The End Of The World

While “Rose” was enjoyable with many wonderful moments, I experienced a sense of unease watching it. This was due to the following: the gag about breast implants, the reference to “gays and aliens”, lazy scripting (as indicated by the repetitive use of adjectives e.g. “stupid”), rather trite social commentary (Rose’s speech about “no A levels, no job, no future”) and the overuse of incorrect and poorly delivered English. All this suggested to me that Russell T Davies had no actual respect for the series, and was using it as a vehicle for scoring points on pet issues. It is this type of self-indulgence that killed Dr Who off last time. 

Having watched Episode 2, The End of the World, I see more of this. I make the following criticisms: 

The plot was extremely weak. There was an unacceptable reliance on “magical solutions”: the Doctor’s hypnotic note paper, the tree lady knowing about the duct behind her suite, the way the Doctor just walks through the rotors, the amazing way he knows all the answers at the end, and the convenient way that the teleport is reversible and catches the skin lady but not her attendants. These magical solutions were to make up for the lack of decent story construction and were very disappointing. 

Apart from the steward, there was an absence of characterisation. The tree lady and the other delegates looked wonderful, but there’s no point being visually good if they do not have personalities. The alien guests in this 44 minute episode had less characterisation than the delegates in the first 23 minute episode of Curse of Peladon. What is the point of trying to feel sorry for the tree lady’s firey death if we do not get to know her in the first place? 

There was unnecessary and intrusive use of coarse language (“bitchy”, “prostitutes”). I do not want this language in Dr Who. In the case of the word prostitution, this could have been changed to “mistress”. But there is another question: why go down this route? Is Russell T Davies trying to prove how daring he is? Oh, please! The scene would have been better had the tree lady asked the Doctor: “Is she your wife? your mother? your grandmother?”

Remember all the hype about Billie Piper being the assistant equal to the Doctor, who would not have to be rescued and would play a full part in the stories? Well, she spent half this story locked in her room – needing to be rescued. 

There was complete overkill on the political commentary. I’ve only seen the episode once and cannot remember it all, but I was conscious of it while watching. Russell T Davies should have spent less time looking to make references to contemporary issues and more on plotting. He’s writing for Dr Who, not Panorama. 

The script was remarkably crass in some places, such as “can we get chips”? I respect that the writer is trying to draw contrasts between five billion years into the future and our common, everyday existence. Nice idea, but he is not doing it very well. There is an absence of subtlety, an overuse of colloquialisms and poor pronunciation. I appreciate the latter is intended, but it should not be apparent in every other line. Otherwise, it just irritates. 

Piper’s performance was very good, but Eccleston was disappointing (and I’m not just saying that because he’s leaving). I was looking for development in his performance and could not see any. He grins a lot. I want to feel I’m watching a Time Lord, not someone out of Eastenders. 

Finally, the Doctor’s standing by while the skin lady died. Disgraceful. The character of the Doctor is sufficiently established for us to know that he would not let another being suffer distress and death, even if they are a baddie. The Doctor kills but only to save life, and even then as a last resort. He does not kill out of vengeance. To refuse the villain aid and to gain smug satisfaction from their painful death is so out of character as to make me wonder whether the new production team have any real sympathy or respect for the programme at all. How could such a scene happen? I wonder whether Russell T Davies is content to rip it all up, make something different but rely on the Dr Who “brand name” to get the ratings.