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| ![Doctor Who - Series 4 Vol.2 [2008]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51TaYJ86ewL._SL500_.jpg)
| Directors: Douglas Mackinnon, Alice Troughton, Graeme Harper
Actors: David Tennant, Freema Agyeman, Catherine Tate
Studio: 2 Entertain Video
Category: DVD
List Price: £17.99
Buy New: £11.98
You Save: £6.01 (33%)
New (10) Used (3) from £8.75
Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 869
Format: Pal
Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
Region: 2
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 180 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 5014503260620
ASIN: B001A47GAW
Theatrical Release Date: 2008
Release Date: July 7, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-10 of 13
 "The Clones and the Werewasp!" June 16, 2008
Bob Marlowe (UK)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
The Sontarans are back in a marvellous return. The honour, militarism and hatred of other races are all well used in this romp of a 2 parter from Helen Raynor. br /Christopher Ryan actually played Staal not just as an alien but as a character at times almost making him a fruity old warhorse, but he never let the dangerous side of Staal slip for a second. He genuinely seemed to regret not being able to kill enemies honourably. Best performance as an alien this series so far! br /Great to see Martha back and that life's moved on for her. br /There was some good humour in this tale, e.g. the Doctor saying an emotional goodbye to Donna when she's just popping home quickly Martha Donna comparing notes on the Doctor. "he's so skinny you hug him and get a papercut!" br / br /A good return for UNIT too with the possibility left open that the dear old Brigadier might come back next time. br / br /It was good that some un-sontaranlike behaviour-gassing the humans from Space became an important plot point. br / br /A fun if slightly Sarah Jane Adventures idea that their main ally should be a computer geek. br / br /The Doctor's Daughter was also a good romp, albeit with some more serious points to make about war and genetic engineering. Predictably it was a bit of a cheat as we find out exactly how she's the Doctor's Daughter, but a forgiveable one. Georgia Moffet was perfect and cheeky casting being Mr Davison's daughter. A breath of fresh air and a character well worth bringing back-but please no "Jenny in Space " spin-off. I just can't see it working! br / br /A lovely design for the Hath with the coffee percolatorish breathing devices and in true Police Box show style they were not what we thought. br / br /Then we come to the Unicorn the Wasp. A good if really bonkers pastiche of drawing roomm whodunnits even if the final resolution was an obvious one. A good collection of character actors and unlike many Agatha Christie adaptations they were not wasted. Fenella Woolgar as Aggy, Felicty Kendall and Christopher Benjamin deserve particular praise. br / br /Great realisation of the wasp (werewasp?)although the person who turns into it's buzzing in his speech was teetering on the edge of pantomime. br / br /One problem with the story and I took a point off for this, was the frequent and intrusive crowbarring in of Agatha Christie titles. It's subtle to find a "Body in the Library" and not have it said out loud, it's fitting to have the Doctor remark "Death comes as the End" but much of the rest, well you could have made a up a bingo card with them and played for cash! Having Aggy exclaim that the Doctor had "Drunk Sparkling Cyanide" was the absolute nadir! Great touch that Donna kissses the Doctor to shock him though! br / br /I don't remember this level of sledgehammer humour in The Shakespeare Code, please don't do it again Gareth! br / br /Tennant Tate are a good pairing throughout all 4 stories and hugely enjoyable. Shame they're only doing the 1 series. br / br /With 4 episodes to enjoy a recommended purchase for all fans.
There have been worse episodes... June 16, 2008
Alasdair Corbett (Scotland)
2 out of 9 found this review helpful
This volume gets off to a bad start with the "The Sontaran Stratagem" and "Poison Sky". The Sontarans were built up for a triumphant return but end up not doing very much before being beaten by UNIT and a stereotypical teen genius. Martha also returns, now minus her increasingly annoying infatuation with the Doctor. Unfortunately, it was such a major part of the character that she now seems bland and dull, especially in comparison to the well done scenes of Donna and her family. Like Helen Raynor's last Doctor Who episodes (the "Daleks in Manhattan" two-parter), these suffer from logic problems and over-the-top drama in places which spoils what could have been a good story. br / br /Things pick up a bit with "The Doctor's Daughter" by Stephen Greenhorn. Martha again feels dull and extraneous to the story, though she is kept separate from the main plotline for most of the episode. The scenes of the Doctor, Donna and the titular daughter are excellent, keeping the right mix of tension and lightheartedness throughout. There are some nice plot twists, though the resolution feels a little contrived. The final ending was Steven Moffat's idea, apparently keeping his options open for when he takes charge in series 5. br / br /Finally, "The Unicorn and the Wasp", this series' "celebrity historical" with Agatha Christie, is a fun episode, provided you don't try to take it seriously. Nothing much else to it, really. br / br /Overall, this volume is a bit of a mixed bag. Nothing stands out as particularly bad or brilliant but it's worth owning if you're a fan.
