Maureen Flynn - Author
Let us launch into the new Doctor’s Series proper with a return of an old foe, an old friend and some ‘interesting’ fan fic style script shenanigans. Again, this is one of those episodes I’ve always remembered from high school. I didn’t like it then…
Ah, the infamous Christmas specials of Doctor Who, loved and loathed in equal measure, but this time was the first time. We were innocent and knew not what was coming that first Tennant Christmas when Santas’ and trees and Sycarax came calling… The Pre-Title Sequence…
Strap on your seat belts! It’s finale time! Given how much I disliked Bad Wolf I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed Parting of the Ways. Yes, even with the RTD literal deux ex machina and a host of Daleks playing the big bad and not for the last time. We’re skipping right past the opening titles sequence as it was entirely a recap of the previous episode and diving straight in…
The Alien of the Week
Ben: The Daleks! Turns out the Emperor of the Daleks ship survived the Time War, falling through space and time. Which is a neat turn of phrase, if not a slightly lazy way to have some Daleks survive. The true horror comes when we find out they’ve been using the contestants of the games to make more Daleks; breaking them down into the building blocks of life to create new life, new Daleks. But as the Doctor correctly surmises, they’re not pure Daleks, and Daleks abhor anything that isn’t Dalek; they hate their own flesh, their own existence, and it’s driven them insane.
Maureen: The Daleks on New Who have become a bit of a joke, re-occuring too often with sillier and sillier plans to deliver much in the thrills and the scares department. This finale is an exception to the New Who Dalek rule. The Dalek Emperors speech about “the refugees… the displaced… all come to us” and “This is perfection. I have created heaven on earth,” as well as the way we see Lynda, Jack and all of the trapped humans exterminated is truly chilling.
Ben: I did like how the Dalek God cast himself as the creator of life, opposing the Doctor (the destroyer and the oncoming storm). Although once the Daleks board the Game Station we see the Dalek’s aren’t exactly the nurturing type, as they go and kill the 100 or so unarmed humans in floor zero. And poor Lynda, Lynda with a Y with her crush on the Doctor gets the worst death of all. For that alone these Daleks deserve their ending, being dissolved into atoms by Rose. It made for a pretty great scene, the Dalek God shrieking that he is immortal, that he cannot die, followed by him dying.
The Companion/s
Maureen: This is such a dark episode, especially for the companions and the humans trapped on Satellite Five. I can see how Torchwood got as dark as it did. Kids show? What kids show?
Ben: Now this is definitely my favourite Rose episode of the season. For the first fifteen minutes she doesn’t do much other than blindly believe the Doctor will save the day, that everyone will live and nobody will die (except the Daleks). And then it all goes wrong and The Doctor sends her back home with one final request, to forget him and live her life. Which is really just unrealistic, Doctor. As we see in the scene in the fish and chips shop, Rose has been shown a better life, and she can’t go back to the monotony of her old life.
Maureen: What I found interesting about the fish and chip shop scene was how phenomenal an actress Billie was in it. She totally sold me on playing a nineteen year old, prone to emotional outbursts and temper tantrums. I might not like Rose much, but her behavior in these scenes at least felt believable.
Ben: In that fish and chip shop Rose mourns returning to a life absent from The Doctor, a life where she doesn’t stand up for what’s right when no one else will.
Maureen: This bit bugged me a little. There’s nothing stopping Rose from getting involved in politics (Harriet Jones style) or charity and living a life The Doctor would be proud of. But nineteen years old…
Rose: Catch the bus, go to work, eat chips… is that all there is? The Doctor showed me a better way of living your life.
Oh, use some imagination and initiative Rose. The Doctor literally told you the below and you still don’t get it:
Nine: Let the TARDIS die. Let it gather dust… if you want to remember me do one thing… have a good life… do that for me… have a fabulous life.
Ben: Yes, what she does instead is tell Mickey there’s nothing on earth left for her. Even the scene between her and Jackie was cruel, telling Jackie she was the one who was there as her father died, that he would want her to keep fighting. This Rose I don’t like, the Rose that will do anything, hurt anyone to get back to The Doctor. I get that she loves him, but that’s just harsh. It was nice that Mickey and Jackie came together to help her in the end, but she really didn’t deserve their help.
