Well, what a peculiar thing this was. As an episode it had something of a "filler" feel to it, not surprising when you consider the "all out assault on the senses" qualities of recent installments. On the upside "Boom Town" manages to tie up some loose ends, raise some interesting questions and, via some rich dialogue, approach the Doctor's relationship with his "enemy" from a new(-ish) angle.

First up, the downside - the exploration of Rose and Micky's relationship surely has no further mileage. I can appreciate RTD wanted to look at the issues raised by companions "dropping out" of their normal existence for a year or two ... and this HAS been an interesting new spin, but the storyline now seems to be taking up valuable screen time without moving us any further forward. The fact that Micky was the "prime suspect" in Rose's disappearance is funny and makes sense; the fact that he's now seeing the fat girl who works in the corner shop just seems irrelevant. The plot for the actual "meat" of this episode, despite being neat and compact, is not really enough to base a full story on - 1. Find Slitheen survivor, 2. Capture Slitheen survivor, 3. "Uncover" Slitheen plot, 4. Rig Tardis to use Slitheen "go faster stripes" device, 5. Realise Slitheen trap and, 6. “Clever” Tardis decides to degenerate Slitheen to egg. Furthermore, doesn't turning the Slitheen into an egg and giving it a "second chance at life" violate the principle set down in Father's Day regarding changes to time (although maybe starting a life afresh is not quite the same as allowing someone to cheat death). But I'm hesitant to quote Father's Day as I think we're going to find that the majority of future stories (as well as a good number of old ones) will fall foul of the "Father's Day rules".

On the upside, RTD's script was sparkling and managed the profound/funny shifts seamlessly. The Slitheen/Doctor "dinner date" covered a lot of ground and the two actors obviously relished every word without over-egging the scene. Although there's no getting away from the fact that the easiest thing would have been for the Doctor to have dumped the Slitheen on a remote moon (although that would have made for a very short story). And did "Bad Wolf" really need to be flagged so obviously? Maybe RTD thinks we hadn't noticed yet ...

More pluses ... good production values on the "urban apocalypse"; there was a time when this would have been done with lots of dry ice smoke, breaking glass sound FX and stock footage of burning buildings. And I liked Rose's reference to other planets that she'd seen - obviously the adventures that we see here are not entirely linear, the Tardis goes to other times and places in between. But Captain Jack is under used, especially as his interaction with his cohorts is of such a high quality.

Overall, I rate this a 6 out of 10. Despite that, I defy anybody (other than RTD) to fit Welsh Nationalism, sexual mores, press reporting ethics, government nuclear policy (are you watching Sellafield?), inter-galactic legal issues, the whole "nature vs. nurture" argument AND bi-sexual banter into 45 minutes of primetime British TV. Bring on Bad Wolf!

Thank God for the Rift
Through which good effects could sift
To heal this slowВ….slowВ….show,
Plodding along until the last furlong
When inner Tardis did glow.

Thank God for the Doc
Who with good humour could shock
Slitheen to goВ….goВ…go,
Jumping down scaffold, waddling as a clown
Duck in Cardiff to and fro.

Thank Harkness for glee
Great carmaderie for three
Musketeers with Rick?В…Mick?
Cell phones primed with humour chases combined.
Direction pacy and slick.

Thank writer for plot,
Rich explanation we got
ChameleonВ…brokeВ…brokeВ….
But Earth soap whether the pair should elope
Drowns this series in one stroke.

Thank Davies for love
Of the Who, which like a dove
Delivers hope for TwoВ…, cooВ…. Two
My wifeВ’s yawns like a prophet sadly warns
That drama deep should get the В‘shove!В’

Thank Beeb for foresight
Giving DaviesВ’ team the right
To write sci-fi grown upВ….Up..Up
Balloon goes when shows dominated by Rose.
Keep it on the Doc-his fights.

Thank Rose for her part
Defining Who from the start.
His comforterВ…
But Harkness took assistant role with finesse
She stuck with MickВ’s arcing heart.

I'm really surprised to hear that people didn't like this episode. Of all of RTD's scripts, I thought that this one was easily his best script - much more what I expected from a genius TV writer such as Russell.

I admit that it was a bit of a 'bottle' episode; but all TV series have these from time to time, and often they work out for the best.

Now there were some flaws in the episode. Foremost of these was the return of the Slitheen so soon (couldn't this at least have waited until Season 2?). Secondly, the return of Mickey/Ricky - I just find this character so dull and wet. He's got nothing going for him and Russell seems not to like him even. Let's see him die in an heroic attempt at saving Rose Tyler's life. My final 'grrrr' was the 'easy escape' TARDIS solution to the problem, which I didn't understand and was badly written. How EXACTLY did the TARDIS revert Magaret Slitheen to an egg? RTD's scripts have been full of 'easy' get-out solutions (Russell, it's why they got rid of the screwdriver in the original series) which are ultimately unsatisfying and this was possibly the worst.

