I rather guess that the production team of "Cutting It" are glad that they allowed Annette Badland the time off to star once again as Margaret 'Slitheen' Blaine in ""Boom Town," and so am I...

This was pure genius.

When the original two Slitheen episodes (AOL/WW3) aired a few weeks ago, I didn't quite know what to make of the Slitheen race, which turned out to be not a race, but a family. This is the first new 'monster' in Doctor Who since the McCoy years, unless we count the ones in "The End of the World", and they seemed as if their creator has been watching Del Boy, Claude Greengrass, and the bunch of fellas from "Last of the Summer Wine" and somehow mixed them all up to create an extra terrestrial version, to come and blow up the world and sell it for fuel. We did not seem to learn a great deal about them, considering how many of them there were.

This time, there was just the one, and we saw deep into the Raxacoricofallapatorian psyche. (I wouldn't try saying that under the influence of anything). We learned that the Family Slitheen were sentenced to death in their absence some years ago. We are not told the nature of their crime, but are left to ponder that it was something dark if indeed it warrants a death penalty.

Margaret's 'date' with the Doctor as her final request before being transported home to her own planet was darkly humourous, and allowed us to get closer to this character than any in Russell T. Davies's episodes.

This getting closer to secondary characters was not confined to Margaret either, as we also saw quite far into the life circumstances of Cathy, the journalist who seemed very knowledgeable about the incidents which supposedly had occured to people involved in the 'Blaidd Drwg' (Bad Wolf) Nuclear power station project. And this, even though we didn't see her for long, and at least she wasn't needlessly killed off.

Margaret's being touched by Cathy's talking about her boyfriend, and her unborn child, evidently reminding her of the sadness of losing her own family in the wreckage of 10 Downing Street meant that we saw the kinder side of this particular alien, despite her obvious and original intention.

Captain Jack was brilliant when Mickey knocked on the door of the Tardis. "Who the hell are you?" reminding me somewhat of Bart Simpson. Then the banter between the Doctor and Mickey seemed very natural, and the laughing and joking in the cafe afterwards was an apt illustration that even for adventurous time travellers there are relaxing moments of 'normality.'

That however, was all to change when the Doctor saw a familiar face on the front page of the paper being read by a bloke at another table.

The Doctor's line to the male secretary, "She's climbing out of the window isn't she?" was the perfect precursor to the hilarious chase, with the communication all being done by mobile phones. (Does this make Chris Eccleston the first Doctor to use one?) Margaret's teleportation being countered by the Doctor's reversal via his sonic screwdriver, then re-established by Margaret, then the Doctor, then... et al, was a joy to watch.

As this episode was set in Cardiff, I wondered if the 'rift' closed by Eve in 1869 would come in to the story, and I wasn't wrong. It seemed logical that Margaret would want to use it for a purpose other than to just blow everyone up, and her escape attempt might have worked with the use of any other power source. But Margaret did not reckon with the Doctor, and his statement to her that "This is not just any power source. This is the Tardis, MY Tardis." was very powerful, and signalled to us that "This - Is - The - Doctor" speaking, and a signal if we needed one that Chris Eccleston has effectively established himself as THE DOCTOR in the most powerful way possible.

It remains a crying shame that we will only have him for two more episodes, as I think he could have carried on for a long time.

But what of Rose? Well, she must have been missing Mickey, because she asked him to bring her passport, which she then admitted she didn't really need. We were given lumps in our throats as they talked in depth about things, and in the middle, Mickey tells Rose that he's been seeing 'Patricia Delaney', who according to Rose, he doesn't like any way. "But you left me!" spouts Mickey in a moment of frustrated annoyance. And so, when the rift opens and the Doctor makes for the Tardis with attached 'Slitheen prisoner' in tow, Rose does the same.

This is when Margaret is 'treated' to a sight that not many have seen, the very heart of the Tardis, which even the Doctor does not know the full strength of.

When Margaret is reduced to a Raxacoricofallapatorian egg, in which she effectively has a second chance at life itself; the Doctor, Rose, and Jack work very nicely together to close the rift and allow the Tardis to complete its 'recharging'. The Doctor's "Thank you all" was a nice touch to illustrate that he, Rose, and Jack are now a team.

