Starring: David Tennant, John Simm, Bernard Cribbins, Catherine Tate, David Morrissey, Michelle Ryan, Lindsay Duncan and Timothy Dalton.
Years Made/Aired: 2008-2010
Review: Back in 2008 when it was announced that the specials would signal the end of David Tennant's time on the series, I have to admit that it wasn't as shocking as it should've been. The fourth season itself did have the Ood telling the Doctor that his song was coming to an end and we did have to go through a botched regeneration as well, so it did seem rather timely that particular announcements. Because of this, the specials themselves serve as a countdown to Tennant's finale days on the series and they're a mixed bag.
The Next Doctor and Planet Of The Dead are the lighter ones of the bunch. The former nicely teased the idea of David Morrissey's Jackson Lake being the 11th Doctor before revealing the truth about him halfway through the story. The interplay between the Doctor and Jackson certainly kept the episode afloat but it did seem that once again, the Cybermen in their Victorian setting and the similarly metallic Cybershades and CyberKing are shortchanged for the guest companion of the week, the format that unified all of these specials. That means that Michelle Ryan had her work cut out for her as perky rich their Christina deSouza and while she was fun, she's the least engaging one-off companion these specials offer. It also didn't help that she got the weakest special of the set as well.
When I first heard about The Waters Of Mars being a base under siege story, my heart dropped a bit. It shouldn't have because it turned out to be the most daring special of the bunch as the Doctor embraced his Time Lord Victorious and did something monumentally stupid when saving Lindsay Duncan's brilliant Adelaide Brooke. Certainly the darkest of the episodes on this set.
What could I say about The End Of Time that hasn't already been said? Both parts are utterly mad, brilliant, do justice to John Simm's Master second time around, have a brilliant turn by Bernard Cribbins as Wilfred, give us a nice glimpse of what our favour New Series companions are getting up as well as exiting David Tennant and introducing Matt Smith quite nicely. On the flipside, Catherine Tate and Timothy Dalton are also given very little to do as Donna and Rassilon alike and some of the cryptic mysteries don't actually go anywhere. The Time Lords themselves are also too quickly dispatched but overall, the good does tend to outshine the bad.
DVD Extras: The problem with releasing this set a week and a half after the last episode aired was that we'd be shortchanged. Discrepancies include a lack of commentaries for the first three specials (despite their being podcast ones available that could've been added here), no trailers or bloopers and for some odd reason, the decision to allot a disc per episode. I'm also in the minority who would've preferred edited version of the Confidentials as well. On the plus side, the commentaries for both parts of The End Of Time are brilliant with David Tennant, John Simm, Catherine Tate and Euros Lyn all on fine form, the video diaries cover the filming of the specials and as someone who didn't have the fortune to attend 2009's Comic Con, having a 21 minute feature on it was a nice touch. There's also the Christmas idents, the 2008 Proms Concert along with Music Of The Spheres. Maybe they should've delayed the set because while it's good purchase, it is slight compared to what we're used to. Here's hoping this isn't a mistake repeated when Matt Smith's first season makes it onto DVD.
Rating: 9/10.

26: Dirty Girls (Season 7, Episode 18)

After three years, it was the episode that would reintroduce Faith into Sunnydale and for the most part, Buffy managed to keep her resentment to a minimum. It's also the episode that debuted Nathan Fillion as the disturbingly misogynist preacher Caleb, the most effective acolyte of the First. And then there's what happened to poor Xander.

27: The Harvest (Season 1, Episode 2)

The show opened on a two-parter and while the opening segment is a little higher on this list, this is still a cracking continuation as the Scooby gang are basically formed in this one. Too bad that Luke and Jesse didn't last a little longer as characters though.

28: Into The Woods (Season 5, Episode 10)

Riley's never been one of my favourite characters and while him and Buffy were never going to last, a part of me did feel bad for him as well. He did love her and she didn't feel the same way. Xander's pep talks in these episodes had more substance than Spike's usual nuggets and the last few minutes are brilliant.

29: What's My Line Part 2 (Season 2, Episode 9)

I love this two parter a lot. It's a pretty underrated story but it did debut Marti Noxon as a writer (she co-wrote the first part with Howard Gordon) and it also debuted Kendra, which meant from now on that Buffy wasn't the only slayer in existence, despite the fact that she'd conveniently ignore that fact a good chunk of the time.

30: Bargaining Part 2 (Season 6, Episode 2)

Marginally better than the first part, Buffy's resurrections episodes were always going to be interesting. Like who would bury a 20 year old woman in a black dress as garish as the one Buffy was forced to wear. On a serious note, the tower scene between Buffy and Dawn is one of the best scenes from the season.

