NaBloPoMo (catchup): Series 2, Episode 9: "The Satan Pit"

WARNING: THIS ANALYSIS MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT WATCHED DOCTOR WHO OR AT THE VERY LEAST HAVE NOT SEEN THIS EPISODE. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. 

Yes! Finally, after this post, I will be done with my catchup from the disastrous thing back in February known as NaBloPoMo.

Here we go - episode 9 of Series 2, and part two of the 2-parter begun with "The Impossible Planet," "The Satan Pit."

I said in the previous post that I have issues with this episode, bad memories. But more about that later.

So...picking up from where "The Impossible Planet" left off, The Doctor, Rose, and the crew of a deep-space Sanctuary Base must deal with the fact that some demonic force called The Beast has just possessed the crew's language expert Toby as well as the Ood, a service-oriented race of normally peaceful aliens that are essentially the work staff of the base. And it seems to be all tied to this dark pit down near the center of the planet on which the base is located, which The Doctor and base crew member Ida have discovered.

Rose and the crew members try to run from the now possessed Ood. The Doctor confirms he and Ida have not seen anything escape the pit, and volunteers to rappel down into the dark, seemingly bottomless pit to investigate further, but Captain Zach has other plans, and orders everyone back up so he can activate "strategy 9," a policy to open the airlocks and flush the possessed Ood out. As The Doctor and Ida prepare to ascend, The Beast detects The Doctor's presence and begins communicating directly with The Doctor:

DOCTOR: If you are the Beast, then answer me this. Which one, hmm? Cos the universe has been busy since you've been gone. There's more religions than there are planets in the sky. The Archiphets, Orkology, Christianity, Pash Pash, New Judaism, San Klah, Church of the Tin Vagabond. Which devil are you?
VOICE [OC]: All of them.
DOCTOR: What, then you're the truth behind the myth?
VOICE [OC]: This one knows me as I know him. The killer of his own kind.
DOCTOR: How did you end up on this rock?
VOICE [OC]: The Disciples of the Light rose up against me and chained me in the pit for all eternity.
DOCTOR: When was this?
VOICE [OC]: Before time.
DOCTOR: What does that mean?
VOICE [OC]: Before time.
DOCTOR: What does before time mean?
VOICE [OC]: Before light and time and space and matter. Before the cataclysm. Before this universe was created.
DOCTOR: That's impossible. No life could have existed back then.
VOICE [OC]: Is that your religion?
DOCTOR: It's a belief.

He then plays the typical Satanic accuser role by playing on each crew member's deepest fears and weaknesses, as well as Rose's. The Doctor understands what The Beast is doing and warns everyone, saying not to fall for what The Beast is saying, that The Beast is just trying to demoralize them by messing with their heads. The Beast retaliates by snapping the cable of the elevator The Doctor and Ida are about to use to ascend to the base, trapping the two underground.

Meanwhile, Captain Zach gets surrounded by the possessed Ood, so Rose and the remaining crew members decide to sneak into Ood habitation to turn off the telepathic field the Ood use to function, in hopes of stopping them. Unfortunately, they are forced to get there by climbing through ventilation shafts meant for robots:

What's more, the oxygen on the base is running out. Captain Zach can provide them with breathable air, but only intermittently. And to make matters worse, the possessed Ood catch on to the crew's plan and enter the shaft in pursuit:

The group manages to evade them eventually, though at the cost of Jefferson's life, since he chooses to stay and hold off the Ood at one junction of the shaft, and Captain Zach can't provide oxygen to both him and the others who are moving on. They make it to Ood habitation and turn off the telepathic network.

The Doctor and Ida, meanwhile, decide to investigate the pit, using the snapped elevator cable, while talking about The Beast's claim to be the Devil. The Doctor concludes that maybe the Devil is just an idea, manifested in different ways across the universe. He and Ida soon realize the cable doesn't go down quite far enough. The Doctor says he would rather explore what's down there than sit around waiting to die, so he decides he will detach the cable from himself and free fall the rest of the way, despite Ida's protests. Just as he does this, though, the rest of the crew restores their communication ties with Ida, and she tells them of The Doctor's decision. Rose is devastated.

Zach tells Ida that they cannot get to her, meaning they must leave her behind, a fact she accepts. The crew prepares to escape the planet. Rose begs to be left behind as well, but Zach refuses, saying he's lost too many people already, ultimately knocking Rose out to get her to come with them. They make their way to the escape rocket, unaware that the Ood are starting to reawaken.

Meanwhile, The Doctor wakes up on a large, rocky ledge overlooking a vast chasm, his helmet cracked open:

He is, quite naturally, shocked he is even alive, and moreover, that he can breathe. (Time Lords, like humans, breathe oxygen). He deduces that there must be an air pocket in the pit, and that said pocket broke his fall. 

We then switch back to the crew, who have reached the rocket. Just as the rocket is about to launch, Rose wakes up and asks to be taken back, even stealing Captain Zach's gun and threatening him with it, but he tells her it's too late to go back. Toby seems almost eerily amused that they are escaping the planet, and Rose begins to wonder herself how they were able to get off - considering all the ways The Beast could've killed them, that he would simply let them go seems too easy.

The Doctor finds cave drawings depicting The Beast and a battle to defeat and imprision it in the cave in which he now is:

He finds two jars on pedestals on the edge of the ledge that match jars in the cave drawings, and touches them. They glow, illuminating the dark cave. He then finds himself face to face with a monstrous, chained creature, which looks a lot like the Balrog from Lord of the Rings:

The Beast, however, seems like just a dumb animal, rather than the intelligent, articulate being The Doctor communicated with earlier, and The Doctor figures out the creature in front of him is just The Beast's physical body - his mind is elsewhere. He also determines that the planet was a very intentional prison: the planet would fall into the black hole if The Beast ever tried to free itself. Therefore, the breathable air in the cave is not courtesy of The Beast, but of those who imprisoned it, intended to discourage The Beast from trying to escape.

The Beast, The Doctor realizes, knew this all along, which explains his mind having escaped. He also realizes if the gravity well balancing the planet were broken, the rocket Rose and company are on might be drawn into the black hole also. But, since he believes The Beast's mind has used the rocket to escape, he takes the risk, believing Rose will come through and save the day. He breaks the jars, collapsing the gravity well and causing the Beast's body to convulse:

Back in the rocket, The Beast's mind fully possesses Toby again. Rose, realizing the danger, grabs Zach's gun and points it at him:

Then, with a "Go to hell" line for good measure, she shoots out the rocket's front windshield before unbuckling the possessed Toby, sending him flying out into space toward the black hole:

But now another problem presents itself: both the rocket and the planet are getting pulled into the black hole too. The Ood, now free of the Beast's control, cower anxiously, while Ida collapses, having used the last of her oxygen.

The Doctor, meanwhile, is trying to escape The Beast's cave, which is collapsing due to the black hole. To his surprise, he finds the TARDIS nestled among the crags!

Those on the rocket prepare for the inevitable, but then all of a sudden, things go still and they realize they are being pulled away from the black hole. The Doctor's voice then comes over the speakers, informing them that he and the TARDIS are towing them away from the black hole, and also that he rescued Ida but had no time to rescue the Ood. Rose, who thought he was dead, is overjoyed to hear his voice.

Once the rocket reaches open space again, The Doctor swaps Ida for Rose, and the two have an emotional reunion. 

