Quite a whirlwind episode that is classic New Who, and that's not exactly a great thing.
Spoilers ahead, not only for this episode, but also for Torchwood.
You've been warned.
"Utopia" started off running, and didn't stop for a breath much along the way.
The Doctor's not pleased to see Captain Jack
The Doctor and Martha stop off in Cardiff to let the TARDIS refuel on the time rift. When Captain Jack spots the blue box he makes a mad dash for it. The Doctor sees Jack on the monitor and tries to leave before he can get there, and in new series lunacy Jack somehow manages to not only grab onto the dematerializing TARDIS and ride it through the time vortex, it also seems that he causes the ship to travel to the end of known time. Further than the Timelords have ever been according to the Doctor.
Captain Jack's wild ride
How is it that we keep going "further than we've ever been"? To the end of the Earth, the creation of the Earth, the end of time. We can't always be going the furthest we've ever been. Can we?
Hail, hail, the gang's all here.
And when they land on this far future planet, Jack seems to recognize the Doctor right off, fully aware of regenerations. There are some good moments that explain how Jack became un-killable, got off the space station in the far future, and has had to live through the past one hundred years on Earth to catch up with the Doctor again, but there isn't too much time for chatting as, per usual, the Doctor and his companions end up in the middle of a major fuster-cluck.
I have pointy teeth, tattoos, and piercings, I MUST be evil, huh?
It seems that in this far distant future the normal humans are being threatened by mutated/evolved humans that have pointy teeth. That's all the info we get. That they have pointy teeth. Why do they want to attack the regular humans? No clue. But it makes for a lot off running, shooting, and things that go boom.
I exist to become a toy.
Meanwhile the local scientist, Professor Yana, is working with his insectoid assistant ( gotta have an alien) to finish a rocket that will take everyone to Utopia. What is Utopia? It seems to be a place they heard about on the radio, and it's supposed to be swell. End of story.
The Doctor and Professor Yana make a spaghetti computer.
There is next to no character development for anyone other than the leads. We are given no reason why the pointy teeth people hate the regular people. We don't really know what Utopia is, but we do get to see Jack come back from the dead a few times, and the big thing, the one that this whole 45 minutes of TV was designed to do was to re-introduce the Doctor's old foe, The Master.
Thus setting up the final two episodes, and hopefully a re-occurring villain.
Yana's not here anymore.
You see, Professor Yana was actually the Master, but using the DNA changing pocket watch that was first mentioned in the story before last he was made human, and didn't know who he was. Then the Doctor showed up and changed all that.
It's still a mystery as to who changed the Master and why, but hopefully that will be addressed. We also don't know how this all fits into classic continuity, as the last time the Master was on screen (in the TV movie, which is cannon despite some fans wishes), he was absorbed into the TARDIS.
While I think that that was a good story idea, I really wish they could have introduced the magic pocket watch earlier in the series to make it more established before using it again, and I thought it was absolutely STUPID that he was named Yana, just so when the doctor realized who Yana was we saw flashbacks of The Face of Boe saying You Are Not Alone, aka YANA. Hit us over the fucking head with it why don't you?
Cha-cha-cha-changes...
The episode ends on a cliffhanger as a mortally wounded Master locks himself in the Doctor's TARDIS, regenerates, and then buggers off, leaving the Doctor and crew stranded in the future (not counting Jack's magic time travel watch).
The Master reborn
I did really enjoy this episode, but as with so many new series episodes, it needed to be fleshed out WAY more. Some of the classic eps can be plodding when they try to fill up 4, 6, 8, or more 25 minute episodes, but most all of the new episodes that are only 45 minutes are too rushed. They try to fit too much into the alloted time.
The Doctor is stranded.
We don't get to know these future humans, or who they're fighting, so other than they are humans, why do we care if they live or die, or if they head off to Utopia or Mars? This episode could have have had any random situation calling for the Doctor's help. The only key points are bring back Jack and the Master. Kind of sad that this was the best they could do.
After the last three exceptionally well written episodes this one only had the wow factor of those two characters coming back to the show, along with some flashy special effects.
But bottom line is we have new Who, it's doing great in the ratings, and that means more stories, and more chances for greatness.
I can live with that.
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