| Doctor Who - Series 4 Vol.4 [2008] | ![Doctor Who - Series 4 Vol.4 [2008]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51BhIukfkrL._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Actors: David Tennant, Catherine Tate, Billie Piper, Freema Agyeman, John Barrowman
Studio: 2 Entertain Video
Category: DVD
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Avg. Customer Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 1352
Format: Pal
Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
Running Time: 135 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 5014503260828
ASIN: B001ARYYQI
Theatrical Release Date: 2008
Release Date: September 1, 2008
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 "Bad...Wolf...", "Exterminate!", "Davros, you can't!" October 12, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The fourth series of Doctor Who has been perhaps the finest season out of the lot. My main reason for believing that is when I compare this series to the ones before, this seems to have stood out more in terms of overall quality. When judging the series by each episode individually, I've found that Series 4 has been more consistent than anything that's gone before it.
The fourth and final DVD volume of this series justifies my belief. Without doubt, this three-parter is the highlight of Season 4. Collectively and individually, these episodes are real classics and the ultimate way to end this spectacular series. They have everything and features both David Tennant and Catherine Tate at the peak of their abilities.
The first episode, "Turn Left", is truly one of the most outstanding and psychological ever seen in Doctor Who, and it's important for so many reasons. It revisits the parallel world concept first established in Series 2 and explores a very captivating and powerful possibility. What if Donna had NEVER met the Doctor in the first place? Only here, it actually happens. And there are plenty of consequences because of it. As Donna and everything around her falls apart...the only hope is a mysterious blonde woman that's kept popping up throughout.
For those who criticised Catherine Tate and the Donna Noble character, "Turn Left" is an episode that silences all naysayers and puts all unfounded negative comments about her to rest. Catherine gives the performance of her LIFE here. Her portrayal of Donna in this episode represents the epitome of the character's success. Watching this symbolises perfectly just how much the Doctor changed her and her life for the better, and without him to show just how brilliant she was, everything goes to hell and she's powerless to do anything about it.
While Catherine does the amazing job of carrying the nightmarish episode on her shoulders, it would be criminal to ignore Billie Piper, who finally makes her first proper return as Rose Tyler to the series after "Doomsday" and all those cameos throughout Series 4. And she hasn't lost anything at all. Rose acting as Donna's guide is superb and that coupled with her warnings of `The Darkness' plus the shocking ending makes "Turn Left" a diamond of an episode.
This awesomeness continues with "The Stolen Earth", where after so long, the dreaded Daleks make their highly-anticipated return. Bigger and badder than ever, the new Dalek Empire conquers the Earth along with a host of other planets. With the Doctor and Donna nowhere to be found, Earth's greatest heroes assemble to try and oppose their fiercest foes. But in the shadows...lies an enemy long-thought gone. And his return will be their greatest challenge.
Russell T Davies has obviously saved the very best till last here. The fate of the Daleks had been in serious question ever since the events of Series 3's "Evolution of the Daleks" and their inevitable return was bound to be huge. And it's bigger than huge as it turns out. The Daleks have NEVER been deadlier and it's a given fan boy's dream to see the cast of spin-offs Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures appear as well. The circumstances, plot, horrors etc all make "The Stolen Earth" absolutely epic. The Doctor, Donna, Rose, Martha, Captain Jack, Sarah Jane, as well as Gwen and Ianto (from Torchwood) and Luke and Mr Smith (from Sarah Jane Adventures), are all given proud moments to shine and interact yet again. The explanation of the Daleks' comeback is plausible, horrific and brilliant, and the highly-anticipated return of Davros (after 20 years) is the icing on the cake. Finally, the epic cliff-hangers finish off an absolute thrill-ride of an episode.
And "Journey's End" is an exceptional finale. The Doctor and all his friends have all come together now (including Mickey Smith and Jackie Tyler) to face-off against Davros, the Daleks and their deadliest scheme ever to conquer and destroy all of reality. But a haunting prophecy looms over the Children of Time, decreeing that at least one of them will die.
What's sensible about this episode is that it adds an extra twenty minutes. Given all the great characters returning to the action, all the various sub-plots, the excitement and horror; it's far too much for forty-five minutes to contain, so Davies deserves credit once again for making "Journey's End" an extra-long special.
The resolution of each of the character's stories has been so well crafted and couldn't have been written or executed better. Each of the actors/actresses are on top form here but the most outstanding person is unquestionably Julian Bleach for his terrific performance as Davros. Bleach gives the character such new life and makes his return to modern-day Who a resounding success that deserves an award. Chilling malevolence, insidious intellect and a fitting dry wit make Davros an unforgettable villain that even older Who fans can appreciate.