Rose then asks him about who The Beast really was, and about The Beast's prediction about her (more on that below), but The Doctor says it's enough for him that they beat The Beast, and that the prediction is a lie. As the TARDIS is about to dematerialize, however, Ida asks who they are:

IDA: Hang on though, Doctor. You never really said. You two, who are you?
DOCTOR: Oh, the stuff of legend. 

The episode ends with the Sanctuary Base crew heading back to Earth and Zach recording the base's final report, noting that Toby and all the Ood died with honors. He lists their names for the report, his voice trailing off as he begins to list each and every Ood.

And that's that!

Now...I promised I would tell the story of why I dislike this episode. So here goes.

Technically, this episode is actually the first I ever saw. It was several years ago. I was home alone and waiting for some other show to come on. As we didn't have a DVR at the time, I had to stay downstairs so as not to miss the show I was waiting for. And I had a half hour to kill. So I decided to channel surf, and found Doctor Who in the guide under Sci-Fi Channel. (This goes to show you how long ago this was - not only was Doctor Who airing on SyFy in the U.S., rather than BBC America, but also SyFy was still going by its old name). I decided to watch it, since I had heard of it online somewhere. (Being a geek online at the time, it was kind of hard not to...as a result of this I've actually known of River Song for years, though all I knew about her was that she traveled with The Doctor and was apparently really popular among fans, seeing how much people were talking about her). I got scared out of my mind watching that episode. Plus I missed whatever show I was waiting to watch, because I didn't realize Doctor Who episodes were more than a half hour long. So after that, I decided I would never watch the show again. Obviously, that has changed. Not sure what changed...time, I guess. (Ironically, this being a time travel show). Basically, I just decided to give the show a second chance...and the rest is history.

Well that's it for this post...till next time!

*** 

NaBloPoMo Special: 

The Love of the Doctor and Rose Tyler 

Part Twenty-Three: I Believe in Her

Since the theme of NaBloPoMo this month is "Love and Sex" (probably because of Valentine's Day), I feel compelled to write something about love in my posts. Hence, since I am exploring Series 1 and 2 in this challenge, I am going to write a little special essay throughout the month about the growing love between the Doctor and Rose. Please note I am in no way an expert on relationships. 

There is so much Doctor/Rose stuff in this episode! They begin with Rose's reaction to finding out The Doctor free fell into the pit:

Also, of course, when the crew are about to depart in the rocket, Rose begs to be left behind, as she can't fathom leaving The Doctor behind, and has to be knocked out to get her off the planet.

Then there's the famous "I believe in her" moment from The Doctor:

And, of course, Rose is ecstatic when she hears The Doctor's voice over the speakers of the rocket:

Their reunion is pretty emotional and happy, yet it has a somber tinge with Rose's question about The Beast saying she will "die in battle" soon:

DOCTOR: I don't know. Never did decipher that writing. But that's good, Day I know everything? Might as well stop.
ROSE: What do you think it was, really?
DOCTOR: I think we beat it. That's good enough for me.
ROSE: It said I was going to die in battle.
DOCTOR: Then it lied. Right, onwards, upwards. Ida? See you again, maybe. 

I have reached the end of my catchup...but Series 2 doesn't end here. How will The Doctor and Rose's relationship continue to grow as we hurtle toward the finale? Next post I will post the remainder of this "essay series" (if it can even be called that...it's certainly not the most coherent essays I've ever written) to tie things up.

***

Now that the NaBloPoMo catchup is done, I will post the aforesaid "The Love of The Doctor and Rose Tyler" post and the post for the Series 7 special "P.S." I also intend to cover the Series 2 TARDISodes (if I can find them) and the interactive episode "Attack of the Graske," if I can figure out a way to film my computer screen.

Pictures from Sonic Biro. Quotes from The Doctor Who Transcripts.

NaBloPoMo (catchup): Series 2, Episode 8: "The Impossible Planet"

WARNING: THIS ANALYSIS MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT WATCHED DOCTOR WHO OR AT THE VERY LEAST HAVE NOT SEEN THIS EPISODE. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. 
 
Welcome to yet another NaBloPoMo catchup post...almost there. Almost done.

Next up is Series 2, Episode 8 - and part one of a 2-parter with episode 9, "The Satan Pit" - "The Impossible Planet."

This episode is very intense, though not quite as intense as the next episode. Not the best episode to watch at night.

Basically, in this episode, The Doctor and Rose find themselves on a "Sanctuary Base" somewhere in deep space in the 42nd century. (There are a lot of 42s in this episode). As if it wasn't bad enough that the TARDIS didn't want to land, they are greeted by this haunting message:

(It says "Welcome to Hell" by the way...Rose's head is blocking one of the words)

Plus, there is this strange writing, resembling Ancient Chinese or maybe Arabic, that is apparently so ancient even the TARDIS can't translate it:

The two meet up with the base's crew, from whom they learn the base is on a planet orbiting a black hole - something which should be scientifically impossible. The Doctor is impressed by their daring, though:

TOBY: There was some form of civilisation. They buried something. Now it's reaching out, calling us in.
DOCTOR: And you came.
IDA: Well, how could we not?
DOCTOR: So, when it comes right down to it, why did you come here? Why did you do that? Why? I'll tell you why. Because it was there. Brilliant. Excuse me, er, Zach, wasn't it?
ZACH: That's me.
DOCTOR: Just stand there, because I'm going to hug you. Is that all right?
ZACH: I suppose so.
DOCTOR: Here we go. Come on, then.
(The Doctor hugs Zach.)
DOCTOR: Oh, human beings. You are amazing! Ha!

We also meet the base's other inhabitants, the Ood - an alien race inclined to servitude by their very nature (kind of like the house elves in Harry Potter), who are connected by a sort of hive mind, communicate using little globules, and look like they belong in the Mos Eisley cantina or something:

But all is not well on the base. The crew's work to drill down into the planet to investigate the power source of its gravity well has awakened something no one on the base understands. Plus, stuff on the planet is becoming unstable, causing parts of the base to periodically break off and fall into a massive chasm. And exactly that happens - and that isn't good for The Doctor and Rose. Cause one of the parts that gets lost is exactly where they parked the TARDIS. Which means...they are now stranded. Indefinitely. Oops.

The Doctor and Rose try to process this possibility:

The Doctor is devastated at losing his precious ship, and is equally worried about Rose being trapped with him, since he had apparently promised Jackie he would always bring Rose home. Rose is a little more optimistic, saying they can just wait till the crew leaves the planet (which we have learned they are going to do soon) and get a ride back to Earth with them and go settle somewhere, even suggesting she and The Doctor could get a place together (which makes The Doctor awkward, although we all know how much he would love that). 

Meanwhile, whatever it is the crew awakened with their drilling is on the prowl - and its target is Toby, the crew's archeaology specialist:

VOICE [OC]: Toby. Don't turn around.
TOBY: Dan? That's not Dan.
VOICE [OC]: Don't look at me.
TOBY: Who are you?
VOICE [OC]: I have so many names.
TOBY: If if I could
VOICE [OC]: If you look at me, you will die.
TOBY: But who are you?
VOICE [OC]: I'm behind you, Toby. I'm right behind you. Don't look. Don't look at me. One look and you will die. I'm reaching out, Toby. I'm so close. Don't turn around. Oh, I can touch you.

