There's so much I like about Parting of the Ways: the beautiful Dalek FX shots, Jack kissing Rose and the Doctor (and, later, the Doctor and Rose kissing), the Doctor sending Rose on a one-way TARDIS trip to safety, the Anne Droid's final stand against the Daleks, the tow truck of doom, the Doctor's great farewell scene, etc.

Sadly, I can't give the episode a thumbs up because, in the end, it makes absolutely no sense.

Let's start with the Dalek invasion of Earth. So...the Daleks have been guiding humanity's development and converting the dregs of society into Daleks for at least a hundred years, but they're only just now getting around to taking over the planet? What was their motive for taking it over when they already essentially controlled humanity? Sure, it'll make a nice homeworld for the Daleks (Skaro being destroyed in Remembrance of the Daleks, of course), but why wait so long to claim it?

The Bad Wolf being Rose ruined the character in ways that I can't even begin to put into words. After decades of pyromanical time-travelling teenagers, American botany students with fanciful names, mathematical geniuses from the planet Alzarius, Time Lords, cavewomen from the future, UNIT agents, etc., we finally get a *normal* companion for the first time since the days of Sarah Jane Smith, and easily the most down-to-earth and relatable companion since Ian and Barbara. So what does Russell T. Davies do? Turn her into the Dark Phoenix (of X-Men fame). And how was "Bad Wolf" supposed to be a warning anyway? Clearly, the Doctor and Rose had no idea what it meant in any of the previous 12 episodes. If I have the power of a god and I'm sending a warning to myself and a close friend, I don't choose to send said warning in the form of two cryptic words that I *know* my friend and I didn't comprehend or notice previously. In other words, Rose knew the Bad Wolf warning was a failure...so she decided to send it out anyway.

Finally, poor Christopher Eccleston, the Doctor of our age, was reduced to spending most of the episode working on a technobabble device that ultimately doesn't even come into play. At least he gets to reel off some great lines before regenerating, but that still doesn't excuse the Ninth Doctor's virtual absence from the final part of his last adventure.

I adored Bad Wolf and thought it was the very best television episode of any series ever. I suppose Parting of the Ways had a lot to live up to, but it's not as if asking Russell T. Davies to write a coherant script starring the Doctor that doesn't trash Rose's character is asking for the stars. He's done it before and I have no doubt that he can do it again. But it's a shame that, for whatever reason, he couldn't do it for the Ninth Doctor's swan song.

I am someone who didn't live during the time of the old Doctor Who and therefore know almost nothng about the previous Doctors or even the Daleks for that matter. I have to say I think Russell T Davies and his team of writers have done a fantastic job in resurrecting Dr Who for a whole new generation. The 'Parting of the Ways' was similarly a mostly excellent finale and closing episode for Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor. It was kind of saddening to watch Eccleston and Piper's final episode as a duo and it certainly feels as though they have been together for years and not just 13 weeks.



The surprise re-entrance of the Daleks did not surprise me at the end of 'Bad Wolf'; I already knew that the first series of 'Doctor Who' would see the return of the Doctor's arch-enemy and the invasion of Earth. On the latter front, I have to say I was disappointed that Davies chose to set the action in orbit of Earth of the future again and as a sequel to the earlier episode. The idea that thousands of years into the future the human race would be completely hooked on reality television which featured completely robotic versions of earlier celebrities was either just very cynical or very lazy. The promised invasion of Earth was little more than a picture of the Dalek lasers zapping the continents until they changed shape. If Davies did want to return to a previous time-period, why not experiment with returning to the Victorian era or something else? While the invasion and massacre of the Gamestation was well-done, it did seem a bit sad that the producers saw fit to recycle an old premise.

Still, the idea explained by the Emperor of the Daleks that they had been harvesting humans to create more of the floating pepperpots was a truly creepy one. So too was the premise of the new, religious Daleks with the Emperor as a god. We felt sorry for the creatures for a brief second when the Doctor calls them 'driven mad by their own flesh'. I also liked the moment where one Dalek skittered away from the Doctor, supoosedly because it was scared of him.

