Day 708: Bad Wolf

Cliffhangers, in my opinion, can be generally divided into two categories. The first is 'Peril', where a character is placed in mortal peril at the end of the episode, and the tension of the cliffhanger is built upon seeing wither they live, and more importantly, how they lived (an example of this ending are the cliffhanger to The Magician's Apprentice, where Missy, Clara and the TARDIS are seemingly destroyed). The other category is 'Development', where the ending is pivoted around a major plot development that changes the entire structure of the story (an example of this could be the ending to Under the Lake, where the 'ghost Doctor' is revealed, changing the story slightly from being about ghosts attacking a base to how the Doctor became a ghost in the first place). Bad Wolf's ending doesn't quite fit into either of those categories, and it's all the better for it.

On the surface, it's a 'Peril' ending. The episode clearly ends on the point of the Daleks stating that they are going to go and conquer the Earth, which puts everyone in danger, increasing the tension in the story. But there's also the argument that the cliffhanger didn't begin there, instead it began around 5 minutes earlier when the Daleks were first revealed, showing that they have been in command of the Game Station for all these years, as well as surviving the Time War, changing the focus of the episode from a story about homicidal game shows to a fight against the Daleks. This would put it in the 'Development' column, although there's enough 'Peril' in there to make it a hybrid of the two.

But that's all missing the entire point of the ending. The real meat of it is the Doctor's speech, where he stands up to the Daleks, ready to take them on in an instant. The notion of the speech is fantastic, as we get steadily more and more excited as he lays out his aims for the next episode. But we don't get to see his actions, which makes the next episode all the more exciting. It turns the tension present in the cliffhanger on its head, not using events that will happen and you need to see the conclusion of said events in the next episode, but instead you get told about the events happening and the conclusion of the events within the cliffhanger, making it more of a trailer than a cliffhanger ending. But it still works, and it makes for one of my favourite scenes in the history of Doctor Who.

Day 707: Boom Town

Boom Town is a story of two halves. The first half is a simple and fun adventure, as the Doctor, Rose, and Captain Jack arrive in Cardiff, meet up with Mickey and stop one of the members of the Slitheen (hence referred to as Margaret Slitheen) left from Aliens of London/World War Three from destroying the Earth. It's delightfully fun, with some great comedic moments (the Doctor attempting to meet with Margaret is one of the truly great moments in Doctor Who history), but it lacks substance.

But then, in the second half, we get something new and different. Margaret Slitheen is put on board the TARDIS and told that she will go back to her home world, where she will apparently be executed. As her final wish, then, she takes the Doctor out for dinner, to plea for a second chance at life. It's something that's rarely been seen in Doctor Who, the idea of the villain talking with the Doctor after their plan has been foiled; the idea of consequences to the Doctor's actions after the closing credits have rolled. We're drawn into the moral dilemma with Margaret, because we know that she has killed and could kill again, and yet she has shown mercy to others, including a pregnant journalist at the start of the episode. It's a pity that these scenes don't go on for longer, as it's a well-meaning consideration to put forward and an interesting idea. We are unfortunately prevented from seeing the Doctor's decision regarding her life, as a botched plan from her ends up regressing her to an egg through the power of the TARDIS. The Doctor watches on though, comfortable with the proceedings and almost glad for her as she realises that she will be given what she needs.

So we're left with a fun and farcical first half and an interesting discussion for the second half in Boom Town. All in all, it's actually rather a fun episode to watch, and I can't help but feel that this story is a little underrated by fans. But then again, maybe that's just me.

Day 706: The Doctor Dances

One of the defining moments for the Ninth Doctor comes at the end of this story. After two episodes of a relatively traumatic adventure, the Doctor is able to save the day through the power of love and nanogenes. And then, he actually gets a chance to properly save the day, spreading the nanogenes throughout all those who have been affected by the gas mask zombie 'plague', for want of a better word. "Everybody Lives!", he proclaims joyfully, as the episode comes to its conclusion.

And it's a truly joyful moment for this Doctor, because of the circumstances in which it comes. He's just been involved with a war that has destroyed his own people, and that has left him damaged. And a good portion of the stories that we've had since then have dealt with the ramifications of the war, be it through the desire to change history, or dealing with the fallout of the war to other species such as the Gelth. So for this Doctor to be given this opportunity to save everybody from dying is extraordinary, because it represents a moment for the Universe to finally give him a break, and allow him to have one legitimately happy moment.

And whilst it may not be the truly defining moment for this Doctor (we'll look at that on Sunday), it is an iconic moment for him that's part of an iconic story.

