The Parting of the Ways ( TV story ) The Parting of the Ways was the thirteenth and final episode of the first series of BBC Wales " Doctor Who " . It concluded the Bad Wolf story arc . It also was the final regular outing for the Ninth Doctor , concluding a mild story arc about the Doctor ' s identity and revealing to newcomers that Time Lords could regenerate , and saw the departures of actors Christopher Eccleston and John Barrowman ( until " Utopia " ) , director Joe Ahearne , and executive producer Mal Young . It established a visual metaphor for regeneration that would remain fairly standard into the present day ( every televised regeneration from then on with the exception of the Master ' s in " Utopia " would appear like that ) , following which viewers got their first glimpse of David Tennant ' s Tenth Doctor . From a visual effect s point of view , viewers were treated to a massive army of Dalek s and Dalek spaceships . At the time of broadcast , it was the most expansive view of a Dalek army that had yet been portrayed on screen , taking the record from " Planet of the Daleks " . Synopsis . As the Dalek s attack the Game Station led by their Emperor , the Ninth Doctor finds himself helpless . He knows he must make big sacrifices if he is going to survive . But does this mean losing his beloved Rose Tyler forever ? With Jack Harkness assembling an army together and the Doctor powerless against the Dalek Emperor , a deadly net closes around the whole universe . One thing is for certain , not everyone will make it out of this deadly battle alive . But who or what is Bad Wolf ? It ' s time for the Doctor and Rose to find out . Plot . The Dalek s turn on Rose Tyler and demand that she predict the Ninth Doctor ' s actions , but she refuses . The Daleks detect the Doctor ' s TARDIS flying in real space towards the saucer , and launch missile s against it . The missiles detonate , but thanks to the tribophysical waveform macro - kinetic extrapolator taken from Blon Fel - Fotch Passameer - Day Slitheen , Jack has rigged up a force field around the TARDIS that protects it . The TARDIS materialises on board the Dalek saucer , around Rose and the single Dalek guarding her , which Jack destroys with the gun he improvised on the Game Station . As the Doctor examines the wreckage of the Dalek , he muses that since it is now apparent that the Daleks survived the Time War , the Time Lord s died for nothing . The travellers exit the TARDIS , and are immediately fired on by the surrounding Daleks , but the extrapolator ' s force field continues to protect them . The Doctor taunts the Daleks , reminding them that Dalek legends call him " the Oncoming Storm " , and even though they claim to have eliminated all emotion , he is sure that , deep inside , the Daleks still feel fear when faced with him . He asks how they survived the Time War , and is answered by a low , grating voice , " They survived . . . through me . " The voice is that of the Dalek Emperor , a Dalek mutant suspended in a transparent tank of fluid , flanked by panels of armour and topped by an equally gargantuan Dalek domed head . Around it floats an entourage of black - domed Daleks . The Emperor explains that though the Doctor destroyed all the Daleks in the War , its ship survived : " falling through time — crippled but alive " . The surviving Daleks spent centuries hiding in " the dark space " , silently rebuilding , infiltrating Earth ' s systems , harvesting human s and converting the genetic material into an army of Daleks . When Rose suggests that makes the Daleks half - human , the Daleks cry out that the remark is blasphemy . The Doctor is surprised and horrified that the Daleks even have such a concept . The Emperor declares : " I reached into the dirt and made new life . I am the god of all Daleks ! " Even though it used human genetic material , only one cell in a billion was fit to be nurtured , and the Emperor insists that its manipulation resulted in the cultivation of " pure and blessed Dalek " . Horrified , the Doctor realises that the Daleks have been driven insane by the human values they have absorbed , becoming self - loathing fanatics who hate their own genetic makeup , which makes them deadlier than ever . The travellers re - enter the TARDIS , and the Doctor returns them to Floor 500 of the Game Station . The Doctor orders the two remaining programmers to turn up the transmitters so the Daleks cannot transmat aboard the station . Earth is ignoring the station ' s warnings since it stopped transmitting and is simply sitting there defenceless . Despite the Doctor ' s earlier orders , Lynda Moss is still on board , unwilling to leave him . In any case , there were not enough shuttles , and there are still about a hundred people on board , on Floor 000 , including Rodrick , Rose ' s main opponent in " The Weakest Link " , who is still looking for his prize money . The Dalek fleet begins to move towards Earth , the Emperor giving orders to purify the planet with fire and turn it into its temple . The Doctor begins dismantling the panels in the control room . The Daleks have left him an enormous transmitter , and to Jack ' s disbelief , the Doctor is proposing to build and transmit a Delta wave , an energy wave that will fry every brain within radius of the blast . Unfortunately , a wave of this magnitude would require three days to build up , and the Dalek fleet will be upon them in twenty - two minutes . The Doctor must work fast . Jack attaches the extrapolator to the station ' s systems