Sabah Hensley
This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama
Gary
The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.
Sarita Rafferty
There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.
Matthew Kresal
It is inevitable that there will be certain Doctor Who stories that will only really work upon a single viewing. There's the hype that surrounds the story or the plot twists that, once they occur, mean that the story will never be the same again. Due to those things, the 2008 Christmas special The Next Doctor was perhaps destined to be one of those stories.Thinking back nearly five years to 2008 is hard to do now: David Tennant had recently announced he was leaving alongside Russell T Davies, which left both fans and the press in particular speculating about who the new Doctor would be. In that atmosphere, The Next Doctor was a perfect fit especially once both the title and the Children In Need preview of the special's teaser sequence had been released. Hype though can be a double edged sword as can time itself, for with the perspective of time, the weaknesses of this special are all to apparent.Perhaps the biggest of those would be the conceit that lies behind its title. With the perspective of time, The Next Doctor feels like a story where the title came first and the script followed suit and both the weak plot as well as the aforementioned weak ending bare that out. The central conceit, that the tenth Doctor is meeting some amnesic future incarnation, quickly falls apart as Davies gives not so subtle clues about what's going on. So quickly does it fall apart that Davies gets rid of the whole notion less than halfway through, something else that perhaps speaks to his own acknowledgments of the weakness of it.From there, the other weaknesses are made more apparent. Driven by that central conceit, the story rushes along at a great pace with everything else falling by the way side. Beyond the character of Jackson Lake, roles such as Rosita and Miss Hartigan end up becoming caricatures rather than characters, one a caricature companion and the other a caricature villainess. Even the Cybermen, whose return was much trumpeted when the "Next Time..." clip was shown at the end of Journey's End, are reduced to being caricatures of themselves.There's the fact its got a weak ending. The Davies era was driven (by his own admission) by spectacle, of trying to top whatever had come before. While the idea of a giant steam punk Cyberman (sorry Cyberking) marching through Victorian London may have done that trick on the page at least in theory, the unconvincing CGI creation we got to represent it says otherwise. It's Undermining that weak idea is a weak ending. The ending consists of the Doctor in a hot air balloon first causing Miss Hartigan, whose controlling the Cyberking, to effectively go insane before using the rifle like Dalek Dimensional Vault to disperse the Cyberking in the time vortex before it comes crashing into Victorian London. It's rushed, it's covered by clichéd Who technobabble and it simply doesn't work. Indeed, there's something rather telling about the fact Davies himself has since acknowledged the problem of the ending and indeed suggesting an alternative version which might actually actually have given Miss Hartigan a chance to be more than the caricature we ended up with.That isn't to write off this special entirely however. There's David Morrissey's excellent performance first as "The Next Doctor" and then as Jackson Lake. It's his performance more than anything else that carries the conceit as far as it foes. Morrissey captures in a couple of scenes a potential future Doctor full of both the enthusiasm and the hints of pain that the Doctor's of the New Series have all had. It also helps that Morrissey and David Tennant share an excellent chemistry together with the two of them really carrying the story right up to its lovely final scene.Looked back on with a perspective of time, The Next Doctor feels like a missed opportunity. Not only would Morrissey have made a splendid Doctor (if his performance here is anything to go by) but given when this first aired, this could have been the perfect place to have introduced a new Doctor. Instead it feels like a one trick pony trotting around a publicity stunt. It's a shame really for it could have been so much more.
gpeevers
The "Next Doctor" while perhaps an adequate episode, is for me the least effective and the least memorable of the "Doctor Who" Christmas specials.The story has a familiar Christmas setting with shades of Dickens, from the Victorian setting to the orphans and the work houses, but it doesn't really seem to have the essence of the Christmas Spirit.The performances overall are OK, David Morrisey is good as the next doctor but David Tennant is a little too subdued in my opinion.The baddies for this episode just aren't inspired, we have seen plenty of Cyberrmen by now and the new Cyber creatures really do look just like guys in suits (harkening back to the classic series). Perhaps the biggest flaw lies in the lead antagonist Miss Hartigan. Her motivations while possibly working well to define the character do very little for the story.As with most of the specials that would make up the following season I really felt the lack of a companion affected the formula and chemistry of the show, there were some strong guest stars who sometimes filled the companion role to a lesser or greater degree but it wasn't enough.The "Next Doctor" seems to have all of the necessary ingredients to create a compelling episode but they just don't add up to what they could have.
invisibleskidmark
this is a good episode and i enjoyed it but the dialogue was poor yet again by Russel t Davis and the direction was sloppy at times. this is essentially hard times but with a few twists; instead of a business man it's a cyberking and the setting is Victorian Britain, there's a labour force a lot like hard times and the new doctor is being hunted down by cybermen, a lot like gradgrind Jr. being hunted down by the business man. the performances are exceptional, considering the rushed and badly plotted script. David tenant plays his part to a tee and despite the previous comment it was consistent with his other performances and not over the top. morissey stood out and plays turmoil really well and his character resembles the turmoil of Louisa from hard times.if you like doctor who then this is a good story but if you don't and are just passionate about the art of film then avoid at all costs as this wasn't the serial's best. also in my opinion the best scripts of the series are written by Steven moffat even though some of his plots are flawed.
Malcius
Firstly, to respond to some of the previous comments: I thought David Morrissey's 'Doctor' quite successful as someone thinking he was the Doctor, but not as a genuine Doctor, but as he was only playing someone who thought he was the Doctor, I think the verdicts as to what he would have been like as a genuine Doctor rather irrelevant; regarding the stethoscope hypothesis, this was done, at least in the broadcast shown on New Year's Day, and if the memory issue had been caused by something like the Doctor's or the Master's fob watch human conversions, the lack of a second heart would scarcely be conclusive; finally, children from orphanages/workhouses (I didn't quite catch which) were a better choice for workers because adults would have been more likely to be noticed missing.I really enjoyed the interplay between the two 'Doctors' and this is where the episode excelled, along with the mystery of who Morrissey's Doctor actually was.Whether the companion Rosita was any better or worse than other companions, her similarity to Martha was too jarring to allow for any real feel for her own performance. She seemed rather modern to be a native of the mid 19th century. However, as a foil for the Doctors' conceitedness she was quite successful.Miss Hartigan was quite excellent, although I wasn't entirely convinced by the explanation of her motivation.The main downsides to the episode were the CyberShades and the CyberKing. The CyberShades were rubbish and could have come out of the very first season of the Hartnell era (except that they were trying to avoid the monster concept). The CyberKing (or giant robot) seemed completely out of character for the Cybermen as it would hardly be an efficient means of subjugating the world. It would have been more at home in a cartoon or Godzilla movie.However I am willing to forgive the flaws for the sake of the Doctors' character development.