Just about everything else I thought was brilliant, however. This was easily RTD's best script. It had drama, pace and brought new fans up to speed with some of the workings of the TARDIS (I'm surprised it took so long). I loved the way that RTD's script questioned The Doctor's motives and asked moral questions of The Doctor. I've always felt that on occasions that Doctor Who failed to do this (the last time I remember this strongly was the brilliant "Genesis of the Daleks", though probably there have been other episodes).

I felt strongly that this epsiode was much more of the quality of a "Buffy" type episode with ideas that the series takes for granted (like The Doctor always being in "the right" and on the side of "good") turned on their heads and challenged. This is what we should be seeing more of.

Billie Piper turned in as good a performance as she could, but for once this was an episode not about her, and it was good to see The Doctor in the front line once more. The show is, after all, called Doctor Who, not Rose Tyler.

There were good moments of comedy, but well-blended with the action stuff and it was an interesting twist that the 'problem' was dealt with early on in the episode, allowing Russell to concentrate on some ethical issues. These were hinted at with the Dalek's "You would make a good Dalek" comment to The Doctor in episode 6, but developed much more fully this time.

I think this is probably (and, so far!) my favourite episode, obviously after Dalek, which has still been the watermark episode against which I've judged the others. If I could offer Russell some advice, I think he needs to get away from earth for a bit, and let's put The Doctor and Rose in some serious scrapes - it's all a bit tame at the moment. Although, the trail for next week's episode makes it look as if the ante is about to be well and truly upped!

Well we've had a wonderful past two weeks in war-torn London and it's back to gritting your teeth over RTD's emotionally labile character pieces and wondering how far he'll go this time!

Boom Town wasn't too bad all in all. I didn't hate it (cf my rant over the previous Slitheen episodes) and I definitely caught myself smiling. There's some fantastic dialogue in this episode - the last Slitheen's attempt to talk the doctor out of what he's doing is a wonderfully structured and well delivered piece of drama. It also put alot of emphasis on one the suspension of disbelief that we've so cherished as a necessary skill in doctor who appreciation! To have an intense and wordy exchanged between two actors in a restaurant where one is the last of an ancient time-travelling race and the other is a large green baby-faced alien criminal in disguise and carry it off so smoothly is quite an acheivement for the new series. Somehow it didn't seem like a cheap cop-out that they were just two actors with no special effects or dressing - probably because the writing was so good (the antithesis of Star Wars?).

However... sometimes RTD's episodes do come over as enormously unsubtle attempts to ram emotional drama down our throats. The dialogue all too frequently sounds like a first draft, reading like a script rather than something entierly believable. Partly because of this and partly because he uses so much dramatic short hand to make points, it all comes across as rather childish - which is such a shame when the guest writers have shown how you can appeal to children, be funny, clever and scarey without looking like toddlers' tv.

And if arch emotional drama is RTD's strong point, plot and sci-fi are not something he seems to find quite difficult. Now, I'd never claim that Doctor Who was straight sci-fi - it's a bit closer to LOTR than Star Trek - but despite the amount of fantasy inherent in the show (dimensional transcendentalism, time travel etc) there are some things that really require more of an explanation. The TARDIS showing the Slitheen its heart and hence making it regress into and egg was really a bit lazy. Fine have the TARDIS miraculously save the day if you're not going to really bother with plot but PLEASE give it a bit more credibility. Keeping the TARDIS mystical is great - sentient machine all the way good good - but this isn't mystery, it's melodrama.

-actually, I'm afraid this episode has transgressed too many sacred rules (in my head) and I'm going to have to get very anal...

Regressing to an egg?!!! Sorry to get on my science high-horse but this is so far off sci-fi it's getting a bit silly - why not just have all sorts of clocks flying around the time vortex cuz they've got something to do with time?! (You'll have to forgive me some more...) virtually none of the matter contained within her egg would be present in her adult body (alien-schmalien) so how could the TARDIS recover that material? If it isn't the same material then the egg technically isn't her and there's nothing other than biology and chance linking her to any matter that has been part of her during her life so there's no way the TARDIS could trace it - unless you go into the whole bbc novels' 'biodata' explanation for anything a bit too symbolic for sci-fi ...which would be OK, but do you thing RTD though about that- NO HE DID NOT!! He was too busy thinking about (really rather good) scenes with people being emotional and stuff. Grrrr!

Anyway none of that really matters except when you put it next to last week's wonderfully intelligent explanation for a symbolicly charged event - the nano genes recognising maternal DNA and re-addressing their model for what a human should be as an explanation for teenage mother acknowledges her son surrounded by golden glow and love brings people back to life... Hey! Do you think that Grace and Chang Li coming 'back to life' in the TV movie could be Gallifreyan nano genes from the Eye of Harmony?.... that would certainly put my mind at ease ;)

-Daleks next week. Interesting to see what RTD does with them.

Russell Davies admits in this week's 'Doctor Who Confidential' that 'Boom Town''s plot is just an excuse to get to the scene with the Doctor & Blon in the restaurant -- and, unfortunately, it shows. The episode lifts somewhat when it shifts gear from lame comedy to character scenes. However, subtlety doesn't seem to be Davies' strong point, and everything in 'Boom Town' is bashed home.

