. Nathan, what is the code word? So the code word for this episode is Neres. Yes, I wanted to be that. So the next time I say that, I want you to press play. This is just going to be one off for us this week. We will be back in September for the rest of series three. Okay. So, uh, I'm I'm about to press play Neres. And we're off. Oh my god, I've put Rose on by a mistake. All the Christmas invasion. All the Christmas invasion. We did that at the Christmas invasion too. It's a bit of a thing, isn't it? 11th power? Uh, maybe. I can't remember. But it certainly is him relaunching the show. This is our 1st post, um, rose episode. Oh, there's a dad. Yeah, apparently much loved amongst the casting crew. So the story is that he did come back for series 4 and shot a bunch of scenes, but was so ill that they couldn't be used. He recorded everything for, what's that episode called? Partners in Crime. And died shortly shortly afterwards. And so they had to quickly recast him and we ended up with Bernard. Yeah, Sir Bernard, which is a pretty good thing. His lands? Good old land. Don Gillis? Chile, Chile? not sure. Okay. Who, of course, went on to be an EastEnders, um, and was a very big character. He was great in that. And there she goes. He's very pretty. I really like that we go back because now, now, you know, we get the exterior establishing shot and we're back in the very final scene of doomsday. But not actually the same recording. It's not the same take, but we do it. Because the lighting in this episode was done by different lighting supervisor, they actually reshot the scene. Like refilming a cliffhanger prize in the old days. Hooray. It's a cheat because he, that lighting supervisor liked to like the TARDIS in a slightly different way and that wouldn't, it didn't cut together properly, so they had to, they had to redo that scene. I quite like how the TARDIS looks different in different episodes actually. Some people like to go. proper logo finally. Oh, yes, there we go. It looks the most impressive in Boomtown where they've let it strongly green for the sort of slithen undercurrents. Yeah, yeah. So Margaret's face is bathed in green, even when she's just, you know, a net and not a suit. Oh, she's shouting. She is shouting. The what? The what? Oh, dear. That's not even a proper word. Such a faint thing. Oh, you're listening to this episode. Yeah, our arse Lynn is good. We were pretty cross with him last year, I think, probably because he got a couple of duds. We were half cross with him. He got a couple of really good episodes too. Yeah, that is. Neres. And we know Neres already because it's just that person who is turning up her nose. in the wedding ceremony. That just has to be Neres. Well, and Neris comes back in the end of time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Donna gathers everyone together and says photos with friends. Friends and Neres. She's made Neres be her bridesmaid this time and put her in something horrible. This is such a great choice and the music, I think, too. Like the music for this. Um, you know, really, really plays up the comedy. And I think you just have to do that because we straight out of the end of Doomsday. I mean, he was in Bad Wolf Bay projecting himself mere seconds before this opens, wasn't he? Yeah, and it's a bold call to go from something big like that and it's basically Doctor Who's 1st screwball comedy. Yeah, yeah. But you've got Catherine Tate, and so... right to the occasion. She's so good. And of course, she started this scene at 11. Um, and like at 11 out of 10, um, and then pulls it back slowly through the episode. And I think when she was announced as coming back, people who were not that comfortable with her casting thought that she might be at 11 all the time. Whereas actually they make some choices and make her into fully rounded character. I probably one of those people. Yeah. And so I just felt, yeah, she's talking a little bit, but she basically screams through the 1st 13 minutes of this until they're up on the roof. And at that point, I was just there going, who is this woman? Why? And then as they begin to have conversations and she begins to scale it back. I began to warm to her and well, I guess we'll get to that. But it's brilliant casting somebody well known in Britain. She just smacked him in the face. to deal with Billy Piper's departure to have this name in here. as such a contrast as well. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, there is a through line both for her and for him. Oh, there's roses top. So as it's originally scripted and shot. The doctor grabs the shirt off her and opens the tartar store and throws it out and they cut it in editing because it was too melodraumatic. David Tennant. Too melodramatic even for David Tennant. It's interesting, Harry downplays this. I lost her and it's all very. I quite like this too. Like he doesn't respond, but she kind of, she's, you know, she's doing proper acting. It isn't all just, you know, her doing a sketch comedy or anything. Even at this point, she's doing proper acting. And later on, she's going to be great. And that's, you know, it just makes her the perfect choice to play the companion. Yes, her mum. Oh my god, she's great. Jacqueline? Yeah, Jackie King. She's Doctor Who's legendary is Jackie's. Yeah, yeah, great. Yeah, Jackie Hill. Jackie Lane. Yeah, Jackie Tyler. She's just terrific. And she's so good instantly. And again, she comes back as a semi-regular and gets to do some proper acting as well. You know, this is not her 1st Doctor Who either. What? She was in a big finish. Oh, wow. I've heard you were going to say that she was a zombie. Everyone's been in big finishing. You made a few equity cards. Yes. She was in one of the unbound audios. The Derek Jacoby one. Oh, wow. Oh, just great. I was also in one of the unbound audios. Yeah. Sympathy for the devil. doing a terrible job. Did you get your acrupty card? Actually, David Tennant was in that one. So I met you, and this was before Doc 2, obviously. And so we just met in the green room and he was just, you know regular guy, little didn't know what have waited him. Yeah, wow. Just having the doctor shout out Donna now that we've heard him do that so many times. over series 4. It's strange watching it in like like this with the knowledge that she'll be back. Of course, we were saying, you know, she goes on to become wonderful. Here's what you get when you cast a proper star in a companion