Doctor Who was never your average series.
Apart from the rather unique premise, DW attempted to juggle the development of characters while actually getting on with the story. Sometimes the character development backfired and got in the way of the story, and at other times there was too much story and not enough character development. Tom MacRae’s “Rise Of The Cybermen”/”The Age Of Steel” concluded beautifully last night by managing to do both of these things. There were a few episodes that I had to watch beforehand in writing this review, the first of which was Series One’s “Father’s Day”.
One of the many stories last year in which the companion got more time than the Doctor (Christopher Eccelston), Rose (Billie Piper) found herself with the opportunity to rescue her dad Pete from a fatal hit-and-run accident. After she did so, a hole in time was opened, which unfortunately brought creatures out that would eat up everything living in that period to correct the timeline. Of course the solution was obvious to the problem, but it provided a wonderful contrast for this year’s major two-parter.
In Rose’s real London, her father was a failure and bumbling, and according to his soon-to-be-widow Jackie (Camile Coduri), not a good husband either. Despite these realities bestowed upon Rose, her love was renewed when he sacrificed his life to correct the mistake that Rose made in changing her timeline. It seemed safe to say that any other attempts would cause too much pain for someone such as Rose.
Since the TARDIS is alive in some manner, this year’s two-parter might have been the result of it listening to her cries to see him again.
In “Rise Of The Cybermen”/”The Age Of Steel”, Pete Tyler (Shaun Dingwall) returned in an alternate London which the Doctor, Rose, and Mickey (Noel Clarke) land on when the time stream the TARDIS rides on disappears. In this version of Rose’s world, her father is a successful businessman who stumbled upon a popular flavored soda that caught the town by storm. This allows some influence in life as his company was part of Cyberus industries –- a place that would be responsible for the return of one of the Doctor’s greatest enemies, The Cybermen.
Unknown to its owner and chief, John Lumic, Pete was also living a double life as an agent for a secret underground group (which happened to be lead by Mickey’s alternate, Rickey). These actions were a rather far cry from the “Father’s Day” Pete that I saw last year. But even in last night’s episode, Jackie still couldn’t stand him and even separated from him despite his success.
It’s interesting to watch this arc come to an end, because it gave an unexpected closure for Rose. In both episodes, she reunited with her father and both times he ended up leaving her -– almost as if to say that no matter what time you are in, some relations can never be fixed or rekindled. That brings me to “School Reunion” in which Mickey did a complete 180 and became more of a useful character.
When Sarah Jane (Elizabeth Sladen) asked where he stood in the group, he discovered he was basically K9, but in human form. I don’t exactly agree with that sentiment because Mickey under another writer can be used for much more than comic relief and Jimmy Olsening. Just look at this two-parter and “The Girl In The Fireplace” for examples. Despite what I think about how he felt, him leaving the show was beautiful. Not only was a black hero once again introduced into science fiction, but he wasn’t an overtly jokey sort. He was made into something of a real person.
The only question now, that had been asked in “School Reunion”, is whether The Doctor and Rose could stay together forever in time and space? The answer is rather obvious, but I’ll let the behind-the-scenes people deal with that issue.
Having only seen the Cybermen in clips on various documentaries, they do appear to be more menacing than the Daleks. I do think they would be even more so if they could drop the whole “Delete!” thing that is a direct copy-cat of “Exterminate!” I suppose that’s part of the charm of both: at first corny, but ultimately sinister.
David Tennant also shines here with the crisp and clear language he was given in “The Girl In The Fireplace.” For the first three episodes of Series Two, he appeared to be babbling on without really making much sense. Under the muse of Tom MacRae, he honed in on the actor’s ability to be charming while adding in a bit of Christopher Eccelston’s intensity. Come to think of it, this would have been the episode that would have kept him around for another year if it was given to him.
Let’s hope things get this impressive for the next Cybermen two-parter at the end of the season.
Posted by Matthew at May 24, 2006 04:44 AM | TrackBack