Review: Doctor Who 1.2: The End of the World

Welcome to The End of the World.

"At the time of broadcast, it featured the most extensive use of CGI yet seen on Doctor Who." So says my main Doctor Who reference guide, The TARDIS Index File, on today's episode, The End of the World. After the opener, the best way for the makers of any series to cement a show's good image is to produce a good Second Episode. In the minds of RTD's production team, this amounted to splashing out on the special effects budget and creating lots of aliens and special effects. While the episode certainly does not lead up to it's title's expectations of quality, it does have a few issues that stop from doing its job properly.
     The episode opens with a continuation of Rose. The Doctor, trying to impress her, takes her five billion years to the future. They land on a space-ship, Platform One, designed to witness the destruction of the Earth by an expanding sun. Using The Doctor's psychic paper they're brought in as guests, and we get a strangely theatrical showcase of a wide variety of aliens, like The Moxx of Balhoon and the Tree People. Most interesting to Rose, however, is Lady Cassandra O'Brien (voiced by Zoe Wannamaker} who is the last human - a sheet of skin stretched out over a frame. The female tree person, Jabe, flirts with The Doctor, while mysterious men in cloaks hand out spheres. These spheres open out into spider-like robots that sabotague the ship and kill the ship's steward (an excellent performance by Simon Day, who we'll see more of in Being Human}.
     Rose is a little put out by the ordeal, and in another room she argues with the Doctor, who refuses to reveal his home planet. They reconcile and The Doctor alters her phone so that it can make phone calls throughout time and space. The ship shakes and while The Doctor and Jabe go into the Maintenance ducts to find out what's happening, Rose is knocked out and shoved into the room. Jabe reveals that she knows about The Doctor and is amazed that he even exists - and that she is very sorry. The Doctor manages to save Rose by the skin of his teeth.

"Sun Filters. Rising"

     In a poirot-esque scene, The Doctor uses the robot to identify the culprits - the shady guys, who it turns out are androids. They in turn are controlled by Lady Cassandra. She'd hoped to use the droids to create a false hostage situation and claim millions in compensation so as to further fund her operations. She teleports away, planning to kill them all. In true sci-fi style, The Doctor tracks the system restore switch to a big lever at the end of a corridor bolstered by three giant fans. The Doctor attempts to get across, with Jabe assisting by holding a switch to slow the fans down. Soon she becomes too hot and spontaneously combusts, leaving The Doctor to Matrix-style phase through the final fan and save the day - minus Jabe and the Moxx of Balhoon. Cassandra is brought back via some jiggery-pokery, and an angry Doctor watches as she dies without moisterisation by her assistance. The Doctor takes Rose home, reassuring her about the fate of humanity and revealing that his planet, Gallifrey, was destroyed in a war leaving him the only Time Lord left.
     The episode, despite how much it suffers from being a demonstration of the New Series' budget, does actually have some interesting ideas. The majority of the weird and wonderful things we're shown at the beginning of the episode get expanded upon, and while the aesthetic of the aliens is a little childish, the villain's motivation is straight out of political satire. It doesn't get the balance of ideas right, but that in mind it is an episode that I enjoy. It has a camp demeanor to it that I love, no doubt helped by Simon Day's Steward.
     One problem I certainly do have with it is the near-theatrical direction. The opening showcase of the various aliens felt very forced and trailer-like, and there's a scene later on where to show his angst The Doctor simply looks away from Rose in the manner of a small child. It's scenes like these that make some fans accuse Nine of being emo, and while it's important to show that the genocide of his people actually has an effect on him I do see their point. While Ecclestone's acting is usually superb this is one moment that really stands out and really it's more the fault of the director, Euros Llyn.

Moisturise me!

     Zoe Wannamaker really chews the scenery with Cassandra. The execution seems a little fake because of the 2005 CGI, but the core ideas behind her are sound - the human quest for immortality, the nature of purity and eugenics etc.. It's just that... well... she's a piece of skin over a frame with a face that hangs there without any real means of doing so. It stretches not only belief but my tolerance. Cassandra was a stupid character idea when I was a nine-year-old and it's still as stupid now.
     Yeah, the thing feels like a school-play and the alien designs comply with nothing Darwin ever thought of, but there is a charm to be found within The End of the World. Its writing is excellent, portraying a future which, despite being strangely focused on the 21st Century, still holds some of the constants we've come to know. There are "lower classes" of blue people, rival companies fighting each other and one big compensation scam to fund plastic surgery. The End of the World is a study of humanity's flaws, but it takes a strange method to do it with.

Thanks.

P.S. This is the last of my daily reviews. I'm going back into school on Monday, and thus the only reviews I'll be posting are of Torchwood 4, Doctor Who and Merlin and Misfits when they return. I will try to keep reviewing Series One, but don't be disappointed if I can't.