This episode picks up exactly where the last ended. Rose runs into the TARDIS and The Doctor asks her were she wants to go. After a bit of banter they arrive at the end of the world. The end of planet Earth to be precise. Five billions years in the future when the sun expands.

The ‘great and the good’ have come to watch the planet burn. The Doctor uses psychic paper to bluff his way in as a guest. Rose stands amazed as the other guests are introduced, walking trees, the Face of Boe, and the self-styled last human Lady Cassandra O’Brien. Classic music (Tainted Love) is played on an “iPod” (a 1950s style jukebox). Overwhelmed by the alienness of the aliens Rose leaves the room. She meets Rafalow a blue skinned plumber who is investigating a blockage and they have a relatively normal conversation.

Rose leaves and Rafalow goes back to work, sadly she is soon the first to fall victim to some nasty little robot probes which have been smuggled onto the station.

To cheer her up The Doctor upgrades Rose’s phone so she can call her mother, five billion years in the past.

The little robots kill the Steward, who has noticed that something is wrong with the station, by dropping the filters which protect his office from the full power of the sun. Naturally The Doctor also spots that something is amiss and goes to investigate with Jabe, of the Forest of Cheem.

Rose talks to Cassandra and after leaving is attacked. When she comes round she finds herself shut in a room with a descending sun filter. The Doctor comes to the rescue of course, but it’s clear that in her case it’s personal.

Casandra turns out to be the mastermind, intending to ransom the other guests, but now she’s been discovered she teleports away. The Doctor and Jabe go to reactivate the station’s shields which have been disabled. Jabe dies in the process but the Doctor manages to reach the override which turns the shields back on in the nick of time, saving the platform and the remaining guests. Returning to the main hall he brings back Cassandra to face the music and watches as she dries out and finally explodes.

After all that The Doctor takes Rose back to present day London where he tells her that his own planet was destroyed and he was the only surviver, the last of the Time Lords. Then they have chips, Rose pays.

They really went to town on the SFX on this one, the station, the sun, the burning Earth, Lady Cassandra. And the budget for the alien costumes must have been pretty steep too.

Doctor Who Confidential – “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” (part 1) and (part 3). Unfortunately part 2 currently has a muted soundtrack so there’s not much point watching it 🙁

Darth_Namialus : I really loved this episode. It helped introduce all the themes we’d meet later on (how Rose feels, the Timelords, sacrifice, and well, Rose could’ve died). The aliens were really nicely done here. The variety was so cool and also, a little bit weird.

I really liked Cassandra (yes, weird). She’s quite funny despite how disgusting she is. But was she really a fitting villain? I feel like Cassandra is the type of person who’d do little acts of crime here and there for her own self, not ransom a large group of important and influential people. Other than that, I liked her. Jabe was really great and was the first sad death of the new series (but we’d have many more later on). I felt bad for Rafalow, too. Honestly, this show is ruthless when it comes to characters. Are you the Doctor? No? Are you his companion? No? THEN GOODBYE.

The SFX was pretty good for a TV show in 2005, but nothing like we’ve come to expect now. But that’s okay, the fun story made up for it. Moisturize me!