"I don't want to go."
-The Doctor
Ah. Such sad last words from such an amazing character. I waited long enough to write my review of the Doctor Who Special: The End of Time. I wanted to watch both episodes so that I could present a well-rounded, unbiased review. Part one aired on December 26th & and part two aired here in the U.S. on the 2nd of January on BBC America. I do give kudos to the Beeb for making the episodes available quickly instead of making us wait forever. Although, there was too much of a gap with the other specials. I actually saw the episodes the same day as those in the UK did. But, I wanted to watch them on BBC America when they aired. This post will contain bits from the episodes and some dialogue. I really hope you have watched them!
As most know, I am a long-time fan of Doctor Who and a huge fan of David Tennant (Casanova, Recovery, Secret Smile, Blackpool, Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire baby!). These episodes, written by Russell T. Davies, actually stood up to my expectations of Ten's ending. although there were some things that, in my opinion, should have been either left out or more explanation given. Like Rassilon. Was he resurrected to fight with the Time Lords in the Time War? Because according to The Five Doctors special, he was dead, but his consciousness was alive. (Go get that special! it's on DVD!) And why on God's green does The Master look like some DC comics reject or a Sith Lord replica? And When did Martha and Mickey get married? Ugh! lol
Part One
Wilf Mott walks into a church and stares at a glass mural. He sees the TARDIS engraved at the bottom of the mural. A lady in white appears to him and tells him the story of that mural. HE replies to her and turns around but, she disappears.
The Doctor arrives on the Ood home planet looking a bit refreshed. Wearing a lei and a straw hat, he recounts his solo adventures through time; naming a planet Allison, marrying Queen Elizabeth II (hence why she was angry with him in S3's episode, The Shakespeare Code), and some other stuff. Ood Sigma tells him he shouldn't have delayed. The Doctor locks the TARDIS like a car and proceeds on with Ood Sigma. He is impressed but taken aback by how the Ood have been able to reach him telepathically and have evolved in only 100 years. The Ood Elders show The Doctor what has been happening and he runs off back to the TARDIS.
Meanwhile back on Earth, Lucy Saxton is released from her holding cell. She is brought to a place in the prison's cellar by guards. Here is where I got a little confused. These Books of Saxton? What the blimey hell? He had a cult? Yeah ok RTD... The new warden and her followers are trying to bring The Master back from the dead. But Lucy has a potion to stop the resurrection. She tosses it in and the whole place explodes.
In the meantime, The Doctor is too late. He arrives after the place exploded. It seems to be a theme here. He arrives too late and the events that will bring him to his demise are happening fast.
Wilf (Bernard Cribbins) and the Silver Cloak get together to find The Doctor. Yay old people!!
(although I applaud RTD for acknowledging the US election of President Obama, I felt that talking about him ending the economic recession through out the episode; was a bit much. the man is NOT the Messiah!)
Flash to a junk/salvage yard somewhere in London, The Master sucks the life out of two people running a driving food cart. He then sits down by two people eating and he begins to talk like a crazy person. His skull flashes blue through his skin and it frightens the two men. They run off, but he catches up with them and they become his next meal.. "Dinnertiiiime!"
Meanwhile, The Doctor tracks The Master's scent (bloodhounds..) to the salvage yard and The Master bangs four times on a steel drum; imitating the sound in his head. The Doctor begins to chase after him through the yard. He comes within 100 yards of him and The Master lets out this thunderous yell. They face each other and The Doctor offers his help to him. The Master runs off and The Silver Cloak (yay old people!) corner The Doctor near the shipping yard.
Minnie the Menace, played excellently by June Whitfield (Absolutely Fabulous), gropes his bum. Oh to be her hand.. She was the envy us all fan girls that shoot.
The Doctor and Wilf are dropped off at a cafe' in London and hence begins one of the most poignant and sad scenes from part one. I have included my favorite lines from that scene.
"I'm going to die."
"Yeah, well so am I one day."
"Don't you dare!"
"Alright, I'll try not to!"
