Ok, let's get the obvious out of the way. I liked it, it was good, well done! Now that that is said on with the review.

This episode for me was a big revelation, as it was for most viewers I'm sure. I do like the fact that we need to rediscovers everything about the Doctor Who universe once again with several twists and turns along the way. From the brief explanation of the TARDIS to the Doctor himself. I find this new Doctor to be, in some exagerated way, the most human of them all.

During the scene when he's talking to Rose and she's explaining that everyone is so 'alien', The Doctor goes from being gitty as a child in a candy store to expressing the deepest sadness when recalling his past. And later, around the end of the episode, he is even vengeful towards Cassandra and very dark. His emotions are continuously changing from one end of the spectrum to the other end.

The previous Doctors were very composed or at least uniform in how they acted and reacted. The ninth Doctor seems a bit unstable, human. It's as if to say the whole of human emotions were compacted into the Doctor and his body and mind can't seem to contain it all properly. I'm interested in finding out where will lead.

The other revelation was, of course, the fact that he is the last Timelord. Now, unless there is something I missed, please let me know if I did, I think I speak for everyone when I say: "What the heck happened?" There was a war? Against who? when did this happen? And a slew of other question that will most likely be answered during the course of the new series.

But here's a discrepancy about all this. If the Timelords and Gallifrey is destroyed and the war as lost, why can't The Doctor go back in time and prevent it? Why can't he go back in time to find other Timelords that travelled to such and such era and place before dying. In the realm of Time Travel it's all possible.

I think that this bit was the one real downside to the episode. I can only hope that an explanation will soon be given, otherwise I for one will not believe that the idea did not pop into either The Doctor's or Rose's head...

Well where do you start, episode 1 (Rose) was good but this was even better. You may have seen various TV programmes and newspapers rubbishing the effects used in "Rose", the rubber arm and the wheelie bin coming in for particular stick. Well get a load of this - stunning external space shots, amazing spider bots and aliens that probably didn't leave green paint everywhere a la Myrka.

The effects were only part of the greater whole though, light humour and some touching scenes made for a really well crafted story and I have to say I am coming around to the format of 45 minute self contained episodes.

The show started well carrying on where last week left off, this was always strange in the show before the Doctor would go from one danger to another without really knowing what had happened in the intervening period.

The Tardis controls took me a little by suprise I have to say - A bicycle pump!? - oh well they reckon it is supposed to be composed of lots of different bit from different periods, basically anything the Doctor could get his hands on. Strange as it may be it does add a touch of H G Wells time machine to the show as well as a bit more like Peter Cushing's Tardis.

Anyway back to the story, So the Doctor and Rose after a couple of stops arrive on platform 1 5 billion years into our future on the day the sun expands and fries the Earth. The Doctor has some Jedi mind tricks which he uses on the platform steward "You will take me to Jabba" and then we're into the main viewing room where we are introduced to an wide array of new creatures. 

Something I am still trying to get used to are Christopher Eccleston's weird faces that he seems to pull; when Cassandra is wheeled in, last week when he and Rose were walking through the housing estate and Rose asks him who he is:

Rose: Doctor what?

Doctor: Just the Doctor

Rose: The Doctor

Doctor: Hello (funny face)

I suppose it's part of his new character, maybe he's gone a little bit manic after the destruction of the Timelords. More on this later.

The Mox of Ballhoon spitting in Rose's eye and the Doctor breathing on people nearly had me on the floor, it's cheaper than a bunch of flowers and a card! There'll be kids now at school breathing and spitting on one another and hopefully in a couple of weeks children will be screaming EXTERMINATE in the playground - it's all good.

When it was announced that Dr Who was coming back I hoped that we would get some more character development and if you like some more emotion from the Doctor and we got it in bucketfuls here. Jabe scans the Doctor and discovers that he is a Timelord, knowing of the destruction of Gallifrey she confronts him in the maintenance shaft and they have a wonderful moment where she comforts him infact I almost (stress that ALMOST) had a tear. Then you get Jabe laying down her life so that the Doctor can save the platform again knowing the Doctors hate for the waste of life I ALMOST had another tear. Then to top it off we have Rose confronting the Doctor about who he is and what he is doing, he tells her he is the last remaining member of his raceand this although you don't know them makes you think back to the good old days of the stories set on Gallifrey and you know that he can never go back. Never again will we have warrior robots in the Death Zone or tea in the Panopticon needless to say it twangs the owld hearts strings - twang twang twang. 

