May 11, 2011

Army of Ghosts (2006)

The final story of the series starts off with a bold statement from Ms Tyler. “This is the day t hat I die!”. The story starts off with a series of montages which shows Rose having fun with the Doctor and then the line asked by the Doctor as to how long Rose will be with him and she says “Forever”. If you weren’t aware of this being her final story then this would have been a big giveaway. This also sees the infamous Torchwood make its long awaited debut, after a series long story arc it was finally time to see what their made of.

With Rose visiting her mum, she and the Doctor get to see Ghosts that have been appearing all over the world. It’s come to the stage where no-one is scared by seeing them and take them as normal with Jackie thinking one is her father who passed away years before. Sadly we get something that became a regular for an RTD story and that is bring famous faces. In this case Derek Acorah and Barbara Windsor as Peggy Mitchell in Eastenders.

Torchwood are very different compared to the one led by Captain Jack Harkness. This Torchwood is a group of very arrogant organisation and they feel like a bigger group that the Harkness one. There is an army in an office tower in the middle of London as opposed to a small underground base in the centre of Cardiff. I was genuinely surprised the Mickey came back. After being sealed in the Parallel World in The Age of Steel, he was the last face I expected to see.

The Sphere is something that we are told shouldn’t be there and doesn’t register on any piece of technology. It’s designed to travel through the void and allow for someone to live outside the universe without being affected by it. Its content is a mystery. Well I say a mystery what I mean is that it would only be a mystery for anyone who avoid anywhere that sold the Radio Times because they decided to put a picture of a Dalek and a Cyberman so it was just a question as to how they would appear. The Cybermen appearance was quite interesting as we could tell it was them through the plastic.

It’s funny that Freema Agyeman appears in this. I think I’m right in saying that it was this performance that got her the Martha job. She doesn’t have a particularly big role but as someone who is being controlled by the Cybermen she’s very good. Tracy Ann Oberman is surprisingly good as Yvonne Hartman. She swans around as someone who thinks she’s cleverer than everyone including the Doctor.

The cliffhanger was very good. The last five minutes or so were the best because the Cybermen finally make their appearance and the sight of hundreds of Cybermen appearing all over the world gives a great sense of how massive the invasion of the Cybermen is. Also we get to see what is in that Sphere. The sight of four Daleks flying out of the sphere was a fantastic one and one that was actually more impressive that the army of Daleks in Bad Wolf the year before.

As the opening story it sets things up very well. It’s obvious they are holding all the drama and tension until Doomsday but there is enough in this episode to keep us entertained. The build up to Billie Piper’s departure is building up well and the final story has potential to be a good send off.

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