Ugh, had some internet problems yet again last night. Now everything seems to be fine.



One pleasant thing. Strangely Literal have done an audio version of my story Just Between Us Girls and thanks to FaiththeVampireSlayer for reading it. Probably one of the strongest ones I've written as well.

Audio: http://www.strangelyliteral.com/2010/02/strangely-literal-090-just-between-us-girls-buffy/
Read It Here: http://sword.borderline-angel.com/viewstory.php?sid=2522

Fang bloody tastic.

And here's Part 4.

31: Bargaining Part 1 (Season 6, Episode 1)

Okay, this without doubt the darkest opening episode from the show (appropriate given the season in question) but Buffy's resurrection was never going to be easy. Willow had to dabble in magic that would corrupt her throughout the season and a gang of demon bikers certainly didn't help matter. At least Buffybot was a bright spark (pun actually intended).

32: Restless (Season 4, Episode 22)

And the award for the most innovative finale goes to ... this one of course. It served as a wonderful epilogue to a good fourth season, delved into the Scoobies subconscious and thre some neccessary foreshadowing moments to later seasons. And we met the first slayer as well, who was better than Adam.

33: Primeval (Season 4, Episode 21)

In a lot of ways, this was supposed to be the Season 4 finale. It brought the Initiative arc to a much welcomed end, got rid of Adam and finally saw the gang reconnect. It's also one of many episodes from this point onwards that would use similar slow-mo type effects from The Matrix too.

34: Bad Girls (Season 3, Episode 14)

Ever since her arrival in Sunnydale, Faith's hedonism harboured something potentially destructive. Nothing brought that more when she inadvertantly killed Allan Finch and refused to feel remorse for it. On the plus, the episode generated some comedy at the expense of Wesley, who pissed everyone off on contact.

35: Tabula Rasa (Season 6, Episode 8)

Amnesia type episodes are all the range and while Angel would tackle one similarly the year after, this show did it better. A memory wiped gang had some comic moments but this was also the episode Tara had to dump Willow and Giles went back to England, so not all laughs either. It's still a classic though.

 

4x01: Partners In Crime

http://shawnlunn2002.blogspot.com/2009/07/my-review-of-doctor-whos-4x01-partners.html

4x02: The Fires Of Pompeii

http://shawnlunn2002.blogspot.com/2009/07/my-review-of-doctor-whos-4x02-fires-of.html

4x03: Planet Of The Ood

http://shawnlunn2002.blogspot.com/2009/07/my-review-of-doctor-whos-4x03-planet-of.html

4x04: The Sontaran Stratagem

http://shawnlunn2002.blogspot.com/2009/07/my-review-of-doctor-whos-4x04-sontaran.html

4x05: The Poison Sky

http://shawnlunn2002.blogspot.com/2009/07/my-review-of-doctor-whos-4x05-poison.html

4x06: The Doctor's Daughter

http://shawnlunn2002.blogspot.com/2009/07/my-review-of-doctor-whos-4x06-doctors.html

4x07: The Unicorn And The Wasp

http://shawnlunn2002.blogspot.com/2009/07/my-review-of-doctor-whos-4x07-unicorn.html

4x08: Silence In The Library

http://shawnlunn2002.blogspot.com/2009/07/my-review-of-doctor-whos-4x08-silence.html

4x09: Forest Of The Dead

http://shawnlunn2002.blogspot.com/2009/07/my-review-of-doctor-whos-4x09-forest-of.html

4x10: Midnight

http://shawnlunn2002.blogspot.com/2009/07/my-review-of-doctor-whos-4x10-midnight.html

4x11: Turn Left

http://shawnlunn2002.blogspot.com/2009/07/my-review-of-doctor-whos-4x11-turn-left.html

4x12: The Stolen Earth

http://shawnlunn2002.blogspot.com/2009/07/my-review-of-doctor-whos-4x12-stolen.html

4x13: Journey's End

http://shawnlunn2002.blogspot.com/2009/07/my-review-of-doctor-whos-4x13-journeys.html

4x14: The Next Doctor

http://shawnlunn2002.blogspot.com/2009/07/my-review-of-doctor-whos-4x14-next.html

4x15: Planet Of The Dead

http://shawnlunn2002.blogspot.com/2009/07/my-review-of-doctor-whos-4x15-planet-of.html

4x16: The Waters Of Mars

http://shawnlunn2002.blogspot.com/2009/11/my-review-of-doctor-whos-4x16-waters-of.html

4x17: The End Of Time Part 1

http://shawnlunn2002.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-review-of-doctor-whos-4x17-end-of.html

4x18: The End Of Time Part 2

http://shawnlunn2002.blogspot.com/2010/01/my-review-of-doctor-whos-4x18-end-of.html