The Doctor then suddenly turns into a Nokia engineer and rigs up time crossing mobile for Rose to give her mum a ring, probably at a time before the events of "ROSE". He then jokes about the bill which had me nearly on the floor.

Anyway to sum up, great effects, great action sequences, great script and great direction and writing.

If the series keeps getting better at the rate which it improved from last weeks to this weeks then roll on next week because it's gonna be a cracker!

Oh finally - Disappointed that Eccleston and the BBC announced that they were parting company so early in the shows broadcast but Eccleston should return for a regeneration episode.

Well, I have to say that my enthusiasm fro this new series goes from strength to strength.

After an unexpected pre-credit sequence that was bound to hook the audience from the first second, we launch into the familiar but modern new open credits sequence and Murray Gold'd arrangement of the theme. Both of these have grown on me also since episode one and I do feel that they now really capture RTD's vision of Doctor Who.

And suddenly, here we are; transported 5 billion years into the future. A base known as Platform One where spectators can watch the world come to an firey end - boy! Does this series move fast!

I suppose that the downside of the episode was that the plot was a little thin on the ground even for 45 minutes: The basic premise was, in many ways, similar to the "Curse of Peladon", with an array of outlandish and fantastical lifeforms gathered together in one place (to watch the end of the world). One of these lifeforms, of course, is a murderer. But which one? The Doctor fulfils the Holmes/Poirot role of detective and the revelation of the murderer's identity is both fitting and ironic.

The acting was superb with Billie Piper playing Rose's sense of bewilderment and distress that the earth will eventually be destroyed with absolute emotional conviction. Also, Rose's handling of her situation as novice space/time traveller is continued to be dealt with in her performance - something that was often skated over in the old series.

Eccleston also, just gets better and better. There is also another revelation in this episode which came sooner in the series than I expected. I won't spoil it for you if you haven't seen it, but Eccleston handles these scenes with a depth of restrained emotion that is rarely seen on any Film or TV show, making it all the more of a shame that he will be leaving the role so soon.

The other performances in the episode were a joy to watch also, particularly Yasmin Bannerman as Jabe who brought a quiet sensitivity to the role, plus her semi flirtatious relationship with the Doctor worked well. And a special mention also, to Zoe Wannamaker (who you could be forgiven for not recognising) as the self-obsessed Cassandra - a difficult role to pull off successfully, but she does it.

All in all a good bit of visual wonder, excitement and not a little poignancy. I'm loving this new Doctor Who more and more.

This is in many ways the first proper episode of the series. No short plot to allow for character introductions (we did that ast week) no interrruptions by graham norton (the bbc did that last week too..after 15 years did you really think the good doctors return would be glitch free?) just 40 odd minutes of new improved doctor who. And it was very iproved in a lot of areas... and changed in ways left, right, center, and sideways in time. Not all for the better (I'm an honest man.) The story was very good. Absolutely perfect for your 45 minute format that we now have, and the writing ability and who pedigree of the show is starting to show. You can tell these were the guys who read wrote and absorbed the virgin NA's and even the BBC EDA's (more on that in a moment..) Every character that gets a line manages to get across not just words, but a huge amount of character with those words, and we are even given the ability to feel sympathy for a plumber. A plumber who we *know* is going to die, and we *know* is going to be pulled into that ubiquitous ventilation shaft. Its a rule of sci-fi convention after all. But a cliche, when beautifully done, works well, and this it does. I admit, despite praising the characters to death, that I actually found our villain of the piece, our 'last human', cassandra, to be ...well not as interesting as I had expected. Funny, yes. Clever...in places. But I never found her to have much in the way of dimensions. Pun intended. I have to agree with the Doctors statement of 'all these years and it still comes down to money' and wish there had been more to it. (perhaps the implied race hate aspect of her character should have been played up along with her vanity.) And her demise...well, it was a bit gorey in a way? And I'm not sure many doctors would have done that. Hmm. The Doctor and Rose are obviously to be the centers of our attention in this series, with Ace's legacy being felt in a companion that we can focus on, because the stories focus on her more than the Doctor. Which is nice... it looks like the mystery is back, which is something thats been hoped for by most of DWs previosu production teams, and all it took was an absence of fifteen years so the public oculd forget all about it. How worrying.

