Partners in Crime 6.5/10

When this episode started, I was very concerned I wasn't going to like it. The Adipose were way too cartoonish and cutesy and silly. And a lot of the early attempt at humour (the Donna/Doctor stuff) did not work. Also, it was a nasty tease having a villain with a sonic device and it didn't turn out to be a Time Lord/Lady.

Luckily the episode got better as it went on and it had some really fantastic bits towards the end (the ghost Rose, and the grandad at the end). A good start to the season, but I can't give it a 7 because of those stupid Adipose.

The good bits: the grandad, the Rose ghost

The not so good bits: the Adipose, the sonic tease, the comedy bits that didn't work

The Fires of Pompeii 7.5/10

Pretty good episode. Great atmosphere and special effects. Not quite as good as the Fires of Vulcan. I'm really liking the Donna/Doctor relationship; such a nice change from the Rose/Martha lovey stuff. I also like the foreshadowing stuff from the first two episodes. I don't want them to overdo it, but so far it's wheting my apetite.

I really enjoyed the soothsayer scene and the Donna/Doctor confrontation at the end where she's trying to convince him to save someone. Not much I didn't like, although using the water gun twice was one time too many. And the TARDIS translation circuits shouldn't make ancient Romans talk with modern slang.

The good bits: special effects, Donna, soothsayer scene, foreshadowing

Not so good bits: the second use of the water gun, modern slang

Planet of the Ood 7/10

I really wasn't expecting to like this, but I was pleasantly surprised. I didn't like when they re-used the Slitheen; I felt it was simply because they spent money on the costumes and they felt they had to re-use them. I thought the same about the Ood. It was quite good though and surprisingly touching. Pretty creepy at the end with the guy turning into the Ood, though that actor (I forget his name but he was in Blackadder) was great in his role. More foreshadowing about the Doctor's song "coming to an end"; I'm starting to think maybe Tennant will regenerate at the end of this season.

It's 4120 and they're still using bullets? C'mon.

The good bits: touching, the bad guy, mentioning the Sensesphere

Not so good bits: bullets in 4120

The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky 9/10

Excellent stuff! Well paced, exciting, old-school. The Sontarans are better than before and certainly the best aliens since the return of the Daleks. Excellent supporting characters as well. Love the mention of the old stuff like the Brigadier and the Rutans. Funny at the right moments ("Are you my mommy?"), touching at others, and chilling too. Tennant was bang on in this one.

Shouldn't Sontaran armor be a little stronger though? Not normal bullets, but still bullets.

The good bits: pretty much the whole thing Not so good bits: exploding the atmosphere - wouldn't that also ignite the air at ground level, or at the very least, burn a lot of buildings?

The Doctor's Daughter 5/10

I found this one very choppy. It had some goods bits, such as the alien world, but overall the dramatic bits were not very well directed and did not have the impact of previous dramatic scenes (ie: Jenny's death was no where near as dramatic as the Master's for instance). Martha wasn't needed in this story, and her clumsiness causing the poor Hath to save her and die was brutal. When the Doctor's "daughter" come back to life all I could think of was "oh look, RTD is hoping for yet another spin-off series".

This is the first one of season 4 I didn't like. Oh, and the "we're not a couple" bit is old and not funny.

The good bits: the alien world, the Hath

Not so good bits: badly directed, dramatic moments didn't work, Martha useless

The Unicorn & The Wasp 6/10

Marginally better than last week's episode. Both have been quite a let down from the rest of the season so far. There were things I really liked about the episode; the setting, the sets and costumes, the *idea* of a murder mystery, the actress who played Agatha Christie, and the return of the actor who played Henry Gordon Jago in Talons of Weng Chiang (and was also in Inferno).

However, all those things only raise the story to a 6/10.

The rest of it I didn't really like, felt didn't work at all, or hated. Why did the alien look like a giant wasp? Why more gay stuff? The poisoned scene with the Doctor was too over-the-top and/or went on too long. "We're not married" joke... again! Some bad acting (the Unicorn).

If it's a futuristic story, the Doctor uses the sonic screwdriver, if it's a historical, it's the psychic paper. How did he ever get along without those things? Ah yes, better writers who allowed the audience to suspend their disbelief.

Things I liked: sets and setting and costumes

Things I didn't like: pretty much everything else, not Tennant's best acting.

Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead 8.5/10

This was really good. Lots of cliches and been-there-before's, but they all seemed to work in this story. I thought Alex Kingston was quite good, though the hint that maybe she and the Doctor were married I didn't like too much; I would have preferred that maybe she was just a future companion. Good special effects, touching at moments, scary at other moments.

I didn't like the bit with Donna's "fake" husband not finding her at the end. If they end up getting together somehow in the future, then that's okay. If not, then that was just a mean, mean thing to do to us, the viewers.

The good bits: SFX, overall story, Alex Kingston

Not so good bits: Donna's husband not finding her at the end

Midnight 8/10

Turn Left 7.5/10

The Stolen Earth/Journey's End 8.5/10