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The Who Crew Review: The Doctor's Daughter

Name: Julie Bayman | Age: 53

I am not sure why we should be shocked by the fact that the Doctor has a daughter, after all (I am showing my age now!) back in the sixties the first Doctor, played by William Hartnell, travelled with his Granddaughter.  So it stands to reason that he must have had a child and lets face it, you don’t live to be nine hundred and four years old without producing some off-spring somewhere along the line – I would have thought.  In FEAR HER, back in series two, he told Rose “I was a father once”.  But this was not the child he was talking about - this one didn’t exist.

Last weeks episode ended with the TARDIS taking on a mind of its own, trapping Martha on-board in the process and flying itself to the planet Messaline.  It would seem that the Doctor’s encased hand has something to do with it: why doesn’t he get rid of that hand?  Its not as if he needs it, having the ability to grow a new one and it seems to cause him nothing but trouble; the Master used it to shrink the Doctor into a tiny creature at the end of the last series.  And now it is bubbling away in front of a horrified Donna, who has just learnt that the Doctor had his hand chopped of and then grew another one; It is something he can do in the first few hours of regeneration.  “That’s impossible!” shouts Donna,  “Not impossible, just a bit unlikely” the Doctor replies with a grin.  He uses this phrase again later on when he sees his daughter somersaulting through some tricky light beams guarding a tunnel.  They arrive on planet Messaline and soon find
themselves being held at gunpoint by some humans.  The Doctor has his hand (his proper hand attached to his arm) thrust into a strange machine, which takes a tissue sample, the sample is then processed and the doors open and a young girl walks out.  Her first words are “Hello Dad” when she sees the Doctor.  She has just been generated from a single organism, so one parent is the biological mother and father – It’s something to do with splitting cells.  She has no name, so later on Donna gives her the name Jenny that she derived from the word generated.  Jenny is programmed to be a soldier and fight, something the Doctor finds very distasteful and he refuses to accept that she has any connection to him.

The humans are at war with the Hath, who are fish/humanoid monsters that communicate through bubbles.  They are both trying to find “The Source” which is hidden somewhere on the planet and Commander Cobb tells the Doctor that the war has been going on for generations.  Martha is kidnapped by the Hath and Jenny blows up part of the underground tunnel that they are in, separating Martha from the Doctor and Donna.  They want to go and look for
her but Cobb will not allow it, as movement is restricted because of the war.  Martha gets on well with the Hath, even though she can’t understand what they are saying.  She makes friends with Hath Peck after helping him with his injured arm after the explosion.  Sadly he dies, saving her life on the planet surface, when she persuades him to go out side.  Understandably she is very upset, it’s a very sad scene.  The Hath are also generating soldiers at the same rate as the humans and they too think that the war has been going on for generations.  But later on when the Doctor, Donna and Jenny have escaped from Cobb, Donna manages to crack the code (something to
do with working as a temp in a library) of the mysterious numbers, which they have seen in various places around the deserted underground city that they find themselves in.  The numbers are dates and it turns out that the war has only been going on for seven days.  “It’s the new Byzantine calendar! Ooh Donna you’re a genius!” the Doctor excitedly calls out.  They eventually find Martha and the smell of flowers leads them outside and they find themselves in some beautiful gardens and there in the middle is “The Source” It is a large glass ball containing a cocktail of “stuff” used to make baron planets habitable.  The Doctor smashes the glass ball allowing
the contents to escape and as he does so he declares the war over.  Cobb does not want it to end, he wants to win, so he attempts to shoot the Doctor, but Jenny jumps in front of her Dad and Cobb shoots her by mistake.

In a very poignant scene, the Doctor opens his heart to Jenny.  He hopes that she might be able to regenerate but Martha shakes her head and tells him that she wasn’t like him enough; he disagrees and tells her that she was too much like him.  He then does something completely out of character.  He picks up the gun and holds it to Cobb’s head, he doesn’t shoot him instead he tells him, “I never would – have you got that – I never would”.  He then tells them to, “Make the foundations of this society, a man who never would” and he throws the gun away.

