The second episode of first
series is also the second episode written by Russell T Davies and it takes our
heroes (or the Doctor takes Rose) 5 billion years in the future to witness the
destruction of the earth. This is of course why the episode is titled; ‘The End
of the World’.
Right from the start, why
would the Doctor take Rose to the year 5 billion and show her the destruction
of the earth? I mean yes he probably would take some companions and do that but
on her first trip? This comes across
as very irresponsible (even for the Doctor) and it should put a huge red flag
on the guy for Rose who then spends most of the episode walking around the
space station trying to calm herself. The Doctor even uses the sonic
screwdriver on her phone so she can call her mother who helps her calm down.
Not a very flattering first trip in the TARDIS. But of course you cannot
(apparently) have an episode of ‘Doctor Who’ without some kind of monster or
villain in it so what we have this time is small spider-robots who begins
taking over the space station and starts killing some of the guests. This
causes the Doctor to begin investigating with a guest character named Jabe
(because of course Rose is busy trying to calm herself).
This is the first episode set
in space (although we have yet to visit some alien planets) but it is not
really a big part of the episode, in fact I do not even think we get a reaction
from Rose that she is literally in a space station – in actual space. The
episode is instead a typical “who-dun-nit” murder mystery that is surprisingly
easy to solve. What I did really like though is that everyone on the space
station came there to witness the earths destruction but once it happens they
are all either dead or get so caught up in trying to save their lives or to
save the space station that nobody actually sees the earth getting destroyed
(Rose spends that moment with her eyes closed). What I would have liked though
is for the audience not to see it too but of course I understand why they did,
as it is quite a haunting image.
What is also disappointing is
that this premise is definitely not a bad one in theory as it shows a bleak
future were religion is forbidden on the main platform in the space station,
the guests treat the destruction of the earth as some kind of excuse to have a
party and the character Cassandra is a very relevant image of plastic surgery
in the future etc.… these are all great ideas that could have made for a very
interesting and rather dark tone for the first adventure in the TARDIS – but
that is not what Russell went for as the darker moments clash with comedy as
Cassandra show the other guests some remnants of earth like an ostrich egg and
an “iPod” for comedic purposes but it pretty much falls flat on its face as it
is not very funny.
Once again Christopher
Eccleston is excellent in the role, this is the episode were we find out the
Doctor’s home planet Gallifrey is gone due to the Time War which makes us understand
why this Doctor has this darker and less eccentric personality than the others
before him. Another standout actor (apart from Billie Piper) is Zoë Wanamaker
who played Cassandra, the actress is mostly known for playing Madame Hooch in
‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’. Zoë brings such a spoiled and bratty
attitude to Cassandra’s personality that you almost end up feeling really bad
for the human race that this is the
type of person who is now being called “the last human”.
The attention to detail in
the visual effects though is really impressive as you can even see blood
pumping through Cassandra’s veins (and if you have not seen the episode and
wonders what she looks like; the picture featured on the left is her). It is a
great design but sadly most of the other aliens just look very cheap and
generic and does not enhance the believability in any way.
The best part of the episode
though is the ending as the Doctor and Rose return to 21st century
earth. Rose watches the humans around her living their daily life as the Doctor
explains what happens to his planet but also gives an optimistic outlook on the
future which neatly ties all those themes together. Sadly the rest of the
episode is pretty dull and does not manage to top the first episode as the
comedy is pretty flat, the mystery is too easy to solve and it is very
inconsistent. Definitely not the worst but it is not an episode I would ever
feel the urge to re-watch. It is the worst kind of episode, it is not bad but
it is not good – it falls right in the middle and just ends up being
forgettable.
5/10
0 comments:
Post a Comment