"Change, my dear - and it seems just a moment too soon..."

You want to know what 'fever pitch' means? Log onto a Dr Who forum in the week running up to June 18, 2005. In fact scratch that - go into any online chatroom. Hell, even the average pub. Then just mention the magic word 'regeneration', and watch all hell break loose.

This was the state of the nation before Parting of the Ways. The dreadful title didn't make a jot of difference. Thirteen weeks of the BBC's most successful and most talked about drama for a decade; three months of subliminal hints of things to come, and the most exciting cliffhanger/preview sequence ever seen in the series had led to an almost palpable thrill of anticipation. Thanks to a tabloid leak everyone knew Christopher Eccleston was leaving. Thanks to the previous two episodes everyone knew the Daleks were in it. It didn't take much brains to link the two, and the BBC's "Time's running out..." teaser trailer countdown just added to the feeling of inescapability. This was it. Destiny calls. Come in number nine, your time is up.

No episode could ever live up to that level of expectation, but by some miracle Parting does. Just. Even with record-breaking millions at its desposal, the story's budget strains at the seams. Daleks invade Earth! Well, no, actually the Daleks are invading a space station, but we're assured they're busy invading Earth just off-screen, which is a sweet little nod to the zero-money days. The plot creaks a little with the level of explanations required and sheer stuff that has to happen, with an unfortunate slackening of tension at the end, but barrels along with enough pace and death and exterminations that it's very hard to care. The deus ex machina ending won't be to everyone's taste, with the victory (such as it is) perhaps a little too easy, but logical or not it's undeniably cool, which is something you can't say for the Revenge of the Sith. Even the Daleks unaccountably revert to their 70s habit of wobbling when they talk, with the unfortunate side-effect of making them look less like alien tanks and more like wood-and-fiberglass props - but hell, there are a quarter of a million of them, and that frankly makes up for a lot.

And then, of course, there's Bad Wolf. The phrase that had been unaccountably following Rose and the Doctor throughout time, from the mouths of Victorian parlour-maids to the names of Two-Thousandth Century TV channels, even cropping up in the spin-off novels released during the series. Mystery piled upon mystery. Who was Bad Wolf? What was interfering in their adventures? How did the Daleks survive the Time War? Speculation was rife, to the extent that Russell T had to issue a statement the week before to the effect that the mystery hadn't yet been solved, and that neither of the revelations in Bad Wolf were in fact the true answer. Sadly, it must be said that the mystery remains slightly mysterious even after you've heard the explanation, which is frustrating after such a long build-up, even if the revelation itself manages to be wonderfully satisfying. Whether it's due to over-trimmed explanatory dialogue, actual plot holes or just my own stupidity, I'm left with a sense of "No, hang on a minute..." about some aspects of the season arc. But in fairness, spotting plot-holes in season arcs is inexcusably geeky behaviour, and reaction from non-fans (or rather non-hard-core, non-long-term fans, as the whole British population seems to be a fan of the current series) has been universally, almost hyperbolically positive.

And this is odd, because really, objectively speaking, The Parting of the Ways is an only slight above-average episode. However, the sheer pressure of having to carry the weight of the series, and the expectation of the Ninth Doctor's departure, seems somehow to have compressed it into an absolute diamond. That absolute sense of the unstoppable, of the hand of fate looming ever closer, carries over from the audience into the story itself, lending a huge significance to every dramatic beat. Every death - and there are, it should come as no surprise, a lot of those, many of them superbly terrifying - feels like another step towards the inexorable. When the characters onscreen seem to know it too, and act accordingly, the sense of gathering menace is almost overpowering. The Daleks in their thousands are the perfect physical metaphor for this, the addition of a single, designated leader (the design of which is glorious, like a Dalek comic-strip come to life) allowing the rest to blur into endless, faceless, remorseless ranks, conveying an awesome sense of "This is it!". As the defences fail and the intruders close in, you can feel your inner child's reassuringly rhetorical "How will he get out of it this time?!" replaced by a tiny voice going "He won't."

Which brings us, of course, to Christopher Eccleston. Tragic, joyful, loving, brave, equisite: perfect. This isn't his finest performance in the role - becase that's The End of the World, isn't it? Or Dalek? - and nor is it the best script - because that, of course, is Father's Day... unless it's The Empty Child... Or The Unquiet Dead... But let the fans argue about that in the years to come (because that, we can be sure at least, is what fans do). It's irrelevant. It's his last story, his final bow, and he plays it to the hilt. It's a tribute to him that all the eccentricities, all the weird modern flavourings of his performance, now seem so central to the character that it hurts to see him go. This is - to the eyes of the casual viewer, the ones who don't worship at a shrine to Russell T Davies every night - the man who bought back Dr Who. Hell, to anyone under 16 he invented Dr Who. And he's as irrestible in the role now as he was in Rose. His determination, his passion, his bravery and sadness might be taken from Russell T's finely crafted script, but it's in his eyes where they really shine. In Parting, more than anything they seem to say 'this is my last one'. Just as it's been impossible not to laugh at his jokes, to cringe from his anger and to feel the fear in those eyes, so it's impossible, in this one, not to mourn his passing.

But this might be the Ninth Doctor's final episode, and he may, amid the festival of gurning, be giving the sort of performance that has made him a BAFTA certainty over the last thirteen weeks, and that will, I guarantee it, bring a lump to your throat... but this is Rose's show. Despite being sidelined for much of the episode in a subplot that occasionally (though quite deliberately) jars with the main action, she remains the lynchpin of the story, and the emotional core of all that happens. A lesser actress wouldn't just have killed the character, but the entire series. Billie Piper did exactly the opposite, and this is the best we've see her: by turns petulant and vulnerable, tearful and triumphant; in a space-station in the far future or a caff on a damp afternoon, she's simply magnificent. By the narrowest of margins, her finest hour.

It's no surprise, in hindsight, that with Billie and Chris on board, the TARDIS revitalised Saturday night television. In the cooling heat of the season finale, it's looking likely that by teaming her up with David Tennant the BBC may even be able to repeat the trick. As much as, perhaps more than the glory that is Season One, it's the fact that Season Two will happen that stands as Chrisopher Eccleston's greatest tribute. They say always leave them wanting more. And with Parting of the Ways, if that nationwide fever-pitch proved nothing else, he's done just that.

