Army of Ghosts/Doomsday

Pete's World, that's what we should call it!

Army of Ghosts and Doomsday was a pretty good way of closing Series Two and sending off Rose. Rose was never my favorite but I thought this an appropriate way to go. It is also important to try not to let what happened in Series Four (specifically Journey's End) color the appreciation of this story.

Plot Summary

The Doctor and Rose return to visit her mother and find the Earth is being visited by apparitions called "ghosts". The Doctor doesn't believe they are real ghosts and investigates their origins, grabbing the attention of the Torchwood Institute. The Doctor and Rose jump over to Torchwood in the TARDIS, inadvertently taking Jackie with them, where the Doctor is escorted around under guard by the director, Yvonne Hartman. Jackie is also taken under the guise of being Rose, leaving Rose to investigate independently.

The Doctor is taken to see the origin of the ghost shift in the form of a sphere that doesn't register as existing. The Doctor recognizes it as a Void ship, something meant to fly in the space between universes. He is then taken to the ghost shift control center where he warns Torchwood not to activate the shift any more for fear of making the hole between the universes bigger. Director Hartman originally refuses but becomes concerned that she does order it shut down. However, unbeknownst to her or the Doctor, a small group of Cybermen have crossed over and taken over many of the Torchwood computer personnel. They then activate the shift independently. The Doctor manages to shut it down but is captured by the Cybermen when they are exposed. The Cybermen reactive the shift, bringing millions of Cybermen from the Age of Steel/Rise of the Cybermen universe over.

This shift also activates the void ship, causing the security system to seal the room it is in. Rose had snuck into this room but was discovered by the head scientist, Dr. Rajesh Singh. She is further shocked to learn that the assistant is Mickey, working undercover from the Cyberman universe. They are all shocked to see that exiting the sphere are four Daleks who threaten to exterminate them.

Doomsday picks things up with Director Hartman being cybernized. Jackie is also slated for conversion but manages to escape. The Daleks kill Dr. Singh and learn of the situation with the Cybermen from his memory extraction. They declare war against the Cybermen but become concerned on learning that the Doctor is also here. They Cybermen mobilize against the Daleks and in the confusion, Cybermen universe Torchwood people materialize and bring the Doctor back to their universe. He meets Pete Tyler and learns that the gateway must be seals or both universes will be destroyed.

Pete brings the Doctor back to the original universe and the Doctor goes in to save Rose and Mickey. They get the two of them out with the Cybermen then moving in to fight against the Daleks but Mickey accidentally touches the Genesis Ark, activating it. The Ark is a prison where millions of Daleks had been stored and will now be released. The Doctor and Rose reunite with Jackie and the whole team assembles in the control room. The Doctor will open the hole only on the original universe side causing anything that has passed through the gateway to be sucked into the void. This means that all the Torchwood team must go back and be cut off from traveling through the void again. The Doctor wants Rose to go but she rebels and jumps back to help the Doctor. Jackie, having gone to be with Pete in the other universe is devastated and demands that Pete go back for her.

With Rose helping him, the Doctor opens the gateway and secures himself and Rose from being sucked in. However, some of the Daleks and Cybermen hit the lever on Rose's side causing the gateway to start to collapse. She loosens herself and reopens the gate, but is now unsecured. She attempts to hold on but is being sucked into the void. Pete then appears at the last second and takes her back to his universe just before the gate closes, separating her from the Doctor. The Doctor is able to project an image of himself to her in the other universe to say good-bye. There, Rose confesses that she loves the Doctor. He disappears before he can offer a similar response. The episode ends with a red-headed woman in a bridal dress suddenly appearing in the TARDIS, demanding to know where she is.

Analysis

If you asked any classic Doctor Who fan what their fantasy battle would be, it would probably be the Cybermen facing off against the Daleks. Doomsday indulges in this with spades. There's a funny scene at the beginning of the episode where the Cybermen and the Daleks indulge in a real dick-measuring contest. Rose gets in a good jibe as well, taunting the Daleks how they can mouth off against a million Cybermen but they clam up when the Doctor appears.

Speaking of Rose, she does very well. I'm not a fan of the Doctor/Rose romance but it does come across as believable in this story, at least on Rose's part. What's more, you feel a genuine sadness when they are separated and the tragedy of it hits you as the Doctor leans against the wall as if to listen while Rose cries and beats the same wall in frustration at having lost the Doctor. The scene on the beach that ends it reinforces the feeling but it lacks the raw emotion that the wall scene contains, even though Rose is spilling her heart out. Now, if you know what happens through Series Four, these two scenes lose a great deal of their power. But they should be judged on their emotion of the moment and that is very good.

Now, there are a couple of small problems with the episode. The antagonist until the Cybermen show up is Director Hartman and she is a bit one note. It's not egregious, but there are slight notes of the overzealous ministers that appeared in the Third Doctor era. She's not an old boy, but the human arrogance shines through full and it just loses a bit when that the same tone throughout. She makes a later appearance after she has been cybernized, holding off other Cybermen to give the Doctor more time to open the porthole. It follows the trend of how certain people can overcome cybernation with enough will and it just feels like a plot convenience given how others who might be just as strong willed are overcome and don't come back.

Although it works out well for the plot, I was also a little disappointed as to how easily the Cybermen were overcome by the Daleks. Given how easily we see the Doctor repeatedly overcome the Daleks, it would have made some sense to have at least one or two of the Daleks to be destroyed by the Cybermen, especially after the Doctor drops their defenses for a moment during the rescue of Rose and Mickey. It's a minor thing but it would have given a little extra balance to having the Cybermen there.

Overall, very good. Arguably the best series closer of the RTD era, which is saying something given my general distaste for Rose. Easily watchable again with very little argument from me.

Overall personal score: Army of Ghosts: 4 out of 5; Doomsday: 4.5 out of 5