В‘WhoВ’s afraid of the big bad wolf?В’ IВ’ll admit that I was afraid of В‘Bad WolfВ’, because I thought that the ingredients for this episode, Big Brother, The Weakest Link, celebrity cameos Daleks, and the potential revelation of who or what Bad Wolf is, would, if not handled brilliantly, result in a mess. Indeed as Russell T. Davies had been arguably the only writer on the 2005 series to fail to deliver a classic episode, I really did not think he could pull off what was needed to make this work. Thankfully my fears were groundless and what was broadcast was a very strong and exciting 45 minutes of television, which had me totally hooked from start to finish.

The opening of the episode is well structured. The three main cast members materialise in different locations from T.V. land with no idea of how they got there, which is in some ways reminiscent of the Mind Robber Part Two. There seems little danger to their situation however, until slowly the apparently deadly nature of the games they are playing is revealed, and they have to try to escape. This leads on the shockingly brilliant twist that Rose does not escape and is seen to be killed. IВ’ll admit for a few minutes I really believed Rose was dead, and the publicity over Billie PiperВ’s role in series two had been a rouse, not least because of the obvious successor to her introduced moments earlier in a clever piece of writing by Davies. LyndaВ’s following the Doctor against her male friendВ’s advice on the promise of adventure is of course a nice parallel with Rose leaveing with the Doctor against MickeyВ’s wishes at the end of В‘RoseВ’. Of course RoseВ’s В‘deathВ’ turns to be a bluff, but nonetheless her seemingly being atomised was a truly shocking moment. Her reappearance on the alien spaceship was also pleasing not least because of the familiar humming sound effect that told long time Doctor Who fans exactly whose spaceship this was.

Yes the Daleks are definitely back, and Joe Ahearne reiterates this by cleverly echoing their first appearance at the end of В‘The Daleks/MutantsВ’ part one. The spirit of the 1960s is also invoked with the scenes of hundreds of Daleks and Dalek ships, which look like modern updates of images from the epic Dalek saga from the pages of TV21. This is a treat for fans and older viewers, but these scenes will also surely impress new viewers, for they are visual spectacles. I suspect these moments will prove to be seen as as iconic in forty years time as the sixties ones of the Daleks on Westminster Bridge and the Cybermen emerging from the Tomb are seen as today. All credit to the special effects team for pulling this off. They deserve a BAFTA!

The other great thing about this episode is the Doctor. We see him as the flawed hero, as his actions in the В‘Long GameВ’ were well intended but have caused this nightmare he is now in. We also see him as vulnerable. He is totally distraught when Rose seems to be dead, and for once really looks like he is beaten. Then there is his speech to the Daleks and Rose at the end. No, heВ’s not going to give up and surrender, heВ’ll save Rose, fight the Daleks and he will win. This reminds us what the Doctor is all about and almost serves as a manifesto for the series. Eccleston is brilliant in all these scenes, being totally convincing whether the Doctor is devastated (at Roses loss), bored, e.g. at the time of the first eviction, or angry, e.g when he confronts the Floor five hundred personnel. Most of all, his Doctor comes across as a determined crusader who wants to help his friends and the people he meets like Lynda. ItВ’s sad the Ninth Doctor will soon be no more.

Aside from the Doctor the other characters were also engaging. Unlike in В‘Boom Town!В’, Jack was seen to fill a useful role as someone who can work with the Doctor close to his own level. Rose fills the more traditional role in this story of the companion in peril, but Billie Piper gives her usual excellent performance, particularly during the В‘Weakest LinkВ’ when she realises with horror what elimination from the game means. Indeed this is perhaps the most successful of the game segments, with the terrified women contestant begging to be given another chance, the scheming Roderick, who only cares about his own survival, and the Ann-DroidВ’s ruthless dispatching of its victims. Lynda from the Big Brother house is also an interesting character, who would make a good companion, which as I said helps makes Rose death so believable.

This is part one of a two part story and RTD does not ever forget this, and keeps plenty in reserve for part two. We still do not entirely know who/what Bad Wolf is other than that they are connected to the Daleks. Nor do we learn much more about the Time War and the DoctorВ’s role in it. Also how will/can the Doctor save Rose and defeat the Daleks? New questions are also raised. How did the Daleks survive the War? What happened to the other game players, if they were not killed? Why are the Daleks interested in earth? This episode also fits brilliantly into the series as a whole. It explains the relevance of the В‘Long GameВ’sВ’ title and ties up it lose plot ends. It also has some nice flashbacks to key bad wolf references. (One minor continuity nitpick: Rose did not see Bad Wolf One landing in Dalek so she should not remember it here.)