"....Even if I change, it feels like dying. Everything I am dies. Some new man goes sauntering away and I'm dead."
"Yeah, well so am I one day."
"Don't you dare!"
"Alright, I'll try not to!"
"....Even if I change, it feels like dying. Everything I am dies. Some new man goes sauntering away and I'm dead."
This part had me all misty-eyed. David really knows how to bring the emotion. And Mr. Cribbins was splendid as well. They play off each other very well.
Then there is this lovely commentary by Timothy Dalton (squeals!!) and then the revelation of who is speaking! Yeah, I squealed.
The Doctor and The Master are back in the yard and a sort of Time/Sith Lord exchange begins. The Doctor being electrocuted by The Master and then him coming towards the Doctor and discussing a childhood memory. The Master keeps stating he is so hungry & the Doctor tells him what happened (well us). Then he goes into a tirade about food at Christmas. That part made me nauseated..
The Doctor tries to tell him about the Ood prophesy, but he isn't listening. We hear the tap tap tap tap in the background. This is the sound coming from his head. He then tells The Doctor to listen to his head. He hears the noise and asks, "what's inside your head?"
At that point, The Sith Master exclaims, "It's REAL!" and flies off (I guess resurrected Time Lords can fly with electricity) and states something is calling him. Just then, a helicopter comes down and people jump out and kidnap The Master. The Doctor is knocked out and left in the yard.
We see Wilf and Donna (Doctor Donna) in the kitchen and Wilf asks Donna about the book. She says she felt it was something she should have. The Doctor Donna trying to get out! I hated that they made her like that. She was brilliant! They begin to gather around the television and the lady in white talks to Wilf again. She tells him don't mention any of this to The Doctor.. (why so secretive lady?) Meanwhile, The Master is at the Naismith mansion in a BDSM chair. I still do not get who the flying heck Naismith was. I guess some rich over-indulgent turd who has some type of weird relationship with his daughter..eww! Did not think RTD was a Flowers In The Attic fan...
Wilf and The Doctor meet up outside the house and The Doctor tries to piece the events together. He tells Wilf he is the only link he can think of. Just then Sylvia comes outside and sees her dad and The Doctor talking. They all know he cannot be seen or heard by Donna, because if she remembers, her brain will burn like eggs in a frying pan! The Doctor and Wilf head to the TARDIS , with Sylvia yelling behind them. As soon as they disappear, Donna comes out and sees her mother yelling at 'thin air'.
In the TARDIS, Wilf is stumped. Yes, it's bigger on the inside...
"I thought it would be cleaner?"
Back at the Flowers In The Attic mansion, Naismith, his creepy daughter, and a bound Master are in the presence of the Immortality Gate; once held by Torchwood. Two of the scientist disappear below. Come to find out, they are spikey green aliens in disguise.
"I like you.. You taste great!" Is he less filling too?
Naismith then has some food set out for The Master. He then completely annihilates the turkey down to the bones! Naismith then talks about his plan for the Immortality Gate and how 'Saxton' is part of the plan. The Doctor and Wilf head into the tunnels and come across one of the scientist below.
"Shimmer!"
"Oh my Lord, she's a cactus!"
The Master gets the gate fully operational and he is then bound in a straight jacket. Below, The Doctor de-shimmers the other scientist and asks what 'Skeletor' is doing upstairs. Come to find out that the green spikey cactus people are Vinvocci. They then tell him that the device is used to mend whole planets and then he realizes what The Master's plan is.
Or does he? The plan?
To make the human race extinct!
To make the human race extinct!
Lots of dialogue ensues and The President of the US comes on screen about to discuss a 'radical solution' and then The Master jumps into the Gate. Then every human on the planet starts to see him in their heads. Donna calls Wilf and tells him that her fiancee and Sylvia are acting strange. Next thing you know, every one turns into The Master. Donna starts to remember the events of her time with The Doctor and her head begins to hurt.
Timothy Dalton begins to speak and then the scene cuts to him and the TimeLords.