The sense of desperation was built up well in the episode from the Doctor pretending to have a flash of inspiration only for him to send Rose home, to the death of everyone on the station until only the Doctor was left standing. I was genuinely surprised when Captain Jack snuffed it and equally surprised when he was resurrected thanks to Bad Wolf Rose.

Speaking of Captain Jack, I cringed when he appeared in his WW2 guise in 'The Empty Child' but have since come to like him. In this episode, he becomes a full hero and a worthy time-travelling companion for the Doctor. It was sad that he got left behind and it will be interesting to see if he returns and how?

Billie Piper carried this episode with her performance of Rose. First of all as a desperate bystander to events as she tried desperately to understand the workings of the TARDIS and secondly as the triumphant assistant who solves the Bad Wolf riddle and saves the day in a role reversal of every other week.

The final resolution was very touching and yet somehow annoying at the same time. On the 'touching' side of things, it was wonderful to see Rose come through for the man she called 'my doctor' although I wasn't completely sure if this was Rose talking or the being inside the TARDIS. The moment when he kissed he to remove the pain it was causing her was the culminatin of the trust, frienship and strange love that had been building between the two characters since the beginning.

On the annoying side of the things. did the all-seeing all-knowing Tardis being just resurrect Jack or all the human race aswell? And surely the Daleks can't all be gone? I understand that they all turned to Dust. but have the producers backed themselves into a rather tight corner by doing this? Also, I found myself wanting to cuddle the Dalek Emperor when he said 'I cannot di-i-i-ie'

And finally, to talk about Christopher Eccleston - the ninth Doctor. To me, he is the first as Tom Baker and Jon Pertwee are just legends. I enjoyed his combination of a cheeky-chappy Northern Doctor who puts a middle finger up at the jaws of death and a lonely time traveler who carries the weight of the universe on his shoulders. He showed both qualities in this episode. He also presented us with a quality previously unseen in the Doctor - cowardice. Despite his grim promises, the Doctor cannot end his own life to take the Daleks with him and he seemed a tad pathetic when Rose arrived to save him.

Eccleston reconciles both sides of the Doctor in his final speech. He wistfully talks of all the places he was going to take her and raves about the wonders he would show her. Yet, the laws of time and space means he cannot stay and that his time with her is cut short. His own assertion that he was excellent is both a great final bow for Eccleston and the reminder that the Doctor will be back in another form.

And so we were introduced to Doctor Number Ten - David Tennant. I honestly didn't guess he would appear in the last few seconds, as I thought that would be saved for the Christmas special. I liked his first lines of dialouge 'Oh yeah that's right...Barcelona' and get the impression that Tennant may play the Doctor as some kind of eccentric, Cockney wide-boy. The shocked expression of Rose suggests she is going to have serious trouble accepting that this is essentially the same man she went through life and death with. I could hedge a guess and say that this will be part of the reason Billie Piper is written out in series two.

The catchy reworking of the theme tune closed the series along with the promise that 'the countdown to the Christmas invasion has begun.'



Just some closing thoughts...



- What exactly is a 'Time War' and how does one differentiate between this and a 'Time Scuffle'?

- The Time Vortex Being said she 'scattered the words' to remind herself to look open the heart of the Tardis into the phrase 'bad wolf' So what were the words originally? The only anagram that springs to mind is 'Dab Flow...or Flob Daw.

- The Doctor said he could not go back in time to escape because he would become part of events. So what has he spent the last 13 weeks doing? The man in the first episode showed him at the assassination of JFK and at the launch of the Titanic. Isn't that becoming a part of events?

And some plot predictions for next series.

Likely - that Rose will leave beacuse she can't accept that the new Doctor is the same man.

Possible - that the Daleks will have infiltrated the world of L'Oreal adverts - Ex-foli-ate

Unlikely - Captain Jack will use the Dalek dust to create himself a scary new pet.

Hope To God It Doesn't Happen - David Dickinson will be the eleventh Doctor.

