Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways

Bad Wolf and The Parting of the Ways
by Russell T Davies
Originally Broadcasted: June 11th-18th, 2005

The Doctor, Rose, and Captain Jack are transported into what seem to be normal 21st century TV game shows, but these shows actually have a deadly twist. Turns out the Daleks are controlling everything, and they plan to launch an all out war on humanity. It's up to the Doctor and Jack to save not only Rose, but the whole of humanity...

Sadly, the Christopher Eccleston era has quickly become an almost forgotten era of Doctor Who. But it mustn't be forgotten that he was the Doctor when the show was brought back. Were it not for his terrific performance as the Doctor, the show may not have been as successful as it is today. So we all as Doctor Who fans have a lot to thank Mr. Eccleston for. The sad part is, he really couldn't care less. In interviews, he has spoken rather poorly of his time on Doctor Who, counting it as just another job. That's a big difference from his succeeder, David Tennant, who loved every minute of playing the Doctor because he was a huge fan of the show as a kid. With that, you'd think Christopher Eccleston wouldn't have made that great of a Doctor, but boy did he. A prime example of his excellence is his final story, Bad Wolf and The Parting of the Ways. The first part of Eccleston's swan-song, Bad Wolf, boldly brought Doctor Who into a different kind of era by landing the Doctor in a deadly version of Big Brother, and by the same thought, Rose in an even deadlier version of The Weakest Link. I can imagine how some would be turned off by this, but it was actually a very clever story plot that carefully built up to the unveiling of the Daleks as the masterminds behind everything. This is when we get the Ninth Doctor's defining moment, when the Daleks tell him to surrender or they'll kill Rose, he heroically replies with "No! 'Cause this is what I'm gonna do: I'm gonna rescue her! I'm gonna save Rose Tyler from the middle of the Dalek fleet! And then I'm gonna save the Earth! And then, just to finish off, I'm gonna wipe every last stinking Dalek out of the sky!" Sends shivers down my spine every single time. That then catapults us into the second episode which is an all out war between the Doctor and the Daleks. Never before have so many Daleks been seen on screen at once, literally thousands of them. To save Rose, the Doctor sends her back home, but she won't have it. We get some really emotional conversations between Rose, her mom, and Mickey, and eventually she makes it back to Game Station by looking into the Heart of the TARDIS. All that knowledge is burning her head though, and so the Doctor decides to absorb it all from her, leading into his regeneration. Just like the Fifth Doctor before him, the Ninth Doctor dies to save the life of a companion (one who he loves), and that perfectly sums up what is great about this Doctor. Bad Wolf and The Parting of Ways brought the all too short run of Christopher Eccleston's Doctor to a close in one of the best season closers of the new series. But all is not sadness, for at the end of things, smiling Number Ten is on his way in!

Luke's Rating: 10/10