But then, as Russell T would no doubt say, all this critical analysis only gets you further up your own arse. This isn't Shakespeare, it's Doctor Who. Blam! Blam! Exterminate! Zzap! A million Daleks!

Now that's entertainment.

Ok then, no Davros. Fine. I suppose this makes the second (after the infinitely superior Dalek) true Dalek story since Death to the Daleks back in 1974. Not necessarily a bad thing as arguably the continual returning of Davros since his definitive and never quite equalled debut in the outstanding Genesis of the Daleks eventually became a little tedious and overly predictable (though excellently done in the superb Revelation of the Daleks); I often felt it was a mistake to bring him back at all, and this was painfully clear in his first sequal, the shoddily realized Destiny of the Daleks. Anyway, I think I suspected at the end of Bad Wolf, from the next week trailer, that it was either В– as the media seemed to want us to believe В– Davros returning as some sort of evolved version, now practically the Emperor of the Daleks first seen in Evil of the Daleks, or just simply the Dalek Emperor without any implication of Davros having evolved into it (which I think would have been a clever evolution of the character: that it had in fact been an evolved Davros who had been inside the Emperor DalekВ’s casing way back in 1967В’s Evil of the Daleks). Not to be then. Instead we just get the Emperor Dalek with no hint that this is an evolved Davros. What am I wittering on about anyway?

However, the realization of this large squid with swollen cerebrum inside a giant, opened Dalek casing was excellently done and its constant ranting about being В‘the God of the DaleksВ’ and creating В‘perfectionВ’ and В‘heaven on EarthВ’ (in the Dalek sense) was all brilliantly done and a satisfying and intelligent evolution of Dalek mythology into the realms of Kaled eschatology, which has never been depicted quite so powerfully before (apart from DavrosВ’s compelling God-like rantings in Genesis). To have the Daleks chanting В‘blasphemy, blasphemyВ’ in unison was equally compelling and disturbing, particularly as the Daleks are now developing a demonstrably human form of evil in terms of a kind of pugilist, Nazistic religious dogmatism; they are clearly conducting a crusade to destroy all life/societies different from their own В– here I think possibly RTD has for the first time succeeded in some genuine satire by surely using the Daleks as a comment on all forms of religious fundamentalism, both Christian and Muslim, which dangerously dominate the modern world on both sides of the Atlantic (personified by Bin Laden on one side and the less obvious, more insidious Bush-Blair evangelism on the other). If this is what RTD was intending, then he did succeed, and very well В– there you are, I am willing to praise him when I think he deserves it.

Other good aspects of this story: Joe AhearnВ’s typically consummate direction (still not quite Graeme Harper though, more a watered-down Douglas Camfield; what good news HarperВ’s return next year is by the way!) which maximizes all suspense with suitably intense atmosphere, as well as fairly strong takes on any action (though much of the bull and bluster of this story does remind me of Resurrection of the Daleks which, despite a moral shallowness of plot, did I think still have the edge); some intense speeches from Eccleston, powerfully conveyed В– no other Doctor has ever shown such palpable hatred of the Daleks, as epitomized in his initial confrontation with them when he taps into their own dormant fears of him, their nemesis (reminds me slightly of the MasterВ’s hallucinations of the Doctor under the influence of the Keller Machine in Mind of Evil) В– as well as this, Eccleston delivered some bits of genuinely amusing humour with his dismissive comments to the Daleks in his initial confrontation and various other shots, including the one of him grinning inanely while trying to rig up the delta-wave (was it delta-wave? or am I think of the augmenter from Kinda?) mechanism later on; some, I have to concede, superb acting from Billie Piper, especially in the scene in the cafГ© with her mum and the climax when she is possessed by the soul of the Tardis (rather like Galadriel in Lord of the Rings В– much of the incidental music too reminded me of David JacksonВ’s melodramatic take on TolkeinВ’s stories В– especially effective and dramatic is the brilliantly orchestrated choral chanting in the Dalek battle scenes, first used in the classic episode Dalek). The Daleks flying through space was a brilliant image, though otherwise I am not one to be particularly impressed by fleets of CGI spaceships to be honest. By far the most impressive shot of all, which really did work, was when Lynda was tracked down by flying Daleks coming up outside the window of the space station В– that was genuinely menacing. I suppose one has to say this is the best the Daleks have been portrayed since their earliest adventures in the Sixties (though there is still no attempt to duplicate the most impressive Dalek visual effect, only ever used in the black and white stories, of the dilating eyestalks).

Over all though, despite superior special effects, a nice dimension of moral depth, a deepening of the Dalek mythology and some truly intense acting, this story still to my mind falls far short of the dramatic excellence of, say, Revelation of the Daleks; the climax of Parting of the Ways is not on a par with the compellingly directed climax to Graeme HarperВ’s Season 22 finale (and remember the flying Davros in that story? not only has everyone forgotten that the Daleks first flew in Remembrance, but theyВ’ve also forgotten that even before that, Davros was doing it three seasons before!!! В– although the effect was mucked up admittedly). Another similarity to Revelation though was having a robot of Anne Robinson (uncomfortably though almost forgivably bringing the contemporary into the show) shooting at Daleks, which reminded me of the all-too-Earth 20thc. style DJ shooting at Daleks with his ultra-sound laser (we cringed at that at the time I recall, but looking back it sort of works in an oddball way).

Essentially, despite a brilliantly realized and scripted Emperor Dalek and some intense moments of verbal exchange, Parting of the Ways still felt to me to be a George Lucas take on Doctor Who, with its rather over-bearing special effects, gung-ho Han Solo character in Captain Jack, protracted action/battle scenes (though some of these were really well shot admittedly В– thereВ’s something about machine guns and Daleks which sort of works) and general reliance on visual spectacle to compensate for fairly good but patchy drama. ItВ’s bull and bluster Who fundamentally, along the lines of Resurrection, which isnВ’t an entirely good or bad thing, and is significantly inferior to ShearmanВ’s Dalek because that balanced action scenes with truly compelling drama and dialogue (especially EcclestonВ’s confrontation with the enslaved Dalek В– a true classic even by the old seriesВ’ standards). Ironically though in Parting the Doctor is in some ways more Doctorish than in Dalek as this time he messes around with the gadgetry, doing the brainwork while Jack dons the heavy armour and Ridley Scott guns (for this reason alone itВ’s a shame Jack hadnВ’t been introduced prior to Dalek). One of the really puzzling things about Parting however is the DaleksВ’ seeming phobia with actually firing at the Doctor: he seems to casually elude them a couple of times when directly in their firing range and they donВ’t seem to attempt, at least not very successfully, to exterminate it as he just walks away from them! Ironic that while these are arguably the best realized and deadliest Daleks ever, theyВ’re not very good at posing a threat to their real enemy. But then, the Emperor does say at one point he wants the Doctor to become like him, so maybe the Daleks are under orders not to kill him.

