The End Of The World

Episode two of Doctor Who takes the sound grounding from the series opener and builds upon it.

The fx are far sharper (the destruction of the Earth beats the pants of even the digitally remastered Death Star explosion!). Less obvious green screen this week, and some superb sequences. Several deaths are done with the maximum scare factor - a close-up of the character's reaction and cutting before we actually see them die.

The Doctor's characterisation is slightly calmer than last week, as is to be expected. With the breaking news earlier in the week of Eccleston's departure, its a shame that he looks as though he will build the role into a brilliant incarnation. The shedding of a tear (I think the first time since Jo Grant left to wed Cliff Jones), I found very poignant. Younger fans (i.e those seeing the show for the first time) will see this as a touching moment as we find out the first little segments of this Doctor's backstage. For us more seasoned followers, it shows another side to the Doctor's relationship with his home world.

The costumes are superb, all with a finish and polish that I feel was only achieved in the classic series by the Zygons. Even those aliens that are effectively window dressing have an attention to detail in them that is unsurpassed in the show's history. Another superb aspect of the aliens is that there was some superb concept work done on them. One race is in fact simply an idea - wicked!

Back to the back story. I'd heard rumours, but I quite like the way that this new Doctor's history is being revealed a small layer at a time. It takes us back to the days when he was just a stranger, who didn't have his species revealed for the first 6 years, and his home world went unnamed for another four. We can learn about the ninth Doctor with Rose.

Billy is less effective than last week, slightly more in the mould of the helpless girlie. However, her chat with Cassandra is another one of those "playground moments. However, some excellent POV shots continue to build the feeling of discovering the universe side-by-side with her.

After the coverage he got (cover shots, feature inserts, etc), the Moxx of Balhoun is a fairly insignificant character, but someone give me the funding to do Doctor Who - The officially licensed Moxx of Balhoun Incense Stick Holder!!!

After such a strong start, this episode could have fallen flat, but Phil Collinson has followed up RTD's intro with a superb SF thriller, with some lovely retro touches. There's even a follow up to a reference to the Titanic in The Invasion of Time, that once more fails to bog the show in continuity, but allows a wry smile to grace the face of older fans.

The NEXT WEEK teaser takes us to the past - and it looks every bit as promising as its predecessors. Enough from me - its time for QUATERMASS now.....

Additional: So blown away by the FX in this episode, I forgot to mention that this is the first time I can remember the "world about to end" scenario seem so...well...EPIC. Despite the confines of the location, a floating observation platform, the exterior views, the sun expanding, the perishing of the Earth, all of it is beautiful - there's no other way to describe it. If last week's episode caused you to go WOW, then I must invent the phrase "Even WOWIER!". Its hard to conceive that the series can sustain such continual raising of the bar, but if the remaining 11 eps come anywhere close to this, then our 1 season Doctor will be unforgettable!

On further reflection, there is a downer in the Episode. The oft-quoted "The Doctor is never cruel or cowardly" seems to have been pushed to the background. Although cowardice is not in evidence, I found the denouement of the main plot strand somehow un-Doctorish. Others may disagree.

And on a final note, I would like to distance myself from the seemingly constant vilification of CE since the announcement of his quitting. I would rather see 13 episodes of quality WHO that ensure the show continues, than 26 that wane and wither, with a man disinterested in the role because he is tied to a contract he wants to escape, which is possibly how things would have been had the Beeb insisted on a 2 year option. With some of the postings on various boards these past couple of days, Colin Baker must be glad the internet wasn't around when he declined a regeneration scene....