"For Victory! For Gallifrey! For the end of time its self!"
Part Two
Part two opens with the Time Lords on Gallifrey during the Time War. The cistern is broken in several places and smoke is rising into the orange sky. They speak of The Doctor having the moment and will use it to end the Daleks and Time Lords. They are devising a way to save themselves from their extinction. They also talk about a prophesy and how The Master, The Doctor and Earth are involved.
"I will not die!! Do you hear me?"
The Doctor is tied up to some sort of BDSM/dentist chair and Wilf is bound in ropes. The Master begins to make war with the rest of the universe. He also is berating him and demanding to know where the TARDIS is. Donna calls and she begins being chased by Master clones. Then this gold beam of light radiates from her head and knocks the clones out; then she passes out herself. (boooo!!). So basically, every time she sees aliens, she's going to shoot beams from her head and pass out. What BS!! lolThe Master then begins to talk about his childhood on Gallifrey and the initiation by looking into the Time Vortex. A flash back to Gallifrey has the Time Lords discussing The Master and his insanity. We then find out that the rhythm of four is the heartbeat of a Time Lord. The Master talks about the prophesy that The Doctor was discussing. He instantly thinks its about him and then he asks again about his ship.
The Doctor calls him bone dead stupid because the guard is an inch taller than everyone else.
"God bless the cactuses!"
"That's cacti!"
"That's racist!"
"Worst. Rescue. Ever!" One of my favorite lines from part two that I am getting on a t-shirt. This was uttered as The Doctor is being carried off to the Vinvocci salvage ship. Although he wanted them to take him back to his ship. The female Vinvocci transports them to their ship above the Earth.
On the salvage ship, The Doctor and Wilf have another deep conversation. Wilf cries and pleads with him to take the gun and protect himself. The Master puts out a transmission about something that was found.. A white-point star. This star is supposedly only found on one planet alone.. Gallifrey. He then takes the gun from Wilf and then hi-jinks ensue. We then find out that the Time Lords changed and became evil. So, in the prophesy, the 'it' was Gallifrey and they are trying to save themselves from the Time Lock and death.
The flight/fight scenes were interesting to me. And I will leave it at that that. Him jumping out the plane with the old school revolver in his had made me think John Wayne meets James Bond. He crashed through the glass dome and hit the ground hard! I wanted to grab a first-aid kit and get the glass out of his skin. So there is The Doctor, standing in the middle of prophesy and self-preservation- Rassilon on one end, The Master on the other. Pert and erect, he rises up and points the gun back and forth between the two Time Lords.
The Doctor looks over to his right and the woman in the weeping angels pose shows her face. It's his mother! (Yes! It was confirmed by Julie Gardner) The tears slowly stream down her face as he looks at her. She locked eyes with him and showed him (with eye gestures) what to do. He turns around to face The Master again and tells him to, "Move out the way." A shot is fired and the white diamond and the machine are blown away; disabling the link to the Time Lords and closing the connection and sending them back into the Time Lock. The Doctor stands there waiting for Rassilon to kill him with the glove when the Master appears behind him and says, "Get out the way." With those Sith/DC/Marvel comic powers he got in the botched resurrection, he sends that energy directly at Rassilon. They both disappear into the bright white light. Goodbye evil. Farewell Gallifrey.
The Doctor wakes up after The Master and The Time Lords have disappeared. He is happy that he is alive, but it is short-lived.
knock knock knock knock
The Doctor turns around with one of the saddest facial expressions and looks at Wilf stuck inside the chamber. The sheer realization that Wilf would be the cause of Ten's death resonated from the screen.
David plays these moments well with the forlornness and anger expressed in his speech and face. He rants, rages, and cries on about his unfair fate. "I could do so much more!" he exclaims as papers and other things fly off the table. There is even saliva coming out of his mouth. Thank God it wasn't the spit shower we received from Timothy Dalton in Part one. Wilf got into that precarious predicament by saving the life of another human being and in turn was himself stuck. Wilf begged him to just leave him inside. "I'm an old man. Just leave me," Wilf pleads. "Sometimes, a Time Lord lives too long.." But of course The Doctor couldn't. "It would be my honor.", he said. So he entered the chamber and absorbed the severe radiation that was emitted once Wilf stepped out the door. This was the second scene that brought me to tears. The doctor in pain and cowering on the floor. The emotional music and David rolled in a ball, covering his head just made me think he was going to die there.
