12. Bad Wolf

The Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack have to fight for their lives on board the Game Station.  But a far more dangerous threat is lurking, just out of sight.  The Doctor realizes that the entire Human Race has been blinded to the threat on its doorstep, and Armageddon is fast approaching.

- DR. WHO COLLECTORS' EDITION EPISODE GUIDE

'Bad Wolf' was what this viewer thought of as one of the funniest and yet frightening episodes to date in Series 1.  It's part one of the final episode of the Series 'The Parting of the Ways'.  And even though most of the episodes through out the series have had their own independent story lines, this episode and the next is an amalgamation of all the prior clues dropped in every (or nearly every) episode so far, leading up to this series of events. 

The story is set back on Satellite 5, first seen in 'The Long Game', 100 years later since the Doctor and Rose first visited it.  But at first our three heroes don't know it, as they are all separated and wake up in some very surreal situations (much to this fans delight!).  The Doctor wakes up in the 'Big Brother' Household, complete with housemates and a Diary Room.  Rose finds herself in 'The Weakest Link' where there is the Ann-Droid, whom she is warned not to provoke.  And Jack… well, Jack is also transported into a Reality / Game show, but I'm sorry, this Australian fan could not work out the name of the British Reality TV show in which two women gives its' contestants a wardrobe make-over; only in this DR. WHO episode, it's two Droids.  Jack is the lucky contestant.  They remove his clothing with the 'defabricator' - a futuristic laser, leaving Jack standing butt-naked in front of the camera.  Our suave companion asks, "am I naked in front of millions of viewers?" to which the Droids reply enthusiastically, "absolutely!"  Jack beams, "ladies, your viewing figures just went up."

However our three heroes learn very quickly that these games have a rather deadly edge to them.  In 'The Weakest Link', you're not just voted off as 'The Weakest Link', but a laser comes out of the Ann-Droid's mouth and evaporates you as well! When a contestant panics and tries to leave the game, the Ann-Droid quips, "you are the Weakest Link, good-bye!" and shoots them too, leaving a small pile of dust behind.  The Doctor finds that if you're voted out of the 'Big Brother' household, you don't just return to the outside world, but you're evaporated too.  Jack has a slightly different dilemma on his hands… as apart of his 'make over' the Droids discuss replacing his human head with a dog's head, and ready their chainsaw. 

Jack, from his experience in the Time Agency, still remembers his training and pulls out a small laser weapon of his own.  When the Droids ask him where he was hiding that, he humorously replies that they really don't want to know, and then he shoots off their heads, dresses, and escapes.  Outside he runs into the Doctor who escaped from the 'Big Brother' household with one of the housemates, Lynda with a 'y' and not an 'i' as she introduces herself.  It's then that the Doctor realizes where he is and when he is, when he sees the sign for 'Bad Wolf Corporation' on the wall.  Ah ha!  Another important clue, ladies and gentlemen. 

With Lynda's help, the Doctor realizes he's on Satellite 5 and the date is now 200,100 AD, a hundred years later since he was last there.  Lynda tells them that no-one calls this Satellite 5 anymore, but it's known just as the Games Station.  As the Doctor looks down on a dangerously polluted Earth where it's only safe to breathe outside on certain days; the human race has turned complacent and docile and just exists to only watch TV.  The Doctor states that history has gone wrong again, that this era is meant to be the 4th great and bountiful Human Empire.  The Doctor also realizes that this station is transmitting more than just TV shows, but a mysterious signal too.  But before they investigate it, with the dangerous side of the games, they decide to find Rose before it's too late. 

Rose has made it to the final round of 'The Weakest Link', although she's not going well answering any questions that are completely out of her era.  A tense moment ensues as the Doctor and Jack have to break through a security door.  The Doctor calls out Rose's name, and she tries to flee the Ann-Droid, and then just as she is about to reach the Doctor… she is hit with the laser.  The Doctor, crest-fallen, kneels to the floor and touches the small pile of dust of her remains…

The Doctor, Jack and Lynda are arrested by Game Station security, but just as they are about to be incarcerated they break free.  Then the three head up to Floor 500 to find the Controller and answers.  There, they also find the TARDIS where Jack uses the TARDIS controls to work out the secret to the mysterious signal and the Doctor has a conversation with the Controller.  In 'The Long Game' the episode touched upon the idea of human's integrating their brains with technology as direct interfaces with computers.  The Controller is the follow on of it; a human being, her body wired up and attached to the mainframe, almost as if it were the mainframe.  During a solar flare that temporarily halts the signal, the Controller warns the Doctor that her Masters are hiding in the dark space and that they fear him, and she was the one who brought him here to find them and the mysterious signal.  Before the Doctor can find out who are her 'Masters', the solar flare ends and so does their conversation.  But Jack comes back out of the TARDIS with good news, the lasers that supposedly 'evaporate' a person, is actually a concentrated Transmat beam (like a Transporter in Star Trek) where it only moves the person to a new location instead, along the signal, not killing them! 

Our next shot shows Rose alive and well, waking up on board a strange vessel and surrounded by… Daleks!  Thousands of Daleks!  The Daleks send a communication to the Doctor, demanding that he surrenders or that Rose will die.  The Doctor says "no."  No?  No?  What is the meaning of the negative of this word? They ask.  "Rose!" the Doctor looks at his dear friend. "I'm coming to get you."