role. She's meant to be a guest role here, and so she's got proper style building, but then she comes back as a regular, and, you know there's a reason that she's so successful. But it's also, I think, when you cast comedians or people known for comedy in more serious roles. Like when they do the straight acting, there's just a gravitas that they bring to it in so many different. strange, isn't it? But it's a really common thing. I mean, I even think Bernard Cribbons, you know, who is a comedic actor. But I think you need, if you're a good comedian, you need to understand drama. And she certainly has proved that she understands how to play something dramatically. I love how Christmassy this is. We're back in the same street, actually, are we? We've just got like a few looks like Southside Henriks. Windows with Christmas and, you know, that... Blazing sunshine. in July. Apparently it was like 32, 33 degrees. That was a slice. Oh, I think I'm in drag. You're not fooling anyone there, mate. I think there's a slight nod to things later on where the doctor takes off his jacket and puts it around Donnery like, not convinced. They need to colour graders a bit more. Make it blow up. Yeah, yeah. It is very, it is really, really good. Lots of, um, leaves almost true as well. Look at David Tennant there. Just in the back of the cab. He didn't have any lines. He was like everything. Acting the whole way. He's just inhabits the character. You can tell these 2 got on really well. Yeah, filming this. They're wonderful. When she, you remember when they used to do sort of podcast commentaries that they would, they weren't commentaries, were they? They were just podcast episodes. Over commentaries. And the 2 of them together are just spectacularly funny. They've done, they did, I should say, at the time, several of those talk shows like Jonathan Ross and that. And whenever they were together, the chemistry just... I mean, Tenet is so he's so charismatic in that. Yeah, Tenet run is really cool. He's all arms when he runs Yeah, still not as funny as the Capoli run, though. Nothing is funnier than Peter Gavaldi running. Penguin open that's on fire. Yeah, that's right, but it was Armando Yunucci who said that. So he'd always arrange for scenes where Malcolm Tucker would have to run because Capaldi is just so hilariously coming. I just like everybody in the church is just walking around as if you know, I love a major emergency. Well, I love how this scene, how this scene is directed too, with the camera suddenly changing directions and following someone new who comes into the scene and having the vicar about to call the police. It is a police matter. Wow. Yeah. It's so such a sunny day. Not exploding this year. They put it back together pretty quickly. Yes, they rebuilt the whole building. We got surprisingly cleaned out that basement. I completely skipped that she actually got a tenor off that woman. Yeah, yeah. Like, oh, yeah. Oh, look, they're back. They've been redesigned, so they look better. They did look a bit crummy. They were never the best idea. The 1st time round. Did you notice Donna's shoes in that scene? She'd been wearing sports shoes between takes and forgot to take them off for one of the takes. So if you look close, where you can see her in sports shoes. Aeros Starling. What is CGI four? And then we get a lot of really looking fake money. That's so great though. Dr. Stealing for the 1st time? Yes. Well, no, he stole TARDAS. Stole some clothes. Apparently there was the 10 and £20 notes. The £10 note said, I promised to be the bearer on demand the sum of 10 setsumas. And the £20 mate said, there's no point being grown up because you can't be a little childish. So if you swap that Satsuma, does that mean money grows on trees? We're here all week. She's very shouting. This is so great. Now, so last year, we saw the TARDIS interacting with the world in a completely new way where the TARDIS appears midair and sort of bashes against the walls of the power state, you know, and then just physically landing on the ground. But this, you know, this is something the TARDIS has never, ever done before. There's a couple of firsts here. Yeah, at the end as well. I think this is absolute, this blew my mind watching this, I thought. goodness, you know, to actually have a car chase with the TARDIS actually chasing it. Like, it's just the imagination of Russell combined with the technology. Yes. I think they might have shown this scene as a teaser for the episode at one of the music of the Spheres concerts. and you could hear her celebration. Yeah, you could hear the audience react in real time and they loved it. I remember that. I absolutely remember it. Look how sunny it is. Santa's a robot. That gloves has a microglime. It may possibly it's believable if you think now. That is so good. And the fact that she can't believe it either. You're kidding me. It's so great. I love these kids. I do too. Giving it an audience, giving it a giving like a child audience then. Placing the audience in the episode, yeah. And the string, he does it with a bit of string. It's so good. I mean, this is probably the best line of the episode coming up. Delivery. Look at that shot. Give it to us, Catherine. And is that a reference to, um, it looks like a reference to the seed in tear of the autons, where the doctor pulls the face mask off the, off the, um, policeman, and it's an auton face. Like he's kind of doing it again. A central called in... The confidential that they referenced. That's a different reference. If only Mike Yates had sailed in and rescued them here, it could have improved the episode. Maybe no episode that wouldn't be improved by Mikey Yates coming in and rescuing you, I think. Maybe chancing the centre of the Tartars. I actually like that episode. Still funny. I like how they just, he grabs that... Yeah, we are like locked in. Yeah. It's well told really efficiently told, isn't it? Oh, wow. It's so exciting and it's so visceral. Like just the shot of the road and all of that. It's it's properly, you know, nerve-wracking. You just know they would have had to have chosen every shot so carefully to save money. Who else has told it so economically? I love this. Like, you know, the friend you lost and... This is just, you know... And it's the 1st time that he's that he's actually vocalising that she's not dead. She's alive. Yeah, yeah. It's this journey that he's going on during this episode. Well, I