В‘Boom TownВ’ is an absolute gem of an episode. It quite explicitly sets out to be a character piece; principally about the DoctorВ’s lifestyle, which is an interesting enough idea in its own right - but when you add to that an exploration of the immediate and long-term consequences of this lifestyle then you have a story which becomes far more substantial, than many in the season to date.

DonВ’t get me wrong. All of the stories up to Boom Town have been highly enjoyable and notable in their own right. However Boom Town is perhaps the only story apart from FatherВ’s Day which actually has a dramaturgical В‘centreВ’. It has an absolute fixed starting point like all good stories. In this case it is about morality, or to be more specific, moral absolutes. In the case of Boom Town one characters moral absolute is anotherВ’s nightmare.

ItВ’s really interesting to see RTD script pivot between these arguments. Indeed the resolution becomes even more important with a script such as this, where will the final line in the sand be drawn? I think itВ’s wonderfully inventive for RTD to come up with the resolution he has, he chooses not to side with either the Doctor or Margaret, but by opting for a В‘thirdВ’ way. He gives Margaret another chance by effectively going back to year zero for her. This brilliant denouncement should be given the credit it deserves for being both intelligent and imaginative. Of course the consequences or В‘priceВ’ of these actions have to be explored. RTD does this extremely successfully by juxtaposing the weighty matters of morality alongside the very personal fall-out between Rose and Mickey. Indeed grounding and contextualising the action like this made the more personal or domestic material not only touching and valuable but probably made for the episodes best scenes. In particular the scene outside the TARDIS where Mickey and Rose discuss going for a pizza and even raising the possibility of hiring a hotel for the night, brilliant! (ItВ’s impossible not to genuinely feel for Mickey). Simple and fundamental relationships such as these are one of the reasons why the Doctor needs Rose so much. That is what the Doctor really longs for, some kind of В‘fundamentalВ’ normality.

On the subject of great scenes, the encounter in the toilet between Margaret and journalist Cathy Salt was also notable. Brilliant juxtaposition, the alien on the toilet quietly weeping and the reporter looking forward to her В‘new lifeВ’. Scenes such as these are really what make new Who a joyous thing indeed. This is an episode which really makes you care, it involves and challenges its audience on a level that only really good writing can, to a certain extent the episode even redeems the Slitheen as RTD challenges us too identify with there plight. Even all the scripts gags really come off for once!

Eek... The return of the Slitheen. Or just one of them. This episode had some connotations with "Dalek" as the lone Slitheen survivor makes a break for it. I was fairly critical of the two earlier episodes involving the Slitheen though I did enjoy the episodes, I felt the farting monsters were a bit infantile. So it was with some trepidation when I discovered last week that Boom Town was to see the return of the bug eyed B-list monster!

But Russell T Davies deserves a lot of credit for this episode which I throughly enjoyed from start to finish. It was fresh, slick and investigated the Dr's ultimate decision in administering death. The surrounding sub-plot of Mickey and Rose was nicely done, and Captain Jack is becoming quite a star on his own, adding another dimension to the Tardis crew. I was not sure whether I was going to like Captain Jack or not... but the character has grown on me and I hope he stays around for the next series.

Thankfully, the Slitheen business was kept pretty much to a minimum and the acting was superb. Some great sequences involving the Dr and the Slitheen in its female form as the Mayor of Cardiff. There was some very good close up camera shots of some fairly frosty confrontations involving whether the Dr is doing God's work for him. What gives him the right to make him decide who should live and who should die? All very profound stuff ... and in a rather civilised setting in a top class Welsh restaurant!

It appears that Doctor Who is now reaching its end in the series but this episode along with The Doctor Dances have both been brilliant (while The Empty Child was a little bit plodding and never really got going in my view).

The business involving Rose and Mickey was well done but I kind of felt it was going over old ground already investigated in Aliens of London and did not really offer anything new. Christopher Eccleston's portrayal of the Dr is very enjoyable and I still feel it is a great shame that he is leaving. He manages to hit the right balance of being a wee bit loopy ... but nice with it too. I felt the likes of Slyvestor McCoy and Colin Baker never quite managed that. But Eccleston has certainly delivered a somewhat vulnerable Dr more in keeping with Peter Davison's likeness.

The episode was more about relationships and the true character of the Dr in confronation with a villain who he gets the chance to exchange pleasantries with over dinner. There was a bit of all out action at the end but that added to it in many respects.

