What a wonderful episode! It had suspense, drama, love, hard sci-fi, great acting, and the kind of war fans have wanted for thirty years. Put simply, what precisely did it lack?

Without a doubt, this is the best script RTD has written for the show thus far. The direction was also quite superb. While Graeme Harper may have thrown some of the fans, especially those in this forum, for a loop with the "Army of Ghosts," he returned true to form with this installment. The Daleks were vicious, callous, and powerful. In lieu of the insane creatures we met at the end of the 9th doctor's reign, these were the original, genuine article and it was a pleasure to see them in action doing what they were designed to do. For their part, the pan-dimensional-Cybermen were also a return to the past; they were cold, calculating killing machines whose pride and anger, as in past scripts, came out very strongly. The wonderful exchange between these two classic adversaries was brilliantly written. The Daleks referring to the Cybermen as pests and nonchalantly dismissing their destructive potential was fascinating, a distinct contrast to the ethical dilemmas faced by the humans in "Pete's world" who found it hard to blot out these metal monsters so carelessly. The humans, while opening the breach in both realities and helping spur the events of this episode and the prior one, were kind, strong, and compassionate, displaying precisely the qualities that endears the Doctor to his "favorite" planet.

RTD did his homework and maintained tradition and history. The Daleks recognize the Cybermen based on their form and function, describing them as lifeforms that "resemble" the Doctor's historical adversaries. The Daleks home planet of Skaro is referenced. The "background radiation" from series 1 that releases the Dalek from his shackles is elegantly woven into the fabric of this story and explained satisfactorily for the plot to be consistent and believable. And how about Pete's jeep? That was a U.N.I.T. vehicle, complete with camouflage!

For the sake of the young audience and heart-sick Whovians everywhere, it was a stroke of genius to reunite Rose with her family at the expense of traveling with the Doctor. She made her choice and the Doctor allowed her to stay and do what she wanted to do - the repercussions of which were due to the mission and not a well-meaning plan. It allowed both characters to remain true to themselves and to sacrifice for each other without some cheap, tidy ending.

My only qualms with the plot, minor as they may be, are: Why was there a Torchwood in Pete's reality since Torchwood was a consequence of the Doctor's involvement with Queen Victoria in a different reality? Why would the Timelords stick several million Daleks into a TARDIS-like prison instead of just obliterating them all? Or, put another way, couldn't the time war have ended a bit less disastrously if the Timelords had simply placed ALL the Daleks into one of these devices and then tossed it into the void?

Potential plot holes aside, this felt like classic Doctor Who. The love between the two main characters was palpable - not the kind of adolescent puppy-love found on American television but a true adult relationship. Seeing that adult relationship come to a close was hard to watch, partly because the "old team," as Rose put it, was a great one and partly because the breakup was inevitable.

Let's hope the strong characterization and high-quality scripts are continued in series 3.

First off, lets sort out the important things; the Daleks are SO NOT needed in this episode. Why? Because (a) a suitable threat is already posed by the Cybermen and (b) like most of this fantastic new revamped 21st Century Doctor Who series the DR WHO series is no longer just about monsters, celebrity guest stars and special effects (Yes! Resurrection of the Daleks I am talking about you) this series is now an official DRAMA series and itВ’s about characters and their interactions and this one was, in the words of an old friend, FANTASTIC.

I consider myself a normal, beer guzzling, football loving, girl-adoring bloke and yet I freely admit tears were streaming down my face on watching this episode. I have never felt the need to write a fan letter to the Dr Who offices, but on seeing this episode I felt a great need to write a letter to Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner and Phil Collinson to tell them how unbelievably grateful I am to all their hard work on this new series. I am PROUD to be Doctor Who fan something I have found very hard to say since the sad days of Sylvester McCoyВ’s admirable efforts against terrible scripts.

Billie leaving is the greatest sad point of this episode and on seeing her leave (the cause of the aforementioned tears) I find it inexplicable to think that this is the same person who I was so disappointed had been cast as the DocВ’s assistant back in late 2004. Billie Piper I owe you an apology. Not only have you been a fantastic assistant, but you are also clearly a FANTASTIC actress. Actions do speak louder than words and her and TennantВ’s portrayals of friends separated across universes without ever being able to see each other again is just the most poignant scene ever seen in Doctor Who (although the DoctorВ’s farewell to Sarah Jane in School Reunion is damn close). The music is fantastic, the acting is top notch and, well, I am speechless. Last series, it was В“FatherВ’s dayВ” and В“Parting of the WaysВ” that had me in tears, this year В“School ReunionВ”, В“Girl In The FireplaceВ” and now В“DoomsdayВ” have shown this cynical fool that Doctor Who is now no longer just a kids show, no longer a jokeВ…Doctor Who is now top class TV and deserves all the accolades it will undoubtedly get.

