The End Of The World

I came to really like Rose after my third viewing, and feel it’s a strong serial despite its problems. In this respect I may also develop an appreciation for the second story in the new Doctor Who series. And yet Rose initially left me feeling mostly positive – I recognised that the strengths of the episode far outweighed the weaknesses. The End Of The World, however, left me feeling flat on first watching it, and a second viewing has not really improved things.

I think what undermines this entire story is an air of facetiousness that makes it difficult to take anything seriously. Presumably this is to help inject comedy into the show, but instead it makes the show seem somewhat silly, very much like the stories of McCoy’s first season. Unfortunately, Russel T. Davies, while good at delivering the odd witty line here and there, is not very good at pacing his comedy so that it blends in well with horror, suspense or the darker elements of the show. He seems to lack the ability of past writers like Robert Holmes, Douglas Adams and even Eric Saward.

The underlying story borrows heavily from Adams’ The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe. There’s the similar presence of dignitaries and the rich getting together in a protected space station to view a large-scale cosmic event. There is also a similar ending, where the heroes (be they the Doctor and Rose, or Ford and Arthur Dent) return to a younger Earth before it was destroyed and muse on its future destruction and the futility, and somewhat absurdity, of it all. The idea that the Earth has been held in its classical state and protected by gravitational devices for what seems to be none other than artistic reasons is rather charming, and the whole context, while not original, is a welcome sight in Doctor Who.

The mystery theme built into the plot works quite well. The identities of the repeated Ming are secretive and their appearance makes them quite chilling. They are obviously the bad guys, as the Doctor points out. The impact of the mystery was never really who the saboteurs were, but what they were planning and why. At this level, the story fails to deliver. Firstly, because Cassandra’s role as the brains behind the scheme is revealed by the Doctor without any real effort on his part. He merely kicks the little spider droid and tells it to find its mummy like a puppy dog. Is there any reason why it should obey the Doctor? Did he reprogramme the spider? If so, why didn’t we see it? And secondly, even when Cassandra is revealed to be the real enemy, the “why” element fails simply because her plan is utterly ludicrous. If you’ve seen the show, you know what I mean. Even the Doctor comments on what a daft plan it is. Her vanity and ideas of race purity could have been played upon to construct a far more interesting scheme than simply demanding ransom money from kidnapping the people on board. While a hostage situation may have worked, why did she choose such a precarious environment in which to do it – and then herself make the environment even more precarious? And finally when the Doctor uncovers her plot, she resorts to that terrible writer’s clichй: the backup plan! Her going on about having shares in rival companies and making mega-profits due to their deaths is bloody inane.

I feel the Doctor in this story is far worse than in Rose, and all the elements that were wrong about his character in the first story come to the fore here. One of these factors is the Doctor’s lack of explanation regarding what he is doing and his over-reliance on gadgetry. It’s never really clear what the Doctor is doing when working with technology, and one of the most frustrating aspects of this story is the over-use of the sonic screwdriver to unlock doors, play with keypads, find out data, phase out spider droids, etc. without even the slightest bit of explanation what is going on. This Doctor seems to be the least resourceful yet; when in the slightest bit of trouble, out comes the sonic screwdriver, some slightly psychic paper or a similar gadget to deal with it. Think of how his reprogramming of the spider with the sonic screwdriver mirrors his cutting off the Nestene signal to the detached arm in Rose with whatever he was using. Another thing that struck me was when the Doctor passed through the final revolving blade to activate the station’s shields. Once again, his seemingly Jedi abilities only serve to highlight that this is a Doctor, unlike his predecessors, who isn’t particularly good at using his wits and ingenuity, and instead relies on “a magic ring to rub” as Glitz told the Sixth Doctor.

In fact I am finding the Doctor’s portrayal to be very concerning indeed. In Rose he was very manic, with bizarre grinning for no reason and mood swings from buffoonery to deadly earnestness. While this might have worked – as it did work at times for Troughton and Tom Baker – Eccleston’s grinning, inane outbursts (like his “Fantastic!” in this story that was totally inappropriate, prompting Jabe to understandably inquire why such a dangerous situation was in any way fantastic) and constant laughing occur at the least appropriate times. He doesn’t do it to annoy or deflect an enemy, or to put them off guard by seeming a clown – he just does it, all the time, for no apparent reason. What’s worse, I guess, is that it doesn’t even come across as intelligent buffoonery, but like a five-year-old who has drunk too much red cordial. Think of the scene when the Doctor starts bopping to “Tainted Love”!!! I mean, this isn’t eccentric behaviour, it’s sad behaviour!

Now onto the death of Cassandra. In the past, the Doctor has stood by and failed to save a villain’s life at the last moment, even when it was in his power to do so, the most famous example being the Master’s apparent death in Planet Of Fire. With the new series, however, the Doctor seems to have a new view on how he deals out death, or allows it to be dealt out, which is rather disturbing. Firstly, perhaps because he is revealed to be the last of the Time Lords, the Ninth Doctor has an almost Judge Dred-like opinion on his responsibilities. His comments to Cassandra as she dries and dies suggest that everything has its time and place and her time was over. However, the look in the Doctor’s eyes and his body language tell us something else entirely different: here is a Doctor who has decided that she should die because of the deaths she has caused. The Doctor has done this in the past but has always shrouded his beliefs in a higher morality that seems to justify his negligence. This Doctor only says, “Oh well, that’s life” but with burning anger in his eyes. And there is the second problem with the Ninth Doctor’s approach to death and killing: he is far too emotional. I think it’s quite clear that the Doctor allowed Cassandra to die because she had caused the deaths of others – that is, he is her judge – but specifically he allowed her to die because she had indirectly caused Jabe’s death. The Doctor had developed an emotional attachment with Jabe and was filled with feelings of anger and hatred; his response was revenge. This is very dangerous ground for Doctor Who. A Doctor whose actions seem to justify revenge is completely at odds with the character’s established history. His judgement is also heavily clouded by his emotions. Why did the Doctor give the Nestene Consciousness a chance when it was already responsible for many deaths, such as Wilson the CEO of the department store where Rose worked? The reason is obvious: he never knew Wilson and never felt any kind of emotional attachment to him, therefore he judges the Nestene Consciousness impartially. But in this story, he deals with Cassandra as a form of revenge trip because of Jabe’s death. The Doctor should represent a figure, a hero, who does not resort to revenge, especially not on emotional imbalances.