The evil entity, who we gradually learn is called The Beast, possesses Toby, and he goes on a rampage, killing fellow crew member Scooti:

It is determined soon after that someone needs to check on the drilling. Ida from the crew is chosen for this, and The Doctor volunteers to accompany her, despite Rose's protests. She kisses him before he goes down. Toby, now unpossessed, realizes he can better understand the mysterious writing he had been studying (the same writing The Doctor and Rose had found when they first arrived) as a result of his possession and begins trying to decode it. Everyone is now suspicious of him, though, because of what he did to Scooti under The Beast's influence, and tries to keep an eye on him.

The Ood, meanwhile, are acting funny too, mystifying their "caretaker," Danny. They occasionally make cryptic remarks to Rose about The Beast too, which they subsequently don't remember saying.

The Doctor and Ida reach the bottom of the cave created by the drilling and discover a stone, seemingly the cover for something, with strange markings on it:

They decide to investigate it, but just as they do so, The Beast jumps into action, repossessing Toby while simultaneously possessing all the Ood that are on board.

The Beast then properly introduces himself, saying they will all die, while the Ood proclaim they are the Beast's Legion:

And...the episode ends. To be continued. 

Like I said, this episode is intense. And not one of my faves personally, though I like it better than part 2 of this 2-parter, which I have negative memories attached to (more on that in the next post). 

This episode and the next features a voice long-time Doctor Who fans may recognize - The Beast is voiced by Gabriel Woolf, famous for playing Sutekh in the popular Fourth Doctor episode "Pyramids of Mars." I watched this episode long before I saw "Pyramids of Mars," so I didn't catch the connection myself. When I did finally watch "Pyramids of Mars" as part of the Fourth Doctor Doctors Revisited special, I tried to pay attention to Sutekh's voice to see if it sounded the same. It does sort of sound similar, but it's hard to tell. 31 years of time ("Pyramids of Mars" aired in 1975) can do a lot to the voice. (Not to mention a lot has happened in sound technology since 1975). Watch this clip and decide for yourself:

The idea of an ancient power using a human to escape his confinement (which we learn at the end of this episode is The Beast's goal) also hearkens back to "Pyramids of Mars," as this was also Sutekh's goal. 

The episode does play on the sort of "demonic possession" tropes you might expect - someone awakens a demonic power by accident, hears strange voices, then is possessed and does horrible things. The Doctor's reference to some equation involving three sixes also references the Biblical "number of The Beast," 666. But I don't buy the idea that you are led in this episode to believe the Ood are the bad guys. I mean, yeah, it's usually the token aliens in the episode - which the Ood are in this case - that are the bad guys of the episode, but if that's what they're trying to do in this episode, they're not fooling me. Clearly, The Beast is much more sinister; heck, even the Ood make cryptic warnings about him, as if they can sense something the rest of the crew can't (which is highly probable, given their reliance on low-level telepathic energy to communicate with others of their race; technically The Beast takes advantage of this telepathic connection to possess all of them simultaneously anyway...also we know from later episodes, like "Planet of the Ood," that the Ood are known to make cryptic prophecies, and that they're usually right - they were right about The Doctor's song "ending soon" anyway). 

Next post, we go to part 2 of this 2-parter, and an episode I really don't like, "The Satan Pit." Till next time!

*** 

NaBloPoMo Special: 

The Love of the Doctor and Rose Tyler 

Part Twenty-Two: "The Mysterious Couple"

Since the theme of NaBloPoMo this month is "Love and Sex" (probably because of Valentine's Day), I feel compelled to write something about love in my posts. Hence, since I am exploring Series 1 and 2 in this challenge, I am going to write a little special essay throughout the month about the growing love between the Doctor and Rose. Please note I am in no way an expert on relationships.

The Doctor and Rose definitely bond in this episode, especially when they are faced with the possibility of being stranded on the titular "impossible" planet:

ROSE: I've seen films and things, yeah. They say black holes are like gateways to another universe.
COMPUTER: Close door 18.
DOCTOR: Not that one. It just eats.
ROSE: Long way from home.
DOCTOR: Go that way, turn right, keep going for er, about, er, five hundred years, and you'll reach the Earth.
(Rose turns her phone on.)
ROSE: No signal. That's the first time we've gone out of range. Mind you, even if I could. What would I tell her? Can you build another Tardis?
DOCTOR: They were grown, not built. And with my own planet gone, we're kind of stuck.
ROSE: Well, it could be worse. This lot said they'd give us a lift.
DOCTOR: And then what?
ROSE: I don't know. Find a planet, get a job, live a life, same as the rest of the universe.
DOCTOR: I'd have to settle down. Get a house or something. A proper house with, with doors and things. Carpets. Me, living in a house. Now that, that is terrifying.
ROSE: You'd have to get a mortgage.
DOCTOR: No.
ROSE: Oh, yes.
DOCTOR: I'm dying. That's it. I'm dying. It is all over.
ROSE: What about me? I'd have to get one, too. I don't know, could be the same one. We could both, I don't know, share. Or not, you know. Whatever. I don't know. We'll sort something out
DOCTOR: Anyway.
ROSE: We'll see.
DOCTOR: I promised Jackie I'd always take you back home.
ROSE: Everyone leaves home in the end.
DOCTOR: Not to end up stuck here.
ROSE: Yeah, but stuck with you, that's not so bad.
DOCTOR: Yeah?
ROSE: Yes.

It's worth noting that Rose is actually comfortable with the idea of moving in with The Doctor (in the Earth sense, that is; technically she is already "living with him" by virtue of living full-time in the TARDIS except for occasional visits home). This shows that she at least views their relationship as quite serious, since not even Mickey got that honor from her (and they were supposedly in quite the steady relationship). Rose would not suggest that sort of thing lightly. By this point, I'd say it's become clear that her primary object of affection has always been The Doctor, despite her pretense of a continuing relationship with Mickey (mostly in Series 1) and her seeming infatuation with Jack Harkness (then again, even I would admit he was a lot more romantic with her than The Doctor was being at that point...plus Captain Jack just has that effect on most people, if you know what I mean).

Rose is also very concerned about The Doctor going down in the drill shaft with Ida - not because Ida is any sort of romantic rival or anything, but simply due to the inherent dangers in going down there. Before he goes down, she gives him a kiss in front of everyone:

And once he goes down, she ends up pretty much in charge of the radio which is their one communication link to The Doctor and Ida, and takes great advantage of it.

Others note The Doctor and Rose's closeness too; Danny calls them "the mysterious couple."

But with the dangers of the Pit looming in the near future...will The Doctor and Rose's love survive? We'll see.

Pictures from Sonic Biro. Quotes from The Doctor Who Transcripts.

NaBloPoMo (catchup): Series 2, Episode 6, "The Age of Steel"

WARNING: THIS ANALYSIS MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT WATCHED DOCTOR WHO OR AT THE VERY LEAST HAVE NOT SEEN THIS EPISODE. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. 
 
Continuing the NaBloPoMo catchup...the second part of the 2-part story begun in "Rise of the Cybermen" -- Series 2, Episode 6, "The Age of Steel."

So last episode, we left The Doctor, Rose, Mickey, the parallel Pete Tyler, and the resistance group The Preachers surrounded by Cybermen seeking to subject them to "maximum deletion." The episode recaps this and the other events of "Rise of the Cybermen" before heading into the opening credits.