There have been some very good shock scenes in the series so far and this is where I have really enjoyed Dr Who. Examples being the the Dr entering the shell of the Tardis in Father's Day, Rose's supposed last words to the Dr as the Dalek approaches her, and the early Auton attack in "Rose" are among the stand outs. I liked the Dr's stunned shock on seeing the local newspaper in the cafe and realising the Slitheen had escaped. That was in keeping with this.

The other element of shock, though there was quite a lot of intrigue, was the Dr''s realisation of the words "Bad Wolf" following him about on his travels. While it has been inescapable (even for the good Dr one would have thought!) to escape spoilers about the forthcoming episodes. I thought this short piece was neatly done and then the Dr just dismissed it out of hand.

The ending and the power of the Tardis being something of an unknown quantity was a delightful final touch to a well-made, expertly crafted story. While it did not have all the doom and disaster of other episodes, Boom Town featured a lot more character development and finished in style. The episode might not be rememebered as the best of the new series but I think it was actually a jolly good romp with a myriad of nice touches thrown in for good measure. While it was under-stated at times because of its general lack of action, I think that was a good thing, and was more of an investigaton of the rights and wrongs of the Dr's time-travelling. When one life is expendable, where could it all end. Very profound stuff. A searching story which leaves plenty to ponder over.

So despite my initial fears about the Slitheen, I thought the show was very well handled, funny and sad at times, and full of intrigue.

Lovely picturesque shots of Cardiff centre in this.

I couldnВ’t understand RADIO TIMES saying there was no room to develop it. It was all development. Character development. Like FATHERВ’S DAY, it placed character and human emotion at the heart of the story. That became the story. It needed that feel of a breathing space, of a calm before the storm to do itВ’s work. Very strong RTD episode. Loved it. This type of thing, these kinds of scenes - IВ’m thinking Margaret sparing the journalist in the loo - were rarely if never attempted to this degree before.

The restaurant scene with Christopher Eccleston and Annette Badland was intimately played. В“Let me goВ”, Margaret pleaded, with restraint - tears in her eyes.

MickeyВ’s rounding on Rose was heartfelt and justified - the flipside of her running into the TARDIS at the end of Episode One. But The Doctor had to wait around longer than he did at the end of В“World War ThreeВ”. I donВ’t believe weВ’ve had quite such a chat-up line in DR. WHO before. But it was completely natural.

Things link nicely in 2005 DR. WHO. Take В“BOOM TOWNВ”. Here - quite apart from the ever-present Doctor and Rose - we had a semi-regular cast of Mickey (Episodes 1, 4-5, 8), Margaret (again 4-5) and Captain Jack (9-10). That covers six of the preceding ten episodes, seven if you count the time fault in Cardiff from Episode Three. There is a real sense of a beginning, middle and end to the new series.

And Bad Wolf again. Certain close-ups of Eccleston made me wonder... And the Bad Wolf website is scary. Images of wolves and lovely schoolkids singing В“WhoВ’s afraid of the Big Bad WolfВ”. CanВ’t tell if theyВ’re wearing gas masks...

I only have one real problem with В“BoomtownВ”. I am getting very sick of Earth.

I love Doctor Who and I think this new series has been, in a word, fantastic! However, in the entire run of Doctor Who (except of course the Jon Pertwee exile episodes), never has modern day Earth been such a focal point of the series. I donВ’t live in London or Cardiff, I live in the US but I still know what modern day life looks like. Sure a large green alien (of whom I could have done without a second appearance as well, more on that in a bit) and a rift in time and space arenВ’t something you see everyday but for the most part the London/Cardiff episodes are based a little too much in reality for my tastes. I love Chris Eccelston, I love Billie Piper and I think the new addition of Captain Jack is awesome. Jack is one of those types of characters that seems like you should think heВ’s a jerk but heВ’s actually very cool, very funny and a nice fit for this TARDIS crew. I hope he sticks around. Still, some of the planets Rose describes to Ricky/Mickey that the Doctor took her toВ…. Frozen waves 100 feet tall and miles of beaches, Glass pyramidsВ…they sound like excellent backdrops for a story and mentioning them in modern day Cardiff but not showing them almost announces the fact that they donВ’t have the budget to properly show areas they want to show.

