Review

The Doctor takes Rose on her first time trip to five billion years in the future where Earth is about to be engulfed by an expanding star. Considering rich bastards aren't as rare as we would like to think, the event has turned into some sort of celebrity party aboard a viewing satellite with various celebs fronting up. We get tree people, some annoying thing in a Davros type chair, and the last human, Cassandra, who's kind of skin stretched on a frame needing constant moisturising. About the only person missing is Paris Hilton, but then that would make it a real horror show.

Unfortunately for those intent on champers and a bit of mass solar destruction, there's a foul plot afoot to do away with them and gain a commercial advantage from the resulting turmoil. Can the Doctor, Rose, and tree person Jabe foil the plan or will they become roast of the day? One weird, even by Doctor Who standards, episode ensues. Did someone forget to invite Darth Vader?

Following the first episode, The End of the World is a breath of fresh air in the new season. Russell T. Davies has got it right with the pacing, following the rather disjointed Rose, and has put together a pretty interesting episode. Both Rose and the Doctor get some good one liners from a crisp and functional script, there's some meat on the plot arc bone, and the Doctor is going to have to use every ounce of his ingenuity to get out of this one without becoming crispy noodles. About the only thing missing was the scare factor, thus far missing from both episodes.

One of the fears fans of the original Doctor Who had was what sort of budget the new season would get; well, those fears have been put aside by an episode that is almost Hollywood in the special effects department. Clearly there's a high budget and hopefully this will be used throughout the season. Who has never looked so good, though surprisingly I'm slightly missing the dodgy props used eons ago when it must have cost around £10 an episode to make.

An improved episode, but still not quite where er want the series to be. Slow start as the neo-Who tries to find its feet.

In terms of plot arcs we get the low down that the Doctor is the last of the Time Lords following an interstellar war alluded to in the previous episode. Jabe is surprised the Doctor is alive, and shows immense interest in the Time Lord.

Director Euros Lyn lets this one roll without getting bogged down in the details at any stage. The camera work is fine and the CGI is well blended. Lyn pretty much nails Rose's delight at the fun times to be had with time travel, and catches a slight hint of pathos from the Earthling as the Planet faces its ultimate demise. The Director does drop the ball on a couple of occasions, but I'm putting that down to it being pretty hard to impact modern audiences; there's nothing much a television Director can do to startle our senses anymore. Clearly the scene where Rose comes face to face with various alien races is meant to be impactful, and it might have been if previously we hadn't dropped in for a drink at a certain Tatooine bar. (If you have to ask then you are at the wrong site, amigo!) What the Director singularly fails to do is cover up who the villain is in the episode, remembering The End of the World works as a sort of "whodunit", kabooomtish, �as the body count mounts. You can pick who the culprit is pretty much straight off the bat without overly trying.

There's a faint hint of the production team having delved into other franchises with this episode that I wasn't impressed with, Dr Who after all being generally pretty unique. The spider droids reminded me of the replicators from Star Gate or even heaven forbid the ones in Lost In Space (1998) who were out to get Joey. Matt LeBlanc, what were you thinking! We all know you can't act, but that was simply ridiculous. Slight detour off the reservation, getting right back on track now. Given the absolutely astounding number of creatures various Doctors have battled since the very first episode you would have thought they could have simply dialled into Cybermen or something instead. Oh wait, that comes in season two, getting slightly ahead of ourselves here, settle down people. You will no doubt also note similarities to that restaurant from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

So overall the episode isn't totally unique, maybe they should have remade Ark In Space (1975) (colour me geeky!), but does what it sets out to do. If the special effects are this good early in season one, well it's simply going to rock from here.

Christopher Eccleston (The Doctor) once again nails things and had me humming to his beat. Almost like the character was written for him, and Eccleston doesn't need to stretch things though I am enjoying his shtick in this season. Confirmed Billie Piper (Rose) simply can't act and is already a weak link in an otherwise fine production. The rest of the cast are having fun with none of the minor characters turning in a bad performance.

Sorry guys, this is the Doctor and he's not prescribing any sort of T&A for you. There's a slight hint of homo on the range going down with the character of Cassandra, which was sort of left field but at least got another expression from the constantly smiling Piper.

Is it just me or are they trying, and failing miserably, to funk the Doctor up. We get "Tainted Love" by Soft Cell and improbably "Toxic" by Britney Spears. Word to the wise here, leave this sort of thing to Supernatural. The score pretty much captures the feeling of The End of the World without going all epic or melodramatic on us.

The new series hasn't really grabbed me by the short and curlies and demanded I should watch it thus far. The End of the World is certainly an improvement over Rose but it doesn't have that Doctor Who factor which made the original series a cult phenomenon. Guess we are missing the fear factor that drove kids behind the sofa back in the 1960s and 1970s. But there are signs things are swinging into gear and with the promise of everyone's favourite villain later in the season I'm sticking with it.

Two characters who will reprise later in this season or next were introduced. Cassandra, the ultimate in facelifts taken to the extreme, and The Face of Boe, who sort of reminded me of those navigators from Dune.

Another episode that is likely to find more favour with the Doctor Who fan base than new viewers. The End of the World certainly sees the new series getting into the swing of things but isn't quintessential Who times. Book yourself a table on the observation platform, it can only get better from here.

Site of the Week: The Doctor Who Club of Australia run a blog site that sort of informs what they have going down, offers reviews of the current season, and ironical has a swag shop. I say ironic because the Club claims it's not for profit yet charges for membership and pushes it's clearly commerical shopping section. If in Australia, worth checking out for events coming on up.

ScaryMinds Rates this episode as ...