Apocalypse Wow: “Doctor Who”

Russell T. Davies is far better at destroying the world than rescuing it. (He’s a little like Dick Cheney that way, but at least Davies tries to save Earth.) Davies, the executive producer and chief writer for the brilliantly resurrected “Doctor Who” series, just seems to have a knack for placing things at high-wired, over-caffeinated, apocalyptic levels. Just when you thought the guy couldn’t top himself, he does.

Take last week’s “Doctor Who:” Harry Saxon AKA The Master (John Simm in one of the most hilarious portrayals of pure evil ever), along with The Doctor the last surviving Time Lord, was elected Prime Minister; his first order of business was to murder his cabinet, followed by a reporter who knew his secrets. Then, for good measure, he brought in an alien race, the Toclafane –metallic orbs (like in the horror flick “Phantasm”) with enough Ginsu weaponry to serve every steakhouse in the universe – to enslave Earth and decimate the population (first to go, a blustery President of the United States).

He even captured The Doctor (David Tennant) and Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) of “Torchwood,” aged The Doctor into an enfeebled old man and beat the jeepers out of Captain Jack. It’s up to The Doctor’s latest companion, med student Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman), to save the world.

Or as The Master blithely put it: “So, Earthlings, basically – end of the world.”

So as tonight’s season finale opens, a year has passed, and Martha’s become a legend, a myth practically, earth’s only possible savior. She’s “only person to get out of Japan alive.” She trekked through the rubble of New York, and she traverses what remains of London despite the threat of being torn apart by wild dogs.

With some scrappy rebels, Martha captures on of the Toclafane and discovers inside a human from the End of Time. Per The Master’s mad bidding, humans from the End of Time have back in time to exterminate the current human race.

OK, so try to follow this: If humans from the End of Time kill all of us off, they wouldn’t exist in the future. So if they don’t exist, who’s killing us? Good thing The Master has a handy Paradox Machine to suss out issues such as that.

Meanwhile, our poor Doctor is shriveling up – he’s looking like a puppet from a Jan Svankmajer film.

Anyway, why build the suspense any longer? Martha manages to save the day in a massive kum-ba-ya moment. Told you Davies blows up the world better than he pieces it together.

And yet, you’ll be wanting more.

- “Doctor Who:” 8 tonight, Sci Fi Channel.