The Mummy Returns

(You knew I was going to do that, didn't you?)

Well, I promised to review The Doctor Dances before Boom Town aired, and so I shall. Unfortunately this week has been quite hectic, as weeks following holidays often are, and it shows no particular sign of letting up. So I'm going to try to keep this brief.

Overall verdict, then: The Doctor Dances was less good than The Empty Child, but nowhere near as much less good as World War Three was than Aliens of London. Er, if that makes sense.

What's more, overall The Empty ... Dances is a massively better two-parter than Aliens ... Three, with all the characters given a chance to be both heroic and interesting, and a resolution which was the precise opposite of just blowing up the bad guys. "Just this once," as the Doctor points out wistfully, "everybody lives." This time the limited setting was hardly noticeable (although admittedly there was a lot more moving around than there was in WW3), and the plot kept up its impetus effectively, resolving itself neatly with only a few, minimal loose ends.

Overall the second half was as tightly constructed, entertaining, textured and witty as the first. If only Bad Wolf and The Parting of the Ways are this good, and hang together this well, I will be a very pleased Doctor Who fan indeed.

Even so, the second half of this two-parter was very different from the first in aims and effect. Where much of TEC was about establishing atmosphere and character, TDD was primarily concerned with conflict and resolution. Character is still important, of course -- as much of the conflict occurs between the Doctor, Rose and Jack as between anybody and the Child -- but the atmosphere is, by now, taken as read.

There were unsettling scenes, but only the Child's voice continuing after the tape had ended came anywhere near the creepiest moments in TEC. Even the transformations of the infected were never going to be as effective the second time around -- although at least this time we get a victim's perspective in the rather pathetic Johnson -- and this time the camera (or its C.G.I. equivalent) wisely doesn't dwell on them.

On the other hand, the witty lines kept coming, and helped to keep up the pace. Only Rose's "He saved my life -- as far as blokes go, that's up there with flossing," sounded overly Couplingesque, and only Dr Constantine's reaction to the woman with two legs went beyond the bounds of the plausible and into sitcom territory. My favourite line was "Rose, I'm trying to resonate concrete!", but that's entirely because of context, and Eccleston's exasperated delivery. The sight gag with the banana worked nicely as well.

Captain Jack is growing on me: it was good to see him reacting to situations which couldn't be resolved through the use of flashy technology, and it's clear that unlike Adam he has both courage and a conscience, albeit neither of them operating in the same way as the Doctor's. His bisexuality is a nice gimmick (he's sharing the TARDIS with the most obvious Doctor / companion couple since Romana's day, and he could swing in the direction of either of them), but the writers are obviously limited in how far they can take that. The character could be acted more interestingly, but he's written well.

(As for his amnesia, that's too obvious a setup for them to actually use in the final episodes, isn't it? I mean, surely? I'd keep it back for next season, personally...)

The episode still didn't achieve flawlessness, of course. The ending was too long (one quiet, reflective scene after the complex and cathartic climax would have been perfect: two of them was stretching it rather), and the resolution, inspiring though it was, didn't entirely make sense. One minute the Doctor asserts that "nothing in the world can stop" the nanogenes, the next he's reprogramming them telepathically. It also seems somewhat odd that the devices know how to resurrect a human but not, for instance, heal his scar... and from what I could gather, Jamie and the other "gasmask people" will have to be careful for the rest of their lives that they don't accidentally broadcast their inmost thoughts whenever they wander near a piece of communications equipment.

But all of these are minor quibbles. On the whole I loved the episode, and given limited time I'd rather dwell on its many admirable aspects: every single scene of the Doctor and Rose either dancing or failing to, for instance; Jack's gadgets; the conversation about the sonic screwdriver ("Never been bored?"). The quite amazing non-violent resolution to the cliffhanger, with the Doctor pulling out of thin air a solution which satisfies on every level and relies on his ingenuity alone. Nancy's performance throughout, the revelation of her relationship with Jamie, and their tearful reunion. Richard Wilson. The Doctor dealing with the bomb using "psychology". Algy: "Jack? Are you my mummy?".

Fantastic stuff.

Each week for the past month I've been astonished at the continuation of the run of shockingly good episodes: from Dalek to The Long Game to Father's Day to The Empty ... Dances we have, I think, the most perfect month of televisual Doctor Who, and certainly by far the best run of four successive T.V. stories, that there's ever been.

Sadly, Boom Town doesn't look like the best way of prolonging that run of quality. Although I'm willing, as ever, to be proven wrong, I'm not sure that even Joe Ahearne's direction (as seen in Dalek and Father's Day) can redeem the Return of the Slitheen. Of all the aliens from this season, I can't think of a single one I wouldn't have preferred to see more of than the fat flatulent skin-stealing chalk-monsters. Not even the ambassadors from the City of Binding Light. Ah, well.

(That wasn't brief, was it? Bugger.)