I am not going to go into the details of the story (frankly, Cybermen vs Daleks turns out to be a disappointing mismatchВ…then again I have ALWAYS preferred Cybermen over the pepperpots so I do feel the metal men have been treated badly in the В…erВ…war stakes) because this story was ALWAYS going to be about Rose leaving the Doctor and this fan was pleasantly surprised and hugely emotional at the endВ…Dr Who team В– job done. I look forward to Series 3 (Christmas Episode not so much. Am I bovverred that Catherine Tate is the star guest?...ErВ…Yes!!!??), but either way, this series has been a huge success (the woeful В“Fear HerВ” and В“The Idiots LanternВ” aside) for production, stars and writers and I for one have been hugely impressed. Well done, Who Team. I was well impressed and goodbye Billie. And before you go В“I just wanted so that youВ’ve been fantasticВ…Absolutely fantasticВ…And you know what?В” You will be missed greatly.

A very memorable episode - although not for the reasons I might have expected. To be honest, I feel that the conflict between the Cybermen and the Daleks was little more than a backdrop to Rose's departure. Although there were some elements of it that I enjoyed, there were more aspects to the 'showdown' that left me unsatisfied.

Firstly, the mismatch; John Lumic's Cybermen wouldn't be in the same league as the Daleks, for centuries. The nearest a Cyberman came to scoring a killer blow against a Dalek, was in their first encounter bitching contest. Aside from that, the poor old Cybermen had no better chance against the Daleks than the rest of us. Second, poor special effects! For the first time in the new series, a really unconvincing 'superimposed' look, as Dalek Sek (or whatever his name was) hovers above London with the Genesis Ark. I feel as if I'm stooping to a really low level of criticism for mentioning it, but have perhaps grown used to there being less effort involved in the suspension of disbelief, in recent years.

Third - the 'Genesis Ark.' Anyway, where did this Dalek 'Jesuit Order' come from? And the Genesis Ark? Why on Earth (or anywhere else, for that matter) would the Time Lords imprison millions of Daleks in anything? How long was their sentence? Could they get time off for good behaviour? How did they shepherd all those Daleks in there in the first place? ('Move along, please... Oh, and we'd prefer it if you didn't fire that thing in here...'). If it was a prison ship, where was it going? And then to lose the thing to the first four Daleks to happen along...

Fourth; 'You shall not pass!' Very 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail'. I know it was a case of Emergency Upgrading (they'd obviously realised that five million wasn't going to be enough) - but it must have been a real slap dash job to leave old loyalties, old vocal cords and old tear ducts in place. Or was that an oil leak? As I say - sloppy workmanship.

Fifth - Missed opportunities; 1) I haven't missed Davros at all, cropping up like a pantomime villain in every classic series Dalek story after 'Genesis'; but if you want those Daleks to keep coming... Perhaps after his emergency time shift, Dalek Sek might go questing for him... 2) Why wasn't Mondas explained in the Parallel Earth vein? All this 'twin planet that drifted off on a journey to the edge of space' was embarrassing even in the Sixties. The early Cybermen could just have easily have come from a parallel universe... 3) Is there a parallel Doctor? As there was no Rose and consequently, no 'Parting of the Ways', is he still Christopher Eccleston? There might have been scope for an alternative ending, there...

Things I did enjoy;

First: Mismatched as they are, the Daleks and the Cybermen are still great; the 'upgrading process' depicted in the new series is truly horrifying - much more so than the 'first an arm; then a leg; then a bit of brainwashing; then...' approach seen in 'Attack of the Cybermen' and 'Tomb of the Cybermen.' The idea of real, former people in there is nightmarish. Well done, chaps. Daleks - love the look; love the trademark arrogance; I like my Daleks with a bit of personality; this was a bit of a cameo, compared to 'Dalek', though.

