Review of The End of Time

[birdienl]

I know that there are heaps of End of Time reviews around, but I just couldn’t resist putting my two pennies worth in.

 

My mother always says: ‘Don’t anticipate too much, because then it’s bound to disappoint in the end!’ Well, that’s exactly what I’ve been doing over the last month or so, anticipating The End of Time. Keeping track of the last bits of news, watching every released clip. Maybe that’s why I was a bit underwhelmed with The End of Time.

 That was after my first viewing. Then I watched it again and I like it now. In my opinion, it’s not the best of Dr. Who I’ve seen, but I will like it for what it is: the last adventure of Ten.

 So, why was I disappointed? Well, two things. First of all, they didn’t seem to be able to decide what the main point of these episodes would be. The return of the Master and his plan for the Master race? It seemed so, because they spend the full first episode on that. Or the return of the Timelords, a much bigger event from the universal point of view. But then why did it get so little screen time? Why were the Timelords, in the Doctor’s own words ‘more dangerous than any of them’, there and back again within half an hour? Partly because time was needed to give Ten his proper send-off, his ‘reward’. Well, I didn’t mind that one bit. Because I love the companions, all of them. I think they’re as large a part of Doctor Who than the Doctor himself! So I really liked all the little scenes with Martha, Mickey, Luke, Sarah Jane, Jack, Verity Newman, Donna and family and Rose. I think having the Timelords return for the Tenth Doctors final battle was a good idea, but they should realised you can’t have an epic battle in thirty minutes and made a choice: the Master or the Timelords? You can’t give them both full credit in two episodes, because then you end up with what The End of Time partly was: rushed.

 The second reason why I was slightly disappointed in The End of Time were the silly plotholes. Now as a Doctor Who fan you shouldn’t mind plotholes too much, they’re there in almost every episode. But in The End of Time there were some black Black hole-sized plotholes! For example, Donna has a defense mechanism now? You can throw a diamond from a time locked event right at Earth? Vinvocci just disappearing? I thought Donna was underused, although I see it’s hard to let her play a bigger part without remembering. And although it was sad she never was the DoctorDonna again, finding a way around the ‘if she remembers, her mind will burn and she will die’ would also have been cheap. I kind of liked the Vinvocci, especially Addams. She was not easily impressed with the Doctor (Timelords? What-lords?). But flying away while shrugging and saying ‘Well, he said he was dying’, that sounds to me as if a certain someone had to finish the script for this episode the next day and was thinking at 2 am: ‘Oh yes, I still have to finish of those green-spikey-aliens..’

 Well, enough complaining, now the good things of The End of Time. First of all, the acting! Especially the little gems of conversation between Wilf and the Doctor. Bernard Cribbins and David Tennant, bravo! And John Simm shone as the Master, especially in part one. Then, the actual ‘he will knock four times’. Very unexpected, but very good! Such a moving and fitting way for the Doctor to die. Because he loves humans. And in the past few years he’s seen some humans he loved very much (Rose and Donna) ‘die’ in a way and he could do nothing about it. Now he can save the live of this other wonderful person: Wilf. And also, it is fitting because in the end Doctor Who is not just about the aliens and the big adventures. At least Doctor Who in the last couple of years was also very much about the relationships. So it’s proper that the Doctor does not die in a big universe saving battle, but in saving the live of one of his friends.

 So, this was my verdict on The End of Time. A moving farewell to Ten, David Tennant and the Russel T Davies era: yes. A very good Doctor Who episode: no.

Comments

[birdienl.livejournal.com]

No, you're right: I still don't really love the first part either. But I think it gets better if you view them (part one and two) together as one thing. Part one can't hold itself as a good episode.

About the radiation thing (couldn't resist looking it up!). In Smith and Jones, it's röntgen radiation (We played with röntgen bricks in the nursery etc), in The End of Time it's nuclear energy (He left the nuclear bolt running etc). Well, I'm no expert, but I think they're two very different things.

[shaz-ann.livejournal.com]

I echo what's previously been said. I need to rewatch it because the first viewing left me distinctly underwhelmed, but I can't put my finger specifically on why this is.

I do think though that the scenes with the Doctor and Wilf in the cafe were touching and if anything I found these more upsetting than the actual regeneration scene. I also thought that John Simm was great, but I'm a bit biased I adore him anyway!

[shaz-ann.livejournal.com]

Forgot to ask is it ok to friend you? I followed your link from C19

[birdienl.livejournal.com]

Yes, sure, go ahead! Who are you on C19?

[shaz-ann.livejournal.com]

Shazza - too many of these on LJ so used a variation instead :)

[birdienl.livejournal.com]

Tell me about it, 'birdie' was also already taken..

I've added you back!