Doctor Who: Bad Wolf (2005) - Review

The penultimate episode to the 2005 series of Doctor Who sees The Doctor (Christopher Eccleston), Rose (Billie Piper) and Cpt. Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) return to Satellite Five, where no longer are there any news broadcasts but game shows instead to keep the population of Earth entertained as they have no access to the news after The Doctor shut the system down 100 years before in the previous episode “The Long Game”, in which the TARDIS team end up killing the Jagrafess and the Editor. However, as the Controller of Satellite Five says, there are ‘masters’ who are in charge of the games that nobody knows about – and when you lose or get evicted from a game, you will actually die. This is a great premise for the story, and although it is out of date eight years later, as there is no more “The Weakest Link” and “Big Brother” is less popular and still just as awful as it was when it was created. The same goes for the makeover programme that Cpt. Jack enters, although the actors and actresses voicing their mechanical counterparts are the real people, which is great to watch, and although this story isn’t timeless, for those who were around and can remember 2005, it’s great fun to see, and this story is the ONLY reason that “The Weakest Link” and “Big Brother” should be around in 200,100AD. Those in future generations, however, won’t understand any of it, which is a pity.

While the mechanical presenters are entertaining and amusing to watch at first – in particular the Anne-Droid – they soon become very chilling as they begin to kill off contestants, and the less said about Cpt. Jack’s makeover, the better. The Doctor’s realisation of this fact is one of the highlights of the episode, and possibly even Doctor Who itself, as Christopher Eccleston proves himself to be a very capable and very good Doctor.

Eventually the Doctor manages to escape after not being disintegrated and he, Lynda (with a y) and Jack escape the game shows to save Rose. Just as they reach her though, she is disintegrated, which leads into the highlight of the entire series as great writing, direction and acting combine to make a powerful and brilliantly-made scene and Murray Gold’s score really matches the tone, without being too bombastic and over-the-top.

The three of them are captured by the guards and soon escape, beating up the guards in the process (which is pretty awesome) and heading off to Floor 500 – “with a gun!” As the programmers run for their lives, the Doctor confronts the Controller, and learns of her ‘masters’. What is also a tease is the alien computer code on the screen, matching the indent seen on the Dalek earlier in the series. Jack finds the TARDIS and soon works out that the disintegrator is in fact a trans-mat, and that “Rose is still alive”. The Controller is kidnapped and then killed by her masters, and Rose encounters the ‘masters’ through one of the most iconic shots in Doctor Who’s history – the Dalek point-of-view, seen in “Destiny of the Daleks” and “Remembrance of the Daleks” to name but a few.

The Daleks make their presence known to the Doctor and the others and keep Rose as their captive. The Doctor, however, decides that enough is enough and that he is going to wipe out the Daleks for good and rescue his companion, which is another highlight from Christopher Eccleston, and Russell T Davies’ writing. The episode ends with the Daleks ready to invade the station and, considering the budget they had for this series, it looks awesome and very iconic as the CGI almost looks like the real thing.

Overall the episode is very enjoyable, and although it is a product of its time, for people who remember 2005 it stands up very well and is a brilliant first part to the final story of the 2005 series. (10/10)