I am starting to see the limitations of this show. Because the quality has been so good, and the effects have become В“mainstreamВ”, that is the effects are now on par with the rest of television, it will not be possible to have a story placed anywhere but locations where effect shots can be perfect. Think of all of the old episodes of Doctor Who. Think about the acid rivers and large pyramid in В‘The Keys of MarinusВ’, the strange locations of В‘Trial of a TimelordВ’ В… there are dozens of locations they could film or create in the old series and because the budgets were obviously low they made due with what they had and there was a magic and charm in what they created. ItВ’s becoming like the 1977 Star Wars trilogy versus the newer В“more modernВ” Star Wars trilogy. The olf movies (at least the first two) had little or no budget and they are fantastic. The crews that created these movies worked magic with the little or no resources they had to work with and as a result created something the world had never seen. The new movies are filmed in three weeks and then thrown on the desk of an 18 year old computer programmer to turn it into a movie. I fear the same thing happening to our beloved Doctor Who. If they canВ’t meet their standards of special effects than we get a story on Earth in modern times. Next week looks promising, even though itВ’s based on a reality show on modern day Earth, they show the host is a robot and the Daleks make an appearance. If there are Daleks who escaped maybe there are TimelordsВ…. We can only hope.

Oh and I almost forgotВ…Bad Wolf!! They writers are SO MEAN! The Doctor just about stumbles upon the fact that there has been a В‘Bad WolfВ’ reference in almost every episode and then brushes it away! IВ’m sure he really does realize something is up about it but wow how mean to almost touch on it and then take it away like that! We are nearing the end of the series and we can only hope that this is part of what kills the Ninth Doctor. How strange though that the Slitheen came up with that name В“at randomВ”! And the В“Heart of the TARDISВ” В… is that the Eye of Harmony? And when can we see something more than the Console Room of the TARDIS? So many questions are raised by this show, I hope that we get at least a few answers before Chris and Billie exit stage left.

Overall, this episode had some of the best moments between the cast and the best dialogue of the entire run, I just hope we get to see a few different locations by the end of the series. Chris said in an interview for the first Doctor Who Confidential that part of the magic of Doctor Who is not knowing where each show would take place and I think this show needs some of that magic back. Other than that, brilliant as always and I canВ’t wait to see those little pepperpots again next week!

Eh, it was alright.

And really, that's about the best I can say to sum it up. It was "alright." It didn't really have enough for me to say it was a wasted 45 minutes watching it, but nor was there enough bad stuff to have the vitriol that the Haters have had for it. And boy, have the Haters been out for this one.

I can kinda see why. The Slitheen for whatever reason haven't gone as over with the Internet crowd as one might have hoped. I don't mind them, meself, I thought their babyfacedness attached to the massive hulking clawed bodies were downright disturbing the first time I saw them. The flatulence jokes got to be a bit much, I admit. Here, she wasn't all that annoying. She was in between evil, in trying to fulfill the original mission (make Earth a radioactive husk adn then sell it as starship fuel to the highest bidder), and trying to make the best of being the last of her family (remember, "Slitheen" was their last name not species!). And I loved the scenes in the restaurant with her and the Doctor.

Rose and Mickey on the outs, well, we coulda seen that one coming from a mile away. Just always figured it'd be ROSE on the offensive.

And we allll know that there's a whole lot of Somethin' Somethin' goin' on now that Captain Jack's in the TARDIS. I'm telling you, Jack is something else. Totally unlike any character I've seen in mainstream TV sci-fi (that I've seen, mind you), and I'm so glad he's there. Too bad he only shows up towards the end of the season, but I understand the need to establish the Doctor/Rose relationship (not necessarily "ship" mind) first. But DAMN has he been a boost to the proceedings.

And Daleks. Holy %$#& that's a lot of Daleks....

Thank goodness the budget got tight. You see, for all the rushing around and fantastic adventures we've seen throughout the season, there's seldom been time to stop and catch our breath and just chew over some good, solid conversation and character work of the type we often hear in Big Finish. This episode, set entirely in Cardiff and bringing back a single Slitheen, was obviously done in part to save some money, but in the process, we got to have this other thing that the series has been mostly missing up until now.

The lynchpin of the episode is the scenes between the wonderful Annette Badland and the fantastic Christopher Eccleston around the dinner table as the Slitheen tries to convince the Doctor not to take her back to her own people and her certain death sentence. It's very interesting that she says all the right things to pluck at the Doctor's heartsstrings, yet he doesn't back down this time from what he thinks "must be done." He clearly doesn't like it, and we don't know if he really would have done it had it come down to it, but from what we've learned of this Doctor so far, I'm inclined to think he probably actually would have taken her to her death sentence. And again I wonder if this is his "war damage" coming through in his psyche... the time he most famously balked at an execution was back on Skaro in "Genesis of the Daleks" when he had the opportunity (so he thought) of destroying the Daleks for all time, and now that decision has come back to bite and swallow Gallifrey itself. Does he wish he could go back and "get it right" now? And would he try to not make that "mistake" (if that's how he sees it) a second time here with this Slitheen?