At the end Jenny comes back to life; it seems that she could regenerate.
The Doctor told her that he would take her to see new worlds with lots of running so she takes one of the shuttle ships and sets off on her own adventures.  Will we see more of her later I wonder?

This episode was full of excellent acting; the Doctor’s daughter was
excellently played by Georgia Moffett, the real life daughter of Peter
Davison who played the fifth Doctor and was last seen in TIME CRASH, the Children In Need mini special.  C.T. played a lovely Donna; I am beginning to really like her.  She takes to Jenny almost immediately and when the Doctor feels that he has no connections with Jenny because she is a soldier and uses a gun, Donna constantly reminds him that, “She is your daughter”.
There is a lovely scene where Donna, the Doctor and Jenny are locked inside a cell and the Doctor is planning a way out, Jenny insists that he is a soldier too and calls his sonic screwdriver a weapon, she renders him speechless (would this be a first?) so he calls on Donna to help him, “Donna will you tell her?” Donna makes it clear that she is enjoying every minute of it.  The star of the show has to be D.T. his acting is just outstanding.
The poignant scenes where he tells Donna that he has been a Dad before and the pain that he felt when they died and when he realizes that Jenny has two hearts and he confesses to her that he was a soldier in the Time War and had to kill, the expressions on his face were just wonderful, he had me
believing every word of it and the scene where Jenny dies is a real tear jerker. There were some brilliant funny bits too, I loved the way he kept producing things from his pockets, especially the clockwork mouse (this reminded me of Tom Baker).  At the end as Martha is saying her goodbyes she tells the Doctor that she thought he had finally found something to live for and he reminds her that there is always something to live for and earlier on Donna told her that she would travel with the Doctor forever.

Lovely acting, lovely writing, lovely episode!  Marks:  9/10
 
Name: Fiona Taylor | Age: 13
 
The Doctor’s Daughter is a moving and intelligent episode which sees the Doctor become a father.

When I first heard about this episode, I was outraged and made the decision to not watch this episode. However, I was not able to contain myself as Saturday evening approached. I was pleasantly surprised, and after all of my scepticism for the episode, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The script was very, very moving in parts, but also hugely comical. I also enjoyed the clever plot, and the ending was quite cheesy but very left me feeling happy, so I did not mind too much. I was quite glad to see Martha go back home, but I am sure she will be back for the Series Finale…

The acting from the main cast was really good, but Martha was hugely irritating in this episode, and I just wanted to shoot her... I thought that the Hath were slightly pointless, and their weird way of communicating made the scenes that contained them VERY boring. When Martha returned home, I was desperately waiting to see Tom (her fiancé) but I waited in vain…

My favourite quote was “Not impossible, just a bit unlikely!” which was said by the Doctor (about himself/his hand). I think that this sums up the Doctor quite well and the fact that the Doctor himself said it was very interesting.

Overall, this was a surprising episode, that could have been better without the meaningless Hath and the annoying Martha. My rating for this episode is 6˝/10.

 

Name: Zoe Brown | Age: 28

It’s no secret that the Doctor once had a family – the First Doctor travelled through time and space with his granddaughter, Susan – but since then, any references have been few and far between.  In Fear Her, the Tenth Doctor told Rose that he’d once been a father, but wouldn’t elaborate further, and I can’t recall that he ever mentioned his family to Martha.  In this week’s episode, the Doctor finds he has a daughter, but not everything is quite as it seems.

 

The press coverage and previews for the episode were very misleading, as they claimed that the Doctor had a long-lost daughter that he already knew about, but hadn’t seen for some time.  However, on watching the episode, we see her being ‘created’ (for want of a better word) right before our eyes – after arriving on the planet Messaline, the Doctor has a tissue sample taken against his will, resulting in the instant creation of his ‘daughter’.  This process is called ‘singular progenation’, and appears to be the way in which planet’s inhabitants bolster their armies.  Donna accepts the new arrival instantly and welcomes her into the team, even naming her Jenny, but the Doctor refuses to acknowledge her.  This provokes another argument between the Doctor and Donna, but whilst Donna is usually the voice of reason and eventually persuades the Doctor round to her way of thinking, this time we agree with the Doctor.  At this point in the story, Donna doesn’t yet know about the Doctor’s true family, and it’s perfectly understandable to the audience that the Doctor would find it difficult to welcome a complete stranger with open arms. 

