If I Were Davros…

It’s no secret that under Russell T. Davies I’ve found “Doctor Who” to be severely lacking! Whereas “Fury from the Deep”, a six-part story from the late Sixties, carries an inspiring ecological subtext about the dangers of not replenishing the Earth’s natural resources upon bleeding them dry, modern “Doctor Who” appears to be about nothing in particular except sitting on your arse all day watching the telly on a council estate! No wonder I feel cheated!! If I wanted to watch the latter, I could tune into crap like “EastEnders” or open the back door. I want to watch the former served up as a metaphor featuring weed creatures rising up out of the sea to take their revenge with the aid of poison gas exhaling humans. I want terror not soap. So, if I was about to inherit the mantle of show runner instead of Steven Moffat, how would I go about correcting the numerous mistakes made over the last four series? How would I make “Doctor Who”? What would I do if I had the power, if I were Davros…

The first change I would make to “Doctor Who” is in doing away with the single episode story. They do not give enough time for character or plot development and have all but removed the all-important cliff-hanger from the programme. At present, each season gives the viewer ten stories over thirteen episodes. Keeping the thirteen forty-five minute episode format, I would reduce the number of stories to six, five two-parters would be followed by a concluding three-part season finale. This would also be more cost effective in that you are reducing the number of opening nights by four. Jon Pertwee’s producer Barry Letts was very aware of how best to utilise the budget over a full season.

My next major change would be to do away with the season arc. Under Russell, we’ve had Bad Wolf, Torchwood, Saxon and, most recently, the return of Rose. Without exception, all failures. Each of my six stories would be self-contained, with no linking devices. Trying to keep your audience hooked Russell’s way is doomed to failure if the final episode fails to deliver. Give your public half-a-dozen strongly written, well executed, stories, excitingly concluded, so they’ll want to return for more instead of trying to twist their arm into staying with the programme only to receive a smack in the face like the Doctor at the hands of the parody Master in “Last of the Time Lords”!

Another important change would be to do away with companion’s families. I’m sick to death of the Doctor touching base every other week, at his latest travelling partner’s domicile. It’s alright to start off with an assistant’s familial attachments, such as when Peri was introduced in “Planet of Fire”, but to keep revisiting home turf is way too safe for a series originally steeped in fear and terror. What a shame they didn’t lop off the final fifteen minutes of the concluding episode, this year, and keep it to forty-five minutes, rather than allowing the writer’s excessive over-indulgence. Reign it in, edit, do away with superfluous material. Get rid of the baggage!

One Doctor, one companion. Throughout. No regenerations unless the lead is moving on. If you promise a death, deliver! Russell promised in Season’s Two and Four and went back on his word. Rose didn’t die in battle, unfortunately, and Donna had her memory all-too-conveniently wiped! Absolutely no reset buttons, in any way, shape or form!! I would choose a different writer for each story and, if possible, none would have written for the series before. I wouldn’t insist on writing the finale myself but would like to have a stab at one of the adventures! I’ve no objection to returning monsters, the Ice Warriors - as depicted in their black and white episodes - would be welcome, and wouldn’t insist on naming new ones myself, as Russell did the Ood. I’m pretty certain Verity Lambert didn’t insist Terry Nation call his creations the Daleks!! I think the writer came up with the name all on his lonesome.

So, there you have it. My six-story plan for the next season of “Doctor Who”! I fear it may be too late to give me the job!!

Ten of the Beast

Being in a positive frame of mind, at the present time, and given that we seem to be heading towards some sort of conclusion to the first four seasons of new “Doctor Who”, I thought it might be an appropriate moment to consider which have been the highlights of the first forty-five episodes, since the programme’s resurrection. My selection seems obvious to me, but you may beg to differ…

From Season One, in chronological order, three stories over four episodes…

1: “The Unquiet Dead” written by Mark Gatiss, directed by Euros Lyn - originally broadcast on 9th April 2005 with Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor and Billie Piper as Rose Tyler

The Doctor shares a carriage with Dickens (Simon Callow) while Rose is touched up by undertaker Gabriel Sneed (Alan David), when she’s unconscious! And, they call this a children’s show? Meanwhile, the Time Lord is taken in by a plea to “Pity the Gelth”. He does and his gullibility costs the life of servant girl Gwyneth (Eve Myles).

