Doctor Who 4x05 - "The Poison Sky"

[Danny Stewart]

"The Poison Sky" by Helen Raynor
As the Sontarans begin to choke the Earth and UNIT has to deal with a treacherous agent, the planet prepares for a war footing. The Doctor tries to keep Donna and Martha alive.

[Ross Hendrie]

Best episode of the season so far. 10/10. Brilliant.

[Dalek104]

Very impressive. I agree, best episode of the five!

[Jamie Minty]

That was amazing. Special effects was a mazing, the story was amazing and superb acting all round.

Love the Sontarans.

and ... ROSE!

[Josef Kenny]

Originally Posted by Jamie Minty

and ... ROSE!

Yeah! For 18 frames

[Ronnie Rowlands]

You're clearly not a very busy man are you, Rat?

[Jamie Minty]

Originally Posted by Rat Souffle

Yeah! For 18 frames

But it was Rose nonetheless.

Shes obviously in trouble. she wouldn't scream like that if she just wanted to pop in and say hello.

[Josef Kenny]

Really? I would. That's why I don't have a webcam, I'd scare people.

[Kody]

Damn, loved it.

The blip of rose screaming, what looks like "Doctor" caught me completly off guard, spooked me. In a awesome way.

FX, Acting, etc.. all a big thumbs up.

The new colonel proved himself in this one as well. Might never replace Lethbridge, but he'll stand on his own.

Pulling out the new guns, the speech to the troops and then bringing the Valiant down.. that was sheer genius. Loved it. A sort of.. "Did he.. HE DID!" moment. - Oh, thought it was fitting he was the one that gunned down Skorr. - "Thank you Doctor, thank you for your lack of faith, but this time I'm NOT listening!" Hell, the entire speech was awesome.

Few little jokes and all that, maybe I shouldn't have laughed or enjoyed them as much as I did, but.. "Are you my mummy?" with the gas mask got me good.

Ratt at the end with Sontar.. HAH. Made me laugh out loud with a resounding 'HAH!'.

Yet another one.. Martha running over to sit with the Doctor, hugging him and sitting with him as he crawls out of the teleport.. then Donna outright smacking him. I'm starting to really love her.

All in all, enjoyable story with a good pace. Very 'doctor-ish' moments.. noticing Martha was fake, all his little comments, coming up with how to save them, the bit about Ross when he died.. and then in the end, the very somber "I have to give them a chance." - Really reminds you a lot about what he stands for.

Last but not least, another round of props to the Sontarans.. seriously, love the actors and the script behind them, they just seem so right.

Observation at the end.. it seemed like the camera kept cutting to the bubbling hand under the console, wonder if it means anything?

As for next week.. it scares me, it really does. It has the potential to be very good, or very bad. We'll have to see. Fingers crossed!

[Danny Stewart]

Originally Posted by Larren

The blip of rose screaming, what looks like "Doctor" caught me completly off guard, spooked me. In a awesome way.

I confess, I didn't notice it the first time I watched it, nor did my brother, and nor did my mother. What caught me off guard was seeing "Rose Tyler BILLIE PIPER" in the credits. I thought it was a genuine mistake, until I talked to people and they pointed me in the right direction.

Originally Posted by Larren

FX, Acting, etc.. all a big thumbs up.

Agreed.

Originally Posted by Larren

The new colonel proved himself in this one as well. Might never replace Lethbridge, but he'll stand on his own.

Also agreed. I just want a recurring face or two at UNIT -- then I'll be happy.

Originally Posted by Larren

Pulling out the new guns, the speech to the troops and then bringing the Valiant down.. that was sheer genius. Loved it. A sort of.. "Did he.. HE DID!" moment. - Oh, thought it was fitting he was the one that gunned down Skorr. - "Thank you Doctor, thank you for your lack of faith, but this time I'm NOT listening!" Hell, the entire speech was awesome.

The speech was enjoyable, although I was sad to see the Valiant back. I hated the Valiant in Last of the Time Lords. It was much better here, but it still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

Originally Posted by Larren

Few little jokes and all that, maybe I shouldn't have laughed or enjoyed them as much as I did, but.. "Are you my mummy?" with the gas mask got me good.

Heh. Unfortunately I accidentally read it on Wikipedia shortly before watching the episode, so I saw it coming. But it was an awesome line nonetheless.

Originally Posted by Larren

Ratt at the end with Sontar.. HAH. Made me laugh out loud with a resounding 'HAH!'.

Yeah. I liked the chant last week, but I thought they overdid it a bit this week. Still, it was worth it in the end for Rattigan's line.

Originally Posted by Larren

Yet another one.. Martha running over to sit with the Doctor, hugging him and sitting with him as he crawls out of the teleport.. then Donna outright smacking him. I'm starting to really love her.

Donna was quite good in last week's, and she was great in this one. No issues with Donna this week at all.

Originally Posted by Larren

All in all, enjoyable story with a good pace. Very 'doctor-ish' moments.. noticing Martha was fake, all his little comments, coming up with how to save them, the bit about Ross when he died.. and then in the end, the very somber "I have to give them a chance." - Really reminds you a lot about what he stands for.

All of that was good. It was sad to see them kill off Ross, but I commend them for having the strength to do it.

Originally Posted by Larren

Last but not least, another round of props to the Sontarans.. seriously, love the actors and the script behind them, they just seem so right.