A nice touch at the end was the Doctor noticing something different about his hand at the console, and his little speech to Rose hinting at an imminent regeneration В– this was very well scripted. The regeneration itself I found rather disappointing and not nearly as satisfying as the old seriesВ’ ones, especially the most memorable of all, Davison into Baker at the end of Caves of Androzani (indeed, the McCoy to McGann was ironically one of the best ever regenerations В–as was the original Hartnell to Troughton of course). What we do get though is a slight alteration, with the first ever vertical regeneration, and I couldnВ’t help that old excitement come back watching the Doctor regenerate into a new actor, though in EcclestonВ’s leather jacket, and with a detectable quiff, Tennant did resemble more a Jarvis Cocker-esque Britpop frontman than a Timelord. Nevertheless, his first speech, mentioning his teeth, was amusingly delivered from Tenant, whose elfin, mischievous demeanour and В– at risk of sounding snobby, but not intentionally В– more received pronunciation delivery does I feel bode pretty well for his incarnation. The showВ’s always worked on contrast between Doctors and I think weВ’re going to get it, and more in the vein of previous Doctors, I hope anyway. Yes I did feel a tinge of sadness at EcclestonВ’s rather wistful departure I suppose, but IВ’m afraid over all I found his interpretation disappointingly unsuited to the role, not simply because of his over-emphasized blokey Salford accent and intonations, or necessarily his battered leather jacket, v-neck t-shirt and crew cut, but more because of his lack of eccentricity, occasionally sloppy scripting and far-too-human vernacular, and often misdirected grinning. Sadly Eccleston didnВ’t have it for me, despite being one of my favourite actors, which makes it all the more disappointing. However, he would not have been one of my own choices for the part В– Tennant is certainly more suitable but I would have gone for Rhys Ifans myself.

LetВ’s just hope next season isnВ’t mucked up by more commerciality, thinness of plots, contemporaneous intrusions, tedious Tyler family soap opera, farting aliens, inappropriate and clumsy sexual innuendos and snogging among the Tardis crew. ThatВ’s another thing В– what was all this kissing about? Jack kissing the Doctor was stupid and ridiculous; the Doctor kissing Rose was an unwelcome echo of the McGann film (and reminiscent of Avon in BlakeВ’s 7В’s Sarcophagus) but ultimately forgiveable, I suppose. LetВ’s get back to emphasizing the solitary alienness and eccentricity of the Doctor, now we are given a fresh chance to reinterpret the role with a new actor.

The Doctor Who season finale. Sounds strange to hear that, doesn’t it? It says something about the new format of the show and how much television has changed since Doctor Who’s hey day. In the eighties Doctor Who was climaxing seasons with Time-Flight, The Kings Demons and The Twin Dilemma and they were hardly examples of the show going out in a blaze of glory. These days we have season arcs, shorter episodes that are interlinked and if dealt with properly all those links converge in the final episode that makes the whole experience take on a greater meaning and hopefully more rewarding. I think I can confidently say that Doctor can join the ranks of Buffy and DS9 (in my humble opinion) as those shows that know how to structure their seasons and offer the viewer considerable pay off for sticking around.

I’m probably in the minority here but I found these mad, religious Daleks far more interesting than the lone survivor we met earlier in the season. As I have already explained I feel Rob Shearman attempted to humanise the Daleks in a very Star Trekky type way which I felt diminished their effect but here Russell T Davies proves that you don’t have to humanise Daleks to humanise them. When we are told that the human race has been ‘filleted, pulped, sifted’ to create a whole new race of Daleks we get a picture of how grotesque their attempts to survive can get that rivals Stengos’ emaciated state in Revelation of the Daleks. These are Daleks that are made out of the genetically altered remains of human beings, beings who the Daleks loathe. Thus their creed of disliking the unlike extends to themselves, they literally hate themselves. How frightening is that? How far would a creature go that despises its own existence? When they launch an attack on Earth these insane, self-loathing creatures are merely reclaiming their home. They will swoop down from the skies and exterminate the human race but all they are really doing is killing themselves, extinguishing that reminder of who they once were and what they loathe about themselves. It’s a fascinating new take on the creatures and gives the war machines some real depth without going to extreme lengths to alter their personalities or mission statement (big, nasty EVIL). When the Doctor shouts at these creatures, they retreat and their eye stalks quiver, just small touches like this add so much to their effect.

It helps that the budget extends to finally revealing a huge fleet of Daleks and in several Star Wars-esque sequences we are confronted with just how powerful the Dalek force is. When they swarm the Gamestation/Satellite Five we are treated to a room filled with Daleks, slowly gliding forwards and picking off everybody in their path. They are an unstoppable force of dread and have rarely been this terrifying. The futility of opposing them is brilliantly exploited, that poor bird who joins Jack’s tiny army only to be confronted with an evil she can’t fight learns this the hard way. The mass slaughter is mostly kept off screen, which (like The Greatest Show in the Galaxy) is far more effective that way. Linda’s shocked reaction to all the screaming and death over the intercom is far more frightening than watching these people die.

What makes this epic confrontation between the Doctor and the Daleks work is Russell T Davies excellent grasp of character and he adds lots of little moments to the episode which makes this story about people rather than ciphers, without holding up the plot one second. I loved the quick scene between Davish and the Asian chick (proto-Anji!), they don’t get much screen time but there is a history implied and a future too. The inclusion of Roderick is nice, so at least we have one character that we really want to be killed. Similarly Rose’s quiet reactions to Linda’s (with an I) enthusiasm speaks volumes without saying a single word. Simon took an instant dislike to Linda but I thought she was lovely; sweet and loyal…and she was served with the best death of the entire episode (just when you think you know how she is going to die…). It was a little unfair (because she was so nice…) but if you’re going to go…that is how to do it!

