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tardis_stowawayI am posting this from my gorgeous, shiny new macbook pro. Everything runs so fast! The screen makes pictures look really gorgeous. It makes me tremendously happy. I still need to find its name. The much-loved six year-old macbook that I'm phasing out is named Legolas. I am considering sticking with the elven theme and naming this one Luthien, but I'm not certain about that yet.
Only slightly behind the rest of the internet, I saw The End of Time. What a frustrating episode! There were some individual parts that were absolutely wonderful, but overall it was a mess. Let's do this in a bullet list form, because I am too lazy to organize it otherwise! Good news first.
Fantastic (Or Interesting or at least Pretty Good)
-the cafe scene with Wilf and the Doctor! Brilliant acting from both Bernard Cribbins and David Tennant. The vulnerability and sadness had me on the brink of tears.
-the Doctor's opening speech to the Ood made me laugh my head off. Did he really imply what I think he just implied about him and Queen Elizabeth I ?! Asexual Time Lords my ass. I was hoping we'd get an explanation for her fury in The Shakespeare Code, and lo, my wish was at least sorta granted. (Hey, RTD, I think a Ten/Jack kiss would please me even more!)
-The confrontation between the Doctor and the Master where the Master talked about his father's estates on Gallifrey was intriguing (when John Simm's raving about food didn't get too...wait for it...hammy.)
-I really want the woman in Wilf's visions to be Romana III. I will believe it's her until proven otherwise.
-Wilf's Scooby Gang of senior citizens was a lot of fun. You go, Wilf!
-Everyone is the Master now! I quite liked the closing scenes of John Simm in everybody's clothing, everywhere. Forget Being John Malkovitch; we have Being John Simm. This version involves much more maniacal laughter! Ten got one duplicate, so Simm!Master had to get over six billion.
Illogical, Frustrating, Poorly Chosen, and Generally Bad
-What the fuck was that all about? Whatever drugs RTD is on, he needs to take it easy a bit. That episode made less sense than the wildest crackfic.
-Way too much of some of the stupider and more tired sci-fi tropes. Why on Earth does the Master have a sinister cult devoted to his resurrection? How did he arrange it? The whole deal with the Book of Saxon and the potions to resurrect him was just dumb. It felt like something from a poorly run game of Dungeons and Dragons. Meanwhile, the evil rich dude with plan for immortality that goes awry made me yawn. We've seen that all before.
-When did John Simm forget how to act? He kicked ass as the Master in S3 (and in Life on Mars, for a non-DW example). Here, though, he turned the crazy up to 11 and it didn't work. The little spark of madness gleaming in the eyes of Harry Saxon was a lot more effective that meat-devouring, twitching, cackling full on crazy we saw here. A lot of that is the fault of the script, sadly.
-Why does the Master suddenly have superpowers?! The Master is scary as a villain because of his mind. His powers are making elaborate evil plans and manipulating people. Jumping like a giant flea and shooting lasers from his hands didn't fit with the character and weren't really necessary.
-Waste of Lucy Saxon, who was being written totally differently that we saw her before.
-I really, really wish there had been more consequences of WoM. When the Doctor declared himself the Time Lord Victorious, that was a huge game-changer for the character. The cafe scene acknowledgment that he screwed up was moving, but insufficient. Frankly, I would be more interested in exploring the darker, hubristic aspects of Ten and his parallels to the Master than...whatever that mess of a plot onscreen was.
-I don't like the apparent return of the Time Lords. Perhaps I feel strongly about this because Nine is my Doctor, and he was defined by the absence of Gallifrey and the terrible effects of the War on his psyche (and by the love of Rose, but that's wandering off topic). For me, as a fan who began with new school Who, Doctor Who is in may ways a show about learning to live and love despite the weight of grief and guilt. I do enjoy classic Who, pre-Time War, but I've very rarely felt the same emotional force from it as from Nine and Ten. I worry that undoing the Time War for the Moffat years will rob the show of some of its power. For the Doctor's sake i would like to see Gallifrey restored, but for the sake of the show's storytelling I think it's better to keep some things impossible.
I worry now that they're going to hit a big reset button and undo everything that happened in the RTD years, maybe even making it some little side universe that not even the Doctor remembers. I will be royally pissed off if that happens.
Also, from the few classic episodes I've seen with them, the Time Lords on Gallifrey are boring. Not just boring to their prodigal son, the Doctor: boring to watch. I really hope their reappearance is temporary.
Overall
You can't fully judge the first part of a multipart episode without seeing the rest. However, with the exception of a few great moments, this is not a promising beginning of the end. Russel T. Davies wrote from his weakness (messy, nonsensical plots) rather than his strength (characters and emotions). Let's hope somebody took the time to edit part two better.
Only slightly behind the rest of the internet, I saw The End of Time. What a frustrating episode! There were some individual parts that were absolutely wonderful, but overall it was a mess. Let's do this in a bullet list form, because I am too lazy to organize it otherwise! Good news first.
Fantastic (Or Interesting or at least Pretty Good)
-the cafe scene with Wilf and the Doctor! Brilliant acting from both Bernard Cribbins and David Tennant. The vulnerability and sadness had me on the brink of tears.
-the Doctor's opening speech to the Ood made me laugh my head off. Did he really imply what I think he just implied about him and Queen Elizabeth I ?! Asexual Time Lords my ass. I was hoping we'd get an explanation for her fury in The Shakespeare Code, and lo, my wish was at least sorta granted. (Hey, RTD, I think a Ten/Jack kiss would please me even more!)
-The confrontation between the Doctor and the Master where the Master talked about his father's estates on Gallifrey was intriguing (when John Simm's raving about food didn't get too...wait for it...hammy.)
-I really want the woman in Wilf's visions to be Romana III. I will believe it's her until proven otherwise.
-Wilf's Scooby Gang of senior citizens was a lot of fun. You go, Wilf!
-Everyone is the Master now! I quite liked the closing scenes of John Simm in everybody's clothing, everywhere. Forget Being John Malkovitch; we have Being John Simm. This version involves much more maniacal laughter! Ten got one duplicate, so Simm!Master had to get over six billion.
Illogical, Frustrating, Poorly Chosen, and Generally Bad
-What the fuck was that all about? Whatever drugs RTD is on, he needs to take it easy a bit. That episode made less sense than the wildest crackfic.
-Way too much of some of the stupider and more tired sci-fi tropes. Why on Earth does the Master have a sinister cult devoted to his resurrection? How did he arrange it? The whole deal with the Book of Saxon and the potions to resurrect him was just dumb. It felt like something from a poorly run game of Dungeons and Dragons. Meanwhile, the evil rich dude with plan for immortality that goes awry made me yawn. We've seen that all before.
-When did John Simm forget how to act? He kicked ass as the Master in S3 (and in Life on Mars, for a non-DW example). Here, though, he turned the crazy up to 11 and it didn't work. The little spark of madness gleaming in the eyes of Harry Saxon was a lot more effective that meat-devouring, twitching, cackling full on crazy we saw here. A lot of that is the fault of the script, sadly.
-Why does the Master suddenly have superpowers?! The Master is scary as a villain because of his mind. His powers are making elaborate evil plans and manipulating people. Jumping like a giant flea and shooting lasers from his hands didn't fit with the character and weren't really necessary.
-Waste of Lucy Saxon, who was being written totally differently that we saw her before.
-I really, really wish there had been more consequences of WoM. When the Doctor declared himself the Time Lord Victorious, that was a huge game-changer for the character. The cafe scene acknowledgment that he screwed up was moving, but insufficient. Frankly, I would be more interested in exploring the darker, hubristic aspects of Ten and his parallels to the Master than...whatever that mess of a plot onscreen was.
-I don't like the apparent return of the Time Lords. Perhaps I feel strongly about this because Nine is my Doctor, and he was defined by the absence of Gallifrey and the terrible effects of the War on his psyche (and by the love of Rose, but that's wandering off topic). For me, as a fan who began with new school Who, Doctor Who is in may ways a show about learning to live and love despite the weight of grief and guilt. I do enjoy classic Who, pre-Time War, but I've very rarely felt the same emotional force from it as from Nine and Ten. I worry that undoing the Time War for the Moffat years will rob the show of some of its power. For the Doctor's sake i would like to see Gallifrey restored, but for the sake of the show's storytelling I think it's better to keep some things impossible.
I worry now that they're going to hit a big reset button and undo everything that happened in the RTD years, maybe even making it some little side universe that not even the Doctor remembers. I will be royally pissed off if that happens.
Also, from the few classic episodes I've seen with them, the Time Lords on Gallifrey are boring. Not just boring to their prodigal son, the Doctor: boring to watch. I really hope their reappearance is temporary.
Overall
You can't fully judge the first part of a multipart episode without seeing the rest. However, with the exception of a few great moments, this is not a promising beginning of the end. Russel T. Davies wrote from his weakness (messy, nonsensical plots) rather than his strength (characters and emotions). Let's hope somebody took the time to edit part two better.
