166) BAD WOLF/THE PARTING OF THE WAYS

The first series finale of the revived series - how will it fare? Despite the story losing its pace at various points, the whole production is awe-inspiring. The opening is intriguing with the main character all playing a version of popular British game shows. The Big Brother sets are the most realistic, while The Weakest Link segment is the most engaging. The What Not to Wear sets are a little bland, but the Zu-Zana and Trine-E robots are marvellous in design and voice acting from their perspective human counterparts. Their exploding heads at the end add some humour and shock tactics to the story. The Anne-Droid has all the qualities of an excellent robot antagonist - a chilling voice, sinister blank facial expression, slow but deadly movement and a horrific hidden weapon. The surprise reveal of Satellite Five is both satisfying and genuinely worthy of coming back for another couple of episodes. However, there are too many FX Shot of the Satellite with recycled footage coming from 'The Long Game' - a little bit lazy for a series finale. The acting is once again top-notch. Billie Piper is on top form during her scenes on the Weakest Link sets. Her reactions to being on the show are stupidity enjoyable while her actions when she discovers what happens to the 'weakest link' makes her a good strong character. Both disgusted with the game and herself for being associated with it brings out the very best in her. On the other hand, we have Paterson Joseph playing Roderick who at first isn't a villain, merely a scared human only doing what it takes to survive. His reactions to Fitch's 'death' slowly followed by Broff's shows that deep down, he takes no pride in sending people to their 'deaths'. However, his real side comes to light while demanding his money after winning his deadly game of survival. Christopher Eccleston has more moments of brilliance - his transition from being arrogant to enraged after, discovering the nature of the Big Brother game again shows his attitude towards the loss of life. His best moment comes when The Doctor once again realises that sometimes his intentions to put things right may not always end with happy results. His blank stare over the ravaged world makes him a likeable character who can realise that sometimes he isn't always right. The climax to 'Bad Wolf' feels like one big space adventure. Countless spaceships with thousands of mad Daleks on board with the awesome spine-chilling chorus drags viewers right into the action. The Emperor Dalek is a thing of beauty in its design and voice deliveries from the once again brilliant Nicholas Briggs. The nature of the Daleks being half-human is both haunting and somewhat traumatising at the same time. The way they glide into Floor 500 in their masses creates images of infinite power and unimaginable levels of danger. The purpose of a series finale is to wrap up its arch story. The mysterious words Bad Wolf which appear in every serial, comes to a boiling point in this heart-pounding story. The scene with the time vortex pouring into Rose in such infinite amounts is the most beautifully shot scene of the series. Rose, in her Bad Wolf form, is another thing of winsomeness. Her elegant, goddess-like persona with incredible powers - halting a Dalek's ray gun, spreading the words of Bad Wolf across time and space, turning the Daleks into dust and resurrecting Captain Jack is so mind-boggling. Her performance is so peaceful and intimidating at the same time. Other little touches of film-making magic come in all shapes and sizes. The silent cry of 'exterminate' in space, the regeneration of The Doctor, the close-up shots of the twitching Dalek eyestalk while staring at The Doctor makes the finale worth the wait. With an excellent first series, expectations will be set high for series two and beyond with the show's new Doctor. *****