Doctor Who: The End of Time, Part 1by Wolfen MoondaughterReviews may contain information that could be considered 'spoilers'. Readers should proceed at their own risk. Network
Credits Grade: 9 The Doctor fears that his death is looming, and the Ood fear that the end of time itself is nigh. The Master's minions resurrect him, but things don't quite work according to plan. Meanwhile, Donna's grandfather, Wilfred, knows something is wrong with the world, and enlists his friends to help him find the Doctor, in the hopes that the Time Lord can stop whatever's looming. And everyone in the universe has bad dreams.I must say, when the news had dropped that Tennant was giving up being the Doctor, I had lamented the fact that we had gotten so little Master / Doctor interaction, as Simms an Tennant were absolutely fantastic together. You can imagine how absolutely thrilled I was to learn that Simms was reprising his role for this and the final Tennant episodes! It's quite possibly the best holiday present I've ever gotten! Not to say that the episode's perfect, but I'm so happy that I'm quite willing to shrug off the problems in the story. To elaborate on those problems, and then to specify what I loved about the ep, I'll be venturing into spoiler territory. As far as problems go, first there's the fact that it's never clear why Lucy goes from accepting how Harry Saxon, aka the Master, is a homicidal maniac hell-bent on destroying mankind, to being appalled that he would murder a few followers in order to restore his own life. In fact, at the end of "The Last of the Time Lords", I thought that he and Lucy had planned the whole "shooting him"-thing, and that she had picked up the ring. Still, I could accept her being upset because he turned on her, but her suddenly feeling protect of other's lives doesn't make any sense. Nor does the fact that her attempt to undo his regeneration ended with him having super-powers. (The super-jacked metabolism, I could see, although it was all over rather quickly — a storyline rather wasted.) Some story points are a little too convenient / contrived, such as the Master suddenly having all these followers (where were they in previous eps?). Then there's Lucy having her own supporters while she was in prison, ones that could find a way to stop the Master's plan no less — and yet not quite succeed. There's also the fact that Lucy had someone in place to help her when the bad guys brought her forth. And what about Elizabeth Swann? Granted, this is supposed to be a special situation of time going wrong, but the Doctor never once says anything like he can't die if he hasn't met Elizabeth for her first time yet. I'm also on the fence about the whole thing about Doctor not being able to travel back in time in his own timeline. Oddly, it does make a strange sort of sense to me — even in episodes where he met himself, he's still traveling forward in his own timeline, But if his own timeline can cross paths with itself, then why can't it do so in this instance? Throwing technical jargon of what it can't be done just seems like a lantern to make us accept that it can't be done for the sake of the story, and is a huge reason why playing with time travel in the first place can be so problematic in storytelling. The whole mentioning of Obama was a bit strange, as they've avoided mentioning true figures before. And then they go an introduce Naismith, someone who I thought was supposed to be Obama at first! And Naismith's daughter's just happening to know about the Master and that he can fix this Immortality Gate thing is rather convenient as well. Naismith and his daughter are rather two-dimensional, as are the Master's followers. I wonder if Naismith is supposed to be a play on the fact that the Doctor's false surname is "Smith" like this guy is a "negative Smith"? Moving on to the good stuff now. The aliens that are introduced with the Immortality Gate project are quite amusing. I appreciate that this ep wasn't so very over-the-top silly, like "The Last of the Time Lords" was for much of that episode. I'm thrilled that the Time Lords and Gallifrey are being brought back! I wonder if that woman in white that spoke to Wilfred is Romana? And so far Timothy Dalton seems a good villainous Time Lord. I loved the idea of the Doctor turning the TARDIS key into a car-fob, which can operate it from a distance! That was inspired — especially when he tried to explain what he'd done to the Ood! While Donna's back to being a total bitch, I loved her scenes anyway, they were so funny. Wilfred's character development is coming along quite nicely, and his Silver Cloak operatives were quite fun. I loved the pervy old woman who goosed the Doctor! Wilfred's pleading with the Doctor regarding Donna was touching. And the Doctor opening up to the old man about the hardship of Time Lord regeneration, what it means for him, was one of the shining moments of the franchise. I was in tears! And now we're back to the Master. Simm has always done a great job playing crazy, and this ep he knocked it out of the ballpark! The Master's gleeful takeover, turning every human into a copy of himself, was quite amusing. I also have to wonder if he did this not just because he wanted to take the Doctor's precious human race away, but because, in a subconscious fit of jealousy, he's hoping to fill that place in the Doctor's heart? Maybe that's why he didn't just simply kill them all, but instead changed them into himself? Most of all, I loved his wasteland confrontation with the Doctor — specifically how, after zapping the Doctor with electricity, he raced forward to catch the Doctor as he fell. And if you don't believe that was meant to be a moment of the Master showing concern and compassion for a man who was once his friend, watch the "Inside Look" segment about it, where a member of the crew says that that moment was meant to show some humanity in the Master. And then there was the moment where he reached out to the Doctor, asking for help and pressing his forehead against the other man's, so that the Doctor could hear the drums in his head — I love that image so much, I want to paint it! I also adored hearing the Master reminisce about life on Gallifrey, the pain and wistfulness there, as well as the echo of their former friendship. However one chooses interprets their relationship (and I ship them as hard as I ship Nine and Rose), there's a strong bond of some kind between them, one that's quite captivating. The next episode can't come soon enough, and yet I dread seeing the last of these versions of them. Written: December 27, 2009
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