Doctor Who (2005) 1-13: The Parting of the Ways

Episode:

709

|

Serial:

166

|

Writer:

Russell T Davies

|

Director:

Joe Ahearne

|

Air Date:

18-Jun-2005

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I am almost finished with writing about Doctor Who for a while. I've just got one last episode of the 2005 series to go. It's the second half of the Bad Wolf two-parter, The Parting of the Ways!

I don't want to put any SPOILERS up here in the intro text where anyone can read it, I save that for the rest of the review (and I'm going to be spoiling ever moment of this story, so be warned). But I will say that the title was part of Russell T Davies' original pitch document for the series, from way back when Captain Jack was called Jax. The episode itself was changed slightly due to production issues but the title actually stayed the same.

It was directed by Joe Ahearne, who had proven to be a safe pair of hands by this point, and someone Christopher Eccleston liked working with. Unfortunately it was his last Doctor Who story as he felt a bit worn out after directing five episodes in one series. That's a feat only matched by the legendary Graeme Harper. In fact there are only a handful of directors who made it to five during their entire time on the series.

Okay Saul Metzstein also directed five in one season, but it was series 7, which was split across two years, so that doesn't count!

Doctor Who (2005) 1-12: Bad Wolf

Episode:

708

|

Serial:

166

|

Writer:

Russell T Davies

|

Director:

Joe Ahearne

|

Air Date:

11-Jun-2005

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm watching Bad Wolf, the 708th episode of Doctor Who! It's also the 12th episode of this 13 episode season, so it's the penultimate story. Or penultimate episode anyway.

Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways started a tradition of two part season finales that has continued to this day... mostly. Okay classic Doctor Who ended a season with a two-parter a few times as well, but the show was all serials, so that just meant a story had fewer episodes than normal. Since this there have only been three seasons that ended on a single episode (or four if you split Heaven Sent/Hell Bent), so it seems like the idea was a big success!

Oh, I should mention that "Bad Wolf" is an interesting title, as it's this season's important phrase. It has been mentioned here and there in episodes but its meaning remains elusive. Personally it makes me think about the phrase "Big Bad" in Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, which referred to the villain the heroes would have to defeat at the end of a season. Hey, that series is getting a revival soon as well, 20+ years after it left TV. That beats Doctor Who's 16 years absence!

Anyway, there are going to be SPOILERS below, but only about things that that happened up to 11th June 2005. If you're watching the series for the first time, you'll be safe. I won't give away anything that happens in part 2.

Doctor Who (2005) 1-11: Boom Town (Quick Review)

Episode:

707

|

Serial:

165

|

Writer:

Russell T Davies

|

Director:

Joe Ahearne

|

Air Date:

04-Jun-2005

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm watching another episode of the endless first season of the 2005 Doctor Who revival. 13 episodes, man; it just keeps going and going.

The writer this time was showrunner Russell T Davies himself, back after a three-episode break to land the season personally. Though those three episodes by other writers were Father's Day, The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances, so the bar has been raised a bit.

RTD had actually brought in acclaimed writer Paul Abbott to script this one, but he had his own show, Shameless, and he was ultimately too busy. It would've had an entirely different story so I'm not sure how that would've affected the season finale.

Anyway I'm not talking about the finale right now, because this is only going to contain SPOILERS for this episode and earlier stories. If you're watching for the first time you've got nothing to worry about from me.

Doctor Who (2005) 1-08: Father's Day (Quick Review)

Episode:

704

|

Serial:

163

|

Writer:

Paul Cornell

|

Director:

Joe Ahearne

|

Air Date:

14-May-2005

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm watching Father's Day, by veteran Doctor Who writer Paul Cornell. He only ever wrote two stories for the TV series, with this being the first, but he'd been writing Doctor Who novels, audio dramas and comics since the start of the '90s, so he'd had a bit of practice by this point.

The episode wasn't released on Father's Day, by the way. Wrong month entirely. Just like how the Christmas episode, The Unquiet Dead, wasn't released on Christmas. It's a weird thing to point out, but the series loves its holiday specials so much that these days that if you see a character eating an Easter egg, for example, the episode probably aired at Easter.

Alright, this is where the SPOILERS start, so it's your last chance to get off. Though I'll only spoil things that happen in this episode or earlier. As far as this review is concerned I've time-travelled back exactly 20 years to 2005, so if you're watching the series for the first time this will be safe to read.

Doctor Who (2005) 1-06: Dalek

Episode:

702

|

Serial:

161

|

Writer:

Robert Shearman

|

Director:

Joe Ahearne

|

Air Date:

30-Apr-2005

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm writing about the 702nd episode of long-running British sci-fi series Doctor Who, called Dalek.

It was inspired by a Big Finish audio drama called Jubilee by the same writer, Robert Shearman. I don't know how similar they are as I haven't listened to it, but it has a Dalek on the cover so I wouldn't be surprised if they show up there as well.

You could argue that it spoils the surprise a bit to put the villain's name right there in the title, but it's basically a tradition. The Daleks turned up in 17 classic serials and 13 of them had 'Dalek' in the name. Plus Russell T Davies has no issues with giving a few things away if it's going to get them more publicity and viewers. If you've got one of the most iconic villains in British television history returning to screens after two decades you don't hide it.

If I remember right, the plan for this episode was that it could work as a jumping on point for people who hadn't checked the series out yet, but were curious about what they were going to do with the Daleks. Since the show's second ever serial the Daleks have been Doctor Who's biggest draw and they're probably the reason it survived its first few seasons. Funny thing is, the Daleks nearly sat this one out, as they're not owned by the BBC and discussions with the Terry Nation estate hadn't been going great. For a while the episode would've been called The Sphere and it would've starred a new, more spherical villain. Maybe we don't live in the worst timeline after all.

I'll be going through the whole episode scene by scene with screencaps and recaps so there'll be SPOILERS here, for this and earlier stories. I'll not say a thing about anything that aired later though. Not even if it shows up in the next time trailer.