 

As for Jenny herself, she initially seems to be the antithesis of everything the Doctor stands for.  Conditioned and programmed to fight, almost like a robot, she has no qualms about using guns and doesn’t let her emotions get in the way, dismissing Martha’s kidnap by the Hath as merely “collateral damage”, and it is once again left to Donna to remind Jenny, and the audience, about the human cost of war.  However, when the Doctor, Donna and Jenny are taken to General Cobb, he orders her to be imprisoned too, as she has come from “pacifist stock”.  Once in the cells, Jenny begins to question the Doctor about his hatred of war, and manages to ascertain that he was also a soldier once, but his experiences of fighting have now turned him against it.  Donna, still frustrated at the Doctor’s treatment of Jenny, takes his stethoscope and listens to Jenny’s chest, discovering that, like him, she also has two hearts.  After this revelation, we start to see the Doctor soften towards her just a little bit, but he is still adamant that she is not a true Time Lord.  As the episode continues, we see that Jenny has inherited quite a few of the Doctor’s characteristics: his sense of humour; his desire to travel; (eventually) his desire to help people; and of course, she enjoys running.  Donna coerces the Doctor into agreeing to take Jenny with them once they’ve escaped, but he’s still very wary, although Donna believes that being with her will help him.  Gradually, the Doctor slowly starts to allow himself to care about Jenny, and by the end seems quite proud of her, particularly after the scene where she backflips her way through the laser beams. 

 

The episode once again points out the futility of war, as well as highlighting the often very minor reasons why wars are started in the first place.  Martha’s kidnap by the Hath and her (almost) bonding with them allows the audience to see the conflict from both sides.  Because the Hath only appear to communicate via the bubbles from the phials of green liquid attached to their faces, we never actually hear them speak – Martha also seems at a loss to know how to communicate with them, but somehow seems to be able to understand them.  Although they, like the humans, are also wielding guns, the Hath come across as being the gentler race – once Martha has healed one of their wounded comrades, they show her their maps and intelligence and no longer view her as the enemy.  When Hath Peck, to repay Martha for helping him, rescues her from the quicksand and in doing so sacrifices himself, the audience really feels Martha’s anguish as she weeps over his death.  Speaking for myself, I felt more sympathy for the Hath than the humans – you almost wondered whether the war had started over a breakdown in communications, since none of the humans seemed able to understand what the Hath were saying.

 

The humans were definitely not portrayed in a very good light during the episode – all the time spent fighting and killing seemed to have completely robbed them of any emotion.  Bearing in mind their constant use of the progenation chambers to produce more soldiers, you were left wondering if there were any actual humans left, or whether they had all been wiped out at the start of the war.  When they gave the Doctor their version of the events that started the fighting, you had to remind yourself that there are always two sides to every story, and that the Hath would certainly dispute this.

 

The cause of the fighting – the ‘Source’ – is an almost mystical creation which no-one is even sure exists. It was referred to as ‘the breath of life’, which reminded me again of Miss Foster, who described the Adipose tablets in Partners In Crime as being “the spark of life”.  When the Source is finally discovered, it’s revealed to be a man-made, laboratory-created, third generation terra-forming device, designed to create new life, but in terms of new ecosystems rather than people.  After all the years (although actually only seven days) of existing underground, it’s somewhat ironic that both sides are fighting for something that creates new plants, animal life, and light.  As with any war, the only way to resolve it is for both sides to try and find a way to co-exist in peace, and by smashing the sphere containing the Source, the Doctor allows both sides to share it, creating a new world for both races.

 

There have been several references to the Time War during the last four series, but the Doctor has never talked about it in any great detail, presumably because it was too horrific.  All we know so far is that the Time Lords were fighting against the Daleks, and that even though the Time Lords were victorious, their entire race was wiped out, save for the Doctor.  The Daleks were thought to have been wiped out too, but a handful seem to have survived so far – when we last saw them, only Dalek Caan remained.  The Doctor lost his entire family during the battle, which we assume to be a wife and children, but we don’t know how many.  As he tells Donna, when he lost them, part of him died with them, and he’s resigned himself to being alone ever since.  The Doctor’s experiences during the Time War have shaped him forever – whilst never denying that he was a soldier once, he has clearly vowed never to become one again, which is why Jenny’s initial militaristic stance is abhorrent to him.

