New Who Finales in Perspective: Series 2
Guest contributor Lewis Hurst continues the series looking back over all the New Who finales, this time with Series 2.
Oh Army of Ghosts/Doomsday. What is about you that divides the fanbase so? A heavy focus on a divisive romance? RTD’s weakest arc? The Cybermen being overshadowed by the Daleks? The much hyped Dalek/Cyberman face-off playing second fiddle to Rose and her departure? Whatever it is, you can sometimes toss the word “Doomsday” into any discussion being held by Doctor Who fans and wait for the fireworks. Unlike other divisive series finales (The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End and The Wedding of River Song spring to mind) fans seem unable to find middle ground on Army of Ghosts/Doomsday, well, apart from agreeing Murray Gold is an absolute musical genius. But all that’s neither here nor there. I’m here to talk about my personal opinion of these two episodes, and by Rassilon I’m going to give it.
Coming on the back of a series which, apart from a prophetic taunt by the Beast and a few mentions of Torchwood, had little to no arc presence over the course of the series, Army of Ghosts/Doomsday had to suitably set up the big plot of the finale and then resolve it in two episodes. And it does so rather well. Army of Ghosts is a joy to watch, despite it simply being an extended first act for the main story. This is how you do a two part story. Have the first part devoted to a slow burning plot as things slowly bubble up but allow us to spend lots of time with the Doctor, his companion and supporting characters so we care about them once things go to hell (quite literally) in the following episode.
The mystery of the Ghosts coming through the void is an intriguing one and it’s enthralling to see the Doctor at work trying to solve it, even if the answer is pretty clear to the audience. Indeed, this is one of the times in Doctor Who where the audience is several steps ahead of the Doctor. We’ve seen the Cybermen. We know they’re involved. We know they’re almost certainly behind the Ghosts. But the Doctor doesn’t. It creates a nice bit of tension across the episode as we wonder if the Doctor is going to solve it in time. However, this is a two part story, so of course he doesn’t. The Cybermen succeed and begin their (admittedly rather poorly thought out) invasion of Earth. And then there’s the Sphere. On first watch, I, like many others including the Doctor, assumed the Sphere contained a Cyber-Leader/King/Controller/Emperor whatever. I didn’t expect the Daleks. And it’s a very masterful twist on Russell T. Davies’ part. Instead of a simple Cyberman invasion, we’ve now got two invasions going on at the same time. The Cybermen and the Daleks. And it’s only a matter of time before the two invading forces meet. It remains to this day one of the best cliff-hangers of the revival.
It’s rather easy to draw parallels between Army of Ghosts/Doomsday and the Series 8 finale Dark Water/Death in Heaven. Both featured a heavily publicised Cyberman invasion, a less publicised threat (The Daleks for Army of Ghosts/Doomsday, Missy for Dark Water/Death in Heaven) and uncertainty about the fate of the Doctor’s companion (Rose had been told she would die in battle, Clara’s fate is uncertain beyond the finale).
Then we get onto Doomsday. Now, personally, I love Doomsday. It’s fast paced, enthralling, features a few surprise moments and ends with a bittersweet ending. Everything I look for in a finale. Yes, the Dalek/Cyberman face off is pushed to the side, but it gets enough focus for it to make an impact. For me anyway. There’s only so many times you can watch the Daleks and Cybermen screech “Exterminate” and “Delete” at each other before it becomes repetitive. By limiting the amount of times we see the two icons fight, it makes the moments we do see them fight all the more memorable. The debate of “Who would win in a fight? Daleks or Cybermen?” has been raging since the 60’s. It’s still an absolute joy to see it unfold on screen. Plus, as a Dalek fanboy myself, it’s nice to see Russell being firmly in the Dalek camp by having them being the determined winners of the conflict. Although, with their post Nightmare in Silver upgrade, perhaps the Cybermen could put up more of a fight in a future battle. If you’re stuck for ideas for Series 9 Moffat, perhaps we could have Daleks vs. Cybermen round 2? Please?
