Customer Reviews
Doctor Who's return to form! - By: N. Preskey, 24 Aug 2008 
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 constantlyin awe of the Doctor, adds a lot of humour to proceedings.
The first episode, "Partnersin Crime" was not scary as such but made you think & featured great turns by Sarah Lancashire as Miss Foster & Verona Joseph (Jess from Holby City) as nosy a journalist. The Adipose were also the cutest monsterin 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 & references to pick up on which become relevant later on.
The third episode, "Planet of the Ood" is deeply moving & thought provoking. It also sees developmentin the character of Donna, no longer simply humourous & feisty. This is definitely the most scary episode of the three & the most taut & interesting storyline.
Overall, three great episodes which you will be surprised how many times you'll watch & which become more fascinating after you've watched the later episodesin this series...
Bravo Ood-Kind! - By: Ninalodo, 09 Aug 2008 Gotta say, the Oods are the star of the show here! They may not be beautiful, but they are appealing to non-wimpy kids & adults alike. Planet of the Ood is the best episode setin the 4000s where to Oods are enslaved by cruel humans on a distant planet. Adipose is the second best which has funny moments & 'Eew gross' moments. Then The Fires of Pompeii. Well, oh dear. The kids don't like it, the sensitive find it too sad & 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. - By: Music lover., 12 Jul 2008 
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, & having to suffer the vacant, goggle-eyed staring of Martha, the poor old Doc was badlyin need of some light relief, & he certainly gets it with Donna, especiallyin the first storyin the series. Though as the season progresses, we see far more to Donna's personality than just wise-cracking humour & wittiness. Butin the first story, we get quite a bit of that & most welcome it is too. The hilarious moment when the Doc & Donna first clap eyes on each other is classic & 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, & of course, she's pretty too, which helps, but mainly it's her vibrant, sparky personality that draws youin & makes you want more.
Miss Foster is hilarious too,in an icily restrained manner, & 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, & then with her grandfather on the hillside at night, telling him about the Doctor & 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 & ebulliance to vulnerabilityin the blink of an eye. And then, when she doubted the Doctor's intentions & misinterpreted something he said, she was outraged at what she thought was a dishonourable suggestion on his part, & this was her backin 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 & the relationship between Donna & the Doctor evolving into them being very comfortablein each other's presence & 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 backin history. This was quite cleverly workedin to the story & was a bit of a twist seeing as how it wasn't really going to happen & he had caused it all along.
The Planet of the Ood was a delight. Once again, the humans were shownin a bad light & the Ood as really rather superiorin 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 & Donna's sympathy for the Ood was very touching. At leastin this story, the Ood had a happier outcome to the last time we saw them.
Allin 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, & I think the picture on the cover of the dvd is the best yet too!
The Noble One. - By: DangermouseZilla, 30 Jun 2008 Not since Bonnie Langford have people feared the return of another red-headed companion... I know a lot of people were less than pleased to hear that Catherine Tate was to be brought back for this series, but I personally enjoyed her portrayal of Donna (even if I didn't love everything about her Christmas special episode).
The character needed depth, & she got it. Left feeling disillusioned since The Runaway Bride she manages to find The Doctor & pretty much invite herself into the TARDIS - & I'm glad she did. Since Doctor Who was re-launched it has managed to capture some brilliant moments. With Catherine Tatein the series, you always knew the writers would tap into her comedy credentials, & the scene from the first episode where Donna & the Doctor mime their way through a conversation is one of the funniest moments throughout the shows 45+ year history! For me, this is the strongest first episode since Ecclestone's "Rose". Those little Fat Creatures (I'm sure everyone went "aw" when they saw the Adipose) were fantastic, it was only on a second viewing that I noticed that some of the poor blighters were squidged by a taxi when it skidded over them to an understated yet comedy splat noise!
Any doubters that Catherine Tate wasn't strong enough to pull off the joint lead for this series were convinced by the second episode where we got to see her experience the harsh realities of disaster, & also the inner angst that comes with being a Timelord; we get to explore more of the doctor & the difficulties he faces with every decision often life or death decisions for thousands of innocent souls. There's CGI galore here & it isn't too bad.
Finally, we see the return of the Ood. This episode didn't feel as strong as the others but it followed the dark theme,in this case the sadness lay with the plight of the exploited Ood & the revelation around the extent of their loss.
The single disk format with no additional features is disappointing, but the inevitable box-set will no doubt contain a mass of special features for those who want a bit more.
Not Bad for a Fourth Series - By: Kiltie Chisholm, 26 Jun 2008 At the point of writing this we are only one episode away from the end of the fourth series. It has received a mixed reactionin our household & had caused a few disagreements over good or not-so-good episodes.
The first three of the series, for me, were fairly good. I loved the Adipodes - tooo cute for words. The return of Donna Noble as the Doc's companion was like a breath of fresh air! Her first appearancein the Christmas Special '06 was immediately after Rose's departure & such a different character was a lot to take on board. After 13 episodes of Drippy Martha, Donna is delightful. She is notin love with the Doctor - as all the others appeared to be - & this gives her character much more scope. She stands up to him, she reigns himin when required & she lets him know what it is like to be human. She is a hitin our household & we totally enjoyed the start to the new series because of her.
Episode 2 - Fires of Pompeii - I liked this. The effects were good, the scenery was excellent & there was enough 'big stuff' to keep the 8 year old happy. Donna had a blub at towards the end when she realised that there was a moral choice to be made & that neither outcome could be without death. I particularly liked the way that RTD used the Doctor to 'create' a timein history.
Episode 3 - Planet of the Ood - By far & large the favourite of the series for us. We have watched this one several times over & we still think it is wonderful. RTD does it again when he revives a 'monster' from a previous series & gives it a different identity. He had us crying over a Dalekin the first series (who'd have thought it eh?) & he does the same with the Ood. Donna has another blubin this episode & we have now realised that this is the flaw to her character - she's always blarting!! That aside, however, this is a magnificent episode to watch.
Allin all, the first three episodes are promising for the new series. This DVD is a must for the collection.