 

Having rejoined the TARDIS crew for the return of the Sontarans, Martha has stayed on board (albeit unwillingly) for this adventure.  Having really enjoyed watching the new team, I was looking forward to more of the same, but was a bit disappointed that Martha was separated from them for the majority of the episode (probably to accommodate Jenny).  If they’d all been together, it would probably have been like Charlie’s Angels – you have the action girl (Jenny), the scientist (Martha) and the realist (Donna), but unlike Charlie, who was only heard but never seen, the Doctor is always very much at the forefront of the action.  We’re once again reminded of how far Martha has progressed on her own personal journey since meeting the Doctor – she’s happy to return home and live her life, but has achieved closure with him, and so there’s no reason why they can’t call on each other again in the future.  However, Donna seems to be very much in the place that both Rose and Martha were before the traumatic event occurred that separated them from the Doctor permanently, declaring to Martha that she’s going to travel with the Doctor forever (which, to paraphrase the Doctor, is like saying “no turning back” or “this is going to be the best Christmas that Walford’s ever had”), which must surely be a very big portent of impending doom, but I hope I’m wrong.

 

The performances this episode were as first-rate as we’ve come to expect in this series.  Donna continues to be the Doctor’s grounding influence, and probably his closest confidante, as he’s able to open up to her in a way that he never did with Martha or Rose.  It’s largely thanks to Donna that the Doctor finally allows himself to care about Jenny, and again Catherine Tate reminds us all what a talented actress she is.  Martha had to carry her story all on her own this week, and Freema Agyeman again demonstrates how mature Martha has become, but not so much that she’s lost all the childlike wonder she still feels whenever she travels with the Doctor – the little exchange she has with Donna when they first arrive on Messaline was just right.  Also noteworthy were her final conversations with both Donna and the Doctor before returning home – she sees in Donna the way she used to be when she first met the Doctor, and even though she knows that one day Donna will also have to return home, she doesn’t shatter her illusions.  As for the Doctor, they have once again parted as equals, and although her fiancé is clearly now her main focus, the little looks she gives the Doctor occasionally show that she still has some affection there.

 

I thought that Jenny was a brilliant character, and one I hope we see more of in the future – the final scene certainly gave me hope that she’ll cross paths with her dad again some day, perhaps even as a future companion?  Georgia Moffett gave an excellent performance, all the more so since she truly is the (Fifth) Doctor’s daughter in reality – she seemed to embody all the qualities that we love about the Tenth Doctor, and, like Sally Sparrow in Blink, will surely become one of the most fondly remembered characters of recent years.

 

After playing the Doctor for four years now, you would think that we’ve seen every aspect of his personality, but David just keeps finding new ones that we’ve not seen before.  His reluctance to acknowledge Jenny as his daughter was so accurate, considering the circumstances of her ‘birth’, and the scenes where he opened up to Donna about his past were really touching, as were the moments where a little bit of paternal pride started to seep through (particularly during the laser beam sequence).  Most poignant of all was his last scene with Jenny before she ‘died’ – as with the Master in Last Of The Time Lords, the Doctor’s anguish at once again losing someone close to him was palpable, all the more so since he’d finally allowed himself to feel some affection towards her.  When his grief turned to anger, and he trained the gun on General Cobb, I really thought for a split-second he might actually pull the trigger, but of course doing that would make him no better than a murderer himself, which the Doctor would never do, just as he said.  Russell T Davies had earlier singled out this episode because of David’s amazing performance, and having seen it, he was absolutely right.

 

An excellent episode, once again focusing on the larger issues, rather than the alien threat, but this series has been all the better for that.  The grimness in tone was balanced by the uplifting ending, and it was a shame that the Doctor couldn’t have known that somewhere out there, Jenny is following in her father’s footsteps, and no doubt making him very proud.

