The Doctor and Mickey’s reaction to Jackie’s claim that she has always been true to Pete is understated, but effective. Jackie’s inability to decide whether or not she cares about how rich Pete has become is lovely. It’s a small moment, but every line is pitch-perfect. I also love that moment where Pete and Jackie reconnect. Hold on, you might get sucked into a plot hole… It sounds like Rose got a much better deal than Sarah Jane or the Brigadier. Indeed, it’s nice to see that a companion’s job options don’t dry up after saving the world. Given how Rose wanted a “better life” in The Parting of the Ways, it seems like she found a more fulfilling avenue for her talents. Apparently the BBC were seriously considering a spin-off at one point, which really makes this very hard to sell as a sad story. “Rose Tyler, defender of the Earth,” the Doctor jokes when he discovers that Rose is running Torchwood in alt!Earth. Rose was always going to have to leave, and Doomsday somehow manages to give her everything she ever wanted, while still telling us that this is a sad ending. It’s not as if Billie Piper is any more irreplaceable. After all, the show ended its first season by recasting the starring role. Notwithstanding the fact that this separation has been undermined and diminished by making sure that Rose remained a frequent enough guest star, the problem is that the Doctor and his companion separating is inevitable. I talked a bit about my feelings on the separation of Rose and the Doctor in covering Army of Ghosts. It feels like the easiest way to make these threats palpable is to set them in modern London, without any real sense of consequence or scale. It feels like the separation of the Doctor and his companion is the biggest and most important thing in the universe, without really convincing us that this isn’t the best possible outcome. It feels like putting the Daleks and the Cybermen together in one episode is enough to merit attention, without anything more than exchanging pithy one-liners. It feels complacent, it feels comfortable.
Like Fear Her or Rise of the Cybermen, the second season finalé lacks ambition.
Part of my frustration with Doomsday is the same problem that I have with the rest of the second season’s weaker episodes. – the Cyberleader and Dalek Sec compete for the title of “bitchiest Doctor Who villain” We would destroy the Cybermen with one Dalek. You would destroy the Cybermen with four Daleks? To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the longest-running science-fiction show in the world, I’ll be taking weekly looks at some of my own personal favourite stories and arcs, from the old and new series, with a view to encapsulating the sublime, the clever and the fiendishly odd of the BBC’s Doctor Who.ĭaleks, be warned.
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