Doctor Who Episode Review: New Earth

I didn't do a whole heck of a lot for my birthday this past weekend, other than pull up what was left of my garden in expectation of frost. Ultimately, I wound up spending a good chunk of my day on the couch watching Doctor Who re-runs, including this one.

It had been a long time since I had watched this particular episode and, because of that, I found I didn't remember a whole lot about it. As I watched it again, I found there was a lot about it I loved.

My favorite part had to be the infected humans, which were zombie-like when the Doctor and Rose (Cassandra) released them from their chambers. Since they were infected with every disease, one touch from them would be deadly. But, at the same time, since it was pretty obvious they were suffering, it was also easy to feel sorry for them.

I also found, despite their somewhat questionable methods, I found it was hard to dislike the nuns that were running the hospital. They were, after all, trying to cure diseases they had never encountered before and their method, while controversial, did make some sense from their point of view.

My only real complaint about this episode is I'm just not a big fan of Cassandra. I always thought she was kind of a weak villain and her taking over Rose's body really didn't really impress me all that much, mostly because it wasn't difficult for the Doctor to figure out something wasn't right. It also got to be a little ridiculous when she kept jumping from Rose's body to the Doctor's body while they were trying to escape the infected humans. It took away from what should have been an intense scene.

The episode could have done without Cassandra. But, overall, I still thought it was a good episode with quite a bit of action and suspense. I would recommend it as a result.

My Grade: B