The best ‘small’ moment is between Rose and her mother when she admits she met her Dad. It is another reminder of the ground we have covered in series one and unexpectedly reminds us of the potent emotions brewed up in Father’s Day. Jackie’s horrified reaction sees her mind opening up to the possibility of time travel and understand why Rose would want to travel with the Doctor. This is incredible pay off and it isn’t even the main plot. Or the secondary plot. Just a moment.

I am fairly certain there will be people up in arms about the fact that Jack gives the Doctor a snog before he walks off to his death. Please God somebody think of the children! It is fascinating how this episode looks at how people will give their lives for the Doctor; Jack, Rose and Linda all blindly offer their lives in the heat of his battle. In my eyes Jack earns that kiss and a chance to return in series two because he knows he is walking to his death and he doesn’t hesitate, he knows he will be fighting an unstoppable force and sacrificing his life to give the Doctor a few more seconds to defeat the enemy. He smiles, tells Rose she is worth fighting for, tells the Doctor he was better off as a coward and walks to his death. Anyone who was unsure about Jack must surely be on side now; he is one of the most selfless characters we have ever had in the show and one of the most open. I love him.

But this story is really about the Doctor and Rose and their turbulent relationship. The Doctor knows the shit has well and truly hit the fan and in a well played scene (for a while tricking the audience as well as Rose) he fools her into retreating in the TARDIS and has preset the controls to take her home. Rose’s desperate reaction, screaming at the console to take her back, is heartbreaking to watch.

It is vital that we return to Jackie back on Earth and not just because the Doctor keeps his promise to keep her daughter safe. In a beautifully played scene (and Billie Pipers best moment in the entire series) Rose breaks down in front of her mum and boyfriend and tries to explain how the Doctor changed her life. It is a brilliantly deceptive scene which seems to be suggesting that life on modern day Earth is dreadfully dull compared to travelling amongst the stars (the mundane setting and in particular the horrid shot of the rotating chickens puts across the sheer horror of a normal life) but as it continues the scene opens up and has much more meaning. It is about fighting oppression, making a stand and saying no when something unjust is happening…Rose even says it isn’t about aliens and travelling, it is about how you live your life that matters. There are plenty of horrors we ignore in favour of going home and eating chips. Poverty, world wars, fights in the street that we walk past with a shrug, deaths that we hear about on the telly which we go “oh dear” but feel glad it didn’t happen anywhere near us…RTD is making a bold statement here but it is one worth listening to. It is a way of using science-fiction to extend to its audience a message that we should pay attention to. “THAT FIGHT IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW!” Rose screams but is she talking about the Daleks?

Whilst I am pleased that Jackie is back I was surprised to see Mickey in action again. Boomtown seemed to have tidied up his little arc very nicely, with him walking away from Rose and giving her the life she deserved and this seemed a little like going over the same ground. Chats with my pal Mike Morris have seen us arguing over the merits (or not) of the Mickey’s contributions to Boomtown) and whilst he points to the moment in The Parting of the Ways where Mickey decides to help Rose after she tells him she has nothing to stay for on Earth and suggest this is Mickey’s top moment I would say he has already had that moment in Boomtown and bringing it up again is the only example of RTD whacking us over the head with a shovel to make sure we got the point. Mickey is selfless too. I get it. Let’s move on.

I have heard many, many people suggest that the ninth Doctor is the most ineffectual of the bunch because he has been so redundant in many of the episodes solutions. Whilst I can hardly deny that he has not been lacking in the climatic resolution department, The Parting of the Ways goes some way towards explaining why the ninth Doctor prefers to manipulate others into getting involved and make the tough choices. The Time War was clearly a devastating conflict and the series hasn’t shied away from the fact that the Doctor caused the destruction of both The Time Lords and the Dalek fleet (“I MADE IT HAPPEN!”). It brings is back to Boomtown (that episode has actually set up far more for this one than people give credit; the extrapolator, the heart of the TARDIS, the consequences issues) which dealt with the Doctor dealing with the consequences of his actions. The entire first series has been building up to the scene where the Doctor is surrounded by Daleks and has the decision to wipe them out (and Earth with it) or let them survive. Can he live with himself if he kills so many people to stop the Daleks? Does it make him a coward if he says no? I don’t think the ninth Doctor is ineffectual as much as he is scared. He has had a huge reminder of what his conflicts can lead to and is more reluctant these days to make those huge choices. It is what made his horrified reaction in Bad Wolf at the state of the Earth so effective.

BAD WOLF is finally explained and I liked what I saw. I was only annoyed by the fact that Simon guessed what it was perfectly by Bad Wolf and spent the rest of the evening boasting his intellectual powers. The bastard. Still I was concerned that RTD would shrug us off with a lousy explanation but this makes perfect sense and makes the exercise well worth trying, it has gotten the conspiracy nuts in tizzy over the past thirteen weeks and has certainly kept me intrigued. Good stuff.

I once questioned whether it was possible for the Doctor to love any of his companions. At first I struggled with the idea, primarily because of all the icky sex stuff that gets in the way but then I started thinking about love and its complexities and decided that yes, considering he has been willing to lay down his life for the lives of his companions he certainly could be said be in love with them. The ninth Doctor is in love with Rose, which is made abundantly clear in this episode. Not only does he push her away whilst he has to deal with the Daleks (knowing it is too dangerous for her) but he also takes the huge decision to save her life at the climax and take his own. And how else would you express this moment of love but to seal it with a kiss? It is dazzling television because it appeals to our emotions and our senses (it being a beautifully filmed scene too) at the same time. Simon and I were left in tears, hugging each other. This is amazingly sensual TV of the sort that Doctor Who has never really explored before.

I shant say too much about the last scene except for the fact that it was astonishgly quiet for those of us who were expecting the ninth Doctor to go out in a blaze of glory but reminds us this series is as much about the Doctor and Rose as it is about adventures in time and space. I loved how he warned her (protecting her to the end) and the final few lines strongly suggest season two will be even better.