Rose goes off to find Mickey, although she seems to deliberately make little effort to find him, perhaps angry and confused about his revelation about Patricia Delaney. This juxtaposition of normal and not so normal lives criss-crossing in emotional turmoil leaves us with more drama to come in future episodes as Rose and Mickey wrestle with their very unusual relationship.

I could say something about Direction, effects, camera angles, lighting and so on, but I'm not really expert in these sort of things. Suffice to say that they all looked fine to me. I will say one thing about the music, and that is to all its critics, "Lay off." The music in any television drama sets the atmosphere, and is designed to accentuate whatever kind of mood is depicted in the particular scene. The reality is that this will work for some, and not for others.

I look forward to the final two episodes with wanton glee. 10/10

I was dreading В“Boom Town;В” a recycled monster and a recycled location with В‘cheap money saving episodeВ’ written all over it. In the run of things so far IВ’d say itВ’s the worst episode bar В“The Long Game,В” though even that show was good В– itВ’s just the standard of the series has been so high when an episode like В“The Long GameВ” or В“Boom TownВ” comes along itВ’s easy to be disappointed.

Though rather cheap it was, В“Boom TownВ” was a good story based on an interesting premise В– the Doctor returning to face the consequences of his actions. In true Russell T. Davies style, we also had some brilliant character moments, and although the Slitheen was being re-used from earlier in the season the story was different enough to the earlier two-parter to work well. In fact, the alien menace in the story could have been anyone; this wasnВ’t really a shock-horror scary monsters story, it was a more psychological piece.

The episode began with a lot of energy; the Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack work wonderfully together. Throw Mickey into the mix and you have an even better dynamic. The scenes with Mickey and Rose, brilliantly played by both actors, gave this episode and continued to give the series as a whole that all important grounding in real life - the idea that when the Doctor whisks someone away with him in his TARDIS, there are consequences - and Mickey has arguably suffered more than anyone as a result of the Doctor taking Rose with him on his travels. The episodeВ’s end where Mickey sees Rose but turns and walks away rather than run to her was quite painful. I can only hope that we see more of Mickey, even if this was the end for his relationship with Rose.

Speaking of В‘consequences,В’ thatВ’s exactly what the Doctor came face to face with when he finds the surviving member of the Slitheen family has become Mayor of Cardiff, planning to blow up the entire city using her В‘Bad WolfВ’ power plant just to escape the Earth! Surely Earth isnВ’t that bad? Given more screen time than in her previous episodes, Annette Badland was excellent as Margaret Blaine, the Slitheen disguised as the Mayor of Cardiff. Can you believe Davies even gave her a fat-sounding name (was it something like Blon Phat Phodge?), as well as making her wobble down the road, feebly attempting to escape? She played her character on a knife-edge, maintaining the perfect balance between humour and horror. More than that, at times in the story you do almost sympathise with her, especially when she is describing the manner of her execution and how she was brought up to kill.

Of course, at the end of the day sheВ’s evil to the bone and the TARDIS degenerates her to an egg to give her a second chance. This I found interesting for two reasons; firstly, just like in В“The Doctor DancesВ” we have an episode where (barring a few murders of officials that no-one really likes) В“EVERYBODY LIVES!В” making me think the last two episodes are going to be very, very dark indeed. Secondly, and most importantly, once again itВ’s emphasised that the TARDIS is a living creature. Thinking about all these В‘Bad WolfВ’ references the Doctor and Rose have come across on their travels, they must either be pure co-incidence (as the eternally optimistic Doctor very amusingly reasoned, wearing that trademark grin) or perhaps the TARDIS knows something about this В‘Bad WolfВ’ menace and is using itВ’s telepathic circuits to influence the people around it, wherever it lands, into saying, or using, or writing or even naming a power plant В‘Bad WolfВ’ to warn the Doctor of some impending danger. Is it a person? Captain Jack В– Mr. No Memory? Is it the Daleks? I cannot wait until this Saturday to find out!