Much of the current series has played with rewriting the old 'Doctor Who' concepts, turning the old formula on its head, so highlighting the mayhem that follows the Doctor around doesn't really come as much of a surprise (especially when it was stressed right back in 'Rose'). Like everything else in this episode, the parallels with 'Dalek' aren't exactly subtle; on second viewing I was particularly annoyed by the shaft of light at the end. In fact, the nods to earlier episodes fell so thick & fast this time I got the impression 'Boom Town' is intended as a whistlestop tour of the season for late joiners.

Chris Eccleston is perfect in the pivotal restaurant scene, and Annette Badland, as Margaret/Blon, delivers her lines with a decent blend of humour & menace. The scenes with Rose & Mickey left a soapy taste in my mouth, and Billie Piper's sparkle just shows up Noel Clarke's rather wooden delivery. Jack, stripped of his sexy RAF uniform, has little to do but spout technobabble.

It was good to get out of London for a change, and Cardiff centre makes a beautiful backdrop; I particularly liked the Tardis dematerialising against the Millennium building at the end. Speaking of SFX, I note the producers have nicked the fanficcers' method of generating amazing ones -- which, given their budget, hardly seems to be playing fair...

Though it wasn't as bad as I'd feared from the trailers, 'Boom Town' did feel uncomfortably like filler between the stunning 'Empty Child' two-parter & the finale. Neat concept, pity about the execution.

Well, it worked for me.

Sandwiched between what I regard as an instant classic (The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances) and the much anticipated conclusion to this season, I suspect that 'Boom Town' will divide opinion, as the previous Slitheen outing certainly did. I found that two-parter an enjoyable romp with much to recommend it, but in keeping with the general upward curve of the season, I prefered this story.

Annette Badland has a lot to do with this. A barn-storming, multi-layered performance by an extremely talented actress. With only one of the slitheen family appearing and with sparing use of its true form, this was a more character based story that had intriguing things to say about the Doctor's lifestyle, but threw a lot more into the mix in a satisfying way. I think this was my favourite RTD story to date.

A good 'teaser' to set the scene, and I immediately felt that the story was in good hands with the estimable Joe Ahearne. The Cardiff Bay setting worked well and looked lovely. This added a personal dimension as I work down the bay and pass these 'locations' all the time. ("Ooh, I know that pub!")

The easy interaction in the TARDIS between Rose, 'Ricky' , 'Jumping Jack Flash (AKA Fly Boy)' and 'Big Ears' was a delight. You really feel that you *know* these characters now and the programme seems to be oozing confidence. Poor Mickey is treated as an outsider at first, but he very much holds his own in this episode. When 'the dynamic trio' seem a bit full of themselves, he'll say so , and his relationship with Rose developes convincingly throughout, right up to the point where Rose realise "he deserves better". Okay, Mickey runs slap bang into a trolley whilst Jack dashingly leaps over one, but this just helps to make the character endearing; Noel Clarke's best performance to date. When he walked away at the conclusion, I thought "Good on you, mate."

The dialogue throughout sparkled. I particularly enjoyed Chris Ecclestone's delivery of the line "She's climbing out of the window, isn't she." The scene with 'Margaret' running away, then back, then away, then back...very amusing. A hint of things to come toowith an overt reference to 'Bad wolf'...ahh, good Doctor Who has always had light and shade.

I thought the key scene in this episode was where 'Margaret' and the Doctor go for her 'last meal'. Again I thought this mixed the funny and the serious successfully. Poisoned wine, lethal dart and *very* bad breath...easily countered by the Doctor. But then....we have a graphic description of how the slitheen will be executed, her pleading and the Doctor's measured response ("You're pleading for mercy out of a dead woman's lips.")

Okay, the pregnant young journalist was spared, but the Doctor points out; "So you let one of them go...that's nothing new...that's how you live with yourself." Fascinating concepts discussed by two aliens over staek and chips...marvellous. (Nice tight close-ups, too, Mr Ahearne!)

The conclusion, with the 'heart' of the TARDIS coming into play reminded me a bit of the Paul McGann TV movie, but thankfully this had a *much* better script. ("Stand back, boys. Surf's up!")

So 'Margaret' gets a second chance, encouraged by the Doctor. ("Look inside...") A nice resolution that some will probably see as a cop-out, but I liked it. (Adam didn't really get a second chance and how many people did he skin or murder, eh??? Sorry, still an unusually sour point in this series, I think. But honestly, I'm not taking this too seriously!)

So, easily an 8 out of 10...and the end is in sight. I suspect things are about to get a bit emotional!

By the way, anyone who thinks the slitheen becoming Mayor of my beloved city is unlikely...well, we've had some pretty dodgy people in that role before! And the new PM wouldn't have noticed cos Cardiff is pretty irrelevant to Westminster...

(Actually, it was pushing credibility more than somewhat, but hey...nothing new in this lovely programme!!)

Here comes the Bad Wolf.......