There were a few other flaws. I felt that the В‘100 years laterВ’ caption spoiled what could have come as a surprise to the viewer- namely that the games are being played on satellite 5- which could have easily been revealed when the Doctor realises it himself later in the episode. Moreover why does everyone in 200,100 dress like its 2005? Also I wonder if the cultural references will make this episode seem dated in a few years. Nonetheless this is easily Russell T. Davies best piece of writing for the series so far, and sets up what promises to be an excellent finale.

I'm trying very hard not to overload on the superlatives, but "Bad Wolf" feels like the episode I always knew RTD had in him, but which he hadn't been able to deliver.

Put quite simply, my view is that this epsiode was possibly the most perfect episode of Doctor Who of the series, and even perhaps of all 30+ years of Doctor Who. It was packed full of humour, pathos, excitement, drama, questions and satire. The pacing was terribly well judged and as the climax built you knew that any moment that famous 'Dr Who' scream of the theme music was going to come, and you kept willing it to stay away for as long as possible. And then the post-credit sequence allowed an exciting glimpse of next week's episode and then suddenly next week seemed such a long way away. I punched the air with excitement and then I just had to sit there for several minutes before I could pick my jaw up off the floor, and the adrenaline subsided. Suddenly I was 10 years old again, watching Tom Baker in Genesis of the Daleks. It was a riveting and dramatic episode.

For the first time in the series, I honestly think that RTD has done virtually nothing wrong. There is a question mark about how the transmat beam was able to move people out of the previously impervious TARDIS. (For what it's worth, my own view is that The Doctor's been involved in The Long Game for rather longer than he thinks - and that the Daleks have had him trapped, playing this game for some time, possibly to keep him out of the way) and that the TARDIS isn't the TARDIS, but a VR reconstruction - all part of the game.) Othewise, I found the episode utterly flawless. It's the first time I've watched an epside again straight after its first viewing (the only episode I have watched more than once was "Dalek" but it was several days before I felt that I wanted to see it again). I can hardly wait for next week's season finale - the worst thing about is that my girlfriend is dragging me off to a folk music night (oh dear!), so I've got to sit through all that music and wait until we get home before I can see the episode. It feels like torture! I think that The Parting of the Ways will be the best episode of the year. I really hope that RTD writes more episodes like this next year. If he does, we're in for an amazing second season.

For the record, I'd like to say that my view is that the man saying "the Daleks survived through me" is Davros.

I probably was one of the few fans who didn't realise that the Daleks were gonna be back until I’d seen the trailer. So sadly all week I’d been really looking forward to it although slightly dubious of the Big Brother parody.

Congratulations to Russell T Davies for creating as far as I’m concerned 45 of minutes of a pretty much perfect Doctor Who. For me I felt the best elements of Doctor Who were there. It pulled off the satire extremely well, with the robots design excellent, very retro but menacing when revealing the "face-off" as the last part of Captain Jack’s make-over. An excellent scene revealing the Doctor creating the cause of earth’s fate. The CGI space station looked marvelous and the sets in general excellent.

Captain Jacks character here was used well, Billie Piper again exceling as Rose, Chris in top form as the doctor and I particularly like the controller, a small role but reminding us of how nasty the Daleks were. What surprised me the most was how caught up I was in the show, when it looked like Rose died, for 10 minutes I was thinking maybe she had, the despair of her death was apparent and so well acted even by the regulars.

But what made this for me the perfect Doctor Who was the sense of sitting there watching it, totally immersed in the show. Having been saying to my friend watch this show, and she didn't until last night’s episode, her email this morning said I watched and now I wish I watched the whole series She watched it with her son and her son loved it as much as her.

I would comment on the script, and the designs and the acting but for me they were secondary to the atmosphere of the show. The final five minutes of the show for me was one of the greatest moments in Doctor Who history. Finally when we hear about the Dalek taskforce, we don’t just hear, we see, we saw thousand of ships, the CGI work here was outstanding and as they pull away to see the ships. Then we see the usual 3 daleks threatening the doctor, looking I felt very retro but conjuring up images of Doctor Who of old. I felt the last scene was the clincher for me as the camera pulled back revealing a huge army of Daleks, finally we see a Dalek army looking magnificent, bringing up images of the comic as they fly. In that moment, I was a kid again watching doctor who, I genuinely went WOW, and then our Doctor goes heroic and tells the rose he coming to get her and the end credits rolled and I was gutted. But not gutted because of bad scripts or wobbly acting but because I’ve got to wait a whole week before I get to see what happens. Perfect cliff hanger.

Congrats to Davies… he’s filled his promise, and the only thing that bugs me now is how long its gonna be till next Saturday nite ...

