Doctor Who: The Next Doctor (2008)

Excellent adaptation.

Absolutely Brilliant!

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Somehow I'd missed this old Christmas episode of David Tennant's "Dr Who", but even watching it in mid-April, found it to be one of the best of the whole new-Doctor episodes I've seen.Cleverly riffing off the ever-attendant speculation on who will be the new Doctor, Russell T Davies cheekily casts one of the then prime contenders for Tennant's trainers, David Morrissey, opposite the incumbent, intriguingly as an apparently till-now unknown Victorian incarnation of our favourite Gallifreyan time-lord, complete with his own Martha-like companion, sonic screwdriver and even his own TARDIS.Davies spins out the confusion just long enough before he gives us the crafty explanation leaving room for a big (and I mean big) finish where our Doctor naturally saves the day in a massive C-Gen set-piece against the backdrop of London itself.There are some great in-house jokes, none more so than Morrissey's Doctor's explanation of the acronym of his own TARDIS and yet it's his Heath Robinson-type contraption that saves the day rather than Tennent's own. This episode cries out not be taken too seriously as every serious Dickensian reference is riposted with light-hearted sideways nods at more contemporary action characters as the Doctor makes a Superman-type rescue of a young boy and of course that whole over-the-top "Transformers"-style climax as the gigantor Cyber-King is brought back down to earth, almost literally.Morrissey's great as the deluded Jackson Lake, Tennant as usual is too-cool-for-school, gently bursting Morrissey's bubble, while Dervla Kirwan makes for a great villainess. I enjoyed that Tennant flew solo on this occasion, his between-partners status causing some considered reflections on the transient nature of all his past fellow-travellers.This was classic Who, one of the best I've seen and also offers a tantalising look at an alternative future Doctor who didn't quite get the nod, but would surely have done well in the part in an alternative future.

If you were a fan of Tennant before Doctor Who and one of Morrisey before The Walking Dead, then this episode is a dream. As an adversarial pair in Black Pool, these two actors chewed up the scenery and gave an audience something spectacular. In this episode they truly work off that chemistry as eventual allies, and the performance is one based on familiarity and trust. That permeates the episode. RTD gives enough cheek (Rosetta), sentiment (the son) and emotional foreshadowing (the next Doctor) to create a fully satisfying episode. To look back and see The Governor in such a sympathetic role speaks volumes to his talent.As to Tennant - well, if you're a fan, you know his work here, there, and recently on Broad Church speaks for itself. Wonderful episode.

The "Next Doctor" while perhaps an adequate episode, is for me the least effective and the least memorable of the "Doctor Who" Christmas specials.The story has a familiar Christmas setting with shades of Dickens, from the Victorian setting to the orphans and the work houses, but it doesn't really seem to have the essence of the Christmas Spirit.The performances overall are OK, David Morrisey is good as the next doctor but David Tennant is a little too subdued in my opinion.The baddies for this episode just aren't inspired, we have seen plenty of Cyberrmen by now and the new Cyber creatures really do look just like guys in suits (harkening back to the classic series). Perhaps the biggest flaw lies in the lead antagonist Miss Hartigan. Her motivations while possibly working well to define the character do very little for the story.As with most of the specials that would make up the following season I really felt the lack of a companion affected the formula and chemistry of the show, there were some strong guest stars who sometimes filled the companion role to a lesser or greater degree but it wasn't enough.The "Next Doctor" seems to have all of the necessary ingredients to create a compelling episode but they just don't add up to what they could have.

The Next Doctor as a whole was "okay". The script was very dull. The saving grace was David Morrissey playing the said 'Next Doctor'. His performance was astoundingly good - really exceptional - he gave it all he had; but definitely wasn't OTT (like his counterpart). Mr Morrissey exhibited a quality well above this production, and it blew me away. I shall certainly be looking out for him in future. The stand-out factor of the show was the giant robot at the end rising from the Thames and stomping on Olde Worlde London; it really did look fantastic and the CGI dept did a very fine job indeed. The big aspect of the show that genuinely upset me was their use of a REAL graveyard to shoot a Cyberman group attack scene; it was covered with paper snow and the actors were running/falling all over the graves, which for me personally isn't acceptable for any production. The graveyard could easily have been constructed in a studio, thus negating this most disrespectful behaviour. Overall, not a bad show; however it was just the talent of David Morrissey and the giant robot that saved it, otherwise it would have been totally forgettable.