Doctor Who - Series 4, Volume 1 [DVD] [2008]
![Doctor Who - Series 4, Volume 1 [DVD] [2008]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/514fziagN5L._SL160_.jpg) RRP £17.99 Lowest New Price £3.00 
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Suitable for 12 years and over 2 Entertain Video Release date: Monday 2nd of June 2008 Starring: Format: PAL, Colour, Region code: 2 Running time: 135 minutes Language: English (Original Language) |
We needn’t have worried. The three episodes on this disc, while not vintage Doctor Who (they always save the better episodes for the latter part of each season, after all), have plenty to offer. Partners In Crime is a fun way to start the series, primarily concerned with setting up the Catherine Tate-David Tennant mechanic, and allowing the former to dispel many of the concerns aimed in her direction. It’s forgettable stuff, about a miracle diet, but is still entertaining, and Sarah Lancashire is a welcome guest star. Next up is The Fires Of Pompeii, and this is where the action kicks in. There’s a little bit of continuing to set up the main character dynamics, but this is the episode that the effects budget was clearly thrown at. With a massive volcano eruption, impressive monsters and a fast-moving plot, it’s good stuff. Finally, a welcome return for a foe from series past, in Planet Of The Ood. This is a well-written story, with some solid monsters in it, and throws in plenty of moral conundrums along the way. Good stuff. With three good stories, there’s plenty to enjoy here, and it sees the fourth series of Doctor Who getting off to a strong start. Count us among those who can’t wait for the rest of it... --Jon Foster
RRP: £17.99
Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review
There’s been a lot of pressure on the fourth series of Doctor Who. Could Russell T Davies and his team keep the momentum going? Would Catherine Tate overcome the initial criticisms and prove to be a strong companion for the Doctor? And, well, how do you top the three series of the revived show that we’ve enjoyed so far?
Series Four kicks off in style
Review date: 2009-05-21 Rating: 8 out of 10
'Doctor Who' returned to TV in 2008 with the prospect of featuring what might have been one of its greatest enemies - audience familiarity. With the novelty of new Who having worn off, could the series continue to attract viewers and keep them happy? Remarkably, Series Four seems to have taken the show to new heights of public popularity, and its first three episodes are present on this DVD.
'Partners in Crime' is, on the face of it, a lightweight opening episode, concerning diet pills that literally make fat walk away, in the form of baby alien creatures called Adipose. It's the kind of dubious plot that has the potential to veer into the ridiculous, and to some extent it does - but surprisingly, in a good way. It's helped by not taking itself too seriously, and of course, by Catherine Tate returning as Donna Noble, the titular Runaway Bride of the 2006 Christmas special. Russell T Davies' sparky script provides the kind of breezy breackneck pace regular viewers will be well used to, imbued with a real sense of fun. Also, the Adipose are a triumph, marking a first for the show in providing alien monsters that are genuinely rather cute. 'Partners in Crime' isn't the best the series has to offer by a long way, but it did manage to defy all my expectations and pull something entertaining out of a not-especially promising idea.
Bringing back the Ood must have seemed like a bit of a no-brainer for the production team, as they are one of the few original monsters encountered in the revived series that can properly stand shoulder to shoulder with the best of the Doctor's classic adversaries. Unfortunately, 'Planet of the Ood' is a bit of a disappointment. Visually, it's very impressive with its creation of a sprawling, snowy alien environment, but in attempting to give greater depth to the Ood, the script does them a disservice. It takes away some of the fun, leaving us with a run-of-the-mill 'Doctor Who' adventure, albeit one with one or two entertaining and somewhat macabre twists along the way.
But if you buy this DVD for one episode, make it 'The Fires of Pompeii'. Partly filmed in Italy, on standing sets from the TV series 'Rome', this story manages to cram in more incident and spectacle in 45 minutes than many Hollywood movies manage in more than twice the time. Tightly plotted, and with a collection of interesting and engaging characters, it's so much more than just an effects-filled extravaganza. Particularly noteworthy are the scenes where the Doctor and Donna find themselves at loggerheads over the rights and wrongs of altering history, and whether it is the Time Lord's place to interfere in such matters. David Tennant and Catherine Tate play these scenes beautifully, Tate in particular establishing Donna as so much more than the mouthy, self-centred figure she may have first appeared in 'The Runaway Bride'. It boasts a fine guest cast too, including Peter Capaldi and Phil Davis. If there's an episode that proves 'Doctor Who' still has much to offer, this is it.
