| BOOM TOWN by Russell T Davies |
| Story 9 Synopsis: The Doctor parks the TARDIS on the site of the Rift in the centre of Cardiff. The sealing caused a scar, and he wants to use this to power the TARDIS. Mickey arrives to see Rose. The Doctor finds the new Mayor is the last of the Slitheen. He notes her plan to build a nuclear power station on the site of the Rift. She plans to use the power from the Rift to propel her away from Earth, destroying the planet in the process. He says he'll take her back to her home planet. She says she is a condemned murderer, and returning her will kill her. Her plan to open the Rift is triggered by the TARDIS, and she threatens to kill Rose. Power from within the TARDIS restores the Slitheen to being an egg, whilst the Rift is closed again. The Doctor plans to take the Slitheen egg back home, to give it another chance. |
| Review:- The advance billing for this episode was very teasing - the return of an old enemy whom the Doctor thought dead. There was much speculation over whom it would be - but very few guessed it would be just a Slitheen. With a silly plan. With a present day story on Earth, there's a chance to see Mickey again, and he seems as estranged from Rose as she does from him. His perspective throws some interesting light on Captain Jack, but he's only really here for a bit of comic effect. Which is a shame. Unfortunately, so much (too much) of this story is given over to dialogue scenes. Endless drab dialogue scenes. Now, some of these are fine, RTD's gift for amusing little speech devices does not desert him, but dreary monologues on justice for killers is really very dull, and is often presented with no sparkle, as if the words are enough. For possibly the first time whilst watching a story, I checked my watch a few times, as there was nothing happening to hold my interest. I freely confess that Annette Badland is one of my very least favourite actresses, so the chance to see her again was a glum prospect, but where Aliens of London/World War Three had a decent plot and a hefty cast to carry it, this episode had neither. Indeed, it had cheapness writ large, from the small cast to the limited plot action. Possibly the most obvious condemnation is the brief "Bad Wolf" interlude, where the Doctor explicitly draws it to the attention of anyone in the audience who isn't following the shape of this arc. Then he dismisses it in what generally is done a lot more sharply in television. The return of the Rift suggested the return of the Gelth, but they're wholly absent, meaning the drama just centres on the Slihteen's one plan to escape Earth. This does at least justify the title, and the brief drama of Cardiff's streets cracking up justified that also, but the resolution is so lame as to be worthless. The Doctor is impotent, and the TARDIS zaps the Slitheen, reducing her to an egg, so she can have a second chance at life. What pathetic crap. This makes the rubbish about trusting the Dalek seem harmless by comparison. Then again, the amusement created by calling the Slitheen planet Raxacoricofallapatorius seems to take precedence over anything else. On the whole, this was an attempt at a talk-not-action episode, perhaps akin to The Edge Of Destruction, but let down by an underachieving end. Not one of this season's better episodes. |
| Disclaimer: I have watched this story. |