This was on of the most unoriginal doctor whoВ’s episodes of the season. Second only to its predecessor В“The Long GameВ” Now IВ’m not saying the episode was badВ… В“The Long GameВ” was nothing more them a Doctor Who version of the 80В’s cyber punk series В“Max HeadroomВ”, While В“Bade WolfВ” is again an steal form yet another (not very good) 80В’s cyber punk film В“The Running ManВ” These concepts of course were not strictly original to these earlier films and TV shows, but non the less are old and stale concepts by todayВ’s standards.
,br>Oh great more Daleks. Before I continue let me tell everyone that IВ’m an American who loves Doctor Who, but hates the Daleks. Why because Doctor Who, thanks to regenerations has been successfully updated with the times, the Daleks are just stupid old fashioned robots who speak in really annoying staccato like all stupid and annoying robots from the 50В’s and 60В’s (Yes I know there really not robots). For a nonВ–UK relatively young fan, the Daleks are not even kitschy fun. TheyВ’re just boring and annoying, I cringe whenever they appear. There I said it, flame away.

Again the show did have its moments. The Doctor being completely bored by the reality show he was placed in was appropriate, Captain Jack hiding a gun up his ass also had a great modern twist on the show. But the show really is confused with the role of Rose. In the first episode rose was the hero and able to take care of her self. But ever since she has become useless, like a typical old-fashioned female sidekick, always in trouble, or making a mistake because she canВ’t control her female emotions.

The series overall has had real problem balance. They were successful in updating the interior of the Tardis, the special effects to just the right level of cheese, and the pacing of the show. But they did almost nothing with the Daleks, The Cybermen (I dread when they appearance), and the bad rubber suits for the SlitheenВ’s go beyond cheesy fun to just (to use the English expression) rubbish.

The show lacks a sense consistency that hopefully theyВ’ll figure out in a season or two.

Back in the mid 1990's I sent a letter to the BBC, addressed to Davros. I did this because I had a hunch that the Beeb had been taken over by the Daleks, such was their reluctance to bring the Doctor back to our screens. I received a reply from Viewer and Listener Corresponance, which perhaps proved my point!

Why mention this now? In "Bad Wolf", the Doctor and his companions return to Satellite 5 to find that the earth's entire TV output HAS been controlled by the Daleks for a century.

But this is not made clear to begin with. The episode opens with the Doctor, Rose and Jack beamed mysteriously from the Tardis into different game shows, all of which even casual TV viewers will be familiar with. The Doctor finds himself in a version of Big Brother where eviction means death, Rose is a contestant on the Weakest Link where the 'walk of shame' has been replaced by death...and Jack on a makeover show run by homicidal versions Trinnie & Susannah. All the game show hosts seem to be 'droids, and were voiced by their 21st century 'real life' personas to excellent effect.

Tension builds as we begin to realise that each and every show involves death or mutilation, but thankfully the Doctor and Jack are able to escape their games and rush to help Rose...but too late! I'm old enough to remember Adric being killed, but my wife was really shocked to see Rose shot. Even though we both know she appears in future episodeds.

Poignantly the Doctor discovers that all this terrible 'entertainment' began 100 years ago, at the point when he, Adam and Rose left Satellite 5 in "The Long Game". He believes that somehow he has caused this awful future for the people of earth.

The Doctor, Jack and the Big Brother housemates make their way to floor 500 to find the root of the mayhem, and discover a woman hooked Matrix-style to Satellite 5's systems. During a solar flare when the satellite is shut down she is able to tell the Doctor that she has been performing this job all her life, and that she does it for her masters, who she is forbidden to name. She's brought the Doctor here to bring an end to it all.

The Doctor surmises that the entire earth's population has been encouraged by air pollution and junk TV to sit inside doing nothing, and has been kept in the dark about something in orbit around the planet. Disabling a cloaking signal that the satellite is broadcasting he discoveres 200 Dalek ships readying themselves for an invasion. Not only this, but they have captured Rose in the belief that the Doctor won't attack them, and actually seem not to understand him when he says "NO".

All in all a superb episode, by far the best of the RTD-penned stories. We are still in the dark as to who or what the Bad Wolf is, though a small clue was given in the post-epsiode "next week" trailer. The tension is building to boiling point and next week's final episode will be essential viewing. I've read that some people believe the final two epsisodes should have been shown back to back, but the BBC is handling this perfectly. We will get teasers every day next week leading up to Saturday when all will be revealed. No instant gratification junk TV here.

