The End Of The World

If there's one thing you can say about The End Of The World, it doesn't scrimp on the visuals. In fact, it's got more effects shots than any other episode ever, which is quite an achievement given that it's only half the length of the average original series episode. Russell T. Davies has stated his intention to compete with American science-fiction shows in terms of production values, but I have to say this doesn't quite reach those heights - the CGI effects still look slightly glassy and like a 3D cartoon, which is of course exactly what they are. Nevertheless, it's a big step in that direction and if you turn off your cynicism then there's a lot of fun to be had in this episode.

This is arguably not clear from the beginning, as I am uncertain what to make of the opening TARDIS scene. The bells and bicycle pumps on the console are a worrying pointer to the indulgences to come for the rest of Davies's contribution to the series, and also show a misunderstanding of what makes the TARDIS what it is. The sheer spectacle of it being bigger on the inside than outside is good for a point, but once this is accepted the viewers need more, which they got in the original series with the space-age, gleaming white interior which formed a stark visual contrast to the shabby exterior. Now it's shabby on the outside and shabby on the inside; an all round piece of junk, in other words. Did he really get Rose a bicycle (see The Doctor Dances), or did he just cobble together something himself? Ironic is the fact that the Doctor now has near-total control over it, which he shows us by never leaving Earth (yes I know I keep going on about it but it really bugs me). What did make me laugh though, as a hardened Who nerd, is the fact that the Doctor glosses over the middle of the 22nd century as being boring when he knows full well there's a Dalek invasion in full swing.

One thing that strikes me immediately, even from the pre-titles sequence, is how annoying the music is. Murray Gold has got a rough ride, but I generally quite like his work on the series (his score for Dalek I think is excellent, and his version of the theme beats most versions other than the original). He is especially good when you consider the average score by Keff McCulloch, Malcolm Clarke or even, in truth, Dudley Simpson. Here however, he really is annoying. When I was younger I used to play the fantasy battles game Warhammer and there's a figure in that that attacks by shooting you full of little needles and then sending an electric current through them; listening to that tingtingtingting noise as the Doctor and Jabe make their way through the power ducts, I know how that feels. However, he does improve towards the end when he resorts to more conventional orchestral arrangements.

Right from the start we are presented with little Douglas Adams-esque touches, a Davies trademark, like religion being banned aboard Platform One. These though are not presented to enrich the setting but simply as a joke: things like that and the frozen vomit from The Long Game give me the uneasy feeling that a comedy universe is being established for the programme. Also of note early on is the introduction of the psychic paper - a lazy writer's device if ever I saw one, with the additional disadvantage of making no sense at all, not even the pseudo-sense of the sonic screwdriver. In fact, with the paper, the screwdriver and then later Rose's augmented telephone I get the feeling that Davies is removing all those elements that might cause problems for the writers (or tension in the plot), but seeing as the episode lengths are so drastically cut down I'll let it go.

Put these thoughts on hold, because here come the aliens! On the whole they are very good, with the exception of the blue childlike workers on the station, who look like oxygen-starved Oompah Loompahs. The sitar music as the trees arrive is an unimaginative hippy sound (what's the first thing that comes to you mind when I say "nature", Murray?). The Moxx of Balhoon reminds me of Sil from Vengeance On Varos and The Trial Of A Time Lord, a reference reinforced by Lady Cassandra's constant need to be moisturised. This is in fact arguably the new series's most derivative episode: the Steward's death is straight out of Dragonfire, while the spiders are half Cybermat and half Minority Report scanner. Their heads also look a bit like the droids from the dismal Phantom Menace. 

Lady Cassandra is genuinely impressive and well-voiced by Zoe Wanamaker, with her rude bigotry making her an effective presence in terms of substance as well as style. The jukebox though is very annoying - not least because Christopher Eccleston is so clearly playing for laughs, getting his freak on to Soft Cell. The jukebox is an overwhelming indulgence (there's that word again...it just fits so well), not least because of the music on it. I know I'm heading into dangerously subjective territory here, but if it played out a crackly Robert Johnson record from the 1930s I'd be happy but not many others necessarily would. Similarly, if you don't like Britney Spears then frankly you're screwed. More to the point, it's so camp - not just because of it being Britney Spears, but simply because a mainstream pop record is being used as incidental music. The series no longer looks camp because of the budgetary and technological increases, so Davies is compensating by writing it to be camp.

Meanwhile, Rose has wandered off and met Raphallo before meeting back with the Doctor. Raphallo is a good character, there simply to add detail to the narrative (Davies's strength, but so rarely used to its full effectiveness); we learn nothing from her death as we've already seen the spiders in action. Meanwhile, the Doctor has filled us in on how the TARDIS translates other languages, which was first explained in The Masque Of Mandragora. I'll say this again when I get to reviewing Masque, but it is a good reason to have them all speaking English. Besides, if they didn't then we'd all be inundated with Zygon-English dictionaries and people taking degrees in Raxicoricofallipatorian As A Foreign Language. It did strike me as significant though that what could be passed of as a "Time Lord Gift" in 1976 now needs a proper explanation.

Earlier I mentioned the Steward's death (it's too late at night for me to be thinking about structuring this properly), which leads me to the first of two massive contrivances of the episode, another Davies trademark. The spiders can lower the sun shields with the touch of one button; does this button have "commit suicide" written on it? In fact, why have them able to lower at all, as the only function by doing so is to kill people?

As the Doctor and Jabe the Tree Princess (sounds quite strange when said like that, doesn't it?) investigate the sabotage, we get the first indication that Gallifrey has gone kaboom. This is extremely well acted by Eccleston, and puts at rest any fears of his heart not being in his job...for now, anyway. Now we come to another bone of contention: the air conditioning. It's the year five billion, and the station is kept cool by some whirling blades. Terry Nation once said in an interview that anything you create in you fictional universe is yours to do what you like with; Davies seems to have taken that too literally. Storming back to the plot, Cassandra's threat to moisturise people with acid is straight out of Mars Attacks!. Has anybody noticed that all the life has been totally drained out of the dialogue when it simply concerns the plot? It's as if Davies wants to get it over with as quickly as possible so he can get back to talking about the girl down the post office who looks Greek.

"Sir! One of the machines has gone out of control! We need to find the emergency cut off switch! Where is it!?" "Oh, it's just over on that wall. Watch out for the landmines, though". Yes, now we come to the other massive contrivance: the Doctor is forced into some nifty footwork as some genius has put the emergency override control on the other side of three spinning blades that keep the station cool but don't ruffle a hair on the Doctor's head even though he's right next to one. With Jabe toasted he pulls some grasshopper-zen baloney and spirits himself through the third fan (nice to see the Doctor still has super powers); the fact that he can navigate them himself makes Jabe's sacrifice pointless.

This tells a very simple tale, albeit more didactic than the usual Davies fare, as the end scene shows. This is good for the length of the episodes, something that seems to be lost on Davies in later episodes. Having said that, if it came later I would probably criticise it for being too disposable, but as it's purpose as the second episode is to continue establishing the programme’s credentials then it works well enough in its way.