The Theme of Series Two - After the success of the mystery of Bad Wolf, Davies will try 'Placid Goldfish'

Frankly I was disappointed. I've generally enjoyed the series, and my debates with my dad about the merits of this doctor with all of his previous incarnations, but this ending left me feeling strangely unfulfilled. There were just so many points that didn't seem to stack up. I have to admit that some may say I'm not a true who fan as I haven't seen Evil of the Daleks, which other reviewers have referred to, but I have been watching since the Tom Baker days and have watched most of the Pertwee stories, so I think I'm allowed to pass my comments. These comments are:

The opening of the Tardis with the truck - surely RTD could have found a better way to handle this - it just seemed so out of place with what else was going on. Also how come no-one approached Rose etc to ask them what they were doing - they were on a busy housing estate after all.

The materialisation of the Tardis over Rose and the Dalek - being able to do this would have been very useful in previous episodes. In the same scene what about the firing of the gun in the consol room to kill the Dalek - I may be wrong here, but I'm sure in a previous incarnation the Doctor says that guns will be useless in the Tardis as they are prevented from firing.

I feel that Rose being Bad Wolf is badly handled and not properly explained; just how did she leave all those messages for herself and why did she suddenly realise it was her? Having cleverly developed a theme throughout the series, which I admit I had missed until it was mentioned by the Doctor, I think RTD let us down badly on this one.

As for things not being properly explained I am still not sure I understand how the Daleks survived - how did a crippled Emperor Dalek managed to get the technology to initially take the refugees etc to his ship and then take over the space station?

I also think that the destruction of the Dalek fleet by Rose was a major cop out - its THE DOCTOR who should be saving the world, not his assistants, not matter how difficult the situation he is in. Afterall if she can get into the Tardis that easily why hasn't he done so in the past - it only used up one regeneration.

Talking of the regeneration I think this could have been handled a lot better - why did the power of the Vortex 'kill' the Doctor so quickly when Rose had managed to stay alive for as long as she did? Also what happened to the normal confusion/quirkiness/anger of the Doctor after regeneration, the best of which in my opinion is the Baker/Davison regeneration.

I think it would have been far better for the Doctor to have killed the Daleks (and himself) with his Delta Wave, and then been forced to regenerate because of this, afterall as he said there are colonies, and all the humans on earth had been killed by the Daleks anyway so what was the point in him not using his weapon? He didn't know that Rose would come along and save the day. (Or did he?)

I have enjoyed seeing Jack in the series - he has added a new element and I hope he returns in series 2, although I think the way of bringing him back to life was very disappointing - I'm think a better way would have been not to have killed him for some reason in the first place.

I would agree with many that unfortunately RTD has written the poorest stories of the series - my favourites have been The Unquiet Dead and The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances, but the continuity of the Bad Wolf references suggested that he had an idea of what he wanted the series to achieve, its just a shame that as I have stated above he handled the ending of it so badly.

Finally I think Christopher Ecclestone has done a good job as Dr Who, but is not a match in my opinion for the god who is Tom Baker (worship him, worship him!!). My brother has raved about David Tennant as an actor, so I'm willing to see how he goes, but hope that overall there is an improvement in the writing of the series, and a return to more cliff-hanger episodes.

Parting of the Ways was by far the best Who since the Key series back with Tom Baker. The way the story was threaded through the entire series was done quiet well. The plot construction was very much like Babylon 5, but shorter (Thank god, if you came in late you were lost!

The acting had improved all season, the 1st episode was a bit worry some, but aren't most 1st episodes. John Barrowman really made the episode, I really hope we find Captain Jack in the next series. Billie actually got my wife crying during the scene in the T.A.R.D.I.S. between Rose and Jackie, it was like something out of a lifetime movie. Last, Chris was great. I was not happy when word got out he was leaving the show and this episode really proved he was the right guy for the part.

The CGI budget was very well spent here, making up for the very lack luster stuff in Rose and Boom Town. The Dalek fleet was great! The only issue I had was the Dalek formations leaving the ships were a little to uniform.

Now about the POP culture.... That was pretty silly, but very funny and a great slap in the face to most 'reality' programing. The Weakest Link, extremely funny. It's not often that sci-fi can really get in some good jabs at pop culture and do it right, but this hit the mark.

