Kyle Braun considers the season past and talks about The Parting of the Ways:
The season finale ([of] Season 27), "The Parting of the Ways," brings to a close a fantastic cliffhanger put in place at the end of the penultimate episode.
Daniel Woolstencroft reviews The Age of Steel, and is less than thrilled:
"The Age Of Steel" is the worst episode of the new season so far, and is potentially the worst episode since Doctor Who returned.
A pair of reviews: iFMagazine and Now Playing
Matthew Milam reviews The Impossible Planet:
All of this danger should have made for a great start to this two-parter from Matt Jones, but instead gets weighed down by erratic tones in the script and too many supporting characters.
Richard Keller over at TV Squad reviews Bad Wolf:
This is where our story begins as The Doctor (Christopher Eccleston), Rose (Billie Piper) and Captain Jack (John Barrowman) get split up into three different game shows. Rose gets stuck on an episode of The Weakest Link where the loser gets disintigrated; Jack lands on an episode of What Not to Wear featuring two androids (who look a bit like large Lego people with breasts) who want to put a duck head on the good Captain and attach his legs onto his chest ; and The Doctor makes it into the Big Brother house (one of sixty on the Game Station) where those evicted get turned into a fine powder.
Matthew Milam takes a look at The Age of Steel:
Apart from the rather unique premise, DW attempted to juggle the development of characters while actually getting on with the story. Sometimes the character development backfired and got in the way of the story, and at other times there was too much story and not enough character development.
Martin Conaghan reviews Return of the Cybermen:
Having experienced the return of the Daleks in the last series, Doctor Who fanatics all over the world have been waiting in anticipation of the return of one of The Doctor's most menacing and memorable foes, who, along with The Master, would complete the full set of evil villains who have repeatedly plagued the time-traveler since 1963.
Richard Keller reviews Boom Town:
Aside from the relationship theme, this episode of Doctor Who was chock-full of good stuff. Writer Russell T. Davies provided us with a brief history on the uses of the telephone box (could keep crooks in there for a temporary basis) and a reason why The Doctor chose this form for his spaceship.
David Woolstencroft reviews Rise of the Cybermen:
The episode starts in much the same way as last season's "Boom Town"; an evil mastermind with a dastardly scheme eliminates a particularly troublesome scientist whose intent of jeopardising said scheme by revealing it to the rest of the world. It's a clichéd, unimpressive opening to an episode that should have had better.
Matthew Milam tries once again to review a Doctor Who episode:
Most impressive were the Cybermen themselves, who as some fans have often said, are far more fearsome than the Daleks. The extent of their powers will, hopefully, be covered hopefully "The Age Of Steel", the second part of the adventure. One thing that did bother me was that "Delete! Delete!" did sound very close to "Exterminate!"
Martin Conaghan at TV Squad reviews The Girl in the Fireplace:
We're only four episodes into the new series of Doctor Who here in the U.K., and already the high quality of stories is starting to shine through, confirmed with a steady increase in the overall audience share, along with the cementing of David Tennant in the title role.
Review of The Girl in the Fireplace over at Now Playing:
This may be as close to a masterpiece as the new series has yet achieved, transcending our expectations of what Doctor Who is, and offering a lovely piece of emotionally-charged science-fiction storytelling. Classic Who rarely delved into the complexities of time itself; the new show has done so several times, but never as captivatingly as it does here.
Daniel Woolstencroft reviews the reunion
Episode three of the second series of new Who clearly has the children in mind; Anthony Head plays an evil head master in a school where something odd is going on, and the unpopular child ultimately becomes the hero and saves a school that's over-run by bat-like aliens. Is this not a classic children's adventure story?
Daniel Woolstencroft over at Blogcritics takes a look at The Girl in the Fireplace
"The Girl in the Fireplace," Moffat's only episode this season, is every bit as good as his last two episodes but in a totally different way. The whole episode is one lovely juxtaposition of science fiction and period drama; taking place in both eighteenth century France and several thousand years in the future.
Richard Keller at TV Squad reviews The Empty Child
It begins with The Doctor and Rose (Billie Piper) landing in 1941 London during the height of the German Blitz of World War II while pursuing a runaway warship displaying the universal emergency color, mauve (Hmm, better let Starfleet know that red is now passe). The two are only together for a few minutes before their stories split.