Maureen: I agree re Rose, but I like what Mickey’s response showed us about him. For the first time, I felt that Mickey cared about Rose, genuinely cared in a way that went beyond surface level. Take this exchange:
Rose: There’s nothing for me here.
Mickey: Nothing?
Rose: Nothing.
Mickey: Right. If that’s what you think…
And you know what he does? He damn well helps her anyway, and not only that, he stops her from giving up! For once Mickey added to, rather than detracted from, an episode!
Ben: I’ve got more to say about Rose. I mean we need to talk about the fact that Rose looks into the heart of the TARDIS and becomes a literal Deus ex Machina! This is peak Doctor Who and I just love it so much. For some reason, “I am the Bad Wolf. I create myself,” is a line that has stuck with me from the first time I watched this episode. BadWolf Rose just has so many iconic lines in this one sequence of genocide. And then we get the cheesiest line of all space and time, as the Doctor says “I think you need a Doctor” before kissing her, pulling the time vortex out of her head and into himself. It’s probably for the best she doesn’t remember any of it, living with committing genocide and also that level of cheesiness can’t be good for you.
Maureen: I agree that this bit was classic Who. It was outrageous. So outrageous it shouldn’t have worked, yet it does and RTD never figures out how to get it right again. Bad Wolf Rose is also my favourite version of Rose (it’s why I could stand her in the 50th anniversary). I agree with Ben that she has some truly astonishing lines.
Bad Wolf Rose: Everything must come to dust. All things. Everything dies. The Time War ends… I can see everything. All that is. All that could be.
Ben: Jack, on the other hand, had less of a fun time. On one hand, he gets a kiss out of both Rose and The Doctor. On the other hand, he sends a bunch of people to their deaths facing off the Daleks, including himself. It was definitely a dick move to lie to the volunteers, telling them the guns will work on the Daleks, that the forcefield will weaken the Daleks attacks, but someone had to slow the Daleks down while the Doctor worked on the Delta wave.
Maureen: I didn’t think that was a dick move on Jack’s part. I thought it was a way to keep panic at bay. What good would Jack telling humanity the truth about the Daleks have done? They had no way out.
Ben: I guess so. On the bright side, Rose brings Jack back! Yay!
Maureen: Yes! Long may Captain Jack reign. Neither Ben or I remember when Jack next turns up and how and both look forward to a reappearance.
The Doctor
Ben: The Doctor has finally learnt how to drive the TARDIS with some finesse! Apparating the TARDIS around Rose was a nice bit of magic.
Maureen: Yeah, to be honest, that was one of the only parts of the episode that made no sense to me.
Ben: Mmmm, I found the shot of the Doctor with his head to the door of the TARDIS as he hears the Dalek’s futile attempts to exterminate to be incredibly powerful. All this season we’ve been getting drip fed bits of information about the Time War, and the PTSD the Doctor suffers from his involvement in it. I can’t even begin to imagine what’s going through the Doctor’s head in that moment.
Maureen: Christopher Eccleston was seriously good this episode, and made me yearn for more Nine. He portrays The Doctor’s sadness, pain and rage, as well as his innate alien nature so well.
Rose: I knew you would come.
Nine: Good. I didn’t.
Nine: Don’t stand around chin-wagging… human beings, always standing around gossiping.
We also see more of why Nine cares for Rose in a romantic sense.
Nine: The TARDIS could leave and let history take its course.
Rose: You couldn’t do that.
Nine: You wouldn’t ask.
I’ve never bought Rose/Nine or even Rose/Ten and always felt that The Doctor would have grown bored of Rose eventually, but I did feel Rose was right for Nine in the situation he was in and where he was placed emotionally.
Ben: And then we get to the good stuff after The Doctor tricks Rose into the TARDIS and sends her back home through the magic of Emergency Program 1. We find out through the Dalek God (formerly known as the Dalek Emperor) that the delta wave can’t be refined, that it will kill Daleks and humans indiscriminately. A complete rehash of the Time War. The Doctor might not be able to bring about an end where everyone lives and nobody dies, but at least he can save Rose. In the end he can’t go through with activating the Delta wave, which is probably for the best. I don’t think the Doctor could live with becoming the Great Exterminator.
