Doctor Who Series 1 Episode 12 - Bad Wolf (Part 1) - Review

Starring: Christopher Eccleston, Billie Piper, John Barrowman & Jo Joyner

Written By: Russell T Davies

Directed By: Joe Ahearne

 

Over the course of Doctor Who's first revived series, showrunner Russell T Davies has shepherded the show through some incredible highs as well as the odd low. But now, as the series draws to a close, all eyes are on him as he serves up his first series finale with Bad Wolf and The Parting Of The Ways. The result? Let's take a look...

 

The Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack each wake up to find that they have been placed inside a deadly gameshow. The Doctor has found himself in the Big Brother house, while Rose faces the Anne Droid on The Weakest Link and Jack is featuring on What Not To Wear with the robots Trine-e and Zu-Zana. As the games go on, all three of them realize that there is something more sinister behind them and not all contestants survive. They each manage to break out of their own game, only to find that it is the Daleks behind the games. Ordinarily, I wouldn't spoil the fact that it was the Daleks in charge of the games, as it would have been a great twist. However, the show itself stupidly spoilt this turn of events in last week's next time trailer at the end of Boom Town. Who on earth thought it was a good idea to reveal this in the trailer? This is something that really bugs me, but then again it's not exactly Bad Wolf's fault, so I won't hold it against the episode.

 

First things first, the episode kicks off well with a brilliant and quite original concept …. Killer Gameshows. This might sound ridiculous, but it actually turned out to be really intriguing and entertaining. Some choices of gameshow I really liked, such as the futuristic The Weakest Link (with the Anne Droid being a great pun!). However, I'm not a lover of most reality shows, so the idea of the Doctor being in the Big Brother house didn't sit well with me. Neither did the idea of Captain Jack being on a fashion show. Still, that's just a personal thing and I can see many other enjoying it. As great as the idea of killer gameshows is, it raises one fairly big problem. An audience in 2005 can relate to the shows used as they are firmly placed in the public eye. But can an audience in ten or twenty years do the same? By about 2025, will audience be as aware of the names Trinny and Susanna? Will Big Brother still be as popular (I hope not!)? At the time, these concepts may be great, but I can see it dating this episode considerably in the future.

 

On the futuristic version of The Weakest Link, the new host is the Anne Droid. Thanks to the fact that Anne Robinson is so iconic, the Anne Droid makes for a chilling yet entertaining villain. It was also great to see how the Doctor, Rose and Jack interacted with each game, particularly the Doctor when he sees Crosbie's eviction. John Barrowman was also enjoyable to watch with his hijinks with Trine-E and Zu-Zana. And while Billie Piper was good as Rose, the character herself was just terrible in The Weakest Link. When the first round begins, why is she laughing at everyone? Rose just needs to look at the other contestants and see how worried they are! It isn't until the first contestant is eliminated that the scene becomes much more tense.

 

There are some great and surprising ties to past episodes here, particularly The Long Game, which we learn acted as a bit of a prequel to this two-parter. What I particularly liked about this move was the opportunity to see the consequences of the Doctor's previous actions. It's interesting to see that the Doctor's intervention doesn't always have positive effects. It's a rare but welcome thing to see in Doctor Who and Christopher Eccleston is brilliant in convincing the audience of the emotional dilemma that the Doctor ends up suffering.

 

As the Doctor and Jack explore the Game Station, they learn more about the games. One of the most haunting aspects of this episode was the controller, a woman plugged into the heart of the ship and controlled by unseen masters. As for other supporting characters, the Male and Female programmers are enjoyable to watch and provide some light romance and humour to lighten things up. Probably the most important supporting character was Lynda. Lynda and the Doctor share some great moments, particularly when the Doctor convinces her to leave the Big Brother house with him. Lynda is a likeable character that doesn’t seem to have enough confidence in herself, but is actually much better than she thinks. This makes her the kind of character that I find really relatable.

 

Now for what should have been the big twist ending. Honestly, if it hadn't been so horribly spoiled in the next time trailer, this twist could have been up there with the return of the Cybermen in Earthshock. The confrontation between the Doctor and the Daleks is without doubt the best scene of the episode as well as the entire series so far. During this confrontation, Christopher Eccleston makes you believe that the Doctor can defeat an entire battle fleet of Daleks, and without any defences, weapons or a plan. We know that logically the Doctor would be exterminated by the first Dalek he saw, but Christopher Eccleston’s performance is so powerful that we really believe he can do this. We can see that the Daleks that are absolutely terrified because of the Doctor, and who can blame them? The final scenes are absolutely terrific as half a million terrified Daleks prepare for war with a single man. This is perhaps Doctor Who's best cliff-hanger. That is how you do it!

 

In conclusion, Bad Wolf isn’t the perfect start to a finale, and there is the odd flaw to be found. However, these flaws are ultimately put in the shade when you look at how much more the episode gets right. The concepts are (for their time) strikingly original and the Anne Droid is just inspired. The Long Game finally has some worth in the series and Bad Wolf gives us a reason to avoid skipping the episode when we go back and watch the boxset. The episode even has potentially one of the best cliff-hangers in Doctor Who’s history, and easily the best scene of this series so far. Bad Wolf may just be half of a story, but my hopes are very high for next week. We'll have to wait and see if it will pay off.
Find my review of Part 2 here: https://ojgreviews.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/doctor-who-series-1-episode-13-parting.html

 

 

Bad Wolf



9/10

 So far ...