Yay blue body makeup in the year 5,000,002,005!

Lady Cassandra is probably the single-most strangest looking thing I've ever seen on TV SF ever. Ever ever ever. The point that she's supposed to be the "Last Human Being" makes it even wackier.

Loved the old Wurlitzer jukebox being rolled out, and Lady Cassandra calling it an "iPod"! Also loved the first song we hear in it ("Tainted Love" by Soft Cell) but for Christ's sake, did we really need "Toxic" by Britney Spears as the music leading into the sun roasting the Earth??

Jabe was a fascinating character, and it's a damn shame she had to die in this. Her reaction when receiving the Doctor's gift in the exchange was almost sheer arousal. She would've been fun to see more of, but, so it goes...

What was the point of the Moxx of Balhoon, or that giant head in a bottle??

The end of the episode...oh yes, I've seen some of TEH WANK~! about it, people bitching up a storm about how now we need to go read the novels, and now it's become about Faction Paradox, and this that and the other.

First off let me tell you all: you are absolutely positively way off. Trust me on this one.

Second: even if you weren't, so what? Keeping in mind, this show is done for new viewers, and the new audience. Not you. The new audience (sadly) doesn't give a frag about the books, or the audios, or anything else. The new audience knows just as much as Rose Tyler about the Doctor and what he's all about. And that's as it should be.

In other words, you're wrong, chill out, shut up, and wait for "The Unquiet Dead" next week.

The First Episode of this hugely important series was received by 10 million UK viewers, anxious to see what the good Doctor had was like in this new incarnation.

So, this second episode of the series had its work cut out to maintain that large audience. But did it live up to the name of Doctor Who? That's the question I try to answer in this review (and it would be so much easier with partially psychic paper).

Now for me, this new series has already broken some of the fundamental rules of Doctor Who and called it "Bringing Doctor Who into the 21st Century". Rose lacked storyline and was all about Rose really. This episode however, did not suffer the same problem, it had a storyline that was well split between the various characters, which all had very distinct, classic Doctor Who styles. The Doctor was his old humorous self, improvising to come up with "breathe from my lungs" because everyone else had gifts and he didn't and Rose was a very real character, exploring the differences between the aliens of the year 5 billion and herself, as well as the huge difference between herself and the secretive Doctor. The aliens on Platform One were well-developed characters too. In the space of about ten minutes, we knew why there was a piece of skin in a frame was doing watching the world die and how the staff of Platform One do business and the Rules like no Teleportation or Guns. Then the trouble begins (as usual).

It all starts with what can only be described as practically carbon copies of eye scanning spiders from Minority Report being activated and crawling out the "gift as a token of peace". These metal critters then proceed to (for want of a better word), dispose of the local blue-faced plumber. At this point, the Sun Filter in the Steward’s office starts to fall and the Steward is no more. This is classic Doctor Who, business as usual. Where this falls down in the new series is the short length of the episodes. Most of the classic Doctor Who series' stories were twice as long and had at least three cliffhangers. The End of the World could have done with this format and a few cliffhangers. As a result of this change, the story doesn't have time to develop and therefore rushes through the necessary information needed to solve the mystery and end the story.

Which brings me to the second fundamental change, the overall format. In 2005, a 20-minute episode just doesn't cut it and so the new 45-minute length is welcome. However, the new series should have had four two parters and one Three parter to end the new series. This would have brought the required episode length and the cliffhangers that were synonymous with Doctor Who. The End of the world would have benefited enormously had it been longer and allowed to develop. I felt that the story wasn't deep enough as a result and moved too fast to get the audience involved in the story, as they did in the pre-1990s series'.

Another depth-stuttering aspect of the story was how blunt and obvious the story was. Introduce the characters, something strange begins, someone disappears, someone dies, the Doctor catches on, the Doctor saves his assistant and works out what to do, but only to find out there's an obstruction, the Doctor overcomes it with the sacrifice of a new friend and exposes the mastermind. It really was as simple as that. No subtlety, no sub stories running behind the main plot, just a raw naked plot, crammed into 45 minutes.