As usual, the comedy moments were frequent and highly amusing. Margaret making excuses to the reporter for all these officials who died suspiciously in her presence was particularly funny, as was the DoctorВ’s В“sheВ’s climbing out of the window isnВ’t she?В” line, as well as all that teleporting! The Doctor stealing the newspaper out of the hands of some random bloke, MargaretВ’s feeble attempts on the DoctorВ’s life in the restaurant which he resisted without blinking an eye. Brilliant stuff.

As for next weekВ’s trailer, although IВ’d heard and hoped and prayed the Daleks (noteВ… plural) would be back IВ’d given up hope once I heard that В“Bad WolfВ” would be the reality TV episode. Not being a fan of В“Big Brother,В” В“The Weakest LinkВ” and В“What Not To WearВ” I didnВ’t have high hopes for an episode which, after 11 episodes of hype, HAD to deliver and I had serious reservations that it might be too gimmicky. Now it looks like this reality TV thing is just a front (hopefully that part wonВ’t go on much longer than half an hour) and not only to we have the Dalek menace as the real threat, we have an alien planet (at last!) and an entire battle fleet of Dalek ships! В“The Daleks' Master PlanВ” for the new millenniumВ…

We live in hope!

I feel slightly guilty about slating Russell T. Davies as he's the man responsible for bringing the series back. An easy question for detractors to be asked is "would you rather the show didn't come back at all?" While I am duly grateful to him and all concerned, that doesn't mean I'm going to pretend to like what I don't.

Therefore, I now apologise to Davies for the roasting I'm about to give him.

The Davies backlash really started with Aliens Of London; we were all excited at Rose and optimistic for The End Of The World, but Aliens Of London, despite a loyal core of followers (fair enough), has had a lot of venom directed its way. I contributed to this, as I spent forty-five minutes in a permanent state of cringe, and now Davies proves that the ability to catch lightning in a bottle is not necessarily a good thing as he gives us Boom Town, one of the biggest piles of tripe I've ever seen shamefully tramp out bearing the name of Doctor Who.

Eleven episodes in and I believed myself to have a much more realistic idea of what to expect from a Russell T. Davies episode. I was predicting a characterisation-thick and plot-light episode, and that's what I got. I was also expecting an OK runabout that would kill time before the finale. I was naive.

Davies's flair for characterisation is his main weakness when writing Doctor Who; the programme has always been about plot, which in turn produces characterisation. When Davies has made his own show from scratch, like Queer As Folk, he can tailor it to meet his strengths and have it fully character-led. What he's trying to do though with Doctor Who is to impose his own style on an incompatible format, the effect of which is like watching a child stick a fish in a bucket of water and expecting it to thrive. Without plot characterisation is worthless as it has nothing to derive from: it is simply a bunch of actors blabbering to each other. It is through a solid plot that episodes like Father's Day can work as character pieces, as people have a good (and, more to the point, interesting) reason to be talking to each other. Unfortunately Boom Town has no such thing, with a hackneyed and clichéd tale of world destruction that could have come from an episode of 1960's Batman - not to mention that the central idea owes more to Mark Gatiss's imagination rather than Davies's own. The lack of plot is even less excusable since the episode features almost exclusively established characters, negating the requirement for time-consuming introductions. I know this has been discussed before, but hey, he keeps doing it, I'll keep saying it.

Another problem with leaving so little room for plot in a very limited episode length is that what plot there is seems to be condensed and force-fed to us in a couple of scenes. As such Boom Town gets off to a truly dreadful (and self-consciously camp) start with a wooden actor ranting about not building this dangerous nuclear power plant, which if nothing else is a rip-off of Chinatown. He then proudly gives us "it's almost like somebody wanted it to go wrong", which would have seemed clumsy twenty years ago. This is followed after the titles by some of the most horrendously crude exposition since The Space Pirates, with the Doctor explaining to those who've had a serious brain injury since the series started about the rift over Cardiff and what the TARDIS looks like a police box. Fair enough really, I mean it is three decades since The Unquiet Dead aired, and there's no chance of a DVD release in the near future. Oh, wait...

