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Review: 'Doctor Who' - The Poison Sky


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By ALAN STANLEY BLAIR
Source: SyFy Portal
May-04-2008

The following contains MAJOR SPOILERS for "The Poison Sky," the fifth episode from the fourth season of the BBC’s "Doctor Who."

"I’m stuck on Earth like a human. How rubbish is that? No offense." – The Doctor

Regardless of how you feel about scribe Helen Raynor’s time traveling efforts last season, The Sontaran two-part installment is clearly a winner.

You can forget squid heads, bad interpretations of New York City and a supporting cast you care nothing about, as “The Poison Sky” takes all the elements introduced in “The Sontaran Stratagem” and fills them out a little with some added information, more hints to the future and some pretty nifty effects shots that will make you swoon.

The greatest addition to the story is by far hints of a more sinister purpose than war for the Sontarans arrival on Earths doorstep. After multiple alien invasions, the novelty of having a spaceship parked in orbit threatening to wipe out humanity definitely loses its impact.

But what “The Poison Sky” did was paint their plans on a bigger canvas -- they don’t want Earth or humanity, all they want is a world to continue cloning so that their epic war may continue.

Most of the niggling doubts from the previous episode are gone, however the direction of the story does have a few missed opportunities. The absence of Martha, more banter between the companions and some expansion on UNIT being the key areas. Still, at least there are no ridiculous pig-people running around the sewers.

What Worked

The Doctors (David Tennant) response to Ross’ death, the casual killing of the brainwashed troops, the Valiant clearing away the gas, and The Sontaran’s working their way through the base with the camera tracking their laser shots were some of the episodes highlights. The Doctor uttering “are you my mummy?” after donning a gas mask being the clear winning moment.

With Martha (Freema Agyeman) essentially absent for the majority of the episode, it was left to Donna (Catherine Tate) to provide the emotional human element. Her touching telephone exchange with her family were cleverly assembled and wonderfully script considering the actors were all separated for the whole exchange. Will Donna’s Gramps ever get a chance to see the stars himself? The new “Doctor Who” series has a fantastic way of bringing in the most average of characters and totally transforming them into major players.

The Doctor of this episode was also a lot darker than what has normally been seen on the series, and through his plans to ignite the Sontaran air and wipe out their entire force, there were signs of the great warrior from the Time War. Through his plan we saw the soldier that served through the last Great War and ended it all. The whole setup was very similar to the end of the first season as Chrisopher Eccleston’s Doctor prepares to ignite a delta wave to wipe out the Daleks.
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Plus there was also a nice surprise as the Tardis screens present a small glimmer of Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) screaming for The Doctor. The moment was so small that if you blink you’d miss it and the minute appearances of the former companion is certainly this seasons theme.

What Didn’t Work

After a fantastic appearance in “Torchwood” and a bold claim to bring the Doctor back to Earth last week, Martha Jones was absent without leave for the vast majority of the episode. You can forget diabolical antics from her cloned self because all the Sontaran pawn does is push a button every five minutes to prevent UNIT from launching its nuclear weapons. Martha saying goodbye to Martha was oddly touching, though.

Also, with Luke being reduced to a vulnerable child following the completion of the tasks set by his Sontaran masters was an interesting development for his character, as was his decision to grow up and save the day. However, the whole process was confined to the sidelines making his character pretty much useless. UNIT soldier Ross suffered the same fate.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

"Doctor Who" stars David Tennant, Catherine Tate and Freema Agyeman, and airs Saturday nights at 6.20 p.m. GMT on BBC 1, and then on Friday nights on The SciFi Channel at 8.30 p.m. ET. "The Poison Sky" was written by Helen Raynor and was directed by Douglas MacKinnon.

Alan Stanley Blair is the assistant news editor for SyFy Portal and its sister site Rabid Doll. Contributing from his home country of Scotland, he is currently studying for a diploma in freelance journalism and can be reached at anytime at ablair@syfyportal.com.