Christopher Eccleston dials back the goofiness that has often characterized his Doctor and delivers a performance that seems much more finely tuned, with some delightful one-liners and a few nicely nuanced expressions. He seems at once more comfortable in this incarnation now and more prepared to swing into action and get things done, over-reliance on the infinitely versatile new sonic screwdriver aside (one wonders what that thing can't do now).
Now Playing review of School Reunion
A still preternaturally stunning Lis Sladen returns to the role that made her a 1970s childhood icon, bringing with her the bane of the ‘80s Who production crew — K9 the super-intelligent robot dog, who traveled with the Doctor for several years and later joined Sarah Jane.
Matthew Milam reviews School Reunion at the Blogcritics site, complete with ambiguous antecedents:
No matter the length a person spends with a Timelord, he will never grow old nor will he die. I couldn't help feeling that a Christopher Eccelston performance would have exploited that loneliness better. In fact, the whole underlying theme of loss made me think of Christopher Eccelston's Doctor rather than David Tennant's. Character development, however, is hard to achieve in science fiction.
Richard Keller over at TV Squad has posted a review of Father's Day, complete with inaccuracies:
The premise of this episode is a fairly standard one in the science-fiction genre: Rose asks The Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) to return to 1987 for the marriage of her parents Jackie and Pete (Camille Coduri and Shaun Dingwall) and her father's subsequent death.
Now Playing's Arnold T. Blumberg wrote a review of Father's Day:
Now that our time traveling duo have been together for a while, Rose asks the Doctor for a favor that any one of us might be likely to ask if we had a long-lost family member and access to time travel - can she go back and meet the father she never knew?
Television without Pity review The Long Game:
Food stalls everywhere, strange circus music, lines forming out of nowhere, people everywhere, a full-on bazaar, where there was silence a few seconds ago. A stall-keeper yells at a cute guy with spiky hair to get back, and Rose wonders at the "fine cuisine" the Doctor mentioned. He's thrown way off -- bad sign! -- and checks his funny little watch. Rose digs at him: "That's what comes of showing off: your history's not as good as you thought it was." But theDoctor wasn't the one showing off -- his information is fine. It's the world that's off. Noise in the signal. Adam wonders aloud about how there's supposed to be this million-planet federation and all these species, but everywhere they look, it's British people.
Tooth and Claw review at Now Playing:
Queen Victoria’s entourage has been diverted as part of a sinister plot to lure her to the Torchwood estate, where Sir Robert and Lady Isobel have been taken captive by a bizarre band of bald, staff-wielding monks.
Lizo (yeah, I didn't know who he was either) posts a review of School Reunion at the CBBC website:
This time around, we get to meet something from the Doctor's past namely an old companion - Sarah Jane. And with her she's got robot dog K-9 who also spent went on many adventures with the Doctor.
TV Squad's Martin Conaghan reviews Tooth and Claw:
If there was any doubt in my mind last week about David Tennant's ability to occupy the role of The Doctor, it vanished completely with this week's episode Tooth and Claw. Additionally, the weak start set down by last week's series opener was washed away with this fantastic tale of a werewolf stalking the Scottish highlands and included barrel-loads of in-jokes and subtle Doctor Who references.
TV Squad's Richard Keller posts a review of The Long Game:
From the beginning you could tell that this episode would be different from last week's dark, introspective episode. The Doctor, Rose and Adam land on Satellite 5, which broadcasts news of the entire Earth Empire (Yes! We're still great even in the future!). News gathering is performed by one person, whose brain is one big storage unit, while subordinates put the reports together using small mind chips.
It's Television without Pity's turn to review "Dalek":
The Doctor and Rose step out of the TARDIS, talking about how they've been "drawn off course" by some kind of a signal. I think it's rather optimistic to think of themselves as being "on a course" to begin with, but I'm sure they were headed somewhere. The Doctor looks around, and ascertains that they've hit Utah, "North America," in 2012, half a mile underground.
Now Playing review of "The Long Game":
Why is it that the Doctor always seems to find such brave and ethical humans to travel with him? Hasn't he ever picked up someone more self-centered, more prone to temptation - more normal? And what happens when someone who isn't suited to be a companion follows his or her worst impulses and endangers the TARDIS crew? Now the story can be told, with Adam in the role of the foolish, semi-corrupt meddler.
Now Playing review the series 2 primere episode New Earth:
The Doctor is here to answer the summons of the Face of Boe, an ancient being with a secret to share. But soon the Time Lord is more concerned with the mysterious goings-on at the hospital. How are those cat nuns developing all those miraculous medicines?
