Bad Wolf & The Parting of the Ways (Joint review)
My problem with Russell T. Davies writing isnt that he goes too far with sex, satire, and humor its that he doesnt go far enough. Bad Wolf / Parting of the Ways is a good case in point. When I first heard about these episodes, I anticipated that Davies would use Doctor Who as a forum for wry commentary on the reality TV phenomenon. But there is no commentary here; theres just the skin of a good idea, wasted. The Doctor goes on Big Brother
only to break a camera and leave. Captain Jack gets a makeover, Rose plays The Weakest Link (surely it wouldve been more exciting if she had to play against the Doctor?), and ultimately it amounts to nothing. Its not a satire because its not reflective in any way; it merely presents these TV programs as they actually are, only with robots. I expected more.
The Daleks, too, are a wasted opportunity. The lone creature in Dalek was a truly formidable villain, but here the half-million-strong Dalek army is firmly back in camp mode. I can hardly believe the same Joe Ahearne directed these episodes; the Daleks look so unimpressive here, congregating in their lousy spaceship set and screaming their little heads off. One of them even has dome lights that feebly sputter out-of-tune with its dialogue its amateur hour, just like old times! When the Doctor defies them with his power speech about rescuing Rose, he sounds less like a mighty hero, and more like the narrator of next weeks coming attraction.
The excitement picks up in the second part, but only a little. The Doctors rescue of Rose is too quick and too convenient, and he embarrasses the Daleks first by blunting their rays with a force field, then by intimidating them with one of his obnoxious new catchphrases, shut it! Good grief, the Daleks look wimpy here. The wrinkle that they are religious comes from nowhere and goes nowhere, much like the reality TV concept. I think Davies wanted to take a shot at Bush (the religious Emperor of America), but, as with the Slitheen two-parter, he failed to channel his political anger into an interesting story. Ultimately, it doesnt matter if the Daleks are religious or not, since all they do is shout their old clichés and exterminate extras.
Speaking of exterminations, the battle scenes in Parting of the Ways fall extremely flat coming after Dalek. Weve seen all the new Dalek tricks before; in fact, the shots of them dissolving bullets look so familiar, they might as well have used stock footage. Once again we get extras blazing away uselessly with machine guns and refusing to retreat, like any sensible person would do. And, once again, the Daleks are incredibly slow - its hard to be scared of something that moves at one-eighth of a mile per hour.
The scenes of Rose with Jackie and Mickey feel like retreads as well. How many times must Jackie shrilly condemn the Doctor? How many times must Rose tell Mickey that her life in the TARDIS is better than anything he could offer her? Its not great characterization because it never evolves; the same debates are rehashed endlessly. Davies again wastes a potentially good idea. I might care about Roses home life, if Jackie and Mickey were depicted as anything but wafer-thin and semi-ludicrous characters without a brain cell to share between them.
I havent even touched on the worst aspect of this two-parter the climax. The Bad Wolf mystery is resolved in an amazingly unsatisfying fashion. In the end, the phrase Bad Wolf is meaningless; its not a proper clue, since it has no actual connection to Rose, the TARDIS, the Daleks, or Roses plan to rescue the Doctor. So, then, it was never a proper mystery. It was just a weak linking device for the season, designed to generate some artificial suspense. The payoff is so feeble that it wasnt worth it.
Equally unsatisfying is Roses sudden elevation to godhood. Faced with a huge dilemma how can the Doctor beat half a million Daleks? Davies cops out and simply grants the companion limitless energy from the time vortex. I find it weird and frustrating that the same fans who hate the miracle resolution of the TV Movie, when fairy dust resurrects Chang Lee and Grace, seem perfectly willing to accept Rose as a God From the Machine (literally!) who miraculously saves the day with the aid of shiny special effects.
Then theres Eccleston. Hes not very good in these episodes. I hate his performance when hes torn about activating the Delta wave; he overplays the moment horribly and pulls some truly ridiculous tense faces. His death scene is not particularly affecting, as Davies just serves up the silly fantastic catchphrase instead of writing proper, thoughtful dialogue. Its a bad end for a bad Doctor.
I'm sorry to say that the new Doctor Who, the new Daleks, and the shows new writers seem to have used up their bag of tricks already. Theres an overly familiar feel to this finale, like its been hastily cobbled together from the rest of the season without proper thought or care (for example why doesnt Rose make any reference to the Dalek she befriended earlier?). I truly am disappointed; this is some of the very worst science fiction that Ive ever seen, really sloppy and cheap and not at all imaginative.
Perhaps Im just finally tired of Doctor Who. It doesnt seem to have evolved much, or at least it hasnt evolved in the right ways, and as I watched this season I kept wondering why I wasnt tackling some meaty, intellectual Criterion DVDs instead. The new series may be entertaining, and it may be reasonably popular, but its not actually good or particularly smart. If youll forgive a horrid pun, I think the bloom is already off the Rose.