Doctor Who: The Doctor's Daughter

Another alien planet episode! (mostly, though again populated by humans)

The Doctor, Donna and Martha find themselves in the middle of a generations-old war between two races who've forgotten why they're fighting each other. Any idea how this will end? Anyone? Anyone? Oh I see, everyone.

Well all right then, the Doctor has his DNA stolen by a machine (didn't the last story concern cloning too?) that then uses it to make a new soldier – someone who's genetically his daughter and agrees to join him in the TARDIS to travel with him from now on. Can anyone guess what unexpectedly happens to her at the end of the episode? Anyone? No, not you everyone, you answered last time. Anyone? Oh, come on, anyone! Oh all right then, everyone, you answer again.

Well done everyone, that's correct, but for a bonus point, can you guess what unexpectedly happens after that? Can you? Yes, of course you can. Anyone could have seen that final 'twist' coming after he'd left.

Except, apparently, a Time Lord.

The Doctor's Daughter is an okay tale, with a great twist towards the end (not the 'twist' referred to above), however it is bogged-down by... well go on, now you can guess.

Exactly. What a waste of every other scene.

The only characters who get anything interesting to do here are companions medic Martha and supertemp Donna.

Martha because, although she gets captured for the second story running, we then get to see her fending for herself. As I said in my reviews of her Torchwood episodes, this is the bolder, more able Martha that the last season could really have benefitted from, but didn't, preferring to treat her more as an airheady teen, like Rose.

Which brings me to Donna. Like Peri, she seems to argue with the Doctor rather a lot, which is proving to be a tremendous asset. Every time he makes a decision, she pushes back at it, forcing him to really consider his actions. And there are no romantic feelings there to muddy her reasoning. As a result, the two are really working out for me.

Now that's unexpected.