After the opening credits, we return to The Doctor and company, who are still surrounded by Cybermen. The Doctor scares off the Cybermen with blasts of energy from the currently recharging TARDIS crystal, which apparently can also be used as an impromptu weapon. The group decides to go figure out what is really going on. Pete is hesitant, knowing Jackie is still in the house, but The Doctor persuades him to come along. The group load into The Preachers' van, where we learn the parallel Pete Tyler is actually a double agent and has been sharing information with The Preachers via Mrs. Moore. Pete is disappointed, though, when he realizes the group he was sharing info with is just a rag-tag group of revolutionaries; apparently, he was expecting something much more professional.

Lumic makes his next move: luring victims for conversion to him via the EarPods. In the process, he also lures away Jackie Tyler, who had been trying to hide from the Cybermen in the cellar. She gets a glazed expression and starts walking off.

The Doctor, Rose, Mickey, Pete Tyler, and the Preachers make their way through the city, losing Ricky in the process when he is shot down by Cybermen while trying to climb a fence. They eventually reach a hill overlooking the factory where Lumic is making the Cybermen. (If the exterior looks familiar, it's because it's Battersea Power Station; they couldn't film inside the station, however, so the interior scenes in the factory were filmed in a brewery instead). They make plans for who will do what. The Doctor and Mrs. Moore will try to infiltrate the factory via a secret tunnel, Mickey and Jake will try to disarm the computers on Lumic's zeppelin (an assignment Mickey doesn't seem to like). Pete and Rose will investigate the main complex by posing as candidates for conversion. Jake provides the two with dummy EarPods for this purpose, and The Doctor warns them to show no emotion, as that will give them away as intruders. The group then splits up.

Pete and Rose successfully make it in the factory, but are given away when confronted by a Cyberman who recognizes Pete - it's Jackie! Or rather it was...she's been converted. Pete becomes distraught at having lost his wife, which alerts some other Cybermen to their intruder status, and they grab the two.

The Doctor and Mrs. Moore creep down a dark, narrow tunnel filled with inactive Cybermen. Not having any danger to fear for the moment, they get acquainted. But soon, Lumic realizes they are there and activates the Cybermen. The two run out and take down the Cybermen chasing them. The Doctor opens the chest of one fallen Cyberman, showing Mrs. Moore the emotional inhibitor chip the Cybermen put in their converted human victims. He deactivates it, and the human within the suit briefly returns, confessing that she was young and about to be married, before passing away. But before The Doctor and Mrs. Moore can mourn, another Cyberman shows up, electrocuting Mrs. Moore. The Doctor is shocked, but knows he must move on; he takes the inhibitor chip with him and departs to find Lumic.

Mickey and Jake reach Lumic's zeppelin. After taking out the guards, they make their way in and up to the control room. There they see an armed Cyberman and panic, only to realize it's just a test dummy (very similar to the one in "The Tomb of the Cybermen"). They then try the computers, trying to figure out how to cripple Lumic's operation, without much success.

The Doctor ends up getting captured and taken to Lumic. Rose and Pete are already there. Lumic reveals himself to them and is shortly after crowned Cyber Leader by his loyal army. The Doctor realizes Lumic is dying and intends to use the cyber conversion process to extend his life. The typical "Doctor speech" follows, in which Ten praises Lumic's genius while silmultaneously telling him what an idiot he is. In the meantime, Mickey has gotten a hold of Rose and gotten updated on the situation at hand (he and Jake are also watching the proceedings in Lumic's room via a security camera monitor). The Doctor continues to taunt Lumic, saying that if ever his humans-turned-Cybermen got their emotions back, it would be chaos. But the only way that'll happen, he says, is if someone figures out the deactivation code, adding that it's probably so simple "even an idiot could figure it out." This last phrase is for Mickey's benefit, since The Doctor knows Mickey is watching. (The Doctor's nickname for Mickey is "Mickey the idiot"). Mickey gets the hint and starts putting his hacking skills to work, finally figuring out the code and sending it via text message to Rose. Rose alerts The Doctor, and The Doctor takes her phone and plugs it into a console. This activates a mass deactivation of the emotional inhibitor chips, and, just as The Doctor predicted, it causes mass chaos -- we see Cybermen throughout the factory suddenly grab their heads and cry out in horror at what they've become. Lumic too, realizing what's going on, is pretty ticked off. An explosion begins in the factory (caused by what I forget). 

The Doctor, Rose, and Pete escape to the roof, where Mickey and Jake fly in the zeppelin to pick them up. The Cybermen try to pursue them up the rope ladder dangling off the zeppelin, but the quick-thinking Doctor hands Pete his Sonic, with which he cuts the ropes of the ladder below him, sending the Cyberman into the massive inferno of the factory.

We switch to a park near Big Ben, where the TARDIS is now located. The Doctor, Rose, and Mickey say a quick goodbye to Jake and Pete, as The Doctor must conserve enough power to get the TARDIS back into the Vortex. At this point, Mickey reveals that he is staying in the parallel world to take the place of his fallen double. He says he's realized Rose is a lot happier with The Doctor than with him, and wishes her well. Rose says they can always visit each other, but The Doctor negates this, saying they have to close the hole in space-time between our universe and this one. Therefore, if Mickey is going to stay behind, Rose will never see him again. They consider this and have a more permanent goodbye. Pete Tyler states his intention to travel the world, shutting down the other Cyberman factories worldwide. Rose and he have a moment, and he wonders aloud why she seems so familiar to him. But before Rose can tell him she's his daughter, he interrupts, saying he can't take this right now, and leaves. The Doctor then calls for Rose to hurry, and she runs back into the TARDIS. Mickey and Jake watch it dematerialize (Jake is particularly surprised to see it do so). The two then head back to the Preachers' van, and Jake asks Mickey if he can really handle it, taking Ricky's place. Mickey says he can, adding that "I once saved the world with a big yellow truck" (a reference to him helping Rose pry up the cover over the Heart of the TARDIS in "The Parting of the Ways"). 

And...that's the end of that.

This episode is more action-packed than its predecessor, which makes it a little more palatable. It also has some similarities to "The Tomb of the Cybermen," though I may just be saying that because I have seen that episode twice and listened to the audiobook of it. The Cyberman dummy is a clear homage to it, and the scene with Jake and Mickey is similar to the one with Haydon and Jamie in that episode.

Other than that, I'm afraid I don't have much to say about this episode. Sorry.

More next time, when we explore an episode I like much better, "The Idiot's Lantern."

*** 

NaBloPoMo Special: 

The Love of the Doctor and Rose Tyler 

Part Twenty: The End of a Love Triangle

Since the theme of NaBloPoMo this month is "Love and Sex" (probably because of Valentine's Day), I feel compelled to write something about love in my posts. Hence, since I am exploring Series 1 and 2 in this challenge, I am going to write a little special essay throughout the month about the growing love between the Doctor and Rose. Please note I am in no way an expert on relationships. 

There's not much to say about The Doctor and Rose's relationship in this episode. Not as much as the last episode anyway. 

This episode is significant, though, in that the Doctor/Rose/Mickey love triangle ends in it. Mickey officially breaks up with Rose, seeing that she is happier with The Doctor:

ROSE: What about me? What if I need you?
MICKEY: Yeah, but Rose, you don't. It's just you and him, isn't it. We had something a long time ago, but not anymore. 
...
MICKEY: Thanks. We've had a laugh though, haven't we? Seen it all, been there and back. Who would have thought, me and you off the old estate, flying through the stars.
ROSE: All those years just sitting there, imagining what we'd do one day. We never saw this, did we?
MICKEY: Go on, don't miss your flight. 
...
MICKEY: That's the Doctor in the Tardis with Rose Tyler. 

