1)"Further than we've ever gone before." I liked this story OK, but I always thought that setting it in the year 5,000,000,000 was a bit much - not that the TARDIS couldn't go that far, but that it seemed unlikely to me that people that far in the future would remember New York, much less have a society even vaguely based on it. A thousand years, ten thousand even, but five billion? Nah. Even the largest elements of our world would be forgotten by then.
2)The early scene between Rose and the Doctor - when they're all gushing over each other - is a bit too saccharine to me. Our Russell has something of a tin ear for dialogue: He writes great stuff and stuff you can't imagine a real person saying, and doesn't seem to notice the difference. On the other hand, I did like some of the comedy bits - particularly the disinfection scene.
3)I liked the idea of the cat-nuns - they were well-realized. Sister Jatt is played by Adjoa Andoh, who would go on to play Martha Jones' mother.
4)I liked the Duke of Manhattan and his assistant, they were amusing. I like to think the Duke was visiting off-planet when the events that led up to "Gridlock" came to pass.
5)I've already had my say as to what of think of the secret identity of the Face of Boe, so I'll try not to repeat myself. I will say that I strongly suspect that our Russell hadn't thought up the idea by this point, to me, it just doesn't feel written to lead up to that. Although if it's true, then the reference to "the rest of Boekind" seems to imply that Jack fathered (?) a race at some point.
6)Good to see dear old Cassandra again, she's a fun villain. I liked seeing the other actors playing Cassandra as she possessed them one-by-one. I remember thinking when I first saw this, "What a pathetic ending, using your last breath to tell yourself how beautiful you are." Now I think she was playing fakey until the Doctor left so she could mind-shift into somebody else when he wasn't looking and will turn up again someday.
7)The effects when people were infected were particularly creepy.
8)I got a really tough time buying the idea of creating a "super-cure" by pouring a bunch of random medicines into a bucket. I realize we don't have three episodes for Jon Pertwee and Caroline John to work in a lab while UNIT holds off the Silurians these days, but it would've been nice if they'd come up with something a tad more plausible.
9)Some Fun Quotes:
- "The lady's moving on - goodbye, trampoline, and hello, blondie!"
- "I'm a chav!" - I had no idea what a "chav" was the first time I saw this.
- "It's like living inside a bouncy castle!" I believe a "storming the castle" joke is in order here.
- "I'm the Doctor and I cured them!"
Overall: A nice episode with a fun villain and some good horror scenes that maybe could've used a wee bit of tightening up on the writing.
Replies
“Oppel grahs” (apple grass) become something of a catch phrase around our house after we first saw this show.
I had totally forgotten the line about “the rest of Boekind” but really, that could mean almost anything. The line that stuck in my mind was “old friend” because at that point, the doctor had met the F. of B. a grand total of once. Even then I thought there’s a good deal of their future history still left untold, but by now we know J.H. cold have been referring to adventures (most of which still yet to be told) before he evolved.
I'm pretty sure there's a reference in an earlier episode - "The Long Game", I think - to the Face of Boe being "pregnant again".
Hmm...
Jack being omnisexual and fathering a race? Jack? I just can't see it. ;)
I loved the Cassandra ending being both horribly narcissistic and horribly sweet.
This was one of the few episodes of the series I've managed to see twice so far. I remember liking it a lot. For a "possession" or "mind-swapping" story, it must be the most "fun" one I've ever seen. Usually that type of story focuses mostly on people not believing it's happened, here's it's more like, "Give her back her body!!"
I don't know what to make of the whole "Face Of Boe" thing. I think the later "revelation" about Jack was nothing more than a SICK JOKE! Toying with the audience.
I still don't wanna say anything about "New Earth" until the sequel, because, I think, THAT's where what crossed my mind crossed my mind.
So, anyone else think this is supposed to be the SAME planet seen in "THE ARK" with William Hartnell?
The way it was presented in the show, it was left up to the audience to decide. But in one of the DVD extras, RTD stated it in no uncertain terms.
As soon as I was watching "THE END OF THE WORLD" (only the 2nd episode of the new show), it hit me that the story was directly connected with the old (and mostly-overlooked) Hartnell story-- which wasn't so much a 4-parter as 2 connected 2-parters.