2: “Dalek” written by Robert Shearman, directed by Joe Ahearne - originally broadcast on 30th April 2005 with Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor and Billie Piper as Rose Tyler

A strange way to reintroduce the Doctor’s deadliest foe, with only one of the scallywags from Skaro, but, in retrospect, it’s a tough little story, totally at odds with all the emoting going on elsewhere in the series! Who would ever have thought we’d feel sympathy for a “Metaltron”? Rose’s white t-shirt indicates she’s a Dalek virgin!

3 & 4: “The Empty Child” & “The Doctor Dances” written by Steven Moffat, directed by James Hawes - originally broadcast on 21st & 28th May 2005 with Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor, Billie Piper as Rose Tyler and John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness

Doctor Constantine (Richard Wilson) grows a gasmask on his face while a little boy, in a similar predicament, asks of everyone he meets, whatever their gender, “Are you my mummy?” - That dubious honour belongs to Nancy (Florence Hoath) who’d, obviously, do absolutely anything to meet Graham Norton! Rose’s Union Jack t-shirt indicates with which Captain she’d enjoy an association!!

From Season Two, one story comprising two episodes…

5 & 6: “The Impossible Planet” & “The Satan Pit” written by Matt Jones, directed by James Strong - originally broadcast on 3rd & 10th June 2006 with David Tennant as the Doctor and Billie Piper as Rose Tyler

Beam me up Scooti Manista (Myanna Buring) was, no doubt, on many a male’s mind before the wee lass was sucked into a black hole above the rocky landscape of Krop Tor! Nothing Ood about that, let me assure her!! Well, you know what they say, “The beast and his armies will rise from the pit”. While the Doctor hitches a lift to the bottom, Rose attempts to keep hers covered as she gets carried away to Zachary Cross Flane’s (Shaun Parkes) escape rocket… when she’s unconscious!

From Season Three, two stories over three episodes…

7 & 8: “Human Nature” & “The Family of Blood” written by Paul Cornell, directed by Charles Palmer - originally broadcast on 26th May & 2nd June 2007 with David Tennant as the Doctor and Freema Agyeman as Martha Jones

Doctor Jones dons a maid’s uniform just so schoolteacher John Smith can show her and matron Joan Redfern (Jessica Hynes) his “Journal of Impossible Things”! I know all about his sort, the dirty little scribble monster! Oh, that’s from a different episode altogether - silly me!! Surely, that kind of thing is best left to the Marquis de Sade? Some of the kinky devils are even dressing up… as scarecrows!!!

9: “Blink” written by Steven Moffat, directed by Hettie Macdonald - originally broadcast on 9th June 2007 with Carey Mulligan as Sally Sparrow, David Tennant as the Doctor and Freema Agyeman as Martha Jones

Well, I have to say, I’d do bird to make the acquaintance of young Miss Sparrow! I can hear her song now, “Sally, Sally, pride of our alley, You’re more than the whole world to me…” Why the Doctor didn’t fly her away in his TARDIS, I’ll never know!! They could’ve done time together!!!

And, from the first three episodes of Season Four, one single-episode story…

10: “Planet of the Ood” written by Keith Temple, directed by Graeme Harper - originally broadcast on 19th April 2008 with David Tennant as the Doctor and Catherine Tate as Donna Noble

This final selection certainly provided fOod for thought! And, the Ood were prepared to sing for their supper. The script required many things, not least… plenty of brains. So quite what Donna was doing on the Ood-Sphere, in the year 4126, remains a mystery. I think she keeps hers in her hindquarters!!

The observant reader will notice I haven’t chosen a single episode written by Russell T. Davies, nor have I chosen any that feature companions’ familial ties! That’s a feat in itself!! I wonder if the two are synonymous? Considering numerous instalments of new “Doctor Who” feature harmonious mothers, melodious brothers and dynamic lovers, it may suggest these are default choices, which isn’t the case. I do, genuinely, like the episodes detailed above. Those are my favourites, which ones are yours?

Warden’s Watch: Planet of the Ood (or… Ood, Glorious Ood!)

