The ironic thing about this episode is that after a hectic week in which season 2 was given the green light and Eccleston quit the title role, a week in which the ugly side of fandom reared it's head and tried to convince us it was the end of the world, it turns out it isn't the end of the world after all, it's only The End of the World. By that I mean the second episode of a series set to run for another 25 episodes at least. Dear oh dear, we have a funny way of celebrating the successful re-launching of Doctor Who as the flagship if the BBC, don't we? Still, it pleases me to announce to the petty contingent who grumpily switched allegiance to Ant and Dec while grumbling about Eccleston's treachery - you're missing something special, you really are!

The first thing that needs stressing about the second episode is that Eccleston's performance is superb. We know now that we have him for another 11 episodes, 12 if the doommongers haven't scared him off the Christmas special, and we should relish every second while we can because, whomever your favourite Doctor might be, he's never before been portrayed by such a fine actor. Unfortunately, his being such a fine actor envolves him always seeking out new challenges and therefore not doing a follow up series. A shame? Yes. A disaster? Hardly! treachery? You're having a laugh, aren't you? Ricky Gervais as David Brent - 14 episodes, John Cleese and Basil Fawlty - 12 episodes, both works of genius, nobody said a word. If you want an actor as talented as Eccleston you can have him, and count yourself lucky that you get him for a season. If you want someone to stay in the part forever, maybe you can have Paul Daniels for as long as you like. I know which I'd prefer.

And now to the important stuff - the ongoing success of the series which, on this evidence, looks set to go from strength to strength.

Episode 2 is set in the year 5 billion and looks as though about half the budget for the season has been thrown at it. The plot - wealthy aliens from across the universe gather on a space station / viewing station / hotel for the wierd to witness our sun swell and our planet roast, and they do this... for fun! But on a sinsiter note someone is sabotaging the station using computer generated spiders, this someone is computer generated herself, which i think makes the message of this episode - computer generation = evil. Which would explain Ja-Ja Binx. The spiders de-activate the shields the evil one laughs, reveals her motives in true bond-baddie style, then makes her escape, and the remaining guests are left to roast along with the earth. Luckily, in an unfeasably perilous location, there is a switch to bring the shields back, which is duly flicked, and the day is saved, except if you count the Earth, which blows up good. With the space station safe and the Moxx even smaller than he was to start off with The Doctor brings back the evil computer generated face by setting an egg timer, then watches it shrivel and pop. Yum. Throughout this Rose has been wondering whether following a strange man into a wooden box was such a good idea after all and The Doctor has been flirting with a tree. A standard day in the life of a Timelord then.

We are also given a glimpse of things to come as The Doctor explains to Rose at the end of the episode that he is the sole survivor of a war that ended in the destruction of his planet. The identity of the pepperpots is not given so it would be wild speculation on my part to suggest that Daleks might have exterminated Gallifrey, nor could i suggest that this will have anything to to with the three Dalek episodes yet to come.

Then they go for chips.

The story for this episode is really the paper thin bones on which to layer the special effects, of which there are many, more, I'm led to believe, than in the movie Gladiator. And for the most part these effects are very impressive. I would say the spiders were the most successful, with the least successful being Cassandra. I wanted to be impressed by Cassandra, I really did, I was encouraged by the pictures I'd seen beforehand, but in motion she had that cartoonish quality to her. Many a computer generated character has had a lot more money than this thrown at it and disappointed (somehow I keep coming back to Ja-Ja Binx), so I would like to have seen the results had they tried to create her physically somehow.

That's all the dwelling I'm going to do on negatives for this episode, though, as there was so many more possitives to take from it. Even amongst all the effects the standout moments for me were the quieter ones, The Doctor being comforted by Jabe was heart wrenching in no small part due to Eccleston's talent as an actor but also credit must be given to Murray Gold, whose incidental music was at times inspired, although this is still at times, a little more consistency in this department wouldn't go amiss (sorry, said I was done with negatives, didn't I?). Also the moment at the end when The Doctor expresses his loneliness brought a lump to my throat and Billie Piper can take some of the credit for that, it was the way she said "you've got me." I think Murray Gold's music got to me here as well. Russell T. Davies writes clever, touching and witty dialogue for fun although I did grimace when the Doctor told the guests to "chill". You know that feeling you get when your dad tries to be hip?

