Doctor Who is back on our television screens once more for a third (or twenty ninth if you see it as a continuation of the classic series) season. I watched the first episode on Saturday night and thought it was okay, although I still feel that the stories are a bit short and over too quickly—there’s no cliffhangers or room for character development. Parts of the plot were a bit dodgy, for example the idea that the evil alien could crank up an MRI scanner to kill everything within 250,000 miles but a small glass shield would completely protect her from the effects. I’m sorry but even for Doctor Who that’s a bit far fetched!
I’m not sure what to think of the new assistant yet, though at least her voice is less annoying than Rose’s and she doesn’t dress quite as much like a chav. Thankfully some of the old Doctor Who magic has been kept in, the Doctor is still sufficiently eccentric and lacking in dress sense (who in their right mind wears white shoes with a shirt and tie?!), and it looks like the rest of the new series is something to look forward to, with the possibility of Dalek/Human hybrids making a return…
In other news, I’m rather annoyed about the end of the Ancient History A-level (though probably not as cross as my old college, who only started offering the course last September), which is part of a gradual demise in classical subjects below degree level. Personally I think everyone should learn Latin from high school onwards, if only to teach proper grammar so that we wouldn’t have lots of gawping undergraduates who don’t know what the perfect tense is. Good old Boris Johnson is at least sticking up for classics in his usual bumbling manner, though I’m not sure whether that helps the case or not! 🙂