My Incredibly Inaccurate Predictions: The Parting of the Ways

110: The Parting of the Ways
1: GamesWorld 2: Survivor
by RTD

Roots: War of the Worlds, 12 Monkeys, Star Trek: Generations and Robert of Sherwood (two consecutive heroes teaming up), The Truman Show, Press Gang episode Monday-Tuesday (cause and effect out of synch), Blakes' 7 finals, especially Star One. The scene where the Ninth Doctor mumbles about Grace might be a cheeky reference to The Others.

Fluffs: Paul McGann seemed resigned to his fate in this story.

"No-one answered my question! No-one tells me anything around here!"
"There's a reason for that, Mickey."
"What is it then?"
"Sorry, can't tell you."


Goofs: The Moxx of Balhoon's dying scream happens twice [there are wierd accoustics in the Dalek generation tunnel]

If these Daleks are the Ultimate Generation, why do they have such obvious design flaws? And can The Long Game space station REALLY hold an entire Dalek invasion force?

There is no explanation as to how the Moxx got (brief) control of the Eighth Doctor's TARDIS as he appears to die here before ever getting a chance to use it. Speaking of TARDISes, it is presumably damage to the Eighth Doctor's that causes the spectacular redesign from the "Gothic nightmare", as the dialogue confirms. But they used the same set for both control rooms...

Fashion Victims: The Eighth Doctor's updated costume isn't a patch on the original. Sadly.

Double Entendres:
"Spacecraft are of little value when made of polystyrene."

The events of this story put Doctor Who off the screen for 14 years.

The old 999 monsters in the corridor joke gets referenced:
"Step outside, Doctor! I don't care how many you've brought with you, you haven't got a chance!"
"I'm not surprised that you don't care how many we've brought. There's only three thousand of us and twelve of you. In your shoes I wouldn't be too bothered either."
"I count only five of you, Doctor."
"Damn, I can see there's no fooling you."

Dialogue Disasters:
The Eighth Doctor's non-sequiters including "UNCLEAN!!" and "BEWARE THE WRATH OF THE HAMSTER!" are made even funnier by the Daleks' reactions.

As the Sixth Doctor so nearly said, brevity is the soul of wit: "Ah, is this the part where you mock my concern for humanity and reveal is that love is just a horrid, icky, disgusting thing that happens between a man and a woman and forces them to get married, have kids, two cats and a fat, over-fed budgerigar named Gerald in a holiday home in the South of France?"

Dialogue Triumphs:
"Come in, have a drink! Just toasting the departed." "The bottle's empty." "There's a lot of them to toast."

Captain Jack and the Eighth Doctor: "Sir, are you drunk by any chance?"
"No, fella. I do not drink and drive!"
"Phew.."
"...I smoke and FLY!"

Dalek: "Luck is an illogical and unreliable concept."
Ninth Doctor: "You only say that because you don't have any."

"What do we do now, Doctor?"
"We wait."
"For what, Armageddon?!"
"Possibly. Depends on how long we've just delayed it."

"Life is a joke. It's just not a very good one, that's all."

Adam's speech to Rose upon her seeing the Doctor's "death":
"Do you feel any better, Rose? Do you feel revived? Do you feel refreshed? Do you feel like justice has been visited upon you? No. And you never will with pointless gestures. Take it from me, Rose, you need your anger. You need your pain. They're what let you know what you want and need. How can you know you must eat without hunger? How can you know you need rest without exhaustion? You put all your heart and all your pain and all your anger into that, but when the fury ebbs and the blood stops pounding, you're still where you were, and nothing has changed, except that you're exhausted. The Doctor is still dead, you are still alone, the Daleks still threaten a thousand worlds. You were able to put all that power and passion into a display of total violence... and it has got you nowhere. You are left feeling even more powerless and helpless than before. This is not the way, Rose."

Links: Events from the last seven episodes are mentioned as well as the TV movie ("Zat you, Grace?").

Untelevised Adventures: The long awaited finale to the Eighth Doctor at lasts gets televised. Well, bits of it... The Ninth Doctor always meant to return anti-grav belt to King Ghaebalakon (Old Ghebbers) of Tyrix.

Intertextuality: From the moment REG was announced as the Doctor, fans had been suggesting a Two Doctor story to write out the Eighth once the Ninth had been established. Here it is, guys. And no references to Whitnail & I whatsoever!

Continuity:
The Eighth Doctor was travelling alone when he arrived in 1986 and met Adam, who used the Vanisher crisis to worm his way up to companion status. Sabotaging the Eighth Doctor's TARDIS in what he hoped would be a final piece of sabotage, Adam returned to Geocomtex, but the Doctor's words convinced him that the Daleks would ultimately turn on him. The Eighth Doctor escaped the disintegrating TARDIS and arrived in post-WW2 London where he met Captain Jack. Using Jack's time-travel unit, he traveled on to The Long Game station, only to be caught by a phalanx of Daleks and shot multiple times.

Determined for a rematch, the Moxx of Balhoon has re-fitted The Long Game station (now named GamesWorld) and started a new show devoted entirely to the Doctor and Rose being put in deadly situations. It was he who teleported the Ninth Doctor off Earth in Boomtown.

The Doctor uses the teleport to transport the entire Dalek army off Earth and into the station, then escaped with Jack, Mickey, Adam and the Tylers in his previous self's damaged TARDIS. Dropping them off on Earth, the Doctor returned to the asteroid base and discovered the Dalek factory asorbs energy from everything around it to instantly create more Daleks and was a threat to the universe. Despite the efforts of another Dalek (which was created when the Moxx of Balhoon fell into the works and provided more energy), the Doctor linked the Eighth Doctor's TARDIS to the device and trigger a self-destruct. The TARDIS, demonstrably, survives the explosion but spends 14 years repairing itself.

Using the Ninth Doctor's TARDIS, Adam gave Rose the choice of returning to Earth or finding out what happened to the Doctor. Rose finally chose the Doctor and was beamed via Jack's machine back to the GamesWorld station, now refitted as a war-wheel. Hunted by Daleks, she eventually found her way to a cell - where the Eighth Doctor is still very much alive...

Location: London 1986/2006; Wales 1945; the Long Game space station; and the Dalek factory hidden in the asteroid belt.

The Bottom Line: "Rose, it may surprise you to learn that I have always believed in what is right. But I've never believed it was possible. I'm sorry to disillusion you, but you've been following a phantom."
A devastating and witty two-parter with hints of Logopolis and The Dalek Invasion of Earth thrown in, as the Eighth and Ninth Doctors struggle to save the universe AND defeat the Daleks. The apparent climax half way through the final episode, to the twist-upon-twist nature of the last few minutes ends this new series of Doctor Who on a soprano note. How has the Eighth Doctor survived? Is the Ninth Doctor as lucky? What is the Daleks' back-up plan? What will happen to Rose?

See you in 2006...