Secondly: Rose's fate. Enjoy is the wrong word. >From Jackie's point of view, the Doctor has wrought miracles, uniting her family in a way that never would have been possible, keeping his word to keep Rose safe and making her rich into the bargain. Since he regenerated, she even seems to have forgiven him for turning her down, in her dressing gown. Rose also has her family and her boyfriend back - but can she ever be happy? Ever since 'School Reunion' she's been fighting off the idea that, like Sarah Jane, she'd be abandoned one day, replaced by someone new. When she asks the Doctor's image 'Are you alone?', I sense more than just concern for the Doctor's welfare. And then, cruelly, his time expires just before he can say to her what no Doctor has ever said to a companion. A very moving moment. I find it hard to be optimistic for her future happiness with Mickey, despite his having worked so hard to deserve her love. Maybe she is in the Void, after all. I liked my idea of a parallel Ninth Doctor. I'm just soft, I suppose. Dramatically, we were given a much better ending. But it must have taken a callous scriptwriter indeed, to treat her so.

Ah well. On we go. May we hope for a more consistent series, next year?

I hope I'm not the only fan who felt slightly disappointed by that episode! It seemed to me like the first half of the episode was a Doctor Who fan's dream and the second half was one of those times where I'm left longing for a return of the 60s-80s original. So I'll review the episode based on those two halves.

The best place to start would be the Daleks vs. the Cybermen, which I must say although totally underplayed was extremely enjoyable. In the week leading up to the episode I expected the result of the war to be a stalemate, with Davis making sure that no faction seemed more powerful than the other. But how wrong was I??? As the black dalek said correctly, all 5 million Cybermen could have been wiped out by the 4 daleks, and to my knowledge not one Dalek was killed during the episode (Okay in theory when they were when they entered the void but none were killed by human or Cybermen). I also found the black Dalek (or Dalek Sek - but I'll move onto that in a minute)'s remarks on the extermination of the cyber race being "pest control" and that they were only superior in that they were "far better at dying" highly amusing.

Again after finding out the Daleks would have names after watching Totally Doctor Who I was sceptical of the result as it would either result in two things - the dreaded "human factor" (perhaps not to that extent) Daleks of Evil of the Daleks or the type of Daleks you'd find lurking in the pages of the Dalek Chronicles (let's face it, anyone would read that strip wanted a red and gold Dalek called Zeg). Luckily it was the latter, the Cult of Skaro seems like a great idea to me, a group higher than the emperor. It sort of reminded me of the Supreme Council mentioned in Planet of the Daleks.I just hope that there will be further references to this elite group in future series'. Another interesting addition to this episode was the Genesis Ark, and although I was hoping for something more integral to Dalek history (The emperor for example, or even what remains of good ol' Davros), the idea of a TARDIS technology prison holding millions of Daleks ensured that they were the dominant species of the episode. Although what baffles me is why the Time Lords would want to just imprison that many Daleks instead of destroying what is apparently the biggest threat in the galaxy...

Unfortunaly that's where my praise of the episode ends. After further watching I realised that neither the Cybermen or the Daleks were actually essential to the plot, and in fact any two alien armies could have invaded Earth and the plot wouldn't have been any different. The fact it contained Daleks and Cybermen was just a lure (even though I find no attraction in the new Cybermen - they're too Genesis of the Daleks for me). Also the fact that the Genesis Ark contained millions of Daleks seemed like they were just reusing Parting of the Ways ideas. Then of course there were certain continuity issues. If everything that had travelled between dimensions was sucked into the void, what about the newly created "Torchwood staff" Cybermen? How did Yvonne manage to keep her voice and personality intact when Cybermen remove individuality? And when Pete returned to save Rose, surely the fact that he was soaked in the background radiation or whatever it was and that Rose hit him pretty hard would result in them both being sucked into the void?

Many will probably disagree with me on this as well, but the whole love issue doesn't work for me. What could have been an explosive 40 minute battle between Dalek and Cyberman was scrapped for a 20 minutes of Jackie and Pete discovering each other and an emotional goodbye between the Doctor and Rose. Was the Bad Wolf bay scene really necessary? And like many I had been led to believe she was going to die, and I felt slightly cheated by the fact she didn't (Russell T Davis is adamant that Doctor Who is about survival. You're missing facts again Russell, must we bring up Earthshock? Or go even further back and mention the Dalek Master Plan?). Ahwell never mind, I'm sure it's because they'll want to bring her back once Billie Piper fails elsewhere.