The effects were wonderful, and yes, theres a nice shiney budget now, but that budget is still small compred to lot of sci-fi these days...but the shoe string power, and degrees in jiggery pokery held by the production team provided something that was truly amazing to see on screen, in a doctor who episode. (though the amazing aliens still don't quite beat the destoryer from battlefield...not just yet anyway.) And it has to be said that, as the beautiful south would have it, blue is the colour for DW aliens and monsters. Especially when the earth is directly in peril. This episode has the best effects work you have seen in Doctor Who, (since at least greatest show...because i love it.) Its on a par with the beautiful work done on shows like Farscape (which is useful, because you can watch that after DW confidential on BBC three..) and does show a nice mix aesthetics, imagination and good old fashioned hard work. Three cheers for that.

There a few things i simply must mention about this episode, that don't really fall under story or effects though. One is, the missus likes it, and this can only be a good thing, because she, unlike me, unlike us, is not a fan. And can only claim to having viewed DW under clockwork orange -like conditions due to me making her sit through my DVDs. And she loves it. More importantly, her kid sister liked it too. And at about 12 years old, thats exactly the market DW needs to appeal to, in order to see another 40 years through the door. So the mainstream appeal is back. Just what RTD wanted. The camp is back too... Tainted love and Britney? In the same episode. Not since the happiness patrol (or sylvs first season) has an episode played with such things. Its also worth noting that Cassandra is DW's first transexual character. (she states clearly that she used to be a boy.) The much hyped ipod joke was...funny. But not as funny as DWM had me expecting. But it did lead to the afore mentioned Tainted Britney stuff, including the doctor having a bit of dance, and coming across a bit dendrophiliac. Wonderful stuff.

But... I know its rotten of me, but I couldn't help but imagine Sylv in this episode. Its so NA, and... well, you can imagine him making a quite eulogy to the arth, after he's saved so many times, to watch it finally die would have so much impact on the doctor. Having imagined sylv, or either of the bakers do this... I wonder why it didn't have much of a noticeable impact on *this* doctor. Hmm. The sylvness kicked in again during the Doctors indirect execution of Cassandra.. but I think previous doctors would have sent her to prison. To justice, not vengeance. I'm not sure if this new callousness (other Doctors would have at least turned away rather than stare as Cassandra went ping) is interesting or worrying.

My final thing to note (and I messed up the structure of this review just so I could say it last) is something truly amazing. EDA's, (and therefore NA's through extrapolation) have just become canon in the most amazing way. Gallifrey has been destroyed 'before its time' in a war. And the Doctor is the last of its people. My jaw dropped as realised what it seemed they were referencing. And it made me happy. Because this series, owes more than its writing to the novels. And that debt is being paid off a little at atime. Now...if we can persuade them to reverse-regenerate the Doctor now that Chris has decided to leave, we can ration our regens and have another 40 years, during which time, I wouldn't be surprised to see an adjudicator turn up.

Go forward in all your beliefs...

After the hyperactive mania that was 'Rose' this was a much better paced episode. I had time to enjoy the excellent visuals and wallow in the events happening as I watched. I loved the tiny scene between Rose and the plumber, even though it was only really done go give the death of the plumber a bit of an impact - it worked too. 

The problem with 45 minutes per episode is that it is too easy to fall into the Star Trek trap where the first 40 minutes set up an excellent story only for it to be solved in last 5 minutes and this was exactly what happened here. A two second reprogramming of the spider droids was all that was needed to find the killer in a very Agatha Christie style reveal. Unfortunately it was a little too obvious who the killer would be, especially after the attempt on Rose's life. 