Martin Conaghan reviews (with spoilers) New Earth:
"Where are we going this time?" said Rose Tyler at the start of New Earth, the first episode of the new series -- and our new Doctor, David Tennant, kicked off by taking Rose and the viewers further than we've ever been before -- and to a much scarier place altogether.
Matthew brings his unique brand of writing to bear in this review of New Earth:
My biggest beef is with Russell T. Davies. Yes he brought the program back, but he still writes like he's unsure of his ability. His dialogue is a little thick and hard to understand. His comedy seems to be forced, especially with the Cassandra sub-plot and the "New New Earth" jokes. Speaking of the sub-plot, that was a story within itself. As the human-like zombies were attempting to invade the hospital, it seemed the script needed to stop and get that joke out whenever it felt it had space to. Concentrate Russell, please.
There is a review of Dalek over at Now Playing magazine:
The Doctor isn't expecting to encounter an old enemy when the TARDIS lands in an underground museum of extraterrestrial artifacts in 2012 Utah. But due to the oft-mentioned mysterious Time War, a single Dalek was drawn through space and time to this planet, where it was eventually acquired by corrupt multimillionaire Henry van Statten.
From The Hollywood Reporter:
Knowing his audience, Davies provides the vital exposition in a few lines of dialogue and soon the doctor and Rose are deep in the bowels of the futuristic hospital where a fellow time traveler known as the Face of Boe (Struan Rodger) has a warning for him about dark doings by the kittenish nurses who run the place.
Television without Pity examines World War Three:
Green asks where the security's been, considering that they've almost all been murdered in there...by the Doctor. He still thinks he's so very much in the movie Clue, and it bugs me, but to be fair, all the Slitheen are like that, very broad and panto -- I've been alerted that "commedia dell'arte" is not as precise a reference, and I don't use the term "camp" unless I'm having pretentious tea with Susan Sontag, who is dead, so: panto -- so maybe it's me. "I think you will find the Prime Minister is an alien in disguise," says the Doctor, and I wonder if maybe leaving the title out of that sentence wouldn't make it seem just a tad less unlikely. Green stares, arms folded, and the Doctor asks the security officer next to him if this is maybe the best strategy. The cop tells him matter-of-factly that it really isn't going to work, and the Doctor nods and takes off down the hallway.
Five billion that is. Rubery Village reviewed Tennant's debut episode as the Doctor:
The episode starts when The Doctor and his assistant Rose, played once again by pop star-turned-actress Billie Piper, take a trip to the year 5,000,000,023. Summoned to a state-of-the-art hospital by 'The Face of Boe', The Doctor soon realises something sinister is behind their miracle disease cures.
Apparently unhappy with their first review of it, Now Playing take another look at Aliens of London:
It's a somewhat refreshing subversion of the usual alien invasion plot, but it doesn't mitigate the juvenile portrayal of the characters, although thankfully the farting gags are minimized this time around and some of the human performances are quite good, particularly those of David Verrey and Annette Badland.
Television Without Pity examines The Aliens of London:
Jackie is hitting the five stages of grief in reverse and has just arrived at Anger: "The hours I've sat here. Days and weeks and months all on my own -- I thought you were dead! And where were you? Travelling. What the hell does that mean, 'travelling'? That's no sort of answer!"
There's a review of "Aliens of London" over at Now Playing magazine:
The invading creatures, the Slitheen, are nicely designed monsters that have disguised themselves with human body suits, complete with metal zippers installed in their foreheads. I'm not kidding - they actually unzip these suits with a metal zipper pull. Meta-jokes about the days of rubber-suited Who monsters aside, this is a ridiculous touch that only draws attention to this being a TV show with a dubious sense of "in" humor. But it gets worse...
Television without Pity examines The Unquiet Dead:
Grandma Redpath drops her grandson and destroys the coffin, heading out into the snow, groaning. Grandma's gotta bounce! As she walks toward the camera, wailing louder and louder, the blue swirling lights around her grow brighter and she walks directly into the camera, screaming, eyes wide and uncomprehending. Holy hell. Thanks for being creepy, Dr. Mark Gatiss, writer of this episode and gifted comedic actor. You rule.
There's a review of The Unquiet Dead over at Now Playing Magazine:
This week, Rose Tyler's education in traveling by TARDIS continues as the Doctor plans to take her to Christmas Eve, 1860, Naples. The ship gets it a bit wrong, however, and deposits them instead on the same night in 1869 Cardiff.