Day 704: Father's Day

This story is, in many ways, a further contemplation on the events of The Long Game. Once again, we get a companion (this time it's Rose) trying to change history, and once again, we see the Doctor's rage at this fact. But there's enough to differentiate it from The Long Game to make it unique, as well as allowing us to sympathise with Rose and give what is possibly a better story.

For a start, Rose's intentions are honourable. Whilst there is the point to be made that she wishes to use time travel for strictly her own benefit, she's doing this by saving her father from dying in a hit and run accident. It's certainly more morally just than taking data from the future back to the present day, because it's all about saving a life rather than just improving one. Indeed, as Rose points out, the Doctor saves lives all throughout history, and that's alright, but the Doctor's response is that he's allowed to because he understands how to go about it and in what circumstances he can and can't save people (and indeed, this will be explored at length through the rest of the series, particularly in The Fires of Pompeii and The Waters of Mars). But the point is that we can see that Rose is trying to do a good thing, and so we can sympathise with her.

That said, the consequences are far more visible this time around. Creatures from the Time Vortex come through to the Earth, killing the entire human race in an effort to set time back in progress. It's a shocking image to see, and a handy reminder of the stakes of the story, as we get the ever-present visual of seeing them swirl around the church where the Doctor, Rose and a group of others are gathered in hiding. With all of this, one would expect the Doctor to be cruel to Rose, but he forgives her. He can understand where she's coming from, and he feels her pain, so he allows her to apologise and indeed, jokes about it immediately beforehand with a baby version of Rose.

But as events reach their inevitable conclusion, Rose's father goes out and decides to die, making events go back to the way they were. But they didn't quite go back to normal, because history was subtly changed. The hit and run accident, became more of a simple accident, with the driver staying around to accept the blame and help where he could. And, perhaps most importantly of all, Rose stayed with her father as he died. It's not an earth-shattering moment of changing history, but it's a good one, and it improves the world in a far better way than what Adam did in The Long Game. It all just goes as further evidence to show that Rose is one of the best companions to be on screen ever.