In 1955 Montgomery the Doctor and crew have to stop a time-travelling ex-convict from setting back the civil rights movement by preventing the Rosa Parks-bus incident. The vaguely defined villain conveniently has some sort of probationary conditioning that prevents him from actually harming people, so he plans on making small changes such that the landmark event does not take place, which of course the Doctor and team have to then undo. The story, which ignores the grandfather paradox (a cardinal sin in time-travel tales) and makes no attempt to explain who the villain is or why he wants to change events (beyond simply being a racist), ends up being a "Forrest Gump" style history lesson and a platform for the 'companions' to air racial grievances and for the Doctor to pontificate about tolerance. The only plus was Vinette Robinson's portrayal of Rosa Parks, which I thought was subtle and authentic (two words that would not be applied to anything else in the episode). If the show wants to be a soapbox for social justice, it will need better writers, otherwise the only people who will watch are those who have already embraced the 'cause du jour'.
Review of Rosa
