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Being some observations upon 'The Parting of the Ways', the last episode of the first or twenty-seventh series of [i]Doctor Who[/i].
It's a stiflingly hot day today, so this entry will be brief. Firstly, I did like how the episode illustrated Rose's transformation as a result of her travels. At the end of 'The End of the World', she wanted chips; during 'The Parting of the Ways', she rejects chips, and coleslaw is a poor substitute for adventure. Rose convincing her mother and Mickey to help her break open the TARDIS console helped vindicate the series' return; if (as seemed very likely before the series was broadcast) this proved to be the very last episode of [i]Doctor Who[/i] then Rose's battle to return to the fray and save the Doctor, juxtaposed with the Doctor's injunction to his friend (and those of us watching) not to look back but to have a good life/good lives, would have made a fitting farewell episode.
But of course, it's not farewell to [i]Doctor Who[/i], simply to this Doctor, and, as he had channelled the full force of the time vortex to stop it killing Rose, we said goodbye to Christopher Eccleston's Doctor. I had felt that Eccleston was in danger of becoming an empty space in the programme at times during 'Bad Wolf', but this week saw some of his best performances in the part. The ninth Doctor's goodbye to Rose was affecting, explaining regeneration by playing on its ambiguities - the Doctor spoke as if it wasn't just the Doctor's face that was disappearing, but his conscious self.
As for the David Tennant Doctor, I was surprised to find that he spoke his first few lines in a sort of Mockney, as occasionally affected by Tennant's Casanova, but more so - this could become annoying, and I'd preferred the idea of a Scottish speaking voice suggested in recent interviews. Still, the whole performance is the thing, and I am now a child waiting for Christmas. Whether we do visit the planet Barcelona and its dogs with no noses must be considered doubtful - but the line was a good bridging one, suggesting that the Doctor's sense of humour has survived the change.
It's a stiflingly hot day today, so this entry will be brief. Firstly, I did like how the episode illustrated Rose's transformation as a result of her travels. At the end of 'The End of the World', she wanted chips; during 'The Parting of the Ways', she rejects chips, and coleslaw is a poor substitute for adventure. Rose convincing her mother and Mickey to help her break open the TARDIS console helped vindicate the series' return; if (as seemed very likely before the series was broadcast) this proved to be the very last episode of [i]Doctor Who[/i] then Rose's battle to return to the fray and save the Doctor, juxtaposed with the Doctor's injunction to his friend (and those of us watching) not to look back but to have a good life/good lives, would have made a fitting farewell episode.
But of course, it's not farewell to [i]Doctor Who[/i], simply to this Doctor, and, as he had channelled the full force of the time vortex to stop it killing Rose, we said goodbye to Christopher Eccleston's Doctor. I had felt that Eccleston was in danger of becoming an empty space in the programme at times during 'Bad Wolf', but this week saw some of his best performances in the part. The ninth Doctor's goodbye to Rose was affecting, explaining regeneration by playing on its ambiguities - the Doctor spoke as if it wasn't just the Doctor's face that was disappearing, but his conscious self.
As for the David Tennant Doctor, I was surprised to find that he spoke his first few lines in a sort of Mockney, as occasionally affected by Tennant's Casanova, but more so - this could become annoying, and I'd preferred the idea of a Scottish speaking voice suggested in recent interviews. Still, the whole performance is the thing, and I am now a child waiting for Christmas. Whether we do visit the planet Barcelona and its dogs with no noses must be considered doubtful - but the line was a good bridging one, suggesting that the Doctor's sense of humour has survived the change.