And so, leaving this episode and looking to the future. 45 minutes an episode still isn't selling itself to me. Like with Rose I felt The End of the World world would have been better served by an hour. That's why I'm looking forward to the 2 parters particulary. This season, we live with the format, we have no choice, but I think for future seasons they might consider telling 6 stories over 13 episodes. And while I'm talking about the future, how about this for a Christmas special... The Doctor inlists the help of previous incarnation Paul McGann to defeat some unspeakable evil, only by the end of the episode it is McGann who takes the series' reigns. At the end of his season(s) he regenerates into Eccleston, who might, by that time, be willing to take the Tardis for a spin once more (although you'd have to jump back to where we left off at the Christmas episode. Ow, my head). There are some slight continuity issues involving Rose but it's late and my head hurts, so I'll stop there.

Roll on The Unquiet Dead and Mark Gatiss' attempt at conquering the 45 minute format.

I'm not sure if it's simply RTD's writing style, or a direct result of trying to shoehorn Doctor Who into a format that perhaps it isn't best suited to, but 'The End of the World' disappoints on an initial viewing in much the same way that 'Rose' disappoints. The plot felt too thin, with no very real sense of excitement, but here, unlike 'Rose', it felt like there was too little plot to fill the slot rather than too much. I might change my mind on a second or third viewing, but I felt parts of this episode dragged, with not enough happening and no genuine tension or drama.

Don't get me wrong, RTD's dialogue is sparkling, frequently very witty, and manages to convey a lot of information and detail in surprisingly few words, the scenes where Rose realises what she's gotten herself into, her homesickness and her culture shock are beautifully written and expertly played, much like the scenes where the Doctor admits to his past and the fate of his people, but the careful plotting on which this should be hung feels lacking, and the story's villain, whilst imaginative and impressively realised, never feels like a potent threat.

RTD said in the Doctor Who Confidential that followed this initial broadcast that he wanted to make a blockbuster, wanted this story to be the one that everyone remembers, and admits that this was the most expensive story of the season. Admittedly the special effects are extremely good, but I don't think the money shows on screen all that well. Images of the Earth exploding are striking, but not memorable. The spider-robots are a reasonable idea but don't play on any fears or evoke any emotion at all. Equally, the many aliens are ingenious, but none of them stick in the memory because none of them do anything apart from stand around. The Doctor then teams up with probably the least memorably designed of these aliens (the Trees look much better in photographs) and wraps up the slim plot in a sequence that is begging to be made into a PS3 game. Most of the memorable sequences from classic Doctor Who are 'doing' moments (e.g. Cybermen descending the steps of St Pauls, Sea-Devils rising from the sea, Yeti roaming the underground, giant spiders leaping onto backs, maggots hissing and wriggling etc). The threat is inherent in the image. Without threat what we have are admittedly very pretty pictures.

The above suggests that I hated this story. I didn't, I just found it a frustrating experience as individual parts were far greater than the whole. There is a cultural playfulness at work here that hasn't been seen in Doctor Who since probably 'The Chase' (who ever thought they'd hear Soft Cell and Britney Spears in Doctor Who!), and the final scenes between the Doctor and Rose are poignant, funny and probably the finest part of the show. Billie Piper is magnificent, extremely likeable, very easy to identify with and sympathise with, and really leads the viewer through the story like a companion should. Christopher Eccleston veers between moments of extreme emotion and moments when the Doctor comes across like a nerd in space, but never crosses the line and remains likeable and very watchable. It's a shame many of these reviews may be tempered by the news that he's leaving, as he makes an intriguing Doctor.

