From Newsgroup: rec.arts.drwho.moderated   
   From Address: jphalt@aol.com   
   Subject: Re: jphalt's Doctor Who reviews   
      
   FATHER'S DAY   
      
   1 episode. Approx. 43 minutes. Written by: Paul Cornell. Directed by:   
   Joe Ahearne. Produced by: Phil Collinson.   
      
      
   THE PLOT   
      
   Pete Tyler (Shaun Dingwall), Rose's father, was killed by a hit-and-   
   run driver in 1987. Rose begs the Doctor to take her to 1987, so that   
   she can be with him when he dies. "He can't die alone," she pleads.   
   Despite his misgivings, the Doctor agrees - only to watch in horror as   
   Rose sprints out into the street and pushes her father out of the path   
   of the oncoming car.   
      
   "There's a man alive who wasn't before... That's the most impotant   
   thing in the world!" The Doctor recognizes the significance of what   
   Rose has done. When he storms back to the TARDIS in anger, unlocks the   
   door, and discovers that the inside has become na empty box - At that   
   point, his worst fears are confirmed. Rose's actions have damaged   
   time. Now the Reapers are coming to clean the wound... by destroying   
   all life on Earth!   
      
      
   CHARACTERS   
      
   The Doctor: Somewhat ironically for a story in which he spends much of   
   the running time furious with his companion, this is overall the   
   gentlest characterization the prickly 9th Doctor has yet received. For   
   all his anger at Rose, he still instinctively wants to protect her. He   
   may snap at her, but he has no intention of allowing Pete to die   
   again, even though he realizes that his death would end the Reapers'   
   rampage. He also shows genuine compassion for the young couple whose   
   church wedding becomes the site of the final standoff. When the bride   
   asks if he can save them, he surveys this very ordinary young couple,   
   asks a few personal questions, then gives them a warm smile as he   
   assures them that he will do everything he can to get them out alive.   
      
   Rose: Has built her father up in her mind to a degree that insures   
   that the real man will disappoint. "I thought he'd be taller," she   
   says upon seeing him in person for the first time. No doubt the   
   Imaginary Pete in her mind towered above all others. Why not? In the   
   stories told by her mother, Pete is nearly perfect, clever and   
   creative and "the most wonderful man in the world." The real Pete is   
   not a bad man by any means, but he is ordinary: His so-called   
   inventions are largely junk destined to go nowhere, and he has no   
   problem with flirting with other women (and possibly more than just   
   flirting) despite his marriage. When Rose describes him as the perfect   
   father, Pete listens, then sadly admits, "That's just not me."   
      
      
   THOUGHTS   
      
   "I'll get it right, love. One day soon, I promise you, I'll get it   
   right."   
   -Peter Alan Tyler, on the last day of his life   
      
   Father's Day is very well-placed in the season. The Long Game ends   
   with a would-be companion booted from the TARDIS for misusing time   
   travel for his own gain. That is fresh in the viewer's mind as Rose   
   does the same thing for different reasons, and therefore there's at   
   least a doubt as to whether the Doctor does truly mean to leave her at   
   this point. It's not a serious doubt - we'll always forgive those we   
   love a lot more than those we barely tolerate - but even the slight   
   doubt wouldn't exist if this had been placed any earlier in the   
   season.   
      
   The episode highlights one of the largest divisions between the old   
   series and the new: Emotion. Classic Who was rarely driven by emotion.   
   The stories were external threats, almost invariably faced down by the   
   regulars with courage and resourcefulness. Any emotional material had   
   to squeeze itself around the plot.   
      
   This story is driven by emotion. There is no external threat, not   
   until Rose's impulsive actions bring a threat into being. Even then,   
   when the Reapers surround the church leaving the survivors under   
   siege, they are not the story's focus: Rose and her father are. Just   
   as Rose brings the Reapers down by saving her father, the Reapers are   
   driven away by her father saving her and everyone else. Their two acts   
   - one instinctive, the other thought out - bookend the threat, with   
   both deeds based on their relationship as father and daughter.   
      
   Paul Cornell's script is manipulative, brazenly so. It's a good   
   script, though: tightly structured, with no real fat at any point, and   
   populated by characters who feel authentic. Pete is as flawed as his   
   marriage to Jackie, which makes him feel real, and makes their   
   marriage feel real. All of this makes the viewer's connection to him   
   and to them so much stronger than might have been. The writer's heavy   
   hand may be very evident, particularly near the end, but that doesn't   
   stop it from packing a wallop.   
      
      
   Rating: 8/10.   
      
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