Maureen: What I like about Nine though is that there was always a suggestion that it wouldn’t take much to tip him over the edge. RTD also chips away at the perennial who is The Doctor question by having the Dalek Emperor mirror The Doctor. The exchange below reveals a lot about The Doctor:
Dalek Emperor: I want to see you become like me… all hail The Doctor. What are you? Coward or killer?
Nine: Coward any day.
I’ve always hated The Doctor as hero trope, the lonely God figure, so it’s nice to have a grand finale that bucks the trend. And then there’s the first New Who regeneration sequence…
Ben: Yes, the episode ends with this wondrously emotional scene between Rose and The Doctor. I’m not one for quoting the episode in big chunks, but that whole scene is just magic. I will agree with The Doctor when, in his final lines as the Ninth Doctor, he says he was fantastic. He really, really was.
Maureen: God, I still miss Nine. Unlike Ben, I am one for quoting chunks of episode. The Doctor’s regeneration speech is a good one. He says he can’t go to Barcelona and Rose asks why not. This is his wonderful response:
Nine: You can. You will. Maybe I will too. But not like this… Time Lords have a way of cheating death… before I go I just want to tell you you were fantastic. And you know what? So was I.
Ten is one of my least favourite of all The Doctor’s, but his opening lines were also… well… fantastic.
Ten: Where was I? That’s right. Barcelona!
Final Thoughts
Ben: This episode was peak Doctor Who and I loved it from start to end. I don’t really know what else to say. I give it a 10/10 and an “allons-y!”
Maureen: I too, thoroughly enjoyed The Parting of the Ways, literal deux ex machina and all. 10/10 inky stars
Ah, and so we reach the end of Series One of New Who with the first two-parter finale. Again, and I know I keep repeating this, but back in high school I thought this two-parter was the height of high stakes, emotional drama and I…
Now we reach the episodes that Maureen has limited recollections of, which is weird, coz ya know, the episodes I don’t remember include the finale and all… Anyway good old Boom Town continues on The Slitheen storyline, but with more panache and better acting. Too…
This is one of the RTD era who two-parters that everyone talks about. Actress Nicola Walker once said this was amongst her favourite of all New Who. Hers and many others, including best of lists. I hadn’t re-watched this one in years and had forgotten whole chunks. I knew I liked Nancy and the first appearance of Captain Jack, but most of the plot remained ephemeral. After a couple of lack lustre Who episodes in both Ben’s and my books, we were ready for some Santa Moff magic. Luckily, he didn’t disappoint…
The Doctor and Rose chase some space shrapnel to London, only to find themselves caught up in World War Two and the London blitz. A mysterious child in a gas mask repeats horror movie style, ‘are you my Mummy?’ and threatens the future of humanity. What exactly is going on? It’s up to Rose, The Doctor and the mysterious 51st century rogue, Captain Jark Harkness, to find out…
Pre-Title Sequence
Ben: The Empty Child starts with such excitement from the get go with the Doctor frantically chasing a mysterious mauve object though space and time to the fantastically alien destination of… London.
Maureen: New Who is so earth obsessed, right? Still, this time we have a different time period at least…
Ben: And after the Debbie-downer of an opening last episode, I’m happy for the change of pace. And yes, I’m still longing for the day that River teaches the Doctor how to drive the TARDIS properly.
Maureen: I’d forgotten how badly Nine drives! It’s cropped up in almost every episode of this season. In other news, I was struck in The Empty Child’s opening by how funny the script was. Rose makes a comment about the only time The Doctor careens through space is to get some milk and The Doctor’s reply of ‘all the species in all the universe it has to come out of a cow?’ gave me a grin.
The Companion/s
Maureen: We have a lot of ground to cover in this two-parter so I’m going with companion sub-categories.
Rose
Ben: I love Rose’s obsession with Spock and the scanning of alien tech this episode. Where did her obsession come from? It’s just so random! And of course, Rose decides to wear a union jack shirt during a German air raid.
Maureen: I found it really noticeable that someone different was writing the script with this two-parter. Rose is still naive and on the flirtatious side, but she does more for the plot.