Which brings me to the episode's great revelation: the Doctor is the last of the Time Lords. I can see the sense of this approach. It makes him a lonely wanderer in time and space like he always was, creates a sense of mystery around him, and gives Rose an emotional reason for staying with him, as she doesn't want him to be on his own. It doesn't preclude him from meeting his own people on occasion (after all, they can time travel), but it does preclude stories set on Gallifrey, which has got to be a blessing. This cuts down on unnecessary continuity, which is also a good thing, in my opinion. I could imagine viewers tuning in wanting to know more about this calamity, and I'm sure they'll learn more in dribs and drabs through the coming weeks.

I'm sorry Russell, but I don't think this will be the story that everyone remembers. If I had to give 'The End of the World' a mark out of ten, I would probably give it a five.

ot with a bang, but with a... well, a sort of whumfhfhhfhhh noise and a Marc Almond soundtrack. What were the chances?

By rights The End of the World should have had an easy ride, coasting on the record ratings of Episode One, plus trailers and a 'Next Week...' clip promising aliens galore, Russell T's personal stamp of approval, eager anticipation of a proper sci-fi story, and excellent word of mouth. Despite Ant'n'Dec's drafting in of Tony Blair to lure viewers away to ITV, no-one was really scared - if David Beckham last week couldn't win the ratings battle, a politician was never going to pull in the punters.

In the event, of course, what Episode Two was actually up against was Wednesday's shock news that Christopher Eccleston was only doing one series (predictably, and rather unfairly, splashed over the tabloid press as "Dr Who Quits After Just One Episode!"), potentially undermining the viewers interest in the series and character just as it had hit its stride. Hysterical fans, jeering pundits and bored journalists looking for something to put between "Pope not dead yet" stories all added to the fire. Suddenly the series was going to have to pull off something pretty special to justify its continued attention.

A stroke of luck, then, that it was a fantastic piece of television.

Anyone who's seen early 70s disaster The Curse of Peladon, or worse, 1987's Dragonfire, knows what happens when Dr Who tries to overreach itself. Wowed by big screen extravaganzas, it tries to do the Star Wars cantina scene on a budget, and you end up with two extras in party masks and a giant penis in a cloak. One look at a script that called for squishy blue pixies, robot spiders, humaniod vultures, alien goths, two dimensional women and a disembodied head in a pot should have had the Beeb reaching for the Big Red Cancellation Button before the coffee had got cold. And yet, in the big-budget light of the cgi-aided 21st century, suddenly, somehow, it works.

The Doctor takes Rose to the year Five Billion, to a glittery gala event marking the destruction of the Earth. Alien celebrities make brittle small talk on board a luxurious Space Platform, while something nasty in the air vents plots murder, corruption and special effects. People are killed. Things go wrong. Stuff explodes. The Doctor save the day. In a way it's Dr Who by numbers, but it's more than that... This is Dr Who as my childhood memories depict it, before the harsh accuracies of DVD re-releases spelt out the awful truth. The Space Platform really is luxurious, the celebrities really DO look alien, and the effects genuinely are special.

The main weakness of Rose, of course, was its contemporary setting and focus on the title character, and the resultant lack of full-on science fiction elements or story. This is repaid in spades in The End of the World, with its definitively futuristic location, wall-to-wall cg and no human characters other than the TARDIS crew. The visuals are, without exception, impeccable, designed to the hilt and glorious to explore. The writing is once again absolutely cracking, laden with jokes, dramatic set pieces and moments of deeper emotion, and a story that - built around the natural time-limit of the countdown to Earth's destruction - never feels rushed, but always pacey.

Acting her non-existent socks off amid the madness, guest star Zoe Wanamaker, in possibly the strangest role of her career, is having a great time in her sound-booth and is even more fun to watch. Eccleston continues to play against form both to great effect, bucking expectations of both of a distant, intellectual Doctor and an intense angry Northerner, while Billie Piper revels in Russell T's witty, playful script. Cliches of corridors and capture are neatly sidestepped, and time is spent instead on good old escapist drama, danger and confrontation - with an unusual focus, stemming from Russell's knack for writing for women, on Rose's realistic reaction to the chaos around her.