The Doctor is a lot more emotional in this new series and he actually cries in The End of the World. This has always been a no-go area for Doctor Who and with good reason. Granted he had a good reason to cry which was also an unwelcome developement, but more on that in a bit. The Doctor has always managed to stay detatched to some extent in order to see the overall picture and to reinforce the fact that he is an alien from another time and place, who has see and done many things, good and bad. The Doctor is often taking Roses hand and at the end of the episode she actually puts her head on the Doctor's shoulder, asif he was her boyfriend making his apparent emotional relationship with Rose more reminiscent of an all American hero with his damsel in distress than the Doctor and his travelling assistant. Now Earlier I mentioned a good reason for the Doctor to cry it did rather ruin the story for me and many other viewers of the series. It is arguably the worst of the tampering with the established Doctor Who universe. The Destruction of Gallifrey as a result of a war. NO GALLIFREY?!?! THE TIMELORDS AT WAR?!?! What was Davies thinking? All those millions of possibilities lost, and for what?! I hope for the sake of the fans, the new viewers and the Doctor Who universe, they fix it and make the Doctor take the difficult, but ultimately obvious decision to go back and save his home world.

That said, the graphics and sets in this episode were better and much more original than they were in Rose and The Mill can be proud of what is has done in the relatively short period of time it was given compare to the usual blockbuster movie timetable. Unfortunately, most of it still looked like graphics, falling short of the realism of the CG seen in Enterprise and the new Battlestar Galactica, arguably Doctor Who's closest comparisons. The music also followed the same lines, as it was good music, but maybe a little inappropriate at times and the inclusion of Britney Spears with a cheap excuse didn't help either.

The End of the World was at least worthy of being called a drama, but I do think it still fell short of the name Doctor Who.

Y'know, I was rather concerned that the announcement that Chris is leaving would have taken some of the impact of the new series away, but on the strength of tonight's wonderful episode 'The End of the World', this season is going to turn out to be something very very special for WHO fans old and new. It's huge and flashy, yes, but this episode has DOCTOR WHO all over it. The interplay between the Doctor and Rose has started to pick up momentum nicely. I was at first worried that after the first episode Rose would suddenly come across as an 'old hand' at all this adventuring malarkey, but no, her continued wonder and unease at the things she witnesses is wonderful to behold.

The advent of a pre-titles teaser sequence (including a lovely shot of the TARDIS in flight through the vortex) is a nice touch, adding to the drama and making the theme tune that bit more satisfying, which now we've had a chance to get used to it, is settling nicely and feels right for the tone and look of the series. The opening CG views of the Platform are gorgeous- a tad reminiscent of babylon 5 perhaps, but gorgeous nontheless, and the voiceover concerning the prohibition against using teleportation devices, weapons and religion was excellent.

For me, the script was very satisfying, nicely weaving elements of the show's rich mythos into a riotous romp of a tale.I did like the explanation of why everyone speaks English. One thing I am curious as to what other parts of fandom thought of is the revelation that the Doctor is the last of the Time Lords due to a war wiping them all out. For me it gives the EDA books a little weight, taking into account Gallifrey's fate. The look on the Doctor's face when Jabe is at his side is amazing, the sheer weight of pain in his eyes, then that tear that escapes as he turns his head, magic. Nice one Mr Davies.

Aaaaahhhh Jabe, Jabe Jabe! What a beautiful makeup upon such a beautiful actress. Ignore her dodgy past in Hollyoaks and concentrate on the character; Regal, powerful, graceful and yet utterly courageous. The teaser at the end of 'Rose' made her makeup seem a little...hmmm... odd on camera, but once you are treated to the close shots of her, it's clear that any worries were unfounded. Her fate is certainly a shame. The other Trees could have been used a little more for my liking, but with so much going on in one episode it's a small quibble. Lady Cassandra? Well she could never look perfect could she? Not on the timescale and budget available for the series, but she was amazing anyway, and the floating brain in the jar section of her platform was a nice touch. Zoe Wanamaker's vocal performance was spot on.

I really enjoyed the scene with the modified mobile phone. Rose's expression as she looks at the dying Earth while talking to her mother, 5 billion years in the past, was very powerful. Moments like this keep popping up in this new series, moments that cement it firmly in dramatic territory and giving it more credibility as a serious show. It has the humour, the monsters, the action, the characterization, and now the FX, acting talent and respect that it deserves.

This is not only excellent science fiction television, it's excellent Doctor Who. It's definitely different, but ladies and gentlemen this is definitely Doctor Who. I can't wait for next week. Episode 3 looks just as much fun, and its nice to remember how much fun it was, popping between time periods for each story.

Everyone involved must be very very proud of themselves. What an achievement.

British SF. Real British SF that respects its history while moving forward.

Who'd have thought it possible?

‘The End of the World’ tries to be many things at once – a whodunit, a satire, a comedy of manners, and a character piece that paints both the Doctor and Rose in deeper shades than we saw in ‘Rose.’ It simply can’t be all these things successfully, but the fault doesn’t really lie with Russell T. Davies’s script – as with ‘Dalek,’ there just isn’t enough *time* to give all the story elements their due, and as a result, the final product has a somewhat compressed quality. That’s the price of this short-teleplay form – this is the kind of plot that could have made a great four-part adventure in the old days, cliffhangers and all.

But, despite this problem, ‘The End of the World’ isn’t really all that bad. It brings a wonderful alien color back to the world of Doctor Who – these aliens are a bit campy and costumey, but that’s never really been out of place in the series, and, indeed, one almost expects Alpha Centauri to show up at this little shindig. Some fans have criticized this first season of the new series as being too Earth-bound, but that seems silly to me – stories like this one, as well as ‘The Long Game’ and the final two-parter, might as well be set on alien planets. 

As for Davies’s writing contribution, well, his dialogue *is* rather grating in places – the satire about iPods is about as sharp as a boxing glove, and will date terribly. It’s also true that none of his characters here are terribly deep – even Lady Cassandra comes off as merely arch, more the ‘bitchy trampoline’ of Rose’s estimation than a Doctor Who supervillain. And Jabe is purely functional. But that’s not really so out of place in a story that clearly aspires to be the sci-fi equivalent of an Agatha Christie ‘cozy’ mystery. As for the acting, Simon Day’s Steward is amusing in his flips between serene servility and impatient near-panic, the rubbery aliens, as I said, are fun, and the spidery robots are creepy and effective. Plus, Billie Piper gets some good scenes – in particular, the one where she befriends Raffalo the plumber has a way of bringing the out-there sci-fi scenario down to earth, which seems to be a major goal of Davies’s in his approach to the series. The design is quite beautiful (an obvious homage to eighties Who) and the special effects, especially when the sun shields fail, are certainly impressive.

One last concern is worth mentioning, though, and that is the story’s rather ghoulish resolution. I find it hard to believe that the Doctor would stand coldly by and watch the last human being, even a murderer in grotesquely altered form, agonize and explode before his eyes. Even Rose asks him for mercy, but he has none – this is not only out of character with his previous incarnations, but with his own later this season, when he cannot bring himself to kill the humans on Earth in ‘The Parting of the Ways.’ It leaves a bad taste in the mouth, frankly – fans should be warned.

Still, this worth a watch overall.

Wow. 

I had my reservations after the first episode, as per my review. It just didn't quite click. 

This episode clicked, and how.

>From the preview of last week, I wasn't overly hopeful, boy was I wrong. From start to finish this was 45 minutes of pure Who. The characterization that was so lacking in episode 1 arrived in spades. Eccleston is already a truly great Doctor, here we saw both the humour that already characterises him, and the darkness that we have been promised. There is obviously pain about the loss of Gallifrey, we already know that the Doctor could not save the Nestene, maybe there is guilt about the role he played in the Gallifrey war. he is, apparently, the only survivor.

Billie finally showed her acting mettle. I'm a harsh critic of hers but she has finally silenced me. I'll fully admit I was not convinced by her in anything she has done up to now but in these 45 minutes she fully vindicated her casting. She was fantastic. 

