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Boom Town Format Reviewed: TV/DVD Review With the badly kept secret of the season finale involving legions of Daleks to come and the excellent world war 2 story just complete, the single episode story Boom Town can be seen as somewhat of a filler. The story does provide series continuity and is essentially episode 3 of the earlier 2 parter Aliens of London and World War Three. I was quite critical of the previous Slitheen episodes, but I won't be too scathing about this one as there are some very nice touches. With BBC Wales being given the job of producing the new series, there was always going to be a lot of focus on locations in Wales. Cardiff is the location here again after the historical story The Unquiet Dead journeyed there during the Dickens era. The story also provides series continuity from this episode with the rift being the reason that the crew are there in the first place. Whether this provides the correct continuity for past series is less clear. We see here for the first time the new dynamic that has grown within the Tardis after the arrival of Captain Jack. Some time (figuratively speeking) has obviously passed between the end of The Doctor Dances and Boom Town and the Tardis crew seem to be well in tune with each other. This also leaves a lot of scope for the expanded universe of audio and books to take hold and provide yet more continuity. Mickey also appears here and it shows the change in his relationship with Rose. They clearly have a great deal of affection for each other but living totally separate lives is never going to work in a relationship. The discourse between Margaret Slitheen and the Doctor shows the depth of knowledge that Russel T Davies does have about Doctor Who though. The Doctor has always gone about business following his gooe hearts and a lot of innocents would have been killed or hurt in the process. This goes along the lines of the Tom Baker story Face of Evil where the Doctor has to face up to the consequences of his actions (even though he hasn't performed them yet). It is also reminiscent of the discourse between the Doctor and the Emperor Dalek in the season finale. Overall, Boom Town is a pleasant romp that provides linkage through all parts of the series. The action is mainly light hearted, but there are some very good character interactions, notably from Mickey and Margaret. Not a bad episode, b ut despite the quality of the content, will probably be seen as somewhat of a filler. Rating:  |