The result is perhaps the most utterly un-Wholike bit of television I've ever seen - at the same time as being exactly what it always wanted it to be. I can only hope people got past their worries about Chris leaving the series, because, with its theme of "Knowing something's going to end doesn't lessen it", this episode was the perfect antidote to all that bad-feeling. If anything, in fact, the knowledge of his going made it all the more effective.

And there are hints, here and there in the more emotional passages, of what may be to come to explain his departure... Flashes of pain... Moments of hope... Wounds of the past, and risks of the future. The trip of a lifetime.

I can't wait.

The First Episode of this hugely important series was received by 10 million UK viewers, anxious to see what the good Doctor had was like in this new incarnation.

So, this second episode of the series had its work cut out to maintain that large audience. But did it live up to the name of Doctor Who? That's the question I try to answer in this review (and it would be so much easier with partially psychic paper).

Now for me, this new series has already broken some of the fundamental rules of Doctor Who and called it "Bringing Doctor Who into the 21st Century". Rose lacked storyline and was all about Rose really. This episode however, did not suffer the same problem, it had a storyline that was well split between the various characters, which all had very distinct, classic Doctor Who styles. The Doctor was his old humorous self, improvising to come up with "breathe from my lungs" because everyone else had gifts and he didn't and Rose was a very real character, exploring the differences between the aliens of the year 5 billion and herself, as well as the huge difference between herself and the secretive Doctor. The aliens on Platform One were well-developed characters too. In the space of about ten minutes, we knew why there was a piece of skin in a frame was doing watching the world die and how the staff of Platform One do business and the Rules like no Teleportation or Guns. Then the trouble begins (as usual).

It all starts with what can only be described as practically carbon copies of eye scanning spiders from Minority Report being activated and crawling out the "gift as a token of peace". These metal critters then proceed to (for want of a better word), dispose of the local blue-faced plumber. At this point, the Sun Filter in the Steward’s office starts to fall and the Steward is no more. This is classic Doctor Who, business as usual. Where this falls down in the new series is the short length of the episodes. Most of the classic Doctor Who series' stories were twice as long and had at least three cliffhangers. The End of the World could have done with this format and a few cliffhangers. As a result of this change, the story doesn't have time to develop and therefore rushes through the necessary information needed to solve the mystery and end the story.

Which brings me to the second fundamental change, the overall format. In 2005, a 20-minute episode just doesn't cut it and so the new 45-minute length is welcome. However, the new series should have had four two parters and one Three parter to end the new series. This would have brought the required episode length and the cliffhangers that were synonymous with Doctor Who. The End of the world would have benefited enormously had it been longer and allowed to develop. I felt that the story wasn't deep enough as a result and moved too fast to get the audience involved in the story, as they did in the pre-1990s series'.

Another depth-stuttering aspect of the story was how blunt and obvious the story was. Introduce the characters, something strange begins, someone disappears, someone dies, the Doctor catches on, the Doctor saves his assistant and works out what to do, but only to find out there's an obstruction, the Doctor overcomes it with the sacrifice of a new friend and exposes the mastermind. It really was as simple as that. No subtlety, no sub stories running behind the main plot, just a raw naked plot, crammed into 45 minutes.

The Doctor is a lot more emotional in this new series and he actually cries in The End of the World. This has always been a no-go area for Doctor Who and with good reason. Granted he had a good reason to cry which was also an unwelcome developement, but more on that in a bit. The Doctor has always managed to stay detatched to some extent in order to see the overall picture and to reinforce the fact that he is an alien from another time and place, who has see and done many things, good and bad. The Doctor is often taking Roses hand and at the end of the episode she actually puts her head on the Doctor's shoulder, asif he was her boyfriend making his apparent emotional relationship with Rose more reminiscent of an all American hero with his damsel in distress than the Doctor and his travelling assistant. Now Earlier I mentioned a good reason for the Doctor to cry it did rather ruin the story for me and many other viewers of the series. It is arguably the worst of the tampering with the established Doctor Who universe. The Destruction of Gallifrey as a result of a war. NO GALLIFREY?!?! THE TIMELORDS AT WAR?!?! What was Davies thinking? All those millions of possibilities lost, and for what?! I hope for the sake of the fans, the new viewers and the Doctor Who universe, they fix it and make the Doctor take the difficult, but ultimately obvious decision to go back and save his home world.