So in conclusion, a pretty average episode for what could have been one of the best in Who history. I much preferred Parting of the Ways, and the only good thing I see that came out of the episode is that for once they made the Daleks didn't all die (Dalek Sek escaped, and hopefully others). So roll on season 3, and hopefully the return of some Mondas cybermen to show these Parallel ones who are the real Silver daddies!

They say that it is better to travel than to arrive. They might be wrong in this case...

Doomsday concludes Russell T Davies' 'epic' season finale. It was described in the Doctor Who Confidential that followed as 'event television' and trying to 'create the sense that you're in a big action movie'. But why this attempt to turn a television programme into something that it's not? Why discard the intimacy, the personal scale that television affords in favour of vacuous Hollywood-style stunts and special effects? Is this really what modern TV audiences want?

There are millions of cybermen, and then, thanks to the Genesis Ark, there are millions of daleks as well. Plot, such as it is, takes a back seat for the clash of the titans. And it's epic. God, I'm getting tired of that word - I just hope Russell and co are too. Lots of tiny CGI splodges whizzing over London did little to raise my pulse rate. But, admittedly, lots of tiny CGI splodges whirling into Canary Wharf did provide a few (probably unwanted) giggles. As did the 'handbags at dawn' first confrontation between the two monsters. 'You tell me your name!' 'No, you tell me yours first!' 'You lot are unelegant!' (shouldn't that be inelegant?) 'We don't care!' 'Hmph! That much is obvious!' I think the Cyberleader threw a Bacardi Breezer over the Black Dalek shortly after that...

Fortunately, there's a blissful reunion for Jackie and Pete (if that's the right word for a meeting between two people who, strictly speaking, have never met). It's both touching and funny. 'You look old.' 'You don't.' What a gent... 'There was never anyone else' - I'm surprised Mickey and the Doctor didn't burst out laughing at that one. And 'I don't care about that... How rich?' Camille Coduri and Shaun Dingwell play the moment just right. They, and their characters, will be missed.

Then it's back to 'delete', 'exterminate', 'delete', 'exterminate'. Yawn. There's some silliness with Yvonne the Cyberman, her patriotism and voice somehow surviving the cybernisation process, pointlessly zapping some of her metal mates while shedding an oily tear. Um... Those daft levers are back; wearing 3-D spectacles lets you see 'void stuff'; and hanging onto some big magnetic clamp things stops you getting sucked into oblivion, though the force can drag cybermen off their feet from outside the Taj Mahal. Oh, and Pete can pick the exact moment to materialise and save Rose. Yup, Russell's patented plot holes and bonkers ideas are still much in evidence. Ho hum...

But then, magically, fantastically, he does it. Just as the story threatens to collapse into an overblown heap of mindless noise and CGI, Russell gives us two people on a beach, just talking. And it's perfect. Emotionally wrenching, as it had to be, and hopelessly romantic - 'I'm burning up a sun, just to say goodbye' - Rose's final scenes prove to be the highlight of the story, if not the season. David Tennant's ghostly appearance on the beach echoes Christopher Eccleston's hologram scene from last year's final episode, and is equally moving. For the girl who thought she would spend the rest of her life with the Doctor, when given just two minutes she can't think what to say. It feels so painful and it feels so true. Some have criticised the apparent erosion of Rose's 'strong' character, but I think they are missing the point. The Doctor took her out of her dead-end existence and showed her that there was a better way to live her life. And now she's never going to see him again. I think she's allowed to be upset! The two leads are faultless, making the scene emotional, but never mawkish, and Davies' dialogue sparkles. Haunting stuff.

So, the destination proves better than the trip to get there. Doomsday, by in its closing minutes remembering that small, beautiful events are what life is all about, ends the new Doctor Who's second season on a much-needed high note (well it does if you ignore a mood-destroying appearance by Catherine 'No, I'm not bloody bovvered' Tate). It's just a shame that it took so much lazy, overblown nonsense to get there.

And so we reach the end of series two. I have felt a mixture of emotions about the whole thing I have to admit.

