I didn’t write reviews for last season’s Doctor Who episodes, but there was one thing that’s been bugging me.
This year, as mentioned, Russell T. Davies has been trying to pummel us senseless with the constant and absurdly out-of-place Torchwood references. Last season we got Bad Wolfed to death.
In virtually every episode, the phrase “Bad Wolf” showed up. I can’t even remember all them, but here are just some samples:
Unquiet Dead: The psychic girl says Rose has seen, “The Bad Wolf” (when clearly Rose hasn’t)
Aliens of London: Bad Wolf spray painted on TARDIS by miscreant youth
Dalek: The Bad Guy’s helicopter is called “Bad Wolf” (note, Doctor and Rose never actually know that or hear the reference to it.
The Long Game: Network TV Station called “Bad Wolf”
Boom Town: Nuclear Reactor named “Bad Wolf”, in Welsh
Bad Wolf: Corporation called Bad Wolf,
Parting of the Ways: Playground chalk writing says Bad Wolf.
So, what’s the Bad Wolf? If you follow the episode it is finally revealed that “Bad Wolf” is the warning that Rose, with the help of the time vortex, sends back in time to warn herself and the Doctor about the Daleks.
Didn’t anyone ever notice that, as warning go, it sucked? How about this message: “The Daleks aren’t dead!” or, if we insist on the notion she was sending the corporation’s name as a warning about them, how about: “Bad Wolf Corporation are Daleks!” Why send herself a message that she knows she won’t understand? Or indeed, why send it to places where she’ll never even hear it? It’s just idiotic.
Clearly that wasn’t the original idea for Bad Wolf. We know that there were long negotiations to get the Daleks in the series and it seemed at one point that it wouldn’t happen. Perhaps there was some other ending, something that really did involve a wolf? The werewolf from “Tooth & Claw” perhaps?
We may never know until Russell T. Davies writes his memoirs.
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