Part 1 of 2.

Let's just go through the main points of the episode.

1. Martha calls The Doctor back to Earth, as UNIT are investigating deadly Sat Navs made by Atmos.
2. Donna discovers that none of the workforce have been off sick. (but given that the workforce appears to be entirely Polish, this isn't suprising!)
3. The Sontarans have a human ally in the shape of a young genius who runs an academy, and dresses his students like Guantanamo Bay inmates.
4. Donna knows that Guantanamo Bay exists!
5. Martha is cloned. Real Martha lies asleep in a lab, while Cloned Martha is marching around "advancing the Sontaran cause".
6. Sontarans unleash war by gassing people in their cars (including Donna's granddad).

Interesting to note that the Sontaran general described The Doctor's sonic screwdriver as primitive technology - didn't The Master scoff at the sonic screwdriver in the last series?

How many Nazi Germany and Guantanamo references did they make in the course of one episode - I counted 2 of each. (Not that it's particularly relevant)

Will Sat Nav be the next on the list of things that Doctor Who has scared me off? (After the hands free sets that are worn in the ear) Stayed tuned...

[Scroll down if you haven't watched it yet]

Remember the slave-like Ood from The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit? Well, it appears humanity's intergalactic empire enslaved them in the 22nd century.

That is, according to tonight's episode.

The Doctor and Donna arrived on the Ood-Sphere, after Doctor set the TARDIS controls to random. The first Ood they find is rabid and half dead - after killing his master - and lying in the snow. What each Ood are prone to mutter is "the circle must be broken". Which, in true Doctor Who fashion, has us all wondering until the end!

In the meantime, the episode consists of the following;
1. Humans insisting that the Ood are willing to be slaves (cue reminders of slavery throughout history!).
2. Ood silently rebelling, by killing their human colonisers with the (artificially inserted) translation ball.
3. Doctor flashing his sonic screwdriver.
4. Donna facing possible death, with words from her tongue.

The circle turns out to be a force keeping the collective Ood brain in place, and dulling the sound of their collective song. The song is the Ood's communication language, and it seems the human solution to keeping the Ood subservient, is to quieten their natural language. Kind of like slavery and colonialism really.

The Doctor leaves the Ood-Sphere with a message that the Ood will immortalise them in Ood myths, and also with a warning - "Your song will soon end." Whatever that means.

Thank you, BBC iplayer for enabling me to watch this episode this morning. Hopefully everyone has now watched, if not, scroll down to the previous post.

79AD. The Doctor and Donna have arrived in Pompeii, thinking they were going to Rome, the day before Vesuvius is due to erupt. However, the soothsayers don't actually know it is happening and any suggestion that it might is false prophesy. (Don't you just love religious nuts!?)

The soothsayers are priestesses of Sybil, and breathe in the molten lava from Vesuvius which is turning them to stone. Or more specifically, into a legion of aliens who are using the volcano (or, for the sake of context, mountain) to power an empire that will take over the world. Not unlike the Roman Empire, really!

Anyway, The Doctor and Donna have to choose either, a) allow Pompeii to survive and the Pyroviles to take over the world, or b) end the Pyroviles dastardly plan and also all life in Pompeii. For historical continuity, The Doctor chooses the latter and cue stock footage of volcanos erupting.

Funniest bits in the episode.
1. The TARDIS being mistaken for "modern art", even the Roman Empire had it's fair share of poncey art types.
2. The household gods at the end being none other than The Doctor, Donna and TARDIS.
3. Saving the world, with a Water Pistol! Classic!

If you've taped this and haven't watched yet, you know what to do.

Back comes The Doctor for a new series, and back comes Donna Noble (and it seems Rose Tyler - yay!). Both turned up at the beginning pretending to be Health & Safety. Ha, there's a few jokes in there!

Anyway, this week's evil and crazy extra-terrestrial was assuming the name of Miss Foster, head of a diet pill company. Officially, the pills helped people lose weight (although why the skinny bloke was taking them, I don't know). Unofficially, the fat was formed the tiny - and actually quite cute - Antipose, an alien lifeform whose home planet was lost.

Cue action, as two sonic devices came head to head, and CGI effects with the Antipose waddling through London's streets. Very impressive.

Look forward to the rest of the series, especially as Donna a)does not fancy The Doctor, and b)appears from this showing, to be a bright and able assistant.

Great start to the new series!