Season 2 on Australian ABC

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Army of Ghosts:
The intro by Rose was very haunting and I love that shot of her right before the title sequence.
This and the concluding episode Doomsday was recorded back to back with Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel hence why it is directed by Graeme Harper and the reuse of the Cybermen.
Like Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel guest star Colin Spaull, Tracy Ann-Oberman (Yvonne Hartman) had appeared in the second season of The Last Detective starring Peter Davison shown on the ABC some months ago.
Trisha Goddard makes a cameo just like she did in The Second Coming starring Chris Eccleston and also written by Russell T Davies.
Another Carry On star appears in Doctor Who as Barbara Windsor appears as her Eastenders character. In fact Raji James (Doctor Singh) and Tracy were also regulars in Eastenders.
We see Freema Agyeman for the first time in the series.
Love the Ghostbusters allusion when the Doctor attempted to trap one of the ghosts.
Bizarre that the Doctor keeps on wearing the 3D glasses, which would be explained in Doomsday. Coincidentally Spy Kids 3 which was on 7 at the same time as Army of Ghosts is also available on 3D.
Matt says "Is it him?" before Yvonne replied, "It's him." Coincidental or not this is the exact same line when Blake was found in the final episode of Blake's 7.
So surprise that the Doctor pretended that Jackie is Rose.
Nice to see Mickey again.
The music towards the end is great as we see the army of Cybermen and the impressive cliffhanger as it is revealed what is in the sphere. (Which by the way was obvious to me given the make of it.)

 

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TV WEEK has placed Doomsday on October 7 in third place in its Picks of the Day. It came after The Bill & the Football.
Also the ever reliable Michael Idato gave it the thumbs up in the SMH Guide saying that fans will be gripped to the end and to get the tissues ready.

 

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Saw the "They been together a long time" ad of Doomsday just a couple of hours ago. Pretty good but as someone else has said it revealed a lot prior to the episode's transmission.

 

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Here is a good review of Doomsday with slight plot detail:
http://www.yourtv.com.au/reviews/index.cfm?i=92454

 

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Doomsday:
This episode was broadcast in the UK on July 8 the same day that one of the original Dalek and Cybermen voices Peter Hawkins passed away. So this post is dedicated to him.

For the first time the Daleks and Cybermen meet. It is also the first time that the Tenth Doctor has met the Daleks but not for David Tennant as he starred in the Dalek Empire III audio series produced by Big Finish.*
Absolutely hilarious when that Dalek describe the Cybermen as pest control and that the Cybermen are better at dying.
Tracy Ann Oberman is superb as Yvonne Hartman and it is amazing she still did her duty even as a Cyber(wo)man. Pity from what I have heard she is not a regular in the Torchwood spin-off herself.
From the Doctor Who Reference Guide, Yvonne Hartman was apparently named after the character Yvonne Hartley in the Big Finish Cybermen story Spare Parts.
Andrew Hayden-Smith (Jake) and Shaun Dingwall (Pete) were able to appear in this episode as it was recorded in the same block with Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel.
Wow Wow Wow. Seeing all those Daleks coming out of the Genesis Ark and when the Cybermen and the Daleks were sucked into the void.
I was very close to tears upon seeing the Doctor's last moments with Rose but then all of a sudden comes the Bride. The storyline of the Bride was originally intended to be the sixth episode in this season. This means that if things gone the way they originally supposed to, we would know by now what this was all about. I suppose the wait is going to be worth it. Coincidentally a bride also appeared in The Last Detective episode Towpaths Of Glory which was on an hour after Doomsday ended.

The end credits says that Doctor Who will return in The Runaway Bride at Christmas but this was not in the ABC broadcast. Hopefully this would only mean that The Runaway Bride won't be shown in Christmas in Australia in order not to confuse the audience.

After Doomsday ended saw Rose again when I turned on UKTV to catch the last bits of End of the World as I was waiting for The Professionals.


*I began relistening to Dalek Empire III on Thursday. This is completely coincidental and was not intended to coincide with Doomsday's transmission as I have been relistening to the previous Dalek Empire CDs for some time now.

 

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There is a good letter about the 2006 season in TV WEEK. Emily wrote that it was the best season so far and that the actors, stunts and storylines are much better than the original series.

 

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The Idiot's Lantern:
Also Gatiss had appeared with David Tennant in last year's Quatermass Experiment remake.*
*The original Quatermass Experiment like the Queen's Coronation which served as the background for The Idiot's Lantern, was originally shown in 1953. A coincidence perhaps.

Just found out from the DWM season 2 companion that there was a Quatermass reference that did not make it to the finished episode: when the Doctor and Tommy headed for Alexandra Palace, the Doctor said he knew the way because he had watched Quatermass go out live. Alexandra Palace was where The Quatermass Experiment was broadcast from.
There was only one Quatermass reference that was shown in the finished episode that of the clenching hands of the faceless people which mirrored the possessed Victor Caroon character in The Quatermass Experiment.
Also earlier drafts had the Doctor arrived at the studio as stage hands were struggling with a photographic blow-up of Westminster Abbey. This echoed with the climax of the original Quatermass serial.