Doctor Who: Army of Ghosts Review
It's very hard to review Army of Ghosts without having seen Doomsday; the first part was very much that, rather than an episode in its own right. Spoilers follow, beware.
Generally speaking, I liked it. None of it was surprising, particularly, but it was well done. Things I particularly liked:
Jackie pretending to be Rose was brilliant. She took on all Rose's movements, facial expressions, gestures, the whole lot. I still don't much like the character, but Camille Coduri is an excellent actor.
The way the global TV reports of ghosts don't include the USA is amusing. News from the UK, France, India - but nothing from the US. The soap cameo made me laugh out loud - even if I'm not a fan, the set and accent are distinctive enough, and it's very, very British.
The re-appearance of Mickey/Rickey was great; he seems to have grown up a lot, and is actually likable now. I know there are lots of people who don't like the alternate-worlds-meeting plotlines, but they're one of my favourites. I'm guessing we'll see Pete Tyler again, though - it's not like Russell Davies can leave that alone.
A minor detail, but the movements of the Torchwood workers through the plastic-shrouded "under construction" areas mirrored the blurred figures of the ghosts perfectly. I like that kind of visual echo.
It remains to be seen if the Sun's report that Freema Agyeman's character, Adeola, would be replacing Rose as Companion is true or not - it looked to me like Adeola was very dead. Not that that's going to stop anything, of course.
(EDIT: Freema Agyeman is in, Adeola is not. Freema will be playing Martha Jones.)
The hammering home of "being a Companion is dangerous, and changes you" is starting to tire me, though. We've had it said, very nearly in so many words, three times now, by different characters, and I didn't like Jackie's rendition of it - it came across as "You're growing up and I don't like it".
I'm looking forward, with some trepidation, to next week's - it has vast potential, but I don't really trust RTD not to serve it with an overdose of ham and cheese.
Posted by Drew Shiel at July 4, 2006 9:59 AM