 It just keeps getting better! June 15, 2008
Lynn Boyd (Fife, Scotland)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is my review of the next four episodes as some of you may have read my review of Series 4, Volume 1. I said it then and I stand by it now, that this still looks set to be the best series of the revived Doctor Who so far. br /Anyway, now I'm going to look at the four episodes on this disc. br / br /4/5. The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky br /A brilliant two-parter with perhaps even better ones to come this year. br /The Plot - She's back! Martha Jones summons the Doctor back to Earth to assist her and UNIT (Unified Intelligence Taskforce) with the strange ATMOS devices. Half the world have ATMOS installed in their cars and it reduces the carbon output of cars to 0. And it even includes a free sat-nav! But its not all good news. As Donna returns home to visit her family, the Doctor visits the young genius behind ATMOS, Luke Rattigan. Once there, the Doctor unearths a plot by a familiar old enemy, who want Earth for themselves... br /I really enjoyed these episodes for a number of reasons. Firstly, the return of Martha after her brief stint with Torchwood was brilliant. It was so exciting for a character to cross-over between the shows. Also, her character has changed from her experiences and so has her relationship with the Doctor which is refreshing, now that she is over him. Secondly, the Sontarans are back and they look amazing compared to their 1980s style! Thirdly, its a two-parter and the two-parters of the series are always excellent as it allows for a deeper story. Watch carefully while Donna is in the TARDIS in The Poison Sky, you may just see someone else you recognise... br / br /6. The Doctor's Daughter br /I really enjoyed this episode also, even though many people were disappointed. br /The Plot - Following on from The Poison Sky, the TARDIS whisks the Doctor, Donna and Martha to the planet Messaline in the far future. Within minutes of arriving, a sample of the Doctor's DNA is taken and is then genetically modified to create his daughter. Born from a machine, the daughter, christened Jenny by Donna, knows nothing but to fight. In the madness, Martha is kidnapped by the fish-like Hath, who are at war with the humans. With Martha gone, the Doctor must discover the secret of the war, save Martha and find peace with a daughter who's view directly oppose his own. br /This episode was fantastic because it showed a different side to the Doctor that we haven't seen before. It also served to show the viewers that Martha can't travel with the Doctor anymore and that she's more useful on Earth. The Doctor takes Martha home and they say goodbye. But it's not going to be for that long... The ending was a bit predictable but then it suddenly became unpredictable again right at the very end. br / br /7. The Unicorn and the Wasp br /What a hilarious story line! So unusual and so well filmed, this story has you guessing right up to the last minute. br /The Plot - The Doctor and Donna arrive at the estate of Lady Clemency Eddison in 1926 and meet crime writer Agatha Christie, on the day before she mysteriously disappeared for 10 days. Before anything else can happen, the maid finds a body in the library. When the Doctor investigates he finds morphic residue, meaning that one of the guests is not human. Teaming up with Agatha, the Doctor must find the killer, whilst Donna discovers something buzzing behind the curtains.... br /Another reference is made to the disappearing bees, last referenced in Planet of the Ood. Donna is especially funny in this episode and if you want to really test yourself, see how many Christie novels you can find in the episode's dialogue. br / br /So Volume 2 is equally good, if not better, than Volume 1. With Martha nicely written in and then written back out again, until the finale, this year's stories just keep getting better and better.
