Doctor Who - Series 1, Episode Two 'The End Of The World'

Doctor Who - Series 1, Episode Two 'The End Of The World'

In honour of Christopher Eccleston's Big Finish audios debuting this week, here are my thoughts on 'The End Of The World', revised and updated since 2016.

Second episodes are always difficult for any television series. Ninety nine percent of the time the production crew tend to focus their efforts mostly on the first episode in order to entice people to watch the show and the second instalment ends up overlooked. It's something which is commonly known as 'the difficult second album', in that the series finds itself having to live up to the expectations built up from the previous episode. By this point if a show has been well-received, audiences have developed their own anticipation for the quality they demand from the series, and it means the second episode finds itself having to do more work to live up to its predecessor.  'The End of the World' is one such example, and whilst it is more successful than most second instalments, it doesn't quite manage to reach the heights of the first episode of Series 1, 'Rose'.

The End of the World has a brilliant premise for a Doctor Who episode. The sun is expanding and about to destroy the Earth; on Platform One, the richest beings of the universe are gathering to watch it end on the Observation Desk including Cassandra (Zoe Wanamaker), Jabe (Yasmin Bannerman), the Mox of Balhoon (Jimmy Vee) and the Face of Boe (Struan Rodger). The Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and Rose (Billie Piper) arrive to find someone is trying to sabotage the space station with robotic spiders. It's an effective whodunnit mystery which keeps you guessing throughout, as any one of the alien guests could be potential suspects. Is the Mox of Balhoon behind the sabotage? What about the mysterious Face of Boe? Or could it even be one of the Forest of Cheem?

The main problem with this episode is that what should be an engaging narrative is actually rather boring. It doesn't help that the pace is slowed down by Rose's call to her mum Jackie (Camille Coduri), which whilst adding a significant amount of character depth and emotional resonance, does bring the narrative to a grinding halt. As well-written as the conversation between Rose and Jackie is, it doesn't help to drive the narrative. It feels like an episode that would work better with more emphasis on the main story and less on the familial elements - especially as the whole planet is about to die with everyone on it - something that should be very emotional to see for Rose given that this is her home planet. The latter is explored a little, with the Doctor taking Rose for chips on Present Day Earth at the end of the adventure as a means of reassurance that her life back home is still intact, and it flows more naturally as a piece of character exploration within the narrative than her phone call with Jackie, but it does feel as though more could have been made over Rose seeing her planet burn before her eyes.

There are some great scenes though - the sequence regarding the Doctor and Jabe in the air conditioning chamber, for instance, as they try to navigate giant rotating fans is a fantastic action set-piece directed superbly by Euros Lyn - but the screenplay feels as though it could have benefitted from a greater amount of obstacles in a similar vein to the fans for the Doctor to overcome. It rarely feels as though the characters are in much danger, which is surprising given that Rose did such a great job at establishing the threat of the Autons and Nestene Consciousness. I can't help but feel that later into Russell T Davies' run, the production team would have done a more effective job at bringing the concept to life. It is a very ambitious idea for the first series of the revival and one that Russell T Davies should have perhaps kept back for Series Four, where they could have drawn from past experience writing for the show and brought a considerably faster pacing to the screenplay.

The special effects in this story however are very impressive and still hold together all these years later. These are some of the best special effects in the new series of the show; it actually feels like we're watching the real sun expanding to destroy the real Earth and every one of the alien guests look like species you may find in a big Hollywood movie rather than a BBC television series:

The Face of Boe is a brilliant character too; there's something immensely likeable about the big head in the jar known as Boe. I'm not entirely sure what it is that's so appealing but I just really enjoy watching his scenes and was glad when he returned in 'New Earth' and 'Gridlock'. I hope one day the series confirms that Jack was definitely the Face of Boe (as stated later in the show's run, in the three part adventure 'Utopia/The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords).

Cassandra, on the other hand, I'm not too keen on. I'm not sure how she became a recurring character as whilst Zoe Wanamaker is good in the role, I found her nothing more than an annoying future Katie Price. She's basically what would happen if a Kardashian became the last surviving human and whilst that makes her a suitably unlikeable antagonist for the Doctor, it doesn't make her a particularly entertaining one. She's just plain irritating and initially it was a relief that she seemed to die at the end of the episode...until they decided to bring her back a year later for New Earth! I mean, what the hell Russell T Davies? Why would you want to inflict that pain on us? If anyone had to return from The End of the World alongside the Face of Boe, it should have been the Mox of Balhoon. He had much more mileage and Jimmy Vee was great in the role.

The episode essentially serves as a showcase for our leads, Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper. I was never much a fan of Christopher Eccleston's Doctor, and when I originally wrote this review back in 2016 I described the man as 'phoning in' his portrayal here. My opinions have since changed however. Given what we have learnt since about Christopher Eccleston's struggles with anorexia, alongside the behind the scenes troubles on the set of the revival's first series, I now have a greater appreciation for Christopher Eccleston's performance than when I originally wrote this review. It may not have been his best performance as the Doctor, but Christopher Eccleston still brings a gleeful approach here to his Doctor showing Rose this huge gathering of alien species. You get this sense of a traveller who hasn't had a travelling companion to share his experiences with in a long time, and suddenly it has become a novelty for him. Suddenly he has a reminder from good times that had long since passed him by. And yet through Christopher Eccleston's portrayal, you also see this man who has become broken by his experiences, from this terrible fight and from the loss of his own home planet, a man who understands exactly what Rose is going through when she sees her own planet burn.  

Billie Piper is as brilliant as she always was - especially during her conversation with plumber Raffalo (Beccy Armory), when she realises that she isn't allowed to talk without permission, and so grants her permission to speak. It helps to demonstrate her character's caring side, and Billie Piper imbues the character with a combined sense of compassion and naivety towards otherworldly beings. This is a woman who by this point is not used to travelling around space, and meeting different extra-terrestrial cultures, and it feels like a realistic portrayal of how a person in Rose's shoes would react to meeting these various species.  It's something which is later echoed in Adam Mitchell's TARDIS trip 'The Long Game', and it makes the world feel somewhat authentic to how an everyday individual would react when thrown into the Doctor's lifestyle.

Overall, The End of the World is one of those typical second episodes of a television series where the quality dips after a great first episode. It's a strong premise for a Doctor Who story but ultimately the episode doesn't quite deliver, providing a dull screenplay with some serious pacing issues. There are still some great moments dotted throughout however, and the special effects remain impressive sixteen years on. The Face of Boe is also a brilliant addition to the show's mythology, and I am glad he later made various return appearances later into the revival's run. Cassandra is a a rather mediocre antagonist however, and it would have been nice to have seen a few more action set-pieces akin to the excellent sequence with the rotating fans.

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What are your thoughts on  The End Of The World? Let me know in the comments section.