The supporting cast of the story is very hit and miss. Mickey is back and is welcome, even if at times it feels as if he’s only there so Rose has someone to talk to that isn’t a Dalek in the first half of Doomsday. Jackie is a welcome addition, filling the “companion” role in Rose’s absence and having a very different relationship with the Doctor than Rose which is a lot of fun to watch as well as having some of the most quotable lines of the entire story. “If we end up on Mars, I’m going to kill you.” Pete Tyler is back and has a touching “reunion” with Jackie. Can we call it a reunion since they’re from different universes and thus have never met? He’s a nice addition but ultimately feels like he’s there so Rose and Jackie have a happy ending when they’re trapped. Jake, look, I’m going to be perfectly honest, I have no idea why Jake is in this story. Don’t get me wrong, I like Jake, but he feels expendable. And he doesn’t even die like most expendable characters. He’s just…there. Yvonne however is a marvellous character. Her patriotism is so powerful, it overpowers the Cyber programming allowing her to fight back and give the Doctor and Rose those precious few minutes to enact their plan and save the day. She’s a brilliant character and one I think is often overlooked.
Moving on, we get onto the conclusion. Yes, I admit the idea of pulling a lever and sending all the Daleks and Cybermen to hell is a teensy bit of a cop out. But hey, at least it wasn’t the entire population of Earth praying for the Doctor and giving him magical powers through means that are never explained apart from satellites. And anyway, the scene is perhaps one of the tensest moments in Doctor Who history. No one knows what’s going to happen next (on first viewing anyway) leading to heart in your mouth drama as Rose slowly loses her grip. And it’s probably one of the best scenes of the RTD era of Doctor Who. Perhaps even slightly better than THE scene everyone remembers this episode for.
On the subject of the Doctor and Rose, it’s interesting to note that despite this story focusing on their relationship, they’re separated for a majority of it. As soon as they arrive at Torchwood, the Doctor and Rose are apart until halfway through Doomsday. That’s almost an entire episode (screen time wise) that they’re apart. And then, just when they’ve reunited, they’re torn apart forever. Wow. And people say Moffat likes breaking the hearts of fans.
Now, the Doctor and Rose romance is probably the most divisive thing about this story. Those that like the romance enjoy the story and those who don’t seem to hate it. Me, I’m on the fence about the romance mainly because unlike other romances in Doctor Who, such as Amy and Rory or the Doctor and River or Clara and Danny for example, it didn’t grow naturally. Instead it feels forced. Throughout Series 1 and 2, we got the sense the Doctor and Rose liked each other and there was a bit of playful flirting, but it never got beyond that so for it to suddenly be a fully fledged romance in this story is a little jarring. That said, I do love the episode.
The beach scene is a beautifully written and acted scene, regardless of your opinion on the romance. Bad Wolf Bay (or is Alfava Metraxis? Or the engine room of the Silurian Ark?) is a beautiful location and the perfect setting for this tearful farewell. The dialogue here is just great. Rose and the Doctor know they have to say goodbye, yet both of them painfully avoid saying it meaning they never get a chance to. It’s rather tragic. And of course, the fact we’ll never know what the Doctor was going to say to Rose when the link ended. Now I know it’s meant to be “I love you” but there’s every chance it might not. It’s at least worthy of a snog as Series 4 proves. As we leave Rose on that beach she’s given the perfect bittersweet ending. She has a new life, a rich family and is most importantly alive but is separated from the man she loves forever. Shame about Series 4’s changing of that ain’t it?
So, Army of Ghosts/Doomsday is…actually very good. Brilliant even. It hits all the right notes and emerges as one of the strongest finales of the RTD era. It’s an excellent 90 minutes of drama, regardless of my thoughts on some aspects of it. So yes. That’s my opinion on Army of Ghosts/Doomsday. An excellent piece of television drama which deserves most of the praise it receives.
Rating
The following ratings were achieved by taking a sample of ten people and getting them to rate the finales by each of the five criteria assigning a rating out of ten to each. This allowed us to come up with an average for each of the categories and then an average score for the episode. Whilst ten is quite a small sample size, regression to the mean was beginning to show. The results for this finale are as follows:
- Episode Score – 8.00/10
- Finale Rating – 7.55/10
- Monster Score – 6.85/10
- Arc Resolution – 7.10/10
- Character Development – 7.95/10
This gives the episode an average score of: 7.53/10. This means that the leader board now looks like this:
- Series 1 – 9.40/10
- Series 2 – 7.53/10
Join us tomorrow for Series 3!
