|
Bad Wolf Format Reviewed: TV/DVD Review The new series has really been leading up to this story, a final two parter involving all of the regular and semi-regular cast and the Daleks. All the continuity in the series so far is tied in here with the Bad Wolf linking narrative appearing in most stories in some shape or form and the past visit to Satellite 5 all contributing to what should be a spectacular finale. The extrapolation of TV manipulating people to the degree that they accept anything that happens, even being harvested at random by teleport to become Daleks, a good idea. I really enjoyed the beginning scenes with the Big Brother, What Not to Wear and Weakest Link gameshows being played out to deadly effect. It's a nice thought to be able to look at what seems to be relatively benign cheap TV of the early 21st century and extrapolate that out to it being used for sinister purposes by an unknown force. This is similar to the underlying message from the Colin Baker story Vengeance on Varos but by using the direct correlation of todays reality TV and gameshows is particularly appealing for me. The guest cast is well chosen once more, with the gameshow contestants giving realistic performances. It is also worthy of note that the Doctors romantic side comes out again as he appears to be attracted somewhat to Lynda with a Y. Russel T Davies achieves this well and we see that the Doctor is awkward with these feelings which gives good continuity really. The main performance of note though in the guest cast was Martha Cope's portrayal of the Controller. It can't have been an easy role to play and I though she was delightful, perhaps shouldn't have been quite so nimble on her feet after years of being trussed up, but that's not her fault! What also came saccross very well was the depth of feeling between the recurring characters of the Doctor, Captain Jack and Rose. If they didn't get on off-screen, they hid it very well and I would guess they had a ball whilst filming a lot of the series. For me, Captain Jack is possibly the strongest character there though as he has an effervescent personality that shines though in all his scenes. I might even argue that he is a stronger personality that Christopher Eccleston, but it might be touch and go there. Eccleston has a dark quality about him (generally and on-screen) that really fits well with the way Russel T Davies has guided this series. The action in this episode licks along at a fair pace, and does captivate the viewer for the duration. Also, in this one instance, the presence of the next episode teaser in the end credits only served to heighten my anticipation of what was to come. I couldn't get enough of the daily teasers that were released during the week running up to the final episode, and Bad Wolf certainly adds to this and gives the story a big return appeal. Overall, the story links in so many of the storylines from previous episodes very well and serves up a great prelude to the series finale. This episode really captured the imagination of the general Who fan base and started so many theories of what would happen and what Bad Wolf really meant. This was Russel T Davies best script of the series so far without a doubt for me. Rating:  |