 

 

Zoë’s Rating:     8/10

 

 

Name: Alex Werra | Age: 15

 

Since last week’s teaser trailer, I’d had a significant amount of anticipation for this episode.  To say the least I was excited, hysterically excited. I suppose any true Doctor Who fan would be with an episode title such as “The Doctor’s Daughter”.

The basic plot goes like this: The Tardis goes a bit mental, and The Doctor, Donna, and Martha find themselves on a warring distant planet called Messaline, where people are bred to fight. After a tissue sample of the Doctor has been taken, the human inhabitants of the underground produce Jenny, the Doctors daughter.  When Martha is lost to the opposing alien side (The Hath) the travellers must try to find her, and attempt to restore peace to the planet. The Doctor also becomes all paternal on us, after a shaky start.

Once again I wasn’t prepared. My tissues were not by my side, so it’s entirely my own fault that mascara is now streaked all across my face, and I resemble something out of a horror film. I don’t know any other programme that can make me laugh really hard one minute, and then break down in tears the next. “The Doctor’s Daughter” just executed this attribute of the show so well.  Donnas’ one liners, or rants at the Doctor, followed by the images of a beautiful relationship blossoming between the Doctor and Jenny, balanced absolutely perfectly.

It was interesting to watch the Doctor coming to terms with being a father again. The moment when he kind of accepted Jenny, after not using her gun was so cute; he just looked so proud of her. After a tentative start, he fully took the role of “Dad” seriously, and began to care about her. This is what made her death scene so powerful, and devastating. It was slightly reminiscent of when the Master was dying at the end of last series. The Doctor finally thought he had something to hold on to, and then it is taken away from him. Also, just like the Master, Jenny died in the Doctors arms (not a bad place to be really), and there was nothing her could do to stop it. Argh the look of agony on his face as he realised she would not regenerate, will be forever etched in my mind.

A point that has been emphasised this series is that the Doctor does not fight, and is not a soldier. His disapproval of guns and combat has been a big factor in how things pan out in episodes. “The Doctor’s Daughter, is a prime example of this, as after his daughter has just been killed and he points a gun at General Cobb’s head he says the immortal line “I never would”.

Story wise, I thought the episode was really clever.  The fact that we didn’t find out lots about the opposing sides to start off with, made the revelation that the war had only been going on for seven days, have more impact. I actually do love Donna, and her temping skills, is there any ob she hasn’t done?  I think it was a good idea to incorporate it with the whole Jenny thing, because on its own, I don’t know how it would have held up for forty five minutes.

The Hath, weren’t so much a monster really, they were just there. I was disappointed by the fact that they couldn’t talk, actually, more annoyed. You don’t get to see their intelligence just from their actions. Maybe that’s the point, they are silent but deadly? I know they are fish, but can’t they have a translator device, like the Ood had?

Martha and The Doctor’s farewell wasn’t as emotional as I thought it would have been, but I suppose it doesn’t matter because I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of her later on in the series.

I’d also like to meet the revived Jenny again. Hmm, I’m a bit confused as to whether it’s classed as a regeneration if her appearance hasn’t changed, but I suppose that is not important. What is important is the fact that the Doctor doesn’t know she’s alive! Bless him. I strongly hope they find each other. Eventually.

Favourite line: “We’re not a couple” with accompanying awkwardness.

“The Doctor’s Daughter” gets once again a nine out of ten, I’m expecting great things in the future.

 

