Episode two of Doctor Who takes the sound grounding from the series opener and builds upon it.

The fx are far sharper (the destruction of the Earth beats the pants of even the digitally remastered Death Star explosion!). Less obvious green screen this week, and some superb sequences. Several deaths are done with the maximum scare factor - a close-up of the character's reaction and cutting before we actually see them die.

The Doctor's characterisation is slightly calmer than last week, as is to be expected. With the breaking news earlier in the week of Eccleston's departure, its a shame that he looks as though he will build the role into a brilliant incarnation. The shedding of a tear (I think the first time since Jo Grant left to wed Cliff Jones), I found very poignant. Younger fans (i.e those seeing the show for the first time) will see this as a touching moment as we find out the first little segments of this Doctor's backstage. For us more seasoned followers, it shows another side to the Doctor's relationship with his home world.

The costumes are superb, all with a finish and polish that I feel was only achieved in the classic series by the Zygons. Even those aliens that are effectively window dressing have an attention to detail in them that is unsurpassed in the show's history. Another superb aspect of the aliens is that there was some superb concept work done on them. One race is in fact simply an idea - wicked!

Back to the back story. I'd heard rumours, but I quite like the way that this new Doctor's history is being revealed a small layer at a time. It takes us back to the days when he was just a stranger, who didn't have his species revealed for the first 6 years, and his home world went unnamed for another four. We can learn about the ninth Doctor with Rose.

Billy is less effective than last week, slightly more in the mould of the helpless girlie. However, her chat with Cassandra is another one of those "playground moments. However, some excellent POV shots continue to build the feeling of discovering the universe side-by-side with her.

After the coverage he got (cover shots, feature inserts, etc), the Moxx of Balhoun is a fairly insignificant character, but someone give me the funding to do Doctor Who - The officially licensed Moxx of Balhoun Incense Stick Holder!!!

After such a strong start, this episode could have fallen flat, but Phil Collinson has followed up RTD's intro with a superb SF thriller, with some lovely retro touches. There's even a follow up to a reference to the Titanic in The Invasion of Time, that once more fails to bog the show in continuity, but allows a wry smile to grace the face of older fans.

The NEXT WEEK teaser takes us to the past - and it looks every bit as promising as its predecessors. Enough from me - its time for QUATERMASS now.....

Additional: So blown away by the FX in this episode, I forgot to mention that this is the first time I can remember the "world about to end" scenario seem so...well...EPIC. Despite the confines of the location, a floating observation platform, the exterior views, the sun expanding, the perishing of the Earth, all of it is beautiful - there's no other way to describe it. If last week's episode caused you to go WOW, then I must invent the phrase "Even WOWIER!". Its hard to conceive that the series can sustain such continual raising of the bar, but if the remaining 11 eps come anywhere close to this, then our 1 season Doctor will be unforgettable!

On further reflection, there is a downer in the Episode. The oft-quoted "The Doctor is never cruel or cowardly" seems to have been pushed to the background. Although cowardice is not in evidence, I found the denouement of the main plot strand somehow un-Doctorish. Others may disagree.

And on a final note, I would like to distance myself from the seemingly constant vilification of CE since the announcement of his quitting. I would rather see 13 episodes of quality WHO that ensure the show continues, than 26 that wane and wither, with a man disinterested in the role because he is tied to a contract he wants to escape, which is possibly how things would have been had the Beeb insisted on a 2 year option. With some of the postings on various boards these past couple of days, Colin Baker must be glad the internet wasn't around when he declined a regeneration scene....

It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.

Having been greatly let down by the first episode, I approached this one with some trepidation. Fortunately, I can report that I’ve been witness to one of the most well-scripted and moving episodes of Doctor Who ever. Eccleston’s Doctor here is just as light and fun as in the series opener, but is also dark and brooding when talking about himself, and vengeful when dealing with this week’s villain. He seems more at home with the assorted aliens than with Rose, whose culture-shock is superbly portrayed by Billie. Rose is clearly floored by the reality of TARDIS travel, yet she still gives as good as she gets, with her “home by midnight” line in particular raising a smile. Whereas the Doctor can mix easily with the “great and the good”, Rose is more happy chatting to the station staff who, wonderfully, are the most normal people on the Platform. Even if they are blue.

