I have to admit that I'm not entirely sure about this episode. It has all the classic themes of a good Doctor Who episode; man playing deity, nasty surprise, people trapped, disbelief and defeat of the horrible monster.
But I was left feeling I'd just watched the McDonalds equivalent of modern sci-fi drama, I consumed it without noticing. I didn't think once whilst watching it and I was immediately hungry five minutes later and then craved to watch something sugary and light, instead of something healthy and green.
The Lazarus Experiment started of with some nice character spots, in which you find both Professor Lazarus and Lady Thaw repellent, yet intriguing. They both had equal measure of menace and repulsivness to make you believe they would spend billions of dollars on a machine to make you young rather than feed starving Biafrans. I was particualry impressed with his slimeiness towards Martha's sister Tish.
It was nice to have a break from the speechifying, whoever is responsible for this at BBC Wales, good work! It was also great to finally have Martha behaving like a adult and not a character from a drama aimed at 14 year olds girls, her potential is starting to appear, but in all honesty, I don't like her, so I may always be biased and y'all will have to accept it.
What I found realy hard in this episode was the wee trailer at the end giving a glimpse at what's coming up... it looks good, in fact it looks bloody good indeed.
After the disappointing Dalek arc, it's good to see Doctor Who get back on track again in episode 6. Much like the ealier success of Gridlock, this is another small episode, based mostly around one building with a short-ish timeframe and a very uncomplicated story.
The Doctor is shouty still, but not so much that it interferes with your ability to sympathise with the charcater. The references to being 'the last' and 'the oldest' play well to Lazarus's insanity and desire for the longevity that the Doctor feels cursed with. The Doctor is also playful and witty again; the pithy pop culture references bring his child-like tone back into play. There's some nice banter and the Doctor's curiousity seems to re-emerge from behind the facade of righteuosness that plagued the last two episodes.
Professor Lazarus as an old man looked pretty decent I thought, and while you know Mark Gatiss is under there it was easy enough to believe. However when Gatiss comes out for the 'young' professor, I suddenly found it much harder to take. While he does a wonderful line in unrecognisable (Hialry Briss, Mickey et al) Mark Gatiss is wholely unbelievable when not made up. All of his best efforts in this episode are in make-up or as the CGI monster. Still what a lucky bugger he is, isn't he? A fan, an author, a writer and now as an actor on Doctor Who. I hate him. Freema/Martha works out her 'relationship issues' right at the end, but only just so the final reference from the concerned mum can play itself out fully. Martha's mum is a bitch, who would have thought that maybe someones mum may object to having a child be a companion to the Doctor? Seriously, haven't they done this already? There's some ham-fisted 'Mister Saxon' references, and the sly aisdes to Mrs Jones from a complete stranger seem like pantomine villainy and grated a little.
This feels like an old episode, just done much better. The rogue scientist doing things he should not be doing, and creating a monster in the process. The science is only slightly covered off, so no embarassingly bad gaffes in reality. The genetic throwback angle is a bit lame (and inspired by 'The Relic' - columns and all), but it's better than the hackneyed Freudian ID monster. However overall it is a good episode and made me want to watch the whole way through instead of dissecting every other line, unlike the abysmal 'Evolution' story.The best bit though? A glimpse of John Simm as Mister Saxon in upcoming scenes from the rest of the season. Evil looking, if he's not the Master then he's going to be pretty good menace regardless.
I have to admit that I'm not entirely sure about this episode. It has all the classic themes of a good Doctor Who episode; man playing deity, nasty surprise, people trapped, disbelief and defeat of the horrible monster.
