This review really couldn’t be more spoilery, so watch the episode before you read this. You have been warned!
Doctor Who: The End of Time, Part One is the penultimate episode for David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor as the character is set to regenerate at the end of Part Two. This episode saw the return of The Master, Donna and the Time Lords all of whom had previously thought to be killed off or else prevented from making any reasonable appearance in ongoing continuity.
This episode started in classic Who fashion, another prophecy on top of prophecy, frantic TARDIS piloting and a few jokes. I was correct in thinking that The Doctor’s narrative would be fairly dull, though I was glad the golden oldies weren’t given too much screen time, there was still relatively little action for The Doctor, repeating the last appearance of The Master by the Doc being neutralised and watching on helplessly while The Master bounds around and grins. The Master’s resurrection was a bit confusing because it seemed as though Lucy prevented it and yet he survived once again with no explanation as to why, though it is implied that his resurrection wasn’t entirely successful (hence the weird skull thing) and the fact that he somehow acquired blonde hair after this may explain it. I’ve always loved The Master, especially John Simm’s portrayal simply for just how insane he plays the renegade Time Lord, particularly the wasteland scenes. The helicopter sequence was fantastic but I was a bit disappointed that The Master was so easily overwhelmed, but I think that may’ve been a way of breaking into The Doctor’s supposed invulnerability by having him overcome as well.
Though I decried the apparent scenes in a cafes before, I admit that it was a really nice sequence – breaking many of RTD’s usual writing styles. The appearance of Donna, just passing, was a master-stroke because it gives a fresh face to the oft-returning characters thought to be gone for good; the appearance of Wilf meant that NOT seeing Donna would’ve been tricky. Furthermore, it gives the actors somewhere new to go – rather than David Tennant’s usual binary choice for RTD writing of happy/suprised or aghast – he has to convey that complex emotion of seeing an old friend casually with the inability to talk to her. The discussion of regeneration was superbly written and acted, Tennant perfectly timing The Doctor’s desire to break down and pulling it together, and the inclusion of Wilf in it, former soldier to former (time war) soldier, was an intriguing parallel.
The Vivi…viva…..vana………..oh those green spikey characters are clearly a much needed comic relief in this episode, keeping the dark and scary story with enough light-hearted stuff to stop kids from running away scared. Besides, this episode will likely become the lasting impression of David’s Doctor, and this gave him the opportunity to be a bit less grim and stony-faced and allowed him to make a lot more jokes (SHHHHHIMMER!); something that (though usually present in all incarnations) is uniquely done in this incarnation.
Practically every Doctor Who finale since the revival has been Earth/Universe/Reality in peril or at risk of extinction – the cliffhanger of this one was so amazingly original that RTD has clearly been saving this one up. If I didn’t know better I’d say that he was lulling his audience into a false sense of predictability and now flips it entirely as the human race actually is defeated (technically, we all know it’ll be reversed but still) or the peril is otherwise enacted. Granted, this cliffhanger is more than a bit of a Matrix rip-off, but as a plot device here it’s unexpected but fits in well.
The final scene was, frankly, baffling – though we’d have Claire Bloom playing ‘The Woman’ (the one who follows Wilf around), and I’m fairly convinced she’s a Time Lord, there was little indication or hint of the return of the Time Lords. Though with the Ood prophecy of “They are/It is returning” – it kind of gave the game away, RTD won’t want to introduce any new aliens from the old series without a degree of setup that wouldn’t be possible in a fast paced episode such as this. I already had a clue because of the robes that Timothy Dalton’s character ‘The Narrator’ was wearing could give it away and I saw a set photo of him with Tennant and Simm months ago. But the scene was confusing as, for the less attentive viewer, the robes don’t give away that they’re Time Lords and there’s no explanation or hint as to their survival or return. If it turns out that the Time Lords have been kicking around this whole time and nobody knew then that’ll be a terrible way of doing it, there should’ve been some more scenes that would suggest how the return is possible, even though I’m sure it will be fully explained next week.
All in all, it was less of a slow setup episode than I expected and it delivered wholeheartedly with action, story, writing and acting. I eagerly await the final Tennant-era episodes set to be broadcast at 18:40 on Friday 1st January 2010 on BBC One/HD – if this was just the setup, imagine the pay-off!
Oh and a side-note, if you’re going to see Avatar – don’t bother in 2D – for the 3D version the graphics are at least interesting enough to keep your attention but the story is predictable and tired. I was going to do a full review but there’s not a lot of point. It’s an alright film, it’s long but it needs to be with almost nothing that isn’t necessary, but you can see the ending coming from the very beginning and, had I not seen it in 3D, I would’ve felt a bit cheated. It’s ridiculously overhyped and doesn’t live up to expectations (or cost), it’s an alright film so go see it if it’s your thing, but go with low expectations and ignore the hype.
As another side-note, among my Christmas presents, complete Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy, Frankie Boyle autobiography, An Atheists Guide to Christmas (given my comment in my last post I should mention that it’s comedians making jokes about the topic) and various Doctor Who related items, including these silver commemorative Doctor Who medals by the Royal Mint that I got from my Mum/Sister which will be pretty valuable in years to come, particularly given how much the show’s about to change.
Merry Christmas all!
Mat