From Newsgroup: rec.arts.drwho.moderated
From Address: jphalt{at}aol.com
Subject: New Earth: my review

NEW EARTH

1 episode. Approx. 42 minutes. Written by: Russell T. Davies. Directed
by: James Hawes. Produced by: Phil Collinson.


THE PLOT

The Doctor takes Rose further into the future than ever before, to the
world of New Earth, created in the wave of human nostalgia that
followed the destruction of the original Earth. This isn't entirely a
sightseeing tour, though. The Doctor received a message from an old
friend, calling him to the hospital on New Earth. The Face of Boe is
dying, but has a message to relay before he passes. If he ever wakes
up, that is.

There is more afoot at the hospital than just the Face of Boe.
Cassandra, who survived her apparent death on Platform One, now lurks
in the hospital's basement. She knows that the humanoid cat-nurses are
hiding a secret. When she sees Rose Tyler enter the hospital with this
all-new Doctor, she uses stolen technology to lure Rose into her
cellar. She transfers her consciousness into Rose's body, using Rose's
relationship with the Doctor to find out what the hospital's secret
might be.


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: Early in the episode, he half-jokingly describes himself
as a "new new Doctor." It's an accurate description. The Ninth Doctor
had a certain melancholy hanging about him, even in his lighter
moments. He was, effectively, the shellshocked Doctor, always haunted
by the ghosts of his past. The Tenth Doctor is exuberant, embracing
all that life, the universe, and everything has to offer. The dynamic
between him and Rose is more comfortable than the one Rose and the
Ninth Doctor shared, and he seems perfectly fine with it when Rose
describes their first sojourn into the future as their "first date."

Rose: Notice the difference between the way Rose says goodbye to her
mom and to Mickey. She recites a series of effusive "I love yous" to
her mom. When Mickey says he loves her, she simply responds, "Bye."
Don't think Mickey won't be reflecting on that. She is still adjusting
to the differences in this "new new Doctor," but she does seem very
comfortable with his youthful new persona.


THOUGHTS

New Earth is not a good episode, but that should come with a
qualifier. For 3/4 of its running time, New Earth is actually pretty
good fun. My problems with the episode have little to do with the
forced comedy, enough of which actually works to make up for the
hackneyed body-switch plot. My problems have nothing at all to do with
bad science at the climax. I don't care if the way the Doctor applies
the cure for some nonexistent sci-fi diseases doesn't line up with
real medicine.

No, my problems with New Earth almost entirely rest with the last 10
minutes. Everything's running along smoothly. It's wafer-thin, but it
is a fun action/comedy episode. Then Cassandra pops into the head of
one of the zombies... and is apparently so overwhelmed by what she
finds that she suddenly becomes an utterly and completely different
character inside of about 2 minutes' screen time. "I'm dying... but
it's all right" may be a noble sentiment. But it's one that goes
against everything about a character defined by her clawing for more
life, trampling over the lives of others in the process.

That could be effective, too, if it was the result of convincing
character growth. But it's simply taking one two dimensional character
and flipping her into a completely different two-dimensional
character. As a result, everything about the episode's ending simply
comes across as false. And worse, mawkish.

In an episode whose virtues were fairly mild to begin with, an ending
such as this is a disaster. The result is the worst new series episode
I've reviewed to this point... though worse will eventually come.


Rating: 5/10.

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