Doctor Who: The Complete Second Season 2006 boxset (DVD series review)
I’m going to do this as I did season one. I reviewed the episodes when they first came out, so I’m going to focus on the audio commentaries and extras. Be grateful, it would be a much longer review than it is now otherwise but that’s ‘Doctor Who’ for you. Bigger on the inside. Speaking of which in the credits, David Tennant is now ‘The Doctor’.
With the opening special, there is no explanation who changed the Doctor into pyjamas. I doubt if Rose’s mother was present.
The Audio Commentaries
For the opening special, ‘The Christmas Invasion’, you have to go to the set-up to activate the commentary from producers Julie Gardner, Phil Collinson and Russell T. Davies because they have a visual box where you can see them talk and trying to keep on their Christmas hats. At least its easier to activate this time. They discuss everything from the Santas having human hands and which parts were filmed in London and Cardiff. They are also the first to film on top of the Tower Of London. At the time of recording, there are 30 pages of notes about Torchwood. Davis also has no idea how the Sycorax could control type A blood people. I’m equally puzzled why AB blood types weren’t affected neither. The cave scenes were recorded in Clearwell Caverns. The episode took 24 days to film and things like Jackie Tyler giving the unconscious Doctor shampoo as medication got omitted. I can understand Collinson’s remarks that he wished Harriet Jones had stayed PM. It also looks like they haven’t had any thought about how the Sycorax ashes were cleaned up afterwards. Oh, this version of the credits notes David Tennant as ‘Doctor Who’, just to show I’m paying attention.
For the first episode, ‘New Earth’, we have director James Hawes, executive producer Julie Gardner and visual effects supervisor Will Cohen, all giving plenty of information. The episode took 12 days to film but there were a lot of pick-up scenes later. The filming of the TARDIS arriving in the future was in the middle of a force 9 gale. Looking at what was real and CGI becomes an adventure in itself, proving these commentaries useful for quiz material.
For the second episode, Tooth And Claw’, we have showrunner Russell T Davies with visual effects supervisor David Houston and special effects supervisor Stephen Nicholas. It should go without saying that most of the interiors were filmed in Wales. Budget restrictions meant they couldn’t do bullet-time effects so it has to make people wonder with the extra funding now is would he do it now? It isn’t as though it needs to be done just for combat. The commentary focused a lot on what was real and wasn’t. Davies wrote the script in ten days after the original choice couldn’t quite get it or give what was asked. With the kitchen, he also corrects that it wasn’t mistletoe that drove the werewolf from the kitchen, just that women weren’t its prey. Davies also queries whether the Doctor had been knighted before and I think he was thinking of the McCoy Doctor but it never happened there as he was thought to be Merlin.
For the third episode, ‘School Reunion’, we have actor David Tennant, writer Toby Whithouse and executive producer Julie Gardner. The latter reveals that she did Phil Collinson’s job for a week and ended running late over costs. Whithouse’s original script was to be on a military base by Russell T Davies insisted it should be changed to a school. Tennant reveals this was the second episode filmed, the problems with ADR (Automatic Dialogue Replacement) in finding the same emotion for repeating the dialogue to get around other sounds when recording. The K-9 in the final scene was the one original special effects guru Mat Irvine kept in his garage. Objectively, I still think this is one of my favourite episodes. Who couldn’t top Sarah-Jane finding the TARDIS and the Doctor greeting her?
For the fourth episode, ‘The Girl In The Fireplace’, we have a second visual audio commentary with producer Phil Collinson and actors David Tennant and Sophie Myles, both of whom worked previously before in ‘Foyle’s War’. I hadn’t realised the spacecraft was shaped like a key but considering we only really saw the exterior twice briefly, I suspect most wouldn’t have. The most expensive item was the amount of carbon dioxide to feed the jacks and, I imagine, those extinguishers. Keep an eye on the clocks and when and when they were broken. Myles describes being in costume with others in modern dress meant a difference in the way they walked. One of her costumes was originally worn by Helen Mirren in the 1994 film ‘The Madness Of King George’. David Tennant points out he normally uses prescription glasses but I do wonder if the pair he wears as the Doctor are also prescribed lenses. Three stately homes were used in France.