Ben: Yeah, she gets to have some good fun in The Empty Child, almost falling to her death from a barrage balloon, getting rescued by Jack, getting to flirt with Jack (slow dancing in front of Big Ben while the city burns around you is the height of romance), and pretending to be a time agent! I do appreciate these episodes where Rose gets to do stuff other than be a damsel in distress.
Maureen: I’ve found Rose’s propensity for flirtation with anyone of the male persuasion with a pulse irritating in prior episodes, but Captain Jack is so suave and the situation so outlandish, you can’t help but go along with everything. I felt like Rose got to do more in the second part however.
Ben: Yes, in The Doctor Dances, Rose saves herself, The Doctor and Jack from the ’empty’ child with some quick thinking, and then continues nonchalantly flirting with the Doctor.
Rose: The world doesn’t end when the Doctor dances.
Love it. What a line.
Rose also gets a great scene with Nancy, telling her that ultimately everything is going to be all right, that the German’s won’t win. And finally, after the Doctor saves the day she gets her dance! With both the Doctor and Jack! I thought this was a great pair of episodes for Rose, overall.
Maureen: I never warmed to Rose, and though I agree she does more in this two-parter, I still vastly preferred Captain Jack and Nancy to Rose. Rose comes across often as callous, even if I’m not sure that’s what the scriptwriters were going for. For example:
Nancy: I’d believe anything me. I don’t have a future.
Rose: It’s not the end of the world or anything.
Wow Rose. Don’t you know anything about your own country’s history? It very nearly was. The Doctor, at least, gets that.
Nine: 1941. Right now, not very far from here, the German war machine is rolling up the map of Europe. Country after country, falling like dominoes. Nothing can stop it, nothing. Until one tiny, damp little island says “No. No, not here.” A mouse in front of a lion. You’re amazing, the lot of you. I don’t know what you did to Hitler, but you frighten the hell out of me, go on, do what you’ve got to do, save the world.
Still, her dance in the TARDIS was lovely, as was her scene with Nancy. I also found it interesting that it was Rose who reminded The Doctor that he needed to save Jack for his maxim that just this once everyone lives to ring true. I have no doubt The Doctor would have forgotten all about Jack without her timely reminder. It’s also interesting that it’s Rose asking the pertinent questions in The Doctor Dances. For example, it’s she who asks why the gas-masked people don’t know that The Doctor and co. aren’t their mummy’s.
Jack
Ben: Ahh Jack… the lovable sleazeball. I don’t think any character besides River has had as good an intro as Capn Jack Harkness. From the get go he’s complimenting people’s butts, being dashing and rescuing damsels from certain doom. He practically oozes confidence as he makes Rose an offer for the Chula warship, and openly declares himself an ex-time agent and a criminal! Swoon.
Maureen: Ah Jack. The Jack Sparrow of the Whoniverse. Or the James Bond (come on: as if Jack’s self destruct module complete with a vodka martini didn’t remind everyone of Brosnan Bond). Plus points for fluid sexuality. I wish Moff had made more in later seasons of Jack and River both being from the 51st century. I’d have loved to watch them flirt and argue their way through an episode. There’s a lot of similarities between Jack and River, even this early in. There’s the sonic blaster. There’s the flirt with everything that moves trope. There’s the rogue trope. In The Doctor Dances, the Jack/Doctor tiff over sonic screwdrivers even mirrors a scene in Day of the Moon between River/Doctor. Compare the two quotes;
Nine(The Doctor Dances): Ever had a cabinet to build?
River(Day of the Moon as she sonic blasts The Silence): Go build a cabinet or something.
Ben: Handsome rogue shtick aside, Jack’s in a bit over his head here.
Maureen: After all, it’s him that sets the episodes in motion. He thinks Rose and The Doctor are Time Agents and that he can lure them to London with some old scrap metal. Unfortunately for him, turns out the metal isn’t from a war ship as he thought, but from a medic ship and that the nanogenes from the ship try to cure humanity of death with disastrous results.
Ben: In The Doctor Dances, Jack thoroughly redeems himself, providing some crucial assistance in the form of his ship’s teleporter, and then almost sacrifices himself by taking the soon to explode bomb onto his ship. Luckily Rose and the Doctor maneuver the TARDIS over to his ship and rescue him from his imminent demise.