so the Daleks cannot simply blast the station out of the sky , but it will not prevent them from physically invading to stop the wave . Jack concentrates the force field on the top six levels of the station , so the Daleks will have to enter at Floor 494 and work their way up to Floor 500 . Rose stays behind to help the Doctor build the wave while the others , armed with bastic bullet s which can breach Dalek casings , go down to Floor 000 to try to scare up volunteers to help hold back the Daleks . Jack kisses both Rose and the Doctor good - bye . On Floor 000 , only a few join the defenders . Others , like Rodrick , do not believe that the Daleks still exist . Jack warns them all to stay on Floor 000 and keep quiet , even if they start to hear the sounds of battle above ; if they do , hopefully the Daleks will not notice them . On Floor 500 , the Delta Wave starts its build - up , but when the Doctor checks to see how long it will need to build , he hangs his head in dismay . When Rose asks how bad it is , the Doctor brightens up and says it can work if he can use the TARDIS to cross his own timeline . He ushers her into the TARDIS and tells her to stay there while he powers up the station . Once he exits the TARDIS , however , his expression turns sombre , and he points the sonic screwdriver at the ship , making it dematerialise with Rose on board . Rose finds the TARDIS doors locked , and a hologram of the Doctor appears , explaining to Rose that if she is receiving this message , then the Doctor is either dead , or about to die with no chance of escape . Emergency Program One will take her home , and the TARDIS will not return for him for fear that its technology will fall into the Dalek hands . He asks her to just let the TARDIS moulder away and die , and , in remembrance of him , to have a fantastic life . The TARDIS lands Rose at her estate in the 21st century , and despite her near - hysterical jiggling of the controls , she cannot get it to work again . Outside , Mickey comes running down the street , having heard the distinctive sound of the TARDIS ' engines , and Rose hugs him , weeping . When Jack contacts Floor 500 , he finds that the Doctor has sent Rose away . When Jack asks if the Delta Wave will be ready , the Dalek Emperor breaks in on the transmission , noting that even if the wave is completed in time , it will not be able to discriminate between human and Dalek ; it will wipe out all Daleks and humans within its long range . The Doctor replies that there are colonies in space and the human race will survive , but the whole universe is in danger if he lets the Daleks live . Jack tells the Doctor to keep working , and defiantly tells the Emperor that he has never , and will never , doubt the Doctor . The Doctor questions the Emperor on how it managed to scatter the words " Bad Wolf " through history , but the Emperor replies that these words were not part of its design . Jack places Lynda in an observation deck which has a heavy door that will hopefully hold the Daleks out for a time . From the deck , Lynda will monitor the station ' s sensors and update the rest of the humans on the Daleks ' progress . Through the window , they see the fleet decelerate into Earth orbit , and thousands of Daleks begin to stream out from the saucers towards the station . The Daleks force the airlock on Floor 494 , and begin to work their way up . They took the internal laser s off - line and ruthlessly exterminated the first batch of defenders , whose bastic bullets have no effect as they melt against the Dalek force fields ( Jack ' s information about the effectiveness of the bullets is out of date ) . In the 21st century , Jackie and Mickey try to persuade Rose to just get on with her life . Rose tells them that she cannot , because the Doctor showed her a better way to live , just as he showed Mickey : you do not just give up , you make a stand and fight for what is right . As Mickey tries to reason with her , Rose notices the words " Bad Wolf " scrawled in six - foot high letters on a paved public area of the estate , and also in the form of graffiti on the surrounding walls . Rose realises that the words are not a warning , but a message , telling her that she can still get back to the Doctor . She runs for the TARDIS , hoping at least to help the Doctor escape . She tells Mickey that the TARDIS is telepathic , and to make contact , they need to get inside it , open the console to get at the heart of the TARDIS . However , their first attempt to pry the console open by hooking a chain to Mickey ' s car is unsuccessful . On Floor 495 , the Daleks encounter the Anne Droid from " The Weakest Link " , and it effectively manages to dispose of three Daleks before another one shoots its head off . To Lynda ' s horror , instead of flying up to 496 , the Daleks travel down to Floor 000 , exterminating everyone left there . In the TARDIS , Jackie tries her hand at persuading Rose to give up , but Rose tells her that Pete , her father , would not have given up ; she knows this because she met him . Jackie does not believe this , until Rose reminds her that a blonde girl was there holding Pete ' s hand when he died and Jackie saw her from a distance ; that girl was Rose . Shaken , Jackie rushes out of the TARDIS . On 2002nd century Earth , the fleet descends , bombarding the planet , the outlines of the continents distorting on Lynda ' s screen ( notably Australasia ) as they are devastated by the Dalek bombing . The Emperor proudly proclaims that he has created heaven