For the fifth episode, Rise Of The Cybermen’, we have actors Noel Clarke, Camille Coduri and Jake Simmonds. Clarke is forever leg-pulling but both he and Coduri are Who knowledgeable and know various production team. The episode was filmed in London, Newport and Cardiff and has atrocious weather. There’s an interesting point about the Doctor calling Mickey ‘Ricky’ as if he’s aware of the alternative version. The earpods kept popping out of their ears. Coduri is happy not to be wearing tracksuit bottoms for a change as the mean Jackie Tyler but is padded out for both parts. There were only ten real Cybermen.
For the sixth episode, ‘The Age Of Steel’, we have a visual commentary with director Graeme Harper, cyber-leader Paul Kasey and cyber-voice Nicholas Briggs. There’s a lot of technical info here, especially on connecting scenes filmed in different places. The inside of Battersea Power Station actually that of a brewery. The information about the Cybermen is more telling. Wearing the costume does not keep them warm, composed of fibreglass and metallic elements and poor visibility, especially if the eyelights are on. Y’know, considering how many Cybermen have been created over the years, you would think someone somewhere would make it easier for the actors inside. Of course, they could do it like they did in the original series and use the real thing. Harper’s comment on the Cyberman attitude is ‘So what?’
For the seventh episode, ‘The Idiot’s Lantern’, we have actor David Tennant, production designer Edward Thomas and prosthetics technician Charlie Bluett doing the audio commentary. This was also one of the more expensive episodes to be made, using a lot of the real things although the motorcycle didn’t always work. There were 25 real TVs made, powered by DVD players. Tennant describes his quiff took half an hour to make the first time and then down to quarter of an hour. The street should have been in Crouch End if it was to see the television mast and the one created was 20 feet high. I defy anyone to spot which blurred faces were real and The Mill generated.
For the eighth episode, ‘The Impossible Planet’, we have a visual commentary with visual effects guru Will Cohen with actors David Tennant and Shaun Parkes with a lot of reveals. Like, for instance, only one stretch of corridor constantly being repainted and the two-parter the last filmed because of its complications and budget and the last to be filmed at the Newport studio. Tennant also revealed a passion to eat an Ood tentacle. Gabriel Woolf, the voice of the Beast, was also the voice of Sutekh in the Tom Baker story, ‘The Pyramids Of Mars’. No one seems to note that this crew are a Torchwood unit hence me asking a question: Wouldn’t they have been told about the Doctor?
For the ninth episode, ‘The Satan Pit’, we have director James Strong, actor Ronnie Jhutti (who played Danny Bartock) and editor Mike Jones. Most significantly, it’s the fact that it was recorded in a cold February and the tunnel, filmed over 3 days, messed up all their knees. Jones gleefully reveals he never had to go on location but I wish he talked more about the editing process.
For the tenth episode, ‘Love & Monsters’, the audio commentary is with actress Camille Coduri, director Dan Zeff and producer Julie Gardner. This is Doctor-lite episode as David Tennant and Billy Piper were off doing the previous two-parter and being outside as a treat when they popped in. Coduri worked with actor Mark Warren in ‘A Touch Of Frost’ and took three shirts to get the right wine spill. They all think this is a happy episode, although considering the citizen death count was 3½, I’m less sure. The creature, the Abzorbaloff, originally supposed to be as high as two decker buses, came from Blue Peter winner William Grantham. The LINDA group was not designed to be geeky just ordinary people living or dying through unusual circumstances. It also carries the first reference to Mr. Saxon.
For the eleventh episode, ‘Fear Her’, writer Matthew Graham with executive producer Julie Gardner. It was made in the winter but fortunately on sunny days, unless you catch their breaths which they drew attention to. I do think they should have pointed out the overall temperature of the street had dropped though. Reading behind the lines here, Russell T. Davies gave a lot of guidance with what he needed in this episode. Gardner thinks this is a sad episode and Graham its all about loneliness, taking aspects of the second film version of ‘Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers’. They both agreed that young actress Abisola Agbaje who played Chloe Webber was exceptional but looking up her credits since, nothing, which is a shame.