Sontar-HA June 15, 2008
Mr. C. J. Deacon
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
This is a great DVD to buy with 4 outstanding Doctor Who episodes. These are: (Two parter) The Sontaran Stratagem, Poison Sky, The Doctor's Daughter and The Unicorn and the Wasp. My favourite being the two parter with the Sontarans. br /The Sontaran Stratagem: Yay the Sontarans are back! The Doctor is called by Martha Jones asking him to come back. Martha is working in a situation that the doctor has never seen her work before. Martha gets cloned into a bad version of herself! It has great scenes and spookty scenes with of course lots of humour. Ending with a great cliff-hanger with CO2 gases shooting from cars and Donna's grandad Wilf trapped in a poisonous car! I give this 10/10 br /Poison Sky: Continuing from The Sontaran Stratagem with gases in the sky chaos is fleeing the city/world. This is a very good episodes which is very gripping all the way through. I would give this a very respectful 10/10! br /The Doctor's Daughter/The Unicorn and the Wasp: Doctor's Daughter maybe not as good so I give it 7/10 but the Unicorn and the Wasp I give 9/10
"Hello Dad!" June 2, 2008
S. D. J. Parry (Kent, U.K.)
14 out of 18 found this review helpful
Doctor Who's fourth season continues with a definite upturn in both quality and direction with the next batch of episodes. br /The two part `The Sontaran Stratagem' and `The Poison Sky' sees the return of those classic Who villains to plague our Timelord once again. Martha calls The Doctor back to Earth when a UNIT operation to infiltrate and shut down ATMOS satellite navigation systems goes ahead. The simultaneous crashing of cars around the world, all using ATMOS, and a series of unexplained events lead UNIT to believe that there is an extraterrestrial presence behind the system. br /The story is not too bad but there are several problems with the execution. While it's nice to see the Sontarans again, they don't seem to do much, plotting and scheming in the shadows rather than just fighting it out. The battle between the Sontarans and UNIT forces was quite good but too short and it never gave you the feeling that the Sontarans were a great military power. The final sequence has been lifted right out of `Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea' or for those that remember it, `The Centurions' episode `The Sky Is On Fire' and as such it feels like a cheap end to what could've been a great dramatic moment. br /The writers also seem to have turned Martha from the strong character we saw develop throughout season three to a more ineffectual, two dimensional and screaming emotional sidekick which is a real shame. Great to see Bernard Cribbins back again though and his moments with both Donna and The Doctor are excellent. br /`The Doctor's Daughter' is a nice and well plotted self contained episode. The TARDIS deposits The Doctor, Martha and Donna on the war torn planet of Messaline. They are captured by soldiers and a tissue sample is taken from the Doctor in order to generate a clone soldier, his `daughter'. When Martha is captured by the amphibious Hath, The Doctor tries to unravel the cause of the war, while dealing with the sudden shock of becoming a `father' again. br /The story is well written and gives an insight into The Doctor who has previously only mentioned his family in passing. His reaction to Genny (played by 5th Doctor Peter Davison's daughter!) is excellent and the interplay between him, Genny and Donna is hilarious. The Hath are one of the best alien creations of the series to date and the relationship that develops between Martha and Peck is touching. br /The end of the story is rather predictable but still entertaining and no doubt the ramifications of this will return at a later date. br /`The Unicorn And The Wasp' is quite possibly the best episode of the current season to date. The Doctor and Donna arrive in 1920's England at a garden party where one of the guests is none other than Agatha Christie! When a murder occurs in the house, the Doctor, Donna and Agatha find themselves trying to uncover who the killer is before more people meet an untimely end. br /This is classic Who stuff and has been written by someone with an obvious passion for Christie novels (see how many titles you can spot!) and a great murder mystery. The pre-titles sequence is a hilarious parody of Cluedo and the story satisfies on all levels. The CGI is up to its usual standard and used to good effect and the whole episode feels like they've finally figured out the formula this year for a damn good Who adventure. Let's have more of the same please! br /This season has started to settle down after the tenuous beginning but the writer's still need to tone down the `angry Donna' bit and to stop making jokes about them being taken for a couple, it's beginning to wear thin now as they do it nearly every show. br /This collection of episodes stands head and shoulders above the first disc and lets hope that this trend continues to the huge end of season finale that we all know is just on the horizon.
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