The End of the World ( TV story ) The End of the World was the second story in the first series of " Doctor Who " . It was the first instance of travelling into the viewers ' relative future in the revived series . The story also introduced recurring characters Lady Cassandra and the Face of Boe , and featured the first mention of the ubiquitous phrase " Bad Wolf " . Though of relatively minor impact here , it soon exploded into a persistent story arc that continued to thrive across multiple series beyond the first in the revived continuity . This episode is also notable for introducing the Time War , ( although the war itself was not named as such until the following episode " The Unquiet Dead " ) and the impact it had on the Doctor , as the Doctor reveals that his planet was destroyed because of the war , making him " the last of the Time Lord s " . The survivor ' s guilt caused by his actions in the war would stick with the Doctor in his tenth , eleventh and twelfth incarnations . It was director Euros Lyn ' s first work on the series . At the time of broadcast , it featured the most extensive use of CGI yet seen on " Doctor Who " . This was also the first time Jimmy Vee , an actor with a 3 ' 8 " stature , had a role as a character on the series , playing the Moxx of Balhoon . He would also play the Space Pig in the Series 1 story " Aliens of London " and eventually become a regular puppeteer and actor for the compact aliens and monsters seen in the BBC Wales era of the show . Synopsis . The Ninth Doctor takes his new companion , Rose Tyler , to the year 5 , 000 , 000 , 000 to see the sun expand and destroy the Earth . The observation deck space station , Platform One , is holding an event with the richest beings of the time observing the Earth ' s destruction , but mysterious metal spider s gifted by the Adherents of the Repeated Meme to the other guests are secretly infiltrating and sabotaging the station . Plot . The Doctor asks Rose where she would like to go on her first trip in the TARDIS . She asks to go one hundred years into the future , but when they arrive , the Doctor says the 22nd century is boring . They travel again , this time to 12005 , the time of the New Roman Empire . Again , they move on without leaving the TARDIS as Rose cannot believe his explanation . Finally , to impress his new companion , the Doctor takes Rose to a space station orbiting Earth in the year 5 . 5 / Apple / 26 . As they watch in amazement , the Sun expands partially — " Welcome to the end of the world " . The Doctor tells Rose that Earth has long been empty of any kind of life . Mankind left it long ago and the planet was taken over by the National Trust . They have used gravity satellites to hold the effects of the Sun back , but the money has run out . Earth will be swallowed up by the Sun at last . The rich and powerful of the universe will witness the end of the world , which will occur in about half an hour . The station has automated systems and is staffed by blue - skinned humanoids . On encountering the blue - skinned Steward , who manages Platform One , the Doctor persuades him that he and Rose are invited guests by using a piece of psychic paper that makes people see what the Doctor wants . The other guests arrive , including the diminutive Moxx of Balhoon , the Face of Boe , living humanoid trees from the Forest of Cheem ( whose ancestors originated on Earth ) and , from Financial Family Seven , a group of hooded aliens known as the Adherents of the Repeated Meme . Rose watches in horrified fascination as the last living human arrives — the Lady Cassandra O ' Brien Dot Delta Seventeen , a piece of stretched - out skin with eyes and a mouth , mounted on a frame and connected to a brain jar . The skin needs to be constantly moisturised by her attendants . The guests exchange gifts . Jabe of the Forest of Cheem gives the Doctor a cutting taken from her grandfather . The Doctor gives her the gift of air from his lungs . The Moxx gives the gift of bodily salivas , and the Adherents of the Repeated Meme hand out gifts of " peace " in the form of metal spheres , even to the Steward . Cassandra gives her own gifts : the last ostrich egg , and an " iPod " ( actually a jukebox ) from ancient Earth . Rose is a bit overwhelmed when the jukebox plays " classical " music — the song " Tainted Love " by Soft Cell — and leaves the hall . The Doctor receives a call about the TARDIS ' parking place and is given a ticket telling him where it is being moved . Elsewhere , Rose has a brief conversation with a station plumber , Raffalo , who is investigating a blockage . At first she is comforted by the familiarity of Raffalo ' s matter - of - fact , working - class manner , but when Raffalo explains that she is from Crespallion , which is part of the Jaggit Brocade , affiliated to the Scarlet Junction in Complex 56 , Rose realises