The End of the World

The one where Rose takes her first trip in the TARDIS, gets a crash course in cosmic classism, and watches the Earth explode while Britney Spears plays.

Extended Storyline

We open with Rose, fresh off her mannequin-smashing debut, standing in the TARDIS as the Doctor asks, “Where do you want to go?” Past or future. With the casual confidence of someone who doesn’t yet know what “future” means in Doctor Who, she picks forward. So he punches in the controls and—bam—5 billion years later.

The TARDIS lands on Platform One, a luxury space station filled with alien dignitaries. Why? Because the Earth is about to be incinerated by the expanding Sun, and apparently, this is the hottest (literally) ticket in the galaxy. Humanity has long since moved on to other planets, but watching their original home burn is like the ultimate firework display for the filthy rich.

The Doctor introduces Rose to the assorted guests, each one a proud entry in the Russell T. Davies Guide to Ridiculous Aliens You’ll Never Forget:

• The Moxx of Balhoon (a blue, gelatinous blob on a hover chair).

• The Face of Boe (a massive head in a tank, who will one day be much more important).

• Trees in cocktail dresses (the Forest of Cheem, classy walking bark with better social skills than most humans).

• And Cassandra, “the last human,” who is literally a piece of stretched skin on a frame with a face, lips, and an endless supply of moisturizers. She describes herself as “pure,” but mostly comes across as one Botox injection away from bursting.

The station is protected by a massive sun filter, but surprise! Someone’s sabotaging things. Metallic spider-bots crawl through the vents, the shields flicker, and guests start dropping like flies. Rose, already overwhelmed by aliens, fainting at Moxx burps, and realizing she’s very far from home, gets herself locked in an observation room as the sun filter descends. She’s about to be roasted alive until the Doctor saves her at the last second.

Meanwhile, Rose has an emotional mini-crisis. She’s seen the future, the end of her planet, and she’s suddenly struck by how little she really knows about the man who brought her here. Who is this leather-jacketed alien? What’s his deal? And why does he look so sad when he thinks she’s not watching? (We’ll get there.)

Back to the murder mystery: it turns out Cassandra is behind the sabotage. She’s trying to cash in on insurance money by killing everyone else aboard. Because nothing says “last pure human” like corporate fraud and mass murder.

Her plan almost works — the station is falling apart, the sun filter’s gone haywire, and Rose is trapped again, perilously close to being flambéed. The Doctor and Jabe (a tree lady from Cheem who clearly fancies him) head into the bowels of the station to reset the system. Jabe holds back some turbines with her body, burning to death in the process. It’s one of the first hints in New Who that the Doctor’s life isn’t just fun and games — people die for him, and it hurts.

The Doctor manages to reboot the system, saving the station and Rose. Then he teleports Cassandra back in, because villains never get away scot-free. But the Doctor refuses to save her when her moisturizers fail. Without constant spraying, Cassandra’s stretched skin dries out and pops like a giant human balloon. (Ten-year-olds everywhere cheered.)

The Earth explodes, its fragments swallowed by the Sun. Rose watches her planet die, realizing that despite the big spectacle, not one of her fellow humans was actually there to see it. It’s a lonely, sobering moment.

The Doctor finally opens up, just a crack: his people, the Time Lords, are gone. He’s the last of his kind. The weight in his eyes explains everything — the loneliness, the anger, the desperate need for someone like Rose to run beside him.

They return to present-day London. Rose smells chips, the Doctor looks lighter, and for now, they keep running.