Never mind series two, The Parting of the Ways was a triumphant season finale, one that kept me on the edge of my seat throughout and with Bad Wolf created a bona fide Doctor Who classic to go in the history books. The last thing I have to say is about Murray Gold whose underrated music has been vital to this series success and was at an all time high here. Dramatic, emotional, exciting and touching…it was the finishing touch to a brilliant finale.

If ever I have truly felt like a geek, it was this past week (sorry, didn't mean to do some cheap rhyming verse there!). The anticipation of this final episode has weighed far more heavilly on my thoughts than it ought to for a grown man of 34! And even though, once again, I had read all the spoilers and knew how the story would resolve, I had to see how it was going to be executed. Had to see if the grand season finale would live up to itself.

Quite amazingly, it did. Simple as that, really. Some of the hardcore geeks that are never happy with anything, I'm sure, would beg to differ - but this was truly the best story of the season and so, deserved to be the grand finale.

Of course, the Doctor taking on an entire Dalek army would probably be enough to satisfy most followers of this current series, but it was so nice that we got so much more. And the very fact that good Russell T. Davies handled the battle royale as well as he did is a testament to his abilities as a writer. I particularly liked how we didn't get the "monster slaughterfest" that many of the old Who stories would do in the final episode. Where, suddenly, just sneezing the right way can kill off a Dalek. This was often done in the old series so that the production team can have thrilling visuals for the audience. The fact that, up until Rose steps in, we don't really see too many Daleks get hurt, seemed almost a conscious effort on the production team's part. It made the Daleks seem all the more powerful and deadly.

Anyway, if "Bad Wolf" moved at a delightful breakneck speed, the pace of its sequel pretty well ripped your head clean off. Rose's rescue at the beginning is prompt (I love the way the TARDIS even appears to be "speeding along" as it collides with the missiles) and gets that particular plot complication out of the way quickly. And the Doctor stepping out of the TARDIS and being able to tell the Daleks off (and even scare them a bit!) from behind the safety of a forcefield is the stuff fanboy pipe dreams are made of. Nice to finally see his little "Dalek nickname" being discussed on camera since it's been referenced a million times in printed fiction over the last decade or so.

How the new Emperor Dalek is treated visually is about the only mild beef I have with this episode. First of all, the long shot done of him during most of the confrontation makes it kind of difficult to even make out what he looks like. But he did grow on me. And I even liked how the Kaled Mutant within is the visual focus of him in most shots rather than the more traditional focus of the dome and eyestalk. And with the Emperor now introduced, we, once more, have that "spokesman" for the Daleks that Terry Nation liked to have in his Davros stories. And I like that device.

Even moreso, I liked the new "religious" spin put on the Daleks. Although one can't help but see how making the villains of the story "fundamentalist wingnuts" developped when the writer of the story is openly gay. But the "agenda" doesn't seem too obvious so I'm not bothered by it. Instead, the device makes the Daleks just all the more scary since they seem to be even more fanatical than they've ever been. Especially since they are now spawned from the species they hate most. And, because of this, "they are more dangerous than ever!".

Now, aside from all the Dalek stuff, we also have a story that very skillfully weaves together various elements throughout the season. This begins in "Bad Wolf", of course, with the return to Sattellite Five. But here, we see even more references being made to stuff that went on earlier in the season. We have the heart of the TARDIS being dabbled with again - as well as the replicator device that the Slitheen woman had stolen. We have a vague mention of "Dalek" and a discussion of the events of "Father's Day" coming in at the most pivotal point of the story. We have Mickey and "Mama Rose" getting re-introduced. And probably even a few other references that I won't catch until I watch this another fifty-eight times as I wait for more new Who to get made! The nice thing, though, is that none of this gets overdone. It's there and it's nice for Russell to show us just how comprehensive this season is, but it doesn't start to grate or become too obvious. It's not like he's trying to get every single story to somehow get mentionned before the episode is over. But he is trying to get a really nice strong sense of continuity to culminate in this final tale. And that just gets the whole sense of "season finale" to be all the more poignant. I know the mention of "Trial of a Time Lord" will bring many mixed feelings to a lot of you - but I do liken this story a bit to "The Ultimate Foe". Where references to the previous stories of the season I felt were also well-handled.

The other really effective undertone to this story is the sense of progression that has occurred with the TARDIS crew and some of the ongoing supporting cast. Rose, the Doctor, Captain Jack, Mickey and Rose's Mum have all had "issues" that they've needed to face in themselves and many of them are resolved in this story. We have seen development in all these characters building up gradually throughout the season but it finally comes to a full head here. This, I feel, is also done with great skill and doesn't actually hamper the development of the plot (as it so easilly could have) but enhances it instead. Sadly, it would seem that some of you missed the point of this. I seem to recall a reviewer or two bitching about the "coward" moment. One of the issues the Doctor had to face within himself was how his hatred of what the Daleks had done to his people in the Time Wars was consuming him. And the fact that he chooses to be a "coward" shows that he has regained his sense of balance. That the delta wave solution may purge the universe of the Daleks once and for all - but it's still not the right solution. And, had it not been for the confrontation he and Rose had during the end of "Dalek", he might not have made the right choice regarding it. And yes, it does harken back to the "have I the right?" moment "Genesis of the Daleks" quite nicely.

There's so much else I'd like to comment on here regarding the strengths of this story but I'll try to drone on about only three or four more aspects - and then I'll shut up.

Of course, another really great strong point are the "tearjerker" moments. We actually get two of them this time, I feel - which just goes to show how Russell is making sure to "one-up" everything in this final story! Again, like "Father's Day" and the resolution of "The Doctor Dances" the moments are not overdone (so much of this series' strengths lie in its ability not to overindulge in anything - so much so, that on the rare occassions that it does - it becomes glaringly obvious). The Doctor's recorded message where he demands that Rose has "a great life" is beautiful. And the moment where Rose reminds her Mum of the "mysterious blond woman" at Dad's death was equally touching. So great that this Troughtonesque "base under siege" storyline can take such nice breaks and have such great humanistic moments.