    
With Mickey out of the picture, how will The Doctor and Rose's love develop? Or will it? Stay tuned!

Quotes from The Doctor Who Transcripts.

NaBloPoMo (catchup): Series 2, Episode 5, "Rise of the Cybermen"

WARNING: THIS ANALYSIS MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT WATCHED DOCTOR WHO OR AT THE VERY LEAST HAVE NOT SEEN THIS EPISODE. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. 
 
Next up in my NaBloPoMo catchup...an adventure involving alternate worlds and big steel robots! Welcome to Series 2, Episode 5, "Rise of the Cybermen," part of a 2-parter with Episode 6, "The Age of Steel."

To be honest, this isn't one of my favorite episodes. I don't like the Cybermen; they scare me. The commentary on this episode is good at least, featuring Noel Clarke (Mickey Smith), Andrew Hayden-Smith (Jake Simmonds), and Camille Coduri (Jackie Tyler).

So the episode starts with a scientist named Dr. Kendrick revealing to his wheelchair-bound boss, John Lumic, that he has created a new form of life via a humanoid metal robot. But he advises Lumic that they will have to inform authorities in Geneva of the development. Lumic doesn't like that idea, though, and orders the robot to kill Kendrick, which it does, then orders his massive zeppelin to set sail for Great Britain.

The opening credits follow. We then head to the TARDIS, where The Doctor and Rose are laughing and talking about various adventures they've had, completely ignoring Mickey, who has his finger on some button that he has been apparently pushing for the last half hour. All the sudden, there is a huge jolt in the TARDIS, and The Doctor goes running to the console, only to discover they've somehow fallen out of the Time Vortex entirely and into the no-man's-land of the Void. Which is really bad because it means they're outside of our universe (Normal Space or N-Space, as it's called in Doctor Who parlance), from which the TARDIS draws energy. When they come to a stop, all the TARDIS lights go out and emergency gas masks (like the kind you see on airplanes) drop down from the ceiling. (It's worth noting there are six; assumedly one for each pilot the TARDIS is supposed to have). The Doctor is distraught, saying that the TARDIS is dead, that they crashed in the Void, and that they're basically doomed.

Or at least he thinks they are. Mickey opens the door and reveals that they are in...London.

They quickly realize it's a parallel London, with zeppelins flying about. (Fringe fans may find this notable, as the "Other Side"/parallel Earth in Fringe also features zeppelins as a major form of transportation). And then Rose sees a poster with a familiar face.

She realizes that, in this world, her father is still alive, and at least one of those harebrained schemes he was always dreaming up took off. The Doctor senses what she is thinking and warns her away from the poster, saying that the Pete Tyler there isn't her Pete Tyler, her father who died when she was a baby, but just another version of him, who might have his own Jackie and his own Rose, and that she can't see him ever.

To understand the significance of this moment (and the other "Rose and her father" stuff in this episode and the next), you really have to have seen "Father's Day" and understand how much Rose really misses her dad. As it happens, I had, so I got it.

The bulk of the episode involves trying to revive the TARDIS, which The Doctor is able to do by giving 10 years of his own life to a small crystal hidden under the console:

Most of the episode is also about the whole thing with Rose and her dad, and how she really wants to see him, even running off to find him against The Doctor's orders. After all, recharging the TARDIS is going to take 24 hours, so she figures she has time. Mickey decides he's going to take off too, maybe check on his grandmother who just might be alive in this universe. The Doctor is faced with the dilemma of who to run after, and unsurprisingly, he chooses Rose.

The Doctor eventually catches up with Rose, and they realize the fashion here is to wear Bluetooth-like "EarPods" through which information is downloaded directly to the brain. Rose gets the same transmission on her cell phone, which has connected to the parallel world's network. They discover the EarPods are made by Cybus Industries, which also owns Pete Tyler's drink company, Vitex. (We as the audience discover this through a meeting with Lumic, Pete, and the President of Britain, in which the President expresses disgust for what Lumic intends to do with his cybernetics). They find out that the President of Great Britain, among many other high officials, will be attending the parallel Jackie Tyler's birthday party that evening. Hoping to find out more about the EarPods, The Doctor decides to attend the party as well, with Rose in tow, since he knows how badly she wants to see her dad.

Mickey has, meanwhile, gone off on his own and found out his gran is alive (though he notes that the carpet on the stairs is worn - his universe's Gran died by tripping over the worn carpet and falling down the stairs). Shortly after, he is pulled into a strange van by two unknown individuals - including a blond-haired guy who we saw earlier spying on a group of Lumic's lackeys loading a bunch of homeless people into a big truck. The two people - Jake Simmonds and Mrs. Moore - seem to think Mickey is actually someone named Ricky, the leader of their resistance movement, The Preachers. 

The Doctor and Rose crash Jackie's party by pretending to be servants, much to Rose's chagrin (she was hoping they could have been somebody more fabulous). The Doctor protests that being on the staff is the best way to find out stuff. They observe the party, during which Rose sees the parallel versions of her parents for the first time (and later ends up speaking to them both, having better rapport with her dad than her mum, as usual). Sometime during this, Lumic crashes the party himself (having downloaded the details via Jackie's EarPods earlier) remotely and threatens those who doubt his work, including the President. The Doctor has, in the meantime, sneaked into a side room and used a conveniently-placed computer to find out exactly what Cybus Industries is up to - which is pretty shocking, judging by the look on his face (his expression is somewhat similar to Eleven's in "A Town Called Mercy" when he found the files in Kahler-Jex's spaceship about Jex's work). 

During all this, Jake and Mrs. Moore take Mickey back to Preachers HQ, where they run into...the real Ricky!

Apparently, a case of mistaken identity has taken place, and Ricky is Mickey's parallel world double. He's none too happy to see Mickey either, and questions him (which apparently requires him to be tied down and stripped down to his boxers, not sure why). This scene in itself is interesting, as both Mickey and Ricky are played by Noel Clarke. (Noel reveals in the commentary that the two sides of the scene - Mickey's and Ricky's - were filmed separately for the most part, except for certain shots where he had to switch between the two characters in real time). 

The Doctor rushes back to the party, where Lumic is launching his attack. Off in the distance, shrouded in mist, is a line of marching soldiers. They come into focus, revealing...the Cybermen.

The Doctor is, quite naturally, horrified - after all, he has quite a history with the Cybermen. (Notably, this episode aired on the 40th anniversary of the airing of "The Tenth Planet," the Doctor Who episode in which the Cybermen first premiered). The Cybermen, meanwhile, crash through the windows of the Tyler manor and start attacking people, in particular killing the President as an example. The Doctor and Rose escape the mayhem, only to be joined by Pete Tyler, and later Mickey and the Preachers, who are themselves raiding the party. The Cybermen surround them, and The Doctor attempts to surrender, seeing no other viable option at the moment. The Cybermen say they are incompatible for the conversion process and will instead be subjected to "maximum deletion." They prepare to do this...

...and the episode ends. To Be Continued. 

Like I said, not my favorite episode, but definitely has a better commentary than "The Age of Steel" (which features the director Graeme Harper, the actor who played the Cyber Leader [whose name I forgot], and voice of the Cybermen Nicholas Briggs, and is really boring, especially if you aren't into the Cybermen).

The episode does have some great "Rose and her father" stuff though, and Mickey is pretty good in this episode. Camille Coduri does a good job as the parallel Jackie, a role she says in the commentary that she liked playing.

