The End Of The World

I remember back in the latter days of the original series, Doctor Who fans coined a term: ‘oddball’, applied to the sort of Doctor Who stories that featured giant licorice allsort men, Ken Dodd and had the tendency to take the general concept of Doctor Who less than seriously. 

I remember reaction at the time to these particular stories was adverse, although opinion in general seems to have settled down to the notion that they were a brave experiment, but not altogether successful.

What has surprised me most so far in this new run is how much a debt the new series owes to these latter day McCoy stories. With its burping bins and now Britney Spears in space moments, one cant help but question the production team’s motives in evoking (whether intentionally or not) an era of the programme which one would think it would be doing its damnedest to try and bury the memory of.

Like Rose, I have found this story gets better on repeated viewing. On first viewing I thought it was patchy, meandering between brilliance and mediocrity. Preconceptions out of the way however, on the second viewing I could see what Russell was trying to do, the thing succeeds in doing what those McCoy stories tried to do but failed. I do however question its placing in the season, a story this off beat, this experimental could be make or break for many viewers. I personally would have thought it much wiser after the something for everyone approach of ‘Rose’, to ease viewers in with something much more approaching traditional Who, that is assuming any of the future stories fit this mould. Even in the age of Buffy, where silly ideas in series are commonplace, I feel some new viewers may have potentially found the whole thing slightly too weird, much better I would have thought to place it later on after the audience has settled and are less likely to be put off.

That said maybe the production team were planning on hooking viewers caught by Rose with some serious eye candy and certainly on that note the production paid off in spades. The production design on this series so far has been nothing short of excellent, from the brilliant Tardis interior, to the corridors of Platform one the new series has easily shed that image of those white walled studio bound sets. Similarly the effects, while having at times the traditional TV CGI look, were for the most part outstanding. The rendering of the dying sun in particular is something I think will be remembered for many years.

After the first episode I was somewhat undecided on Eccleston, but on this episode he grew on me considerably. Paul McGann was instantly acceptable in the part, but to be fair didn’t have to do anything but play an eccentric fop. Eccleston and Davies are doing what few producers would have the courage to do, making a modern Doctor, taking the core essence of the character and dumping all the frills and I personally think they’re not doing a bad job. Even the notion of the Doctor having a romantic side, didn’t seem as incongruous as when the 8th Doctor decided to get it on with Grace Holloway. Billie Piper gets better and better, in just two episodes her character is on the way to becoming perhaps one of the best companions ever. Her likeable, down to earth style is a breath of fresh air, she could so easily have been Buffy in space, but so far has proved one of this series’ strongest assets. The rest of the performances were variable: the blue guy with the skullcap seemed somewhat camp and over theatrical, while the female plumber with her regional accent and somewhat less than impressive costume I thought brought the whole thing down to that level of Doctor Who blandness which I hoped this series would avoid. Zoe Wanamaker however provided a thoroughly entertaining performance as Cassandra, a very imaginative character both in design and performance. 

I must however admit to being somewhat disappointed in the Moxx of Balhoon and the Face of Boe, two very effectual designs were wasted in their lack of use and in the case of the Moxx, having a rather ineffectual voice. What were hyped up certainly in the press as being the next generation of Who monsters, I think will have left a lot of viewers feeling disappointed. The Moxx in particular with his Mekon like appearnce could have been another Sil, but ended up being about as memorable as the guardian from Colony in Space.

I am currently somewhat confused about Murray Gold’s rather schizophrenic incidental scores, as with the previous week this episode had some killer themes particularly the recurring Doctor choral theme, but also had some bloody awful distracting tunes. How quite the same person can be responsible for the excellent theme tune, but also turn out rather soulless jaunty dittys is a bit mystifying. 

After being entertained for half an hour, but not sure whether all the incessant jokes and pop culture references were what I had been hoping for from this new series, the final ten minutes or so won me over.

From the tense scenes of the Doctor struggling to save everyone from being burnt to a crisp, to the melancholy aftermath of the earths destruction, never has a Doctor Who story been quite so poignant. This was the Doctor Who Russell had promised, but had so far failed to deliver, a Doctor Who with emotional resonance, a Doctor Who that stimulated thought, a Doctor Who that made you believe it could be real and for that I am willing to forgive it most of its shortcomings. As the final scene played out, a simple but flawlessly scripted scene about everyday things, and the scream of the theme cut in , it became clear that this show has the potential be one of the biggest things on tv.

However I think next week is make or break, we still need a story that makes the connection between the to coin a phrase ‘spooky escapism’ of the original and Davies bold new Doctor Who with heart. Unfortunately if the Unquiet Dead gives us another dose of camp, overly referential humour I feel this series may by its own design be neutralising the very effect it is trying to achieve.