And it's also quite amusing that it can have a wonderfully absurd moment where we spend a whole scene watching Rose eat chips. I actually giggled to myself a bit during that sequence. The juxtaposition was so well done! And the speech Rose ends up making at the end of the scene was great. Not only did it basically outline what Doctor Who is all about (standing up and making a difference) but it also helped Rose to finally resolve one of her major issues that had been working in her throughout the season. And that is that, no matter what, she's going to be on that frontline with the Doctor combatting the evil he faces. No matter what kind of promise he makes to her Mum - she won't leave him to fight alone. More great stuff!

Again, I find myself trying to figure out what I can praise next rather than go on forever. And that is probably the strongest point of this whole story. That it really is just great sequence after great sequence after great sequence. I'd love to go on about Captain Jack's heroism for a paragraph or two. Or extoll how great the use of some of the "local" characters were. Like the two station programmers or "Lynda with a y". Or the really effective incidental music that borrows all kinds of themes from earlier stories. Or how great Mickey is. But there just isn't enough time. So let's move on to the final climax.

Billie Piper's performance as Rose when she's possessed by the vortex is great. Sure they modified her voice a bit to make her sound more otherwordly, but she had to have the right tone there to begin with and she did it so well. We can see that, although she is solving all the problems of the plot, she is also being destroyed and the Doctor must do something about this. And the kiss he gives her is perfectly done. It saves her life, yes. But it also brings their whole relationship to the point it's been progressing toward the whole season. And it was a nice touch to have the dialogue in there that references back to the very first story. Where Rose finally now knows how the Doctor feels. Thus making their kiss seem even more fitting. For that brief moment, they are both on the same level intellectually. And so, the Doctor does what he ought to do during that moment. He shares just a touch of physical intimacy with her.

And then, it's time to regenerate. Yep, some definite shades of "Tenth Planet" here. But with a proper explanation of regeneration this time. And some nice dialogue to sum up the whole feel of the season. Rose and the 9th Doctor have both been fantastic - and, once more, the undertones of the moment are kept economical. But they're still there. That, essentially, these two characters have had quite a run together in the last 13 weeks and a slightly symbolic remark should be made about this before we move on to a whole new era.

And then, just the briefest snippet of the new Doctor. As much as I loved Eccleston's portrayal and am sad he didn't hang around longer (it's just been so long now since we've had an incarnation of the Doctor with some real "tenure" - it'd be nice to even have someone do three full-length seasons like Davison did) I'm already looking forward to what Tennant has to offer. Will he wear a proper costume again? What will his feelings be like for Rose? Will he be a harsh contrast from Eccleston like say Pertwee was from Troughton or will they seem to "blend" a bit better like Colin Baker and McCoy did? We'll have to wait til Christmas to find out. In the meantime, we can re-watch a great season of the first "new Who" in well over a decade. And enjoy all the elements of this season all the more as they culiminate beautifully in what is probably one the best season finales in T.V. history. Season Two will have a tough act to follow!

War! The episode opens spectacularly with the Daleks firing some missiles at the TARDIS. With the combined tricks of a force field and a clever materialisation around Rose, one of the best episodes (and I mean ever) of В“Doctor WhoВ” begins. This is certainly one classic that will stand the test of time!

Rose, probably much like the audience, simply cannot believe that she has been rescued in “Act I, Scene I” as Jack blows away the Dalek that the TARDIS was also forced to materialise around. The Doctor examines the Dalek mutant curiously as it looks different to the mutant we saw in “Dalek”; it appears more human, even having two eyes. The Doctor explains to Jack about the Time War – Jack had thought it just to be a legend – and about how he “…was there.” They emerge into the Dalek ship (complete with authentic ‘Dalek space ship’ noise; nice touch), protected by their force field, and we are treated to the first of many scenes of beautiful, flowing, dialogue. The Doctor talks at the Daleks who back away from him, afraid. “In the legends of the Dalek homeworld they call me the Oncoming Storm…” Absolutely brilliant. The Doctor then asks the obvious question, “how did you survive the Time War?”

В”THEY SURVIVED THROUGH ME.В”

Wow. The Doctor and his companions walk towards the booming voice as the lights come up and the Emperor Dalek is revealed in all his sickening glory. It’s a wonderful reveal of an exceptionally brilliant villain. He’s unlike the previous Dalek Emperor we’ve seen in the TV series and audios – I’m assuming it’s not the same one that was killed in “The Evil of the Daleks” – he’s more like Davros in a way, a total megalomaniac. His speeches aren’t what you’d typically except from a Dalek leader, they are full of religious imagery which makes him all the more unnerving. “The Dalek race died in your inferno Doctor, but I survived. Waiting in the dark space, centuries past. I harvested the waste of humanity… they were filleted; pulped…. only one single cell was worthy…” His account of how he created Daleks from human remains (á la Davros on Necros) is horrific. The Doctor immediately sees that the Emperor is quite obviously mad (der?) because of all his years spent in solitude, and he finds the Daleks having a concept of ‘blasphemy’ very strange indeed. The Emperor’s “I AM THE GOD OF ALL THE DALEKS” rant is a powerful image, especially when all his Dalek minions are chanting “worship him!” in their grated mechanical tones. It’s just plain scary! As he orders his Dalek troops to begin their invasion of Earth his eloquent rants, superbly penned by Russell T. Davies, continue as he speaks of “..purifying the Earth will fire…” and “…the planet will become my temple and we will rise. It will become our paradise.” Dalek paradise? Davies’ script was certainly brave, but it pays of spectacularly here. Combining the image of the Dalek Emperor’s crazed rants and the Dalek fleet being launched, topped off with Murray Gold’s epic score… it almost brings a tear to the eye. This is what “Doctor Who” always had the potential to be. It almost brings a tear to the eye.

As the TARDIS lands on the Gamestation, with the Earth defenceless, the Doctor is shocked to find that Lynda has waited for him. After the DoctorВ’s initial concern he seems very pleased to see her, flirting with her quite ineptly to RoseВ’s obvious jealousy. At one point it seems that heВ’s going to hug or even kiss her, but instead he awkwardly shakes her hand, maintaining eye contact until she disappears off behind the TARDIS, off to help Captain Jack rally the humans of floor zero.

