WRITER: Russell T. Davies DIRECTOR: Colin Teague
CAST: David Tennant (The Doctor), Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones), John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), John Simm (Harold Saxon/The Master), Adjoa Andoh (Francine Jones), Trevor Laird (Clive Jones), Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Tish Jones), Reggie Yates (Leo Jones), Alexandra Moen (Lucy Saxon), Elize du Toit (Sinister Woman), Nichola McAuliffe (Vivien Rock), Nicholas Gecks (Albert Drumfries), Colin Stinton (President Arthur Winters), Olivia Hill (BBC Newsreader), Daniel Ming (Chinese Newsreader), Lachele Carl (US Newsreader), Sharon Osbourne (Herself), McFly (Themselves), Ann Widdecombe (Herself), Zoe Thorne (Toclafane Voice #1), Gerard Logan (Toclafane Voice #2) & Johnnie Lyne-Pirkis (Toclafane Voice #3)
WARNING! SPOILERS! WARNING! SPOILERS! WARNING! SPOILERS!
The Doctor, Martha and Jack arrive on Earth to discover The Master has become Prime Minister...After the immensely satisfying resolution to Utopia, season 3 begins its real climax with The Sound Of Drums. Following his regeneration in the stolen TARDIS, The Master has vanished into the past, only to be followed by The Doctor using Jack's Time Agent technology. The Master has managed to become British Prime Minister and subsequently gasses his Cabinet after their landslide election victory. It's clear he has grander plans up his sleeve than tax reform...
After three years I'm growing tired of debating the pro's and con's of Russell T. Davies' contributions to the show. Thankfully, The Sound Of Drums is one of his better efforts, leagues ahead of last week's tepid offering (itself only rescued by the last ten minutes.)
The Sound Of Drums contains familiar ingredients of Davies' writing style: naff celebrity cameos that will quickly date the episode in years to come (McFly?), an inappropriate dance track used to juxtapose global genocide, stolen sci-fi ideas (a Captain Scarlett skybase) and major plot conveniences every five minutes to keep the narrative from wobbling off its rails.
But you can't deny Davies is respectful and knowledgeable of Who lore, with the episode full of allusions to classic stories, most notably The Master's continued fascination with kid's TV (The Clangers in Pertwee's era, Teletubbies in Tennant's) and the return of the Time Lord penchant for jelly babies.
The Sound Of Drums is mostly great entertainment for fans, particularly when the series gives viewers a long overdue look at Gallifrey (during some neat flashbacks). The actual plotting with The Doctor's storyline isn't very good, with the episode more interesting and successful when focusing on John Simm's portrayal of The Master...
All great heroes need great villains. The Master is undoubtedly Professor Moriarty to The Doctor's Sherlock Holmes. Simm ditches the Bond villain style of Roger Delgado and Anthony Ainley, becoming a twisted version of Tennant's Doctor. He's similarly manic and has a crazy style reminiscent of Jack Nicholson's The Joker (indeed, scenes where The Master gasses people and slaughters a meddling reporter are played for ghoulish laughs).
A few will dislike Simm's grinning performance, criticizing it for being too broad, particularly as it comes hot-on-the-heels of Derek Jacobi's chilling five minute tenure last week. Personally, I enjoyed Simm's energy and can understand Russell T. Davies decision to effectively show us the chaos an "evil Doctor" could wreak on the world. Sure, the script occassionally pushes the laughter button too heavy-handedly, but there's no denying Simm has your full attention whenever he's onscreen.
Less successful is John Barrowman (Jack Harkness), who's still pretty extraneous to events since his return in Utopia. His immortality is certainly handy to get the plot out of tight spots, but it makes him so powerful his presence destroys all sense of danger. Torchwood's second season is going to have a tough time now his indestructibility has been made so clear...
Martha's underused family return here, targeted for capture by The Master. Unfortunately, what is written as a traumatic event for Martha doesn't work because we hardly know the Jones clan! While it's true Rose Tyler's family became annoying through overexposure during seasons 1-2, the Jones family have been mistreated and reduced to occassional cameos! As such, their situation is difficult to care about and empathy for Martha is hard to develop.
Incidentally, I was disappointed that the set-up for Martha's mother to wrongly believe The Doctor is a dangerous villain is swept under the carpet. Davies now writes her as an unwilling pawn of The Master's cronies -- creating a situation that isn't as interesting as the one promised in The Lazarus Experiment.
Murray Gold gets to inject fresh music into the show, most memorably The Master's hypnotic and deranged theme, which is very good, if a little overused at times. The special effects are also of a high standard, particularly the impressive UNIT skybase, while the set designs are also well crafted.
Irritations increase along the way, together with the sense that the story has been written in a stream-of-consciousness (there's even a flashback a few minutes into the episode to explain something that happened a few minutes ago!)
However, The Sound Of Drums becomes more than the sum of its parts through sheer will of force. Simm's villainous performance proves irresistable and the story builds to a satisfying cliffhanger that raises the stakes for The Doctor and Martha. It's also just plain refreshing to have an archvillain The Doctor can act alongside more naturally than metal menaces like the Daleks.
