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A Doctor Who a Day - Day 9 - Review: Boom Town

Margaret in human form grabs Rose by throat with Slitheen hand
@BBC

Doctor Who Series 1, Episode 11, Boom Town

Original Air Date: 4th June 2005


“You left me! We were nice, we were happy. And then what? You give me a kiss and you run off with him, and you make me feel like nothing, Rose. I was nothing. I can't even go out with a stupid girl from a shop because you pick up the phone and I comes running. I mean, is that what I am, Rose, standby? Am I just supposed to sit here for the rest of my life, waiting for you? Because I will.”


Series 1 is so underrated it is criminal, and Boom Town is just another example of that.

I had to have a little chuckle to myself the other day, because this series is doing everything that the Disney version of the show wanted to do, right now, twenty years later. The other day, my teenage stepdaughter was pleased to let me know that Lady Cassandra has gone viral on TikTok. She doesn’t watch the show, but she has had to suffer through it being on the TV a lot.


After all that talk of creating content, the best content Doctor Who has had is the camp stretchy last human from 2005.


That isn’t all either. Series 1 feels put together correctly. Rose grows throughout the series, the Doctor softens. Mickey and Rose’s relationship is complicated and real. The Doctor feels mysterious. The Time War is mysterious. Everything feels linked together. Boom Town is linked to Aliens of London and World War Three. The Long Game is linked to the finale. Bad Wolf runs through the series. Mickey and Jackie run through the series. The Doctor feels mysterious, the Time War is mysterious.


Mickey and Rose in a posh room with wooden panels and artwork. They look a bit confused looking at the camera
@BBC

Boom Town is quiet, it takes its time, and it is really bloody good.


I am not sure why, but this episode works much better than the previous Slitheen two parter. This might be down to more airtime for Annette Badland who is brilliant as Margaret - that and slightly less of the farting perhaps.


Christopher Eccleston, as always, is fantastic. The new TARDIS team is fun to watch as well, the Doctor, Rose, Jack and Mickey having fun, and they were having such a nice day.


"You're pleading for mercy out of a dead woman's lips."


So a big bad plan to escape the planet which leads to some great scenes. The Doctor zapping (sonicing?!) Margaret back from her teleport is the kind of thing I could watch all day.


The elephant in the room was how Mickey had been treated by Rose up to this point, expecting him to be there when she called. But Mickey laid the smackdown on her and I was very happy with this. I was starting to think they would just have him as some wet comic relief, but he really shone here.


"Only a killer would know that. Is that right? From what I’ve seen, your funny little happy go-lucky life leaves devastation in its wake. Always moving on because you dare not look back. Playing with so many people’s lives you might as well be a god. And you’re right, Doctor. You’re absolutely right. Sometimes you let one go. Let me go."


I think a lot of people love the dinner (in bondage) scene and I am no different. It is funny and serious in equal measure. It is good to see the Doctor being challenged for once, I don't think this had happened much up to this point.


Some of the CGI has looked a bit dated in this series, but I love the look of Cardiff splintering apart. 


I really did enjoy this episode a lot. Maybe it is getting older, and not needing big explosions every three minutes, but I really was loving the slower pace. 


What did you think of this episode? Filler? Brilliant? Brilliant filler? Let me know in the comments below.



© by Matty James

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