While I hope some of this behaviour will mellow in future episodes, the Ninth Doctor seems to be the most immature of Time Lords, a veritable teenager in his ludicrous, socially inept behaviour, his resort to the “quick fix” solution of gadgetry and other devices, and his dangerous emotional imbalances.

Now on to the even bigger revelation that all the Time Lords are kaput and the Doctor is the last of his race. This was sweetly begun in a very touching scene between Jabe and the Doctor, which both actors pulled off in style. If only they’d left it there! The mystery surrounding the Doctor would have remained and instead of being an answer, this scene would merely raise more questions, more Doctor Who? After deliberately keeping the audience in the dark in Rose and doing so also throughout most of this story, Russell T. Davies spoils the show at the end when the Doctor reveals all. Why? What is the point? Unless there is a story during the series that will work off this revelation, I don’t think any kind of revelation should have been made at all.

The pacing and length of this story really harms characters, I feel. If you compare the screen time and development of characters in a story like The Curse Of Peladon with this story the difference is obvious. We see, for example, the Ice Warriors in the former serial as initially a threat, then as suspicious, then as honourable, etc. and others like Alpha Centauri and King Peladon also get a lot of development. However in this story, some characters, while looking great, like the Face of Moe and the Moxx of Balhoon, either say very little or nothing at all. A lot of money was spent on characters that were on screen for only about five or six minutes. When the Moxx died at the end of the story, his death should have elicited at least some kind of emotional reaction, but we don’t really get to know him, all we know is that he can deliver a mean spit ball. This is a problem.

The dialogue was great at times (“gift of air from my lungs”, “if you think that’s amazing, you should see the bill”, etc.), pedestrian through most of the story, and at times downright rubbish. Again there was a lot of unnecessary innuendo. As in Rose, the sexual references are obviously put in for humour, and while I don’t think Doctor Who is the ideal medium in which to talk about “prostitutes” and “bitchy trampolines” if you’re going to use this kind of language, at least make it funny. (Lewd language also says very little about the quality of English being imparted to children. One of the most enjoyable aspects of Doctor Who I found as a child was the use of quite a sophisticated English vocabulary and the artistry of constructing beautiful dialogue in a TV show.) When Jabe asks the Doctor about Rose’s relationship with him, why on Earth would she think Rose is his prostitute? (Other than the fact that the Doctor is actually dressed like a 20th century pimp, that is…) She is a tree, so her understanding of relationships should have been reflected in that way, perhaps asking the Doctor if Rose was his leaf stylist, herbalist, fertiliser, or hopefully something better! Rose then proceeds to tell Jabe to bring the Doctor back by midnight and leaves them to “pollinate” (her a relevant term, but the consequences are quite gross). The innuendo surrounding Jabe’s liana is also quite farcical. I’m surprised the Doctor didn’t say, “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours!” The attempts by Russell T. Davies to make Doctor Who funny, “contemporary” and “relevant” should not resort to ill-used, banal sexual humour.

After all that criticism, I should point out that there were some really great things about this story. Billie Piper is brilliant again as Rose – the lines written for her are great and Piper delivers them with conviction. Her culture shock by being surrounded by something so different is well portrayed, as is the Doctor’s concern for her. The scenes where she speaks with the maintenance worker and realises she doesn’t know who the Doctor is at all, and then insists on the Doctor telling her who he is are magnificent. And the way the Doctor makes up for his secrecy and Rose’s insecurity in the new environment by fixing her mobile so that she can call home is rather silly but charming and the joke at the end is well worth it. It’s a shame Rose spends quite a substantial amount of time stuck in a room about to be vaporised by pure sunlight, since she could have been used to uncover Cassandra’s plot rather then the unimaginative way it actually was uncovered. Finally, the reason for Rose understanding alien languages is well handled – a tip of the hat to the “Time Lord gift” mentioned in The Masque Of Mandragora. Thank God there wasn’t a Babel fish in sight!

Jabe is another interesting character and well acted. Her death was very touching and it was wise and noble of the director not to show us her charred remains. The initial greetings and gifts given by the various alien races are superb. Cuttings from Jabe’s grandfather, spitting by the Moxx, even the Doctor’s gift of air from his lungs, are inventive, relevant, funny and insightful. The line about the Titanic, though seemingly lifted from Robot, was great too.

The costumes, make-up, sets and effects glow with heaps of money being thrown at them. Once again the music was generally obtrusive and used poorly, especially during the spider scenes, where instead of the music complementing to their menace, actually made them rather cute and certainly less of a threat. 

Perhaps I just don’t shine to Russell T. Davies’ writing. Lots of people seem to have enjoyed The End Of The World and it certainly was fun. The third episode looks very promising, so I’m anticipating greater things to come! 4/10