That said, the graphics and sets in this episode were better and much more original than they were in Rose and The Mill can be proud of what is has done in the relatively short period of time it was given compare to the usual blockbuster movie timetable. Unfortunately, most of it still looked like graphics, falling short of the realism of the CG seen in Enterprise and the new Battlestar Galactica, arguably Doctor Who's closest comparisons. The music also followed the same lines, as it was good music, but maybe a little inappropriate at times and the inclusion of Britney Spears with a cheap excuse didn't help either.

The End of the World was at least worthy of being called a drama, but I do think it still fell short of the name Doctor Who.

Y'know, I was rather concerned that the announcement that Chris is leaving would have taken some of the impact of the new series away, but on the strength of tonight's wonderful episode 'The End of the World', this season is going to turn out to be something very very special for WHO fans old and new. It's huge and flashy, yes, but this episode has DOCTOR WHO all over it. The interplay between the Doctor and Rose has started to pick up momentum nicely. I was at first worried that after the first episode Rose would suddenly come across as an 'old hand' at all this adventuring malarkey, but no, her continued wonder and unease at the things she witnesses is wonderful to behold.

The advent of a pre-titles teaser sequence (including a lovely shot of the TARDIS in flight through the vortex) is a nice touch, adding to the drama and making the theme tune that bit more satisfying, which now we've had a chance to get used to it, is settling nicely and feels right for the tone and look of the series. The opening CG views of the Platform are gorgeous- a tad reminiscent of babylon 5 perhaps, but gorgeous nontheless, and the voiceover concerning the prohibition against using teleportation devices, weapons and religion was excellent.

For me, the script was very satisfying, nicely weaving elements of the show's rich mythos into a riotous romp of a tale.I did like the explanation of why everyone speaks English. One thing I am curious as to what other parts of fandom thought of is the revelation that the Doctor is the last of the Time Lords due to a war wiping them all out. For me it gives the EDA books a little weight, taking into account Gallifrey's fate. The look on the Doctor's face when Jabe is at his side is amazing, the sheer weight of pain in his eyes, then that tear that escapes as he turns his head, magic. Nice one Mr Davies.

Aaaaahhhh Jabe, Jabe Jabe! What a beautiful makeup upon such a beautiful actress. Ignore her dodgy past in Hollyoaks and concentrate on the character; Regal, powerful, graceful and yet utterly courageous. The teaser at the end of 'Rose' made her makeup seem a little...hmmm... odd on camera, but once you are treated to the close shots of her, it's clear that any worries were unfounded. Her fate is certainly a shame. The other Trees could have been used a little more for my liking, but with so much going on in one episode it's a small quibble. Lady Cassandra? Well she could never look perfect could she? Not on the timescale and budget available for the series, but she was amazing anyway, and the floating brain in the jar section of her platform was a nice touch. Zoe Wanamaker's vocal performance was spot on.

I really enjoyed the scene with the modified mobile phone. Rose's expression as she looks at the dying Earth while talking to her mother, 5 billion years in the past, was very powerful. Moments like this keep popping up in this new series, moments that cement it firmly in dramatic territory and giving it more credibility as a serious show. It has the humour, the monsters, the action, the characterization, and now the FX, acting talent and respect that it deserves.

This is not only excellent science fiction television, it's excellent Doctor Who. It's definitely different, but ladies and gentlemen this is definitely Doctor Who. I can't wait for next week. Episode 3 looks just as much fun, and its nice to remember how much fun it was, popping between time periods for each story.

Everyone involved must be very very proud of themselves. What an achievement.

British SF. Real British SF that respects its history while moving forward.

Who'd have thought it possible?

Wow. 

I had my reservations after the first episode, as per my review. It just didn't quite click. 

This episode clicked, and how.

