The Christopher Eccleston Era - Final Thoughts

Harry -
He burned brightly, but not for very long.


Sarah -
I try not to imagine what could have been.


Harry -
Christopher Eccleston was an inspired choice to resurrect Doctor Who. He was a known name and bona fide star right out of JNT's "bums in seats" strategy. But more than that, Eccleston delivered a combination of darkness and ferocity that was perfect for a Doctor who had just survived the last great Time War.


Sarah -
He was unlike any Doctor we had seen before, but he was undoubtedly the Doctor. In his leather jacket and black trousers, the Ninth Doctor was stripped down and ready for the 21st Century.


Harry -
A no-nonsense selection from the TARDIS wardrobe. This was very appreciated. 

RTD opened the door to a generation of new viewers by going back to the original recipe as you might call it, cloaking this character in mystery before the eyes of a very human character, Rose Tyler.


Sarah -
As we've discussed before, the stakes were high. I'll always remember the anxiety I felt when I heard Doctor Who was coming back. The trauma of "The TV Movie" was still very fresh in my memory and I wasn't ready for another disappointing version of Doctor Who. I sat down to watch "Rose" feeling unsure about what I was about to watch, and almost immediately realized my fears were unfounded. 

I will have many critiques in the coming seasons, but I will always love and adore Russell T. Davies for bringing our favorite show back after 16 long and painful years. He navigated so many potential land mines this first series and almost always got it right.


Harry -
He also brought something new to the Doctor, as in things that would be new to longtime fans as well. The Time War was just as much a mystery to us as to everyone else. It's a great chunk of the Doctor's history that we continue to learn about.

In terms of new monsters, this was a bit of a let down. The Gelth, the Slitheen, the Jagrafess, the Time Reapers... none of them really spectacular. What was spectacular was seeing classic monsters updated with contemporary production values. Restarting the show with Autons was brilliant. The Daleks were the star villains of this season and they never looked or sounded better.


Sarah -
After the Wilderness Years, Doctor Who was finally in the hands of people who loved it and wanted it to succeed. I wonder if RTD could have ever imagined how huge Doctor Who would become. Sometimes, I'm still caught off guard by its popularity.


Harry -
Not a day goes by here in Toronto without me seeing something Doctor Who-related (an item of clothing, a toy, a mini-Doctor figurine -- and that's not just around my household!). The ratings may have dipped in the past season, which had a segment of fandom freaking out, but I'm not worried. The show is a staple of SF and pop culture and will go on forever. Yes, forever!


Sarah -
So say we all!


Harry -
Speaking of going on, that was something that Christopher Eccleston would not do. 

Maybe the biggest shocker of new series one was that this fantastic new Doctor would only be around for one season. I can't remember when we found this out, but it was well before The Parting of the Ways hit the airwaves. What happened? What went wrong? Was Eccleston always meant to be a popular draw for a single season? Why did he abruptly leave? The rumours flew fast and furious, but the consensus arrived at was that Eccleston had a falling out with the showrunners and decided to walk. We still await his juicy tell-all memoir. As the years have passed, everyone's sentiments seem to have softened. In a recent interview, Eccleston regretted that he didn't continue despite the difficulties behind the scenes of series one. 


Sarah -
We can only hope that the recent rapprochement will lead to his eventual return to the fold. 

Harry -
I see that Big Finish have given it a go, rolling out a series of Ninth Doctor stories, but with neither Eccleston nor Billie Piper.  

Looks like we are still some ways off before he'll be back.


Sarah -
Until then, we have thirteen excellent episodes to enjoy. 

You know what? He really was fantastic.


Harry -
So was series one!  While RTD deserves massive amounts of plaudits for reviving the world's greatest television programme, it was Christopher Eccleston who was the first "face" of the new franchise and I'm glad it was him.

Story #166 - Bad Wolf / The Parting of the Ways (2005)

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...