Day 705: The Empty Child

As good as this episode is (and it is very good indeed), I can't help but think instead that I should write about something else entirely. When I was around 10 years old, I was a regular visitor to the Doctor Who website. I'd read episode guides, photonovels of missing episodes, watch webcasts (I felt really brave when I watched Real Time, given that it was advised to be watched by only mature audiences), and grow steadily addicted to the 'TARDIS Tennis' flash game (an event which would later foreshadow a crippling addiction to online flash games that would hamper my results in my final year of schooling). Later, though, I stopped visiting, for one reason or another, and moved onto other things. Curiosity drove me back to the website, where I was greeted with a bit of a shock.

Everything on the website was updated, to reflect the new series that was currently airing. Suddenly, there were a whole raft of new features, from fear factors to trailers to episode previews that had me hooked every single day to this website. Except for one week in May. For on that week, the home page was changed to reflect the upcoming episode: The Empty Child. Instead of seeing the Doctor and Rose, up to mischief, there was instead the haunting image of the child in the gas mask as you see at the top of this page. This was accompanied by a steady heart beat, as a child's voice slowly cried out for his mummy. It was thoroughly distressing to say the least, but the entire experience is etched in my memory as an example of the hype that was personally building for me around the series.

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.

Day 703: The Long Game

The most interesting thing about this episode is, oddly, not the main plot. Instead, it's the new companion, Adam, who was brought into the series in the previous episode, Dalek, and leaves the series in this episode. It's not an awfully long tenure, and it's easy to see why when you watch this episode.

The Long Game feels like Russell T Davies showing the audience that the role of companion isn't just for anyone. After however many years of the Doctor seemingly picking random people off the street and choosing them to be his companion, Adam is the one that manages to buck the trend in a massive way. He's not an example of what we as humans should strive to become, with the most heroic act that he does within this episode being to bravely try a 'kronkburger' in order to experience the culture of Earth in the year 200,000. Everything else that he does is profoundly selfish, as he wanders through the story trying to get as much information as possible about the future, such that he can return to Earth and use it for his own purposes. This ends up creating a lot of problems, not least of which putting the Doctor and Rose in danger when they end up being captured.

So, upon realising that he's made a terrible mistake and that Adam is going to be a nuisance, the Doctor takes him home and dumps him. It's the first companion that we've ever seen get explicitly dumped, everyone else leaves more or less of their own accord. Suddenly, the role of companion feels just that bit more sacred in the eyes of the viewer, because we get to see someone fail at it. It draws to attention just how good the previous companions have been, if only by contrast to the way in which Adam managed to ruin it for everyone. And whilst I'm not the biggest fan of Adam, I do appreciate what he represents, being The Companion Who Couldn't (to quote the working title for the story), and showing us how fantastic companions have been, both past, present and future.

Day 702: Dalek

Dalek ranks as one of my favourite stories in Doctor Who of all time. It's easy to see why, and I feel that this is best seen in one of the final scenes in the story. The lead-up to the scene is that a Dalek has been methodically going through a base, killing everyone that it comes across. This is thanks to Rose accidentally regenerating it by giving it power, somehow. The Doctor, meanwhile, is hell-bent on destroying it, in part because the Time War was between the Daleks and the Time Lords, and he blames the Daleks for so much. So the scene comes about when the Doctor, whilst holding a massive gun, meets with the Dalek while Rose is kept captive by the Dalek, for reasons that confuse it.

Over the course of the scene, we see the entire relationship between the Doctor and the Daleks play out. The Doctor turns up, all ready to kill the Dalek once and for all. But he can't, because he's shocked to see that the Dalek has opened up its casing and destroyed a potion of the roof, just so that it can feel the sunlight on its tentacles. Rose points out that the Doctor is the one with the gun, and that the Dalek is slowly changing, and that it isn't killing any more. The Doctor puts down his gun, in a moment of realisation of what he has done, whilst the Dalek, realising that it is becoming something impure, commits suicide.

This scene shows how much the Time War has changed the Doctor. A man who abhors violence, and has almost always sought peaceful solutions to events, even those concerning the Daleks, is now so legitimately furious at the Daleks that he needs to destroy it himself. But Rose stops him. Just as Rose healed the Dalek, so too does Rose heal the Doctor. She helps him realise what a person he has become, as well as striving for him to be someone better.

Meanwhile, in one of the story's cruellest jokes, the Dalek can't cope with the fact that it's changing, but the story desperately wants it to change and become nice. The music, for instance, by Murray Gold is at times overly sentimental, whilst the direction from Joe Ahearne desperately tries to get beauty out of sunlight dancing off the Dalek's tentacles. But being nice is so against the very nature of the Dalek that it must die, and so it does, defying the story that is being told and instead remaining true to itself. It's a slightly warped joke about the concept of the Daleks, and how we should never sympathise with them, because it's just wrong.

And that's just a small sample of what is a truly fantastic story that manages to do what could be seen as impossible: it makes the Daleks scary again.