1.12-13: Bad Wolf / The Parting of the Ways
Synopsis: The Doctor, Rose and Jack find themselves suddenly inserted into futuristic, deadly versions of reality television. It is Satellite Five, one hundred years on, now known as the Game Station. The system is powered by the Controller, a woman literally wired into the mainframe, and run by the Bad Wolf Corporation. Rose connects the words Bad Wolf with other instances over the past year when she and the Doctor have heard or seen them throughout time and the universe.
Jack and the Doctor escape and find one another, but, Rose loses at The Weakest Link, and is disintegrated. The Controller confesses that she brought the Doctor and his friends into the games because she fears her Masters, controlling the Earth, but they fear the Doctor. With the TARDIS' help, Jack works out that the disintegration beam is really just a teleport, and the losers of the games don't actually die. They are teleported to a place cloaked by the Satellite's signal. But when the Doctor cancels the signal out, he finds half a million Daleks ready to invade the Earth, and holding Rose hostage.
The guys rescue Rose, and the Doctor devises a plan to send out a Delta Wave, which will kill every living thing in its path, including the Daleks, everyone on Earth and on the Satellite. The TARDIS brings Rose home (against her will), and she begins to notice, once again, the words Bad Wolf written all over her neighborhood. She concludes that it is a link between herself and the Doctor, telling her to go back and help him. She and her mum and Mickey force open the TARDIS console, and when she communes with the heart of the TARDIS, it douses her with energy from the Time Vortex, and brings her back to the Game Station.
The Daleks infiltrate the Game Station to stop the Delta Wave, and the remaining humans attempt to make a stand. Captain Jack is exterminated in the fray, but Rose's newfound energy boost makes her god-like, and allows her to bring him back to life, and dissolve the Daleks. The Doctor knows that this energy is deadly, and he takes it upon himself through a kiss. They re-enter the TARDIS, leaving Jack behind. Once safe, the Ninth Doctor says goodbye to Rose, and regenerates into his Tenth incarnation.
Golden Comic Moment: It's in the teaser of Bad Wolf, those immortal few minutes in which the Doctor is actually a contestant on Big Brother. There is a delicious absurdity about it, particularly with the Ninth Doctor, rather like forcing Barry White to join NSync. And when the Doctor is summoned to the diary room, he expresses one of the more genuine emotions of the series thus far. He looks directly into the camera and says, with utter annoyance, "You have got to be kidding," just before the title sequence and credits run.
Golden Fangirl Moment: The minutes after Rose is "killed" are beautifully rendered. Jack is angry as hell, but the Doctor is simply catatonic, and we experience these moments from his point of view. The music of grief plays prominently, and drowns out the screaming and fighting taking place around the Doctor, including the words of the officer who arrests him for trespassing (or something). The room is filled with chaos, but we only are faintly aware of it because the Doctor has lost his trusted companion, someone he cares for, and his shock and grief overtake everything. He does not experience a particular anger, only emptiness and a single-minded sorrow. This story sees the Doctor and Rose separated, perhaps forever, three times. But this time... something in the way he can't hear or see anything else when she dies truly speaks of love. Kudos to Christopher Eccleston and Murray Gold for bringing us this exquisite grief.
Cringeworthy Moment: "I wouldn't get in the way," Lynda says, inviting herself aboard the TARDIS. "I wouldn't mind if you did," the Doctor answers with a big goofy grin. Even given Rose's residual relationship with Mickey, wouldn't it cause some serious tension on board to have another young, attractive blonde about? Besides, the Doctor has, at this point, seen precious little to make him think that Lynda has the mettle for adventures in time and space (though she does prove herself later), and it looks suspiciously as though he is agreeing to let her come along simply because he finds her cute. Or "dead sweet," as he keeps saying.
Golden Moment: As the TARDIS brings the Doctor's companion home, a holographic image of the Time Lord says, "Rose, now listen, this is important. If this message is activated, then it can only mean one thing: we must be in danger, and I mean fatal. I'm dead, or about to die any second with no chance of escape. And that's okay - hope it's a good death. But I promised to look after you, and that's what I'm doing. The TARDIS is taking you home, and I bet you're fussing and moaning now - typical... if you want to remember me, you can do one thing. That's all - one thing. Have a good life."
This is the second of the Doctor and Rose's great separations of the evening, and it is the speech that, perhaps, he intended to give just before dying. But it is truly golden because the fact that the Doctor recorded this message for Rose in advance speaks to the fact that the last of the Time Lords has agonising choices to face every single day. With every move he makes, he must consider the possibility of death and destruction, and he must brave the murky waters with responsibility and honour, and provide for those who are closest to him. And in his final statement before fading out of the picture, he gives Rose the four words that embody what he stands for, and ultimately they give her the power and fuel that she needs to save the day...
Why I Beg To Differ: DWM names the moment when Rose is disintegrated as one of its Golden Moments, as one of the symbols of the fact that though he's wonderful and brilliant, death follows the Doctor everywhere. It also mentions the moment when the Doctor promises to "wipe every stinking Dalek out of the sky," and save Rose in the process, because it is such a twist on the usual cliffhanger in which the main characters are weakened and in peril.
But this is a season finale, and more importantly, the exit of the Nith Doctor, the curtain call for the man who rejuvenated the character. There is so much more at stake here, so many more issues to explore.
For example: Doctor Who? Well, indeed, who is he?