Army Of Ghosts promised a huge amount and set us up for an epic battle between the two greatest and most fearsome alien races that the Doctor has ever encountered. I was expecting a very grand affair, knowing that so much budget had surely been reserved for this final episode, given that Love & Monsters and Fear Her had saved so much thanks to their limited scale. I thought world armies would be brought into the mix, whole cities would fall and the human race would seriously be threatened as the battle of the giants continued about them. Perhaps I was being overly optimistic. On a few occasions over the past fifteen months I have found myself expecting a little too much. A great deal of fanfare was bandied about when news that Doctor Who was returning to Saturday nights with a lavish no holds barred budget. I remember being hugely disappointed by the terrible photoshop-ing of Chris Eccleston's face onto the Kennedy photo in Rose, and the slightly cartoonish Nestene consciousness, but was placated by the reassuringly expensive shots of the Slitheen craft crashing into the Thames, via Big Ben. The Christmas Invasion certainly didn't disappoint, so why did this gargantuan confrontation between the Daleks and Cybermen feel a bit like a drunken bitch fight on a late night episode of Big Brother..?

Okay, we had some nice scenes. The gun battle in the Torchwood hangar was nicely noisy and colourful, as was the Cyber encounter with the army on the bridge, but the majority felt just a bit underwhelming. It seemed that the daleks were only threatening one streetful of people before they got sucked back into the void, and just why were the Cybermen STILL standing outside the Taj Mahal having appeared there several hours earlier? Were they just wondering where to go first? Maybe I'm being unfair but I just thought these two menaces were decidedly un-menacing. Perhaps given a little more time than 45 minutes there might have been opportunity to understand what sort of battle plan both sides had in mind, but long before we got a chance to hear what that might be the Doctor had quickly decided to ditch his companion of two years and send her to a parallel universe forever more, thus neatly despatching both enemies from all across the globe through a hole in the wall at the top of a towerblock in London (via one window)

I feel I'm being wholly critical about this episode and I shouldn't be. There was much to enjoy. The lighter moments with Jackie running up and down the staircase constantly on the run from Cyber conversion were pacy and exciting, with just the right amount of humour. Her reunion was Pete was also delightfully handled "how rich?"/"how very?"! It was also nice to see that Yvonne Hartman's wonderfully full character from Army Of Ghosts wasn't completely wasted as she defended the Torchwood office from the onslaught of more Cybermen, her belief in her cause so strong that she had partially resisted full conversion.

And so to the departure of our wonderful Rose Tyler. Much had been made of the news that Billie Piper would be leaving the TARDIS at the end of the series, and so much had been written suggesting that she would be killed off that I felt almost certain that this wouldn't be the case. I absolutely loved the final scene in the Torchwood Tower - such a brilliant age old dilemma of having to risk your life to save the lives of many and how fitting that such a brave and gutsy character as Rose should have had no hesitation in risking hers. As she did her duty and thus massively increased the force of the pull into the void I was reminded of that heart stopping opening scene in the film Cliffhanger as the female character gradually loses her grip on safety and falls to her death. So we were here with Rose being pulled into oblivion. I suddenly felt that maybe the papers had been right and we were going to have the first companion self sacrifice since poor old Adric. As the Doctor and we, the audience, realise she had lost her grip on that lever I felt genuinely shocked and saddened, and then such huge relief as Pete zapped himself across universes one more time to take back his (sort of) daughter. To know that she would at least be happily ensconced with her old family and Mickey was some consolation, albeit she would never set foot again in her own world and was, in those terms at least, dead.

The epilogue on the beach in Norway was a nice touch and, although it laid on the emotions in spades, I was glad that Rose and the Doctor were given a chance to say goodbye. To this day I still find myself suffering moments of sadness when I think of Peri suffering life as a warrior queen to King Ycarnos, just wishing the Doctor would come and finally take her home! Let's resolve that situation in a future series PLEASE!!

And finally a nod of appreciation to the closing moments in the TARDIS. How fantastic that not so much as a smidgeon of a leak of this information ever got out into the public domain (as far as I am aware at least). This was the most genuinely surprised I have been to see someone appearing in Doctor Who since the Brigadier turned up in Mawdryn Undead. Catherine Tate played her indignant lines just perfectly and I already cannot wait til Christmas Day to see how these two get on.

So all in all, Doomsday was far from the episode I had been expecting when the Daleks emerged from the void ship at the end of Army Of Ghosts, but it was still a thoroughly enjoyable 45 minutes of television and, as has been said in the press recently, proved once again that this is far and away the best home grown drama on television at the moment.