As for the ending, there is great happiness all-round balanced out by an equally heartbreaking moment for...well, I'm sure everyone knows now. The character's departure made me both really angry and sad when first broadcast, and the power of the tragedy hasn't lessened at all. I suppose it's the only logical way to end the series given that there won't be another full-length series until 2010, despite the various one-off specials coming up. But still...the ending creates such a painful paradox for me that I don't quite approve of.
Final analysis? Thank you, Russell T Davies, David Tennant, Catherine Tate and everyone else for this masterpiece of a finale. It's absolutely classic and naturally the best volume out of the Series 4 Dr. Who DVDs. To all fans and everyone else, I advise that you do NOT miss out on one of the best bits of television to grace our screens in recent times. Truly, truly essential.
Davros, lord and creator of the Dalek race and Harriet Jones, Former Prime Minister (Yes we know who you are)! October 12, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Doctor Who - Series 4 Vol.4 [2008] This DVD features the last 3 episodes of the latest series of Doctor Who, the episodes include 'Turn Left', 'The Stolen Earth' and 'Journey's End'. Starring David Tennant, Catherine Tate, Elisabeth Sladen, Julian Bleach and Bernard Cribbins. I think like most people 'Stolen Earth' and 'Journey's End' are my favourite episodes of the entire 4th series, this is due to the return of the Daleks creator played by actor Julian Bleach, one can't praise him enough for his more than superb performance as Davros. You can tell Julian Bleach has well researched the part, for he plays Davros equally as well as Michael Wisher did in 'Genesis Of The Daleks', leaving nothing to chance. What also makes these 2 Davros and the Daleks episodes so wonderful is the superb acting from Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah-Jane and Bernard Cribbins as Donna's grandad. I think Bernard Cribbins comes across so well as Wilfred believing in his grandaughter and encouraging her to travel the stars "with that Doctor" and i love the scenes with Wilfred and his paint gun! and when Davros recognizes Sarah-Jane, "You were there on Skaro at the beginning of my creation". Actress Penelope Wilton appears in 'The Stolen Earth' as Harriot Jones, the former Prime Minister, ''Yes we know who you are'' trying to contact the Doctor and warn him of the latest Dalek invasion. I think this latest Davros and the Daleks story is the best one since 'Genesis Of The Daleks'. If you enjoyed Bernard Cribbins in this new series of Doctor Who as much as i did, i highly recommend the Region 1 DVD of the Dalek film, ' Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.' in which Bernard Cribbins plays a young policeman and along with Peter Cushing as Doctor Who, battles an army of Daleks that have invaded London.
Always turn left October 9, 2008
Turn left, the first on this volume, is in my opinion the best Dr Who episode ever written. A thought provoking and profound look at what the world would be like if Donna had never met the Doctor. Catherine Tate is superb in her performance bringing new depths to her character. It highlights too her mothers ambivalence towards her only daughter and there are several very moving scenes. Stolen Earth and Journey's End follow this episode neatly and with full on Russell T Davies genius. I nearly drowned in my own tears in the final episode and any detractors of Catherine Tate must surely eat their own words. Highly recommend to everyone, even those who are not Dr Who addicts.
 GREAT! OH YES! OH YES! OH NO! September 19, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Right, this is so exiting, Turn Left begins brilliant with an intresting alien planet, Donna being a companion very obvious with her an the dr simply visitingand having fun, then Donna is made to change her life and never meet the dr, then she meets rose who helps make her meet the dr and put it allrigt. Now this episode is great, I love Catherine Tates performance, so emotional, it shows that she is not all Am I Bovvered?, Run for your lives children were all going to die! and I aint bovvered. Shes more than comedy. As for Rose, what the, I mean no, her erformance was so, good, but she hardly did anytrhing,I lieks the idea of the dr being dead and the aliens doing stuff to earth, not that i want him dead, its just that it shows how much we need him. This episode is emotional, very emotional. 10 out of 10. Then the next time trailer. OH YES! IM SO EXITED! LOOK TORCHWOODS IN IT! LUKES IN IT! JUDOON! SO UNEXPECTED! Best trailer ever in my opinion. Nxt episode, about the daleks stealing Earth, and the companions getting together to get the dr and donna to earth, so they come, then the dr and companion rose are reunited, then hes shot by the dalek and regenrates! sarah janes about to be extermianted and so are torchwood! 10 out of 10, emotional and exiting!