The special effects deserve a special mention. Nothing to write home about last week, they were obviously saving their money for the heavy usage here. Not a dud shot in sight.

Zoe Wanamaker was absolutely wonderful as always.

Psychic Paper a great idea and finally a reason why everyone on Who speaks English.

Jade (Jayde?) was a wonderful character and actively felt like more of a companion than Rose in this episode, a real pity that she died. If this was supposed to be the "romance" of the series, it didn't feel like it. It worked well. But this Doctor is far more human than any of the others. He displayed some previously unseen powers here but his failing cost Jade her life.

Fantastically inventive death of the supervisor and one of my favourite Who scenes ever as The Doctor tries to rescue Rose from the same fate. "It would be you in there!" has to go down as one of the greatest lines in Who.

Fans over a walkway, that can't be turned off and the switch to save the station the only thing beyond them. What an illogical place to put a switch. Was this a reference to the brilliant film Galaxy Quest which itself was parodying Trek? The scene where the heroes have to travese a corridor of smashing walls which are there for absolutely no reason is an absolute classic. Completely illogical to do this in Who but a great piece of reference.

The incidental music was far better than last week but still not particularly memorable. On the other hand, the modern music used was inventive and the Doctor dancing to Frankie Goes To Hollywood (Was it?) was hilarious. 

A few small niggles, as some people noted in the last episode, the Sonic Screwdriver appears to be this Doctor's weapon of choice, already it has made more appearances in two episodes than possibly the fifth, sixth and seventh Doctor's era's combined. Let's see how he fares next week in the Victorian age.

I think Russell T. Davies needs to tighten up his writing slightly, last week we had Clive who provided exposition and then died. This week we had a blue plumber who did absolutely nothing except purposely die. Not a disaster by any means but we need to care about a character before they die.

The death of the Time Lord race is a great idea, and a very bold, very modern twist, but just how did it happen? Gallifreyan's are almost impossible to kill. You have to kill each and every one twelve times, not to mention that they can manipulate time, are scientific geniuses etc etc. I have a feeling that the Daleks are involved. 

Also with the intimation that the Doctor is the last remaining Time Lord will we never again see The Master, The Rani, The Monk, The Valyard, surely all of these Time Lord's are running around in different times before the war but technically after their own deaths. Why does The Doctor get so cut up about it when he can just travel to a time before the destruction of Gallifrey? But I'm just being pedantic.

The series has hit it's stride and I can't wait to see how it turns out. Eccleston's leaving will no doubt affect how some people view this series but I think on this evidence, it may actually be right for this particular series and Eccleston's only mistake being that of timing.

Overall a vast improvement on last week in every way. Everything about this episode shone. It remains to be seen how the continuity twists revealed in this episode get sorted out, I personally don't see how, when The Doctor himself has won out over almost every alien race and evildoer in the galaxy, the entire race of Time Lords can be wiped out with all their powers, and I think it'll be a shame if we never see The Master again. But there are twists and there are twists. This is a very modern twist and I'm not sure if it was wise, but it will no doubt play out over the rest of the series and only then should we reflect on where the series has gone.

Overall, for the episode as a stand alone 20 out of 10. As per direction of the series 12 out of 10. Bold but is it too far?

Oh, I almost forgot, THE TARDIS NEEDS A BICYCLE PUMP TO WORK!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? The Doctor may be big on mechanical improvisation but come on! (Tribute to the quality of the episode that I actually forgot the horror with which that struck me)

I remember back in the latter days of the original series, Doctor Who fans coined a term: ‘oddball’, applied to the sort of Doctor Who stories that featured giant licorice allsort men, Ken Dodd and had the tendency to take the general concept of Doctor Who less than seriously. 

I remember reaction at the time to these particular stories was adverse, although opinion in general seems to have settled down to the notion that they were a brave experiment, but not altogether successful.

What has surprised me most so far in this new run is how much a debt the new series owes to these latter day McCoy stories. With its burping bins and now Britney Spears in space moments, one cant help but question the production team’s motives in evoking (whether intentionally or not) an era of the programme which one would think it would be doing its damnedest to try and bury the memory of.

