A Judoon platoon upon the moon!
Martha Jones makes her debut as the new companion. Following on from the popular character of Rose cannot have been an easy task (considering the Doctor is STILL whinging on about her!) but by now I'm so used to the ever changing companions that it didn't really bother me. If you are the sort of person who doesn't like change then Doctor Who is definitely not for you! Even the lead character completely changes every so often!
Martha is also officially the first black companion the show has ever had. Unless you count Micky. This isn't really picked up on in this first episode but will be noted on when the Doctor takes her back in time to Elizabethan England, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
So this first episode of series 3 (or series 29!) revolves around the kidnapping of an entire hospital and its transportation to the moon! Martha is working in the hospital as a trainee Doctor and luckily for her and everyone else one of her patients happens to have two hearts..it's the Doctor! Bet you didn't see that coming.
A race of aliens called the Judoon have captured the hospital to segregate it from the rest of planet Earth so that they can hunt down the alien fugitive hiding within. This fugitive is not the Doctor but another alien altogether, an alien vampire!!
The Judoon are a cool design, basically they are humonoid looking rhinos! Space Rhinos! They go around the hospital, scanning everyone in order to track down their prey. They are police for hire and woe betide anyone who gets in their way.
After overhearing Martha speaking to another doctor and realising she is an intelligent woman who can keep a cool head in a crisis, the Doctor is soon dragging her out on to the surface of the moon to have a look round. Meanwhile the vampire is attacking the humans in order that she can assimilate their blood and maker herself appear human when the Judoon finally get round to scanning her.
I quite enjoyed this one. The idea of suddenly finding yourself trapped on the moon is pretty terrifying. The sheer loniness and desolation would be horrific. And the fact that you can see the Earth in the sky but have no way of reaching it makes it all the more scary!
As well as meeting Martha we are also introduced to her family, something which seem far more important in the new series than it ever was in the old one. They seem a bit less unlikable than the Tyler family but to be fair they do spend most of this episode arguing so maybe not making the best first impression on me.
There also seems to be many posters littered around proclaiming "Vote Saxon" and the mysterious Mr Saxon also gets a fleeting mention at the end of the episode..I wonder who this could be.
At the climax of the story, the Doctor invites Martha to make one trip with him in the TARDIS as a way to say thank you for her help on the moon. After Rose he says he prefers to be on his own and Martha's flirting with him doesn't go down to well. The first signs of unrequited love are being shown and I'm afraid Martha is probably going to end up with a broken heart soon.
Welcome aboard Miss Jones!
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