Athanasy's space

Watched 'The Next Doctor', and then sat with a feeling of anti-climax for several long minutes.  Not sure what I was expecting (the trailer had been quite good), but I suppose it is hard to top 'Voyage of the Damned' for scale, impact, and some seriously great acting.  Ok, I know VoTD isn't everyone's cup of tea, but it certainly was/is mine.  The Next Doctor was a good old fashioned Dr Who yarn.  Tennant was his usual great self (though he did look a little tired in some shots, not surprising when you consider this was filmed straight after the wrap on the last series).  David Morrissey & Dervla Kirwan were also excellent, though Miss Hartigan seemed a little under-played in her evilness at times.  Although RTD has been hinting recently that the seeds of the current Doctors demise are sown from this episode on, it was hard to pick out anything in particular that might be the start.  I know, it will all be obvious with hindsight, come Xmas 2009 (ye gads, I'm dreading the wrench that will be, even now).  But I drift from my topic - I had to go back and watch some earlier season 4 episodes to cover the lack of substance from TND.  Having read 'The Writer's Story' recently, I fully appreciate we're bloody lucky to get anything with that much cohesion, and on time, given the way the man works, but sorry RTD, it was ok - just not your best.  7 out of 10.

Oh, and in case anyone thinks I'm bashing RTD, I'm not - he's brilliant, and I found a lot of what he said in TWS had resonance for me, but everyone is open to constructive criticism.  And he's got a seriously high, self-inflicted bar to measure up to in the next 4 specials.  Good luck to him!

On a related aside, I'm sad to be missing out on Tennant's Hamlet in London right now.  Having seen it in Stratford, I was looking forward to a repeat performance in a different acting space (which would bring a different dynamic to the show).  And then the poor chap has to go and stuff his back up.  Commiserations to him - he must be incredibly frustrated to be missing effectively the whole London run.  And kudos to Edward, the understudy, who is wowing audiences in DT's place (I think some of the critics actually prefer him to DT). Oh well...at least I saw it in Stratford.