Doctor Who Series 1 Episode 12: Bad Wolf

Director:

Joe Ahearne

(Strange, Ultraviolet, This Life)

Screenplay:

(Casanova, The Second Coming, Bob & Rose, Queer As Folk)

Cast:

Synopsis: The Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack are forced to fight for theirlives aboard a satellite known as “Game Station”. But a far more dangerousthreat is lurking out in space…

Doctor Who’s hectic, often confused, yet always entertaining season draws toa close with Bad Wolf, the first of a climactic two-part episode. After arecap of the events in The Long Game – The Doctor wakes up to find himselfthe imprisoned star of a futuristic version of Big Brother. Similarly, Rosebecomes an unwitting contestant on The Weakest Link (complete with roboticAnne Robinson as host), while Captain Jack becomes the star of a reality TVmake-over show with android versions of Trinny & Susannah.

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Bad Wolf is definitely the most unfocused episode of the season, againcoming from the perpetually disappointing mind of Russell T. Davies. Theepisode contains three elements that all become less than the sum of theirparts. First, the story is undoubtedly designed to be a satirical swipe at”dumbed down” 21st-Century television – but the concept is so utterlyembarrassing and woefully obvious in its spoofing to be rendered toothless.You truly haven’t seen anything quite so awful as The Doctor sitting in BigBrother’s Diary Room Chair… and realizing this isn’t a Comic Reliefparody, but a genuine entry into the annals of Who history…

Second, as denoted by the title, this episode finally reveals the continualoccurrence of the phrase ‘Bad Wolf’ throughout the season. This angle hasbeen a ghostly linchpin of the 13-episode run; appearing as graffiti, ahelicopter call-sign, a TV channel logo, a piece of poster art, etc.Consequently, BAD WOLF became the source of much speculation from fans as toits meaning. As you should perhaps of expected, the answer to the conundrumis a huge disappointment and actually quite erroneous (sorry, no spoilers,but you’ll feel the same letdown feeling, I assure you…)

Thirdly, at the risk of giving away the episode’s “saving grace” (as itwere), Bad Wolf sees the re-emergence of The Daleks in all theirexterminating glory – in the final five minutes. The fact this momentousoccasion for audiences is tacked on to a superfluous “spoof/comedy” episodeis yet another badly judged decision from writer-producer Davies.

On the plus side, after wading through the quagmire of Anne Robinson (orAnne Droid, geddit?) disintegrating “weakest links”, and watching JohnBarrowman pose his way through a trite make-over show, the final ten minutesdo manage to elicit a sense of action and fun – as The Doctor, Rose andCaptain Jack confront the Controller of the TV station satellite and realizethe real threat lies with The Daleks. But, despite this late upturn inquality, nothing can quite erase the memory of Christopher Ecclestonslumped on a sofa with three Big Brother contestants (perhaps contemplatinghow best to tell the BBC he’s had enough of this crap?)

Overall, a monumentally disappointing episode that single-handedly ruins theprovocative “BAD WOLF” plot-thread, while providing further evidence whyDavies should be quietly made redundant before his crass homosexualundertones (sprinkled throughout all his stories) and propensity to overloadthe silliness of Doctor Who becomes a handicap the series can’t recover fromon goodwill alone.

However, to end on a positive note – the preview for next week’s concludingepisode featuring 500,000 invading Daleks is perhaps the greatest Britishsci-fi preview of the last 5 years. Let’s just hope Russell T. Daviesdoesn’t take the opportunity to shoehorn in some slapstick comedy…

Next week: As The Daleks mount a full-scale invasion of Earth, can TheDoctor rescue Rose from their clutches before it’s too late?

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