Journeys End, wow, 65 minutes, im so exited, over 1 hour later, what on earth was that meant to be? right so, sarah jane is save dby mickey and jackie, the dr puts the energy in the hand, torchwood own a particular machine that freezes the dalek, then donna abosrbs the regenaration energy, becomes clever, and blows up the daleks. very quick. the last 20 minutes are emtional and this episode is good but its so quick and a bit siaapointing, id actually say 8 out of 10, i think donnas goodbye is really emotional. but torchwood didnt do mcuh part in it. oh well, the christmas special looks geat. no cliffhanger! I think the christmas special this year is ging to be better than this episode and the best christmas special yet, lets see if it can beat Voyage ofthe Damned!
 Where did it all go wrong...? August 17, 2008
7 out of 13 found this review helpful
This DVD concludes series 4 with the final three episodes which work as a single story arc. I was one of the fans eagerly awaiting this years finale but unfortunately it left a bitter after taste (and to explain why I will include SPOILERS).
The first episode, Turn Left, was an ok affair. The premise for this storyline is Donna, due to the results of a time beetle, experiences what her life would have been like had she not have met the doctor. This episode sees the return of Billie Piper as Rose Tylor, who comes back to help Donna in this alternative reality. Overall the episode is alright but it does drag at times and feels like it's reaching an inevitable conclusion (we all know the Doctor's coming back). Rose's return is a little anti climatic and partnered with the fact Billie Piper seems to have forgot how the character speaks, the return is frankly quite odd. However I assumed that her role would be expanded upon and given significance in the final two episodes (oh how wrong I was!).
The Stolen Earth, the second episode on the disk, is by far my favourite. The premise for this episode is pretty simple, Earth has been stolen and moved into the Medusa Cascade by the daleks. The Doctor must try to figure out what's happening by confronting the Shadow Proclamation. Meanwhile Earth's heroes (the Torchwood team, Sarah Jane, Martha and Rose) must attempt to contact the doctor in the time of crisis. This episode also sees the return of the infamous villain Davros (who is used a little too sparingly in my opinion). Make no bones about it, this isn't a well written, well rounded Doctor who episode like those written by Moffet, however cheap thrills are gained from seeing all the spin off shows come together and seeing massive dalek numbers invading Earth in scenes fitting for a movie. The problem is that all this is fitted into 50 mins so there's no real deep storyline development. Rose, again, feels rather shortchanged considering her comeback has been continously hinted at throughout series 4. However the doctor and her do get one emotional moment where they (rather cheesely but I loved it) run towards each other, however they are interupted by a Dalek shooting the Doctor down and him beggining to 'regenerate'.
This leads on to Journey's End, the final episode. Needless to say the Stolen Earth did a good job of building up enough excitement for this episode, and it would seem that all Russel T. Davies actually had to do is give it a reasonable conclusion and it would have been a great finale. However instead we are given one of the worst episodes from the new Doctor Who, largely because it doesn't deliver on things it has desperately tried to set up. The first thing that's wrong with this is all the cliffhangers from the last episode are resolved in about 10 seconds each, leaving you feeling rather cheated. Secondly everything from the past episode appears to have been a waste of time. Torchwood are quickly written out, Martha is sent on a trip to Germany with the Osterhagen Key which turns out to be a ludicrous dead end subplot, Mickey and Jackie are brought in despite the fact there are clearly too many chracters to manage already, the shadow proclamation never reapear and Rose is barely given ten minutes screen time. Frankly the episode is quite boring, with the dramatic action sequences from the previous episode being swapped with pointless wads of dialogue between the doctor and Davros. Then there's the rediculous plot that a second 'human' doctor is created, and Donna becomes part timelord. The daleks are then quickly got rid off in a lazy plot deivce where a few switches are flicked and a load of techno babble is spewed. This has utterly destroyed any menace the Daleks once had, they are just too easily beaten. But the ultimate tragedy with this episode is the shambles that is the conclusion. First of Earth is pulled back through space and experiences nothing more than a few rumbles (where has Doctor Who's pseudo science gone)? Despite the promise, no-one actually dies (again), which is rather negative to the overall plot as despite the huge threat that is the dalek invasion, no main character is actually killed by one. The worst conclusion, however, is that of Rose. Having had no real moments with the doctor she is then taken back to the parallel world and has the second doctor dumped on her. She is then left there once again...this time with a doctor wannabe (he's not the doctor! He's got traits of Donna). I can't understand why they chose to devalue the wonderful ending of Doomsday by bringing back the character of Rose for no good reason, and then giving her a fob off conclusion. Surely Rose alone would have been a better finale, rather than having to share the screen with every new Who assistant. The only ending that is handled well is that of Donna, which is a heartbreaking ending to a brilliant assistant.
Overall Turn Left is ok, the Stolen Earth is enjoyable nonsensical fun and Journeys End is a disaster. How can a storyline which had so much promise be delivered so badly? Where did it all go wrong...?
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