The end of the beginning
As I commented here, I was out on Saturday night, and so couldn’t watch the last episode of Doctor Who live. I set up the video (obviously), but was paranoid all evening that something would go horribly wrong, and I’d never know who, what or where Bad Wolf was. I watched it on Sunday, but it’s taken me a few days to think what I want to say about the ending. So here it is.
Spoilers ahoy, so if you haven’t yet seen the last episode of Doctor Who and want to, don’t click through to the rest.
What a cracking episode! It seemed to bring together a lot of loose ends from the whole series and the whole cast was on top form. First, the massed ranks of flying daleks were brilliant, and still as scary as they ever were. I actually jumped when the voice of the Emperor of the Daleks broke through on the satellite while the Doctor was busy trying to get his death ray together. Eeek. Religious fundamentalist Daleks? That’s even more frightening than your common or garden ‘exterminate everything’ nihilist Daleks.
Before I watched this—-and like Cliff—-I had my money on The Master being the Bad Wolf. I was convinced that he was going to turn out to be responsible for the survival of this merry little outpost of the Daleks. However, I’m quite glad that I was wrong. Although the Master has a long history with Doctor Who, having him suddenly pop up as the explanation for everything would seem like a bit of a McGuffin. I liked the fact that it was Rose who had been leaving herself these ‘Bad Wolf’ hints all over the place, and also that she was ultimately the one who saved the day. It still doesn’t quite explain why she chose the phrase ‘Bad Wolf’ though, or how she manipulated the Slitheen woman (‘Margaret’) to name her power station ‘Bad Wolf’ in Welsh. Anyway, I quite like not having everything explained—-it makes you think a bit.
The three-way interaction between the Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack got even more steamy than it has been in recent episodes. That’s usually the kind of thing that turns up in slash fiction—-not that I’m complaining in any way! Did anyone else notice the evil eye that Rose was giving Lynda when she was flirting with the Doctor? And the fact that Rose revived Captain Jack but not Lynda? Despite their frequent protestations that they are not ‘together’ when anyone makes assumptions, no-one can tell me that there’s nothing going on between the three of them. I know that the Doctor ostensibly kissed Rose at the end to transfer the time vortex back to the Tardis via his body, but that’s about as much of a lame excuse as ‘you’ve got an eyelash in your eye, hold on a minute…’. Again, I’m not complaining at all.
Now to the difficult bit—-the Regeneration. One of the reasons that I chose the title ‘The end of the beginning’ for this post is that—-for me at least—-it is the end of something that had just got going again. I think that there are lots of things that have made this series great. The writing has been wonderful, the sets and monsters resolutely non-wobbly without losing any of the charm and quirkiness of the classic series, and the cast has gelled brilliantly. However, I think the thing that has contributed most to making the series fantastically watchable has been Christopher Eccleston’s subtlety, energy and charisma. David Tennant, on the other hand, looks like a startled rabbit. All the time. When he appeared after the regeneration, he looked like a little kid dressing up in his father’s clothes. I’ve seen him in one or two things (including ‘Casanova’), and I haven’t been impressed. I’m sure he’ll do his best, but if you don’t have any sexual charisma playing Casanova, then I don’t think there’s much hope for you. So I almost think it would have been better if the Doctor had died at the end of this series.
Sigh. It’s the whole Tom Baker/Peter Davidson transition all over again, though I did eventually warm to Peter Davidson. I’ll give the next series a fair viewing, but I’m not hopeful.
Anyway, to end on a slightly more upbeat note, I found a fantastic page of children’s reviews on the BBC site. They are supposed to give a kind of ‘scariness’ rating for other children, but they also come out with some real gems. This from Adam (12 years old):
The God Dalek was exciting. I liked the way the Daleks worshipped him. And the Daleks hovered like ghosts as they floated through space. But how do they go forwards if they’ve got boosters only on their bottoms?
That’s a very good point, Adam, and I think we should be told.
1
I particularly liked the way they brought in "Big Brother" and the "Weakest Link", the Anne Robinson robot was brilliantly concieved, "you are the weakest link" ZAP!----- Billie Piper as Rose Tyler should have been the new Doctor, no question...
by ted_groony @ 22/06/2005 7:07 pm • Permalink •
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When the last programme finished, my wife turned and said to me, "That's it, we might as well all go and die now..", and I know what she meant. We'll watch the next series of course, but oh are we going to miss Christopher Ecclestone! If he so chooses, he could become a huge movie star now, but I have a feeling that he will probably follow a more idiosyncratic career path.
by ThoughtBadger @ 22/06/2005 11:07 pm • Permalink •
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I completely agree - what distinguished the whole new series for me was Eccleston's charisma. And I have to say that I was quite taken aback by Billie Piper's acting ability too. I hadn't expected this new Doctor Who to be nearly as good as it turned out to be in general. The new guy - well, like you I don't hold out a lot of hope. Let's hope we're wrong...
by jim w @ 23/06/2005 9:07 am • Permalink •
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I haven't yet seen all the episodes of Series 1, as we live in the only major English-speaking country that isn't getting the new Doctor Who (the States). But we're getting them via a friend-of-a-friend who lives in London. We even went out and bought a code-free DVD player to play the discs he's been burning for us! We're up to episode 9 ("The Empty Child"), and I agree: Eccleston is brilliant, as is Piper.