Okay - I can't stand it anymore - I need to add my comments to the reviews of this splendid series. The thing that really gets up my nose is the amount of bitching about whether or not it is any good, and the intense analysis it's put through, as though it were a 19 century novel up for a PHd thesis. It winds me up because, like it or not, (and forgive me raising my voice here) DOCTOR WHO IS A KIDS' PROGRMME. It always has been. I guess many of those who are "disappointed" with RTD's vision seem to forget that you first saw it when you were kids and it's grown with you - probably fed by the many books and audio tapes that have been predominantly written for the kid-become-adult audience. What particularly offends me is that so few hard core Who fans seems to appreciate that this new series is giving something absolutely wonderful (and amazing and frightening and MORAL) to a whole new generation of children. RTD understands this, and he also understands that along with the kiddies content, he also needs to throw nods at the adults watching alongside their offspring. So we have Capt Jack's bisexuality, post-modern references scattered all over the place (big bruv, weakest link et al), and I'm convinced that the Eastenders council estate revisits - Rose, Micky and her Mum - are tongue in cheek as well.

You lot (as the Doctor would say), or many of you, don't seem to be watching with children, or understanding that all this is, at least for the greater part, for them. I can gleefully report that mine (7 and 9) have been absolutely transported over the last 13 Saturday evenings. The gas aliens gave the youngest a nightmare (and I remember having a nightmare about being chased by daleks on Saturday night in 1963, and it didn't do me any harm). Hand-holding duty went on for half an hour until she went back to sleep. Next day the video was watched again!!!!

And what's wrong with farting aliens? Kids love fart jokes. I watched my two reduced to giggling wrecks one moment, closely followed by jumping up on the sofa (not behind until the first dalek appeared) the next, when the Slitheens took off the skin suit and started chasing Rose and the MP (forget the name) through No 10.

The dalek story terrified them and perplexed them by turns. The gasmask kids just plain and simply terrified them, but everything was alright in the end, and the last two episodes had them wide eyed. Not a peep all the way through. The regeneration scene absolutely astonished them (as did the bigger-inside-than-out tardis at the front end of the series).

So okay - the way I've watched this is by watching my kids watching a programme that is made for children. And it is very very very good television. I'd make a guess that like me (and like a lot of you) they'll carry the seeds that have been planted over the past 13 weeks into their adulthood and develop a healthy respect for science-fiction, which is wonderful genre.

And what of me watching with the kids? Well, yes, RTD's storylines have weak points, but the characterisation is wonderful. He is writing for children and they demand less internal logic than adults. You want intellectual coherence go pick up an adult sci-fi novel - there are lots of them about that really do take on big subjects in a challenging way. The acting has been superb throughout (what is it with this carping criticism of Rose's mum? She's been fine. I live in east London and she's like any number of my neighbours...REALLY). The effects are better than they ever were before and the music must be better than that dreadful electronic stuff of the 70's and 80's.

So, a plea..think on. Who's (haha) this series written for? Not for 20, 30 or 40 year olds. They have to stretch their imagination a bit, and remember what it was like to be a kid. Do that and you'll love it.

HmmВ…new teethВ….thatВ’s weird.

And so ends an era. I was thrilled beyond words that Doctor Who was being revived, and this season did not let me down. At times I wished they wouldnВ’t try quite SO hard to not mention the past, but the Daleks did eventually return, there was a great scene with the head of a Cyberman (canВ’t wait to see them next season!) and it was the little things that were thrown in for longtime fans such as directions for a room inside the TARDIS for Rose to change clothes in В“The Unquiet DeadВ” and the Ninth Doctor commenting on his new ears in В“RoseВ” (just like Tom Baker commenting on his new nose in В“RobotВ”) that helped make this series a classic. This Doctor even picked up and discarded new companions just as previous Doctors such as Peter Davison had done. This show always kept you guessing and it wasВ…fantastic.

