N036 Human Nature

An army of scarecrows, realistic depictions of racism, and an amnesiac Doctor * * * We've been saying on the show that any moment now we're going to get back to some really good New Who episodes again, and guess what – that time has finally come. After slogging through two episodes of Daleks in Manhattan, the mire that is The Lazarus Experiment and the wannabe Satan Pit that is 42, we've arrived at the double feature that comprises Human Nature and The Family of Blood. Here's our review of the former. Before blurbing this episode, here's a Who Back When update: starting with this episode, we're changing things up a bit as far as New Who reviews are concerned. As all of you in Podcastland have undoubtedly already seen these – and if you haven't, then you ought to – we're no longer going to go through them plot-point by plot-point. Instead, we'll assume that you know what we're talking about and sit down for a slightly more freeform roundtable conversation about what happens in the episode, and that'll be it. The same may apply to the later Classic Who reviews as well, though the (few) lost episodes (that remain) will definitely still be 'properly' synopsised. Right! So what's this one about, then? After possibly the best cold open in New Who history, Dr John Smith wakes up in 1913. He's a straight-up human being, one heart and all, and as far as he's concerned the last ~50 years of travelling through space and time have just been a set of elaborate dreams. Martha's on hand as a maid in the school where Dr Smith teaches. She knows the truth about his Galifreyan heritage, though, and we learn that they're in fact hiding from a homicidal, maniacal, time-travelling family (of Blood) who are out to get the Doctor in order to use his regenerative abilities to spread mayhem across space and time forever. Holy smokes! Still not impressed? Well, how about the introduction of the Chameleon Arch and the Doctor falling in love and very possibly boning down with a human lady who isn't Rose and certainly not Martha? Impressed now? Yeah, thought so... Have a listen to our review now and please don't forget to rate and review us on iTunes! Ciao-Ciao! * * * Check out WHOBACKWHEN.COM for more information, Doctor Who TV Serial and Audiobook reviews, ratings and ramblings, and loads more podcast episodes. WEB: WhoBackWhen.com FACEBOOK: Facebook.com/WhoBackWhen GOOGLE+: plus.google.com/+Whobackwhen YOUTUBE: WhoBackWhen.com/YouTube SOUNDCLOUD: soundcloud.com/WhoBackWhen TWITTER: @whobackwhen Toodle-Pip!