Following on from the new set of caps for Army of Ghosts is a similar set for Doomsday. After all of the set-up the previous week it is incumbent that Doomsday should deliver upon that promise, and for the most part, it does, although in ways which are more dictated by budgetary than story concerns. Even though nu-Who was certainly more generously budgeted than classic Doctor Who could even have hoped for, the fiscal realities, even for a massive hit, which the show certainly was at this time, had to factor in the storytelling. As such much of the real action in the story is told rather than shown, which the Doctor et.al. commenting and/or describing what is going on rather than being in the middle of it all. This is quite a common technique and it’s all to the credit of RTD and the cast to pull it off so well.
Of course, there’s also two other major threads being executed in Doomsday, the first of which is the childhood fantasy being enacted by RTD answering the age-old argument, quite decisively, about who would win in a Dalek/Cyberman standoff.
The latter is the bread and butter of the episode about the Tyler extended family and, what we thought at the time, would be their resolution. As this is RTD’s forte’ it’s no surprise that he wrings every ounce of emotion out of this that he can, right down to the sands of Bad Wolf Bay. Whether, ten years later, it all seems a bit overwrought is down the individual fan, but it was certainly memorable, and that’s almost as important.
Modern Recap-itulation has now completed Series 2. Where to next we ask with faux seriousness?
