Doctor Who: Bad Wolf & The Coming Finale
Russell T. Davies is the new deity in my own personal pantheon, currently locked in a struggle with Joss Whedon for the pen and PC held by the God of Plots. Russell speaks in the Guardian about Doctor Who, and adds to my personal theory that you can never know whether a given project is going to fall or fly until it actually does one or the other. Some spoilers for the Bad Wolf episode of Doctor Who follow.
I looked at the preview at the end of Boom Town, and thought, good gods, that looks awful. What's he at? A week later, I saw it. And I realised as Rose vanished in that beam that I was going to be really, really upset if she was dead. It's at a point like that that you realise just how strong the characters they've built here are, and how powerfully the plot takes hold of you. Even though I knew that Rose was appearing in episodes in the second season, that wasn't convincing me in the least at that moment.
I'm also lost in considerable admiration at how Russell is holding back. Even though we're approaching the season finale, there's still a sense that the story is just beginning, that things are only just getting going. It must take a fair bit of confidence in these days of series cancellations to do that, to make sure you've something building for subsequent seasons. And there was the first subtle hint at things happening between shows - the mention of the visit to the Slitheen homeworld, happening between Boom Town and Bad Wolf
I'm very pleased with the way in which he's preserved the British feeling of the series. There's a veiled perception in science fiction that the future is American, but Russell has shown us a future - as Doctor Who always has, I think - wherein the future is British. It's different, and it's in many ways more enjoyable for me, since I'm much more familiar with it. Those scenes in Bad Wolf wouldn't have been nearly so good with American game shows, for instance.
Now, it remains to be seen - who managed to send the Bad Wolf messages back through time to where the Doctor would be? My money is on Rose.
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Posted by Drew Shiel at June 13, 2005 12:06 PM
"who managed to send the Bad Wolf messages back through time"
Posted by: Salith at June 13, 2005 5:17 PMMy vote is the Tardis :)