PART 1 of 3
Written by Russell T. Davies
Directed by Graeme Harper
“The call came from across the stars, over and over again…”Come to Utopia”.”
Here are the six reasons why Utopia is the most astonishing, amazing & surprising episode of Doctor Who this season (if not since its revival)…
(1) The set up exists simply to provide some kind…ANY kind…of danger. Captain Jack delightfully calls them “Beastie Boys”, but Futurekind have come straight out of a ridiculously bad episode of Blake’s 7, mushed together with left-over Mad Max extras…
…and yet, they work! They’re a living, breathing cliche…despite that, they serve the episode perfectly. The key lies in their being kept to a minimum…the few lines they have are suitably creepy and feral, and they’re given tight, fast direction. They are a means to a end, but they fill their role with surprising deftness.
(2) Everything about this story is EPIC…but EPIC to the power of one hundred! The scale of the rocket is epic…Jack’s return to the series is hilariously epic…the very idea of the year one hundred trillion is mind-blowingly-epic…the music is outstandingly epic…the location filming is the latest example of director Graeme Harper’s ability to take a gravel pit and transform it into cold & epic darkness…and as for those final fifteen minutes…
…well…we’ll get back to that. 
(3) Sir Derek Jacobi. DEREK JACOBI!!! One of the greatest actors of his generation! Emperor Claudius himself…gracing an episode of Doctor Who! If you don’t understand WHY this is so utterly glorious, you either haven’t seen his brilliant performance in this episode…or any of his other performances…or you need to seek serious psychological treatment immediately!
“Rose…everything she did was so human. She brought you back to life, but she couldn’t control it. She brought you back forever. That’s something, I suppose. The final act of the Time War was life.”
(4) John Barrowman…fresh from Torchwood. Or, as it should be stated, JACK IS BACK! Nuff said…
(5) Those FINAL fifteen minutes! One of the most heart-pounding, adrenaline-soaked, terrifying & wonderful fifteen minutes of Doctor Who ever committed to film/video/digital imaging! From the moment Martha sees THAT WATCH to the unexpected cliffhanger, this is the pinnacle of exciting, quality television…and it will make every Doctor Who fan wet his pants with joyous, fanwank glee…considering that it re-introduces…
(6) …THE MASTER! The Doctor’s Moriarty! The former-friend-turned-deadly-enemy! Brought back to life…first as Sir Derek, then as Life on Mars star John Simm…who is the mysterious Mr. Saxon! His newly re-born Master seems loopy, sardonic, hyper, and completely unbalanced…he is a dark Doctor on acid, and in a single five minute scene, he tells us everything we need to know about him…and David Tennant’s tortured reaction is equally brilliant to watch.
“Killed by an insect…a girl!” How inappropriate. Still…if the Doctor can be young and strong, then so can I! The Master…reborn!”
Utopia isn’t so much an episode as it is a force of nature – Doctor Who’s essence distilled into a powerful shot of creative juice that fires both the blood and the imagination. At it’s heart, it’s pure & disposable set up…but in the hands of Russell Davies and Graeme Harper, it transforms into something magnificent!
But now I have to wait another two weeks for the conclusion of this epic tale? AARRGGHH!
9
Revised Rating: 8 — the solution to an otherwise thrilling cliffhanger turned out to be (literally) Jack’s magic reset button. It does reduce the impact of this week’s outing ever so slightly…but if you show a gun in act one, but don’t use it by the end of act three…what’s the point?