Story #165 - Boom Town (2005)

Sarah -
Dear Big Finish, when you eventually convince Christopher Eccleston to record audios, please make it your first priority to fill in the stories between "The Doctor Dances" and "Boom Town". I’m sure Billie and John will sign on, eager to recreate this TARDIS team. I know this era has been covered in New Series Adventures and comics, but I want to HEAR more from this crowded TARDIS.


Harry -
I treasure the few (very few) BBC New Series Adventures novels featuring this fabulous TARDIS trio, gone too soon.


Sarah -
So, on to "Boom Town", which, as we know, was a replacement story when the original script fell through. RTD decided to center the story on Annette Badland’s character from "Aliens of London/World War III", having enjoyed her previous performance. She’s even more spectacular in this story and brings amazing energy to a story that is really about the Doctor's role and the impact he has on his companions.


Harry -
Behind-the-scenes scrambling has always been a part of Doctor Who. Here, RTD filled the episode gap with a quiet, brilliant character study. It's a nice catch-your-breath pause before the two-part season finale.


Sarah -
We begin with a scientist expressing his concerns to the Lord Mayor of Cardiff about a nuclear power plant being built in the center of the city. It seems like an odd place to put a power plant, until we discover the Lord Mayor is none other than Margaret Blaine, otherwise known as Blon Fel-Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen. I suspect things aren't going to go well for our scientist.


Harry -
It was a bit hard to swallow that Blon was able to establish herself as lord mayor within six months. But at the unveiling of the power plant model, when local reporter Cathy Salt rhymes off the suspiciously high number of deaths related to the project, it becomes evident that Blon has been very busy. That scientist was just the latest irritating impediment she swept aside with a swing of her Slitheen talons.


Sarah -
The Slitheen are nothing if not efficient.


Harry -
Badland steals the show in this episode, displaying incredible range from cold fury whenever Blon is challenged, to quiet sensitivity in the ladies' room scene when Cathy (her next intended victim) reveals that she is three months' pregnant, to mocking rage at her eventual captor. Plus all that tortuous running in heels -- somebody give the lady a BAFTA!


Sarah -
It really is Badland’s story. Before rewatching this story, my primary memory of it was her performance. 

Look, it’s Mickey! He’s just arrived in Cardiff to deliver Rose’s passport and knocks on the TARDIS door to find himself face to face with Jack Harkness -- and a pissing match ensues. Cue the snappy dialogue, but Mickey’s having none of it: “My God, have you seen yourselves? You all think you're so clever, don't you?”

They are a bit much, aren’t they?


Harry -
So much bickering among the lads. Mickey had the best zinger:

MICKEY: That old lady's staring. 
JACK: Probably wondering what four people could do inside a small wooden box. 
MICKEY: What are you captain of, the innuendo squad?

The TARDIS is there to recharge for a day, using pent-up energy below the Cardiff rift.


Sarah -
With a shout out to Gwyneth!


Harry -
With 24 hours to kill, the gang go for lunch and have a merry time of it. Until the Doctor spots a newspaper and discovers that Blon Slitheen is now Margaret Blaine, lord mayor.

Team TARDIS, to City Hall!


Sarah -
Rose in her Fourth Doctor cosplay. It know it’s not a proper Fourth Doctor scarf, but the color blocking has always felt like an homage to me.


Harry -
It's a nice scarf.


Sarah -
Meanwhile, Team TARDIS calls out the Lord Mayor on the Blaidd Drwg power station, which sounds a bit familiar: 

DOCTOR: Blaidd Drwg. 
ROSE: What's it mean? 
DOCTOR: Bad Wolf. 
ROSE: But I've heard that before. Bad Wolf. I've heard that lots of times. 
DOCTOR: Everywhere we go. Two words following us. Bad Wolf. 
ROSE: How can they be following us? 
DOCTOR: Nah, just a coincidence. Like hearing a word on the radio then hearing it all day. Never mind. Things to do.


Harry -
For any viewers who really hadn't noticed it by that point.


