Part 2 of 2
Written by Helen Raynor
Directed by Douglas MacKinnon
“For the billionth time…YOU CAN’T FIGHT SONTARANS!”
Well, it was exactly what I expected: non-stop action, frantic debates, confrontations, and punch-the-air victory moments…and that’s not necessarily a bad thing
Many people within fandom bemoan modern Doctor Who’s lack of “surprise” - a show that can do anything, and go anywhere, should be capable of more. They argue that stories such as The Empty Child and The Girl in the Fireplace should be the norm, and not the exception.
But I think such people are looking at the history of the series with rose-tinted glasses.
Many times in its storied past, Doctor Who has fallen into a comfortable formula, and offered amazing thrills & chills, in spite of the program elements repeating itself. Fandom will always point to the early Tom Baker/Philip Hinchliffe era of the program as its high water mark…but how many of them will admit to the fact that by the time it finished, many of the stories shared the same pattern of horror rip-offs/body possession. The Patrick Troughton base-under-siege stories…the UNIT/invasion of Earth stories of the Pertwee era…the people-in-space/megalomaniac stories of the Williams era…every era of the program has a style that worked, and that it stuck to until the next great sea-change in its evolution.
If anything, modern Doctor Who samples ALL of these classics, and puts its own spin on such time-worn (and worthy) plots. If anything, the two-parter ending with The Poison Sky owes most of its success to the Aliens of London/World War Three format of series one. After a few warm up adventures, the Doctor and companion return to Earth, dealing with some of the consequences of their new relationship dynamic. They end up fighting off an immediate threat to home & hearth, then head off into the unknown once more. There’s a reason children and adults adore the series once more: it IS doing everything, and going everywhere, with a lot of panache. Nothing much has changed in 45 years.
The Poison Sky is more rollicking entertainment…perhaps a bit derivative of big Hollywood action films, but full of the extra emotion (the death of Pvt. Jenkins), the extra surprises (who WAS that on the screen?), and another fascinating near-suicide moment for the Doctor…
…and THEN it ends with one hell of a surprise! 
This is the ultimate Doctor Who comfort food, but it doesn’t apologize for being what it is - it luxuriates in its old-fashioned nature. With forthcoming stories giving us the Doctor’s “daughter”, an alien library, and Agatha Christie meeting giant wasps, a bit of down-home, old-school Doctor Who feel-good snacking fits perfectly into the current mix.
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