Welcome back to Part 2 of my latest series where I choose episodes that you could watch before S11. This time we round off Russell T Davies by covering Series 3 and 4.
Series 3
Daleks In Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks
This story is about the Daleks attempting to transfer themselves into humans by their latest plan, the final experiment which has a bit of a win-lose situation when the Doctor stops the experiment. This experiment divides Sec who is now human hybrid by the end of Part 1 and his fellow cult members Thay, Jast and Caan turn on Sec and mess with Dalek DNA as Caan controls them. Jast and Thay kill Sec who protects the Doctor and they attempt it to kill the Doctor with human Daleks who stand up due to the Doctor getting in the way in the gamma radiation strike and destroy their two masters before Caan kills the human Daleks. Caan uses his Emergency Temporal Shift which later leads him to Davros in S4. The Doctor saves Lazlo who was partially converted in to a pig slave from dying as he didn’t want no one else to die. The reason that you should watch this episode is that we see the Daleks develop their species but it all goes wrong just like the Master’s plan in S10.
Human Nature/Family Of Blood
This may not be my favourite for various reason but this episode does have great moments. The Doctor turns human to save himself and Martha for a race called the family of blood where he falls in love undercover. Soon, he and his allies face attack from the Family of Blood where John realised that he has to save himself by turning back into the Doctor and destroys the family ship and punishes them before being sent away by Joan. The reason that you should watch this episode is that we see Freema Agyeman as Martha Jones prove why the Doctor needs helps when he is selfish as a human and protects him. Plus, it relates to a bit of history and shows once again that the Doctor is not having a good time with relationships until River comes along.
Blink
Steven Moffat wrote this episode and proved that he had a chance when he became showrunner with this episode. We meet Sally Sparrow who investigates Wester Drumlins House and when she goes next, best friend Cathy goes missing as soon as a relative shows up which starts her investigation into the Weeping Angels leads her to Larry Nightingale, Cathy’s brother. She also gains an ally in Billy Shipton who suffer the same fate as Cathy but runs into the Doctor and Martha who ask him send a message to Sally and gives her the information about the Angels before he dies from old age. She summons Larry as the Doctor in the video explains what they need to do to send back the TARDIS to him 1969 and tricking the attacking Angels into straying each and stuck forever. After the incident, Sally meets the Doctor who doesn’t know about her and as Martha ushers him, Sally manages to give him the stuff for when he gets sent back in time in the future. The reason that you should watch this episode is that we meet once of Moffat’s memorable monsters and we know it isn’t the last we will see of them. Also, we see another complicated timeline in this episode and it’s the Doctor’s and Sally’s which we would later relate to when River Song arrives.
Series 4
Planet of the Ood
This episode depicts of how the humans treat the Ood who then get affected by the red eye which allows them to kill just like last time but under a different control, only one Ood stays sane and that is Ood Sigma who helps the Doctor and Donna defeat Mr Halpen and restore the Ood to normal by their song before warning that the Doctor’s song will end which you learn more about later. One of my favourite eps of this series. The reason that you should watch this episode is that we learn about the Ood and these guys treat them badly as slaves but we also see Donna’s compassion once again and this is why Donna is so great.
Silence in the library/Forest of the dead
The episode where River Song makes her debut. She invites the Doctor and Donna to the Library where strange things happen, River’s crew get eaten and become the Vashta Nerada and Donna is protected and put into the CAL database. The Doctor finds out CAL is the child of one of River’s crew. River saves the day by sacrificing herself knocking the Doctor out and handcuffing him before explaining this isn’t the last time she will see him. The Doctor returns the favour by up,lacing her into the CAL and reuniting with her crew. The reason that you should watch this episode is that this begins River’s adventure and it foreshadows future adventures and it’s a scary story that sets Moffat for the show runner job.
Turn Left
Donna centred story where we see a time beetle make her turn right on a day she had a big decision which leads to the Doctor dying in the Racnoss attack and several of the Doctor’s friends giving their lives in the Doctor’s place but luckily Rose Tyler and UNIT are there to help and parallel Donna gives her life to send the real Donna left and reboot the timeline. Luckily Rose is able to send another warning “BAD WOLF.” The reason that you should watch this episode is that this we can learn what life without the Doctor and the consequences it can cause.
That all of the Russell T Davies era so next time we are gonna look at why you should watch from the first 2 series that were led by Steven Moffat.