So, a solid start to the fourth series, although only one of these episodes is absolutely essential viewing. They're all worthy of your attention to some extent, though, and the scale of their ambition has to be applauded.
Reviews
A new dawn for Donna!
Review date: 2009-02-07 Rating: 10 out of 10
The first `vanilla' release from Series four of the revived Doctor Who series stars David Tennant as the nomadic Timelord and features Catherine Tate as his companion, Donna Noble. We last saw Donna in the 2006 Christmas Special; The Runaway Bride; and she reappears here investigating the mysterious `Adipose Industries', a company that claims to have produced a fat-busting pill that leaves the user transformed - literally. Donna is clearly hoping to re-encounter The Doctor, after she rejected his previous offer to travel in time and space with him; and this she does, as it seems that the Timelord is also extremely interested in what Adipose Industries are up to. The two eventually meet in one of the series' great moments so far, and quickly prove that they are a great combination - Donna is quick to eschew any romance between them and the Doctor courteously (but clearly relieved!) concurs. `Partners in Crime' is a worthy start to the new series; although the Adipose themselves are far too bland and cuddly to make interesting aliens. The real `monster' is intergalactic super-nanny Miss Foster; played with relish by Sarah Lancashire. As a way of kicking off the new series and reminding the viewer of the state of things, this does the job perfectly; as a stand alone episode it is slightly above average.
Donna's first excursion-proper in the TARDIS takes the travellers to Rome at the height of its powers; however it isn't Rome but actually Pompeii - circa AD 79 - the day before Vesuvius erupts with devastating consequences. The lava creatures `The Pyrovile' are hiding under the volcano and using the `Sybilline Sisterhood' to convert people to Pyroviles. The sumptuous scenery (on location in Italy) and the many colourful characters, make this one of the outstanding stories filmed for Doctor Who. The new series' ability to attract great guest stars remains undiminished, with Peter Capaldi and Phil Davis appearing as local marble dealer and sinister town soothsayer respectively. The Pyrovile are also great value and the creepy sisterhood reminded me of 70s Gothic Doctor Who - specifically `The Brain of Morbius'. Apparently this was one of the least critically-acclaimed episodes in the series; but I have to confess that I enjoyed it immensely; the cringeworthy deification of The Doctor at the end notwithstanding. Visual nods to previous serials - such as the aforementioned Brain of Morbius and 1979 story `City of Death' are subtle, but great for long-term fans. Writer James Moran also incorporated several references from the first three series, such as `The Shadow Proclamation' and `The Medusa Cascade'. The central premise - that The Timelord needs an earthly companion to `humanise' him, was well-worked and not to pushy; as R.T. Davies' ideas occasionally are.
The third and final story on this disc sees the TARDIS crew travel to a `proper' alien planet, where they find themselves on the `Ood-Sphere' with the servile Ood; a race that the Ninth Doctor encountered back in the first series in 2005. The year is 4126 and The Ood are being exploited as servants for wealthy humans; Tim McInnerney's oily owner of Ood Operations, Klineman Halpen, is chief villain here; whilst Roger Griffiths plays one-dimensional sadistic Head of Security `Commander Kess'. The episode's central theme of slavery remains true to the show's original tenets to be educational and issue-based, and the central pairing of Tennant and Tate is growing into a great partnership. It's truly exciting to see such a well-realised alien world - if only The Trial of a Timelord had been able to boast such impressive CGI! The story is gripping throughout, whilst the grotesque ending is classic Doctor Who.
Doctor Who's return to form!
Review date: 2008-08-24 Rating: 8 out of 10
This is a definite comeback for Doctor Who after the lamentable time of Martha Jones who to me was a very one dimensional character. Catherine Tate, who isn't constantly in awe of the Doctor, adds a lot of humour to proceedings.
The first episode, "Partners in Crime" was not scary as such but made you think and featured great turns by Sarah Lancashire as Miss Foster and Verona Joseph (Jess from Holby City) as nosy a journalist. The Adipose were also the cutest monster in existance.
