Bad Wolf

Dear Gary—

“The human race; brainless sheep . . .” Will someone please tell me why the Doctor bothers with us?

The Doctor finds himself back on Satellite Five 100 years after the events of The Long Game only to find that “history’s gone wrong again.” With a sinking feeling, the Doctor realizes that the game show of death mentality of the supposed Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire is his fault, the result of his previous actions.

Now Gary, I have to note that this concept of the Doctor’s previous actions impacting badly on the future has been explored before, in both The Ark and The Face of Evil. However, Bad Wolf never seriously explores this idea. It throws it out as a handy plot device, a neat story arc, and a brief ‘what did I do’ moment for the Doctor. But the results in this case are just too preposterous.  The news channels shut down overnight and the human race falls apart? The government, the economy, the social order? All gone because cable news goes dark? Maybe the Doctor should just throw up his hands and leave us to our pitiful selves.

But of course he won’t do that. Although, when I think about it that is exactly what he did at the end of The Long Game. He shut down the news and walked away, which in and of itself is fine and dandy. What he failed to do, however, was to dig deeper into the what and why and how of Satellite Five. He took the easy answers and left it at that. Bad Wolf does the same. It gives us the easy, paint by numbers explanation that the Doctor shut down production and the Daleks swooped in and replaced the news with deadly game shows. How they accomplished this or why is another matter. Apparently the human race can accept being disintegrated if it’s all in fun, and no one is going to ask any questions or protest. But really, what are the Daleks getting out of this? They have been manipulating the human race for centuries, why? Questions will be answered eventually in this two parter, but not satisfactorily. So I’ll hold off until they are addressed, although by then the fun and games will long be forgotten.

Let me address the games, though, before they are left behind. They are rather entertaining, even if unoriginal. There is a bit of the Vengeance on Varos feel to Bad Wolf; maybe someday I’ll revisit both for a comparison. For now I’ll just comment that Wolf could benefit from a little of the Greek Chorus in Varos while Varos could benefit from a little of the Doctor’s concern in Wolf.

The Doctor is thrown into one of the Big Brother houses and his reactions rapidly evolve from disorientation to disbelief to disdain to dismay. “Are you insane?” he asks housemate Lynda with a Y. “Is it that important, getting your face on the telly? Is it worth dying for?” The Doctor goes into full action mode, reckless but decisive. It is exactly that emotional unpredictability factor that plays perfectly against Dalek rigidity.

Captain Jack, on the other hand, dives head first into the fun of his What Not to Wear segment. His lighthearted approach makes for the most amusing moments in Bad Wolf, and the casual way in which he dispatches his murderous makeover mavens is a suitably organic outcome of the hilarity.

Finally we have Rose, appropriately enough in The Weakest Link. It has some mild entertainment value but drags on too long, with Rose going from inane laughter to anxious sweating as she begins to realize the danger she faces. The long, awkward pauses as each contestant winces under Anne Droid’s interrogation and the endless list of absurd, fortuitous, and mundane questions become rather dull after a while.

Keeping the edge off of the mediocrity are the Doctor, Jack, and Lynda with a Y as they make their way out of their respective games, find each other, and look for Rose and some answers. Meanwhile on a repurposed floor 500 Davtich Pavale and his coworker notice something amiss in the games. (I have to wonder, though, why Rose having fits of the giggles is of note; surely in all of the thousands of shows beaming out over ten thousand channels there have been hysterical contestants before now.) Some nice character moments come out of these various groupings though.

Mixed in with all of this we get the emergence of the big Bad Wolf. Good thing the Doctor spelled it out for us and for Rose in Boom Town; I know I would not have gotten the significance of the corporation name otherwise, and I doubt that Rose would either. The Doctor and Rose both come to the conclusion that someone has been manipulating them. However the someone who has brought them to the games is not one and the same with Bad Wolf; rather it is the Controller.

The Controller brings up some more murky questions; like, what the heck? Who is this ghostly chick who has to stand all of her days hooked up to a bunch of cables? How did she get there? Did she volunteer or was she forced? How exactly is she running the games? What kind of warped technology needs this living creature to feed entertainment to the masses? What happens if she keels over? Do all the billions of TVs suddenly go to a ‘please stand by’ screen?

And then there are the real questions. How did she learn of the Doctor; and if the Daleks can read her thoughts, how did she learn of him, much less hatch her plan, without the Daleks finding out? Why did she bother transporting Rose and Jack along with the Doctor? And since she did transport them all, why didn’t she keep them together? How is it that she knows what the Daleks are up to? And if she really wants to defeat the Daleks, couldn’t she simply unhook herself if she really is the essential cog in this madhouse of machinery?

The whole thing is one big grand master design, but it’s not designed very well. Start following a thread and the plot unravels; unplug the Controller and it all falls apart. Then again, it is Doctor Who; it is so cleverly designed that the questions whiz by with the action.

With the apparent death of Rose and the revelation of the army of Daleks no one even remembers The Long Game or the charnel house of entertainment or the Controller or the helpless herd of humanity sitting glassy eyed in front of blank TV screens.

Because with the apparent death of Rose and the revelation of the army of Daleks, what we get is an angry and motivated Doctor full of reckless determination. He and Jack are in perfect synch (and again, what a loss that we never get more of this Ninth Doctor and Jack) as they break free from their jailors and storm floor 500.

The Doctor gives orders with authority even as he throws his weapon to Pavale. (“Oh, don’t be so thick. Like I was ever going to shoot.”) From here on in he utters curt questions and commands, cutting to the heart of things. Then when Jack emerges from the TARDIS with the miraculous news that Rose is alive, simply transported to some place unknown, the Doctor acts with renewed hope and invigorated resolve.  Using information obtained from the Controller, the Doctor exposes the Daleks and stares them down.

Doctor: “No.”

Dalek: “Explain yourself.”

Doctor: “I said no.”

Dalek: “What is the meaning of this negative?”

Doctor: “It means no.”

The Daleks are flummoxed. This is not an expected response. They are at a loss.

Against all odds the Doctor proclaims, “Because this is what I’m going to do. I’m going to save Rose Tyler from the middle of the Dalek fleet; and then I’m going to save the Earth; and then, just to finish off, I’m going to wipe every last stinking Dalek out of the sky!”

All questions are swept aside; all expressions of disbelief are forgotten. The Doctor is going to save the day and that is a matter of fact.

With the echo of “Exterminate, exterminate, exterminate” ringing in our ears, we are left hanging; but we are left with no doubts. The Doctor is going to save Rose Tyler, and then he is going to save the Earth, and then he is going to finish off the Daleks.

The Doctor’s reckless defiance is infectious. Who has any questions?

Gary . . . ?