Then we have ‘the Big Goodbye.’ I’d tried and tried to stay spoiler-free, but with today’s all intrusive media there was no escape from the ‘Doctor Who gay kiss shocker!’ Gay kiss my arse! Not only was this blown out of all proportion by the press, I thought it was a touching scene which worked well in the context of the episode. Jack obviously cared enormously about the Doctor and Rose. His “…you’re worth fighting for…” line to Rose, followed by planting a smacker on her, was a lovely way to say goodbye, and the way in which he tells the Doctor he wished he’d never met him, and how he…”would have been better off as a coward,” may eventually prove technically true but in the way it was brilliantly written and performed it was clear that Jack was deeply indebted to the Doctor for making him a better person. Jack just sealed it with a kiss; a kiss that was in no way sexual. “See you in hell…!” FANTASTIC!

Jack goes to rally the troops leaving the Doctor and Rose and alone. Rose asks a very good legitimate question: they have a time machine, so why not simply go back a week and warn Earth? The Doctor explains that if he crosses his own timeline, he would simply become part of events, and then he asks her an even more obvious question: why don’t they just leave? Why don’t they go to Marbella in 1989? Rose never would have thought of that. Of course, neither of them would ever do that. There is a wonderful moment where the Doctor, obviously thinking over his own words, has an epiphany. He goes very quiet for a moment, then jumps up full of energy, spouting some fabrication about crossing his own timeline to save the day. Leaving Rose in the TARDIS, he sends it back to Earth, to Rose’s own time. On board, the Doctor’s hologram appears and it’s such a sad moment. Knowing that a part of the Doctor is going to die is sad enough in itself, but in the way his holo-recording faces death so bravely and matter-of-factly makes it all the more moving. “…that’s okay, I hope it’s a good death. The TARDIS can never return for me. Let the TARDIS die…. If you want to remember me, then have a good life. Have a fantastic life!” It’s a proper single manly-tear trickling down the face moment.

The sci-fi in the show has been ripped to shreds by itВ’s detractors, and most of the time they have a point, but who really cares? The showВ’s never really been about hardcore science fiction, itВ’s more fantasyВ… more fantastic! The В‘Delta WaveВ’ which the Doctor proposes to use to destroy the Daleks is one such example that IВ’m sure will be mocked. Throughout the series, the sci-fi elements have been nothing more than a springboard for some brilliant character-based drama. Rose sums up it brilliantly herself as she sits in some cafГ© back home with her Mother and Mickey. She says the aliens and spaceships really donВ’t matterВ… the Doctor showed her a better way of living. He taught her not to give up, to stand up and say no, to have the guts to make a stand. ThatВ’s what itВ’s all about. That what Russell T. Davies knew when he sat down in Cardiff to write В“Rose,В” and thatВ’s what he knew when he sat down to tie up his ingeniously crafted season with В“The Parting of the Ways.В” ThatВ’s why this show is a positive triumph.

Look at the scene between the Dalek Emperor (on the view screen) and the Doctor. The Emperor tells the Doctor to tell Jack the truth; the truth that the Delta Wave is nearly ready but it won’t discriminate between Humans and Daleks. “ALL THINGS WILL DIE BY YOUR HAND. If I am God, then what does that make you, Doctor?” The dialogue is absolutely superb, and Jack’s reply is ace – “…never doubted him, never will.”

We then see legions of Daleks just flying through space. It is literally the stuff of nightmares. As the Daleks invade the Gamestation, the Doctor asks the Emperor Dalek about ‘Bad Wolf’ and how he spread the words across time and space but “…the truth of god…” is that he knew nothing of it. The volunteers are slowly killed one by one, and barring the unexpected assistance of the Annedroid on floor 495 the Daleks are every bit as unstoppable as the lone one we saw in “Dalek” – only now there are half a million of them!!! Roderick, the winning contestant on the ‘Weakest Link’ and the rest of the humans who refused to fight are exterminated as the Daleks purify floor zero – just for the hell of it.

Back on Earth, Rose is desperate to get back to the future and there is a lovely scene where Jackie talks about how she hated the Doctor, but now “…she loves him…” because he sent Rose home. Here Davies explores for the first time in the series history what it is like for a companion who has done all these wondrous things to come home and be forced to lead a normal life. Rose can’t do it. Through her tears she cries “What do I do every day?” I love how she also confesses to her Mother that she was the girl who sat beside her Dad as he died. It’s all very emotional, as if every episode in the season has been carefully and painstakingly structured to bring us to this fantastic finale – and it certainly has. It’s fantastic stuff, and Billie Piper puts in her best performance yet. She is every bit Eccleston’s equal in this episode, and that is saying a lot. Sat in some old playground with Mickey, Rose sees the huge spray-painted words ‘Bad Wolf’ on the ground. She looks behind her, and they’re graffiti on the wall. They are everywhere she goes – not following the Doctor, following her. Finally she realises that it’s not an ominous warning… it’s a message. A link between her and the Doctor. As I suspected, the ‘heart of the TARDIS’ we saw in “Boom Town” plays a crucial part in the season finale. Rose reasons if she can rip it open she can ‘talk’ to the TARDIS and make it take her back to the year 200,100. Mickey tries to persuade her to stay and she flatly tells him “…there is nothing for me here,” but Mickey still helps her despite her inconsiderate behaviour towards him (or her Mother for that matter.) Ironically, it is those two people who help her save the day as Jackie gets a tow truck to rip open the TARDIS console. It’s slightly disappointing that the TARDIS console can be ripped open by brute force, but hey, you can’

Daleks.

Thousands of В‘em.

DonВ’t shoot В‘til you see the whites of their eyes, lads!

Charlie Catchpole, TV reviewer for the Daily Express, claimed to have been reminded of the film Zulu when watching the stand-off against the invading pepperpots in this episode, and you can see his point. IВ’ve always been a sucker for any kind of fiction involving brave, desperate stands of the few against the many, and The Parting of the Ways is a wonderful example of such against-the-odds, backs-to-the-wall heroics. It was the story the character of Captain Jack Harkness was pretty much invented for, and heВ’s again wonderfully played by John Barrowman here. Poor old Jack certainly gets put through the mill В– exterminated, resurrected and then left behind, itВ’s nonetheless comforting to know that the charismatic Captain will be back sometime in the next series.