on Earth . Meanwhile , on Floor 499 , Jack organises the last stand against the Daleks , telling the defenders to concentrate fire on the Dalek eye - stalks . This works against one Dalek , but the others overwhelm the barricades . As a Dalek squad with an Assault Dalek begins to cut through the doors to Lynda ' s position , another squad floats in space outside the window of the observation deck . One Dalek fires at the window , shattering the glass and exposing Lynda to the vacuum of space , killing her . Jack , the only human on the game station still alive retreats towards Floor 500 , still firing vainly at the oncoming Dalek squads . Back in the 21st century , all attempts to open the TARDIS console have failed and Rose starts to consider giving up but Mickey won ' t allow her to , knowing how important returning to the Doctor is for her . Jackie then returns to the TARDIS with a heavy - duty recovery vehicle , loaned from an acquaintance who owes her a favour . She tells Rose that she was right ; this would have been the sort of mad thing Pete would have done . The heavier chain of the recovery vehicle holds , and the console tears open . Rose stares into the heart of the TARDIS , and energy from within the console flows into her eyes . The TARDIS doors close of their own accord , shutting Jackie and Mickey out , and the TARDIS dematerialises , intense light visibly streaming out of the TARDIS windows . Jack runs out of ammunition and is exterminated at the doorway to Floor 500 just as the Doctor finishes readying the Delta Wave . The Daleks glide into the control room , and when the Doctor threatens to activate the wave , the Emperor dares him to do so , to become like it — " the Great Exterminator " , to make the choice between coward and killer . The Doctor hesitates , and then says he would be a coward any day . As the Doctor prepares for extermination , the TARDIS materialises behind him . The doors open , the light from the TARDIS ' heart spilling out into the control room , and in the middle of it all is Rose as Bad Wolf , glowing brightly . In answer to the Doctor , Rose tells him she looked into the TARDIS and it into her . The Doctor tells her that she looked into the time vortex , something no one is supposed to see . Suffused with power , Rose easily stops and diverts a Dalek blast . As the Emperor calls her " the abomination " , Rose explains that she is the Bad Wolf and proceeds to scatter the name of the Game Station ' s owners through time and space , to lead herself to this point . She can now see all of time and space : the past , present and all possible futures ; all she wants is the Doctor to be safe and protected from the Daleks . The Emperor declares that she cannot hurt it as it is immortal , but Rose proves the Emperor wrong by waving her hand and killing him . All the Daleks — emperor , fleet and those on Earth — are destroyed . Rose declares the Time War has ended . However , the power continues to stream through Rose , and she is unwilling to let go of the power of life and death , a power demonstrated when outside the room and unseen by the Doctor Captain Jack suddenly returns to life . The Doctor tries desperately to get her to relinquish what she has been given , but Rose weeps that she cannot cope with the power coursing through her body . The Doctor knows that the power will kill her , so he pulls her close and kisses her , drawing the energy into himself . As Rose falls unconscious , the Doctor releases the vortex energies back into the TARDIS . Jack makes it to the control room only to see the TARDIS dematerialise without him . On board , Rose awakens , remembering little of what has transpired . As she tries to figure out what happened , the Doctor jokes that he sang a song that made the Daleks run away , but he then notices a small ripple of energy sweeping across the back of his hand and his expression clouds momentarily . Turning back to Rose , he tells her that he was going to take her to so many places , like Barcelona — the planet , not the city , and that perhaps he will , just not as he is now . Rose does not understand what the Doctor is talking about , until he buckles backwards in pain . The Doctor tells her that absorbing the vortex energy into himself has damaged him , and every cell in his body is dying as they speak . Trying to both ease Rose ' s worry and explain the process of regeneration to her , the Doctor tells her that Time Lords has a " trick " that allows them to " cheat death " , but he will have to change , and this incarnation will not see her again . The Ninth Doctor ' s last words to Rose are , " Before I go , I just want to tell you , you were fantastic . Absolutely fantastic . And you know what ? So was I . " With that , the Doctor grins from ear to ear and remains smiling to the very end . Moments later , he tilts backward with a swift jolt , blazing energy courses through his body , and before Rose ' s astonished eyes , the Doctor ' s features change and he regenerates into his next incarnation . His short hair grows out rapidly into thick brown locks , and as the energy recedes , he raises back up with a different face , looking quite nonplussed . The new Doctor says hello and begins to introduce himself somewhat incoherently . He then interrupts himself saying , " New teeth . That ' s weird . " He wonders where he was going to go , before saying , " Oh , that ' s right . Barcelona . " As Rose stares at him in great shock , the Doctor smiles . Story notes . Filming locations . " to be added "