The End of the World

Everything has it's time.

Rose introduced the Doctor and companion while The End of the World propelled them on their first time adventure together. Except not really. Yes, they travelled through time five billion years, but Rose spends most of the episode in a state of shock (probably the first realistic reaction by a companion) or locked in a room. So this more of a Doctor with pseudo-companion in the form of Jabe the tree.

Plot Summary

Showing off for Rose, the TARDIS materializes on Platform 1, a space station overlooking Earth on the day it is to be destroyed. Artificial gravity satellites had kept the expansion of the sun in place but funding had run out and the abandoned Earth is to die in a show for the rich and famous.

The Doctor and Rose pose as guests and exchange gifts and pleasantries with the other invitees, most notably Cassandra, the last genetically pure human, although hundreds of surgeries have reduced her to a sheet of skin and extended her life for several thousand years. Among the gifts exchanged are a silver spheres from the Adherents of the Repeat Meme. While the guests are busy, spider droids emerge from the spheres and sneak into the crawlspaces and begin to sabotage the station.

Feeling overwhelmed, Rose leaves the observation deck. She calms herself a bit talking with a maintenance worker, who is killed by the spider droids after she leaves, and then sits alone in a side room. The Doctor finds her but becomes angry when she presses him for specifics about who he is and where he is from. Rose backs down and the Doctor reciprocates by tinkering with her phone to allow her to call her mother. While observing, the station rocks a bit and the Doctor recognizes a problem.

The Steward also recognizes an issue but before he can dispatch a repair team, a spider droid enters his office and brings down the sun shade, roasting him in his office. Back on the observation deck, the Doctor notices sabotage. Jabe, a sentient tree, offers to show him an access shaft near their quarters. Rose, offended by Jabe's assumption of a sexual relationship between her and the Doctor, stays on the observation deck, where she promptly gets into an argument with Cassandra.

The Doctor and Jabe find an access panel that allows the Doctor to scan the station and access the main control box. While talking, Jabe confesses that she scanned the Doctor earlier and learned he is a Time Lord. She offers sympathy for the loss of his world. The Doctor thanks her and upon entering the discharge room they discover and capture one of the spider droids.

Following her argument with Cassandra, Rose stalks off and is knocked out by one of the Adherents. She is dragged to the room earlier and the sun shield begins to lower. She screams and the Doctor, returning to the observation deck hears her. He manages to raise the shield but the rays fused the door shut leaving her trapped in the room. He promises to come back for her.

Returning to the obervation deck the Doctor repairs the droid and sends it back to it's makers. It first goes to the Adherents of the Repeated Meme but they are exposed as robots as well. The droid then goes to Cassandra. She confesses as she stands to make a large amount of money with the deaths of the guests due to business holdings. She detonates the spiders, lowering the station shields and then transports off.

The Doctor and Jabe run back to the discharge room where the computer override station is located. But the way is blocked by rotating fans. With the controls damaged, the only way the fans can be slowed enough is for the control bar to be held down. Jabe grabs the bar even though the temperature is rising. The Doctor then begins to dodge the blades.

As the pressure wave approaches, the shieldless station begins to crack and unfiltered sun rays begin to get through, killing several guests. Meanwhile, the Doctor makes his way to the last blade. Jabe catches fire and the bar rolls back up, increasing the speed of the blade. Concentrating, the Doctor opens himself to time and passes through the gap. He then reactivates the shield just before the pressure wave hits, destroying the Earth.

The Doctor returns to the observation deck, as does Rose as the door was destroyed while the shield was down. He finds the transporter signaling device and recalls Cassandra without her medical support team. The heat increase in the station causes her to begin to dry out. Rose asks him for mercy but the Doctor just stands there. Cassandra dries to the point of contraction and then bursts apart, killing her.

The Doctor and Rose return to the present, where Rose is still feeling a bit shell shocked. The Doctor tells her of his race and that his planet was destroyed in a war that his people lost. He offers to let her go home but she instead suggests they go have some chips and relax.

Analysis

This story was pretty decent, but there was something missing from it for me. I'm not one hundred percent sure what it was but it just felt like something was lacking in terms of drawing me in.

One thing it is not is the acting. All the central characters played their parts well. The Doctor was on point with the prickly PTSD manifesting itself well in the scene with Rose and then later with Jabe. Rose did very well as well as we finally saw a companion legitimately overwhelmed by being in the midst of a group of aliens. Other companions had moments of disbelief but this is the first time one seems genuinely overwhelmed by the situation and Rose does it very well.

Jabe also works well as the step-in companion. She seems genuinely fond of the Doctor and noble in the acceptance of her death to help the Doctor save the rest. I also enjoyed Cassandra. She's a bit of a one-note stereotype, but she plays the part well and there is a subtle level of humor there, to say nothing of a fairly well executed plan. At the same time, it is very easy to stand with the Doctor and just let her die, especially after her mocking of him that she will tie up the courts for years.

Cassandra's death is a marked point in the new series as it defines that the Doctor will be vicious and cruel at times. In the classic series, the Doctor would kill but in most cases it was in self defense or the defense of others. Usually if there is something he could do to bring the villain to justice, he would do. This is an instance where he makes the active decision that the justice system will not be enough. He wants vengeance and the fact that he has to do nothing makes it so much easier. But as I am a fan of the dark and vengeful Doctor (see The Christmas Invasion), I found Cassandra's death and the Doctor's attitude towards her most satisfying.

So why is there this niggling lack of connection for me and this story? I think this story has an element of trying to hard and as a result, falling into cliché. The worst moment was actually the scene with the fans. The fans were meant to be a scary obstacle but with Jabe holding down the lever, they slowed down to the point that the Doctor should have been able to go through them faster than he did. It felt very much like a set up to ensure that he would have to do the last one without her help and use special Time Lord power. It also ensured that he would be raising the shields back up at the very last second. That just smacked of Galaxy Quest level cliché and it was obvious about it.

I think the other thing that bugged me was that the story had very little mystery or subtlety to it. Cassandra's reveal as the mastermind was the only reveal but we saw the spiders from the get go and there was a strong element of waiting until we saw what the ultimate goal of their sabotage was. I think that because the episode was running short, bit of a padding were put in which helped with character development but also slowed down the payoff of the story and I got tired of waiting after a while.

For me, the story was decent but I don't think I can rate it higher than average. Whether it was the waiting for stuff to happen or the obviousness of what was going on, the story just didn't grab me and say that this is one to watch again. I think I could even sense that going in for the rewatch as I remember looking at the Ninth Doctor catalogue in the past and always passing over this one as I never felt overly compelled by it. It's not bad and I wouldn't say no to watching it, but I feel no sense of desire to watch it again in the near future.

Overall personal score: 2.5 out of 5