Part of what I'm not terribly keen on is that the story doesn't seem THAT original. It has elements of the typical "parallel world" formula - meeting parallel versions of oneself or one's family, someone in power that makes the parallel world oppressive, a resistance movement looking to topple that powerful person. These elements also appear in Fringe (in which the concept of parallel worlds plays a HUGE part), among other stories. It doesn't seem quite right for Doctor Who somehow.

Now Doctor Who has dealt with parallel worlds before, in the Third Doctor episode "Inferno" and in the "E-Space Trilogy" in Season 17, Tom Baker's second-to-last season (and probably in various novels and audios too; the Gallifrey audio drama series suggests the possibility of 8 parallel Gallifreys). Having not seen "Inferno" or the "E-Space Trilogy" yet, I can't really compare them to this episode. But from what I've heard of the E-Space Trilogy, they're basically just regular old adventures that happen to take place in E-Space, with the connecting thread of The Doctor, Romana II, and K-9 trying to find a way out of E-Space. (One of them, "State of Decay," gives us great background on those age-old enemies of the Time Lords, the Great Vampires, and - bonus! - introduces Adric to the show). "Inferno" is more of an alternate history sort of story, set on a parallel Earth that happens to be fascist and militaristic. I almost wish this episode had been more like that, less formulaic, but I guess it couldn't, what with the setup of Lumic's plans for artificial life and the apparent "death" of the TARDIS making things much more urgent.

Eh well. More next time, with the second part of this story, "The Age of Steel."

*** 

NaBloPoMo Special: 

The Love of the Doctor and Rose Tyler 

Part Nineteen: Love in a Parallel World

Since the theme of NaBloPoMo this month is "Love and Sex" (probably because of Valentine's Day), I feel compelled to write something about love in my posts. Hence, since I am exploring Series 1 and 2 in this challenge, I am going to write a little special essay throughout the month about the growing love between the Doctor and Rose. Please note I am in no way an expert on relationships. 

In this episode, the Doctor/Rose/Mickey love triangle is played up quite a bit. Though to be fair, I think Mickey has been feeling he's lost Rose since "Boom Town" (in which he confessed he was dating another girl). Anyway, we see this from the beginning of the episode, where Rose and Ten are talking and laughing and completely ignoring Mickey. He is clearly ticked off that they forgot about him. Later, when The Doctor must choose whether to run after Rose or Mickey, Mickey seems pretty sure The Doctor will run after Rose, and when he does, the pained expression on Mickey's face says it all.

We get more Doctor/Rose scenes as the episode progresses. He clearly understands her desire to see her father, but warns her away from seeing him anyway. Personally, I think he was trying to protect her from the disappointment she might face from doing so. Which just goes to show how much he cares for her, and how he wants to protect her. Sometimes though I wonder if he realizes how strong she is at this point, and that she can withstand a lot more than he thinks. (He definitely realizes it by "The Satan Pit" at any rate). 

The Doctor also ultimately gives in to Rose's desire to see her dad, which builds off of what we saw in "Tooth and Claw" of Rose's persuasive power over him.

What will become of this romance as this adventure with the Cybermen continues? We'll see!

Pictures from Sonic Biro.

NaBloPoMo: Series 1, Episode 13 (Finale Part 2 of 2), "The Parting of The Ways"

WARNING: THIS ANALYSIS MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT WATCHED DOCTOR WHO OR AT THE VERY LEAST HAVE NOT SEEN THIS EPISODE. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. 

Hi there! This post is a day late, as noted in my previous post. Sorry about that!

Anyway, welcome to my Day 13 NaBloPoMo post, covering the 2nd and final part of the Series 1 finale, "The Parting Of The Ways."

This episode covers the fight against the Daleks at the Game Station and the end of the Ninth Doctor. That really sums it up, actually.

Jack really proved himself in this episode. He helped the Doctor rescue Rose from the Daleks, then took charge and led a team of volunteers to take down an army of Daleks that were gradually inching their way up into the control room, distracting them so the Doctor could set up a Delta Wave that could destroy the rest of the Dalek fleet. He is a pretty darn good Companion.

The Doctor really shows a crisis of conscience in this episode. When the Dalek Emperor points out that using the Delta Wave to take out the Daleks could take out the humans in the vicinity as well, he asks the Doctor if he'll be "a coward or a killer." The Doctor has to think before he responds, then declares that he'd choose to be a coward any day. This hearkens back to "Dalek" where the Doctor tells the lone Dalek that all the other Time Lords died, and the Dalek replies, "And the coward survived." That's been the Doctor's struggle all through the season - he could have stayed and brought an end to the Time War in some braver fashion, but instead he unleashed something (canon doesn't say what, but the comics - the canon status of which is questionable - tell us he used some powerful Time Lord weapon) that took out all the Time Lords and most of the Daleks, then stole a TARDIS, and ran away.

The Doctor also shows a crisis of conscience when he sends Rose home for her own safety. Clearly, he had planned to do so ahead of time - since he had the time to not only pre-program the TARDIS to take her home but also record a farewell hologram - and yet when the camera shows him pointing the Sonic Screwdriver at the TARDIS to send it away, and you hear Rose banging on the door and crying out in the background, the pain on his face is pretty obvious. He really doesn't want to have to do it, but he cares enough for her safety that he has to.

And that brings us to the whole "Bad Wolf" scenario with Rose saving the Doctor. I knew it was coming, but the whole way it played out seemed rather underwhelming. I mean, if the Heart of the TARDIS is going to grant Rose reality-warping-goddess powers à la Haruhi Suzumiya, don't you think it would be more, well, epic? Sure, she pilots the TARDIS back to the Doctor, resurrects Jack (and, we find out later - in Torchwood and in Series 3 of Doctor Who - made him immortal), and destroys the entire 200-ship Dalek fleet, including the supposedly omnipotent Dalek Emperor. But there's no pizazz about it, no explosions, no epic music, nothing. Just Rose with glowing eyes and face, with the ability to see all of space and time, and minus her London accent. It seems very anticlimactic for being such a key moment.

The ending of the episode, with the Doctor kissing Rose to get the Time Vortex she absorbed out of her before it kills her, and the ensuing regeneration scene, were also pretty anticlimactic. Sure, the kiss was great, although a little creepy with the energy flowing between their eyes. And the brief moment where the Doctor's eyes are golden and he releases the energy through his mouth is pretty creepy too. I mean, he never looks more alien than in that moment.

But in the scene that follows, the Doctor is dying, yet he jokes his way through it. It seems rather inappropriate for the nature of the scene. Maybe it's just his personality (after all, this is the Doctor who says "fantastic" at the most inappropriate times). Still, it bugged me that he could joke about noseless dogs and about whether he'd have two heads or no head at a time like this! Why didn't Rose tell him off either? Grr!

Well, that's the end of that, the end of Series 1, the end of Nine. As his successor would say, "Allons-y!"

Speaking of Ten, we get a brief glimpse of him in this episode, right at the end when the Doctor regenerates. David Tennant in all his goofy glory. He only gets a couple lines in this episode, but here he is!

Tune in next time for the Series 1 Christmas Special and the Tenth Doctor's first adventure!

Final Thoughts on the Ninth Doctor

This being the Ninth Doctor's last episode, I wanted to give some final thoughts on him, like how I wrote about my first impression of him in the Episode 1 analysis.