Things settle down a bit once our heroes meet Margaret Slitheen, but not for long. I was quite proud that I spotted the bad wolf reference all on my own (I lived with three Welsh people at university and I couldn't help but pick something up) but was then let down by having it ground into my face like half a grapefruit, possibly because it's all coming to a head next week. Once she's caught the whole thing shudders to a halt: Mickey is crowbarred into the narrative and sent off with Rose, allowing her to tell him about all the amazing alien planets we don't get to see. Meanwhile the Doctor has an intimate soiree with the Slitheen, were Davies wows us with finger darts when he should be advancing the story. All this time Captain Jack is sidelined in the TARDIS, the paper-thin episode having no room for him.

What next? The Doctor orders the cheque, perhaps because he's realised that nothing's happened yet and there's only five minutes left to tie everything up. We get to see what Jack's been doing - actually we don't, we just get to see the effect since the idea of a nuclear power station has ended up going nowhere. Then, all of a sudden, it transpires that the alien wasn't actually helpless and pitiable but was in fact bad to the bone all along (now what other episode have I seen that in?). This I hold as a big mistake as it negates the earlier fleshing-out of her character (Davies resorting to his base strategy), which at least served to make World War Three less annoying (it was never as annoying as this though). The final nail in the coffin comes as Davies resorts to the most shameless contrivance imaginable, which I wouldn't have thought was possible after The End Of The World. Yes folks, the TARDIS is alive! Well, as long as it's convenient anyway! Then the baddie looks into a bright light and disappears. That's it. That's a major spoiler, but since it's such a damp squib I don't suppose anyone who hasn't seen it would care.

There are, I should say, a few good points about the episode: the farting is cut down (if they'd left it at stomach-rumbling to begin with I might have been more forgiving towards Aliens Of London); Joe Ahearne's direction is as dependable as ever and the scene where Mickey cuts dead Rose's story of an alien world by telling her of his new girlfriend is an effective contrast between the human centre and wild spirit that makes up the show. Unfortunately, it's nowhere near enough to save the episode. As my Mum said, if she was a teacher this episode would have had "see me" written on it in red ink.

All in all then, Boom Town feels like a cheap stop-gap. With no new monsters or extravagant locations shoots it is simply a way to fill a gap in the schedule; so sad that Davies has run out of ideas after less than one series. This leads to one final question: can the Daleks save his credibility? The Daleks can be very good or painfully bad, it just depends on the writer. Oops, just answered my own question...

Some stories just donВ’t stand a chance. Aliens of London, after the gothic grandeur of The Unquiet Dead? Flabby, modern-day rot. The Long Game after the monument to Who history that was Dalek? Laughably flimsy runaround. And anything at all after the genius of Stephen MoffatВ’s flawless contributionВ… Well, like I said. DidnВ’t stand a chance.

And yet we present, ladies and gentlemen, in defiance of all the odds, the Little Episode that Could.

The pressures against Boom Town were unprecedented. After his introduction as a spanner in the works of the Doctor and Rose's relationship, it had to see Captain Jack cosily inserted into the TARDIS crew with all their disagreements ironed out. After an effects laden two-parter it had to be made for virtually nothing: reusing the Slitheen (never a popular monster with long-term fans anyway); set in a contemporary, undressed (for which read boring) setting; using few, simple effects and a lot of cheap (ie TARDIS) scenes. And for season-arc purposes it had to feature Mickey, thus handling an unprecedented four-strong TARDIS crew, as well as provide some crucial TARDIS backstory; paint the Doctor as dangerous and unhappy with what heВ’s become; re-open the time-rift, establish a theme of consequences and В– finally, as if that wasnВ’t enough В– talk about Bad Wolf.

To think Peter Grimwade thought he had it tough sorting out Turlough, Peri and Kamelion in Planet of Fire. At least he got to go to Lanzarote. Russell T Davies had to do it in Cardiff В– and itВ’s much, much the better for it. Because he, at least, knows he canВ’t make a sci-fi spectacular, and therefore doesnВ’t try. Instead he throws all the budget for explosions and Bugs-style chase sequences into the first opening 15 and closing 10 minutes, and spends the rest creating a tiny, intimate, personal character piece.

