Harry -
When he returned Doctor Who to our TV screens, Russell T. Davies got a lot of things right, and this season finale was probably the rightest of them all. What a finish!
Sarah -
This is one of those stories that packs an emotional wallop. The TARDIS team is pushed to their limits -- some of them even die...and then they don’t. (And I’ll point out to the haters that Steven Moffat had nothing to do with this story!) People always talk about how much they cried when they watched it the first (or second or third) time. I honestly don’t think it has ever made me cry. I’ve always been too busy admiring how good it all is to start boo-hooing.
Harry -
I remember watching "Bad Wolf / The Parting of the Ways" and concluding that it was one of the best Dalek stories ever. After watching just one of them go on a rampage in Robert Shearman's story, here we got thousands of sneaky, evil, downright scary Daleks. Wow!
Sarah -
I would disagree on it being one of the best Dalek stories, but it’s definitely an effective use of the Daleks. RTD had to walk a tightrope in this first season, balancing between old-school fans like us and new viewers. Time after time, he got that calculation exactly right. Instead of throwing loads of continuity at new viewers, he doled out smaller portions, focusing on just the right bits of canon.
It was a no-brainer to choose the Daleks as the first of the Doctor’s nemeses to return. They are the iconic baddies, after all. The genius of RTD was to introduce us to one Dalek, which seemed to be the last survivor of his species. Rob Shearman’s “Dalek” makes the subsequent revelation of 200,000 so much more impactful.
Harry -
For me the best Dalek stories are the ones where they lurk in the shadows, as they do here, while our friends peel away the layers of a mystery before them. In the pre-titles sequence, the Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack find themselves thrown into futuristic versions of popular reality/game shows without any context to why or how they got there. The Doctor enters a flat and is greeted by a trio of anxious housemates in a Big Brother setting. Captain Jack is stripped down to his birthday suit by a pair of robotic hosts in a What Not to Wear scenario. Best of all, Rose faces a brilliantly conceived Anne Droid, host of a version of The Weakest Link where departing contestants are vapourized. Yikes!
Sarah -
I was watching with my 15-year-old, who was too young to watch when Doctor Who came back. She’s never seen any of the reality shows depicted in "Bad Wolf", so I had to pause it for a moment to explain that these were real shows in 2005. It may seem a little dated from 2017, but it’s kind of brilliant to have contemporary shows still running in the distant future. It’s also easier on the budget, just like the decision to have everyone dress in contemporary clothing.
Harry -
Funny how contemporary shows rise and fall like the seasons, while shows from earlier eras keep on going and going and going. (The Price is Right, Family Feud, Jeopardy!, etc.)
Sarah -
Jeopardy! will never be stopped!
Harry -
The futuristic game shows are all taking place on Satellite Five, one hundred years after the events of "The Long Game." The Doctor and Jack are the first to escape from their game show settings and set off in search of Rose with one of the Big Brother contestants in tow, Lynda with a "Y". I liked the immediate sense of disorientation and downright weirdness that this story established.
Sarah -
The cold open is so effective, with nobody understanding what’s going on. As seasoned time travelers, they all play along with the games, especially Jack. He’s down with the makeover -- until the chainsaw comes out. I totally laughed out loud when the android commented on his “Oklahoma Farm Boy” look.
Harry -
The nekkid John Barrowman scene would have been a great day on set!
Sarah -
Right?
Lynda with a “Y” -- she’s just so sweet, we know this can’t end well.
Harry -
She's totally sweet.
Sarah -
And look, there’s Paterson Joseph facing off against Rose in The Weakest Link.
Harry -
The once rumoured but never future Doctor! He did eventually get to star in a time travel show when he landed a role on NBC's Timeless, just this past year.
Sarah -
Did you notice the first-ever mention of Torchwood in one of the questions in the game?
Harry -
You're so much better at spotting these. The Bad Wolf tracker would have been a shambles if left in my hands!
Sarah -
I’m pretty sure I last watched this before Torchwood debuted, so that caught me by surprise.
Harry -
Speaking of weird, our friends' movements are being watched by the programmers up on Floor 500, where all information is channeled through the Controller, once a little girl whose body was literally plugged into the electronics there. She speaks in a steady hum of numbers and words as information flows through her, and she's seeking the Doctor.
Sarah -
Talk about body horror! That poor woman!
The Doctor discovers that his actions on Satellite Five led directly to the situation in which he now finds himself. Economies and governments collapsed when he took out Satellite Five, causing one hundred years of misery. Oops.
Harry -
The Doctor and Jack find the Weakest Link set, just in time to see Rose eliminated and vapourized. The Doctor is stunned. Literally stunned like we've never seen him. Rose was not only his friend but her protection was his responsibility. As Jack rages at the show staff, the Doctor slumps over from the shock of what just happened. It's a dark, powerful moment, and it sets something off inside him. He and Jack regroup and battle their way to the control centre of Floor 500 for a confrontation with the Controller.