Name: Emma Jane Shepherd | Age: 35

The TARDIS has answered a call to a planet called Messaline.    The Doctor, Donna and Martha are immediately greeted by armed soldiers and the Doctor is forced to have his hand scanned.   The scanner takes a tissue sample and creates from that the Doctor's Daughter who duly emerges from a machine.    The Humans explain that this is how they reproduce their kind and that they are born automatically as grown soldiers trained to fight.  War is all the Humans know.  A war has been raging between the Humans and the "Hath" for generations.   In the next instance everyone is running because the "Hath" are on their way.     The Hath, who are half-human half fish,  duly appear and the fighting commences during which Martha is kidnapped by the Hath.   The fighting intensifies and to escape the soldiers blow the tunnel they are in trapping Martha with the Hath and separating her from the Doctor and Donna.    It is the Doctor's "Daughter" "Jenny" (name given to her by Donna) who blows the tunnel.   The Doctor tries to talk to her to say that there are other ways than killing but she confirms she is just a solider and asks who he is, what he does and concludes he is just the same.    The Doctor just sees Jenny as a product rather than offspring despite Donna's attempts to try to get him to feel some paternal instinct and there is some great humour here with references to Child Support Agency and other humour.  The Doctor and Donna vow to save Martha and are taken to the humans hide out where they meet the war mad General Cobb.

In the meantime things look grim for Martha as she is surrounded by the Hath.  However, Martha treats one of the Hath for a dislocated shoulder and gains all their trust.    It quickly becomes obvious that both the Humans and the Hath have now real knowledge as to why they are fighting but it is just something inbred into them.

There is some really strong dialogue about the futility of war a point which the Doctor Who team have made before but do so brilliantly every time and tonight is no exception.  We also learn again of the Doctor's pain in losing his own family in the Timewar.

The war seems to centre around the "lifeforce" which is the source of power of the planet.  Initially this just seems to be a myth but thanks to the
Doctor's sonic screwdriver on a map and Donna's amazing powers of deduction with codes it transpires there is  temple housing the source and because the generations are made so quickly the code used is actually a date and the war has only been raging seven days.   Today is the seventh day.

Unfortunately by the Doctor discovering this he then leads the two tribes to direct out and out war.   The map is a central map and Martha sees the temple and heads for this.  She manages to reach the temple after having her life saved by the Hath she saved.  It really was a strong moment of acting and script writing as the Hath sacrifices itself to save Martha.   

Martha, the Doctor and Donna reunited.  They also have Jenny in tow who the Doctor is trying to persuade to realise there is so much more than war, there is life and lots of running (especially when you are with the Doctor)

The tribes arrive at the temple and it looks as though battle is about to commence but the Doctor stands in the middle to try to negotiate.  The source and the temple is a terra forming house which means that it grows plants and gives life.  If the source is realised it will rejuvenate the planet and there is a chance to begin again and live together peacefully.   Both sides put down their weapons that is all but General Cobb.   The General goes to shoot the Doctor but Jenny steps in front and is shot instead and dies.    There is then a moving scene of loss, yet again!!, for the Doctor (how much more can one Timelord take!)   The Doctor then actually picks up a gun and aims it at the General but of course he does not shoot he just says to the General "I would not" to prove that he is as far removed from being a soldier as possible.  Sunlight streams in through the windows and life begins.   Plans are made for Jenny's funeral.

The Doctor, Donna and Martha leave.

However, Jenny has two hearts and just as two soldiers start to attend to her funeral she wakes up as says "hello boys" she gets herself into a space pod and tells them she is off to find planets and save civilisations.   We will see Jenny again.

The TARDIS and its crew return home and Martha says goodbye and goes into her house.

I thought the writing was fast paced tonight and the script was very strong and had more than a few nods to Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy with the terra forming room and even some incidental music at the beginning using some of the Hitchhikers theme music.  I also thought it had a cosy Doctor Who family feel to it tonight with the irony of Jenny being played by Peter Davison's Daughter (Peter Davison is a former Doctor himself) so indeed she is the Doctor's Daughter.  Also with the nods to Hitchhikers which was written by Douglas Adams who also wrote Doctor Who stories in the original series.  The actual Hath/Human storyline was quite basic but there were so many sub-plots threaded throughout this episode that really made it very strong indeed.   The Hath/Human storyline would have been enough on its own but it was the sub-plots that really made up the story to a great script.  

Donna's character is just getting stronger and stronger - Catherine Tate is just excellent I am really enjoying the banter between her and the Doctor.

I am also really pleased that Jenny was not killed off and it is obvious that she will be back, maybe for this series finale - "Who" knows?

I also really the clockwork mouse being used as a distraction technique.

