Re: Here's a question that you Brits can answer.

L. Ross Raszewski told the audient void (and rec.arts.drwho):
[...]

Now, the reset button. The reset button ending always grates, but at
the least, it doesn't feel like a deus ex machina. We knew about the
Paradox Machine, and I think it's reasonable to say that most of us
had worked out that blowing it up would paradox away the
Toclafane. Those of us who understand how TV works knew that the show
couldn't continue with the ruined earth, that being anchored to a
world that is so like ours is far too important to this show -- has
*always been* critical to this show even since the 60s. Had they
decided to leave things as they were, with humanity forced to rebuild
after this year of hell, this one episode would have been a little
better, but the rest of the series would have suffered -- suffered a
fatal blow in my estimation. Given that a reset button *ABSOLUTELY
HAD TO HAPPEN*, which it did in this case, this is as good a reset as
can be done.

This is true - there's no way the show is going to carry on with an
Earth that's barely recognisable (even though, like many, I'd like less
of the Earth content altogether). The problem is that the series has
made huge changes to life on Earth several times now - and every time,
the Earth gets "rolled back" to how it was at the start of the story, to
leave the slate clear to do it again. So the next time something
happens to the Earth, there's the increasing suspicion that it'll get
reset all over again by the end of the story.

The need to "up the stakes" each time also makes the big Undo button all
the more tempting, too.


Aliens of London/WW3 - humans are out on the balconies welcoming the
aliens... which are then dismissed as a hoax

Christmas Invasion - it's made clear to the world that there are alien
races out there, posing a potential threat to the Earth* (and the 21st
century is When It All Changes...) but later (Torchwood, Runaway Bride),
everyone still behaves as if it were a mass hallucination

Rise of the Cybermen - let's wipe out a percentage of the population,
because it's only a parallel Earth. OK, this wasn't really a backtrack
or a reset, as we were told straight off that it was a parallel
universe, but it's still a "do something big then sod the consequences"
arrangement.

Army of Ghosts/Doomsday - a cyber invasion fleet has been present on the
Earth for weeks/months, convincing everyone that they're their deified
ancestors, I mean dead friends/family. They suddenly become cybermen
and threaten humanity again - then the Daleks join in and it's all-out
war... but once again, everything's sucked back in and the only recorded
casualties appear to have been those present in Torchwood.

Last of the Time Lords - (summarised above)


* I was rather concerned at the time of Xmas Invasion, as this clear,
not-reversed-by-the-end-of-the-story decision that humanity must know
about aliens would have had a large effect on any Earth-based stories
set after that point (such as making it harder to identify with the
characters). I like the fact that this bit was backtracked, but I
really wish they could make their minds up.


I'm not sure I've expressed all that especially clearly. I think my
problem is that each time, what happens is important/dramatic because of
the far-reaching consequences for humanity - then each time, the
long-term effects are forgotten, making much of what just happened
pointless.
.