New Earth by: Russell T. Davies and directed by: James Hawes

 

“New Earth” stars David Tennant as the Doctor and Billie Piper as Rose Tyler with Camille Coduri as Jackie Tyler, Noel Clarke as Mickey Smith, Zoe Wanamaker as Cassandra, Sean Gallagher as Chip, Dona Croll as Matron Casp, Lucy Robinson as Frau Clovis, Adjoa Andoh as Sister Jatt, and Anna Hope as Novice Hame.  It was written by: Russell T. Davies and directed by: James Hawes with Helen Raynor as Script Editor, Phil Collinson as Producer, and Russell T. Davies and Julie Gardner as Executive Producers.  It was originally broadcast on Saturday 15 April 2006 on BBC One.

 

The second series of the revival of Doctor Who is one that behind the scenes was almost destined to be a mess.  The addition of the Christmas special meant that Russell T. Davies’ original idea for the opening episode would become “The Christmas Invasion” and be aired four months before the rest of the series so it almost had to be a standalone to introduce the world to the Tenth Doctor proper.  It was placed in the first production block with three other episodes, however production problems on the third forced the block to be split into two and brought Russell T. Davies’ focus to writing “Tooth and Claw”, the second episode of the series.  The development of the series saw Davies offer script positions to returning writers Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss as well as new writers Toby Whithouse, Tom MacRae, and Matt Jones, with Matthew Graham joining later in the series when another script fell through.  Adding an extra episode to wrangle also led Davies to attempt only five scripts to be penned by himself, however like with “Boom Town”, the original writer for the episode that became “Tooth and Claw” fell through adding another script for Davies.  The first scene of the series was written especially for whatever would become the first episode, meaning that this episode opens with a pre-credits sequence that doesn’t actually have a strong hook other than the Doctor declaring they will be traveling further then they ever have been which is essentially a trailer line.  It’s also how you get Camille Coduri and Noel Clarke as Jackie and Mickey in the episode for barely a minute.  At various points Davies slated “Tooth and Claw” and Steven Moffat’s “The Girl in the Fireplace” as an opener before Jane Tranter requested his “Body Swap” idea for its comedic potential.

 

“Body Swap” came from Davies’ desire to explore the trope and bring back Zoe Wanamaker as Lady Cassandra from “The End of the World”, revealed to have survived due to her brain being rescued and consciousness placed in a slab of skin from her back.  She would then take the body of Rose Tyler during the episode so Wanamaker only needed to be on set for one scene at the end of the episode as she was engaged with the production of Cards at the Table, with Piper playing essentially a dual role.  Davies decided to set the episode on the revival’s first alien planet changing the title to “New Earth” after its setting before production began, and this setting is honestly one of the episode’s many weak points.  While there is a wonderful, if dated, computer generated effects shot of a future city and the production design in the main hospital setting where Cassandra has been hiding out since “The End of the World” does look futuristic, it's a planet that doesn’t feel alien.  Now, this is Doctor Who which has a reputation of filming in quarries and calling it a planet, but throughout the classic series from the first alien planet we see in Skaro, there was an attempt to build alien cultures and worldbuild something to distinct the setting from Earth.  New Earth is basically Earth with more aliens and since the last series and “The Christmas Invasion” took place around Earth through its history, there is great disappointment in its realization.  The immediate post credits exposition with the Doctor and Rose is also our first real glimpse of what it will be like with this TARDIS team actually traveling, and that vibe is a series of romantic dates through time and space.  Now, Tennant and Piper have chemistry, but this is a vibe that just doesn’t work for me personally as I generally prefer the Doctor not to be in a relationship, especially not with his companions.

 

When the plot of “New Earth” actually begins Davies sets up two plots, Rose being almost immediately separated from the Doctor and sent to the basement of the hospital where she is confronted by Cassandra and her slave, Chip played by Sean Gallagher.  Oh, yes, add that to the several murders that Cassandra has committed, she’s also a slaveowner and her slave was grown specifically for the purpose of being a slave and is continually denied life.  Davies’ script never uses the word slave, but pay attention to Chip’s dialogue and you’ll realize that’s exactly what he is.  This will be important for the denouement of the episode whose central theme somehow attempts to be about the rights of those who have life and sentience.  The banter between Cassandra and Rose is genuinely a sequence of sparkling dialogue, Rose attempting to defend herself but Cassandra laying a pretty perfect trap to get her body, it’s probably the best scene of the episode.  Then Cassandra gets Rose’s body and the rest of this plot plays out until the very end of the episode as over the top camp with innuendo and bawdy humor which could work if the rest of the episode is a farce, but it's a body horror story.

 

The cat nurses (and for some reason they are all nurses and not doctors) of the hospital, the Sisters of Plentitude, have grown millions of people in tubes to give every disease known to man, meaning the hospital is secretly harboring beings whose existence is eternal pain and suffering followed by death as the only hope.  The episode does not play this as the horror that it is nor does Davies seem to realize that he has the opportunity to comment on unethical medical research.  He just turns it into a zombie story as the patients get out and start to infect everyone in the hospital which is shot incredibly well by James Hawes, playing up the body horror aspect.  The Doctor here is characterized explicitly in the text as the lonely god who will receive the last message of the Face of Boe and of course is able to save the day, the conclusion of the episode having him cure the creatures and giving them a life.  The scenes with the Face of Boe are genuinely interesting, and the Doctor is characterized very well with the setting being a hospital, Tennant’s performance being one of the few high points despite the lonely god characterization near the end of the episode.  This conclusion is actually hopeful, until Cassandra, still making jokes, jumps into the body of Chip and the Doctor and Rose allow her to take his body so she can die and get a chance at redemption by calling herself beautiful.  Chip is also characterized as only having one desire and that’s serving her mistress, he is a slave, broken to serve only his master.  Cassandra gets to have a redemption, the Doctor and Rose both denying Chip his right to life because it’s what he wants.

 

Overall, “New Earth” is the first truly dire episode of the revival of Doctor Who.  While most people have a tendency to shrug it off as camp and over the top, if prospective viewers give it a rewatch you’ll realize how dark the script actually is and how poorly it treats its characters.  It gives a monster a redemption and grafts a comical farce onto a horror story, but doing it badly.  Billie Piper gets one sequence that’s genuinely amazing and she and Tennant are clearly trying, while the guest cast in prosthetics are all acting their socks off, but this is dire and implies abhorrent things while attempting to defend life in all its forms.  2/10.