Meh. Christopher Ryan was awesome, and all the Sontarans were written well, but I thought all the other actors ranged from mediocre to crap. Admittedly, though, Skorr was better in this one. Last week he was really crap.

Originally Posted by Larren

Observation at the end.. it seemed like the camera kept cutting to the bubbling hand under the console, wonder if it means anything?

I didn't even know he still had that. I think it's obvious that it has something to do with it, based on the camera and directing.

Originally Posted by Larren

As for next week.. it scares me, it really does. It has the potential to be very good, or very bad. We'll have to see. Fingers crossed!

Based on the trailer, I'd say very bad. Hoping to be pleasantly surprised, though, as I liked Stephen Greenhorn's episode last year. Still, my hopes are not high. In fact, I thought the ending was rather brilliant... I love the idea of leading into the next episode even though they're not related. We had that back in the Hartnell era. I thought doing it again was pretty kickass. But at the same time, I felt like the trailer really let down the awesomeness and mystery of the ending. On my copy, I've edited out the trailer. I feel like the ending is way better like that. I don't have an issue sharing the trailer with anyone, but I feel like the episode kicks way more ass on its own with that WTF ending preserved, at least for a few minutes, so I'm keeping the trailer out of it. I feel like that awesome ending should sink in on its own. Then maybe show off the trailer.

[Kody]

Originally Posted by Danny Stewart

The speech was enjoyable, although I was sad to see the Valiant back. I hated the Valiant in Last of the Time Lords. It was much better here, but it still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

Understandable, I just thought it was a clever use by the Colonel, plus the Mill shot of it from a distance, blowing the smoke away was pretty nice. Otherwise agreed.

Originally Posted by Danny Stewart

Yeah. I liked the chant last week, but I thought they overdid it a bit this week. Still, it was worth it in the end for Rattigan's line.

Agreed again, the chanting didn't have the same.. I dunno, 'intensity' to it.

Originally Posted by Danny Stewart

Christopher Ryan was awesome.

We'll just leave it at that and enjoy his awesome preformance all around then.


I completly forgot to mention something too.. Wilf! He was very enjoyable, as always. Even after escaping from the car, something like a near death experience, (rescued as so many thought would be the case with smashing a window), he tells Donna to go with the Doctor. How can you not love him.

[Danny Stewart]

Originally Posted by Larren

Understandable, I just thought it was a clever use by the Colonel, plus the Mill shot of it from a distance, blowing the smoke away was pretty nice. Otherwise agreed.

No, I completely agree. It was an absolutely ingenious use and I wholeheartedly approve of it, and the effects job by the Mill was also exceedingly impressive. It's purely because I hated it in Last of the Time Lords that it leaves any bad taste in my mouth. Stupid RTD.

Originally Posted by Larren

Agreed again, the chanting didn't have the same.. I dunno, 'intensity' to it.

I didn't know what to make of the chanting the first time I saw it in last week's episode. After watching it again a few times and thinking it over, my opinion changed from mild dislike, to ambivalence, all the way up to really liking it. This week, though, I simply thought it was a bit overused. Still, the decision to add it in the first place was, I feel, a strong one.

Originally Posted by Larren

We'll just leave it at that and enjoy his awesome preformance all around then.

Sounds good to me, haha.

Originally Posted by Larren

I completly forgot to mention something too.. Wilf! He was very enjoyable, as always. Even after being rescued from the car (as so many thought would be the case, smashing a window), he tells Donna to go with the Doctor. How can you not love him.

I absolutely adore Wilf. Love the character and the actor (at least since last week). He should totally travel with the Doctor for a while.

[Ronnie Rowlands]

Nothing much I can say because Larren said it all.

But I will uber praise the scene where the Doctor was threatening the destroy the the Sontaran ship. It was very intense and really showed that the Sontarans had no fear. I loved the idea that they revel in battle and death and savor it as though it were a fine wine. I like the lines Staal came out with in this exchange, "and I salute you, sir!". Brilliant. Such a warlike race cannot fail to be admired. They really were unmovable. Oh and also, that recurring piece of electronic music returned and it sounded awesome in every scene it graced.

[Chris Britton]

I gave this a 9/10, a brilliant ride, not perfect but some nice television to watch, that final standoff between the Doctor and The Sontaran's was tense. Roses appearence was suprising. I had to go back and check a clip on youtube just

Also, the Valiant sucks! I think someone must have found a Marvel Comic, seen a picture of the SHIELD hellcarrier and then ripped that off.

Also since there was a Martha clone, remember when we all discussed the series 4 trailer and i thought the gooey Martha was a clone?

[Ben Dawson]

Nothing I can say that hasn't been said, but I thought it was just a little bit lacking compared to last weeks for some reason, still, great 45 minutes.
I somehow get the feeling that the Doctor's daughter will turn out to be a genetically modified clone or something, either way, I REALLY don't think she'll turn out to be his daughter by natural causes.

[Josef Kenny]

I think RTD said "Yes, she IS his daughter. Biologically (not a clone) and everything."

[Danny Stewart]

Originally Posted by Rat Souffle

I think RTD said "Yes, she IS his daughter. Biologically (not a clone) and everything."

Dear oh dear.

[Superkid11]

So The Doctor has indeed danced...

[Kody]

Originally Posted by Superkid11

So The Doctor has indeed danced...

[Jamie Minty]

Woth Georgia Moffet being my mates cousin I'm hoping they are having a family get together to see it and I'm invited to meet "The Family"