Doctor Who:
The Next Doctor Review

The best thing about the latest version of the long-running British sci-fi series Doctor Who is how much fun it is. That's why the show's 10th Doctor, David Tennant, has been so adept at playing the good Doctor. His zest for life—as he's saving London or Earth or some far off race or the entire universe—sets the whole tone of the show, even as it masks the sorrow and loneliness of being the last of his kind.

But like that other long-running British franchise, James Bond, the part is bigger than any single actor, and it appears Tennant's time is almost up. So the title of the latest special episode, which aired last Christmas in the U.K. but not until tonight in the U.S., carries a little extra weight.

But—spoiler alert—despite a pair of Doctors in the opening scene, Tennant's replacement will have to wait a few more episodes before taking center stage. "The Next Doctor," set in London 1851, is an enjoyable bit of a rabbit trail featuring a small band of Cybermen and a new "Doctor" with a not-very-sonic-screwdriver and a hot air balloon for a T.A.R.D.I.S.

The two Doctors team up to fight off the Cybermen who have enslaved the city's orphans to power a Cyber King—a 1,000-foot-tall robot which emerges from the Thames ready to turn humanity into an army of Cybermen. It is, of course, up to the Doctor to solve the mystery of his new partner and to save the planet, just in time for Christmas supper.

It's a pleasant bit of sci-fi to tide over Doctor Who fans until the final four David Tennant episodes air later this year. There's a new doctor on the horizon, but it's not time for him just yet.