The End Of The World

After the hyperactive mania that was 'Rose' this was a much better paced episode. I had time to enjoy the excellent visuals and wallow in the events happening as I watched. I loved the tiny scene between Rose and the plumber, even though it was only really done go give the death of the plumber a bit of an impact - it worked too. 

The problem with 45 minutes per episode is that it is too easy to fall into the Star Trek trap where the first 40 minutes set up an excellent story only for it to be solved in last 5 minutes and this was exactly what happened here. A two second reprogramming of the spider droids was all that was needed to find the killer in a very Agatha Christie style reveal. Unfortunately it was a little too obvious who the killer would be, especially after the attempt on Rose's life. 

Saying that, however, it's too easy to forget that this programme is aimed more for children than adults and that's where it's success lies - the fact that anyone can watch and still be engrossed. The spider droids were an excellent menace, genuinely creepy and superbly realised in CGI - I only hope that the rest of the series continues with this level of SFX. I laughed and cringed when one them pressed the sun filter button and killed the blue Steward.

Christopher Eccelston didn't impress me in the first episode, he was too smarmy and the way he has of gurning through his facial expressions really didn't help me at all. In the this episode, though he was much better. He was calmer and more assured and handled the serious/emotional sides of the character very well. I love the idea of revealing little bits of the Doctor's past a tiny bit at a time and was on the edge of my seat as the war that destroyed Gallifrey was mentioned and the poinency it added to the destruction of Earth - A throw back to the Eighth Doctor novels perhaps? 

The gurning persisted though thankfully not to the extent of the first episode and for the first time I could see why Christopher Eccelston was chosen as the Ninth Doctor. I have the feeling he is going to grow on me throughout the season to the point where I love him as the Doctor, only for me to have to start the whole process again with his replacement!

It's very easy to form an emotional bond with Billie Piper's Rose. She is everything that ACE should have been in the eighties. I find myself self geniunely feeling for her, from her realisation that she knows nothing about the Doctor to the impact of the world's destruction and the need to call her mom. Although on a character and emotional level she was given some excellent stuff to work with plotwise she was given almost nothing. Rose served as the catalyst for the adventure and then somone for the Doctor to rescue - same old Dr Who then. I would have prefered it if her own curiosity lead her to finding out what was going on on the station, telling the Doctor and together the duo putting everything to rights.

All of the above said it was an beautiful episode. It looked spectacular and the story drew me in alongside the excellent perfomances of the Doctor, Rose and Jabe. And it's also worth mentioning Zoe Wannamaker's performance as the last human being. I would give this a solid 8/10 and I'm truly looking forward to next week's episode.