The Parting of the Ways

Grade: B+ Doctor's Grade: Fantastic! That's all ok,

We have had wonderful penultimate Series episodes, The Pandorica Opens, Dark Water etc, all brilliant, but all followed up with slightly lesser conclusions. The Parting of the ways is the exception to the rule, it's a glorious finale.

The Doctor rescues Rose, meets the Emperor and discovers the Daleks are insane and hate their own skin. Several lives are lost, Lynda, Broderick, the TV bosses, and seemingly Captain Jack. Rose is satisfyingly heroic and saves the day in a wonderful ending.

The music is glorious, Murray Gold's scores are so good and fit beautifully with the show. The episode manages to maintain and build on its epic feel. We get a re-worked Dalek Emperor, such a good creation. The Daleks now have a true element of menace about them, they're back on good form. Jo Joyner is brilliant and seemed like she was being primed for more appearances, so a big surprise when she was cut down. The effects are superbly done, the mass Daleks look very realistic.

I literally cried at the time watching Chris Eccleston regenerate into David Tennant, I felt robbed, it was a feeling of 'He's brought the series back to life and now he's going, it will surely end?'

The Parting of the ways has the lot, it is a perfect 10/10.

Following on immediately from 'Bad Wolf' this episode opens with The Doctor rescuing Rose from the Daleks. In the process he learns how they survived the Time War... or more precisely how they were recreated by their emperor, who is now their god. Returning to Satellite 5, The Doctor formulates a plan to defeat the Daleks. He then puts Rose in the Tardis and sets it on a one way course for Earth in 2005. Rose is determined to return to him but the Tardis appears to be dead. Back on the station it becomes apparent that if The Doctor's plan to wipe out the Daleks succeeds it will also exterminate everybody on Earth... a price worth paying to rid the universe of the Daleks?

I enjoyed this episode more than I expected; there was plenty of tension, several exciting scenes, emotional intensity and we finally learn why the words 'Bad Wolf' kept appearing throughout the season. The number of deaths is quite surprising; particularly in the case of one character although he does 'recover'. Having The Doctor send Rose away along with a message saying he didn't expect to survive worked well; it showed us just how far each of them was prepared to go to try to save the other. Christopher Eccleston was on fine form as The Doctor; he may only have been in the series for one season but he was a fine first Doctor for the new era of the show. Billie Piper and John Barrowman were impressive as Rose and Captain Jack; the former bringing real emotion to her role. The Daleks made an impressive enemy; I especially liked how the say they survived the Time War slightly changed them. The final scenes serve to indicate that the next Doctor will have a distinctly different personality.

The Emperor's mutant Daleks begin their first attack, while the Doctor builds a Delta Wave from bits he's found to hack. The blue box is sent into hiding, with a flower trapped inside residing, and the knowledge she will never be allowed to come back. However, a wolf is paradoxically created, a brave return quickly dictated, with the atoms of the Daleks dislocated, severely negated, un-replicated, evacuated - and a fallen friend immortally resurrected, reinstated, and then finally isolated.

So the Eccleston era ends with an episode that's a little underwhelming, when you consider its overall significance, but a decent enough way to end the season and to prepare for the things to come.

With the Dalek Armada heading for Earth, The Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and those remaining on Satellite 5, prepare to mount a last ditch defence to try and buy him enough time for a last gasp plan to come to fruition. Knowing that his plan is likely to be suicide, The Doctor tricks Rose (Billie Piper) into the Tardis and sends her home, but after all she's seen and experienced, she can't leave him to fight alone.

With regards the specifics of this episode, I thought it was alright, but not that amazing. The ending is a bit of a deus ex machina, particularly as it's not the effect that we've seen other people have from looking into the heart of the Tardis. Eccleston is again great and though I did get a little buzz from seeing a super young looking David Tennant at the end, in many ways I'm sorry that we didn't get to see more of the 9th Doctor. (I always wonder why they don't go back now and make more one- off adventures with Eccleston from the time before his Doctor met Rose, now that time and changes in personnel seem to have healed some of those wounds.) I'd also say that there are a few aspects of this episode that drift away to not much, particularly the idea of tension between Rose and Lynda - in fact Lynda is rather short changed by the episode as a whole.

But what of the first season of rebooted who? Generally I think it's a really good start, with some great individual episodes and one excellent two-part story. The effects aren't quite what they would become, but as the show is a hit, it's allowed to invest more and more in that aspect. It's going to get interesting reviewing the show from here on out, as my memory is probably not going to be quite as sharp for the episodes as it has been with this first run. But my recollection is that the show is going to really hit its stride in the Tennant years and I'm looking forward to reliving it.