A.w.e.s.o.m.e !!!!

Of course, this means I'm going to be completely disappointed by the last episode (as per last year), but I CAN'T WAIT. I'M SO EXCITED.

And colour me a Dr Who Geek if you like, but who else was completely thrilled to hear the Cloister Bell noise in the last minute of Turn Left?

Bong!!!, and I was shouting, "It's the cloisters, it's the cloisters".

Since you're doing spoilers, is it true that Rose is back? I've only seen the new Doctor and Donna episodes so far-and I miss Rose.

I agree on last year (and the cloister bell). Utopia and Sound of Drums were amazing, only to be concluded by the crappy Last of the Time Lords.

Yes, she is back. She makes silent cameo appearances throughout the season, actually. Watch carefully...

Next episode will apparently have Rose, Martha, Captain Jack, Ianto Jones, Gwen Cooper, and Sarah-Jane Smith. And Richard Dawkins.

Geek heaven.

[spoiler spoiler] It rocked. I loved the glimpse into a world without the Doctor. I'm warming to Donna Noble too.

Anyone else think Rose's voice sounded a bit different?

kellydamnit, my impression was that she was no longer playing the "chav" Rose. But interestingly a Google shows that others noticed her voice has changed somewhat, and supposedly she said she had trouble finding the Rose voice again.

I'm annoyed that RTD resorted to the time dial-back again. As a device, I'm not 100% opposed to it in principle, but c'mon. Work your trick bag.

I enjoyed Tate's version of Donna-who-never-met-the-Doctor. She had a bit more bite than they've allowed her in Series 4. If you're going to have a sarcastic comedienne in a serious role, don't wring out everything that makes her a great sarcastic comedienne in the process. I do like Donna overall, though (except maybe for this most-special-person angle which is overused in genre), and I've liked the way they're getting back into a really sexless companion relationship, which is healthier for the series in the long run.

In both "Turn Left" and "Midnight" Davies did show an ability to use very simple stagecraft (the voices, and the beetle, which mostly wasn't there at all) to generate pretty effective tension, even if there were other problems with his stories. I think he was influenced by "Blink" a bit in this.

Oh, I liked the different POV on the events, and the last half really had a Children of Men vibe to it.