Watching Doctor Who

For today’s review, I offer you Rose’s second adventure, which is her first real trip in the TARDIS. Enjoy The End of the World. At this point, I would like to issue a beautiful dress alert. On to the spoilery stuff!

Episode: The End of the World by Russell T. Davies
Rating (1 to 5): 3
Baddie: Cassandra and her Spiders
Rose is Trapped: in a locked observation room with the sun filter descending and the Sun about to expand.
The Doctor is Trapped: nowhere, really, but he isn’t just going to run off and leave everyone there to die.
The Doctor Enjoys: Jabe. The fact that there is no one on Platform One to help if they get in trouble.
The Doctor Dislikes: Cassandra. Questions about his past.
Doctor-y Strangeness: His gift of peace is: air from his lungs. The ability to make it past the really fast fan blades.
Scary Stuff: Cassandra is a bit scary. The sun expanding is scarier.
Does someone local help out? Jabe, and she pays the price for that help.
Bad Wolf? The Moxx of Balhoon talks about the “Bad Wolf scenario” in the background.
What we learn: The Doctor was on the Titanic once. Mankind is only one of the species that came from Earth. Don’t anger The Doctor. The Doctor’s planet burned before it’s time. There was a war and they lost. He’s the last of the Time Lords. He’s alone.
The Doctor’s Death Wish: Not so obvious in this one. He’s too busy. He does try to kill Cassandra, though.
The Doctor Apologizes To: Well, he looks like he is apologizing to Jabe’s friends…
My Favorite Bits: “You think you’re so impressive.” “I am so impressive.” Cassandra’s snarky comments. The Doctor’s bit of jiggery-pokery with Rose’s phone. The Doctor’s depth of concentration to step past the last fan blade. The scene back on Earth, nowish.

Observations and musings:

For Rose’s first proper adventure, she chooses to travel forwards in time. I don’t think that she was expecting quite what she got. To say that Rose experiences a bit of culture shock would be an understatement. In her defense, I will say that it would be a lot to take onboard at once no matter who you are. All sorts of aliens, the year 5 billion, and your planet about to die all in one go? It’s really more of her trial by fire. Literally, if you take the Sun into account. At one point, Rose realizes that she actually knows almost nothing about The Doctor. This freaks her out for a bit, and then she goes on a short quest for information. She doesn’t really get much until the end of the episode, but by then she has managed to regain her equilibrium. So, she takes The Doctor out for chips before going on her next adventure. This makes sense to me. I would want chips, too.

This episode gives us the first appearence of The Doctor’s slightly Psychic Paper. I love that concept. We also see The Doctor flirt with someone for the first time. Jabe flirts right back. She seems fascinated with him, especially when she figures out what he is. She really gets to him, as she is genuinely sorry for his loss. Okay, she’s pretty and nice too. She actually gets one tear out of him before he recollects himself. When she dies he is furious. Furious Doctor is something to avoid. I wonder why the Doctor is at first reluctant to tell Rose anything about himself. Perhaps it has something to do with his living in the now. “All that counts is here and now, and this is me!” Once she sees her own planet die, and is very affected by it, maybe he feels that she would understand a bit better. He doesn’t manage to scare her off.

I love Jabe’s dress and her crown of leaves. I want one. Something else to add to my “if I ever win the lottery” list. Cassandra is a most unusual villain. She is the vain theoretical future of plastic surgery. But, I have to admit that I love her snarky comments. Does that make me a naughty thing? The incorrectly attributed old Earth relics were a treat. Perhaps I know too many anthropologists? Mind you, I wouldn’t want to die to either “Tainted Love” or “Toxic.” How about those chompers, eh? Okay, they were actually fans, but who puts the reset switch to a computer system in such an awkward place? Good for dramatic tension, but still. I loved the end of the episode. Rose is so sincere about wishing that someone had been there to see the Earth die. When The Doctor finally gives her some information, I understood why the 9th Doctor is so dark. The war damaged him somehow. I guess we’ll have to wait and see just how much.

The End of the World, Russell T. Davies, Doctor Who, 9th Doctor

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