It was what he does every time: save the world. An insignificant life some might think. Why would he save Wilf? He could have been very selfish and left him there to die; but he had enough of other's deaths weighing in on his conscious. Two reasons: One, because Wilf is Donna's grandfather and is someone dearly important to her. Two, because every life is important. The Doctor knew that. He loves the human race. They could be thick-headed & daft at times, but they can also be strong, bold, creative, powerful, and overcome anything. Remember in 'Silence In The Library' when River Song said that when the Doctor is around, everybody lives. Everybody lives, including those with no meaningful destiny. But Wilf did have a destiny, unbeknown to him, The Doctor and Donna. Which reminds me of Turn Left, The Stolen Earth and Journey's End. How one person could be the most important person in all of creation.
Unfortunately, Wilf's role was to cause Ten to regenerate. :(
Out of the chamber, the subtle effects of the regeneration begin to show. "It's starting," The Doctor says.
The doctor leave Wilf and goes to "get his reward". He travels in time to see his companions in their time-lines. First to Martha and Mickey who were being chased by a Sontaran, & have apparently gotten married. He takes out the Sontaran and just stands there with a solemn and focused, yet stern look. It is then they realize that this will be the last time they see him in that incarnation. He visits Jack Harkness in an extraterrestrial bar and plays matchmaker. As some know, Jack recently lost Ianto and his grandson during the 'Children of Earth' debacle on Torchwood; so I'm guessing he was drowning out his sadness. They salute each other and he walks off. Then Jack begins to make conversation with Alonzo (Allons-y!).
He saves Luke from being hit by a car. Luke recognizes him and calls for his mom, Sarah Jane. She runs out and sees The Doctor heading inside the TARDIS. He turns around and just looks at her, then enters. The camera cuts to Sarah Jane and the realization that this version is gone shows clearly on her face. She has seen him regenerate before, so she knew..
The next stop is Donna's wedding. Remember, Wilf stated that she and the Temple guy were getting married in the Spring. The Doctor shows up at the wedding, but stays in the back. Sylvia notices him standing behind the graveyard and nudges her dad. They look over and proceed to walk towards The Doctor. Wilf tells him (and us) about what happened to Naismith and his co-horts & asks him about the woman and he doesn't reply, but looks at Sylvia and then at Donna. The Doctor hands Wilf a envelope with a lottery ticket inside. It is a gift to Donna (aw BFF love). He states that he doesn't carry cash and borrowed a quid ( dollar in GBP) from a lovely man, Jeffrey Noble. Sylvia realizes that he was talking about her husband.
Wilf salutes him and he walks back to the TARDIS. Wilf begins to cry knowing he will never see the Doctor again and that he was the cause.
The last stop is New Years 2005. He went back to see Rose. Well, the Rose Nine met later that year. Hiding in the shadows, he strikes up a small conversation with her. He tells her you're going to have a great year. I'm glad they let him go see her. We know he can't cross dimensions to see her and his meta-crisis clone. :(
She leaves and he braces himself against the brick wall as he stumbles back to the TARDIS.
Falling in the snow, he looks up to see Ood Sigma standing there. "We will sing to you, Doctor. The universe will sing you to sleep." The music in these final scenes just reach deep into your emotional cortex. The realization that this is it just makes watching it harder, but you cannot look away.
And then it begins. Like a child I began crying. It wasn't him regenerating, it was David's expression that made me weep like I was a child again watching Peter Davidson turn into Colin Baker. The TARDIS was exploding and on fire!
Due to the radiation and Ten not wanting to leave, this cause the extreme regeneration and the explosions...