I’ll lay my cards immediately on the table and let you all know that I absolutely adored the latest episode in the new series of “Doctor Who”, “Planet of the Ood”! It’s as big a surprise for me as it is you, dear reader!! In spite of Tate, regardless of Davies and notwithstanding a rather naff gag dependant on, admittedly minimal, knowledge of “The Simpsons”, I would love it if the programme were like this more of the time. I confess I’d been looking forward to this episode, more than any other, because the Ood story from two years ago is my favourite of the tenth Doctor’s era, to date. Ironically, considering my preference for the classic series, but not being particularly partial to the Sontarans, I haven’t been looking forward to next week’s two-parter nearly as much! One of the things I like about these Ood tales is the turning on its head of the master-servant/slave relationship. Usually, it’s the humans who are subjugated in “Doctor Who”, not the aliens. At the start of the story, a mystery is quickly inaugurated for the Doctor and his companion to investigate when the pair chance upon what-is-soon-to-be-revealed-as a red-eyed Ood dying in the snow whose last words plead, “The circle must be broken”. The whole setup of this adventure is very similar to that of “Revelation of the Daleks”, with the fast-fading Ood being comparable to the forgiving mutant near the start of the earlier escapade. Both stories feature a trudge through snow, from where the TARDIS has materialised, across an alien landscape. Both include the aforementioned preliminary confrontation before reaching the hub of the action. And, both deal with the nature of conducting business while, perhaps revealingly, both are directed by Graeme Harper! It doesn’t take the time travellers quite as long to reach their destination in “Planet of the Ood”, however, as it did the Doctor and Peri twenty-three years ago!!

As “Planet of the Ood” hurtles towards its climax, the Doctor and Donna make an alarming discovery. Huddled together in a cell, singing the song of captivity, are a group of natural born Ood, unprocessed, before they’re adapted to slavery, unspoilt. They carry their secondary hind-brain in their cupped hands. Donna finds the music overwhelmingly unbearable, emotionally speaking, and asks for it to be taken away. I used to have the same problem whilst spinning discs for customers, when working in a record shop back in the Eighties! Joking aside, the use of music here is exemplary, for once, and connected to a warning in the final moments of this sequel, when, speaking to the Doctor, an Ood forewarns, “I think your song must end soon. Every song must end.” Earlier, the Doctor offers stunning marketing manager Solana Mercurio, played by the beautifully named Ayesha Dharker (pictured), the hand of friendship which she briefly considers then rejects. She proceeds by betraying both him and Donna at the first available opportunity, not being able to step outside her own small, seemingly secure, world of the workplace. This is a minor moment of momentous tragedy, more real than any of the nonsense concerning the separation of Rose from her mentor at the end of Series Two! And, the themes of this Ood episode have resonance, not just emotional content. We are privy to a great big (business) empire built on slavery, witness to battery-hen farming for Ood-kind. There is a slowness and precision in both manner and movement of the Ood which makes them a very dignified race of beings, and that is key to their success. As Tennant said in the following “Doctor Who Confidential” documentary, “Oods and Ends”, “they are benevolent and non-invasive”. By way of contrast, this time round there are also rabid Ood, perhaps comparable in concept to rogue Cybermen as seen in “The Invasion” and “Attack of the Cybermen”.

I guessed, before “Planet of the Ood” commenced, that the Doctor wouldn’t be able to resist mentioning the “real” snow, on this occasion, as opposed to the raining ash etc of previous instances! I also predicted the fate of Tim McInnerny’s Klineman Halpen, when he first commented upon his hair loss ten minutes into the episode, even though the manner in which it happened was still a pleasant surprise! Transformed into the very creature he’s been abusing, it’s not quite as agreeable for the character as the viewer but justly deserved, nevertheless, for both murder and as amoral “owner of the franchise for selling Ood, domestically, across the known and unknown galaxy”!! A nice commentary on the nasty and seedy nature of business, generally, I thought. I hope Sir Alan was watching, though I’m not sure he would heed any message even if attuned to literary subtext! The enemy within Halpen’s company was successfully disguised throughout by the discreet performance of Adrian Rawlins, as much put upon Dr Ryder, having been a friend of the Ood, working for their release, for the past ten years! The almost-chanted and oft-repeated phrase, “Doctor, Donna, friends”, will no doubt pass into the folklore of the programme though I’m more likely to remember the Time Lord’s criticism, “Who do you think made your clothes?” As producer Susie Liggat indicated, “Planet of the Ood” is a really important story about liberating repressed people, a metaphor that can be applied the world over both on a personal level and globally. Writer Keith Temple fashioned what-turned-out-to-be a very old school episode of “Doctor Who”, and good on him!!

