The End Of The World

‘The End Of The World’ is a story which sits uneasy in my mind. There is much to like about it: a good musical score from Murray Gold (especially throughout the ending), some truly stunning visuals (the destruction of the planet Earth being the highlight), many laugh out loud moments (especially when ‘Tainted Love’ by Soft Cell is played on a jukebox), and some great performances (Jimmy Vee makes the Moxx Of Balhoon more memorable than he deserves to be considering his limited screen time, and both Yasmin Bannerman and Zoл Wanamaker are superb). However, I cannot help but feel that overall ‘The End Of The World’ is a typical example of a story where its parts are greater than its whole.

Again, Russell T. Davies writes some great dialogue; the banter between all characters- human, tree and other- flows so naturally that it gives the impression that the script was entirely effortless to write, which is a testimony to how well the dialogue works. As mentioned previously, the acting is again great- Billie Piper and Christopher Eccleston seem to fit so naturally into their roles that it’s frightening, and it is hard to see how anyone can criticise them. The plot, however, is where things fall apart.

Now as with ‘Rose’ this is a story more focused on the back story of the characters as opposed to an actual gripping story; but whereas in ‘Rose’ the focus upon Rose and the addition of an invasion attempt by the Nestene Consciousness was well balanced, here it appears at odds with itself. On the one hand, we have Rose’s acceptance of the future and her contemplation of quite what life with the Doctor shall be like; on the other hand we have background details about the Doctor and the destruction of his home planet (Gallifrey) due to a war; added to this, we have the imminent destruction of the planet Earth and the sabotage being undertaken by one of the delegates there. Now, to balance three separate story strands in a successful way can be done, but here- in my opinion- it falls short. Rose simply isn’t given enough to do, spending a significant amount of time crouching beneath a door; the sabotage plot thread would be a lot more engaging if we were ever in any doubt as to who was behind the sabotaging.

Of all the story strands, it is the discovery of the Doctor’s history that proves itself to be both the most interesting and well realised. This in part is due to the subtle performance of Eccleston throughout, but also because it is meant to seem more interesting. We are left wanting more here, whilst this is not the case with the other strands of plot.

This is a shame in many ways since- as mentioned before- the premise of ‘The End Of The World’ promises much more than it actually delivers. Here is a story which boasts a colourful array of all creatures great and small, but most of the delegates spend their time moping around a small room in crowds of two or three.

I’d also say that the direction is a little stale- whilst Euros Lyn tries his hardest to make things seem grand and impressive (an arty shot out of Jackie Tyler’s washing machine here, a sweeping CGI shot of Platform One there), the slightly cramped scenery somewhat quashes his directorial flair- after all, there are only so many ways you can make a large and rather empty room seem engaging.

However, despite all this criticism, ‘The End Of The World’ boasts one of the most touching, memorable, best acted and best written scenes in the whole of Series One; I am talking about the final scene set on Present Day Earth. Actually, I’m refereeing to just before that too, beginning with Rose gazing longingly out of a window in Platform One at her planet disintegrating into nothingness. It is moments like this that remind you why Davies is such a great writer; it is moments such as this one, also, which make you see just how good the acting is. I guess ‘The End Of The World’, looking back, can almost be forgiven for its shortcomings when it has moments as good as this.

Overall though, I must confess that after how impressed I was by ‘Rose’, I felt somewhat let down here. Bits of it are great, but bits of it fail to live up to the expectations which it itself sets. It is by no means bad, and parts of it shine out so much that it dazzles you, making you turn a blind eye at its shortcomings. Look at it with unimpaired vision though, and the cracks begin to show. ‘The End Of The World’ is just above average, but lagging well below excellent. ‘Doctor Who’ has done worse than this, but it can also do so much better; break off little bits of this metaphorical Easter Egg but don’t be surprised if eating it all leaves you hungry for more.