This episode marks the beginning of a three part story that reintroduces us to The Master, and also makes the first story of the revived series to span more than two episodes.
"Utopia" was penned by Russell T. Davies, who was also responsible for writing the two following parts to this story, "The Sound of Drums" and "Last of the Time Lords."
If you examine the plot itself, and how it unfolds from a classic Doctor Who perspective, it's easy to see that "Utopia" was one of Davies' better scripts for the series. The pace of the episode was relatively decent, as the story unfolded steadily. Additionally, not only did Davies resist the temptation to have yet another phone call from Martha to her family back home, but he also set this episode on another planet, in the extremely distant future - 100 trillion, to be exact. The beginning of this episode also reintroduces an old companion, Captain Jack Harkness, who had not been seen since the final events of "The Parting of the Ways," Eccleston's regeneration story.
Davies pays close attention to scientific detail in this episode. The surface of the planet is always dark, due to the sky being devoid of stars - due to them all having already burned themselves out. The inhabitants of the planet are divided into two factions, the FutureKind, and the last remaining humans. The humans are taking refuge in an old missile silo, waiting for the green light to board a rocket bound for the legendary Utopia. The Futurekind are what some humans believe to be what the remaining humans will evolve into if they don't leave soon.
Professor Yana, who has been working on the rocket's propulsion system, is revealed to hold in his possession a fob watch identical to the one the Doctor used in "Human Nature/The Family of Blood." Comments made by Martha, Jack, and the Doctor jog Yana's memory, and whispers of Daleks, Time travel, TARDISes, and so on begin to slip into his mind. Martha's interest in his fob watch allows him to overcome the perception filter around it, which he then opens, releasing his Time Lord essence.
The Master fatally wounds Chantho and locks the Doctor, Martha, and Jack out of the room where the TARDIS is. Chantho manages to shoot The Master, but he retreats inside the Doctor's TARDIS and regenerates. The episode ends in a cliffhanger with the TARDIS dematerializing as the Doctor, Martha and Jack watch in horror. The Futurekind had broken into the silo and were seconds from breaking the door open.
The biggest minuses with this episode to me were the "metal rock" music that accompanied much of the scenes with the Futurekind, and this episode also introduces the action-oriented Torchwood soundtrack that accompanied scenes of Jack Harkness running. The more subtle scores were great though, such as the conversation between the Doctor and Jack while Jack was working inside the red chamber. Much of the dialogue scenes in Yana's lab were musicless, which was great.
The marks that Davies almost always has in an episode scripted by himself are the gritty depiction of the future, humans dressed in 21st century "homeless people" clothing, 21st century automobiles on a distant future planet, and ofcourse, modern day automatic weapons (with the exception of Chantho's laser pistol.)
An OK episode, but the episode was walking a tight rope with the pacing in some scenes, and as with all of Davies' episodes, it was oozing CGI effects. The story was well-conceived, but Davies always pushed for more of a "Sliders" or "Farscape" kind of setting in these situations, and not a "Doctor Who" setting.
"Utopia" was penned by Russell T. Davies, who was also responsible for writing the two following parts to this story, "The Sound of Drums" and "Last of the Time Lords."
If you examine the plot itself, and how it unfolds from a classic Doctor Who perspective, it's easy to see that "Utopia" was one of Davies' better scripts for the series. The pace of the episode was relatively decent, as the story unfolded steadily. Additionally, not only did Davies resist the temptation to have yet another phone call from Martha to her family back home, but he also set this episode on another planet, in the extremely distant future - 100 trillion, to be exact. The beginning of this episode also reintroduces an old companion, Captain Jack Harkness, who had not been seen since the final events of "The Parting of the Ways," Eccleston's regeneration story.
Davies pays close attention to scientific detail in this episode. The surface of the planet is always dark, due to the sky being devoid of stars - due to them all having already burned themselves out. The inhabitants of the planet are divided into two factions, the FutureKind, and the last remaining humans. The humans are taking refuge in an old missile silo, waiting for the green light to board a rocket bound for the legendary Utopia. The Futurekind are what some humans believe to be what the remaining humans will evolve into if they don't leave soon.
Professor Yana, who has been working on the rocket's propulsion system, is revealed to hold in his possession a fob watch identical to the one the Doctor used in "Human Nature/The Family of Blood." Comments made by Martha, Jack, and the Doctor jog Yana's memory, and whispers of Daleks, Time travel, TARDISes, and so on begin to slip into his mind. Martha's interest in his fob watch allows him to overcome the perception filter around it, which he then opens, releasing his Time Lord essence.
The Master fatally wounds Chantho and locks the Doctor, Martha, and Jack out of the room where the TARDIS is. Chantho manages to shoot The Master, but he retreats inside the Doctor's TARDIS and regenerates. The episode ends in a cliffhanger with the TARDIS dematerializing as the Doctor, Martha and Jack watch in horror. The Futurekind had broken into the silo and were seconds from breaking the door open.
The biggest minuses with this episode to me were the "metal rock" music that accompanied much of the scenes with the Futurekind, and this episode also introduces the action-oriented Torchwood soundtrack that accompanied scenes of Jack Harkness running. The more subtle scores were great though, such as the conversation between the Doctor and Jack while Jack was working inside the red chamber. Much of the dialogue scenes in Yana's lab were musicless, which was great.
The marks that Davies almost always has in an episode scripted by himself are the gritty depiction of the future, humans dressed in 21st century "homeless people" clothing, 21st century automobiles on a distant future planet, and ofcourse, modern day automatic weapons (with the exception of Chantho's laser pistol.)
An OK episode, but the episode was walking a tight rope with the pacing in some scenes, and as with all of Davies' episodes, it was oozing CGI effects. The story was well-conceived, but Davies always pushed for more of a "Sliders" or "Farscape" kind of setting in these situations, and not a "Doctor Who" setting.
Again, I can appreciate where you're coming from, but I really like the "gritty" vision of the future seen in episodes like "Utopia" and "42". Although I would call "42" "industrial" rather than just "gritty", whereas this episode is quite literally "apocalyptic". To me, this is a clear atmosphere decision; if the characters in these episodes were all wearing silly "future" clothes and walking around spotless white-paneled ships then the whole tone of these stories would flounder and die.
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