В“The Parting of the WaysВ” was a great ending to a great series. The creation of a Dalek В“godВ” was interestingВ… it kind of goes along the same lines of making every effort to not mention the past. Why this could not be an incarnation of Davros or even a previously seen Supreme Dalek is beyond me but it was a very interesting character regardless. The solution to the 500,000 Daleks seemed to me to beВ…wellВ…a little bit of a cop out. The Doctor has a huge dilemma on his handsВ…create a Delta wave that will destroy all life in and around the planet Earth, or die and let Earth be harvested for Dalek parts. As the Doctor states В“coward, any dayВ”, it wasnВ’t much of a choice. This Doctor, however, has been hardened by war and the death of his people. He actually thought about it whereas no previous Doctor would have even seen it as a remote possibility, even if it did mean the death of Earth either way. Then Super-powered Rose jumps in and with a wave of her hand solves everything.

Of course there were problems with the plot, such as the technobabble explanation of the В“Bad WolfВ” references, the fact that Captain Jack in abandoned, and how the Daleks actually survived, just to name a few. It must be known though that I pick apart plots to every show and movie I love and I love this new series. Another minor quibble I have with the plot of the episode is that Rose and the others could even open up the panel to the TARDIS. MickeyВ’s car isnВ’t strong enough to pull apart the TARDIS console, so they get a larger Earth truck and then are able to rip open the console of this exquisite piece of Gallifreyian technology?! HmmmВ…. I believe it would have worked better if it simply knew it had to open such as it did against the Slitheen and Rose was able to do the same thing. Of course then RoseВ’s mom and Mickey would have been left out and RTD was trying to get some emotion into this sub-plot. Forgivable and understandable.

People have had a lot of opinions about Captain Jack Harkness. Some good but mostly bad. I donВ’t see how you cannot like this character. He was a fun loving rogue who was willing to sacrifice himself for the good of mankind and to make up for his screw up. Since then I can only say that this TARDIS crew have been together much longer than the two adventures we saw them in. He grew into a part of the family and a very valuable part at that. Not only is he well versed in time and how it works, he is technically adept and he is humble enough to defer to the judgement of The Doctor. In fact, in В“PartingВ” he blindly follows him into death and never once flinches. When he first kisses Rose and then the Doctor and says how he wishes heВ’d never met him and he made a much better cowardВ…it was some of the best companion writing ever. I dare say that only Sarah Jane Smith and possibly Jo Grant ever had as emotional response as the purely soldier character of Captain Jack had with the Ninth Doctor. Jack owed him everything, for showing him how he had been wasting his life and talents and gave him a sense of purpose IВ’m not sure he ever had. What an acting job for a character with relatively small amount of screen time. By the way, on the subject of him kissing the Doctor, I am not a gay activist by any means but come on, grow up. Jack is a very sexual character who comes from a time where male/female relations have been blurred. He freely flirted with anyone male or female and enjoyed every minute of it. It made perfect sense for him to kiss the Doctor the same as Rose, as I stated before he meant a great deal to Jack and Jack believed (apparently for good reason) he would never see him again. When Jack was brought back to life and he ran in to see the TARDIS de-materialize the look he gave was amazing В– sadness, hurt and desperation all at the same time. John Barrowman is an amazing actor and I can only hope that RTD realizes that this character evolved far beyond the В“heВ’s here to carry a big gun because the Doctor and Rose wouldnВ’tВ” status he came aboard as.

Just the fact that we can argue whether or not this series was good and tear apart each episode piece by piece shows what an excellent job they did with Doctor Who. People need to realize how many chances this show had to be a failure. There were obvious money constraints and yet everything looked great. People were used to four part episodes and most of these were single 45 minute episodes. Chris and Billie were unknown choices to say the least and they proved themselves to be simply amazing in their parts. The Daleks almost didnВ’t make it into the series, and they were able to use them. This series is a resounding success and I praise Russell and every person who was involved in this fantastic series. I hope David Tennant takes a hold of the role of the Tenth Doctor and is with us a very long time.

Why oh why do we have to wait until CHRISTMAS!!!!? Oh well maybe by then America will WAKE UP and bring this incredible entertainment to these shores so I can stop watching it on my computer and lay back on the couch like a true Doctor Who fan should! THANK YOU FOR A WONDERFUL 13 WEEKS!