The End Of The World

A short seven days on from the fervent anticpation that preceeded the previous week's debut episode, this Saturday's airing of "The End Of The World" was unfortunately overshadowed by the news of Christopher Eccleston's departure. One can easily picture a substantial share of the hordes of dithering die-hards, willing to embrace Dr Who 2005, but still undecided, giving up at the first hurdle. After all, why go to all the bother of climbing the mountain if someone coming back down tells you the view is rubbish? Better to find out in the foothills.

As a result this imaginative slice of Who was probably greeted with less fan interest than it deserved, and this is a shame as it was really rather good. Perhaps, after 16 years of hiatus and of imagining our "perfect Who", that we all need reminding that sometimes the fun lies in making the effort and journeying to the summit regardless.

Eccleston's Doctor had some memorable moments in this episode, some might even dare to say at least one **classic** Who moment (the fleeting appearance of tears in his eyes as Jabe mentions the fate of Gallifrey) that would have served to utterly dismiss the doubts of the undecided and gain him acceptance, were it not for the fore-knowledge that his days piloting the TARDIS were already numbered.

"The End of the World" boasted several similarly small, but impressive touches that served to raise the show above the simple premise as a sum of its parts. The "core" story was uncomplicated, and the eye-pleasing menagerie of aliens smacked of the BBC effects department showing off for the sake of it (but brought back quaint memories... "Curse of Peladon", anyone?) but all this can be forgiven in the light of (pun unintentional) the impressive sun-expansion and orbital Earth shots, and especially the subtle development of both the Doctor's and Rose's characters, which, let's face it, was the object of the exercise and what we all wanted to see. It's notable that for an episode during which the pair spend most of their time apart, their relationship has by the end of it all cemeted into a closeness some Doctors and companions never achieved, even after dozens of episodes. It is also ironic that for the first time a companion has a home to return to, and the Doctor hasn't.

OK, what was good? Rose, and Billie Piper. Her disorientation and culture shock, her standing up to the Doctor, and questioning her decision to join him. The one-liners ("Wait til you see the bill"). The big big news about Gallifrey. The mercurial Doctor. The I-Pod. Stepping through the fan blades.

What was bad? The Platform One computer's ponderous and irritating attempt at sampling. "Sun-Filter descending, Sun-Filter rising, Sun-Filter descending", etc. anon (a latter day "Vacuum Shield Off" for all those "Enlightenment" fans). The drawn out "suspense" sequences. The Shrek 2-like stabs at contemporary in-jokes (the National Trust would never be around in the year 5 Billion - who would pay the subscriptions and display all those car stickers in their spacecraft?) The glib resolution, and linear plot (more mystery and intrigue, please, Russell).

In summary, if "Rose" was the first tentative step forward, the character development in "The End of the World" represents both feet firmly on the ground and Dr Who 2005's format being successfully established. Time to have some fun with it, and find out where it can take us.

OK BBC.... show us what you can do.