Maureen: Good thing too. He’s one companion who never was who deserves multiple come backs!
Nancy
Ben: These episodes are packed full of great acting, and Nancy is no exception. From the moment she tells the Doctor not to pick up the ringing TARDIS phone you know she’s got a dark and mysterious past™. She holds her own against the Doctor multiple times, berating him for taking more food than is allowed and making fun of his nose and ears. She also coolly blackmails the man she is robbing food from and manages to snag a couple of extra goods without breakin a sweat. With her strong motherly tendencies and her penchant for survival, it’s no surprise the empty child looks to her as his mother.
Maureen: I completely forgot about the Nancy/Jamie plot twist! Moff uses it again in later Smith seasons and doesn’t convince, but this first time around the ‘mother as almost magical strength’ trope works.
Ben: I love that even with the bombs falling on London, and the Doctor investigating the mysterious child, Nancy’s priority remains the well being of her young wards (some of whom have faced child molestation from the very country people whom they were sent to to keep them safe), as she returns to the house she initially broke into in search of food. The Doctor pegs it correctly – she’s lost someone to the raids, so she’s looking after these kids to make up for it.
Maureen: I love Nancy and the actress playing her was on point despite her relatively young age. I was so impressed by Nancy that I immediately looked up the episodes imdb pages to check who played her. Alas for TV lovers, Florence Hoath has retired from acting as far as I can tell, but you can find her living a nice life full of baking on Twitter. Anyway, back to the character. I love Nancy’s dedication to bringing her young wards up right even as she robs from those in bomb shelters by eating their half eaten meals. There is still honour amongst thieves, The Artful Dodger style. Nancy tells the children to eat with their mouths closed and without critiquing the food or the house they steal from. The Doctor says it all really when he says ‘can’t tell if this is Marxism in action or a West End musical.’ Nancy was such a high point, wasn’t she, Ben?
Ben: Yes. She was just such a bad ass. She cares so much about her Oliver Twist-esque gang. She resolves to confront her empty child, Jamie, much as it terrifies her because she knows her wards are in danger as long as that child keeps following her everywhere. It pays off. Nancy gets the best ending of everyone, with her son restored alive to her and armed with the knowledge that the German’s lose the war she gets to face the future with a heart full of hope. She deserves it.
Maureen: What Nancy did next? Has someone written the fan fic?
The Doctor
Maureen: I remember when Season One aired, it wasn’t just the decaying angst The Time War brought to The Doctor’s story line that got the media and the fans talking. It was also the blatant in-story references to a more sexualised Doctor. In Classic Who, sex wasn’t mentioned in relation to The Doctor. In New Who, it’s a given. I’m pretty sure the banana joke in The Doctor Dances is meant to be blatantly phallic (it also echoes Eleven’s ‘bad, bad beans’ food test post regen in The Eleventh Hour, but that’s another story). The Doctor dancing could be see in and of itself as a euphemism for sex. The Doctor is also clearly jealous of Rose flirting with Captain Jack (Rose calls him Captain Envy) and looks put out when Nancy critiques his big ears and nose.
Ben: The Doctor has some really great Doctoring moments in these episodes. From the moment he exits the TARDIS he’s a Doctor on a mission, trying to find this mysterious object that’s landed in London. After a briefly embarrassing moment in a bar (gosh Nine can be slow on the uptake. Also, hello first period piece singer in New Who), he’s introduced to Nancy, and then he’s really off to the races. But for me, it wasn’t until he arrived at the hospital and met up with Dr Constantine that the Doctor got to do any heavy lifting. Before then, Rose and Nancy had really been the focus of The Empty Child. You can see him starting to put the pieces together at the end of this episode when Jack and Rose turn up, though. And this is where the real Doctoring starts. I mean, who else would have thought to yell at the gas-masked children to go to their room! That takes nerve. The Doctor gets some cracking lines as he’s trying to solve the mystery of the child, but to me I found the story much more compelling through the perspectives of Rose, Jack and Nancy. The Doctor moves the story forward, but he doesn’t really get to shine until the very end of the episode when he gets the glorious revelation that everyone gets to live and no one has to die. Considering how the results of the Time War haunt him, this was a truly precious moment. And it shows in the rescue of Jack Harkness when he’s happy and free and able to dance without a care. In 900 years of existence, these kinds of wins can’t be common.