mean, we saw Christopher Eckleston's doctor hold out his hand for Linda with Hawaii to take and we saw how that turned out. I just love how it spins off in... Oh, and without a cut, her hand comes into shot or without a very obvious card. Oh, now this is interesting because these, I think, might have been some of the 1st scene shot for this. And there were Doctor Who fans watching the filming down below and they were trying to keep Catherine Tate a surprise so that when she appeared at the end of Doomsday, no one would know. And they could only see in long shot a woman wearing a bridal gown but couldn't see who it was. And so rumours were rampant, that it was Elizabeth Sladen. And Sarah was coming back. And you can kind of you can kind of see it. From there, look, we're from behind. She's got her long hair. Yes, with her with her canine and company hair, yes. So this is where I started to thaw. Yeah, his character and performance. Well, she's kind of resigned, isn't she? She's she's tired and she's resigned. And, uh, or does she know? And the actress is there, you know, being so good as she is, um peeling back the layers on the carriage. She knows that Donna's shoutiness is all a shield. She's deeply insecure and doesn't think she's very good at anything. And so when you get moments like this, she's just vulnerable. And we get, like, you know, we'll get there, but, you know, she's even more vulnerable later on. Cold, put that jacket around. Could snow at any moment. Another one of little Russell's things using just a an ordinary thing as a scientific explanation device. Yeah, even biodamp is a pretty well chosen word. Yeah, it's not gravitic anomalizer. It's a... telebiogenesis. I don't might be my brand of washing card. The robot Santas are hopeless, aren't they? What the hell are they? Oh, here we go. She hasn't. Yeah. And no one ever mentioned to her that there'd been a big spaceship. She'd never heard it. I love how that becomes a running theme. Her windows didn't shatter. Well, Moffatt, I think, kind of tries to put a line under it by giving it a science fiction explanation, doesn't it? The crack, you know, prevents everyone from remembering things which is, you know, but I kind of like it. It's, I don't know. Is it sustainable? Like, do we want Doctor Who said in our world or do we want Doctor Who said in a world where there've been lots of public alien invasions? Russell leans into it. I definitely want Doctor Who set in our world, but I want comedy explanations like the fact that Donna was often May Walker. That's fine. I'm good. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I agree with you, Peter. Yeah. Yeah, just hang a hat on it, like make it funny. Yeah. Did she punch you in the face? I'd say that to Tad last week. Stop bleeping me. It's not Peter, it's rich. Listeners, let's get back to the episode. Yeah, that's actually comedy flashbacks. Oh, yes. And look, this is Donna out of her... Battle gown. And so suddenly she looks like series 4, Donna. Yeah, yeah. Oh, me, me. Oh, yeah, have some coffee. It's really good in playing to her strengths. We have a really long exposition scene here and she's doing a head laugh. The sort of throw your head back when you laugh. And this, when we come back to, um, him begging her to marry him. He insisted. I actually think he's a very handsome man. He's very handsome. And actually his, as far as I recall, I don't know the character's name. I can't remember it. His EastEnders character had a similar trajectory that he got with Denise, who's a very beloved character, and was charming and then turned out to be a serial killer. I watched it. It was great. Which is so good. One of their banner years. So I think we discussed this when we were recording series two didn't we? This was originally scripted. Well, the Russell wanted this for mid-season series two. That's right, because Billy was originally going to leave at the halfway point. And like stay behind in Pete's world. And then when he found out from Jane Tranton that they've been renewed for a 3rd season and another Christmas special, he went well, actually, let's make that the Christmas special. Well, you can't half tell. I mean, there's no episode that's got Christmas shoe horned in as much as this one. Oh, bless. I was nearest dancing with Lance. She's made her move in her house. Oh my goodness. Ah, that's just wonderful. Setting it up. Oh, nerris. So great. You have the most promotional without me. Clear from steps. She does look like clap from steps. One of the girls from Mural's wedding who hates Muriels. Oh, the old one. Yeah, with Sophie Lee. Yes, yes, yes. Or monk or something like that? No, it's Sophie Lee. The doctor's really good in this 210, but yes, I gathered. is really like actually having him have to take a kind of backseat to someone who's much louder and bigger and shoutier. Like normally he's the centre of attention. But when Donna's in the room, he's kind of her sidekick. You can obviously mentally each time he sort of cocks his head like, I've just got to readjust my hearing. Okay, you got to... I love what she does. This is so subtle, isn't it, James? Everybody's like... She turns to it. It's fantastic. Putting up. The doctor realises what he's got on his hands, I think. It's wonderful, isn't it? And now, oh, a bit of grooving. This is actually really fun. It is. Yeah. Oh, smile. And this is actually a good moment for the doctor as well, I think where we get to reestablish because we get that flashback. Is it to Doomsday? I think it's to doomsday where he looks up and sees someone dipping someone on the dance floor and then remembers. Yeah, isn't it, isn't it from that season opener from last year? Oh, actually, it might be from what, from New Earth? Yes, where he dips the Lady Cassandra or something. Yeah, maybe that's it. Maybe that's it. It's really it's really cool. Torchwood? I wish I'd get my phone to have sort of block capitals that big on the screen. Isn't it incredible to think 2006 is using a WAP browser. It's so bad. WAP is crap. But did you notice the little, like, play button on the phone? Like, he actually had to start the video clip playing on the phone. Here you go, I think. There it is. There it is. Yeah, it is. It's chips in the background there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's good. He's and then he stops wallowing in it really visibly. He's working through this game. And now we've got somebody with a huge video