RTD made David go out with a BANG! Then Ten just lets the regeneration take its course and he morphs into Eleven (Matt Smith). And with his arrival, the ship crashes back to Earth..
"This song is ending, but the story never ends."
So, there you have it. In my opinion, both episodes are a 8.5 out of 10. Mostly due to David's acting. While I like RTD's writing, I felt that some things should have been left on the writing floor. I will miss Ten. He was funny, serious, and caring. We shall see come Spring who Matt Smith chooses to make Eleven..
Geronimooooooo! LOL
"That's cacti!"
"That's racist!"
"Worst. Rescue. Ever!" One of my favorite lines from part two that I am getting on a t-shirt. This was uttered as The Doctor is being carried off to the Vinvocci salvage ship. Although he wanted them to take him back to his ship. The female Vinvocci transports them to their ship above the Earth.
On the salvage ship, The Doctor and Wilf have another deep conversation. Wilf cries and pleads with him to take the gun and protect himself. The Master puts out a transmission about something that was found.. A white-point star. This star is supposedly only found on one planet alone.. Gallifrey. He then takes the gun from Wilf and then hi-jinks ensue. We then find out that the Time Lords changed and became evil. So, in the prophesy, the 'it' was Gallifrey and they are trying to save themselves from the Time Lock and death.
The flight/fight scenes were interesting to me. And I will leave it at that that. Him jumping out the plane with the old school revolver in his had made me think John Wayne meets James Bond. He crashed through the glass dome and hit the ground hard! I wanted to grab a first-aid kit and get the glass out of his skin. So there is The Doctor, standing in the middle of prophesy and self-preservation- Rassilon on one end, The Master on the other. Pert and erect, he rises up and points the gun back and forth between the two Time Lords.
The Doctor looks over to his right and the woman in the weeping angels pose shows her face. It's his mother! (Yes! It was confirmed by Julie Gardner) The tears slowly stream down her face as he looks at her. She locked eyes with him and showed him (with eye gestures) what to do. He turns around to face The Master again and tells him to, "Move out the way." A shot is fired and the white diamond and the machine are blown away; disabling the link to the Time Lords and closing the connection and sending them back into the Time Lock. The Doctor stands there waiting for Rassilon to kill him with the glove when the Master appears behind him and says, "Get out the way." With those Sith/DC/Marvel comic powers he got in the botched resurrection, he sends that energy directly at Rassilon. They both disappear into the bright white light. Goodbye evil. Farewell Gallifrey.
The Doctor wakes up after The Master and The Time Lords have disappeared. He is happy that he is alive, but it is short-lived.
knock knock knock knock
The Doctor turns around with one of the saddest facial expressions and looks at Wilf stuck inside the chamber. The sheer realization that Wilf would be the cause of Ten's death resonated from the screen.
David plays these moments well with the forlornness and anger expressed in his speech and face. He rants, rages, and cries on about his unfair fate. "I could do so much more!" he exclaims as papers and other things fly off the table. There is even saliva coming out of his mouth. Thank God it wasn't the spit shower we received from Timothy Dalton in Part one. Wilf got into that precarious predicament by saving the life of another human being and in turn was himself stuck. Wilf begged him to just leave him inside. "I'm an old man. Just leave me," Wilf pleads. "Sometimes, a Time Lord lives too long.." But of course The Doctor couldn't. "It would be my honor.", he said. So he entered the chamber and absorbed the severe radiation that was emitted once Wilf stepped out the door. This was the second scene that brought me to tears. The doctor in pain and cowering on the floor. The emotional music and David rolled in a ball, covering his head just made me think he was going to die there.
It was what he does every time: save the world. An insignificant life some might think. Why would he save Wilf? He could have been very selfish and left him there to die; but he had enough of other's deaths weighing in on his conscious. Two reasons: One, because Wilf is Donna's grandfather and is someone dearly important to her. Two, because every life is important. The Doctor knew that. He loves the human race. They could be thick-headed & daft at times, but they can also be strong, bold, creative, powerful, and overcome anything. Remember in 'Silence In The Library' when River Song said that when the Doctor is around, everybody lives. Everybody lives, including those with no meaningful destiny. But Wilf did have a destiny, unbeknown to him, The Doctor and Donna. Which reminds me of Turn Left, The Stolen Earth and Journey's End. How one person could be the most important person in all of creation.