The Earth-based scenes prove to be very moving, and I must admit a tear came to my eye in the final scene. The contrast between life on Earth and the scenes on Platform One is very jarring, and puts Rose’s reactions into context. We fans may be blasй and accepting about time travel and aliens, but Rose is not.

The story itself is a simple whodunit, which gives room for plenty of character moments without making the pace seem rushed. The episode is also a showcase for the special effects, and never have they been better than here. As a general rule, I loathe CGI with a passion, but there was scarcely a shot or an effect that didn’t work beautifully, which is some achievement when you consider exactly how many effects this show contains. I’m strongly reminded of Lexx with the exploding planet sequences, and the general bizarreness of the aliens. Very few of the aliens are fleshed out, though, and I was surprised that such a highly publicised character as The Face Of Boe is used purely for window-dressing. Perhaps if this was a traditional four-parter, there would have been scope to develop them all further. As such, most of them appear and disappear without even saying a word.

Such quibbles are minor, though. For the imagination of the setting and the supporting characters; for the improvement to the Doctor’s and Rose’s characters; for the emotional weight of the final scene; and for the wonderful contemporary references from Newsround through Britney Spears, I cannot fail but to score this episode 10/10.

The first classic of the new era.

"Rose" was a fun romp, but perhaps the real test was always going to be episode two. Was "Rose" a fluke? Will the Doctor and Rose get irritating after a while? Can RTD "do" sci-fi? Is "The End of the World" as good as "Rose". I think better.

In a way this is the first "normal" episode of the new series. Last weeks show had the massive responsibility of reintroducing the Doctor and capturing the imagination of a new, more demanding generation and did so by literally dazzling the viewer with a 100mph adventure vaguely involving shop dummies, but in the follow up, they HAD to tell a story.

The plot retains the freshness of Rose, helped by continuing directly after Rose's entry into the TARDIS. Thankfully however, the pace isn't quite so breakneck and allows for many lovely touches, my highlights being "Tainted Love" (check out the Doctor's groove, I never had him down as an synth fan) and classic ballad "Toxic". The characterisation is also lovely. Eccleston really gets a chance to shine this week, most notably without saying a word as Jabe (excellent from start to finish) gives her condolances to the last Timelord (tear!). His exposition to Rose in the final moments is also fantastic and again hints at a very involving story arc.

Billie Piper's Rose is as charming in the future as she was in 2005 and once again her humanity ensures the story has soul (I think her best scene was with the plumber) and she gets a very traditional companion scene when trapped in a room filling with sunlight. This week I had a strong sense of Ace in Rose, notably when she loses her temper with Cassandra and on learning she has essentially been violated by the TARDIS. I felt the supporting cast was very good, Cassandra was fabulous as was The Steward, but I really thought Jabe shone and was almost too sexy to say she was a tree! The Moxx of Balhoon however, didn't get much of a look in and the much publicised Face of Boe doesn't say a word!

My only cirticism was the story was a little "Diet-Plot" for the second week running, while the Doctor, Rose and details of the war continue to grow and deepen the weekly stories are almost as thin as Cassandra. Really the plot boils down to: there are some robot spiders, they might kill you, someone is controlling them, why? Is that enough? I don't know, but I certainly remember single episodes of Buffy, Spooks or The X Files being more involving. The episode is excellent thanks to the characterisation, concept and performances, but now we have our heroes, I feel we need more interesting stories. I predict this will happen organically as it did with Buffy and The X Files (recall, Buffy didn't have a very good story to tell until half way through the first season).

