"New Earth" by Russell T. Davies--Excellent

"New Earth" is a sequel to last year's "End of the World," and is also Rose's first adventure with the newly regenerated Doctor, so the theme, appropriately enough, is rebirth. It brings back Zoe Wannamaker as a futuristic rich bitch so addicted to plastic surgery all that's left of her is a piece of skin stretched taut on a metal rack. Heh heh. Very clever.

Cool aliens, too, with names like "The Face of Boe," and "The Duke of Manhattan." This is one of Davies' strengths, creating these colorful eccentrics, a nobility of the future. Where "End of the World" struck me as very Douglas Adams-y, this one is quite Neil Gaiman-ish. Both are very high compliments in my book.

And they did the whole "body switch" chestbut, which gave both Tennant and Piper the chanceto play Zoe Wannamaker. Cliche? Yes--But well executed, and a lot of fun.


There was an (all too rare) arc element in this episode... one which has yet to be resolved, but promises to be a major plot point in Series 3: the Face of Boe, one of the oldest beings in the universe, older even than the Timelords, has a secret to share with the Doctor -- at their next, and last meeting. (One suspects the secret is that the Doctor is not alone; that his people, the Timelords, aren't quite so extinct after all. After all, they sacrificed themselves to destory the Daleks ... who, we now know, weren't destroyed.)