Bad Wolf

Bad Wolf is a remarkably strange way of beginning an epic two-part regeneration story, showing the return, en masse, of the Daleks. It consists almost entirely of a pseudo-postmodern reality-TV-satirical run-around, with utterly bizarre imagery; robotic replicas of twenty-first century third-rate personalities menace the Doctor and companions - in the year 200,100! If it wasnВ’t for the setting and recap to В“The Long GameВ”, which tenuously confirms of the internet suspicion that Adam, a person for whom these shows would be current or recent history, is somehow involved in the series climax, I would be complaining vociferously that everybody in 200,100 dresses, acts, talks and has the TV-watching habits of people now. As it is, there is not much to complain vociferously about.

I didnВ’t like it В– donВ’t think that!! I was never excited by this at any point. I just wasnВ’t overly upset or disappointed by it (apart from in one respect В– more later). It is average. 5 out of 10, so to speak. That is if you judge the episode on itВ’s own merits В– as part one of an В“epicВ” two-parter, it is baffling. We spend almost all of this instalment undergoing the aforementioned not-particularly-clever but very valuable and welcome satire of the godless drivel festering on our screens these days, and build up to a cliffhanger that is, in effect, the reveal of the Daleks and their spacefleet В– a fleet that was seen in last weekВ’s trailer (probably В‘cos itВ’s the only even faintly В‘wowВ’ moment in the whole episode). The upshot of it all is, we know where weВ’re going, we know whatВ’s going to happen :В‘Bad WolfВ’ is nothing but filler. That it takes 45 minutes to get there В– half the story В– seems like a very odd choice for RTD to have made, especially considering how many action set pieces, plot threads and revelations they are going to cram into next episode (judging by the trailer).

The fact that the Daleks are not in it much is not half so disappointing as what happens when they do appear (see, told you В‘more laterВ’). Because, with these shiny Daleks, we are back В– ironically В– to bog-standard normality. After the shocking, bold and brilliant experiment that was Dalek, that showed 8 million people just how dangerous and capable even one of these mighty machines is, this feels like the unwelcome bump at the end of a long fall back to Earth. The lead Dalek shakes when it talks; despite making the cool heartbeat noise, the inside of the Dalek spacecraft looks absolutely dismal; when informed by the Doctor, in a melodramatic monologue which sadly falls down a little bit, that he intends to defeat them, the Daleks react in panic (hmm, perhaps they didnВ’t expect that cunning twist), apparently to the extent that they decide to proceed with their plans even though they are not ready; and the Daleks say they will kill Rose if the Doctor does not co-operate, only when the Doctor does not co-operate, they scatter in all directions В– and THEY DONВ’T KILL ROSE. In the teaser for next week I also saw Jack being surrounded by Daleks, who clearly had him in their gunsights В– but they werenВ’t shooting him, either. Not good, not good at all. TheyВ’d better have a good reason for that.

It is not unusual for the Daleks to come off worst in stories that feature other monsters and villains В– the groaning, shuffling, dark-wasteland-haunting Exxilons were much scarier than the comedy Daleks in В‘Death toВ…В’, for example, as were the... wait, thatВ’s the only good example. But you know where IВ’m coming from. You presumably also know where IВ’m going, but IВ’ll say it anyway В– the robotic Anne Robinson was rather scarier than the off-colour Daleks were. The callous way in which it disposed of people was quite unnerving, although the В“GoodbyeВ” was an indulgence too far, and the terrified and nervous reactions of some of the contestants was good, particularly the first woman to go В– at that time there was no reason to think she hadnВ’t been vaporised, which made her tears and begging rather upsetting. The only bad thing about that is that none of the others seem to be that concerned, or even angry that they are being swept to their deaths totally at random, at any other time В– I suppose they mustВ’ve got used to it. Maybe Russell was trying to make that disturbing in itself; maybe for some viewers, he succeeded. Not me though В– but equally, it didnВ’t detract from my enjoyment.

In conclusion, this was an uninspired and unambitious, but solid, reasonably entertaining episode of Doctor Who, better than all other offerings from RTD except Boom Town (some of the themes of which it developed, with some limited success). Whether or not it was a waste of 45 minutes we will have to decide on next weekВ’s success or failure.