Maureen: I’ve always loved the end of The Doctor Dances. I think it sums up Moff’s Who humanism thesis (well, part of it). Variations of the everybody lives lines are echoed in The Girl in the Fireplace and again in the first River Song two parter (through her diary). Matt Smith’s run also reflected this theme. The speech Nine makes is my favourite Nine quotes and one of the best moment’s in all of New Who for me.
Nine: Everybody lives, Rose. Just this once. Everybody lives.
Plus, Chris delivers a truly perfect ‘fantastic.’
Alien of the Week
Maureen: I don’t know about your thoughts on this, Ben, but shit this two-parter’s alien of the week was real hide-behind-your-sofa-crap-your-pants-scary. Horror tropes are used multiple times to great effect. The repeated childish voice of ‘are you my Mummy’ was scary, but the catch phrase got even creepier at the end of The Empty Child when Dr Constantine morphs into a gas-masked empty person still repeating the catch cry. The Doctor Dances ramps up the horror stakes still further with a recording of ‘are you my Mummy?’ ending with a voice still echoing the lines (in other words Doctor and co., get the hell out of the room you’re currently in) and a typewriter typing of its own volition ‘are you my mummy?’ again and again and again. Poor Nancy trying to sing a lullaby to a recently converted soldier was also the stuff of nightmares. Even though this two-parter is now several years old, there were multiple points where I was genuinely afraid and the special effects still hold up. Ben?
Ben: The aliens this week, being nanogenes were just… perfection. Moffat twists something that should be pure and innocent – a child looking for his mother – into something horrifying. ‘This child is empty,’ Nancy says. ‘If he touches you he’ll make you like him.’ Jesus. We as the audience don’t know what that means initially, but the communicating through anything with a speaker is a faithful horror trope, so we know it means Bad Things. And then at the end of The Empty Child we get the real horrific payoff Moffat’s been building up to, as we are introduced to Dr Constantine and his hundreds of patients with the same injuries. The moment when The Doctor lists the scar on the back of the hand and the camera focus changes to Dr Constantine, who has a scar on the back of his hand? Terrifying. And then Dr Constantine drops the bombshell: none of these hundreds of victims with caved in heads and chests and gas masks fused to their faces are dead! Then comes the hide behind your sofa moment – watching Dr Constantine become a victim before our eyes. Honestly, like Maureen, I couldn’t help but appreciate how good the special effects were, especially after how awful they’d been previously.
Maureen: This is also one of the only times that the alien is completely innocent. The Nanogenes are trying to heal. It’s not their fault their first interaction with humanity is a dead child! Normally, you’d think a solution like this might feel like a let down, but it absolutely isn’t. The plot makes perfect sense.
Final Thoughts
Ben: These episodes were a joy to watch. I don’t know what else to say. Everything was excellently acted, the special effects were top notch, and just this once, everyone lives! Both episodes get a 10/10 from me.
Maureen: It will surprise no one who has followed this blog to read that I agree with Ben 100%. 10/10 inky stars for both episodes.
I hadn’t seen this episode in years and nor had Ben. Ben didn’t remember it at all. I had fond memories. I knew it was *the* Pete Tyler episode but not a lot else. So what goes down? Rose begs The Doctor to take her…
This is one of the episodes I haven’t re-watched in years. I knew it involved Simon Pegg, an alien in a ceiling, and very little else. I thought I liked it quite a bit. Whoops. Maybe I did back in the day, but this re-watch……
Before I write any more of this review, I need to remind everyone of this: Rob Shearman wrote this episode. Yes, THE Rob Shearman. That guy who wrote two of the best Doctor Who audios ever recorded for Big Finish; Jubilee and The Chimes of Midnight. They are dirt cheap on the Big Finish website. Go buy them and listen right now. Trust me. Now, where was I? Ah yes, Dalek. Dalek was actually based off the superlative radio play, Jubilee, but re-written for the new TV show. In the TV episode, Nine and Rose find themselves in Utah in a big museum where SURPRISE the first appearance of the New Who Dalek appears… but with a twist. PS: This is the first bunker-in-lock-down-as-everyone-dies episode of New Who.