Keeping Who Covered

Having no sooner got back from the newsagents, after acquiring all six “Doctor Who” DVDs courtesy of The Sun giveaway, I now have to make a return visit, pronto, if I’m to pick up all four versions of this week’s Radio Times while stocks last! My favourite cover is the one on which the Ood looms large, not least because it also happens to be the one on which la Donna is least visible!! Miss Tate has her knockers, it’s true, but never let it be said that I am one of them! My impartiality is exposed for all to see!! Otherwise, why would I post four blooming great pictures of the lovely lofty lassie?!!

Guest stars are pictured in abundance including Phil Davis, recently seen as Wilfrid Brambell in “The Curse of Steptoe”, as Lucius together with Peter Capaldi as Caecillius whom I remember playing rocker Zeno Vedast in “Some Lie and Some Die”, one of my favourite Inspector Wexford “Ruth Rendell Mysteries”. Shame they didn’t see fit to include former “Howards’ Way” actress Tracey Childs as Metella in the picture, who also features in “The Hanky-Panky of Frankie”, as well as spell Capaldi’s character’s name correctly! Ladies exhibiting their wares include Sarah Hotpot as Miss Lager, from the opening episode “Pilchards in Brine”, and Velocity Mint Cake as Lady Edible with Vanilla Thermal Undies as “Marble Sponge Pudding” creator Marathon Christ Knows, both featuring in “The Horny Horse and the Hornet”.

The Ood cover features Tim McInnerny as Mr Halpen. Dunno what he likes for breakfast but he’s best known for playing the Chancellor of the Exchequer in “Blackadder Goes Forth”! Oh, hang on, I’ve got my facts slightly muddled… Tim was Captain Darling in the final series of “Blackadder”, not Alistair Darling!! I can only imagine the misunderstandings that might arise from such a problematical surname. Picture Prime Monster Gordon Brown addressing this formidable financial fellow, by said surname in the Gents, with the conversation being overheard by an undercover police officer… Anyway, don’t forget to tune into “Doctor Who” this Saturday evening, at 8.30pm on BBC Four, for what promises to be the start of an exciting adventure!

“Doctor Who” Series Four - Campfire Trailer, Episode Titles and Authors

01. “Partners in Crime” by Russell T Davies
02. “The Fires of Pompeii” by James Moran
03. “Planet of the Ood” by Keith Temple
04. “The Sontaran Stratagem” by Helen Raynor
05. “The Poison Sky” by Helen Raynor
06. “The Doctor’s Daughter” by Stephen Greenhorn
07. “The Unicorn and the Wasp” by Gareth Roberts
08. “Silence in the Library” by Steven Moffat
09. “Forest of the Dead” by Steven Moffat
10. “Midnight” by Russell T Davies
11. “Turn Left” by Russell T Davies
12. (This title is being kept under wraps, for the moment, probably because it includes the word Daleks!) by Russell T Davies
13. “Journey’s End” by Russell T Davies

“Doctor Who” Series Four - Trailer and Teasers

Well, the trailer and no less than three teasers, promoting the fourth new series of “Doctor Who”, have aired. Visually, they are impressive, to say the least. No doubt everyone has seen them by now! My favourite shot, from the main minute-and-a-half cinema preview, is of the miniscule TARDIS with exiting travellers set against the rocky alien snowscape with the Saturn-like planet at an angle on the horizon. And, least favourite is the Doctor behaving like he always does, with his blessed sonic screwdriver, whizzing in and out of shot like an idiot! I hate to say it but Donna actually seems more self-controlled than her mentor in this sequence, though I do hope she is calling Bernard Cribbins “gramps” because he is her grandfather and not just because of his age. Russell T Davies doesn’t need to discriminate against the elderly in order to increase his ratings! Donna trying to engage the Doctor’s attention through a porthole is excruciatingly reminiscent of a similar scene with Martha in last season’s “42”. I like the shot of the Noble one being menaced by a giant wasp in her bedroom! Looks as though she could be in for more than a little prick! I notice, in another shot, Donna is behind bars and, some might say, that’s the best place for her!! Of the three ten-second teasers, each featuring a returning monster, my preference is for the Dalek promo. Despite its extreme brevity, it’s beautifully shot and I love the reflection of the Doctor’s face captured in the creature’s eyestalk.

