Day 698: The End of the World

There's a scene in the middle of this story that sums up what the forthcoming series is going to be about. The episode so far has been focussing on the perspective of Rose as she sees all of the amazing things that the TARDIS can bring her, and it slowly dawns of the real ramifications of becoming a traveller in the TARDIS, like the sudden realisation that visiting the future means visiting a time when everyone that you've ever cared about is dead, or the fact that the TARDIS has entered her head in order to translate everything into English for her. So she talks about this with the Doctor, and the conversation reaches a point where she asks where he's from. What's interesting is that he refuses to tell her, becoming combative and and angry at the prospect of revealing this information. Not since The War Games have we seen the Doctor so reluctant to reveal his past, meaning that this sudden reluctance is a little worrying for what might have happened.

Events continue throughout the story, that I won't go into too much detail here, but I will focus on the ending scene. Rose, after witnessing the death of the Earth, is brought back to Earth in the modern day, and looks at the life that exists there. And in that quiet moment, the Doctor tells Rose that she should enjoy Earth because he can't enjoy his home planet. It was destroyed in a War, taking all of the Time Lords with it. Suddenly, everything becomes clear. We're dealing with a damaged Doctor, one who is trying to cope with this traumatic event.

This renewed focus on the character of the Doctor is interesting, and one of the major changes that Russell T Davies has brought to the programme, moving it from standalone stories to moving through time and space with the characters of the Doctor and Rose. And, funnily enough, it's kind of a callback to the work of the original story editor David Whitaker, who always put the focus squarely on the characters in the TARDIS and not so much on the worlds around them. All in all, then, it's worth continuing to watch the series, as we explore and get to know these characters of the Doctor and Rose.