camera, which these days well... No, you just do it on your phone, or GoPro or something. Or tape the whole thing. I think one of the friends in Gavin and Stacy. Oh, I don't know, possibly. Wasn't everybody in Wales? Stacy. I quite like how everyone sort of, you know, this sort of amazing space thing happens and again, they all just kind of ignore it or rationalise it or whatever. Some stupid joke. It's just dismissed. I mean, in fact, Jackie's angry at Donna because that's a kind of default mode. blamed on her. I like there where they rewind the tape. It does the thing where it only happens in film TV where it makes the... It never does in real life. It's like when they hit a button on a remote in American television, it goes, click, and you think, no, nobody works click. Santas are coming back. I also think too that he was obviously standing in the place where Auros put the cameraman because he's actually, you know, what he taped is very opening scene. Yeah, I think this is slightly naughty, isn't it? Like to have people being exploded at the reception and then we don't care about it. I was slightly disappointed with this coming up sequence because we we've got a Christmas tree and I really liked the original Christmas tree, Jackie, when it was spinning around. I actually wanted the tree to spin. Yeah, I guess he felt he had to he'd done that and now let's do something different. Yeah, even if the bubble things had spun out from the tree. I just wanted the tree to snare. It is slightly like the Moldavian massacre from dynasty where all of these exploding globes go off and then everyone picks them souls up and dusts themselves off. We get a line about people being out.. That's not very good, CGI. Do you think if Donna got the line, I'm going to be killed by a Christmas tree. She'd do it better than Jackie. No. Thanks, Todd. No, that is one of the most brilliant. Yeah, that hair is so late 2000s. Thank you, James. Are we in this episode, Peter? It's, I mean, it's sort of quite well done. Oh, mate, the cake sitting there, so it's got to go at some point. Oh, that was awesome. He's a member of havoc. So Alan Chuntz or... Cake wick is by Howick. I don't think this is an especially inspired story. I think the mechanics of it are pretty workmanlike, but it's been dressed up really well. There's a lot of entertaining scenes to keep it going. Well, I think that that's the Christmas thing, isn't it? Like, it is sort of paper thin. Like there's, we'll get, um, you know, there's all kinds of dialogue that gets in there to kind of paper over sort of pretty gaping kind of plot problems. It's just like science fiction dialogue and stuff. Oh, I got the shakes. I mean, but this is good, you know, it's a sonic screwdriver and there's always a big PA system at a wedding. That makes sense. That's, you know, that's all right. It has to be, I think, a fun episode to an extent, considering what we've just gone through. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And like when did Doomsday screen? It must have been July. July? Okay. So we haven't had Doctor Who for 6 months and making it fun, making sure that we know that it's not all going to be super overwrought while also not making the doctor appear callous for, you know forgetting Rose and going off with someone else, like as a kind of fine line. If you're in the UK, I mean, we got this in June 2007. Oh, did we? Yes, we've got it 2 days before Smith and Jones. Oh, and in Canada, because of the scheduling, this was broadcast 3 or 4 hours after Smith and Jones. How weird. Yeah, I think Russell got it exactly right. I mean, his Christmas specials sometimes get criticised for being too populist, but the series was on upward trajectory here. You just come off a really successful season that had a very, very successful conclusion. And then he comes back Christmas. He does something really He does something really sort of interesting and wide-ranging, which anyone can watch. Just boosted series profile. I love the direction there when they look up and then you've got her pointer. Yeah, and that's that's live. That's not mad at Ian. That's, you know, that's her tapping a screen. It doesn't always get to me when you've got these aliens that have these pointer sort of hands that, you know, how could they actually come up with technology or do anything practical? No, exactly. Dalek sucker control. But I mean, she, this is a panto performance, isn't it? She's a sort of pantomime villain and she has that odd way of speaking and stuff. But it's that's a deliberate choice. Yeah. It's Sarah Parrish, who I think had worked with David Ten on a previous series. So this black film together. Blackpool. Actually, definitely not just Blackpool or something else as well. Here we go. There we go. It's a fantastic running gag. It's... I like the fact that it's an interracial couple again, a bit like um, well, um, Rose and Mickey, Rosa Mickey. Yep. Yeah, yeah. And when Donna gets married in the end of time as well. What's his what's that character goal? His last name's Temple. I want to say Simon Temple. I don't think that's right. So, of course, she's called Donna Noble because of Donna Nobi's Parkem. Like, give us peace. It's in Christmas carols, so she has a Christmassy name and then she gets stuck with that for, you know, the rest of the run. Hello, that line in the thighs of Pompeii, where the suits say it's you who call yourself noble. Yeah, yeah. Everybody's a bit shouty in this, aren't they? Yeah, I kind of, I like Lance. And again, Lance will, you know, when he reveals that he's really with the big spider lady, he'll start doing a panto performance as well. So he can get he gets to be a panto signkick. I think Russell knows that, you know, it's just a big old spider and so what he gives the Queen of the Rachnos is a sense of humour. She thinks everything's funny and she appreciates Lance because he's funny. Yeah, yeah, yeah. rather than just being straight laced. It's nice to have that in your panto villain. Yeah, no, that's good. I think Don is doing a great job and totally selling. don't suspect him for a moment. I like this, the honour and obey. Slightly sexist. We're about to descend into the millennium stadium corridors as usual. It's sort of lit with some green and blue gels in Blake 7 fashion. Yep. It's Ed Thomas on a very good day. With a dalek lurking around the corner. Yes, here we are. This must be like a one. green. It reminds me of the storm cage thing that, well, there's a good reason for that. It's the same place. There's a missing product placement. Oh, here we go. I was about to say. Weren't these scooter things fairly new at the time? Segues. LA segues? Yeah. What do you say, Wayne, too? thank you. Actually, it's really great, isn't it? With Lance kind of looking on. You know, like the 2 of them are just sparking so well. Like the 2 of them are really both enjoying it. And actually, I meant to say when they were having their little conversation when she was in the taxi and he's in the Tartars trying to coax her across. It was reminiscent in reverse fashion of the scene in partners in crime, whether on opposite sides of the room talking to each other through the doors. Yeah, gosh, that's great. I was thinking about that the other day. That's so genius. One of the key scenes of modern dot two. Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely brilliant. Of course, if this was Christmas in the UK, it would not still be sunlight after up to 4 o'clock. Yeah, yeah. Oh my god, maybe they're in a mini scoop. Yeah, it was 3.10 p.m. earlier on on the roof, wasn't it? Yeah. That time for that dinosaur to appear. That was very close at what, like 430, 5 o'clock. Lance rips off his mask and there's major daily. Captain Yates. Ian Marta. Oh, and now we're on top of that. And again, I've spoken a couple of times about the way that Russell enchants London, the way that he fills it full of sort of science fiction superbases and stuff. And here we have that lampshaded as a joke. you know, the secret base hidden underneath a major landmark in London, you know, who could imagine such a thing. Oh, is that the torchwood symbol? It is the torture symbol. It's the 2nd time we've seen it because it was on another door. HC Clements is owned wholly by torture. Yeah, yeah. So... Yeah, yeah. Okay. Are these things, Todd, you've seen this more recently than me, but do they reuse these props for the for Daleks in Manhattan? All these tubes and stuff. Oh, they might well. Yeah, I don't think I don't think there was anything new in those. I was thinking back to New Earth, but with all those tubes in the lift. But no, yeah, you're probably right. Do they multicolour them? Maybe. It looks great. It's pretty effective. looks good here. Yeah, yeah. I like all of the doctor's simple explanations like he had the cup and the pencil before and now this Russell makes it so accessible. Yeah, he does a really really good job of that. Maybe more than anyone else, I think. And David's done that thing that all of the modern doctors have done, where he's come back. He's refreshed after doing his 1st series has gone out. He knows it's been a success. He comes back and the 1st thing he shoots, he's just markedly more comfortable and confident in the role. You see it with Matt Smith in Christmas Carol and Peter Capaldi. Yeah. Yeah, so agree. Well, it certainly Matt Smith and Christmas Carol. kind of like Moffatt now knows what Matt's good at and just writes for that. You know, it's a real kind of showcase for him. I have a hunch the 1st thing Matt shot after the series had gone out and he knew that he'd been a hit was the Sarah Jane Adventure story and you can tell he's totally on top in that. It's like he knows what he's doing. You won particles. Yeah, they're from Tasmanian trees. Who are they? No. It's a bit of a human cry. Oh, please. There should have been Huath particles. The spiders, yes. spelt with lots of peas and D's. Oh, and then a very big door. Yes, and a drain because you know what you do with a spider in England if you find a spider in your house, you wash it down the sink. So, and it looks like a sink. It looks like a plug hole. like 3 o'clock in the morning. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's it's terrific. It's not sort of referencing dialogue or anything, but it's very clearly what you do. You could, I could imagine Carolan Ford down there. this hole. Sheltered by Billy as they try not to have the tap tone. I didn't get you for a moment. It's one of my favourite cliffhangers. someone might turn the tap on. Just tremendous. When you put it like that. Why is Jonathan there a dinosaurs under the earth? It's such a bizarrely random, random little conversation. She's seen the lost world. Change to the centre of the air. In the sky. But it is that thing about Donna being an idiot as well, which Lance kind of says. So we're saying the 1st thing that comes into our head. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So are we going to get to see her? She is about to appear. That's great line. Very funny. Here we go. You will be sick at home. So this spider. How much of it's practical? Most of it. I think, yeah, most apart from her extra eyes. Right. So that's actually a prop, a big giant prop. It's her in a giant hydraulic suit. It's extraordinary. It doesn't move more. Like, it just moves on the spot up and down, as opposed to. Yeah, yeah. But it does, I mean, it looks incredible. So the, yeah, the eyes were, the eyes were CG when they blinked. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So all of her eyes blink at the same time. But otherwise that's just her in a big suit. That's incredible. She looks a little too human. Yeah, I know, but it's, I mean, you know, like it's Doctor Who. They all be a human. She still looks great. Yeah. Yeah. And it is also the performance. Like somehow she's managing to deliver a really kind of fun and appealing performance despite, you know, I mean, that must have been a nightmare. Oh, Mr. Robinson's shoes. The laugh. Oh, Lord. This is great. having a joke with the ragnos. Yeah. He's really horrible. And it is actually also kind of a funny speech as well. Like the that last speech where he's horrible to Donna is, you know. But it's so donna that she's managing, like she's talking and talking and talking, you know, to distract someone. Yeah. big thing. Apparently, this outfit really stuffed up Sarah Parrish's bag. Oh, I can imagine it would mean enough. I understand. Because she's kind of she's kind of lying down in it. But sort of vertical? Yeah. It's funny. Oh, dear. Oh, and he's twigged to it before she has. It's just horrible. It's the one I really feel... it's just dreadful Yeah, yeah. I can't even point to Germany on a map. So do you think the EastEnders writers saw this episode and deliberately referenced? I mean, certainly, you can see the roots of his character in the