From Newsgroup: rec.arts.drwho.moderated
From Address: jphalt{at}aol.com
Subject: The End of the World: my review

THE END OF THE WORLD

1 episode, approx. 44 minutes. Written by: Rusell T. Davies. Directed
by: Euros Lyn. Produced by: Phil Collinson.


THE PLOT

Trying to impress Rose as he takes her on her first TARDIS trip, the
Doctor decides to go far, far into the future, bringing her to
Platform One, a space station orbiting the Earth. It is the day that
the world ends... and the end of the world is an entertainment. Very
rich and privileged members of multiple alien races gather to watch as
the sun expands and the Earth burns.

But something sinister is also happening on Platform One. Insect-like
metallic robots have been smuggled onto the station, to reproduce and
interfere with the station's systems. Soon, the Doctor finds himself
pairing up with Jabe (Yasmin Bannerman), a member of a mobile and
sentient species of tree, to try to reverse the damage - before
Platform One and all of its inhabitants burn up right along with
Rose's home world.


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: Eccleston brings an edge of manic near-desperation to the
opening scene in the TARDIS, as he becomes determined to show Rose the
single most impressive thing he can think of. Of course, any
reasonable person would know that the way to a girl's heart is not
showing her the destruction of her home. But that such is his notion
emphasizes that he is an alien. Also, it could be read as a way of him
reaching out, to try to make his new companion understand something of
his reality. He has lost his world, so his first act of officially
connecting with her is to show her the destruction of her world. Once
she has been there for the end of her world, then he can reveal to her
that most painful piece of himself. Eccleston also gets a chance to
play anger - a calm, cold anger of a sort that's genuinely
frightening, as he consigns Cassandra to death with deliberate
inaction accompanied by a few hard words.

Rose: The euphoria and adrenaline of her first adventure with the
Doctor sweep her into the TARDIS and onto Platform One. But that
euphoria is swept away by the sheer alienness of her surroundings. In
the new series' first genuinely superb scene, Rose reasons through
what just happened to her, and comes to the realization that she has
now tied herself to a man who is essentially a complete stranger to
her. It's a wonderful moment, something we haven't really seen before
in more than 4 decades of Who, as the companion realizes that she is
completely out of her depth in a situation where literally anything
could happen to her. Of course, we know the Doctor is trustworthy...
but it's good for Rose to realize that she doesn't actually know this
man, and that his turning on her in a bad way is a genuine
possibility.

Villain of the Week: Zoe Wanamaker is Cassandra, "the last human." An
example of plastic surgery taken to the most nightmarishly ridiculous
extremes imaginable, Cassandra's personality fits that profile:
greedy, vain, smug, and superior to all around her. Wanamaker is
wonderful in the role, voice dripping with honeyed venom.


THOUGHTS

"Rose" did everything it needed to do as a pilot. But I have to admit
that when I first saw it in 2005, I found it a disappointment - and my
opinion has not changed since. Had it been the first episode of just
some generic new science fiction series, I would probably not have
bothered with Episode Two.

The End of the World was the episode that eased my fears, and
persuaded me that the new Doctor Who would be a good show after all.
The script it tightly paced and well-structured, making good use of
its single-episode running time. I complained in my review of "Rose"
that all characterization there was done in broad strokes. This
episode begins filling in the details, giving excellent character
moments to both the Doctor and Rose. In "Rose," they sometimes felt
like cartoon characters. Here, they gain a sense of emotional reality,
and both actors' performances are more confident and genuine here than
they were in that episode.

It's also an episode that goes to town on the visual element. "Rose"
launched the series in the only way the series could be launched: with
an Earthbound story, bringing strange elements into a familiar world.
The End of the World is the flip side. Rose and the Doctor are our
only familiar anchors in a completely alien world. We have walking
trees, blue men, giant faces in giant jars, talking CGI skin... It's
like spending 44 minutes in the Star Wars cantina scene! The visual
effects of the expanding sun and the space station are wonderfully
polished, with this episode effectively announcing that 21st century
Doctor Who will be anything but cheap-looking.


Rating: 8/10.

--- Synchronet 3.15a-Linux NewsLink 1.92-mlp
--- SBBSecho 2.12-Linux