Like Rose, I have found this story gets better on repeated viewing. On first viewing I thought it was patchy, meandering between brilliance and mediocrity. Preconceptions out of the way however, on the second viewing I could see what Russell was trying to do, the thing succeeds in doing what those McCoy stories tried to do but failed. I do however question its placing in the season, a story this off beat, this experimental could be make or break for many viewers. I personally would have thought it much wiser after the something for everyone approach of ‘Rose’, to ease viewers in with something much more approaching traditional Who, that is assuming any of the future stories fit this mould. Even in the age of Buffy, where silly ideas in series are commonplace, I feel some new viewers may have potentially found the whole thing slightly too weird, much better I would have thought to place it later on after the audience has settled and are less likely to be put off.

That said maybe the production team were planning on hooking viewers caught by Rose with some serious eye candy and certainly on that note the production paid off in spades. The production design on this series so far has been nothing short of excellent, from the brilliant Tardis interior, to the corridors of Platform one the new series has easily shed that image of those white walled studio bound sets. Similarly the effects, while having at times the traditional TV CGI look, were for the most part outstanding. The rendering of the dying sun in particular is something I think will be remembered for many years.

After the first episode I was somewhat undecided on Eccleston, but on this episode he grew on me considerably. Paul McGann was instantly acceptable in the part, but to be fair didn’t have to do anything but play an eccentric fop. Eccleston and Davies are doing what few producers would have the courage to do, making a modern Doctor, taking the core essence of the character and dumping all the frills and I personally think they’re not doing a bad job. Even the notion of the Doctor having a romantic side, didn’t seem as incongruous as when the 8th Doctor decided to get it on with Grace Holloway. Billie Piper gets better and better, in just two episodes her character is on the way to becoming perhaps one of the best companions ever. Her likeable, down to earth style is a breath of fresh air, she could so easily have been Buffy in space, but so far has proved one of this series’ strongest assets. The rest of the performances were variable: the blue guy with the skullcap seemed somewhat camp and over theatrical, while the female plumber with her regional accent and somewhat less than impressive costume I thought brought the whole thing down to that level of Doctor Who blandness which I hoped this series would avoid. Zoe Wanamaker however provided a thoroughly entertaining performance as Cassandra, a very imaginative character both in design and performance. 

I must however admit to being somewhat disappointed in the Moxx of Balhoon and the Face of Boe, two very effectual designs were wasted in their lack of use and in the case of the Moxx, having a rather ineffectual voice. What were hyped up certainly in the press as being the next generation of Who monsters, I think will have left a lot of viewers feeling disappointed. The Moxx in particular with his Mekon like appearnce could have been another Sil, but ended up being about as memorable as the guardian from Colony in Space.

I am currently somewhat confused about Murray Gold’s rather schizophrenic incidental scores, as with the previous week this episode had some killer themes particularly the recurring Doctor choral theme, but also had some bloody awful distracting tunes. How quite the same person can be responsible for the excellent theme tune, but also turn out rather soulless jaunty dittys is a bit mystifying. 

After being entertained for half an hour, but not sure whether all the incessant jokes and pop culture references were what I had been hoping for from this new series, the final ten minutes or so won me over.

From the tense scenes of the Doctor struggling to save everyone from being burnt to a crisp, to the melancholy aftermath of the earths destruction, never has a Doctor Who story been quite so poignant. This was the Doctor Who Russell had promised, but had so far failed to deliver, a Doctor Who with emotional resonance, a Doctor Who that stimulated thought, a Doctor Who that made you believe it could be real and for that I am willing to forgive it most of its shortcomings. As the final scene played out, a simple but flawlessly scripted scene about everyday things, and the scream of the theme cut in , it became clear that this show has the potential be one of the biggest things on tv.

However I think next week is make or break, we still need a story that makes the connection between the to coin a phrase ‘spooky escapism’ of the original and Davies bold new Doctor Who with heart. Unfortunately if the Unquiet Dead gives us another dose of camp, overly referential humour I feel this series may by its own design be neutralising the very effect it is trying to achieve.