Pre-Title
Maureen: I love that the episode opens in 2012 like 2012 was far, far in the future (well, I guess it kinda was back then). I love that we’re inside a museum in Utah, but am a little sad Moffat didn’t riff on this in Series 6 with the cast’s real visit to Utah and the USA or with one of River’s Series 5 or 6 jaunts to an archaeological museum. But hush, Maureen. This is the RTD era review re-watch. Stop jumping ahead damn it! Anyway, nice nods to the Cybermen, The Slitheen and the wreck of the Rosaleen in the episode’s opening number and hello bad American accents and Julia Stiles look-a-like. Though Rose, maybe don’t tell the menacing soldiers that The Doctor is an alien IN AN ALIEN MUSEUM.
Ben: It’s all very mysterious. As Rose observes, if someone’s collecting aliens, the Doctor would make an excellent specimen. It’s not the best opening we’ve seen, but it’s definitely up there.
The Companion
Maureen: Aside from the irritating first ten minutes where Rose is either mocking Adam for being a bit of an egoist or is actually making goggle eyes at him (though I did laugh when she said ‘blimey, you can smell the testosterone’), she does most of the heavy lifting in what becomes a very emotional episode. This story is one of the first of New Who to really explore what the companion can do for The Doctor’s psyche. Rose is human; she thinks like a human, empathizes like a human, and most importantly of all, she has no preconceived notions of alien races beyond the ones she’s already met to judge them.
Dalek: I am in pain. They tortured me, but still they fear me. Do you fear me?
Rose: No.
Ben: Yes, Rose gets to do some proper companion work this episode in what proves to be a nice change of pace. Rose, naive as she is, knows nothing of the awesome danger even one Dalek represents, and does what she can to provide comfort and protection to a dying alien, inadvertently giving the Dalek newfound strength. But this new strength comes at a cost – humanity – turning this last surviving Dalek into something new, something with emotions. It is Rose’s DNA which saves the Utah base and everyone in it. Rose’s bleeding heart (shown in previous episodes) finally pays off.
Maureen: I loved Billie Piper’s acting in this episode. The scene where she winces as the soldiers shoot The Dalek was a nice touch. Also, back in the day, I genuinely thought Rose was a goner, Adric style. It felt nice to be surprised by Doctor Who again, and so early into the new show.
Ben: Ultimately, the end of the episode sees the Dalek turn to Rose to provide orders, the one person it has formed a connection with, begging her to order it to kill itself. I see Rose’s role in this episode as to show the best of humanity in the face of the unknown, and she does so powerfully.
Dalek: You have given me life. What else have you given me?
The Doctor
Ben: Just like Billie, Chris gets to do some heavy lifting in this episode. But first, he must show off a bit. This episode can really be summed up as a battle of the egos, initially it’s the Doctor’s ego doing battle with Van Statten’s. But really, all of the named characters in this episode seem to be talking with their egos at one point or another.
Maureen: I love the flashes of manic, zestful Nine (before that facade comes crushing down later in the episode) seen especially when he shows Van Statten how to play an alien instrument. I also like the mad man with a box moment below (just before all hell breaks lose):
Soldier: You just stumble in…
Nine: That about sums me up.
Ben: Gratuitous shirtless Doctor scene aside, things start to get interesting when the Doctor is locked into the room with the Dalek. The way Nine says ‘fantastic’ with such anger on his face is a side of the Doctor we haven’t seen before. This is the Doctor fresh from the destruction of the Time War. We get some good history here too, learning the Doctor played a pivotal role in the Time War, bringing about the destruction of both the Daleks and the Time Lords. And as the Dalek points out, the two of them have lot in common, both being the last of their kind.
Maureen: The Doctor’s similarity to a Dalek is a meaty concept to explore; so meaty, it’s been explored not once but three times (Jubilee, Dalek and Into the Dalek).
Nine: I watched it happen. I made it happen.
Dalek: You destroyed us?
Nine: I had no choice.