The series  is just proving to be excellent with strong stories every time so far.  I don't feel there has been a weak episode yet and I don't think there will be.   I am pleased however that in this series the Assistant is not madly in love with the Doctor this time.   Although those storylines were written brilliantly I do feel it was time for a change in the dynamics between the Doctor and his Assistant.  I really feel this is working this series with Donna giving the Doctor a real run for his money and even telling him tonight he was "wrong!"

A strong 8 out of 10

Name: Emily Cook | Age: 14

Summary: The TARDIS is drawn to the planet Messaline, where the Doctor steps out of the TARDIS to have a DNA tissue sample extrapolated from him. Moments later, a young woman steps out of a machine – she is the Doctor’s daughter. An alien species called the Hath come marching into the scene, and on of them kidnaps Martha. The Doctor’s daughter blocks them off form the Hath and Martha. Martha is still with a Hath, but she helps him using her medical skills. She is now a friend of the Hath. The Doctor and Donna are with some soldiers and the Doctor’s daughter. Donna comes up with the name Jenny for her. Jenny is a solider. Ina room filled with soldiers the Doctor discovers a map, which Martha and the Hath can see, leading the source – something that the humans and the hath are fighting for. Cobb (one of the soldiers) see the Doctor and a dangerous threat so have him Jenny, and Donna locked up. Donna tries to get the Doctor to come to terms with Jenny, as he discovers that she has two hearts. Jenny distracts one of the guards, then the trio escape. Meanwhile Martha has reached the land above the underground planet of Messaline. It’s very cold, damp, and muddy. She slips and falls a long way and falls in to some sinking mud. The hath that she has developed a bond with, gives up his life to save her.

The Doctor, Donna and Jenny continue to get away from Cobb, but come across some laser beams. The Doctor and Donna get safely across, but the beams come back before Jenny gets there. She does some flips and cartwheels and gets through them. The Doctor now starters to see Jenny as his daughter. With help from Donna the Doctor says that Jenny can travel with them, but sill seems a little unsure. He then tells Donna about being a dad before.

Martha finishes of her trek and comes to the civilisation on planet Messaline.

Throughout the journey of Messaline, Donna tries to work out the reason for the numbers on the walls, and finally she find that they are the completion date of each section, and the war between humans and hath has only lasted 7 days, not years. The Doctor, Donna, Jenny and Martha find the source, just as the humans and hath are approaching. The Doctor declares the war over and smashes the source, which brings new life to everything. Cobb (sill in military mode) picks up a gun and aims it at the Doctor. Just as he shoots, Jenny steps in the way and gets shot. She dies in the Doctor’s arms. There is a ceremony held for Jenny, after which the Doctor, Donna and Martha leave in the TARDIS. He takes Martha home, but back on Messaline, Jenny comes back to life, and sets of in an escape pod. She says that she’s off the save planets and civilisations – just like the Doctor.

 

Highlights: In previous episodes of Doctor who the Doctor has mentioned having a daughter. In the first ever episode the Doctor did travel with his granddaughter Susan, and in series 2 Fear Her the Doctor tells Rose that he was a dad once. This is mentioned again to Donna in this episode. Of course when the Doctor told Rose that he was a dad once he could have been referring to Jenny, and the events of this episode could have happened to him in his past but we watch it in our future. This is very unlikely.

This episode showed a really different side of the Doctor, which we have not before seen, and it is acted fantastically, amazingly well by David Tennant. It was also very emotional for the Doctor. After his battle with UNIT last week about them not using guns etc. he finds that he has a daughter who is a solider carrying a gun. In a sense, this is everything he is not. He seems very reluctant to her at first. Just small things like not mentioning her on the phone to Martha showed this. I do love it how the Doctor never wants to fight – he’ll always try to reason. A good analogy of this is looking up genocide in the dictionary, and seeing a picture of the Doctor saying ‘over my dead body’. Although, after the Doctor has tried to reason, he will kill if he has to. And he doesn’t do it with any pleasure, he just knows it’ what he has to do. Each time the Doctor looses someone important in his life, it makes him a stronger person, but doesn’t necessarily make doing what he does any easier. What makes things hard for the Doctor in this episode, is begin told be Jenny, and seeing throughout Jenny that he is a soldier. The scene in the cells is where this mostly happens. She tells him that he is a soldier with weapons (i.e the sonic screwdriver). The he discovers that Jenny had two hearts too, and he finds this hard. After loosing the Master, he doesn’t want to get too close to someone of his species because the chances are, he’ll just looses them. I suppose the Doctor could put his hand back in the DNA extrapolator and produce lots more Time Lords and Ladies but it wouldn’t be the best thing. The Doctor begins to accept Jenny after she has done the amazing flips and cartwheels in and around the laser beams. He can she that she is not exactly like him. Donna points out these differences, and how Jenny makes the Doctor speechless (which is a very rare occasion), and when Jenny distracts the guard with a kiss, she tells the Doctor she’d like to see him do that. Wouldn’t we all – although I’d like to be the person her is distracting!!