As for the Daleks themselvesВ… Oh yes! Would you guess there were only three of them? I certainly couldnВ’t see the joins, and weВ’ve definitely come a long way from the days of blown-up cardboard cut-outs standing in for invading Dalek armies. When I wrote a review of Dalek for this website, I commented on how I preferred to see the metal meanies as the hard-arsed bastards of the universe exterminating everything in sight, and as if realising that weВ’d want a bit of that after the emotions of the earlier one-Dalek episode, Davies delivers here in spades. Thousands of ships, hundreds of invading Daleks, a massacre of innocent humans, and the killing-off of supporting characters who, although it was always fairly obvious they were going to end up as Dalek-fodder, we were cleverly made to care about anyway. I felt particularly sorry for poor old Lynda В‘with a yВ’ В– as soon as the Doctor promised her last week that heВ’d get her out of there alive, you knew she was destined for extermination. And what an extermination В– surely one of the best-executed (excuse the pun) death scenes in the entire series, as the Daleks float menacingly up outside window in the silence of space, the lights flashing out В‘Exterminate!В’ as they blast the glass and send poor, sweet little Lynda out into the airless vacuum of space. (Explosive decompression not shown, probably just as wellВ…)

Being churlish, you can point out that TARDIS-powered Bad Wolf Rose was being a bit of a bitch not to resurrect Lynda В– and indeed, everybody else В– at the same time as bringing Jack back from the dead, although RoseВ’s jealous glances in LyndaВ’s direction made it quite clear what she thought about the other womanВ’s attitude towards the Doctor. Meow!

That whole resolution to the Bad Wolf mystery managed to be pulled off without leaving a sense of anti-climax or underwhelming, which was a big relief, although it was a little confusing in places В– was the Bad Wolf Rose, or the TARDIS speaking through Rose? Or was it supposed to be deliberately ambiguous? Probably the latter. Whichever it was, Piper played the possessed Rose wonderfully, the extra elocution added to her speech for this scene marking her out as different just as much as the fancy CGI around her did!

It was the neat trick of the DoctorВ’s to have sent Rose back home, out of the way of the massacre В– you really got a sense of RoseВ’s raw anguish and frustration at being sent back by her friend, and her grief at not being able to help him. Mickey and Jackie ought to have seemed shoe-horned into the episode, given that their scenes were such a contrast to everything else going on, but they actually worked rather well, and it was nice to get a sense of conclusion to their relationships to the Doctor and Rose, for this season at least.

Joe Ahearne continues the high standard of direction heВ’s set out in the rest of his episodes, ably supported as ever by the wonderful design and production departments of BBC Wales and everyone else working on the series. The only visual element I felt slightly disappointed in was the Dalek Emperor В– the design just didnВ’t seem particularly distinct or iconic to me, although the close-ups of the actual mutant Dalek creature inside itself when it was speaking were effective. The concept of the Dalek God and the other Daleks getting some kind of religion was interesting, although perhaps it was an element too much for DaviesВ’s script to fully support as there wasnВ’t much time to explore it, and it might have been better left as the focus of an episode all to itself. Perhaps in the future В– after all, although they wonВ’t be in the second season (probably В– I hope not anyway, best leave them for a bit so their appearances always remain special), itВ’s impossible to believe we wonВ’t be seeing them return every two or three years for as long as the new series continues to be a success.

Now, the kiss. Or to be more accurate, the kisses В– for the Doctor gets friendly with both of his companions in this episode, something which has proven to be red rags to bulls with Doctor Who fandom in the past. I had no problems whatsoever with the Jack kiss В– it was a funny, almost touching little moment as the Captain said goodbye to his friends, and it was amusing to see the Doctor taken rather by surprise. The Rose kiss I was much less keen on В– I thought it was overly sentimental and mawkish and the episode could have done without it, but when most of the rest of the episode is so good it can just about be forgiven. In any case, itВ’s not the sort of detail IВ’m going to be losing any sleep over.

It can be taken, I suppose, as a kiss goodbye, as of course one of the main features of the episode is that it brings the curtain down on the all-too-brief era of Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor. This is a great shame В– even if it was planned this way from the outset, as Davies and Gardner have claimed, itВ’s still a pity because Eccleston really is wonderful in the part, both in this episode in particular and throughout the rest of the season. HeВ’ll be remembered fondly by both fans and the general audience alike, although his one season stint means it is sadly unlikely that heВ’ll become as deeply buried in the popular consciousness as some of his predecessors.

Nonetheless, thatВ’s the situation, and it was always going to be intriguing to see how the death of the Ninth Doctor would be dealt with. Unlike Logopolis or The Caves of Androzani, The Parting of the Ways В– in spite of its title В– never really feels like a doom-laden story where everything is building up to the regeneration at the end. Yes, thereВ’s a great deal of death and destruction as well as of course the impending threat of Dalek invasion, but it never surrounds the Doctor as much as it seems to do in those other stories.

That said, however, the regeneration doesnВ’t feel at all tacked-on or periphery В– it may not have been the focus of the entire episode, but when it comes to it the sequence really packs a punch. Perhaps because of the special bond thatВ’s developed between the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler, there really is an atmosphere of tragedy to this change В– which seems more like a death than perhaps any other regeneration since the first. The DoctorВ’s sad reflection that he in his ninth form will never see Rose again really brings home the idea that even though each Doctor has the same memories and the same basic ethos driving him, heВ’s never quite the same person as he was before. How Rose В– and indeed the production team behind the scenes В– deals with this change and its impact on both the audience and the dynamic of the Doctor-companion relationship will be fascinating factors to follow over the next year or so.

In the few seconds we get of him at the end of the episode it is of course impossible and unfair to make any judgements at all about David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor. The one factor which perhaps can be commented on in passing is the perhaps surprising choice of accent В– the same English pronunciation Tennant employed for his starring role as the eponymous hero of Russell T DaviesВ’ Casanova, rather than his own native Scottish tones as many В– including this reviewer В– had expected. The reasons for this will become clear with time, and however he speaks one thing is clear В– Tennant is a fine actor, and I very much look forward to seeing what he does in the role he has perhaps been destined for for some time.

Roll on The Christmas Invasion, and the continuation of the fine new era of Doctor Who that the past thirteen weeks have introduced us to.