The Stolen Earth: Doctor Who Series 4 Episode 12

The build up to the invasion of Earth was superbly done. That one Dalek utterance sent a chill down my spine (rather unexpectedly because it has been over used). However, “Exterminate!” was more than appropriate - even though a lot of people seemed to be taken away for experimentation of some sort. “Experiment!” just doesn't have the same fear inducing tenor, though, does it?

There was a great deal of death and destruction in the episode. Good golly, we even had the extermination of an entire family at one point, something which will no doubt get the complainers going that the show has, once more, too much violence in it. It could be argued that “off screen” deaths such as these - and here we could count the demise of former Primer Minister Harriet Jones - are much more horrifying than the ones we actually see as so much is left to the imagination. This is an example of good direction at its best. Keep the deaths off screen but turn up the fear factor as a result. Nice. Lots of fantastic special effects, the Medusa Cascade and the transmitted waves were cheesy though!

To counter the pandemonium and general all round gathering horror there were some moments of comedy in the episode that deserve mention here. It is a credit to Russell T Davis' writing skills that he managed to place so much light heartedness in a very dark episode without it teetering on the edge of ridicule. There were some great lines - Wilf's immediate reaction to the invasion was to suggest his daughter remove herself indoors, “(Aliens) always want the women”. Plus the Doctor's password code delivery to the Judoon guarding The Shadow Proclamation was pricelessly funny. He also managed to get a line in about being a kid at the age of ninety. My best funny moment here, where I found myself guffawing along with Ianto, was when Paul O'Grady appeared on screen and made a comment about furniture polish. These were some excellent light hearted moments in the middle of slaughter. As for the Outer Space Facebook moment. No comment! Then there was the solution to the age old Dalek weakness of their single eye!

The music of this series has been attacked a great deal for being too loud and overwhelming. Here, loud and overwhelming was the order of the day - in fact the only way that the events could have been accompanied. If Wagner was still alive he should have been hired to do it, but this was a great job well done. As well as the familiar companion themes we had some marvelous choral moments as the planets were revealed. Plus the almost spaghetti western type moments when the Doctor is thinking about what to do next and not coming up with much.

Many questions were left unanswered. What is the Crucible? What is or was the Mister Copper Foundation? What is the human population of the earth to be used for? What was the woman at The Shadow Proclamation going on about - “I am so sorry for your loss, the loss that is yet to come”? What on earth is The Osterhagen Key? The last question is the most important here - my greatest fear is that it will be used as some sort of Deus Ex Machina for everything to be put right. However much a certain former Prime Minister urged people to forget about it, I imagine that it will be pivotal in the next episode.

Dalek Caan made reappearance. You may remember that he effected a temporal shift in “Daleks in Manhattan”. Somehow he had managed to save Davros but has become a precognitively insane as a result. Another unanswered question is who is the Doctor's most faithful companion and how will (s)he die? This must surely be the first time we have ever heard a Dalek laugh, and the childlike giggles from this “abomination” were pretty scary. Can any songwriter reading this pen a “When I hear a Dalek laugh” song along the lines of “When I see an elephant fly” please?

Scarier still was the return of the nemesis Davros, who reveals at one point how he has managed to revive the Dalek race, quite horribly. I am sure that his appearance alone will give some viewers nightmares but this display of Kaled flesh (or lack of it) was one of the more stomach churning moments of this episode.

This was a superb episode. Of course, I haven't mentioned the “R” word at all - and neither shall I as I hope, hope, and hope that this will be resolved early on in the next episode. Ten out of ten, however, for a stirring, exciting, brilliant, breathtaking, extraordinary episode that must win awards in the near future, surely? Please don't let next week's episode be another cop out!