Smith and Jones by: Russell T. Davies and directed by: Charles Palmer

 

“Smith and Jones” stars David Tennant as the Doctor and Freema Agyeman as Martha Jones with Roy Marsden as Mr. Stoker, Adjoa Andoh as Francine Jones, Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Tish Jones, Reggie Yates as Leo Jones, Trevor Laird as Clive Jones, Anne Reid as Florence Finnegan, Paul Kasey as the Judoon Leader, and Nicholas Briggs as the Judoon Voices.  It was written by: Russell T. Davies and directed by: Charles Palmer with Simon Winstone as Script Editor, Phil Collinson as Producer, and Russell T. Davies and Julie Gardner as Executive Producers.  It was originally broadcast on Saturday 31 March 2007 on BBC One.

 

By the time Doctor Who was renewed for a third series, Russell T. Davies and Julie Gardner knew that Billie Piper would be leaving the show at the end of the second series and as such a replacement companion would have to be introduced.  The decision was made to have the commissioned 2006 Christmas Special not serve as an introduction to a new companion to allow audiences a gap between Rose and her replacement, as well as the logistics of not introducing a new regular months before the third series proper would begin.  Once again in preparing the third series, Davies planned to write six of the fourteen episodes including the Christmas special, opening episode, the finale, and one episode in between, and in these initial preparations it is clear that Davies and Gardner had learned from the hectic productions of the first two series.  While Davies would decide to expand the two-part finale to a three-part finale, there were no last minute rewrite episodes like “Boom Town” or “Tooth and Claw”, and once again six other writers would be recruited over the course of the series with four new contributions and two returning contributions.  In designing the new companion, Davies knew he did not wish to repeat the same character outline as Rose Tyler, going through several ideas including a schoolgirl and a Victorian maid, the latter being discouraged by BBC Controller of Drama Commissioning, Jane Trantor.  The schoolgirl idea was eventually developed into Martha Jones, 23 year old medical student, with Davies drafting the Jones family to include parents and two siblings, although continuing the trend of dysfunction as Martha’s parents are divorced.

 

Freema Agyeman was first on the radar of the production team in 2005 when casting “The Christmas Invasion” where she was under consideration for the role of Sally, and later cast in “Army of Ghosts” in a minor role, Phil Collinson already looking for potential actresses for Martha.  She would undergo the audition process in early 2006 before being cast and formally announced to the public on July 5, 2006.  Russell T. Davies at this point had made the executive decision to avoid assigning titles to episodes for the third series until necessary in an attempt to avoid leaks, but considered opening with “Martha” as an introduction, the title under which it would be filmed by newcomer to Doctor Who, Charles Palmer, starting the second production block of the series.  This would be the first of two production blocks under Palmer for the third series while David Tennant was eager to return for a second series in the role of the Doctor.  Production commenced only a few weeks after Agyeman had been cast and partway through Davies would change the title to “Smith and Jones” as a reference to the Doctor’s alias on Earth and Martha’s surname, a pairing of names he adored and emphasized in editing the script for “School Reunion”.  Despite changing the title, Davies’ script does draw on the major successes from “Rose”, mainly focusing on the new companion and their first steps into the Doctor’s world.  Davies’ script and Palmer’s direction avoids the trappings of following “Rose” directly, there is no zoom in to the Earth and the explanation of the premise of Doctor Who is rapid, rightfully assuming people would not need it three series in.

 

Agyeman sells the episode from her very first scene, quickly establishing Martha as not only competent, but sure of where her life is going and only being dissatisfied with the antics her family gets up to.  A background element of the episode is the drama surrounding Martha’s brother Leo’s, played by Reggie Yates, birthday party: her mother Francine, played by Adjoa Andoh, is angry at her ex-husband and his new girlfriend, Clive and Annalise played by Trevor Laird and Kimmi Richards respectively.  Martha and her sister Tish, played by Gugu Mbathta-Raw, are the only sane ones in the family.  Once the episode gets going and the hospital Martha is training at is transported to the moon, Agyeman really gets to show off as the only character outside of the Doctor calm enough in the crisis to realize that there is something more than the transport occurring.  She is the one to notice the oxygen isn’t rushing out of the hospital as the windows are not airtight and that there must be some force field, this is what attracts the Doctor to her.  The Doctor is unable to resist a mind as sharp as his and that’s what Martha represents.  Agyeman and Tennant also have excellent chemistry throughout as the Doctor and Martha independently deduce why the Judoon, a band of space rhinoceros police mercenaries, would be invading this hospital and what the alien they are looking for could actually be.  Davies’ plot is simple and straightforward with the stakes being the approximately 1,000 people in the hospital as air is slowly being used, escalating to half the Earth once the alien and her escape plan is revealed.  There is one moment that sets up much of the Doctor and Martha’s character arcs through the series as the Doctor kisses Martha to transfer some of his DNA that the Judoon would be able to check, this act blossom into unrequited romance on Martha’s part, which is a complete misstep.  “The Runaway Bride” essentially establishes that the Doctor is moving forward from Rose and this establishment, and the way the Doctor talks about Rose in this episode, is another example of Davies expanding a character arc for melodrama which is a shame because take these out and you have a perfect Doctor/companion dynamic with the Doctor and Martha.

 

“Smith and Jones” is bolstered by the actual alien plot being one alien Plasmavore, Florence Finnegan played with wonderful camp by Anne Reid, and her two slag leather androids, sucking the blood and killing Mr. Stoker, played by Roy Marsden, masquerading her internal biology as human and bypassing the Judoon’s genetic scans.  As a villain she is one note but Reid plays the character with relish, especially when the Judoon disintegrate her at the climax of the episode, with a declaration that the Judoon will “Burn in hell!” in a manner that no special text would adequately describe the delivery.  The Judoon themselves, voiced by Nicholas Briggs in a very gruff choice, are quite interesting.  Some comparison has been made to the Sontarans, and the similarities are there, especially in their ruthless nature, but making them a separate species allows Davies to subtly critique the general police system.  Sadly, “Smith and Jones” is a single episode and has much of its focus elsewhere, but there are hints in Davies’ script, with the Judoon mercilessly slaughtering a scared human with no remorse and the system’s backing, giving out compensation to Martha for their gruff treatment, and leaving once killing the Plasmavore with no real regard to the humans being left behind.  It’s certainly not a takedown of the oppressive nature of policing (and being written from a British perspective in 2007 it would not accurately reflect the current day state of the police), but Davies clearly understands at the very least the abuse that has become a fact of life for being policed.  It’s a small commentary, but a commentary, nevertheless.  And of course, the episode ends on Martha having her bigger on the inside moment and joining the Doctor, though being only promised one trip adds a more subtle reflection on the loss of Rose than his rather annoying declaration that she is not being replaced.

 

Overall, “Smith and Jones” starts the third series of Doctor Who just as strong as “Rose” started off the first series, most definitely free from the limp start of the second in “New Earth”.  David Tennant and Freema Agyeman shine as the Doctor and Martha Jones while the episode is not hampered by attempting to reexplain the premise of the show to any newcomers this series.  The chemistry is there and Russell T. Davies clearly has had a less stressful series this time around with only the remembrances of Rose and some of the commentary there not being explored, the former due to Davies’ attachment to Rose and the latter due to the 45-minute runtime, holding it back from being the perfect series opener.  8/10.