As I have mentioned before, I went into this series/season expecting to like the Ninth Doctor a lot, since he fit my mental idea of what I imagined the Doctor to be like. But as the series progressed, I became more and more dissatisfied with Nine. He has a penchant for dark humor (saying "fantastic" in situations that are clearly not), is extremely judgmental of humans, and is overall not a very pleasant guy. Ok, so he has PTSD and all that from the Time War. And PTSD is a serious deal; it's not something to joke about. It still doesn't give him an excuse to be as much of a jerk as he was. I found myself liking Rose more than him (much like how I like Amy more than Eleven), and even liking JACK more than him - and I never expected to even like Jack. Sure, he had his good moments, but overall he just didn't do it for me.

I'm not saying Christopher Eccleston isn't a good actor; I'm sure he's a great actor. I'd be willing to see him in something else. (He's going to be in Thor: The Dark World, which comes out this November, as the main villain Malekith the Accursed, so maybe I'll go see him in that). But, as they say, sometimes an actor's only as good as their script. Eccleston even said in a recent Q & A that he felt he could've done more with the character if he'd stuck around. (Interestingly, he said that at a Q & A for a production of Antigone, in which he played Creon - having read that play multiple times, I'd be really interested to see how he plays that role...or any other stage role for that matter, cause he seems like he'd be a good stage actor. But then pretty much every British actor of note has spent some time "treading the boards"...it's almost like a requirement there; I wish it were here, maybe we'd have better actors). Also, it's worth noting that over half the season was written by one guy: Russell T Davies, the showrunner. My experience so far with Doctor Who has been that the later seasons, which feature a greater variety of writers, seem to just work better. And yes, I realize the current showrunner, Steven Moffat, does write a lot of the episodes himself. And both him and Davies were big fans of Who before they were even involved with it. But Moffat had a lot of experience on the writing staff before becoming showrunner, which may have helped. But that was one thing I noticed watching Series 1 was that almost all the episodes were written by Russell T Davies (8 out of 13 to be exact; he also wrote the Christmas Special and the Children in Need Special), and I would actually get excited when his name did NOT appear along with the episode title. So that may have influenced how things went as well. So, I can't blame it all on Eccleston.

That all being said, I would say Nine is not my favorite Doctor. And that's my final opinion.

***

NaBloPoMo Special:

The Love of the Doctor and Rose Tyler

Part Thirteen: The Farewell

Since the theme of NaBloPoMo this month is "Love and Sex" (probably because of Valentine's Day), I feel compelled to write something about love in my posts. Hence, since I am exploring Series 1 and 2 in this challenge, I am going to write a little special essay throughout the month about the growing love between the Doctor and Rose. Please note I am in no way an expert on relationships.

This episode brings a sad moment in the romance of the Doctor and Rose - the farewell. Not the final farewell, mind you - that comes later. But a farewell nonetheless.

The Doctor's feelings for Rose, though not expressed in words, come out in this episode. Not only does he save her from the Daleks, just as he vowed to do, but when things get really dangerous, he protects her -- by sending her home. Even Rose's mum points this out, by saying that even though she never much liked the Doctor, he did the right thing sending Rose home to her mother. He also saves her when she returns to him anyway, by kissing her in order to absorb the Time Vortex and send its power back to the Heart of the TARDIS. He knows doing so will kill him, but he does it anyway. If that's not love, I don't know what is.

Rose also realizes in this episode just how much traveling with the Doctor has changed her life. He made her life better when she didn't have much to live for. As she puts it, before she met the Doctor, all she did each day was get up, catch the bus, go to work, come home, eat chips, go to bed. She actually has something to live for now, and she just can't go back to a normal life. So she takes drastic measures, cracks open the TARDIS console with some help from Mickey and her mum, and looks into the Heart of the TARDIS for the Doctor's sake.

Now, one could argue that it was the "Bad Wolf" meme that truly inspired Rose to action in this episode - after all, that was the whole purpose of the meme in the first place. The Bad Wolf scattered the meme across time and space precisely to give Rose the courage to go back and save the Doctor at this point in time. And yet I don't think that was the only thing motivating Rose. After all, to give her the power to become the Bad Wolf, the telepathic powers within the Heart of the TARDIS had to latch on to something - some thought or feeling. And I'm sure it latched on to her love for the Doctor and her desire for him to live. I don't see any other explanation.

But now that the Doctor has a new face, will Rose be able to love him just as much? We'll see!

***

Tune in next time for Day 14 of my NaBloPoMo challenge! The halfway mark woohoo!

Picture from Sonic Biro.

NaBloPoMo: Series 1, Episode 12 (Finale Part 1 of 2), "Bad Wolf"

WARNING: THIS ANALYSIS MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT WATCHED DOCTOR WHO OR AT THE VERY LEAST HAVE NOT SEEN THIS EPISODE. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. 

It's Day 12 of my NaBloPoMo challenge! Today I'm analyzing the first part of the Series 1 finale: Series 1, Episode 12: "Bad Wolf."

In this episode, after returning the egg that was Blon Slitheen to Raxacoriofallapatorius and a brief stop in 1336 Kyoto from which the Doctor, Rose, and Jack barely escaped (this was during the very beginning of the Nanboku-chō period, a tumultuous time in Japanese history during which the Northern and Southern Imperial Courts fought over who was the legitimate ruler of the country, which may explain why they barely escaped), some weird beam enters the TARDIS and the Doctor, Rose, and Jack get separated.

That's all revealed in flashback, though. The episode starts with each member of the trio waking up in some weird place and having no clue how they got there, until the initial amnesia from the transmat wears off.

The Doctor wakes up curled in a closet, where he's found by a bubbly girl named Lynda. To his surprise, he finds out he is on Big Brother. Yeah, the reality show Big Brother. Soon after arrival, he is called to the "diary room" (a sort of confessional room), where a big red chair sits against a black background. This produces probably my favorite Ninth Doctor moment ever, which I've liked since I saw the clip in a special:

DAVINA [OC]: You are live on channel forty four thousand. Please do not swear.
DOCTOR: You have got to be kidding. 

(This is supposedly a play on the actual UK Big Brother show, where Davina McCall, who was the host of Big Brother UK at the time this episode aired, would say, "You are live on Channel 4; please do not swear" when delivering the live eviction results [Source]).

Rose, meanwhile, wakes up on some studio set, where an android is being activated minutes before the show goes live. Though Rose insists she's not supposed to be there, a guy named Rodrick directs her to a podium with her name on it, telling her to do everything the android says. When the people activating the android step away, Rose suddenly realizes the robot in front of her isn't an android. It's an "Anne Droid." She's on The Weakest Link, and the droid is supposed to be that show's host, Anne Robinson.

Jack wakes up on a couch in a strange white room, with two female-looking droids looking over him and criticizing his fashion sense. The droids are Trine-E and Zu-Zana, and Jack is on What Not to Wear. Unlike Rose and the Doctor, Jack revels in the situation, even flirting with the robots, and comments that their viewing figures just went up after they strip him nude using some laser gun called a Defabricator. (The scene is shot very deliberately so that you only see Jack nude from the waist up. After all, this is a "family show").

