The End OF Time is the final appearance for David Tennant as
the Doctor (apart from his 2013 appearance). This is 47th and final
episode and is the sixth longest serving Doctor in terms of episode credited
to. This is also his 1,468th and final day as the Doctor and becomes
stays as the third longest serving Doctor in that respect. It is also the 60th
and final episode for Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner as executive producers
and the 31st for Russell T Davies as writer and becomes the seventh
most credited writer in Doctor Who ever and the most credited writer since the
show returned in 2005.
The first scene after the titles have played is set on
Gallifrey and it’s the most that we have seen of Gallifrey since the show
returned. Sadly the room that the Lord President meets the other Timelords in
is less impressive. I suppose that it could be argued that it just means that
there is nothing to distract you and your attention could be focused on Timothy
Dalton. Dalton’s character is called Lord President for most of the story but
it isn’t until the end that he’s called Rassilon.
It’s nice that the drumming was started by the Timelords and
he has had this all his lives. It gives an nice explanation as to why the
Master has been the way that he has been since he debuted in Terror of the
Autons. The idea of using six billion copies of himself to find where the
signal of the drumming is coming from is.
When the Lord President arrives on Earth that is what things
start to ramp up and soon Gallifrey appears above the Earth and I love how
quickly things spiral out of control. The reason why the Time War was
timelocked is finally explained and its quite a good one.
Bernard Cribbins is fantastic in this story and the scene
where he is trying to get the Doctor to shoot the Master is one of the best
scenes in this story. The fact that Wilfred is the one that knocks four times
and causes the Doctor to pretty much sacrifice his life is something that would
normally make him a terrible character but it shows how close Wilfred and the
Doctor have become that he is prepared to do this ultimate sacrifice.
The performance that John Simm gives in these two episodes
is much better than the one he gave in series twenty-nine. The Master is used
rather well and is quite central to the story but not in his usual way. The
fact he gives up his life for the Doctor is the perfect way for the Master to
exit the story.
The Doctor jumping out of the ship to crash land into the
main room of the Naismith mansion seems a bit of an over the top thing to do
but its not as bad as the hover boat scene in Planet of the Spiders. I thought
that the moment when the Doctor realises he is alive and then hears the four
knocks is a heart stopping moment and the look on Tennant’s face is so sad.
When he decides to go into the booth to let Wilfred out it’s a scene that is as
emotional as anything in the show since it returned. Even when RTD was trying
to be emotional, this was the first time that it seemed to have an effect on
me.
The final fifteen minutes is given over to the Doctor saying
goodbye to all of the people who have been a part of the show during RTD’s
time. I mentioned during the Journeys End review that too much time was given
over to the soppy sentimental stuff but that wont happen here. You don’t appear
in so many stories without earning the right to say goodbye this way. The first
people that he visits are Martha and Mickey are seen trying to dodge a Sontaran
and have become a married couple. That
seems like a bolt out of the blue. Next was Sarah Jane and Luke also return and
the Doctor saves Luke’s life after he runs into the road. This was nice cause
because Elisabeth Sladen does seem to well up and it’s the last time that Sarah
Jane would appear in Doctor Who because she passes away the following year.
Captain Jack is in a bar with Slitheen, Judoon, Adispose,
the Hath and ends up hooking up with Alonso from Voyage of the Damned. The tune
from Daleks in Manhattan is playing in the background. Next up is Jessica Hynes
appears as Verity Newman who is a descendant on Joan Redfern from Human Nature.
It was perhaps for time reason that they didn’t go back to Joan Redfern and
instead went for her granddaughter. Whatever the reason for it doesn’t detract
from the fact that it’s a nice moment. Donna gets married (properly this time)
and sadly doesn’t notice the Doctor but Wilfred and Sylvia do. The Doctor goes
back to meet Geoffrey Noble and I had forgotten that bit and it was a nice
touch because Geoffrey would have appeared in the 2008 series had he not passed
away. The final encounter was with Rose which was always going to be the case.
It happens just before Rose meets Eccleston’s Doctor but I do wonder how Rose wouldn’t
remember him later on.
After all the goodbyes are done, the Doctor takes a slow
walk towards his TARDIS and I think that this is where Murray Gold’s music
works its magic because it builds up and up trying to crank up the emotions of
the moment. I suspect that Tennant’s final words as the Doctor aren’t 100%
acting. There must have been a part of him during that scene that wanted to
carry on but not everything can go on forever. As last words go “I don’t want
to go” is a million times better than “Carrot Juice, Carrot Juice, Carrot Juice”.
The destruction of the TARDIS was a great moment and this is the last time that
it features like this (it makes an appearance later in the next series).
Matt Smith’s opening minute wasn’t the greatest start and I
know that there is suppose to be a bit of madness to this part but it was
perhaps just a bit too mad. That said I know certain people that I watched this
scene with weren’t convinced that Matt Smith was the right person to play the
role. It’s hard to judge someone after such a short time but I was convinced
that he would prove everyone wrong and now it remains to be seen whether this
is still the case.
The End of Time was a good story and I think that it gave
Tennant the send off that he deserved. Tennant had a difficult job to do when
he took over from Christopher Eccleston in June 2005 but over the course of his
time on the show he has helped the show increase in popularity and despite some
iffy moments, the Tennant era has been really good and it will be interesting
to see how watching the Smith era an episode a day will match up with Tennant’s.
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