Unlike you lot, I haven't seen Tennant in anything, so I don't know what to expect. But I do trust Russell Davies and his fellow producers implicitly. Nonetheless, I'm already going through a sort of anticipatory mourning for Eccleston's Doctor.
In a way, though, our unease about the transition should be cause for an odd sort of celebration: We are all of us fretting over the possible loss of something we thought had left us long ago, and would never return, except in some horrific, mutated form (and yes, I'm talking to you, 1996 TV movie).
Who knew?
So far, Davies has made all the right choices (IMO), making me love the new Doctor Who more passionately than I loved the old one. Let us praise Eccleston, and mourn his passing from our screens. But let's give Davies and Tennant a chance to reinvent, once again, this improbably magical show.
by Ed @ 23/06/2005 1:06 pm • Permalink •
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Jonathan Briggs: Yes, I loved that bit too. Even better was when Anne Droid got her head blown off!
ted_groony: I agree with you there. I should have also mentioned how excellent I think she's been. Like jim w, I was taken by surprise by the quality of her acting.
ThoughtBadger: Yes, I know exactly what she means too.
jim w: Yes, let's hope we are wrong. However, his little startled rabbit eyes right at the end of that episode are haunting me somewhat...
Ed: Are you my mummy? Ahem, sorry
It will all make sense when you've seen episode 9. I hope my spoilers didn't spoil anything (unless you closed your eyes until the page had scrolled to the comments). You made a good point, very eloquently, if I might say so. We shouldn't pre-judge it, but wait to see what happens. Even if the next series is terrible, we'll always have this glorious rebirth to remember (and re-watch---I'm certainly going to get all the DVDs). One perfect series is worth a lot more than several mediocre ones.
by bsag @ 23/06/2005 8:07 pm • Permalink •
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okay, bsag, thanks for your support an' all that but i feel the need to 'splain myself a little more...
y'see, the thing is, not only did she fly the tardis across time'n'space'n'all those dimension things, just to save that no-mark mancunian's worthless ass -- b-u-t she mind-melded with a telepathic machine and she knew how to hot-wire it (yeah ok, with a little help from a heavy-duty pickup truck) -- i mean, c'mon, "sonic screwdriver"? pfft! give me a break! she's a natural for the part! and yes i could've drowned in those lightning-filled big brown eyes but who cares?...
but instead, what do we get? well i'll tell you -- what we get is yet another showbiz wannabe who knows nothing about anything and he still manages to get the gig ahead of her? ferfuxake!
rose/bp should have been the new doctor and i really don't care what anyone else says... she is da biz and the good ol' bbc have missed a (the) golden opportunity to really move with the times, open things up wider than the san andreas fault, prove to us that they're not some sexist-pig-relic from the 20th century etc, et-bleedin-cetera...
(breathes)
for this sad old git (who actually did see the original daleks -- in b&w;, from behind the sofa) -- and who is still moved/disturbed by the torture scenes in episode 6 -- the only question remaining is: should i go out and buy the dvds separately or wait for the inevitable box set with outtakes an' all the rest of it?
ok ok i admit it, i think i'm in l-e-r-v...
/end rant
by ted_groony @ 24/06/2005 11:07 pm • Permalink •
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I think you're all being very rude about David Tennant - Cassanova was a triumph, and The only danger I see is that his style may be a bit too close to Christopher Ecclestone's, and as its been done once, and well, it may not compare. I think we may be in line for a light hearted doctor....
by Birchscrub @ 25/06/2005 9:07 pm • Permalink •
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For those of us of a certain age, think of it like Wilko Johnson leaving Dr. Feelgood - you think it's the end of the world and nothing will ever be the same again, then out of the blue come 'Down at the Doctors' and 'Milk and Alcohol' and you wonder why you were ever worried in the first place.
Makes sense to me, but then it is late...
by Phil @ 26/06/2005 10:06 pm • Permalink •
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ted_groony: :-D I sense that this is something you feel quite strongly about... It would be fantastic, but let's face it---it's never going to happen, in the same way that there will never be a female James Bond, sadly. I'd quite fancy either role myself (not that I can act for toffee), but Billie would be the business as the Doctor. I wonder if she has become slightly Time Lord-ish now that she's carried the Time Vortex?
Birchscrub: When I think 'light hearted doctor' I think Sylvester McCoy, which makes me very sad. We'll see...
Phil: :-D I hope you're right!
by bsag @ 28/06/2005 4:07 pm • Permalink •
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Okay, so obviously lots of time has passed since the change of Dr. Who, but not for me it hasn't! I live in the states and we just wrapped up the first season. I was mortified when I realized that Eccleston would not be in the next season. So what do I do? I scour the net for info and find out that Billie is leaving also, granted I still have another season or so . . .
It is all very depressing, this is the first really good sci-fi since my beloved Farscape was cancelled and I can;t imagine the series with out Chrisopher. I don't even like the looks of the Needlemier replacing him.
I think I will just settle for reruns of Lost in Space and call it a night.
A depressed "New" ex-fan from California
by The Kirkstir @ 18/06/2006 5:07 am • Permalink •
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The Kirkstir: I've written a later post about the second series, but the gist is that I'm not very impressed (I wouldn't read it if you want to avoid spoilers). Sad, really. Still one excellent series is better than none in my opinion.
by bsag @ 22/06/2006 5:07 pm • Permalink •
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