The Doctors Wife - My Review

SPEECHLESS! JUST SPEECHLESS! I have literally just finished watching 'The Doctors Wife'on my TV. It was, no exaggeration, the best episode of Doctor Who I have ever seen, If not, one of the best 45 minutes of television ever created!
I'm gonna start with the negative. This is gonna sound pathetically picky, but still, when Rory and Idris were connecting telepathically, the effects were bad. Thats my one negative (which is me being my criticising mode because, for some reason, I felt as if I was looking for at least one reason to not like this episode)

The beginning was brilliant. I loved the return of the Ood, I loved even further that it wasn't really an important character and that it was just there. The message box the doctor got was a nice nod to the classic series, and the doctors comment about "Him or her" had me screaming with frustration at the TV (as those who know me well will tell you, I HATE HATE HATE the idea of a female doctor!) So, the whole Idris is the TARDIS thing was an amazing plot idea, simple, brilliant. I can't believe no-one has tried this before, the personification of the TARDIS is a simply genius concept, and it was Neil Gaiman who did it! (Neil Gaiman is my daughters favourite author, and one of mines too!) so you can imagine my delight as Idris awoke with a new soul, coughing out a materialization noise and finally giving the TARDIS a body!
Wow! and that was even before the opening credits!
The idea of a junk-yard planet was inspired. More so when you realise that Gaiman put that in there because Doctor Who itself started off in a Junk-yard. It looked great, and I loved all the steam-punk elements. The main typical 'Gaiman' thing about this episode was the Patchwork people. I LOVED them, the whole concept was genius (I will be using that word a lot in this review) and the way they called themselves 'Auntie' and 'Uncle' was strangely chilling. So, The Doctor is 'introduced' to Idris (who comes running at him screaming "THIEF, MY THIEF") and we get a HILARIOUS line about Biting. Surrane Jones should win some sort of award for her performance, I found myself thinking during the programme that Helena Bonham Carter would be awesome as Idris, but now looking back, I think she would have been the obvious choice, and It's too typical a role for her, that I think she wouldn't have done as good a job. Surrane Jones obviously took alot of effort to do this role, and boy did it pay off. Her TARDIS was crazy, mad, sad, happy, sexy, and all the positive adjectives I can think of. Her interaction with the doctor was great and led to some lines that we have all wanted to hear said for years, but there has just never been an opportunity for them. for example "You never took me where I wanted to go" " No, but I always took you where you needed to go"

So, Amy and Rory are rushed off to the TARDIS where the mysterious 'House' invades it. We finally get to see some more TARDIS. I loved the corridors. They had a very 'Classic' feel, and although I would have loved to see the Swimming Pool, we got what we were given, and I have to admit, the house playing with Amy and Rory's mind was pretty awesome. Arthur Darvill as old Rory was superb, and the writing on the wall was surprisingly scary. Meanwhile the Doctor and Idris are building a TARDIS out of Idris's 'sisters'. I thought the console looked great, and props to the winner of the Blue Peter contest who designed it. We get an epic line about the way the doctor opens his TARDIS doors and then we are off in the clambered together TARDIS. I found the fact that Idris thought Rory was 'The Pretty One' Hilarious.

I love the Ood. Fact. Nephew was so cool in this episode, and I think the Ood were scarier than ever before. The green eyes worked better than the red. Then we saw 9 and 10s TARDIS. I nearly fell of my chair when I saw it. The whole scene reminded me of how much I adored that TARDIS (I think it is my favourite!) and I am thrilled that the shot in the trailer wasn't David Tennant coming back. We then get the confrontation scene. I liked how the house demonstrated what he could do to kill everyone. I'm not lying when I say I felt a little jealous of all the things he could do. It really reminded me of that iPhone game 'Pocket God'. Anyway, after the house 'Kills' everyone, they all end up in the main section of the TARDIS, when Idris dies, and the TARDIS soul gies back into the machine we all know and love. I can't say though, that I wasn't sad about it. The final goodbye, or, 'hello' as Idris put it was the icing on the cake, it had me nearly in tears, and it really showcased both Matt and Surrane acting, with it feeling as natural as possible. Once that scene is over and done with, the house is gone and we get a lovely scene at the end with the doctor, Amy and Rory concerning the TARDIS and a mysterious line about "The Only water in the forest is the River" as well as a hilarious exchange about bunk beds.

So, in short, this episode was television perfection. Doctor Who at it's best, a mad, mad adventure filled with charm, chills, great dialogue and stunning acting. It is definitely true that I will never look at the TARDIS in the same way again!

10/10 (would be eleven, but that's impossible!)

Next week we have what looks like a pretty scary Finale-ish two parter, looks very 'Hungry Earth' to me. It also looks like we finally get some answers to as who the hell is the eye patch lady (Amy's midwife perhaps)

Greg