Getting back to her, I love how she tries to off him at the table three times and yet still has the gall to tell him how much she's changed, which she hasn't of course, although we do eventually discover that she truthfully wishes that she was different or could start over. That's the wish the TARDIS grants her at the end by regressing her back to being an egg, and it was a neat solution to the problem. I've heard some complain or point out that this is a deus ex machina, and in a sense I suppose that's exactly what the TARDIS is, but this isn't something just out of the blue. The whole sequence at the end looked almost the same as the climax of the McGann TV Movie, and I was expecting the TARDIS herself to finally put in a more pro-active appearance at some point (which she hadn't in the previous 10 episodes). I didn't quite see the egg bit coming, but even that's been done before... this ending looks a whole lot like that of "The Leisure Hive," where Pangol is regressed to being an infant so he can be brought up properly this time. (and that story also featured big aliens in tiny human body suit costumes... hmmm) New viewers might be a bit confused, I suppose, but even they should've got the hint that the old girl was going to be more involved than usual when they took the time to explain police boxes and the chameleon circuit in the early going, or later point out that they're actually using the "cell" function of a police box for real once they've captured the Slitheen, and there was also the refueling business. And that says a lot to fans too... the fact the TARDIS no longer has a limitless store of energy to draw on but must be refueled with temporal energy from time to time, which follows the fact that the Eye of Harmony would've been destroyed along with Gallifrey (or at least turned back into a normal black hole again without any energy infrastructure around it anymore).

What of our other characters? I'll start with the easy one (pun intended), and that's Captain Jack. I think John Barrowman should've taken his performance down a notch or two in this one... it was at the right level when WWII was going on all around him, but here when it's just domestic-looking present-day Cardiff, it seems too loud. It's interesting to note that he's got enough know-how to help the Doctor with the TARDIS systems and the refueling process... perhaps he'll be able to pilot it as well at some point?

And then we have Rose and Mickey and their romantic sub-plot, where Rose just can't quite cut the cord that still exists between them (as her not really needing her passport shows) even though she's clearly not coming back to him. She even gets charmingly upset with him for going out with someone else they knew, to the point that she completely forgets about the fantastic alien planets she was describing and wants to talk more about that girl. Mickey on the other hand is, by episode's end, very angry indeed with her, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if this doesn't factor into the season finale somehow. Perhaps the Bad Wolf will try to turn Mickey against her and the Doctor?

This is the episode where the Doctor first really notices that the words "bad wolf" are following them wherever they go, then tries to pretend it's a coincidence, but we know it isn't, and he clearly doesn't think it is either. At the same time, some hints are dropped which may have gone unnoticed as to just how interested the Bad Wolf is in the Doctor... I'm convinced that the entire Slitheen-builds-nuclear-power-station-on-the-rift plot was the Bad Wolf's idea, and that it is the one who supplied Margaret the Slitheen with her super surf board and gave her the idea of what to name the station, though I'm guessing Margaret isn't conscious of most of this. Also, given the points the Doctor makes again in this one about how the TARDIS telepathic field gets into your head to translate things for you, I wonder if this isn't some sort of telepathic attack or surveillance of them. (though I don't think it's from a TARDIS)

The direction was as solid as I've come to expect from Joe Ahearne now. I particularly liked the chase sequence where our four heroes manage to corner Margaret and how that was staged ("she's climbing out the window, isn't she?"), and the teleporter joke that looked like Margaret was doing John Cleese as Sir Lancelot in "The Holy Grail." Also the music wasn't offensive again... it's still not terrific, but Gold's scores are at least tolerable now, which they weren't sometimes earlier in the season.

I do have one true complaint about the episode, and that's how whoever is in charge of the special sound effects is at times using some stock Hollywood sound effects that have been in use in films and cartoons since TV began. Whoever you are, cut this out. It sounds childish and like you're taking the easy way out. If you're stumped for a sound effect, ring up someone who either does or did work at Big Finish and they'll teach you how it's done. And oh, you should also not use a TARDIS in-flight hum for the interior of someone else's spaceship like you did in Captain Jack's in the previous two episodes... it only creates confusion amongst the fans.

And I want to put in a good mention for Mail Harries as Cathy Salt, who gave a very good performance, and who I think is very cute.

Overall then: 8 out of 10 for "Boom Town" Good character stuff, mostly great acting, good direction... solid all around, except some sound FX.