>From the preview of last week, I wasn't overly hopeful, boy was I wrong. From start to finish this was 45 minutes of pure Who. The characterization that was so lacking in episode 1 arrived in spades. Eccleston is already a truly great Doctor, here we saw both the humour that already characterises him, and the darkness that we have been promised. There is obviously pain about the loss of Gallifrey, we already know that the Doctor could not save the Nestene, maybe there is guilt about the role he played in the Gallifrey war. he is, apparently, the only survivor.

Billie finally showed her acting mettle. I'm a harsh critic of hers but she has finally silenced me. I'll fully admit I was not convinced by her in anything she has done up to now but in these 45 minutes she fully vindicated her casting. She was fantastic. 

The special effects deserve a special mention. Nothing to write home about last week, they were obviously saving their money for the heavy usage here. Not a dud shot in sight.

Zoe Wanamaker was absolutely wonderful as always.

Psychic Paper a great idea and finally a reason why everyone on Who speaks English.

Jade (Jayde?) was a wonderful character and actively felt like more of a companion than Rose in this episode, a real pity that she died. If this was supposed to be the "romance" of the series, it didn't feel like it. It worked well. But this Doctor is far more human than any of the others. He displayed some previously unseen powers here but his failing cost Jade her life.

Fantastically inventive death of the supervisor and one of my favourite Who scenes ever as The Doctor tries to rescue Rose from the same fate. "It would be you in there!" has to go down as one of the greatest lines in Who.

Fans over a walkway, that can't be turned off and the switch to save the station the only thing beyond them. What an illogical place to put a switch. Was this a reference to the brilliant film Galaxy Quest which itself was parodying Trek? The scene where the heroes have to travese a corridor of smashing walls which are there for absolutely no reason is an absolute classic. Completely illogical to do this in Who but a great piece of reference.

The incidental music was far better than last week but still not particularly memorable. On the other hand, the modern music used was inventive and the Doctor dancing to Frankie Goes To Hollywood (Was it?) was hilarious. 

A few small niggles, as some people noted in the last episode, the Sonic Screwdriver appears to be this Doctor's weapon of choice, already it has made more appearances in two episodes than possibly the fifth, sixth and seventh Doctor's era's combined. Let's see how he fares next week in the Victorian age.

I think Russell T. Davies needs to tighten up his writing slightly, last week we had Clive who provided exposition and then died. This week we had a blue plumber who did absolutely nothing except purposely die. Not a disaster by any means but we need to care about a character before they die.

The death of the Time Lord race is a great idea, and a very bold, very modern twist, but just how did it happen? Gallifreyan's are almost impossible to kill. You have to kill each and every one twelve times, not to mention that they can manipulate time, are scientific geniuses etc etc. I have a feeling that the Daleks are involved. 

Also with the intimation that the Doctor is the last remaining Time Lord will we never again see The Master, The Rani, The Monk, The Valyard, surely all of these Time Lord's are running around in different times before the war but technically after their own deaths. Why does The Doctor get so cut up about it when he can just travel to a time before the destruction of Gallifrey? But I'm just being pedantic.

The series has hit it's stride and I can't wait to see how it turns out. Eccleston's leaving will no doubt affect how some people view this series but I think on this evidence, it may actually be right for this particular series and Eccleston's only mistake being that of timing.

Overall a vast improvement on last week in every way. Everything about this episode shone. It remains to be seen how the continuity twists revealed in this episode get sorted out, I personally don't see how, when The Doctor himself has won out over almost every alien race and evildoer in the galaxy, the entire race of Time Lords can be wiped out with all their powers, and I think it'll be a shame if we never see The Master again. But there are twists and there are twists. This is a very modern twist and I'm not sure if it was wise, but it will no doubt play out over the rest of the series and only then should we reflect on where the series has gone.

Overall, for the episode as a stand alone 20 out of 10. As per direction of the series 12 out of 10. Bold but is it too far?

Oh, I almost forgot, THE TARDIS NEEDS A BICYCLE PUMP TO WORK!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? The Doctor may be big on mechanical improvisation but come on! (Tribute to the quality of the episode that I actually forgot the horror with which that struck me)