Summary: The Doctor takes Rose to the year 5 billion to witness the destruction of the Earth.
Characters: Doctor, Rose
Antagonist: Cassandra
Episode Rating: 5/10
Message:
The end of the world teaches us that everything has its time. Set 5 billion years in the future the Earth is on its last day and humanity as we understand it has come to an end with only Cassandra (the last human) clinging on to what 'humanity' is left. The message of the episode is that sometimes we have to learn to let things go and accept the natural course of change.
Genre:
[Doctor Who is classified as a science-fiction show which is pretty unarguable considering the consistent themes of time/ space travel and the traditional iconographic elements such as gadgets and aliens. However I would argue that the majority of episodes are sci-fi hybrids, the science fiction genre lies at the show's foundation however each episode takes on a different sub genre.]
This episode is definitely one of the more conventional in terms of genre- it follows a typical sci-fi adventure arc and abides to the conventions of that genre. Iconographically the episode features traditional imagery of sci-fi such as the setting of outer space and the fact that the location is based in a satellite. It is an adventure episode also because of the fact that Rose is whisked away from her conventional life into a larger-than-life scenario like the end of the Earth.
Representation:
The representation in this episode is not the best. First of all, the representation of ethnicity in this episode is very hegemonic and regressive; there is a janitor on board the ship who is an illustration of non white persons which complies to traditional stereotypes of that demographic in which they are submissive and repressed.
Furthermore, the representation of women in this episode is negative because of how Cassandra is depicted. She conforms to harmful perceptions of what women view as important: the belief that women are vain and beauty obsessed lies at the heart of Cassandra as a character. Cassandra could be read as a cautionary warning to women of the dangers of narcissism however and reading her in this light would suggest that she is a positive regarding the representation in the episode.
General Thoughts
I really like Cassandra's character she is a really interesting villain. She is a sassy and illustrates the dangers of being beauty obsessed. Ultimately she is just a really fun antagonist to watch.
I love the humour in this episode, there are some fantastic one liners and Christopher Eccleston delivers a wonderfully sarcastic and dry performance as the Doctor also and it's this episode when he really shines as the Doctor.
The only issue I have with the episode is no fault of the creators or the story but purely the graphics and CGI are extremely outdated and somewhat laughable.