'Doctor Who: The Next Doctor (2008 Xmas Spec.)'
(David Tennant, David Morrissey, et al / DVD / NR / (2008) 2009 / BBC Home Video)
Overview: Christmas Eve, 1851, and the Cybermen stalk the snow of Victorian London. When the Doctor arrives and starts to investigate a spate of mysterious deaths, he's surprised to meet another Doctor and soon, the two must combine forces to defeat the ruthless Miss Hartigan. But are two Doctors enough to stop the rise of the CyberKing?
DVD Verdict: This Christmas Special has a bit more comedy than others, in my opinion. The whole "Next Doctor" bit is very entertaining. Although the method of how he came about, and their primary weapons against the Cybermen seems a bit far-fetched and silly.
In comparison to the general series, this special is a bit less serious and is not as thoroughly backed with details, but as long as you are familiar with the series most of the information fills in. It does introduce a new type of Cyber-unit and these information storage units called "Info-Stamps" that hold a load of data in picture format, it would seem. There is no real information on where this new Cyber-critter came from, and the Info-Stamps are a bit overly powerful.
They can project the information on a wall, be plugged into the Cybermen and the information is immediately transferred, or one can pop the cap off of them and obliterate most anything with the wonderful power core. How handy! Sounds like the ultimate weapon/tool all wrapped up into one handy hand-held cylinder!
Oh, and apparently, they can imprint a lot of information into a person's mind if they hold it wrong. I kind of feel that these little Info-Stamps were given a bit too much weight in the show. It just seemed like a much-too-easy solution to everything.
This DVD comes with a 1 Hour "The Next Doctor" episode, along with a 1 Hour "Doctor Who at the Proms" special which is a musical special that takes place at the Royal Albert Hall. It is entertaining to watch as well, although they mixed in a lot of clips from the show with the video of the performance. There were many familiar aliens from the new Doctor Who series running about the audience. It must have been an awesome experience to be there!
All in all, for the price, it was wonderful! Maybe not the best Doctor Who plot of all time, but it certainly helps break up this year without any new episodes! I enjoyed it, and am happy to have bought it! [FG] This is a Widescreen Presentation (1.78:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs and come with the Special Features of:
Doctor Who at The Proms
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