Just as the Doctor and Jenny begin to have a father/daughter relationship, Jenny gets shot – very suddenly. The Doctor is the one looking up to Donna and Martha for help. When he cradles Jenny is his arms, he is mirroring what he did with the Master in The Last of the Time Lords.

Then, very suddenly, the Doctor picks up a gun and threatens Cobb. This is very un-Doctor like. He doesn’t kill Cobb, but to even see the Doctor pick up a weapon is just not right. his speech to the humans and hath about being a man who never would is very emotional, but fantastic, and we see the Doctor at his best. Not just talking, but saying something, and in the end, the Doctor is always right, and the Doctor always wins.

The Doctor’s two companions also had important roles to play. Donna warmed to Jenny very much and took on a very mature role in this episode. She came up with her name –Jenny (as in genetic) and worker very hard to try to get the Doctor to warm to her too. She sort of took on the role of the mother, which is very relevant considering the Doctor and Donna where once again mistaken for a couple as I think they have in almost every episode. Why are they always mistaken for a couple? The Doctor and Martha, and the Doctor and Rose were occasionally mistaken for couples, but not as frequently and persistently as this! Donna is really good for the Doctor. She brings him back to reality, and is not afraid to put her human point of view across. Donna also mentioned her friend Nerys who was in the Runaway Bride. When the Doctor modestly tells Jenny he does nothing, Donna elaborates on what he really does. I loved her comment about the running, as I get a real adrenaline when people run on Doctor Who. And just seeing the Doctor and Donna run hand in hand together was so sweet. The Doctor really is comfortable with her just as a friend. Donna also uses her number skills to crack the number codes, proving just how useful she is to the Doctor.

Martha, on the other hand, spent little time with the Doctor in this episode – and I felt a bit sorry for her as she always gets slightly left out by the Doctor, even though she’s over him. Anyway, she developed a bond with one of the hath. Her comment about never leaving a patient was very Doctor like. The Doctor has taught her well. It was really cute of the hath where they were stroking Martha, but I still don’t understand how she knew what they were saying. When the TARDIS translates alien language in her head, we would hear it too. Martha also shows some Doctorness when the hath saves her life but dies. Her emotional scene when she cried was acted really well in my opinion. It’s hard to fake being that upset. The only thing that makes me so unbelievably upset is whenever I watch Rose’s final scene with the Doctor! She feels that it was her fault, and even though it was just one alien life, she knows that it could still be living. I think the main reason why she can’t travel with the Doctor anymore is because she really feels their pain.

It’s really nice to see Donna and Martha friends as they can give advice to each other, but Donna really shouldn’t have said she was going to travel with the Doctor forever. As much as anyone would like that, it’s what Rose said, and look what happened to her.

This episode really did have everything. Villains, aliens, fighting, the Doctor being the Doctor, the companions having a really important role and helping the Doctor, and there were references to the Time war. It was a brilliant episode with spellbinding performances form all the actors and actresses.

But at the end, Jenny comes back to life (and she is full of life) and she sets off in to space, just like her dad. It left a lot of ends untied that we might see some more of in the future.

 

Favourite Bit: There were so many good bits in this episode, but one that really stood out for me was the Doctor’s speech to the human and hath about being a ‘man who never would’.

Favourite Quote: "You always talk, but you never say anything

Rating: 8/10