A final word about the feel of the show. All the androids were excellently realised, the effects were very good indeed and we had the old Doctor Who feeling of not knowing what was going on until near the end of the episode, and of the Doctor working it all out. Like "The Unquiet Dead" and "The Empty Child/Doctor Dances" this episode balanced perfectly the need to update Doctor Who while keeping it honest to the previous 26 series. TV does not get much better than this.

It's funny how a small minority can actually affect your perception of an episode before it airs. There has been a very vocal fan group who have had strong concerns over Russell T Davies output and regardless of the objective validity (and I for one am not condemning such opinion), one cannot help being infected by that concern, no matter how small the voice. Negativity is infectious; its voice is loud no matter how minor the group. I must confess that, despite enjoying most of RTD's work, I approached the teaser with a degree of non-objective concern. Parodies are dangerous things, and this episode from the very opening scene has no qualms about being so. Get too close to real life, and it can break that illusion of disbelief mainstream science fiction so desperately needs.

However, like Doctor Who of yore, "Bad Wolf" manages to superbly do parody and it couldn't be closer than this. Beyond the darker and more explosive second half, the first part of this story is very well handled. We have some great parody moments based on other British TV institutions. “The Weakest Line” and “Big Brother” are to name some of the more famous ones of recent times. By making such very close parodies (music, sets and voice work), it actually adds to the suspense of disbelief; vague parodies create vague parallels where the viewer doesn't really see the mimic being one thing or the other. "Bad Wolf" pulls no such punches!

Beyond the Reality/Quiz TV parallel here, we have a deeper and more evocative story. Maybe if this episode had just revolved around the parody, it would have really lost a lot of drive by any resolution. The gradual and slightly disorientating start slowly sets the stage for a grand finale ending. And what a grand finale it is.

Not only is it big (and I mean B.I.G), it's very well paced. No quick shock ending to leave the viewer feeling cheated, the ending is given time to grow and even gives away a few more revelations than one would have expected of Doctor Who in the past. Once upon a time we would have had simply the appearance of a squawking Dalek to create the cliffhanger, but not here. In "Bad Wolf" we have the appearance of the foe a good few minutes before the end that results in a story with a very satisfying mix of drama, parody, surprise and some fantastic dialogue.

Yes, the script for "Bad Wolf" is very strong; in fact, all aspects of the story remain tight. Any concern over the slightly unfinished feel to RTD's "Boom Town" can be quashed by one of the most solid pieces of story telling to date. Let's also remember, making a story that doesn't rely overtly on atmosphere, action and suspense for its entirety is very hard. This is a real mix of drama. Some clear tongue in cheek humour, some shocking revelations and some really powerful dramatic scenes all in one. This really is a story that builds, layer on layer and that really does underline the talents of this show's creator.

Whether you like his occasional bursts of humour, or his more character orientated plots, RTD knows his field, both as a producer and as a writer. He writes as he feels the show requires and the approval of the masses reflects this. "Bad Wolf is a perfect example of how RTD can write as he needs to. This is the shows penultimate story and he pulls back from overt humour to shows us a mind that cares and knows Doctor Who. This is tense Doctor Who without being over scary. It's the perfect equation of light entertainment and firm drama. Some older fans may prefer the likes of "The Empty Child", but if Doctor Who intends to survive, it's stories that offer a more family orientated balance such as this that will keep the show going.

As for the more specific elements - all top notch. The music is great with some more of the more gothic undertones announcing the Daleks. The acting is above par across the board and for the second week running, Eccleston gets a wonderful mix of light and very dark. This Doctor is really having to deal with his "meddling". In this light, "Bad Wolf" is a great follow up to "Boom Town" and elevates the importance of "Boom Town" in hindsight.

Final bow goes to Captain Jack Harkness, who provides a refreshing character type and a little additional humour throughout. RTD, if you are wise and bored enough to read this, whatever happens to Jack in the finale, consider his return. He's an asset to the crew bringing that extra something that neither the Doctor nor Rose can, something beyond his more violent capacities. His self-assured attitude, technical know how and utter juxtaposition to the Doctor makes him a fascinating and worthy addition to the crew dynamic. His role was comparatively small compared to the Doctor's, but nevertheless very noticeable.

Oh yeah, did I mention the Daleks much? No? Well I will leave it to the other reviewers to rave on their reinvention and application. They retain all about what Daleks should be and still manage to add something new.

Fantastic. Russell T Davies should be squirming with pleasure in his bed tonight knowing that it's a job well done. Only downside is it creates a very tough act to follow... and with the next episode being the finale.. Can it compare to the strength of “Bad Wolf”? "Time will tell", said one great man. With the Doctor having to deal with the ramifications of that statement in "Bad Wolf", I can't think of a more pertinent quotation to end on.