Time and Time Lord

So, what can we expect from the new series of “Doctor Who”? Well, as we all know from recent debate, the delightful Catherine is returning to our screens reprising her role of Donna throughout all thirteen episodes. Moving on… and, perhaps more importantly, David Tennant is back for his third run of episodes although it is heavily rumoured to be his last. Some like him, some don’t. I don’t mind the actor but I’m not particularly keen on the way he plays the part. I suspect that is, in no small way, partly due to executive producer Russell T. Davies. It’s rumoured the current show runner will soon be moving on to pastures new as well. To my way of thinking, that can only be a good thing, both for him, creatively, but also for the programme. New blood will bring, hopefully, new ideas. Meantime, Series Four promises a repeat of exactly the same season structure we’ve endured for the past three years. Three multi-part stories and single-episode adventures for the rest with, yet again, the lone intelligent tale looking like being the middle two-parter entitled “Silence in the Library”, and (naturally) written by Steven Moffat!

The finale sees the return of the Daleks, not seen since - oh, let me think - last year, but they haven’t been seen in the closing episodes for - oh, let me think, again - two years. Bring them back quickly, I say, after the complete mess of “Last of the Time Lords”. It was so bad I’ve actually stopped taping the show, for the first time since I possessed a VCR. Shame, really, because the seven minutes or so of the “Children in Need” episode wasn’t that bad thanks to Steven Moffat’s reasonably witty script, but largely due to the return of Sir Peter Davison! Anyway, there’s a slight difference this time round. With the Daleks comes Davros, fictional creator of the creatures from Skaro. He was first seen in “Doctor Who” in 1975 in “Genesis of the Daleks” but his whereabouts have been undisclosed since 1988 when he bowed out with a brief appearance at the climax of “Remembrance of the Daleks”, having appeared in five consecutive Dalek stories. Davros has been located by Caan, last survivor of the Dalek race (yawn), and he is helping the Dalek to create a new race of Daleks. In a shock development in the final episode, a Dalek casing opens to reveal Harriet Jones, played by Penelope Wilton, the mother of all the new Daleks.

Before the Daleks re-emergence, a couple of other old favourites are due for an outing. Those awfully nice Ood chappies will be back in episode three, which is good news except for the Doctor, presumably. I like them, about the only thing in Rusty’s re-imagining I do like! I still don’t understand why RTD thought it was his job to name them. Surely that was the prerogative of the fellow who wrote “The Impossible Planet” and ”The Satan Pit”? Did Verity Lambert tell Terry Nation to call his creation the Daleks?!! I don’t think so! Immediately after “Planet of the Ood”, we will be treated to “The Sontaran Stratagem”, the first of the two-parters, which features the return of the Ice Warriors - I wish! Actually, there’s several monsters I would’ve preferred to see returning rather than the Sontarans… Zarbi, Mechonoids, Yeti, Silurians, Sea Devils to name a few. The Sontarans have previously featured four times in the classic series to varying degrees of success and one wonders if they will also be pitted against the Daleks, at the end of the series, as were the Cybermen two years ago - such is Russell’s love of formulaic television.

The TARDIS really travels abroad this year for a fleeting visit to Rome in episode two, “The Fires of Pompeii”. Sorry, Steve, but I doubt they’ll bump into Frankie Howerd, or the lovely Erotica would’ve been even fruitier! And, the time travellers encounter Agatha Christie in episode seven, “The Unicorn and the Wasp”. Together, they investigate a strange murder. Now, there’s a surprise! Rose is in the last four episodes, Martha’s back, Jack’s back, Sarah Jane is back, I’m back, and we get to meet the Doctor’s daughter in episode six. Is she original companion Susan Foreman’s mum? I just love mothers in new “Doctor Who”! And that reminds me, Jackie’s back!! How could I forget and what could be better?!! In the picture, that’s not the Doctor’s new costume, by the way, despite it being in burgundy! That’s what David wore to Billie’s wedding. The new series starts in, precisely, two weeks time on Saturday, April 5 on BBC One, hour to be confirmed though presumably around 7pm. Meanwhile, if you can’t wait or you’re curious, or both, you can see the trailer tonight, for the first time, again on BBC One at 7.05pm or online straight after. The surgery is open and it’s sooner than you think!

The Ood Couple

Because of where the three episodes, that comprise the two stories on this DVD release, are placed in the second series run, it is a little unfortunate that they have ended up on the same disc! Perhaps there is truth in the old adage “opposites attract”. What we have here, in the two-part black hole tale, is not only the best story of the second series but the best of both last year’s and the most recent combined, coupled with, in “Love & Monsters”, not only the worst story of the second series but also the worst of both series together. A marriage made in heaven then!