performance. So he has known for a long time, hasn't he? The doctor's known that Lance has been dosing him with the Huon particles. Like he's worked about, presumably in the lab. Well, I don't know. I mean, he's right out just then. I kept giving him suspicious looks earlier. I don't know. I have to go back and watch. Oh yeah, I didn't know. Oh, okay. So he has personnel. She's seen lots of films. And again, you know, when she's blustery. Like, this is this is what Donna's like when she's properly upset. You know, and we see it over and over again in series four. She's so good. Yeah. You know, she's not yelling back. No, it's really heartbreaking. It's that line. The never ending fountain of fat, stupid tripping. Maybe a fat. Oh, it's just awful. good, isn't it? It's so well written. Oh, yuck. Wow. That's what made it so easy. It's yeah. Yeah, it's good, isn't it? I mean, this is her doing a proper reaction to something that is just ludicrous. I mean, you know, like a woman dress is a big giant spider and, you know, they're both doing comedy panther. She called a lady earlier. I said, listen, lady. Yeah, and the doctor's not got a whole lot to do, but David Tennant, as usual, acting his socks off. Oh, that's so funny. Who's this little physician? Oh, dear. So what he's down there? Satist? The camera's going to come up. Oh, couldn't this episode be improved nicely by the addition of Ida? Yeah. Oh here we go. Oh, he got the, did he pick up the remote control earlier? Yes. We saw him do that? It's one of those big old sort of noisy remote controllers. Oh, yeah. It's like a big Xbox control or something. Oh, and again, here's something new that the TARDIS hasn't done before, something that we've never seen with a new effect, you know, that looks that makes you think of particles, right? Because it's particles calling to particles. I think um, at the end of, at the start of parting of the ways, um that was the 1st time we'd seen the TARTIS materialise around, so around someone, yeah. And Russell does after, you know, 26 years, give the TARDIS new things to do all the time. So imaginative, because we also always think inside the box, like you don't think outside that. Yeah, what if the TARDIS did this? And we're about to see another one too, because this is something that's never happened before either. Where Donna... I'm talking over her acting. This, again, is another one where we're sort of papering over a sort of giant plot hole, which is that it took 6 months to create the 1st key with you on energy, and now the queen's going to make lands into a key in 5 minutes because she's already calibrated the things or whatever. Also begs the question why she didn't just use Lance in the 1st place. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. But that's fine. That's all good. And like the doctor's funny too, hiding behind the TARDIS, behind the, you know, the time rotor, because he doesn't really want to deal with... Yeah, yeah. Yeah. She's good here, isn't she? She's now just tired. See, the other thing Lance could have done. with all that laboratory. He could have poisoned all the water in the building and actually poisoned a lot of people. But I guess it depends on how much you could generate at once. No, so we've never done this before, have we? Am I wrong? We've never opened up the tartar stores to look outside. I think you might be. And it becomes a standard thing because the modern Tartars in the new show doesn't have a big scanner screen, the only way to see the special effects outside is it also doesn't have a void between internal and extraordinary doors. We looked outside earlier, didn't we? By the beginning of the episode when she was in the task, didn't he open the doors then? Yeah, she wanted to charge out. Yeah. But it happens twice. Yeah, yeah. But it happens in this episode 1st and now we do it all the time. And that too. She reacts. She reacts correctly, you know. You know, that's how we want that. That's how the doctor wants her to react, to be excited. you know by the creation of the world. The line about the Isle of Wight, I think, is a joke that the production team we're making among themselves about one of the big CG rocks that goes past in the end of the world, after the world's destroyed. See, he's opening her eyes to possibilities, isn't it? And at the same time, she's opening his heart to a future. Yeah, yeah, it's really good. And look at, she's smiling. And he's also smiling, you know? They're wonderful together, aren't they? She's just, you know, I did the big surveys for Doctor magazine, of the entire series, and they asked Favourite Doctor, her favourite companion, and she came a strong 2nd both times. You know, even after she'd been out of the role for 6 years to Elizabeth Slayton. So she's got real estate power. Right. Wow, that's great. People love Donna. Yeah, well, I guess season 4 was probably the show at its absolute P, wasn't it? Which is what makes the end of series four. So devastating. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's much worse than having the character killed. You take away everything they learned and enjoy all that. just crippling. Well, I mean, we go back to Zoe and Jamie and I'm always upset about, especially Jamie. It is not enough people, you're right. Oh, we could do a big count of how many aliens are trapped on Earth from the dawn of time to influence. I think that's the joy of Doctor Who. We get so many different explanations. Yeah, that's right. Also, the doctor's gone further back than that, hasn't he? Event one? I guess so. I always love that vortex when it. You're going in reversal. The blue and red. Yes. Is that a real thing? Does actually work? I think it does. I think, um, there is definitely, there's definitely some making one episode where they change direction and the vortex changes colour because they've now travelling into the future or the past. Well, that was the whole thing with the new series, they deliberately coded travelling past into one colour and travelling into the future with the other. Yeah. Oh now we're on a different level because it's blue. Yes, exactly. Holy bride and white. That's the old pressure point trick, is it? Yeah, yeah, that's exactly it. So where are we going now? Yeah, yeah. where they have a series of scenes of characters climbing down ladders which lead on from the other, and it's clearly the same ladder with just a different coloured gel. And it's not as inventive