Make no mistake, the result is very odd. Every story needs a beginning, a middle and an end, and while this has all three, thereВ’s an ending barely a quarter of an hour in (all but literally В“I would have got away with it too if it wasnВ’t for you pesky time-travellersВ…В”), and then two or three middles in a row before the ending appears, which turns out to come from a completely different story anyway. Informed sources had promised that the reintroduction of the Slitheen would be dealt with in the first ten minutes: what they didn't make clear is that the entire plot, at least as first presented, is dealt with in those ten minutes, with only a brief encore half an hour later in order to arrange a suitably satisfying finale. Perhaps it would have been better if theyВ’d gone with Russell TВ’s alternate title, В“Dining with MonstersВ” so that audiences had expected less boom, and rather more scenes in restaurants, for their boom-town buck. ThatВ’s certainly what you get В– and when the audience is ready for it, for instance because theyВ’ve already watched it once and want to know if their initial negative impression was fair, itВ’s exactly what you need.

This isnВ’t a story about explosions. ItВ’s not a story about Mickey and Rose and Captain Jack, either, which is why they tend to get shunted off into soap-opera sideplots or locked in the TARDIS like a second-rate Nyssa. This is a story about the Doctor facing his oldest, quietest nightmares: long goodbyes; responsibilities; blame. Forced for once to face the consequences of his easy heroism, weВ’re in for just as uncomfortable a time as him, shown the stark realities of the life he leads and led to question В– quite genuinely, in fact, not the empty moralising В‘Do we have the right?В’ of the black goat Star Trek and its thousand young В– whether heВ’s actually doing the right thing.

If this doesnВ’t feel quite like Dr Who, thatВ’s not surprising. Russell T has insisted from the start that every episode should have a different tone, and for every uber-traditional Long Game and Unquiet Dead, thereВ’s a FatherВ’s Day or Aliens of London waiting В‘round the corner to surprise us. These days we never quite know what weВ’re sitting down to watch, and itВ’s one of the showВ’s greatest strengths. Who, after all, expected Dalek to make them cry? This isnВ’t a show thatВ’s going for the obvious, plodding through the same round of corridors, guns and traitors every week. WeВ’d have grown tired of that by Episode Eight, which in the classic series would have been called Day of the Fathers and involved endless running around in a crypt before the Doctor saved the day with a time-oscillator. No, Boom Town is what you get when you move away from what people expect, and it works like a charm.

Protesting too much? Well, perhaps. There are elements that while undeniably cool В– the hiding-place, and revelation, of Margaret's technobabble mcguffin, for instance В– don't seem to make an awful lot of sense. ThereВ’s a horrible Deus ex machina solution to the DoctorВ’s dilemma, which could be seen as rather avoiding the point. The aha-well-you-see ending, where the plot is explained after it's already happened, is considerably less satisfying than the usual kick-yourself-oh-of-course denument. ThereВ’s a feeling in the final act that Russell T is repairing a slightly shoddy plot rather than revealing a clever one. The TARDIS crew veers from the charming to the smug. I donВ’t like JackВ’s coat.

But theyВ’re not, in fact, major concerns compared with the plus-points. Margaret Blaine becomes one of the most effective enemies weВ’ve seen, even at her least powerful. Annetta Badland is simply magnificent in the role, withering, pleading, dismissive, cathartic В– a genuinely complex character. Noel Clarke finally gets his teeth into Mickey and delivers a truly affecting performance, making us question RoseВ’s actions as much as Blaine does the DoctorВ’s. The Slitheen costume, in its rare appearances, is extraordinarily effective, even moving at times, light-years ahead of its Aliens/War appearances. While the pacing is odd, almost every individual scene is an absolute zinger. (The toilet sequence in particular is tremendous: powerful, unexpected, perfect.) Arguably itВ’s one draft away from completion В– an explanation here, an intercut something-goingВ’s-wrong-in-the-TARDIS scene there В– but itВ’s still nothing short of astonishing.

WeВ’ve grown too used to the snappy one-liners, the zip-a-long plot, the emotional depth and the seamless cgi. We barely register Billie PiperВ’s perfection, or the fear and anger in EcclestonВ’s eyes. ItВ’s easy now to miss them altogether, and focus on the less-than-perfect moments. But watch again. The ghost music over the Blaidd Drwg scene. The look on EcclestonВ’s face when heВ’s told heВ’s a killer. В“LetВ’s see which of you can look at me in the eye.В” Where else are you going to see stuff of this quality on British tv?