Finally, it is revealed that the Controller teleported the TARDIS Team onto Satellite 5 and hid them within the game shows so that her "masters" would not know what she was doing. All along, she had been hoping for the Doctor's help, and this elaborate plot was the only way she could bring him there.
Oh, and Rose isn't dead, she's just been teleported. (Hurray!)
Teleported into the middle of a new Dalek space armada. (Urrgh!)
Sarah -
The sound of the Dalek heartbeat gave me chills when Rose woke up on the ship. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Jack are on their way to Rose. The Daleks launch missiles at the TARDIS, but the force field rigged up by Jack, who has apparently become the tin dog, protects the TARDIS.
Harry -
Jack also gets to play action hero for most of this story.
Sarah -
Tin Dog and Action Hero are not mutually exclusive!
Harry -
I admired the golden hues of the Daleks and their surroundings then Rose landed among them. This entire season has been infused with strong colour palettes.
Sarah -
Landing on the Dalek ship, the Doctor realizes that the Daleks survived the Time War and the Time Lords died for nothing. It’s a devastating moment after a season of developing the Doctor’s guilt and loneliness caused by the Time War.
It turns out the Daleks survived by hiding and rebuilding, while harvesting humans to convert their genetic material into Daleks. Rose points out that this makes the Daleks half-human, which doesn’t go down well with the Emperor Dalek, who has declared himself a deity. Now that’s what I call a plot twist.
Harry -
The theme of Daleks becoming half-human or hybrids will pop up repeatedly throughout the new series. Here, such blasphemy infuriates the Emperor Dalek. It soon becomes clear that even though the Daleks have regrouped and rebuilt themselves, they are utterly insane.
Sarah -
Totally bonkers!
Harry -
They want to purge the Earth and claim it as a new Dalek paradise with the Emperor functioning as god over all. The Doctor is completely sickened. Winning the Time War was all for naught. I loved that moment where he stood inside the TARDIS doors, head bowed, while the Daleks roared at him from outside.
Sarah -
That moment is so heartbreaking.
Harry -
As the Dalek space armada approaches Satellite 5, the Doctor hits on a brainstorm: unleashing a Delta Wave -- an energy so powerful that it will wipe out the Daleks. Two problems: he doesn't have enough time to construct the proper apparatus, and the wave will also wipe out all humanity on Earth. He approaches problem one by getting right down to it, deputizing Rose and Jack and enlisting everyone left on the satellite to man the defences, or just keep quiet. Problem two, he'll deal with if he can finish problem one. Besides, there are other humans on other colonies, right? The madness of this story is something else. The Doctor vs the Emperor, god vs god. Who will falter first?
Sarah -
Among the humans still on Satellite 5 is Lynda with a "Y", who could have gotten off on a shuttle but chose to stay with the Doctor? Did you notice the look Rose gave Lynda when she was talking to the Doctor? Damn! If looks could kill, Lynda would have died slightly earlier in this story.
Harry -
Loves a bit of drama, that RTD.
Sarah -
“Get away from my boyfriend!”
Harry -
As for the Delta Wave, It doesn't take long to sense that the Doctor is either bluffing, or more likely in over his head than he will admit. He decides that the odds are too high this time around. He tricks Rose into the TARDIS, and sends it back to Earth with instructions to lock it, abandon it, and go back to living her life without him.
Rose is devastated. Unable to control the TARDIS, she lands back home in tears. Mickey and Jackie are unable to console her, during that powerful scene in the chips shoppe. Refusing to accept her fate, she rails against the mundanities of life on Earth, raging at the people around her, desperate to do something.
Sarah -
I’m pretty sure most of his bluffing was just a way to get Rose into the TARDIS and back home. He knows how to manipulate her and uses it to protect her. Rose is devastated to be back on Earth and seems to spend most of her time there being a complete jerk to Mickey and Jackie. I wanted to slap her when she told Mickey, “There’s nothing left for me here.”
Harry -
That was a horrendous thing to say.
Sarah -
She has good reason to be upset, but I hate that she takes it out on the two people who love her most.
Harry -
She suddenly spots the answer, and it had been looking her in the face all the time. BAD WOLF. Not a warning, but a message that Rose herself sprinkled all over time and space.
Sarah -
It’s poetic that their love is what ultimately gets Rose back to the Doctor. Mickey has fastened a chain to his Mini and is trying to pry open the TARDIS console for Rose. In a conversation with Jackie, she explains that she was the girl who stayed with Pete when he was hit by the car. She reminds Jackie that Pete would told her to try anything to get back to the Doctor. That’s all Jackie needs to hear -- she’s out the door and back with a large truck to pry open the TARDIS.
Harry -
That was a hell of a truck, and it did the trick.
Sarah -
I love that Jackie gets to save the day. You go, Jackie!
Rose looks into the heart of the TARDIS, the doors close, and she’s on her way back to the Doctor.
