Episode #191: Utopia

"You two, we're at the end of the universe. Okay?! Right at the edge of knowledge itself! And you're busy...  BLOGGING!"

Episode #191:   Utopia.
Companions:    The 10th Doctor, Jack Harkness and Martha Jones.
Air Date:          16th June 2007.

Jack Harkness is back! As Captain Jack comes storming into the Doctor's life again, the TARDIS is thrown to the end of the universe itself. As the last remnants of humanity struggle to reach "Utopia", unknown to all, the Doctor's greatest enemy is about to rise again.

Utopia is technically the first of a three part story that concludes the current season of the show. Despite that I prefer to review Utopia as a separate story to the other two. A prequel essentially that sets up the finale.

This story sees the return of good old captain Jack who we last saw at the end of Torchwood season one, running off in search of the TARDIS. There is a small continuity issue but don't worry about it. It is just good to have him back again. His return sets up some interesting ramifications such as him being a fixed point in time and space which is why the TARDIS doesn't like him anymore and that because of that the Doctor does show some unease with him. This was a good opportunity to bring Jack back as I never felt he got enough time in the TARDIS on screen before being killed by the Daleks and abandoned.

Utopia also sees the return of another classic favourite... the Master! Restored to the living by the Time Lords to help fight in the Time War he hid using a chameleon arch the same as the Doctor. To start with he believes that he is human, a certain Professor Yana. Yana turning out to be You Are Not Alone, the cryptic response from the Face of Boe on New Earth. Getting such a great actor as Derek Jacobi for this role was, pun intended, a master stroke. Unfortunately he doesn't get to be the Master for long before he is forced to regenerate.

I do like this adventure. We go to the distant end of the universe where only a few people still survive in the universe and even the Time Lords never came this far into the future. On a cold desolate world where humanity either transforms into flesh-eating Future Kind or slowly dies out as the stars grow cold we have the setting for a nice interactive story. Utopia isn't about stopping evil villains or murderous aliens. It is an story about where humanity gets to in it's final days and mankind's search for a mythical haven called Utopia. Not having a real villain of the piece just a well written forty five minutes shows what can be done every now and then.