And thatВ’s before we even reach the last three seconds.

Come on. YouВ’re telling me youВ’re not gonna keep watching? Tell that to the big bad wolf.

‘Boom Town!’ is probably the oddest episode of the new series so far, for rather than being an orthodox adventure, specifically the Doctor versus the Slitheen story I had anticipated, much of it is a philosophical treatise on the Doctor’s actions and there consequence and whether people can change. This is an interesting idea, but is it one which can sustain the interest of today’s casual viewer. I am not sure, but Russell T. Davis deserves some credit for being brave enough to risk put something as different this on primetime television.

Indeed in many ways he creates a very interesting and thought provoking episode. Should the Doctor condemn a killer, who seems to have repented to death? Is it as easy to dispose of a Monster once you know its name and have had dinner with it? These are difficult questions which the series has never really addressed in the past. I suspect there while be some hostile views towards this episode as a result of this, and everyone is entitled to a view, but I for one welcome this original approach, although that said I would not like to see a similar episode in the too near future.

There is also some very good writing and acting at work. I genuinely felt sorry for the Slitheen at times, particularly in the toilet scene where she mourns her brothers, and found her a very interesting character. Indeed until the Doctor, pointed it out I had almost forgotten that she had stolen a real woman’s body and killed her. For this credit should be given to both Russell T. Davis’ writing, Joe Ahearne’s direction and Annete Badland whose performance was superb. Indeed Christopher Eccleston is also very good in this episode which he needs to be for it to work.

I suspect many fans will think B plot with Rose and Mickey was out of place, but I had no real objections to it. Indeed it is giving the series a realism it has never had before, outside the audio plays and the novels, and I wonder if in the next two weeks the Mickey Rose relationship and its apparent breakdown here is going to be very important. In a similar vain the Doctor’s realisation that the phrase ‘Bad Wolf’ keeps recurring, is obviously important, and I suspect his brushing it off, is a bluff to protect Rose or major mistake…

While there are many good things about this episode, there are some things about this story I did not like. The reliance on the TARDIS to solve the story is annoying and looks like lazy writing. However I am prepared to be proved wrong about this if Davis is, as I suspect setting up the mysterious properties of the TARDIS for a future story line. However this does not excuse the continuing overuse of the sonic screwdriver, and the fact Davis gives Jack far too little to do. I also felt the scene in the restraint with the poison was too slapstick, and spoiled a good scene. Then there is plot of the rift opening and causing destruction. It feels as if it was tacked on to provide a spectacle, and as for this being Margaret’s plan B, well it feels unconvincing. I also question the fact rose mentioned going to other planets on unseen adventures, which to me draws attention to the fact we are not seeing stories on alien worlds, presumably for budgetary reasons.

Thus this is overall quite a good story, but perhaps it could have done with another couple of rewrites to iron out the flaws. In the final analysis I wonder if it will prove a welcome change of pace before what promises to be a memorable season finale.

My, my, my... what a fascinating experiment Doctor Who in 2005 is turning out to be. For better or worse, what Russell T. Davies has presented is Doctor Who re-imagined, not as a science-fiction or adventure serial, but as a mainstream drama dressed up in the guise of escapist fiction. Classic Doctor Who (like most other В‘sci-fiВ’ series) is a predominantly plot-driven affair, where the big ideas dealt with in each story tend to be of the В“what ifВ” variety: В“What would happen if (humans/likable aliens) in the (future/past) were doing (insert futuristic/historical activity) and (monster/villain/disease) X turned up?В” In contrast, the Doctor Who of 2005 seems much more interested in asking the questions В“What would it feel like to be one of those people, and just what are the emotional implications of living the life of the TARDIS crew?В” Plot is not the driving force of RTDВ’s Doctor Who, but rather exists to serve the character introspection.

