Series 3 Episode 6: The Lazarus Experiment

At the end of the day, the driving force behind the entire history of Doctor Who is the "hide behind the couch" monster that The Doctor and his companions face. Aliens, mutants, robots, and the occasional "might actually be The Devil" beasties have scarred many a young fan of the series. This episode does not have aims much loftier than "give the Doctor and Martha a big bad monster to face" - and to that end it does its job quite well.
The enemy, in the form of an arachnid (didn't we just see one of these recently?) mutant mad scientist named Dr. Lazarus, is one of the better critters cooked up in this reinvention of the series. While the effects are still not quite up to par with something you'd see on American television, they are quite effective. To be fair, I can't think of a single show on American television that tries to pull off anything as elaborate or as outlandish as the monsters, aliens and environments you see in Doctor Who on a regular basis.
 
Martha once again proves she's willing to throw herself into the action, refusing to abandon The Doctor when he's alone with Lazarus. For the final battle, her sister joins in and the two of them manage to lure Lazarus into a church where the Doctor brings him down with ultrasonic organ music in a gothically inspired sequence. It was predictable that The Doctor would change his mind and decide to bring Martha along for more adventures, but it's still fairly clear that she wants to be more than she is in his eyes. It's fun to watch this relationship develop and gradually change, and makes it somewhat less painful that Rose isn't around anymore.


Rating: 4/10