The bulk of the episode has to do with them getting out of their respective situations. Rose is forced to just play her game, at which she does miserably because she's not from the century they're currently in. She finds out how dangerous the game is as well: anyone who is voted the Weakest Link gets disintegrated by a beam from the Anne Droid's mouth. Someone who tries to quit and run away gets disintegrated as well. Jack goes with the flow until he realizes the droids are going to cut his head off. He then pulls a gun out of somewhere (not sure where cause he's naked...I can guess, but I don't want to go there) and shoots the Trine-E and Zu-Zana robots, then MacGuyvers a gun out of the Defabricator. The Doctor, failing to find a way out of the Big Brother house, sits with the three real housemates while they wait to find out who's being evicted, and is then alarmed when evicted housemate Crosbie is disintegrated by some beam. He then remembers that Lynda mentioned that another housemate - Linda with an I - was forcibly evicted for damaging a camera. (There is no specific rule prohibiting this in real life, though you are required to not mess with the fittings or the furniture and to keep items in the House in working order). He thus uses his Sonic Screwdriver to damage a camera, and sure enough, a pre-programmed response chooses him for eviction. But, as he predicted, the beam does not activate for him (he's already figured out somebody wants him there), and he escapes with Lynda.

As the episode progresses, the Doctor realizes that the Game Station is really Satellite Five - but 100 years after he last visited it. And despite all he did to make things better for people by destroying the Jagrafess and stopping the news programming that was - he thought - keeping people on the Earth enslaved, it turns out he just made things worse. Now the Earth is covered with dangerous smog and people are stuck watching reality and game shows from the Game Station all the time, never knowing when they might get randomly transmatted to the station to play some game or other (there are apparently 10 floors of just Big Brother, with 60 Big Brother houses operating simultaneously). For the first time (in the reboot series anyway), the Doctor is faced with the unforeseen consequences of his actions, and needless to say, he's not quite sure how to fix things.

Meanwhile, Jack finds the Doctor, having scanned for the Doctor's 2-heart system using his handy wristwatch computer. He lends the watch to the Doctor so he can determine Rose's location using one of the satellite's consoles. They find it just in time, right after Rose has been determined the loser of the final round of The Weakest Link. But before they can get to her, she gets hit with the disintegrator beam!

The Doctor is distraught over this turn of events, believing Rose is now dead. He, Lynda, and Jack storm Floor 500, once again the center of operations. Jack manages to get into Archive Six - despite the protests of the Controller - where he finds the TARDIS and figures out that Rose is alive, just transmatted somewhere else in space.

Just when things couldn't possibly get worse...they do. The Doctor finds the signal hidden behind the Game Station's transmissions, and what does he find?

200 warships, heading for Earth, armed to the teeth...with dangerous armored brass pepper pots. Guess who's back!

That's right...the Daleks. They were behind this from the start, those darn resilient, unusually intelligent, hate-filled robots.

But now the stakes are higher. Not only are they out to invade Earth - with the Earthlings not having a clue - but they have Rose. And the Doctor has to decide between saving her and saving the Earth.

As noted below (in the "NaBloPoMo Special" section - in case you've noticed repetition between the main post and that part, it's because I sometimes write that part first), he chooses both. He'll save both. The Daleks take this as throwing down the gauntlet and commence their attack.

As the title of the episode suggests, the "Bad Wolf" meme comes to a head in this episode. The group behind the Game Station is the "Bad Wolf Corporation," and Rose is reminded of how many times she's encountered the words "Bad Wolf."

I liked the reality show references in this episode. I have some familiarity with all three shows the trio ends up on, though only in their U.S. versions. I have the most familiarity with What Not to Wear cause my mom watches the U.S. version all the time. That the show was able to get the real-life hosts of the featured shows to cameo - yes, that is really Davina McCall, Anne Robinson, Trinny Woodall, and Susannah Constantine's voices you hear coming from those droids - makes it cooler.

Somehow the fact that losing the news programs on Satellite Five would devolve to a reality show-orientated setup actually doesn't surprise me. I mean, isn't that what's happening now in the real world? All the quality TV is getting replaced with trash, mostly in the form of reality TV. This episode is probably meant as a warning about that very thing.

Now, don't get me wrong, I have reality shows I like. I like American Idol, I am a big fan of most of the shows on HGTV, and I have been a devoted fan of The Amazing Race since season 5. But a lot of the reality shows these days just are trash. Just the other night my mom was saying she can't understand why people watch The Bachelor.

Anyway, I'm ranting now, so I'll end here. What will the second half of the Series 1 finale bring? We'll see!

***

NaBloPoMo Special:

The Love of the Doctor and Rose Tyler

Part Twelve: The Doctor's Choice

Since the theme of NaBloPoMo this month is "Love and Sex" (probably because of Valentine's Day), I feel compelled to write something about love in my posts. Hence, since I am exploring Series 1 and 2 in this challenge, I am going to write a little special essay throughout the month about the growing love between the Doctor and Rose. Please note I am in no way an expert on relationships.

In this episode, the finale of Series 1 begins. If there was any time for the truth of the Doctor and Rose's relationship to come out, it would be now.

And it does. First off, the Doctor, Rose, and Jack get separated on the Game Station, meaning the Doctor must search for his Companions while also trying to figure out what the heck is going on and how he got on this satellite. When he does finally find Rose, he's unable to get to her before she gets vaporized by the mysterious disintegrator beam that zaps anybody who loses one of the games on the Station. As far as the Doctor knows, she's dead - and it's his fault for not being able to save her.

Luckily, Jack manages to get into the access-forbidden Archive Six on Floor 500 of the station, where he finds the TARDIS. Using the TARDIS's computer, he is able to find out that the beam is not in fact a disintegrator beam, but a transmat beam. He rushes back to tell the Doctor the news -- that Rose is not in fact dead but has been transported somewhere else in space. He and the Doctor rush to a computer to try to determine the origin of the signal behind the transmat beam.

But, just when things couldn't get any worse, the Doctor discovers (yet again) that his mortal enemies, the Daleks, are alive and well and the ones behind this whole Game Station/Satellite Five business. And they have 200 ships, armed to the teeth with angry Daleks, about to invade the Earth, and the people of Earth have no idea.

But then it gets worse. The Daleks initiate communications with the Doctor...and they have Rose. Their ultimatum: do what we say, or Rose gets exterminated.

At this moment, the Doctor has a choice to make. Does he save Earth, or save Rose?

As it turns out, both:

DOCTOR: No.
(Everyone looks at the Doctor.)
DALEK [on viewscreen]: Explain yourself.
DOCTOR: I said no.
DALEK [on viewscreen]: What is the meaning of this negative?
DOCTOR: It means no.
DALEK: But she will be destroyed.
DOCTOR [on viewscreen]: No!
DOCTOR: Because this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to rescue her.
DOCTOR [on viewscreen]: I'm going to save Rose Tyler from the middle of the Dalek fleet
DOCTOR: And then I'm going to save the Earth, and then, just to finish off, I'm going to wipe every last stinking Dalek out of the sky!
DALEK: But you have no weapons, no defences, no plan.
DOCTOR: Yeah. And doesn't that scare you to death. Rose?

ROSE: Yes, Doctor?
DOCTOR [on viewscreen]: I'm coming to get you.

Clearly, the Doctor has developed some sort of feelings for Rose, enough to risk invading a Dalek warship just to get her back, even though he knows all too well how dangerous the Daleks are. Not only that, but he doesn't even choose between her and the Earth - he's developed enough affection for Earth to not even make that choice. He's going to save her AND the world, while taking revenge on his people by wiping out the Daleks while he's at it. It's a dangerous plan, but he's going to go for it no matter what.

But can he keep that up? Can he save her from the Daleks? We'll find out next time!

***

Check in tomorrow for Day 13 of the challenge, covering the second and final part of the Series 1 finale!

Quotes from The Doctor Who Transcripts