just how far she is from home , with a man she does not know . She leaves , and does not see Raffalo spot small , spider - like robots in the ducts , which rapidly grab her and pull her inside . The spiders are being disgorged from the metal spheres gifted by the Adherents of the Repeated Meme to guests . They soon infiltrate the entire station , sabotaging its systems . The Doctor finds Rose . When she asks where he is from , he brushes off her questions . When the Doctor alters Rose ' s mobile phone so she can talk to her mother in the past , another fact sinks in — her mother is long dead . The Doctor jokes that if Rose thought the telephone call was amazing , she should see the bill . Suddenly , a tremor shakes the station , and the Doctor gleefully observes that was not supposed to happen . The Steward , investigating the cause of the tremor , is killed when a spider lowers the sun filter in his room , exposing him to the direct heat of the Sun ' s rays . The Doctor starts to look into the tremor and Jabe offers to show him where the maintenance corridors are , while Rose goes to speak to Cassandra . Rose finds Cassandra has had seven hundred and eight cosmetic operations , and considers herself the last " pure " human — the others who left " intermingled " with other species and she considers them all mongrels . Her next operation , to bleach her blood , is next week . Disgusted that humanity has come to this , Rose insults Cassandra and storms off , only to be met by the Adherents , who knock her out . In the corridors , Jabe quietly tells the Doctor that she scanned him earlier , and was astonished to discover he exists . She sympathises with him and the Doctor is briefly moved to tears . They continue to the bowels of the station , where they find one of the spiders . Jabe captures it with a long , vine - like appendage . As the station ' s systems continue to fail and , as a " traditional ballad " — Britney Spears singing " Toxic " — plays on the jukebox , Rose is lying unconscious on the floor . She wakes up and is trapped in a room with a lowering sun filter . The Doctor hears her cries for help and raises the filter , but Rose is still locked in . Returning to the main hall , he releases the spider to seek out its master . It first scurries over to Cassandra and then veers towards Adherents of the Repeated Meme . The Doctor says that a " meme " is just an idea and reveals that the Adherents are robots as they collapse to the floor . He then sends the spider out to find who was controlling them and it goes directly to Cassandra . Cassandra has her attendants hold the others at bay , saying the moisturiser guns can also shoot acid . Her operations cost a fortune and she was hoping to create a hostage situation and later seek compensation . Now she will just let everyone burn and take over their corporate holdings . Cassandra orders the spiders to shut off the force field protecting the station , then uses a teleportation device to transport herself and her attendants away . With only minutes until the Sun incinerates Earth and the station , the Doctor and Jabe rush back to the air - conditioning chamber . The restore switch for the computer systems is at the other end of a platform blocked by giant rotating fans . The Doctor protests the rising heat will burn the wooden Jabe , but she insists on staying to hold down the switch that slows the fans . The Doctor makes it nearly to the end before Jabe catches fire and burns . He closes his eyes and concentrates , making it past the last fan and throwing the reset switch . The force fields come up around the station just as the Earth explodes into cinders . The station ' s systems start to self - repair . Several of the guests are now dead , incinerated as the Sun ' s rays burst through cracks in the windows . The Doctor finds Cassandra ' s teleportation feed inside the ostrich egg and reverses it to bring her back . She starts taunting the Doctor , saying that he cannot do anything about her . However , the Doctor calmly notes he has transported Cassandra back " without " her moisturising attendants . In the heat , she begins to dry out . Cassandra begs for mercy and Rose asks the Doctor to help her , but the Doctor coldly says that everything has its time and everything dies . Cassandra ' s skin stretches and tears , her innards exploding , leaving only her brain tank and empty frame . Rose is sad that in all the danger , Earth ' s passing was not actually seen by anyone . The Doctor takes her back to the present in the TARDIS , telling her that people think things will last forever , but they don ' t . He admits his home planet was burned like Earth , but in a war . He is the last survivor of the Time Lord s . Rose says he still has her , and he smiles as she offers to buy him some chips . They have only five billion years before the shops close .