Verdict: "The End of the World" is stunning and makes for more satisfying viewing than "Rose" (I had a lump in my throat as Rose and the Doctor stood on the busy street). I for one am incredibly happy with the way our new series is developing, regardless of events outside of the fictional world of Doctor Who! I suspect "The Unquiet Dead" however, may outshine both of the first two episodes...?

The moment the episode began, I knew that this would be the episode which secured the series' future. I was worried that this story might effect the new viewers' opinions.

However, I though that the episode was surprisingly good. It was unfortunate although, that there was not much plot to it. In my opinion, in order to cater for the modern audience, the stories have become less complicated, because as a modern audience, people do not seem to have an attention span anymore. This may not be the case, it may be that R.T.D was still trying to develop a relationship between the Doctor and Rose before the real adventures start.

As you would expect, the special effects were spectacular. The effect used to make Cassandra was like nothing that I have ever seen outside a cinema before. I feel sure that the quality and quantity of the new series' special effects should make sure that younger viewers continue to watch for years to come. I am afraid however, that like in cinema, television is possibly becoming too dependent on visual effects. This again links in with the fact that many viewers seem not to have an attention span.

I thought that the majority of the music in this episode was very well put together. However, I feel that the music used for the "little blue men" was entirely inappropriate. I enjoyed in particular, the way in which two pieces of pop music were woven cunningly into the episode (Tainted Love and Toxic), however, we must not forget that this has been attempted before in Doctor Who, in stories such as "Remembrance of the Daleks", where pop music has been included in the soundtrack, and thus has made DVD and video release very difficult.

I have always believed that in Doctor Who a pre-titles sequence always seems to work very well. It seems to be a technique which is being used more and more today in modern television and seems to be a good way of setting the story. This is probably the best structure, particularly for stories of just one episode. I also like the "Next week" section at the end of each episode, however, I only think that it works with one and two part stories and no more than that. If something like this were attempted in the original series, it would almost certainly have undermined the cliff-hanger.

The make up in this episode was also spectacular, it is good to see monsters and aliens who aren't just latex into which and actor has been encased. It also gives us a chance to see the actors performing. Even with Cassandra, instantly I knew which actor was playing her part because of the tremendous special effects used to create her. Although she was almost completely 2D, it retained some of Zoл Wanamaker's distinguishing features.

All in all I enjoyed this story, and am really looking forward to episode three - The Unquiet Dead, because I have always felt that the historical stories make the best of Doctor Who's plot.

Once again Russell T Davies has pulled a proverbial dove out of his writers hat much to the amazement of all concerned (well me at least). I sat last Saturday and watched Rose and I enjoyed it, in my opinion it was probably the best Doctor Who story since 1984 (Caves of Androzani) and wondered, "How can this be beaten or topped". Then this week we started with the episode "The End of the World" the usual fare (the Doctor takes his companion to see some wonder of the universe and blags his way in). The old touches were there that made the series a favourite of mine back in the 70's and half of the eighties. The slightly telepathic piece of paper that made people see what they were meant to see being the first part that made me smile, ecclestons portrayal of the doctor ad-libbing that his breath was a gift being the other. 

Still this Doctor had something hiding behind the eyes something the others never had we saw a part of it when Rose asked him where he was from. The snappiness, the anger and the hurt that was put across tricked the viewer into thinking that the doctor was just irritated with the question and didn't want to reveal his people or the power they had. His way of apologising to Rose (by enabling her phone to call her mum 5 million years in the past was nice touch) shows that this is a doctor that will not apologise with words but with acts of kindness. 

Moving on from this the plot chugged along at a reasonable rate and started to reveal itself as pretty much a standard who plot however by the end it all revealed itself to be a charade. A smoke and mirrors exercise all put together for what can only be 2 minutes of the real reason for the plot and one of the biggest shocks that somehow I had managed to avoid during all the spoilers the new series and I’m glad I had. 

