Doctor Who Series 3 Episode 1 - Smith & Jones - Review

Starring: David Tennant, Freema Agyeman, Anne Reid & Roy Marsden

Written By: Russell T Davies

Directed By: Charles Palmer

Following on from Rose's departure and Donna's decision not to travel in the TARDIS, Doctor Who viewers are being introduced to a new companion. As of such, the next person to join the Doctor in the TARDIS is medical student Martha Jones. So, does Martha seem destined for greatness with the Doctor, or, like Rose, are there mixed feelings towards her introduction?

 

In modern day London, medical student Martha Jones' life is changed forever during a seemingly normal day of work at the Royal Hope Hospital. During a freak rain shower, the entire hospital is removed from the ground, and ends up on the Moon. While everyone in the hospital screams and panics, alien ships belonging to the mercenary police, the Judoon, arrive. The Judoon begin searching the hospital for an alien killer in human form, and the Doctor and Martha have to find the killer, whilst also avoiding the Judoon and before the hospital runs out of air.

As a premise goes, I don't think any other show would be able to pull this off without it becoming laughable. Fortunately, one of the greatest strengths of Doctor Who is taking the seemingly ordinary and mundane and making it extraordinary. This episode is no exception as we are given some absolutely beautiful imagery – the most notable being the sight of the ordinary Royal Hope Hospital on the surface of The Moon. That shouldn't work, but it does and its one of the reasons I love this show so much. The visual style of the episode is bolstered even further by some great direction from Charles Palmer. The movement of the camera is never left static for too long, instead being a combination of fluid and action-packed.

 

And if the image of the Royal Hope Hospital on the Moon wasn't wonderfully bizarre enough, we also have the Judoon stomping through the hospital corridors. The Judoon are tough mercenary police officers armed with scanners, translators and high-power weapons – they're also bipedal Rhinos. It's safe to say that the Judoon are an inspired creation, and I'm glad that they aren't beings of pure evil. To be fair, they aren't exactly villains at all, but are in fact working to achieve the greatest good. However, their limited intelligence means that people can get hurt as they try to achieve this good. This helps not only to make the Judoon akin to a 21st Century version of the Ogrons, but also a memorable creation. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for Florence and her twin Slabs. While Anne Reid is really good in the role, and you can tell that she's having a lot of fun playing the character, she isn't exactly an adversary as unique or creative as the Judoon. The Slabs come off even worse, as they just come across as glorified bodyguards. Admittedly though, they do lead to some great chase scenes with the Doctor and Martha.

 

The best trademarks of a Russell T Davies script are here on full force – the most notable being Davies' greatest strength across all of his scripts: the human quality. Every character here, no matter how central to the plot have minor, to some extent irrelevant, details added to flesh them out. These little touches of detail are things I really love, and can range from Mr Stoker's daughter in a university in California, or it being Leo's birthday. Most of these little details could probably be edited out, but I'm so glad that they aren't because they add such a great level of maturity to the episode.

 

While Smith & Jones has its faults, I'm almost willing to forgive them, thanks to how well it accomplishes its main task – introducing Martha to the audience. To some degree, the Doctor is sidelined in this episode to allow the audience time to focus on Martha, and I'm really glad because Martha looks set to be a very good companion. The mixed feelings that I had towards Rose's introduction back in 2005, are not the same feelings that I have for Martha, as her character has really hit the ground running. This episode showcases some of the great things that Martha is capable of, as she's clearly clever, working out that the hospital is surrounded in an air bubble, while also being fiercely loyal to the Doctor, risking her own life just so that the Doctor can stop Florence's plan. 

 

Arguably the best scene of the episode is when Martha decides to travel with the Doctor. While the opening scenes of Martha talking to different members of her family on the phone was a pretty slow start for the episode, despite the fast-paced music, this problem isn't present at the end of the episode. I never fail to have a smile on my face when I see the contrast between the intense arguments in the Jones' family, and when Martha sees the Doctor silently standing from afar. Again, this just highlights another of the greatest strengths of the show – the sense of escapism from what some would argue is the mundane. You have to admire the contrast between a split and heated family argument and the mysterious man with a time machine that is bigger on the inside. This all accumulates in Martha choosing to join the Doctor in the TARDIS on his travels, in a brilliant closing shot. If I have any problems with Martha joining the Doctor, it would be the Doctor's somewhat strange decision to allow Martha just “one trip”. Why can't Martha join him just like previous companions have in the past? Also, one of The Runaway Bride's problems has unfortunately made its way over to this episode, and that is the Doctor still being unable to get Rose out of his head. While this was more justified in last year's Christmas special, the fact that we have now been introduced to Martha, makes this a bigger problem. I really hope that as the series progresses, we can focus more on Martha, rather than dwelling on Rose.

 

Overall, while Smith & Jones is a solid episode by its own merits, its main job is something it manages to achieve with flying colours. This is a fantastic introduction for an equally fantastic companion, whilst also managing to highlight and remind us of some of the best things about Doctor Who. While the aliens and villains didn't necessarily need to be anything extraordinary in this episode, I'm glad that it could still manage to serve up the inspired creation that is the Judoon. Smith & Jones may have a fair share of problems, but its not enough to detract from the good, solid episode that it is.

 

 

Smith & Jones



7/10