9.2: The End of the World
In which Doctor Who is under the impression that showing someone the destruction of everything they have ever known counts as flirting.
Broadcast: April 2005
Watched: July 2021
“Platform One forbids the use of weapons, teleportation and religion.”
It's a mood piece, isn't it? Like Rose the plotting feels like a computer game: the sun filter scene, the fans... it's not real drama, yet, it's just about obstacles and plot tokens.
But again it's a sort of mission statement. Partly in the way it foregrounds Rose's emotions about what it would actually be like to suddenly be 5 billion years from home with a strange man you've just met. (RTD has said the scene with Rafello the techie was a late addition to fill time, which is weird, since it gives us the “I don't even know who he is” moment which feels key?) Also the way it is, in an indirect way, anti-racist: the bits with the aliens comforting each other, or the Doctor breaking the news of Jabe's death to some trees, are there to contrast with Cassandra's obsession with “purity”.
And, of course, the Doctor needs to show Rose the Earth dying before he can tell her what happened to his planet. The final scene, the return to the present where someone is shouting “Big Issue” - “You think it'll last forever, but it won't”... is sort of powerful, even before he gets to that revelation. But it also seems to contradict the “the one thing you never consider is that you'll survive” scene. RTD contains multitudes.
Anyway: like the bit of episode 1 where he tries to talk to some Nestenes, this one subtly reframes the Doctor's mission. Now he's alone because he's the last of his people, not just because he's a pain in the arse.
Other thoughts:
Absolutely baller title for an episode 2. Some series wait until their finale to destroy the Earth, but RTD is second only to Douglas Adams in just getting it done.
Seriously, if the Doctor thinks this is a good idea for a date, then he must have been single A Long Time. Is showing someone the destruction of their planet basically just really advanced negging?
Some influences: the parade of guests is The Daleks' Master Plan; “Sun filter descending” is Dragonfire; “Have pity!” is Genesis.
Some random bits that I love. The gorgeous, vaguely sci-fi music. “...the new Roman Empire.” The idea the National Trust has run out of money to maintain the Earth. “A cutting, from my grandfather." A tree, flirting with the Doctor. The Doctor dancing to Tainted Love. Some children, painted blue. Britney, before her captivity.
Some random bits that are silly, and not necessarily in a good way. Walking very slowly through some fans. “Jabe, you're made of wood!” “Someone brought their little pet on board, let's send him back to master”, which doesn't make much sense. Neither does the identity of the Repeated Meme (it's all very “clever if you're eight”, but that is the market, I suppose).
The shields, that can protect Platform One from an exploding sun, must be bloody incredible.
The CGI (?) bits still look like cartoons, the effects look primitive these days.
Cassandra accuses the Doctor of never being kissed. She also says she used to be a little boy, which raises some interesting questions.