My head canon in this scene is that the TARDIS only allowed itself to be pried open when it saw the lengths Jackie and Mickey would go to for Rose. I like to imagine the TARDIS deciding that Rose couldn’t be all that bad if people as lovely as Jackie and Mickey cared for her this much. Or, is that just my anti-Rose bias showing?
Harry -
Rose's determination to return to the Doctor was admirable, but the way she treated Jackie and Mickey was awful.
Sarah -
Mickey and Jackie are THE BEST!
Harry -
Back on Satellite 5, the Daleks have landed and begun the slaughter. Everyone on the lower levels is wiped out, even the Anne Droid. We are forced to watch as Lynda with a "Y" is killed by the Daleks. She was a lovely character that RTD had fleshed out in just a few scenes, making her death all the more terrible to see.
Sarah -
Doctor Who has a history of well-developed pseudo-companions and Lynda with a "Y" is one of the loveliest.
Harry -
Captain Jack fights on to the bitter end after his resistance fighters are killed off. Backed against a wall, he faces death with a smile.
Sarah -
Ms. 15 shouted, “They killed the hot guy!” I think I have a Captain Jack fan in my house...but I think I’ll hold off on Torchwood for a few years.
Harry -
She's going to love it!
Sarah -
This feels like a good time to mention my favorite Jack line of probably ever. Just before kissing the Doctor he says, “Wish I'd never met you, Doctor. I was much better off as a coward.” It’s a lovely line that says so much about the impact the Doctor can have on those who travel with him.
Harry -
The Doctor is surrounded. The Emperor Dalek mocks him, urging him to activate the Delta Wave and kill mankind, but he cannot. All seems lost, until the sound of the materializing TARDIS fills the room. Rose bursts through the doors, bright light coursing through her body. She has absorbed the entire time vortex and can see and feel everything that ever was and will be. For a few brief minutes, she holds the ultimate power to rewrite all of history. With a wave of the hand, the Daleks begin to disintegrate before her. Their ships -- their entire armada -- vanishes from the skies. Jack gasps back to life.
Sarah -
And then Jack is left behind. Poor Jack.
In the end, Rose saves the day because Jackie saved the day first! I have to admit that my notes from this viewing say, “Rose gets to commit genocide AND be a jerk to her family all in one day.” Beware readers, this is where things start getting ugly in Sarah’s world.
Harry -
The Doctor is horrified as Rose cries out from the pain. Cue corny line ("I think you need a Doctor,") and he embraces her, drawing the time vortex out and sending it back into the eye of harmony.
Sarah -
“Embraces?” I think you meant to say, “Plants a big old kiss on her.” This is the moment the shippers were waiting for and the old-school fans were dreading. I don’t have a problem with the kiss because there’s a reason for it. It’s the only way for the Doctor to save Rose -- and isn’t hanky panky in the TARDIS.
Harry -
Rose is unharmed, but in the process, the Doctor has triggered a regeneration. Rose is confused by what's happening as the Doctor begins to gibber nervously about going to the planet Barcelona. These final few seconds of his existence anticipate the hyper cutie who is about to appear.
I did like that the Doctor complimented both Rose and himself. Job well done!
Sarah -
It’s a lovely moment.
Harry -
And then, the most spectacular regeneration we Whovians have ever seen. Flames of energy leap out of the Doctor's limbs as he is reborn. The Doctor will go on, but the Ninth Doctor has departed.
Sarah -
This is NOT the regeneration we were expecting! I remember being completely shocked by the force of it all. It was so different than anything we’ve seen before and immediately felt like a proper regeneration.
Harry -
When this story was first broadcast I remember declaring that it was the greatest thing ever, and I'm still a big fan. RTD has a knack -- as we will see throughout his era -- for high drama and huge crescendos. That's one of the things that stand out most from his era. I still think this is a fantastic Dalek story because their threat was very real and they killed off characters we liked, being the villainous bastards that they are.
Rose's arc could have ended here, but it will go on into the next season -- for better or worse.
Sarah -
Don’t remind me. I’m working very hard at maintaining a positive attitude towards Series Two and we haven’t even started yet.
Harry -
Christopher Eccleston certainly went out in a blaze of glory. I hope someday we'll meet this Doctor again.
Best Line: "Do you know what they call me in the ancient legends of the Dalek Homeworld? The Oncoming Storm. You might've removed all your emotions but I reckon right down deep in your DNA, there's one little spark left, and that's fear. Doesn't it just burn when you face me?"
Favourite Moment: Filled with vortex energy, Rose wipes out all of the Daleks.
Lasting Image: the Doctor regenerating.
9/10
Best Line: "Rose, before I go, I just want to tell you, you were fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. And do you know what? So was I."
Favorite Moment: Jackie saves the day!
Lasting Image: The regeneration.
8/10
Our marathon next takes a brief detour to the Children in Need Doctor Who Special of 2005...
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