Saying that, however, it's too easy to forget that this programme is aimed more for children than adults and that's where it's success lies - the fact that anyone can watch and still be engrossed. The spider droids were an excellent menace, genuinely creepy and superbly realised in CGI - I only hope that the rest of the series continues with this level of SFX. I laughed and cringed when one them pressed the sun filter button and killed the blue Steward.

Christopher Eccelston didn't impress me in the first episode, he was too smarmy and the way he has of gurning through his facial expressions really didn't help me at all. In the this episode, though he was much better. He was calmer and more assured and handled the serious/emotional sides of the character very well. I love the idea of revealing little bits of the Doctor's past a tiny bit at a time and was on the edge of my seat as the war that destroyed Gallifrey was mentioned and the poinency it added to the destruction of Earth - A throw back to the Eighth Doctor novels perhaps? 

The gurning persisted though thankfully not to the extent of the first episode and for the first time I could see why Christopher Eccelston was chosen as the Ninth Doctor. I have the feeling he is going to grow on me throughout the season to the point where I love him as the Doctor, only for me to have to start the whole process again with his replacement!

It's very easy to form an emotional bond with Billie Piper's Rose. She is everything that ACE should have been in the eighties. I find myself self geniunely feeling for her, from her realisation that she knows nothing about the Doctor to the impact of the world's destruction and the need to call her mom. Although on a character and emotional level she was given some excellent stuff to work with plotwise she was given almost nothing. Rose served as the catalyst for the adventure and then somone for the Doctor to rescue - same old Dr Who then. I would have prefered it if her own curiosity lead her to finding out what was going on on the station, telling the Doctor and together the duo putting everything to rights.

All of the above said it was an beautiful episode. It looked spectacular and the story drew me in alongside the excellent perfomances of the Doctor, Rose and Jabe. And it's also worth mentioning Zoe Wannamaker's performance as the last human being. I would give this a solid 8/10 and I'm truly looking forward to next week's episode.

"I give you the air from my lungs."

Three patterns between 'Rose' and 'The End of the World' occur to me. First is that each uses a mixture of a Hartnell and Pertwee story as a base- in the former, its their first appearances (obvious?) and in the latter 'The Ark' and 'The Curse of Peladon' (although 'Mission to the Unknown' would strike just as well). The second is the reference to the Titanic. The third is yet another reference-to wars the Doctor has an involvement in (or is the same war?). 

As for the story itself, we're heading to a small station with a lot of aliens involved-season 5 anyone? This suits me perfectly as they were always my favourite stories. The pre-credits sequence isn't a complete stranger to Doctor Who, but to see them so often will be a novelty. Still, its worked this time, so it shouldn't be a problem. The Doctors reference to he date is very sly humour that continues to work its way into the series. In fact, the Doctor s one of four characters here to have superb characterisation in many areas. Rose is once again played at a high level, with her questioning here decision and the Doctor in a way we understand. Jabe is both alien and connected to us in an emotional way, and the sequences between her and the Doctor are some of the best in the episode. The last member is the very wacky Cassandra with a very villainous performance (and thats before we find out hes the villain!). The other aliens are very interesting visually, and its a sham that they had so little to do, perhaps exposing flaws in the 45-minute format. A universal favourite appears to be the wonderful Face of Bo. The voice of the much-publicized Moxx of Balhoon however leaves a lot to be desired.

The visual effects are the key to the piece here, and they not only add to the story, but define it in such a wonderful way. The sequence of the earth being destroyed is a classic bit, and the fact that Rose comments that no-one saw it a the end only makes it more poignant and gripping. The station is a masterpiece, and is contending for best space model in Doctor Who. The spiders are also well realised. The other great effect is the turbines, and the climatic shot of the Doctors final crossing is acting and tension at its best. 

The final moments are both the best and worst of the episode. The good is the Doctor and Roses reaction to what has happened, with emotion and flair. The bad is the revelation that the Doctor has no home planet. It really is far too early in the series for continuity, so Russel is taking a huge gamble here. You cannot help but think that the desk he was using to write this had a copy of 'The Ancestor Cell' on it. What becomes of it? Obviously, time will tell.

Overall, the episode is superior to 'Rose' and definitely one of he best going ever. 'Rose' has a stronger rating for providing an excellent start, but this is a likely contest for crown of the season lies.