Today has just been a roller coaster from start to finish. Nothing truly awful, just a plethora of frustrations mixed with some pretty cool stuff. Focusing on the positive: I was offered a role in another show, which was very flattering, but I had to turn it down because the dates conflicted with the show I am doing at Orlando Fringe this year. As problems go, turning down a really awesome show because I am already doing a different really awesome show is a pretty good one to have.I have an audition on Monday for yet another show, and hopefully that will go well. I also took my guitar to a luthier today to have it re-fretted, so for the next week or so I have my emergency backup guitar. Which, after years of playing one specific instrument, it just doesn't feel right to have a different one in my hands. The tone is all wrong. But again, focusing on the awesome, a week from now I will have my good guitar back in my hands and it will play beautifully. So that's pretty cool, too. As for the other frustrations of the day, well, they will pass. It's all good.

But my day started off with Doctor Who, and that's always awesome. So let's talk about that.

The End of the World

(TARDIS Data Core recap)

It's still very early days for NuWho, and structurally where Rose served the function of re-introducing the Doctor and setting up the style of the show, The End of the World serves the function of introducing the "far future science fiction with aliens" template for the show. Tomorrow's episode will go the other direction, but I'll get to that, well, tomorrow. Once again, producer and writer Russel T. Davies uses a deft hand to create an engaging story that is really, at its heart, just an info-dump to introduce viewers to important series concepts and to expand on character elements and motivations.

Davies very specifically chose to keep the entire fist season grounded on and around Earth, but here introduces multiple alien species and a space platform in Earth orbit. The story is set in the very distant future, on the last day of Earth's existence. A bunch of rich aliens come to view the planet's demise from the safety of a shielded viewing platform, and then of course Things Go Wrong until the Doctor does a Very Clever Thing.

Lots of big ongoing plot elements are introduced here. It has the first appearance of Psychic Paper, which is mostly a deus ex machina the writers can use to shorthand the early part of a story and place the Doctor in a position of authority in any given situation. This episode also has the first explicit mention of the Time War, and the introduction of the idea that the Doctor is not just a Time Lord but actually the last Time Lord. From the standpoint of bringing the show to a brand new audience, this is effectively the jettisoning of a ton of historical baggage to simplify the character, while also giving him some useful angsty inner conflict. Win/win.

The story also takes a harder look at what it is like for a new companion to join the Doctor. Historically, new companions might get a brief disoriented "bigger on the inside" TARDIS moment, but from then on they are written as being just fine with the travels. Here, instead, Rose accepts the Doctor's invitation to travel with him, and is initially giddy with excitement until the reality of the situation sinks in. Again, very deft writing and it gives Rose some useful angsty inner conflict.

The most significant thing for me in this story, though, is the resolution. In Classic Who there is never much dwelling on any innocent bystanders who die in whatever conflict is happening. Here, though, two things happen in rapid succession: first, after the big disaster is averted it is shown that actually a great many innocent bystanders died horribly and the survivors are staggered by the death toll around them. Second, the Doctor allows the saboteur Cassandra to die horribly as a punishment for her crime even though he could have easily saved her. The Doctor in this moment is a soldier suffering from PTSD, still emotionally crippled by the horrors of the Great Time War. The simple truth is, the Doctor needs Rose for her compassion and humanity, to keep him from losing himself. It's not quite the Lonely God persona that will come later, but it's certainly a preview of that trend.

There's still another three episodes of this kind of world/character building, where the structure and series elements are still being laid out and solidified. They are all enjoyable enough on their own terms, but it's really the back half of the season where the show begins to shine. I'm looking forward to getting there.

STATS:

Doctor(s): Ninth
Companion(s): Rose Tyler, Jackie Tyler
Episode(s): The End of the World
Steps Walked: 7,508 today, 2,542,498 total
Distance Walked: 4.10 miles today, 1,319.11 miles total
Push-ups Completed: 38 today, 283 total
Weight: 250.18 lbs (five day moving average), net change -57.12 lbs