The Endless Night

Rose Tyler: The Dimension Cannon #1.1

Released: 4 September 2019

Listened: 11/16/22

This story features the first test of the Dimension Cannon, allowing Jonathan Morris to info-dump about what the cannon is and how it works, and why Rose is the one dimension-hopping. She says she’s been waiting around for a year, so clearly it’s taken a while for Pete’s World scientists to realize there’s a problem and develop the Dimension Cannon. She also seems to have broken up with Mickey during that time. She pops into this world with two days to spend, and not much of a plan to find the Doctor. She eventually decides that looking up Clive is her best shot, and although he’s a conspiracy theorist, it seems this world doesn’t have a Doctor (or UNIT, or Torchwood). She manages to find this world’s Pete and Jackie, but they broke up 20 years ago, so Rose was never born here. Things are going fairly terribly, and then get much worse when the sun spontaneously goes out. And then there really isn’t anything she can do. I’m not a huge fan of stories where everybody is helpless without the Doctor, but replacing the sun is something of a big ask for Rose by herself. It seems like Pete and Jackie will rekindle their relationship, but this isn’t our Pete, and Rose is a complete stranger to him, so he’s not necessarily going to treat her like a daughter. On the whole, this story is actually pretty grim, which sets the tone for the boxed set.