Dalek: And what of the Time Lords?
Nine: Dead. They burned with you.
Dalek: We are the same.
Nine: Why don’t you just die?
Dalek: You would make a good Dalek.
These exchanges show us a dangerous Doctor, one unhinged by grief and madness. Without a companion like Rose, he is unstuck, just as amoral and as corrupt as the aliens he battles against.
Ben: You really get an idea of the sheer scope of emotions this Dalek makes the Doctor feel, from sheer terror to blind rage. At the end of the episode we see the Doctor break down. Rose physically blocks his final desperate attempt to destroy the Dalek, and he makes the heartbreaking admission that he has nothing left, other than meting out destruction to his last surviving nemesis. His people all gone, all he has is rage. Enter Rose.
Nine: Get out of the way! Get out of the way!
Rose: He’s not the one aiming the gun at me.
Alien of the Week
Maureen: One of the many things I love about this episode is that it shows us all of the reasons why Daleks are scary, evil villains, whilst exploring the concept of a Dalek in a new way, a way that makes us even a little sorry for the one in the episode. The Dalek gains power from Rose and uses it for ill, killing soldiers one by one, including the female soldier who dies bravely trying to protect Adam and Rose. But at the same time, the Dalek is a mirror of The Doctor; the last of his kind, confused and lost, unsure of its purpose.
Dalek: My function is to kill! What am I? What am I?
Nine: They’re all dead.
Dalek: Why do we survive?
Ben: What an introduction to an old favourite! What Van Statten dubs the Metaltron and Adam a Pepperpot ends up being none other than a Dalek! The last Dalek, no less. It’s been through Hell on Earth, and now it’s powerless and alone. It’s first encounter with the Doctor gives us excellent lore and character building. We get the history of the Time War, of the Doctor’s part in ending the War, and a good characterisation of your standard Dalek, obsessed with destroying anything that isn’t Dalek.
Initially, I felt sorry for the Dalek. Not having seen it’s capabilities for destruction, all I’d seen is it being tortured by the Doctor, then comforted by Rose as it accepts it’s approaching death. But then the killing starts, and that’s all thrown out the window. The Dalek brings down the power for a large chunk of America, downloads the entire internet (Inkashlings aside: I thought of the Jen internet episode from IT Crowd at that moment and couldn’t help a small snicker), kills all the men thrown at it, and you think maybe the Doctor was right to try and destroy it while he could. But then, the episode changes direction one more time. The Dalek has been corrupted by Rose, unable to kill. It wonders how the sunlight feels and yearns for freedom, and then opens it’s metal casing to expose the true Dalek inside, because it wanted to feel the sunlight! In the end, being able to feel was too much, and it choose death over the curse of living as a Dalek with emotions.
Dalek: This is not life. This is sickness. I shall not be like you. Order my destruction. Obey. Obey. Obey.
Maureen: And what an unexpected pin-up scene we end the episode on; Rose standing next to The Dalek, not in fear, but in sympathy as it commits suicide.
Final thoughts
Maureen: There’s so much to this episode. We’ve barely talked about Van Statten and his base, and the way the episode shows humanity’s darkest side (torturing aliens to find out about them) in stark juxtaposition to Rose’s actions (there’s a reason for this. Namely, I think this episode is much more interesting when it leaves the bad American accents behind and focuses on the Rose/Doctor/Dalek trio). The opening and ending of the episode felt a lot less interesting than the episode’s heart. I’m giving this 8/10 inky stars, mainly because I’ve listened to Jubilee and think it handled the concept better than Dalek, having more time to explore the human evil element in a more fascinating parallel world. Also, Evelyn Smythe. The Donna Noble of Big Finish. But with more awesome.
Ben: I found this a difficult episode to review, there was a lot of really emotional moments to explore and discuss. Mostly I’m hoping I did it justice. But, I still have to score it. If it weren’t for the terrible Americans, this episode would be a clear 10/10, but as it stands I’m giving it a 9/10.
Sorry guys for the lateness of this write-up. Ben was on time, but I’m in Canberra for the 2018 Hardcopy manuscript development program and now is the first chance I’ve had to upload words to this blog. Aliens of London/WW3 is RTD’s first two-parter and…