Episode number two, "The Fires of Pompeii" is probably the weakest episode as the monsters were neither scary nor particularly thought provoking. However, when you return to this episode, having watched the whole of this series there are many threads and references to pick up on which become relevant later on.
The third episode, "Planet of the Ood" is deeply moving and thought provoking. It also sees development in the character of Donna, no longer simply humourous and feisty. This is definitely the most scary episode of the three and the most taut and interesting storyline.
Overall, three great episodes which you will be surprised how many times you'll watch and which become more fascinating after you've watched the later episodes in this series...
Bravo Ood-Kind!
Review date: 2008-08-09 Rating: 8 out of 10
Gotta say, the Oods are the star of the show here! They may not be beautiful, but they are appealing to non-wimpy kids and adults alike. Planet of the Ood is the best episode set in the 4000s where to Oods are enslaved by cruel humans on a distant planet. Adipose is the second best which has funny moments and 'Eew gross' moments. Then The Fires of Pompeii. Well, oh dear. The kids don't like it, the sensitive find it too sad and the normal people are bored stiff. For that it loses out on five stars. Shame. Still I would buy the DVD as it does contain two of the best Doctor Who episodes to date!
Contains two of the best stories of the series. A delight.
Review date: 2008-07-12 Rating: 10 out of 10
After the disappointment of the mainly dismal third series, this one has turned out to be the best yet. This is mostly thanks to Catherine Tate joining the Doctor as his companion. After the emotional turmoil of Rose, and having to suffer the vacant, goggle-eyed staring of Martha, the poor old Doc was badly in need of some light relief, and he certainly gets it with Donna, especially in the first story in the series. Though as the season progresses, we see far more to Donna's personality than just wise-cracking humour and wittiness. But in the first story, we get quite a bit of that and most welcome it is too. The hilarious moment when the Doc and Donna first clap eyes on each other is classic and just gets funnier the more I see it. And this is mainly down to Donna's lively, ebullient personality, which makes such a refreshing change from what has gone before, and of course, she's pretty too, which helps, but mainly it's her vibrant, sparky personality that draws you in and makes you want more.
Miss Foster is hilarious too, in an icily restrained manner, and the Adipose make you go 'aaahh' they are so cute. It was a nice, fun episode, but with pathos too, when we see Donna at home being nagged by her unappreciative mother, and then with her grandfather on the hillside at night, telling him about the Doctor and how she wanted to find him. And then at the end, after she'd found him, but momentarily doubted that he still wanted her to accompany him, she switched from high spirits and ebulliance to vulnerability in the blink of an eye. And then, when she doubted the Doctor's intentions and misinterpreted something he said, she was outraged at what she thought was a dishonourable suggestion on his part, and this was her back in expressively funny mode. The whole interaction between them a delight to behold.
A wonderful first episode to start the season off.
Not so keen on the second story, as I'm not usually with the historical ones, but still entertaining and the relationship between Donna and the Doctor evolving into them being very comfortable in each other's presence and with a lively repartee bouncing off one another that ran throughout the whole series. Nice how the Doctor was shown to be responsible for the events that happened way back in history. This was quite cleverly worked in to the story and was a bit of a twist seeing as how it wasn't really going to happen and he had caused it all along.
The Planet of the Ood was a delight. Once again, the humans were shown in a bad light and the Ood as really rather superior in their innocence. The planet could have been shown a bit more, rather than just snow-covered industrial machinery, but I guess maybe budget restrictions could have been behind this. But it was still very effective and Donna's sympathy for the Ood was very touching. At least in this story, the Ood had a happier outcome to the last time we saw them.
All in all, a great start to a great fourth season. And if you only buy one dvd from this season, then to me, this would be the best.
Oh, and I think the picture on the cover of the dvd is the best yet too!
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Sarah Lancashire
Catherine Tate
David Tennant
Billie Piper
Bernard Cribbins
Creators:
David Tennant (Primary Contributor)
Catherine Tate (Primary Contributor)
Recording label: 2 Entertain Video
Manufacturer: 2 Entertain Video
EAN: 5014503260521
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL, Colour,
Release date: 2008-06-02
Audience rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 135 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2008
Language: English (Original Language)
Tech info, cast and quotes/trivia when available. Exclusions may apply with free delivery. Price and availabiltity subject to change
