Doctor Who: Series 1, Episode 2 – “The End of the World” (2005)

I’ll be honest:  when I first began new Who, I was intrigued and could tell it had a lot of potential, but I wasn’t really sold on series 1 until “Dalek.”  Before then, there were a few too many Slitheen and carnivorous recycle bins to get behind it 100%.  “The End of the World” has a bit of that early-days roughness, but it really is quite a wonderful episode, and rewatches have allowed me to appreciate it way more.

For her maiden adventure in the TARDIS, Rose opts to see the future, and the Ninth Doctor thinks he knows just what’ll impress her:  the last day of planet Earth, 5 billion years from now.  While the rich and powerful gather on an observation deck to see the planet get roasted by the sun, strange goings-on are afoot.  One of the beings there is not what they seem, and they have a secret plan that involves robotic sabotage.

On the whole, the story gets points for some wild inventiveness – an envoy of trees are among those represented on Platform One, with cultural markers/beliefs that seem appropriate for trees, and we’re treated here to the sight of the “last human,” who’s nipped and tucked herself down to a large patch of skin with a face in the middle.  The “twists” aren’t all that remarkable, but it’s a fairly simple story told well.  Cassandra and Jabe are both memorable characters, and the plot resolves in a satisfying way.  Some of the jokes are a bit too corny, while others are just the right amount of corny (the whole bit with Cassandra’s “iPod” is an easy joke, but I enjoy it anyway, if only for that glorious shot of the Doctor bopping around.)

But if the plot is basic but well done, the deeper parts of the story are something of a goldmine.  The best part of any Ninth Doctor story is generally the character interactions, and that holds beautifully true here.  For her first real rodeo, Rose is a bit freaked out, and the enormity of what she’s just done starts to catch up with her.  That makes her look her gift horse a bit more closely in the mouth – we of course know that the Doctor’s all right, and deep down, I’m sure Rose knows that too, but it’s entirely reasonable for her to realize she ought to know more about the guy that just whisked her off through time and space.

On the Doctor’s side, we get more momentum on the backstory of the Time War and Nine’s heartbreaking Time War angst – it’s only hinted at in the pilot episode, but here, the curtain is drawn back and we get our first proper look at the Doctor’s loneliness and guilt, as well as his determination to continue on in the here and now despite everything he’s been through.  Even before the episode starts putting words to it, it’s there in the mere fact that the Doctor thinks it’s a good idea to show his new companion the future destruction of her own planet.  In this weird, broken way, it’s as though he’ll feel less alone if he’s not the only one who’s witnessed a loss of that scale.

But as we start to see how the Doctor has been beaten down, we also see the friend who will take his hand as he finds his way through it.  Nine and Rose are pretty much everything, and the last scene of this episode is one for the ages, exquisite in its gentle simplicity.