Nowhere in the series so far has this been as obvious as in Boom Town, where he all but lets the disguise drop. What little plot there is here is thin in the extreme, and is essentially a parody of fan expectations. Returning villain Margaret Blaine, the female Slitheen, has miraculously survived her apparent demise at the end of World War Three and has cooked up a typically apocalyptic mad scheme(TM). Davies even ups the fanboy quotient by gratuitously referencing a further piece of continuity in the form of the time rift from The Unquiet Dead. Make no mistake, Davies has done this deliberately (consider how the episode was promoted in the В‘Next Time...В’ clip the previous week).

With his audience primed, Davies proceeds to purposely dash all these expectations. Instead of the dramatic reveal of the villain to the TARDIS crew halfway through the episode, she turns up on the front page of the local newspaper just a few minutes into the episode. (Why didnВ’t she choose to hide in some other body that wouldnВ’t be recognised? Because itВ’s funnier this way.) A nosy newspaper reporter unearths the plan and seems to be headed to an early death when she confronts Margaret (and come on, the evil villain is named Margaret!), but instead ends up having a heart-to-heart with her through the door to the loo. The traditional Doctor Who runaround is turned into a 30 second chase scene punctuated with another ridiculous use for the sonic screwdriver, the DoctorВ’s all-purpose plot device. The obligatory exposition and technobabble speeches usually given to the Doctor are ironically put in the mouth of new companion Captain Jack. The evil villainВ’s inevitable escape attempt makes for a 10 second gag over dinner. The plot is finally resolved at the end with an admitted deus ex machina, complete with a post-resolution explanation which is repeated twice, once by each of the companions, just to make sure you know itВ’s a joke. Even the now expected В“Bad WolfВ” reference is perverted. Instead of being subtly hidden, itВ’s blatantly brought to the forefront, and then ironically tossed off as a simple coincidence.

Having relegated the В“plotВ” of his episode to about 10 minutes, Davies fills the rest of the time in an extended examination of life in the TARDIS. The real focus of the episode is not the abortive plot, but rather two parallel conversations about consequence, one between Rose and Mickey and one between Margaret and the Doctor. Mickey breaks the stereotype of the spurned jealous boyfriend and actually seems to understand that Rose needs to be with the Doctor, however much he may hate that fact. Crucially it is also shown that Rose still cares deeply for Mickey (which was not at all apparent in AoL/WWIII), and the obvious joy she feels traveling with the Doctor is now tinged with regret for the (perhaps irrevocable) damage that her absence is causing to her old life. She might be able to go back home to London, but itВ’s clear that things will never be the same. Meanwhile, Margaret pleads for forgiveness from the Doctor, while confronting him with the idea that heВ’s not so different than those he fights. (A chilling reminder of the darker side of the Doctor that surfaced in The End of the World and Dalek, and presumably a setup for the next two episodes.)

Ultimately, however, I think Boom Town doesnВ’t quite hold together but, unlike some reviews IВ’ve seen in the OG Forum, I donВ’t think this is due to the plot, or lack thereof. In fact, this is at least the third essentially plotless episode of the series. FatherВ’s Day also had a razor-thin plot, and remove the fannish drooling over the resurrection of everyoneВ’s favorite pepper-pot and Dalek is really just three long conversations as well (albeit with a pretty high body count). However, where both Dalek and FatherВ’s Day succeed by keeping a consistent tone and fully committing to their emotional sentiments, the drama in Boom Town is undercut somewhat by the self-conscious irony which is thrown into the mix. The lighter tone to this story may help support the balance of the series as a whole, but doesnВ’t help the story stand on itВ’s own. One could worry that Davies seems to have set himself up for the same problem next week, which again looks to balance ironic parody with the darker drama that the return of the Daleks is sure to bring with it. On the other hand, he managed a similar balance quite well with The End of the World (still his best script to date) which began rather light, but gradually darkened and ended on a very somber note indeed.

So, in the end, I think Boom Town ends up being a bit less than the sum of itВ’s parts, with the juxtaposition of the parody with the drama just a little too jarring, making it difficult for the viewer to commit to either. On the other hand it does contain some important character development, particularly between Rose and Mickey. In the end, it may turn out to work better in the context of the season as a whole than it does as a stand alone.