The Doctor takes Rose on her first voyage through time, to the year Five Billion. The Sun is about to expand, and swallow the Earth.
But amongst the alien races gathering to watch on Platform One, a murderer is at work. Who is controlling the mysterious and deadly Spiders?
NOTES
The story begins with a brief re-cap of the last week’s episode similar to many American shows, however unlike most American shows there is no voice over announcing”previously on Doctor Who”. The footage from Rose simply begins the episode. Discounting the movie, this marked the first time a Doctor Who episode had started with a pre-credited sequence since Remembrance of the Daleks in 1988, unlike the original series, which used the device rarely, it would become standard practice for the series from here on out, with very few episodes made without a teaser (the exceptions are usually series premieres).
A BBC logo is placed on the bottom of the screen when the recap finishes and this episode beginsat this point the corporation had not yet established the practice of showing the logo during the opening credits.
Russell T Davies, who created Cassandra, has said on multiple occasions that he was inspired to create Cassandra upon viewing skinny Hollywood actresses at the academy Awards. On 2 April 2006, the Sunday Mirror quoted Davies:”It was horrific seeing those beautiful women reduced to sticks. Nicole Kidman struck me in particular. Nicole is one of the most beautiful women in the world. But she looks horrifying because she’s so thin. It’s like we’re killing these women in public. We watch While you die.” Rose -“Wait hold on. They did this once on Newsround Extra” – Newsround is a news program on BBC 1 and CBBC aimed at providing news for children. Newsround Extra is an extended version of this concept which concentrates on a single issue or subject. A newsround reporter was on set watching as this scene was filmed. His report can be read here on the newsround website
A minor milestone occurs when The Doctor utters the phrase”What the hell is that?”, the first time the character has the minor curse phrase. This marked a slight loosening of the Doctor’s use of language in the revived series, although in light of the show’s family-friendly tone The Doctor has never said anything stronger than “hell” and “damn.”
The scene between Rose and Ruffalo was a late addition, added because the episode was underrunning. This is the first time The Doctor has actually been seen to shed a tear. The Doctor tells Rose that his planet was destroyed before its time, as the result of a war which they lost.The term Bad Wolf is mentioned for the first time, the Moxx of Balhoon stating”Indubitably, this is the Bad Wolf scenario.”This is the first appearance of Lady Cassandra O’Brien.?17 and the Face of Boe, who later appear on New Earth. Cassandra mentions how there are many species out there that describe themselves as “Human-ish, ” likely referencing the many Near-Human races that happen to be about. Cassandra most likely assumes that Rose is one of these Near-Humans upon meeting her.