He tells Rose to "have a good life," and in response, she tells her mum and Mickey, "The Doctor showed me a better way of living your life... That you don't just give up. You don't just let things happen. You make a stand, you say no! You have the guts to do what's right when everyone else just runs away!"
And that's the kind of man he is.
Jack and the Doctor escape and find one another, but, Rose loses at The Weakest Link, and is disintegrated. The Controller confesses that she brought the Doctor and his friends into the games because she fears her Masters, controlling the Earth, but they fear the Doctor. With the TARDIS' help, Jack works out that the disintegration beam is really just a teleport, and the losers of the games don't actually die. They are teleported to a place cloaked by the Satellite's signal. But when the Doctor cancels the signal out, he finds half a million Daleks ready to invade the Earth, and holding Rose hostage.
The guys rescue Rose, and the Doctor devises a plan to send out a Delta Wave, which will kill every living thing in its path, including the Daleks, everyone on Earth and on the Satellite. The TARDIS brings Rose home (against her will), and she begins to notice, once again, the words Bad Wolf written all over her neighborhood. She concludes that it is a link between herself and the Doctor, telling her to go back and help him. She and her mum and Mickey force open the TARDIS console, and when she communes with the heart of the TARDIS, it douses her with energy from the Time Vortex, and brings her back to the Game Station.
The Daleks infiltrate the Game Station to stop the Delta Wave, and the remaining humans attempt to make a stand. Captain Jack is exterminated in the fray, but Rose's newfound energy boost makes her god-like, and allows her to bring him back to life, and dissolve the Daleks. The Doctor knows that this energy is deadly, and he takes it upon himself through a kiss. They re-enter the TARDIS, leaving Jack behind. Once safe, the Ninth Doctor says goodbye to Rose, and regenerates into his Tenth incarnation.
Golden Comic Moment: It's in the teaser of Bad Wolf, those immortal few minutes in which the Doctor is actually a contestant on Big Brother. There is a delicious absurdity about it, particularly with the Ninth Doctor, rather like forcing Barry White to join NSync. And when the Doctor is summoned to the diary room, he expresses one of the more genuine emotions of the series thus far. He looks directly into the camera and says, with utter annoyance, "You have got to be kidding," just before the title sequence and credits run.
Golden Fangirl Moment: The minutes after Rose is "killed" are beautifully rendered. Jack is angry as hell, but the Doctor is simply catatonic, and we experience these moments from his point of view. The music of grief plays prominently, and drowns out the screaming and fighting taking place around the Doctor, including the words of the officer who arrests him for trespassing (or something). The room is filled with chaos, but we only are faintly aware of it because the Doctor has lost his trusted companion, someone he cares for, and his shock and grief overtake everything. He does not experience a particular anger, only emptiness and a single-minded sorrow. This story sees the Doctor and Rose separated, perhaps forever, three times. But this time... something in the way he can't hear or see anything else when she dies truly speaks of love. Kudos to Christopher Eccleston and Murray Gold for bringing us this exquisite grief.
Cringeworthy Moment: "I wouldn't get in the way," Lynda says, inviting herself aboard the TARDIS. "I wouldn't mind if you did," the Doctor answers with a big goofy grin. Even given Rose's residual relationship with Mickey, wouldn't it cause some serious tension on board to have another young, attractive blonde about? Besides, the Doctor has, at this point, seen precious little to make him think that Lynda has the mettle for adventures in time and space (though she does prove herself later), and it looks suspiciously as though he is agreeing to let her come along simply because he finds her cute. Or "dead sweet," as he keeps saying.
Golden Moment: As the TARDIS brings the Doctor's companion home, a holographic image of the Time Lord says, "Rose, now listen, this is important. If this message is activated, then it can only mean one thing: we must be in danger, and I mean fatal. I'm dead, or about to die any second with no chance of escape. And that's okay - hope it's a good death. But I promised to look after you, and that's what I'm doing. The TARDIS is taking you home, and I bet you're fussing and moaning now - typical... if you want to remember me, you can do one thing. That's all - one thing. Have a good life."
This is the second of the Doctor and Rose's great separations of the evening, and it is the speech that, perhaps, he intended to give just before dying. But it is truly golden because the fact that the Doctor recorded this message for Rose in advance speaks to the fact that the last of the Time Lords has agonising choices to face every single day. With every move he makes, he must consider the possibility of death and destruction, and he must brave the murky waters with responsibility and honour, and provide for those who are closest to him. And in his final statement before fading out of the picture, he gives Rose the four words that embody what he stands for, and ultimately they give her the power and fuel that she needs to save the day...
Why I Beg To Differ: DWM names the moment when Rose is disintegrated as one of its Golden Moments, as one of the symbols of the fact that though he's wonderful and brilliant, death follows the Doctor everywhere. It also mentions the moment when the Doctor promises to "wipe every stinking Dalek out of the sky," and save Rose in the process, because it is such a twist on the usual cliffhanger in which the main characters are weakened and in peril.
But this is a season finale, and more importantly, the exit of the Nith Doctor, the curtain call for the man who rejuvenated the character. There is so much more at stake here, so many more issues to explore.
For example: Doctor Who? Well, indeed, who is he?
He tells Rose to "have a good life," and in response, she tells her mum and Mickey, "The Doctor showed me a better way of living your life... That you don't just give up. You don't just let things happen. You make a stand, you say no! You have the guts to do what's right when everyone else just runs away!"
And that's the kind of man he is.