TV-Reviewed

Once again, The Doctor and his companions (Donna and Martha) are thrust into the middle of a war zone. This time between a group of Human settlers and their ex-comrades, the fish-like Hath. To get out alive and to stop a glory-seeking military general from fulfilling his promise of genocide against the Hath, The Doctor must utilize the skills and knowledge of himself, his friends and his… daughter?

That’s right, The Doctor now has a daughter–Jenny. Created from a piece of his DNA, she is 100% Time Lord with two hearts and the want to explore and help. Don’t let the cute and spunky appearance of her fool you, either. Jenny was born a soldier, and knows how to fight. In fact, she can do everything from firing a rifle to cartwheeling through a lethal latticework of laser beams–a most useful ally for The Doctor, right?

At first, The Doctor refuses to admit that Jenny is anything more than an echo of himself–a creation of a machine that cannot think for herself. However, once the evil General Cobb goes on the warpath with the sole goal of destroying the Hath, Donna helps convince The Doctor that, indeed, Jenny is nothing like the rest of the machine-made Humans on the planet. In fact, through the clever use of The Doctor’s stethoscope (which is normally put to non-medical uses), Donna has him listen to Jenny’s heart; he hears the two of them beating.

So with this fact in mind, The Doctor finally concedes that, yes, Jenny is his daughter, and more than just some manufactured soldier.

Meanwhile, Martha, separated from Donna and The Doctor by a tunnel collapse caused earlier by Jenny, is in the Hath camp after having befriended them by helping one of their injured. After relocating a dislocated shoulder, she is now doing what she does best–looking for answers to what the hell is going on. She receives a phone call from The Doctor; she tells him about some hidden tunnels that have just shown up on a schematic of the underground city, to which he replies was sort of his fault. The Hath now also are going on the warpath. It looks like a bloodbath is all but imminent.

Both the Human settlers and the Hath are on their way to a forgotten temple where the Source–”The Breath of God”–awaits to be discovered. General Cobb claimed earlier that whoever controls the Source will be the ultimate victor in the generations-long conflict; the Source will allow him to kill the entire Hath population so that there will be peace for all Humans in the colony. The Doctor, however, won’t let the General complete his twisted vision.

Reaching the temple first, The Doctor, Donna and Martha discover that the Source is a glass sphere filled with bits and pieces of live-giving particles. The Source is, in effect, a device used in the process of terraforming worlds (making them habitable for civilization). When the settlers and Hath arrive he shows them that the Source is a giver of life, not a taker. However, General Cobb is not satisfied with this–The Doctor has taken away his glory. In a moment of rage, the General takes out a pistol and fires it at The Doctor. Yet, Jenny steps in front of him–her father–and bravely takes the bullet.

Then, in a surprisingly dramatic and tense few seconds, The Doctor grabs the gun and points it at General Cobb. There is the possibility, of course, that The Doctor is going to take vengeance for the killing of his daughter. However, after a few uncertain seconds of training the weapon on the General, The Doctor lowers it and says, “a man who never would”. He wants the people of the settlement to remember that he would never do what the General just did–that peace is what they should dedicate their lives to.

Sadly, The Doctor is forced to come to the realization that Jenny is gone–that she is not enough like him to be able to regenerate. He and Donna and Martha cram into the TARDIS. Later, after Martha is dropped off to live a more normal life, we learn that Jenny did not die after all. It simply took her longer to regenerate. So, it is that she steals one of the colony’s shuttles and heads off into the heavens saying she has planets to visit, civilizations to help and a lot of… running to do.

Could Jenny, The Doctor’s daughter, become another much-welcomed spin-off character like Sarah-Jane or Captain Jack?

Doctor Who - The Doctor’s Daughter
Original US Air Date: June 6, 2008

Rating: 8.5