New Season of Sci Fi Classic Doctor Who Starring David Tenant

My name is Os Davis and I am a Doctor Who addict. The obsession began in my teen years when, after having peaking athletically at age eleven, my imagination leapt from the space between base paths to the space between starbases. There was "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and the ubiquitous "Star Trek," of course, but what really sunk me into the throes of addiction was that crazy, low-budget British show on PBS. "Doctor Who."

Ah, "Doctor Who." The thinking man's sci-fi protagonist, a now nine hundred year-old time traveler who occasionally changes bodies so that "Doctor Who" the series may go on and on. (Or at least for the thirteen incarnations we're told he may have.) The Doctor, as he is simply known, is the sci-fi version of that great archetype in American cowboy flicks: The Man With No Name, a know-all angel who rides into the town to right the wrongs and disappears. The Doctor usually flits about through time and space with an often-human companion or two, a convenient device with which to explain plot machinations.

The original series ran from 1963 to 1989 before finally meeting a BBC director who not amused. Despite its international following (OK, following in the English-speaking world), "Doctor Who" was removed from the BBC schedule. After a half-hearted attempt to resurrect the show for an imagined combined worldwide audience with a much-ignored teevee movie in 1995, "Doctor Who" survived only through a paperback series and the occasional radio serial.

Perhaps the buzz of the show's 40th anniversary or the success of the "Star Trek: Next Generation" variants in England spurred on BBC execs to resurrect "Doctor Who." No matter, "Doctor Who" was back on screens in 2005, with the great Chris Eccleston (Jude, 28 Days, Shallow Grave) in the role of the Doctor. For fans of the old series, season no. 1 (or season no. 27) of "Doctor Who" has to be considered a smashing success. With updated special effects (No more rubber monsters? Awww…) and darker sensibility about the protagonist, "Doctor Who" a la Eccleston still stayed true to the spirit of the character so many geeks - I mean "fans" cherish.

Now that season two (or 28) of "Doctor Who" starring David Tenant (Barty Crouch Jr. in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) as the Doctor and Billie Piper (former Britney-like popster) as his traveling companion has aired, Whovians can look forward to release of the season on DVD. Last year's "Doctor Who" boxed set was packed with reasons you buy DVDs: Extras! Each episode comes with a fifteen-minute making-of clip that ran on the BBC as "Doctor Who Confidential," and a bonus disc is crammed with on-set footage, interviews, lore and the like.

But the true "Doctor Who" connoisseurs are here for the episodes, right? Right! Right, then - the list.

(Warning: potential minor spoilers.)

"The Christmas Invasion." A special episode of "Doctor Who" that ran on - you guessed it - Christmas. A wonky Doctor has just regenerated (i.e. changed bodies as is his wont), but must somehow save the Earth from - you guessed it - alien invasion. An episode that mainly serves its purpose in introducing Tennant as the protagonist.

"New Earth." All right, let's be straight. "New Earth" is terrible, one of the worst examples of "Doctor Who" from the new run or the old run - just run. A pointless sequel to last season's excellent "The End of the World."

"Tooth and Claw." "Doctor Who," series 2 season 2's BBC costume-drama episode and classic material for the show. Queen Victoria guests and the Doctor and company meet the werewolf.

"School Reunion." Now here's the gem of this run of "Doctor Who." After all-too-often putting the original series at arm's length in terms of storyline and plotting, the "Doctor Who" time digs into the archive and pulls out Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen), a former companion of the Doctor (the version played by Tom Baker, The Doctor Who Wore The Scarf). And she brings along K-9 the robot dog, clearly the most popular supporting character in the old series.

Though one of the central time-honored traditions of the show, the concept of the Doctor Who companion has not been examined in forty-two years like it is in forty-two minutes here; this episode regarding what it means to have a close relationship with the Doctor is genuinely touching and executed with care. For those interested in the sci-fi stuff, there's a ho-hum alien invasion plot at center with an absolutely brilliant performance turned in by Murray Head as the malevolent school headmaster.

"The Girl in the Fireplace." The most debated episode among the fans. Billed by many who know "Doctor Who" as The "Doctor Who" Love Story, "Girl in the Fireplace" does indeed involve a 19th-century woman with a mad sort of love for the Doctor, who visits her at scattered points throughout her youth and adulthood by means of portals on a spaceship stationed in the 50th century. (Trust me, it works.) This one is bizarre, picturesque, and features Tennant's best performance as the Doctor thus far.

"The Rise of the Cybermen"/"The Age of Steel." This two-parter reintroduces the no. 2 Doctor Who baddie. The Cybermen are metal-bodied robots each implanted with a human brain. A decent show here, with Tennant's Doctor Who again establishing himself as a superhero type always capable of saving the day and/or the multiverse.

"The Idiot's Lantern." "Doctor Who" goes on cruise control: alien comes to Earth, seeks to take over planet, threatens Rose's life, the Doctor goes slightly ballistic, saves day, voiceover says "next week on 'Doctor Who'…"

"The Impossible Planet"/"The Satan Pit." "Doctor Who" plus a hardcore sci-fi setting minus a lot of unnecessary drama equals whoa. Earth colonists (and their slaves, a race called the Oud) inhabit a planet suspended in the grip of a black hole which may or may not also house a being which may or may not be Lucifer. This is not your father's "Doctor Who."

"Love & Monsters." See "The Idiot's Lantern," but even worse. An episode of "Doctor Who" is left in the hands of the show's third bananas and a group of new losers - oops, i mean, characters - with boredom and silliness ensuing. The first two and last five minutes of the show in which Tennant and Piper appear are brilliant, and the rest in nigh unwatchable. Lesson to be learned: There's a reason the show is called "Doctor Who."

"Fear Her." See "The Idiot's Lantern." Or rather, don't. Not again.

"Army of Ghosts"/"Doomsday." The Cybermen are back, and to make matters worse so are the … oh, on the off-chance you somehow missed the BBC's releases regarding the "secret" in these episodes, i won't say anything. The shoot-'em-up stuff, conspiracy and old-fashioned sci-fi devices work well. Rose's farewell solidly ties up loose ends the character had accumulated often the two new years' worth of "Doctor Who," though the sad surreal ending is excruciatingly too long.

The "Doctor Who" series 2, season 2 box set is to be released in November of this year, but "vanilla" DVDs featuring two to three episodes with no bonus features are now available.