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  • This is a really nice episode. Not the best but definitely above average. It's a very human one - these are the ones where usually RTD excels, so it's interesting to see it was written by someone else.

    The premise is a very natural one to imagine when you've got a time machine. Of course it leads to classic time travel shenanigans - the doctor ends up very upset at what rose has done, which is understandable, but I think he is being a bit unfair. This is rose, and much of the modern audience's, first real experience with a paradox. The doctor could have done a better job of explaining the stakes instead of leaving an emotionally struggling person to witness their own parent's death. Throughout this episode he keeps his very frank and pointed style of talking, but he starts being the emotional support for much of the human cast present, which is a great way of showing his heart starting to grow after he has been so pessimistic since we met him. The moment when he is standing up in front, like a priest preaching to his flock, is an especially nice image.

    Rose's dad seems to really have struggled in life. Pete is really smart - he figures out the reality of whats happening fairly quickly, but he seems to struggle socially. He obviously has his own problems with confidence and relationships, and jackie really isn't helping. She goes on a few tirades here, but its never clear if what she is saying is accurate or whether that's just her viewpoint. The whole trip seems to break rose's interpretation of her dad, and that's possibly the bigger message to take away from this episode than the paradox: If you time travel, you might find out things that break your idealised version of the world.

    The tardis losing its inside is a really great way to demonstrate what is happening, and how the tardis itself works. It reminds me of an old tom baker explanation which I really like: https://youtu.be/JJ01T3_E6YQ?t=48. The episode also serves as an example of a fixed point in time - Rose's dad has to die, so she can be raised in a certain way with her mum, so she can meet the doctor and do everything else she needs to.

    The reaper designs are really nice. The flying monster motif makes a reapparance in the next season, and gargoyles get a brief mention in Blink. The gothic image is one that doesn't appear so often in popular sci-fi so it's nice to see used here, especially against the backdrop of the church. The monster designs looks pretty good even if the texturing and animation is a little janky. As far as beings in charge of timeline discrepancies go, they are more interesting than the weird bonemonsters from the most recent series finale.

    Extras:

    • I forgot about the mickey joke - that was fun
    • The doctor mentions the isle of wight in 1987, I had to look this reference up. There was a massive storm back then that hit the south of england really badly. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_storm_of_1987
    • The adults all scream when the aliens are attacking. In the playground none of the kids scream when the same happens. I wonder if that was an intentional choice or if someone at BBC standards had an issue with a bunch of children screaming as they died

  • I'm always on board for a (quasi-) Jackie Tyler episode; she's one of my favorite parts of the Rose era. It is funny that Camille Coduri is playing a 20-year-old Jackie Tyler here with just an '80s perm to convince us. She's entirely unconvincing as a 20-year-old, but it's not really much worse than Billie Piper being 19. It's the Dear Evan Hansen industrial complex over here.

    I love any time there's Back to the Future II (my favorite!) shenanigans in a time travel story, so the opening with multiple Doctors and Roses a few minutes apart immediately wins me over. They're followed by some pretty naff effects throughout, with the red-cellophane vision and dodgy CGI monsters all over the place. I'm still on board.

    It's interesting to see the Doctor actively frightened about what he's done to the timeline, since plot conceits usually dictate that whatever he does is fine. There's some interesting moments like him watching that time-displaced death car with genuine concern. We also get his line, "An ordinary man, that's the most important thing in creation." I wonder if somebody overheard the Doctor saying this in 1987 and that's why we're dealing with the manosphere today.

    The scene(s) where Pete starts to understand that he's not in Rose's future and in fact not in anybody's future are well written and performed by Piper and Dingwall, who is unfalteringly believable as a deadbeat husband and dad who both knows and regrets it. Rose's false monologue about the kind of father he becomes and his ultimate recognition that he can in some way be that father is genuinely affecting. Even though the music is doing its best to hammer the emotional beats home throughout, I don't think it was necessary in that moment.

    This isn't an episode that I think should have won any awards, and don't worry: it didn't. Nothing ground-breaking for the show happens here, the music choices are incredibly un-subtle, and it's ultimately very predictable stuff. But I find it enjoyable from start to finish. It's the fun kind of silly. I like getting to meet a bunch of the recurring cast at a different point in their lives in a story that's self-contained but with a satisfying payoff in the final Jackie and child-Rose scene. This isn't Doctor Who at its best, but it's supremely comfortable viewing and I'm happy with that.

    Bonus points for the pre-Rickroll "Never Gonna Give You Up" in the scene with Rose and her father in the car on the way to the church. The meme didn't exist when this episode was first broadcast, it was just a hit song from the '80s. Hearing it in the background just to set the scene without the 20 years of baggage is a fun time. It's hard to remember what it was like to hear it without the modern context, but having nobody react strongly to it in-universe gives us a small taste.

    • We also get his line, “An ordinary man, that’s the most important thing in creation.”

      Thanks for mentioning this - it's very much a core sentiment of the series, and is even repeated later in this episode when the Doctor gets the married couples' backstory.

  • You'd think watching one (1) episode of Doctor Who per week wouldn't be too difficult, but there are times when it's hard to squeeze it in...

    "Father's Day" stands out to me because it's a good episode that's successful in spite of...just about everything about it.

    The weak production values that have plagued the season are still on full display. It's shot in a largely boring fashion, and is downright maudlin at times. I absolutely hate Murray Gold's choices, with those string chords that suddenly turn downward, which doesn't sound sad so much as it sounds like there's something wrong with the audio track. The episode does everything it can to be bad.

    And it fails. The story is great, and the performances are better. Shaun Dingwall nails the portayal of Pete Tyler, likeable fuckup. Camille Coduri is great as Jackie, as always. Billie Piper turns in what is easily her best performance as Rose so far. Eccleston is good as always, but since the Doctor is in a pretty dour mood for most of the episode, he doesn't get to show a ton of range.

    The creatures (apparently called "Reapers" in ancillary material) are interesting, and it's a shame the concept has never been revisited. The episode does a lot to establish that time paradoxes can be a thing, and it's possible to do a lot of damage with time travel, even though it's not something the series typically worries about.

    But in the end, the strength of the episode is its simplicity. Rose can't help but save her dad, he eventually realizes who she is and learns of his own fate, and has to sacrifice himself to make things right.

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