And BBC THREE have also managed to pull off the same remarkable feat, over the Bank Holiday weekend, with their recent season of repeats. On Sunday night they ran the opening episode of the two-parter, “The Impossible Planet”, concluding the story, with “The Satan Pit”, the following evening as part of a double bill with the previously disclosed offending episode! What a shame their schedules didn’t allow a better combination. Or maybe it was a ruse to get us to watch Marc Warren battling Peter Kay all over again. If it was, it didn’t work. This viewer’s viewing terminated at 8:10pm precisely. Though, I have nothing against the Electric Light Orchestra! And even Elton wrote some good songs, back in the early Seventies, before giving up rock ‘n’ roll for showbiz!!

Many “Doctor Who” fans are no doubt waiting for the box set of the second series but, putting that to one side, I would be more inclined to buy this release if it only contained the first two episodes. It’s such an odd pairing of stories that here I am actually asking for less for my money! Imagine buying a box set containing both “The Caves of Androzani” and “The Twin Dilemma”!! If I watch “Love & Monsters”, especially after “The Impossible Planet” and “The Satan Pit”, I end up feeling depressed over the state my favourite show is in after 43 years but if I switch off at the end of the two-parter I leave the experience on a high.

With this in mind, there’s no point in the Abzorbaloff episode being on the disc. I long for incompleteness! Well, at least in this instance. I have in mind a scene missing from the original omnibus video release of that other story featuring Gabriel Woolf, “Pyramids of Mars”, to do with getting in and out the Priory, which made little sense until the repeats on BBC2, early 1994, when something illogical suddenly became completely clear! A DVD without “Love & Monsters” would still be the length of many classic releases, such as the aforementioned Sutekh story, and I, for one, would be happier if this artistically Ood coupling went their separate ways!

Ode to the Ood

After reading previews where the Ood were constantly referred to as vile-looking, I was hoping the Doctor would turn to one of them and say, "You're beautiful, you are" but, unfortunately, he didn't; though, I'm sure Sil would've found their visage pleasing enough! At least they weren't wearing as much eyeliner as Billie Piper!! Here was an opportunity to explore further, definitions of beauty which "Doctor Who" has been flirting with all season; the Doctor recognising it frequently, where others may not. It's easy to say something is ugly without really looking at it properly and, actually, the Ood were quite charming and courteous, until they became possessed, possessed by the devil...

The stranding of the TARDIS crew was handled better in the latest episode, "The Impossible Planet", than it was in "Rise of the Cybermen". Where, in the Cybermen story, the ship's "death" was almost immediately resolved, literally with a glimmer of light, here the craft is lost, following a quake, without any possible means of even future retrieval open to our heroes. The Doctor and Rose look a little out of place on Sanctuary Station, even before they meet the crew, not having made any effort to blend in, as they so often do on their sojourns to the past. It was suggested their arrival was random, however, instead of the recent trend to (usually) choose their destination but I did find myself wishing John Hurt was playing the Doctor for this story!

Instantly assigning the Doctor to laundry duties brought about a wry smile, though, fair dues, he did actually change into a James Bond number for the aforementioned Cyber-outing! Comedy in new "Who", nevertheless, is a mixed bag. The mickey taking, pardon the pun, at the start of "Rise" left a bad taste-in-the-mouth making this viewer feel the Doctor and Rose to be more heartless than any Cyberman. "The Impossible Planet" included a real hackneyed old joke, when the Doctor, preparing for his descent into the bowels of the planet, said to Rose, "See you later", to which she so obviously replied, "Not if I see you first", which I thought the script could've done without. I wonder if the Doctor retained his pinstripe under the spacesuit?!!

I would love a story in which the Doctor and Rose don't actually mention Jackie at all. Also, Rose seems to be getting through an awful lot of mobile phones. Is this what she brought on board in her rucksack/backpack at the start of "New Earth", a supply of cellphones, to hand out to her various boyfriends or throw away when the mood takes, and her make-up bag?!! On the whole, the episode was tautly written, seriously acted and directed, and I can see fandom taking this story to its bosom. Just one more quibble! Did they have to kill off Scooti quite so soon? They did it last year with Suki, though Lynda, with a y, lasted a little longer. Why do I always fall for the minor, doomed, characters? I never got the chance to say, "You're beautiful, you are"!!!