as that as you just made it sound. It's not. I don't need to love bleak seven. We're doing it now, James. I have to be slow down. You've ever been so quiet. Yeah, that's great, isn't it? And he says that line without even sort of breaking the thread of his sentence either. It's amazing. Oh, look at glass painting. Yeah. What's that shame that they're in, the same on the autons we're in? It looks like it. Do you think? Yeah. I'm sure the gels were a different colour. I was thinking they were almost watching it last night. It does look very similar, doesn't it? Like, actually, insist that they say I do. Yeah, so you should got some humour. Yeah, she's... It's very, very strange. Yeah, I think there must be lots of fanboys who hate this because Nathan, activate the particles. Some particles, but she's got more. Yeah, well, she's had 6 months and he's just, so, okay, they're both keys. What were you going to say about fanboys? No, well, just because she's ridiculous. Do you know what I mean? Like, she is, it's bizarre that there's a big red spider with a sort of comedy panto kind of style of talking that lives in the middle of the earth. It just seems absurd. So has she lived all this time? Or been in hibernation or what? Yeah, she's in the Webstar thing, I guess, for all that 1000000000s of years. So she's that old? I suppose. She's the only one who survived. She's pretty well preserved. Yeah she's looking good on it. Babies will be hungry. This episode has an advanced idea of silliness, which is, you know what you need for Christmas, probably what, you know, some fans don't like. Something that's aware of its own silliness and relishes it. Yeah. There's an animus when you need it. This hairdryer thing. Here we go. And it's the one thing she could do is cut things. There goes Lance. Well, sorry. So they brought the Raknos back for Big Finish. But guess who they got to play her? Well, or an Empress. Ando. Right, okay, great. It should be great. Oh, lots of... All I can think about is in turn left later on where this happens and people blame Ken Livingston for it. And one of the most amusing performances, modern Doctor Who, the guy who comes into the pub and goes, everyone come out and look it's a Christmas star. Really, the Webstar is to blame for Boris Johnson. Yep, yep. And so here's the doctor to flush them all down the sink. I do think this episode ran out of story a little bit. This is a very protracted climax in one location. That this is... Oh, that's great. That's such a cartoon, isn't it? I heard a story, gives us a bit of comedy. Is there another screwball comedy, Doctor? Yeah, I think partner's in crime. Yeah No, absolutely right, yeah. But that's better. I love how he gives her one last chance. He has done a number of times. Yeah, that means. But I like, but like I like Donna's reaction to this. And again, like, um, you know, Donna's conclusion about the doctor needs someone to stop him. You know, he can't travel on his own. He needs someone who's a conscience. You know? This is, he's just very clever, writing, and relax. And they do, they come back to that in Pfizer, Pompeii, where they show don't tell, but the doctor needs someone to stop him and that's gone. Hilarious. Of course they are. is significant. This is the 1st time this is mentioned. Yeah. Yeah. I wonder whether I was happy or sorry. He should have given it its full name, Caliph, and the constellation of Castobus. Yeah, it's long word. It's longer than Rexaconica Falipatorian. Well, I think it's, I think it's just something a little, a little bit more history and we, we weren't bombarded with this back in episode one. No, that's right. That's absolutely right. Or in the very 1st opening monologue. So now is the time to introduce a little bit more and obviously it will come into significance down the track. Yeah, that's right. The end of, we need it to seat it now for the end of next year. Yeah. Yeah, he does that really well, doesn't he? We've talked about that before, just gradually introducing a whole new generation to the mythology without overwhelming them. Where are those things coming from? I don't know. This is a room that blows up for no reason, quite a lot, if the autons were down there. Is this a model shot or is this CGICG, I think? It's real. What? The plug is not real. It's all real. But there's a lot of water. I mean, they are spraying a lot of water all over the place. And she's not happy. Yeah, it's a model shot. The water's in slow mode. Yeah, the water is real, isn't it? To make it look. Yeah, you're right. Like, because it would be travelling down the plug hole much faster if it was, you've come a long way from that water superimposed over the doctor and Susan. Oh, the fish people ballet. Bring them back. Don't criticise the fish people ballet. I also think too that Russell does a good thing, you know, like they're her children. And so, you know, she's horrible, obviously, in a big spider and stuff, but there she is crying about her children dying. You feel pity. Yeah. And that family thing, like making the sardine or a big family and stuff like that, that's something that he does and the family of blood later. It's a family. And that's, you know, before that, the basic unit of alienness was a race, you know, like determined to conquer and destroy it. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you're right. Servolan and her babies. Yes. She felt them die. I never understood, but I do now that, like, she's out of all of her. She's usually just, like, being she's defenceless, so then... This is Saxon can give an order. So this is our 2nd reference, our 1st reference in dialogue to Mr Saxon. Probably even one in the 1st episode of next season at the end, I think. Oh yes, there is. The young doctor talks about, Mr. Saxon. But Mr. Saxon did appear. He got mentioned in a newspaper in Love Monsters, which has references to Bad Wolf. Very subtle mention as far as... Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's hard to notice, but this is also the 2nd Christmas episode where the army or like earth forces blow up the invader. I like how that collapses. Yeah, yeah, a lot of confetti comes down. It's very seasonal. Very festive. Christmas theme. Yeah, well, that moment in the last Christmas special where everyone's marvelling about how it's snowing in London and we just discover it's the ashes have burned up sick racks instead. Oh, a bit of comedy here. That's great, isn't it? Just spectacular. And we're just in a suburban street. Just wonderful. This is such a lovely scene. Yeah, isn't it? Yeah. And just knowing now that she'll be back. But by this point, you do want her to go with him. But it's a good... I actually think her arc is really very, very good because, you know, like what Lance said was that she's incurious about the world, that it's all celebrity gossip. She can't point out Germany on a map. You know, she's trivial. And, you know, that, you know, she wants to now make something of herself. She wants to, you know, enjoy her life and do what the doctor does but do it here on earth. And she comes back from exploring the world and sort of and desperately wants to see the doctor again. In fact, what I thought was really interesting and we'll get there that she starts to do it, but then doesn't. Oh, it's the 2nd time in a row that we make it snow. The doctor makes it snow at Christmas in London. Do we also do that spoiler next year? Voyage of the Damned? I can't remember. With the Titanic. Excitation. That's a Doctor Who explanation. But it's so important here. Like, you could not have introduced Martha here. You needed this character as a gap between the next long-term companion, and for him to come to terms with what he's lost. Yeah, cool. Equally, you couldn't have, although, you know, the reason that she's not in series 3 is because they didn't think they could get her. Yeah, yeah. I think it actually works better that she doesn't go with him here for the for both characters. Yeah, well, I like that she's learned something about him and that she gives him some advice. It's, uh, And and she's not, not self-focused. Although she does that little Donna what? You couldn't. It's actually Nan. doing mad. But she's not so self-focused now as she was at the beginning of the episode. And she's asked about this person that travelled with the doctor and here at the end. Yeah, oh, that's beautiful, isn't it? What was her name? I think you need somebody. Yeah, it's... It's good, isn't it? Also, Catherine Tate is so beautiful. She's got such a beautiful, soft face. Yeah. Yeah. You see her in close-up and your heart melts. Yeah. Is it a pleasant old young thing? She older than the tenant? I believe the only companion who's older than their doctor. Yeah. Not very much. Is she? No, not much. I think she was like 2 years older than Tenant. Right. I mean, kindly substantially older than tenant, but spoiler alert she doesn't last all that long. Graham's older than his. Yeah that's true. Oh, yeah? Now, yeah, yeah. Oh, sorry, who? I like him. Thank you very much. I like how she knows that he's not going to come back. Yes. She knows that that's that's not a thing. And he couldn't do Christmas dinner. He couldn't do it with a new family. Yeah, far too soon. Bit of shoutiness, but here. It's funny, the difference between the doctors because Matt Smith's really happy to sit down and have a Christmas dinner. Yeah, gregarious. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, and even that gets investigated a little bit in Day of the Doctor, I think, the difference between them. Because people say that they're the doctors who are the most similar. But no, they're not at all similar. Yeah. Sometimes you need someone to stop you. It's just that they're both young with silly hair. Yeah, they're just sort of, yeah, that's right. Although, tenants got good hair and until about the doctor. He won't next episode. Until day of the doctor. That hair is terrible. It's obviously a week. There's a story there. I'll tell you later. No, tell us how. Oh, yes. Look at him. Look at that little broken face. I remember watching this the 1st time and actually like feeling that emotion. I'm a bit watching this in preparation for this. It's well I love this. And then another new effect. It's awesome. He just says that for cheap tricks. I wonder how long they were outside filming this with that fake... You know, I hope we see her again. She was very good. She was very good. Very promising. Oh, look, who's this? Coming soon. And so which episodes do we have here? We got new earths. We've got some Gridlock, Gridlock. Episode two. We don't mean newer. Oh, the... Well, not newer. Smith and Jones. We've got... Yeah, the Dalek 2 parter. Back to gridlock. There's gridlock again. More dialects. Yeah. We might have a bit of Lazarus thrown in. No, I think we'll have to. This one, this goes on forever, doesn't it? And I guess, what, there's 3 months before we face a bow? They're really trying to sell the new season. Oh, it makes it look like the most exciting thing ever, which it almost was. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I think it's a great season. Oh, look, there's Chris Quench. Jeffrey Rush there with bad teeth. I'll be a slicerous experiment. I have such a soft swipe for Lazarus experiment. I hope I don't hate it when I rewatch it. You sure are, Mark. Just because we need to have that. Yeah. There you go. Oh that was really fun. Final thoughts? Look, I think it's fun and enjoyable. I think you're right. Peter, perhaps it does run out of story at points, but I think it's what you need at this point. I don't think it's inspired. I don't think it's something which has a big idea behind it or you're thinking, oh, that's clever. It's fairly workmanlike, but it's dressed up in so much fun. Oh, I think that's the thing, though. It's a very straightforward, as you were saying earlier, it's a very straightforward story, but it's got such good actors, you know. It's very visually engaging. Individual scenes are really fun. No, quite fun. Cool. Well, dear listener, that's all we have time for this week. We'll be back in a very few weeks time with our coverage of series 3. In the meantime, you can find us wherever you get your podcasts and you can keep up with us at flightsthroughentirety.com, flights through entirety on Facebook, and at FT podcast on Twitter. You can also find our series 11 flashcast, Jody Interterterra.com and at Jody Interterra on Twitter, and our James Bond commentary podcast Bondfinger at Bondfinger.com, at Bondfinger on Facebook and at Bondfingercast on Twitter. Until next time, may you recover from that nasty bout of Spanish flu in time to meet the Jones family in Doctor Who's very next episode, Smith and Jones. I'm Jonesing for it. Kicking up with the Joneses. Please. Thank you very much for listening and good night. Good night. See you soon. Happy Christmas.