With Rose (the reasons of which were for the new main plot to be expanded) confined to a room the Doctor had a temporary new companion in the tree person Jabe who was wonderfully played by Yasmin Bannerman. She played the character of Jabe with just the right amount of knowledge and yet at the same time a sense of humanity one of the most powerful scenes has to be the act of kindness she shows the Doctor by saying she was "sorry for what had happened". Eccleston himself proved exactly why he deserves to be in big blockbuster movies and is such a character actor with tears welling in his eye's you couldn't help to be moved by the whole scene (even though it could only have been 30 - 60 seconds in total). 

The ending of the story will probably be the part that will get the most criticism and for reasons of spoiler fairness I must ask that if you haven't seen the story look away now because if you haven't this will really annoy you.

The Doctor lets someone die; he doesn't try to help them he lets them die. He stands there and watches someone die without any remorse or attempt to help them he just watches it and lets it happen. This was the man who would try to save anyone and yet now he watches people die. 

We were of course privy to at least why he had changed so much when Rose stood there saying she had missed the end of world and that no one had seen the earths final moments and lamented that all of earths history and it's people (her people) were gone he took her back to her time and let her see it was all still there and revealed that he was the last of time lords and all clicked in to place. 

The Doctor may have always been a galactic hobo, a traveller but his home was still there. Gallifrey and the time lords were in the background everything he was and had been made into was still there for him. With this Doctor it wasn't, it was gone he was the only one left of his race, no friends, no Romana, no history. With that moment you understood why he was the way he was and why this Doctor would try to save species and race's (the Nestine consciousness) but for the individuals who had no wish to play by rules and wanted death and destruction for power, glory or money he would have no mercy. This Doctor is one to watch and although Eccleston has left, I still can't wait for the eleven other episodes and this episode left me with only one question:

"Who is powerful enough to destroy the time lords"?

PS It's a rhetorical question by the way please, don't respond!

There’s something about Christopher Eccleston’s performance as the Doctor, which reminds me of Craig Kelly’s performance as gay ‘Doctor Who’ fan, Vince in Russell T. Davies’ TV drama ‘Queer as Folk’. It’s as if, on being granted the writing duties on the new series of ‘Doctor Who’, Davies outlined the character of The Doctor in Vince’s image – that is to say, Davies own image, as Vince is certainly Davies’ autobiographical cypher.

In ‘The End of the World’ Eccleston’s wide-eyed thrill seeking Doctor echos Vince in almost every way, right down to the accent and catchphrase (‘Fantastic!’) Clad in a black leather jacket with a buzz-cut crop and a female sidekick, who isn’t his girlfriend, as underlined in the exchange between Jabe (Yasmin Bannerman) and the Doctor, we have the Doctor written as a queer icon.

Cassandra O’Brien, the last human and villain of the week, is the perfect foil. She is the typical ‘Dynasty’ bitch taken to the Nth degree and realised as a piece of computer generated skin stretched across a metal frame, the casuality of too much plastic surgery. Zoe Wannamaker brings the character to life with camp hilarity, particularly with her strangled shrieks of “Moisturise me!” as she meets her end. One only wishes she had escaped to return another day, as the best ‘Doctor Who’ villains often do.

Credit must go to Euros Lyn’s direction, which reaches disaster movie heights in the closing fifteen minutes of the episode. Never has ‘Doctor Who’ looked so glorious. The scenes where The Doctor walks messiah-like through the revolving fans, intercut with Billie Piper’s Rose struggling to escape the sun’s rays were beautifully realised. It doesn’t matter that the storyline, on the whole, was somewhat thin; this is ‘Doctor Who’ as a collection of visual set pieces.

Eccleston continues to shine in the role, which make the news of his imminent departure from the programme seem like a great loss. Here is a Doctor you believe in, much more than any of his predecessors. Despite his goofy, almost schizoid performance (bopping to Soft Cell’s ‘Tainted Love’) he brings an emotional gravitas to the role that works to elevate the programme away from its intended audience. Who said this was children’s TV? ‘Doctor Who’ has never been so adult.