Unfortunately, Wilf's role was to cause Ten to regenerate. :(
Out of the chamber, the subtle effects of the regeneration begin to show. "It's starting," The Doctor says.
The doctor leave Wilf and goes to "get his reward". He travels in time to see his companions in their time-lines. First to Martha and Mickey who were being chased by a Sontaran, & have apparently gotten married. He takes out the Sontaran and just stands there with a solemn and focused, yet stern look. It is then they realize that this will be the last time they see him in that incarnation. He visits Jack Harkness in an extraterrestrial bar and plays matchmaker. As some know, Jack recently lost Ianto and his grandson during the 'Children of Earth' debacle on Torchwood; so I'm guessing he was drowning out his sadness. They salute each other and he walks off. Then Jack begins to make conversation with Alonzo (Allons-y!).
He saves Luke from being hit by a car. Luke recognizes him and calls for his mom, Sarah Jane. She runs out and sees The Doctor heading inside the TARDIS. He turns around and just looks at her, then enters. The camera cuts to Sarah Jane and the realization that this version is gone shows clearly on her face. She has seen him regenerate before, so she knew..
The next stop is Donna's wedding. Remember, Wilf stated that she and the Temple guy were getting married in the Spring. The Doctor shows up at the wedding, but stays in the back. Sylvia notices him standing behind the graveyard and nudges her dad. They look over and proceed to walk towards The Doctor. Wilf tells him (and us) about what happened to Naismith and his co-horts & asks him about the woman and he doesn't reply, but looks at Sylvia and then at Donna. The Doctor hands Wilf a envelope with a lottery ticket inside. It is a gift to Donna (aw BFF love). He states that he doesn't carry cash and borrowed a quid ( dollar in GBP) from a lovely man, Jeffrey Noble. Sylvia realizes that he was talking about her husband.
Wilf salutes him and he walks back to the TARDIS. Wilf begins to cry knowing he will never see the Doctor again and that he was the cause.
The last stop is New Years 2005. He went back to see Rose. Well, the Rose Nine met later that year. Hiding in the shadows, he strikes up a small conversation with her. He tells her you're going to have a great year. I'm glad they let him go see her. We know he can't cross dimensions to see her and his meta-crisis clone. :(
She leaves and he braces himself against the brick wall as he stumbles back to the TARDIS.
Falling in the snow, he looks up to see Ood Sigma standing there. "We will sing to you, Doctor. The universe will sing you to sleep." The music in these final scenes just reach deep into your emotional cortex. The realization that this is it just makes watching it harder, but you cannot look away. 
And then it begins. Like a child I began crying. It wasn't him regenerating, it was David's expression that made me weep like I was a child again watching Peter Davidson turn into Colin Baker. The TARDIS was exploding and on fire!
Due to the radiation and Ten not wanting to leave, this cause the extreme regeneration and the explosions...
RTD made David go out with a BANG! Then Ten just lets the regeneration take its course and he morphs into Eleven (Matt Smith). And with his arrival, the ship crashes back to Earth..
"This song is ending, but the story never ends."
So, there you have it. In my opinion, both episodes are a 8.5 out of 10. Mostly due to David's acting. While I like RTD's writing, I felt that some things should have been left on the writing floor. I will miss Ten. He was funny, serious, and caring. We shall see come Spring who Matt Smith chooses to make Eleven..
Geronimooooooo! LOL
These episodes almost made me cry on a few occasions, which says a lot because TV never makes me cry.
ReplyDeleteI very much enjoyed reading your review.
Also, after reading what you wrote i need to go back and watch Harry Potter and the Goblet of fire. I cannot imagine the Tenth Doctor as Barty Crouch Junior!