The Parting of the Ways

HmmВ…new teethВ….thatВ’s weird.

And so ends an era. I was thrilled beyond words that Doctor Who was being revived, and this season did not let me down. At times I wished they wouldnВ’t try quite SO hard to not mention the past, but the Daleks did eventually return, there was a great scene with the head of a Cyberman (canВ’t wait to see them next season!) and it was the little things that were thrown in for longtime fans such as directions for a room inside the TARDIS for Rose to change clothes in В“The Unquiet DeadВ” and the Ninth Doctor commenting on his new ears in В“RoseВ” (just like Tom Baker commenting on his new nose in В“RobotВ”) that helped make this series a classic. This Doctor even picked up and discarded new companions just as previous Doctors such as Peter Davison had done. This show always kept you guessing and it wasВ…fantastic.

В“The Parting of the WaysВ” was a great ending to a great series. The creation of a Dalek В“godВ” was interestingВ… it kind of goes along the same lines of making every effort to not mention the past. Why this could not be an incarnation of Davros or even a previously seen Supreme Dalek is beyond me but it was a very interesting character regardless. The solution to the 500,000 Daleks seemed to me to beВ…wellВ…a little bit of a cop out. The Doctor has a huge dilemma on his handsВ…create a Delta wave that will destroy all life in and around the planet Earth, or die and let Earth be harvested for Dalek parts. As the Doctor states В“coward, any dayВ”, it wasnВ’t much of a choice. This Doctor, however, has been hardened by war and the death of his people. He actually thought about it whereas no previous Doctor would have even seen it as a remote possibility, even if it did mean the death of Earth either way. Then Super-powered Rose jumps in and with a wave of her hand solves everything.

Of course there were problems with the plot, such as the technobabble explanation of the В“Bad WolfВ” references, the fact that Captain Jack in abandoned, and how the Daleks actually survived, just to name a few. It must be known though that I pick apart plots to every show and movie I love and I love this new series. Another minor quibble I have with the plot of the episode is that Rose and the others could even open up the panel to the TARDIS. MickeyВ’s car isnВ’t strong enough to pull apart the TARDIS console, so they get a larger Earth truck and then are able to rip open the console of this exquisite piece of Gallifreyian technology?! HmmmВ…. I believe it would have worked better if it simply knew it had to open such as it did against the Slitheen and Rose was able to do the same thing. Of course then RoseВ’s mom and Mickey would have been left out and RTD was trying to get some emotion into this sub-plot. Forgivable and understandable.

People have had a lot of opinions about Captain Jack Harkness. Some good but mostly bad. I donВ’t see how you cannot like this character. He was a fun loving rogue who was willing to sacrifice himself for the good of mankind and to make up for his screw up. Since then I can only say that this TARDIS crew have been together much longer than the two adventures we saw them in. He grew into a part of the family and a very valuable part at that. Not only is he well versed in time and how it works, he is technically adept and he is humble enough to defer to the judgement of The Doctor. In fact, in В“PartingВ” he blindly follows him into death and never once flinches. When he first kisses Rose and then the Doctor and says how he wishes heВ’d never met him and he made a much better cowardВ…it was some of the best companion writing ever. I dare say that only Sarah Jane Smith and possibly Jo Grant ever had as emotional response as the purely soldier character of Captain Jack had with the Ninth Doctor. Jack owed him everything, for showing him how he had been wasting his life and talents and gave him a sense of purpose IВ’m not sure he ever had. What an acting job for a character with relatively small amount of screen time. By the way, on the subject of him kissing the Doctor, I am not a gay activist by any means but come on, grow up. Jack is a very sexual character who comes from a time where male/female relations have been blurred. He freely flirted with anyone male or female and enjoyed every minute of it. It made perfect sense for him to kiss the Doctor the same as Rose, as I stated before he meant a great deal to Jack and Jack believed (apparently for good reason) he would never see him again. When Jack was brought back to life and he ran in to see the TARDIS de-materialize the look he gave was amazing В– sadness, hurt and desperation all at the same time. John Barrowman is an amazing actor and I can only hope that RTD realizes that this character evolved far beyond the В“heВ’s here to carry a big gun because the Doctor and Rose wouldnВ’tВ” status he came aboard as.

Just the fact that we can argue whether or not this series was good and tear apart each episode piece by piece shows what an excellent job they did with Doctor Who. People need to realize how many chances this show had to be a failure. There were obvious money constraints and yet everything looked great. People were used to four part episodes and most of these were single 45 minute episodes. Chris and Billie were unknown choices to say the least and they proved themselves to be simply amazing in their parts. The Daleks almost didnВ’t make it into the series, and they were able to use them. This series is a resounding success and I praise Russell and every person who was involved in this fantastic series. I hope David Tennant takes a hold of the role of the Tenth Doctor and is with us a very long time.

Why oh why do we have to wait until CHRISTMAS!!!!? Oh well maybe by then America will WAKE UP and bring this incredible entertainment to these shores so I can stop watching it on my computer and lay back on the couch like a true Doctor Who fan should! THANK YOU FOR A WONDERFUL 13 WEEKS!