| HUMAN NATURE/THE FAMILY OF BLOOD by Paul Cornell |
| Story 29 Synopsis: To escape a nasty bunch called the Family, the Doctor decides to swap his Time Lord nature for that of a human, so he and Martha can hide until the coast is clear. He is soon a teacher, John Smith, at a school in 1913, with Martha as a maid. He soon falls in love with the Matron, Joan Redfern, showing her the stories he has created from the dreams he has, not realising they are of his previous life as the Doctor. The Family land nearby, taking over four locals to provide bodies for them. They track Smith to a dance, where Martha is trying to convince him that it's time to change back, and he wants to romance Joan. The Family threaten Martha and Joan, and demand he change back, though he doesn't think he needs to. After a diversion, Smith leads Martha and Joan back to the school, where he wakes up the boys and prepares them to fight. The Family follow, with their army of scarecrows. The boys are able to shoot many of the scarecrows down, but their Headmaster is destroyed, and the scarecrows are reanimated. The Family find the TARDIS, and try to call Smith out of hiding. Joan leads he and Martha to a safe place, where they are joined by Latimer, a pupil who took the watch inside which the Doctor placed his essence. Latimer knows the time has come for Smith to use the watch. The Family use their spacecraft to launch an aerial barrage on the village. Smith doesn't want to lose Joan, but realises he has no choice. As the Doctor, he destroys the Family's ship, trapping each of the Family in eternities of living death. He tries to patch things up with Joan, but she's not having it. So, he and Martha return to the TARDIS and leave. |
| Review:- The previous two series had each featured a story which was inspired by a Big Finish play. This time, it was the turn of Virgin's New Adventures line to inspire the tale of the Doctor experiencing life as a human, an experience doomed to be cut short when his old life caught up with him... Cornell adapts his own book, Human Nature, making very few changes to television. In the main, the story works just as well second time around. But it shouldn't have to. There's nothing that different in this adventure to separate it from its progenitor. The Doctor's motivation is different, and his treatment of the Family differs darkly from the fate of the Aubertides, but beyond that... is there any point to this story? Sure, it looks nice. The autumnal location work is very attractive to the eye, especially in its first half. Stomping across fields makes this story look more familiar as Doctor Who than possibly nearly any other story since its return in 2005, which is a strange observation to have to make, but when the same diet of images have been fed to viewers over and over, a change like this represents something to be savoured. Alongside this joy comes David Tennant's acting as John Smith, which may hopefully quell those who mock the poor man's acting ability. In due course, when he is expected to handle decent scripts on major themes outside the show, he will be able to further prove just how good he is. His anguish over having to lose all he values is the climax of a believable and gentle romance. It's perhaps when he reassumes his Time Lord mantle that he loses a spark, but that may just be the fault of the script. Unfortunately, poor Freema Agyeman has to struggle with Martha fitting into a script and ethos she doesn't deserve to be saddled with. The glib comments on racism may seem shocking, but at least it is more credible than the usual "oh, she's from Freedonia" excuse. Worse, she is suddenly forced to overtly articulate her love for the Doctor. Presumably this is for the benefit of those thick people in the audience who can't appreciate the subtlety of her romance for him (ironically juxtaposed with Smith's love for Joan!). It remains to be seen how this will play out, but it sank like a stone with Rose, and it will be miraculous if it's any better this time. Jessica Hynes is fine enough as Joan, and I should also mention Latimer, Baynes and the Headmaster, who all deliver quality efforts along the way. So what else is there really to say? The deeply unsubtle commentary on warfare is even drabber than it was in the book. By the time the viewer is presented with slo-mo images of machine-gunned scarecrows, it would take a hard heart not to laugh at the silliness of it. And there's still time for the unnecessary and tacked-on follow-ups with Latimer in the trenches, and as an old man Remembering. I find this rather more distasteful than I did in the book, where it was just twee and ignorable. It doesn't add anything to the story, so it seems rather an expensive piece of vanity. At least Tim was in the Red Cross in the book, which was rather an apt coda to the main story. Overall, then, whilst I can see why many people have raved over this story, I just cannot sit by and accept a rehashed knock-off that actually cheapens the memory of what was not that great a book. I'd rather have an all-new adventure. |
| Disclaimer: I have watched this story. |