Sarah -
The things to do include taking Margaret back to Raxacoricofallapatorius to stand trial for her crimes. Turns out the Slitheen have already been tried and found guilty and Margaret will be put to death as soon as she returns.


Harry -
Quite the grisly description of their death penalty procedure, assuming Margaret wasn't lying. For a moment, she got everyone feeling squeamish about sending her to her death. None of them could even look her in the eye.


Sarah -
Despite Margaret’s heavy guilt trip, the Doctor decides it’s not his problem and promises to talk Margaret back home as soon as the TARDIS recharges. 

Margaret makes a final request to dine at her favorite restaurant and the Doctor, having some time to kill, agrees, which brings us to the centerpiece of the story. Margaret can’t escape, thanks to Jack’s handcuffs...


Harry -
"Dinner and bondage, works for me."


Sarah -
...but that doesn’t stop her from trying to kill the Doctor, who thwarts her at every turn. When that doesn’t work, she leans heavy on the guilt, calling the Doctor out as a fellow killer. 

MARGARET: Only a killer would know that. Is that right? From what I've seen, your funny little happy go lucky little life leaves devastation in its wake. Always moving on because you dare not look back. Playing with so many people's lives, you might as well be a god. And you're right, Doctor. You're absolutely right. Sometimes you let one go. Let me go.

Eccleston’s eyes show us that she’s hit a nerve. Margaret talks a good game, but it’s all a distraction until she spring her real trap.


Harry -
I liked the extreme close ups during this exchange, shutting everything else out of view. Finally some quality use of extreme close ups in Doctor Who.


Sarah -
It’s a master class in acting.


Harry -
Meanwhile, Mickey and Rose have a row. He informs her that he's been going out with Trisha Delaney in Rose's absence. Initially nonplussed, Rose rounds on him in astonishment but it's hard to tell if she's astonished that it's Trisha Delaney, or that he's been seeing someone else. Mickey lets it all out:

"You left me! We were nice, we were happy. And then what? You give me a kiss and you run off with him, and you make me feel like nothing, Rose. I was nothing. I can't even go out with a stupid girl from a shop because you pick up the phone and I comes running. I mean, is that what I am, Rose, standby? Am I just supposed to sit here for the rest of my life, waiting for you? Because I will."


Sarah -
Poor Mickey. It’s heartbreaking when he walks away from Rose at the end, but, as Rose says, he really does deserve better.


Harry -
Before they can resolve things, thunder booms in the sky. The rift is opening. The Doctor hears it too and everyone heads back to the TARDIS. There, Jack has been adapting some technology that Margaret was going to use to escape the planet. The tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator enables one to literally surf away into space by standing on it and riding a cosmic-event explosion shielded within a bubble, as Margaret intended to do. Jack was wiring it up to charge the TARDIS quicker, but as a backup for Margaret's plans, it was programmed to feed off an alien energy source instead. Margaret demands the extrapolator and is about to ride it to freedom on the wave of the Earth's destruction, when the heart of the TARDIS suddenly opens.


Sarah -
Margaret looks into the heart of the TARDIS and regresses to an egg.


Harry -
She had just enough time to thank the Doctor, before she won a second chance at life.  I was glad she didn't meet a deathly fate in the end.


Sarah -
That solves everyone’s problems and guilt. Time to head back to Raxacoricofallapatorius, pop Maggs into the hatchery, and then toddle off for more fancy-free adventures across the universe. Or is it? I have a bad feeling about this.


Harry -
How could this fun bunch ever get into trouble?  Got to be more laffs ahead, surely.


Sarah -
Best Line: Margaret, as they leave the restaurant: “Some date this turned out to be.”

Favorite Moment: The restaurant scene

Lasting Image: The Doctor and Margaret face to face over dinner

6/10


Harry -
Best Line: the Doctor rips through Margaret's crocodile tears: "You're pleading for mercy out of a dead woman's lips."

Favourite moment: Margaret repeatedly running away, being spun around, and running away again

Lasting Image: the extreme close ups

7/10

Our marathon continues with Story #166: Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways...