Before this rewatch, I had forgotten how child-friendly Season 1 of the Revival really was. This isn't inherently a bad thing. As much as I probably prefer the show when it grew up a bit, Doctor Who was conceived as a kids show and was always supposed to be for all ages. When the Revival was at the height of it's popularity it felt like a lot of teenagers, young adults and sci-fi fans were watching. But, the viewing figures have been dropping for years now. It feels like these demographics and these fans are slowly leaving the show, and they're not being replaced. Maybe focussing more on being for kids will bring a new generation of fans to the show. I don't know, it was just a thought I had whilst watching this episode.

The issue with this episode isn't that it's child friendly. It's that I find some of Russel T. Davies' childish humour to be quite grating (it'll get worse in just a few episodes time). I also think at times it undermines the episode.

Take Cassandra for example. There's an interesting idea in examining what it means to be human with Cassandra. But because it only has 45 minutes and it's very child friendly, the episode doesn't really examine this in any really meaningful way. Much like Cassandra herself, this idea is only skin deep.

The other issue with Cassandra is that for most of the episode she's presented as a joke character. There's nothing wrong with having characters be there for comic relief purposes. But Cassandra is also the main villain of the episode. So when she's revealed to be behind everything that goes wrong, she doesn't feel like any kind of threat, because for most of the episode she's been a joke.

I like the idea of going big for the Rose's first out of this world adventure. Going 5 billion years into the future to witness the end of the Earth certainly ticks that box. But besides the scene where the sun shield is lowering in the room with Rose, there's not a lot of exciting or interesting set pieces, and it's centred around a mystery with an underwhelming reveal.

There is however still good to be found in this episode. I like that a big part of this episode centres around Rose being overwhelmed by her decision to see the Universe with the Doctor and wondering if she made a mistake. Her scenes grappling with this, and of her being homesick for an Earth that she's about to watch die, give us some good scenes for Rose and for Billie Piper.

The best part of the episode for me though is the slow universe-building that this episode introduces. We're reintroduced to the term Time-Lord and learn that it's a "miracle" that the Doctor even exists. We still don't know anything about the Time War really, but it's mentioned again and given greater weight. Plus Eccleston is incredible in this scene with Jabe. The single tear he allows himself to shed before regrouping and getting back on with the task at hand is such a great moment. It doesn't give us a lot. But, what it does give us is incredibly effective at deepening both the character of the Doctor and the lore of the show. Great stuff.

Also I have to give praise to the makeup/effects on all of the aliens in this episode. They mostly look really good. Some of the effects in these early seasons haven't aged too well. The aliens in this episode still work though.

So in short another slightly underwhelming plot. But our main characters are still being well served by the writing. So I'm still eager to keep going on adventures with The Doctor and Rose.