The twelfth episode, ‘Army Of Ghosts, has actors Noel A. Clark (pondering over using his middle initial), Raji James and Tracy-Ann Oberman (who was pregnant at the time), the latter two didn’t have to audition. Oh, all are ‘Doctor Who’ fans so had some debate amongst themselves, especially about the Doctor role, as if it would ever be a female (even pregnant), colour or even alien. The Torchwood black floor had to be continually cleaned because any dirt was easily seen. There were only 10 practical Cyberman which Oberman points out had dishy men inside. The military extras were all serving or had served in the army. Clarke started some debate on who built the Torchwood tower and whether the Official Secrets Act would have kept it quiet. From my perspective, considering it was built in Canary Warf with other skyscrapers, they probably didn’t know what they were building. Lots to digest here.
The thirteenth episode, ‘Doomsday’, has a video commentary with David Tennant and Billie Piper, the former saying this was his favourite story. They both compare notes on different types of acting for phone and yawning. The explosion in the Dalek room was done for real with three cameras filming. The magna-clamps were heavier than medicine balls, although neither explains how they stuck to the walls. For their final scene, only ten people had access to the last ten pages and it was recorded in five takes, two at a distance.
The Extras
Unlike season one, there are extras only on disk # 1, running at 8 minutes we have the ‘Outtakes’, the funniest is seeing the cybermen playing around, especially in the park. It’s been said that it was difficult to see and move in the armour but here looks awfully light. The ‘Deleted Scenes’ are just that, running at 10 minutes and actor Marc Warren as Elton from the episode ‘Love & Monsters’ seems to have the most time lost. ‘Billy’s Diaries’, running at 4 minutes’, features behind the scenes from episodes 3 and 1 in that order. From the latter, we see inside the make-up room and photos that have to be matched for scenes. One thing that had to be done digitally was the removal of a spot on Billie Piper’s forehead. All three of these really need to be seen after all the season’s episodes.
One that doesn’t but really should be seen before the first episode is the 3 minute ‘Children In Need’ as it features the Tennant Doctor trying to navigate the TARDIS to Barcelona of all places but then decides to go to London prior to collapsing.
Oddly, that’s it for extra on the episode disks this time. On the final disk, we have 13 ‘Doctor Who Confidentials, running at 12 minutes each. As I reviewed them with the original episodes, its more like reacquainting myself with them as these centre on what happened than focus on anything that can be seen as predictive of what happened next. I think one of the biggest surprises is how David Tennant can grow a beard overnight. Russell T Davies also says he would never kill a companion and yet there are now three more that the Doctor couldn’t save or totally save.
David Tennant’s Video Diary, which looks like or divided into podcasts, runs at 85 minutes’, so I decided to split it over two days to absorb it properly makes for a good reason to buy the boxset. It gives insight into Tennant’s insecurities, 9 months of filming and getting behind as we see work behind and in front of the scenes. Seeing Cybermen wearing coats to keep warm and elastic bands wrist to wrist to get around their lack of peripheral vison when marching together and a non-cooperative cat. We also get to meet the MacDonald clan and other tasks like appearing on Blue Peter and a night of posing for publicity photographs. Two-thirds through we are told about the wrap party but not shown and then Tennant goes back to other episodes. He does think a 9 month stint before going back to normal life has made people institutionalised. Seeing his delight at being turned into a toy and being given a prototype is fun. He is wrong though as there have been earlier toys of all the Doctors and such.
Have I said enough? I do think this is one of my favourite seasons because so much is going on, mixing in the past, present and future. Its time to review the past.
GF Willmetts
May 2024
(pub: BBC. 6 DVDs 660 minutes 13 * 50 minute episodes with extras. ASIN: BBCDVD2122)
cast: David Tennant, Bille Piper, Noel Clarke, Camille Coduri and many, many more
