Doctor Who - the end of time [spoilers]

[Morrus]

Plus, a lethal dose of radiation's gotta hurt!

 

[jaerdaph]

I watched Part 2 tonight on BBC America and I really enjoyed it. It was a nice final performance by and tribute to David Tennant. I'm looking forward to the new season and the new Doctor too (especially after I saw the aliens from Blink in the previews - hopefully we'll see Sally Sparrow again too), which they're showing on BBC America in the spring.

 

[Remus Lupin]

Apart from the very moving final 15 or so minutes, this entire two-parter left me with a profound sense of "meh." I'm ready for Stephen Moffet.

 

[Plane Sailing]

For me, one of the unexplained quirks was how "mysterious time lord woman" could appear to Wilf if she is trapped in the time bubble, whoever she was supposed to be.

I had always detested Grant's ham-fisted modifying of The Master into a looney who can't get the sound of the drums out of his head. He should have been Moriarty but ended up as Herman Munster. I'm not sure how the ret-conning of the drumbeat being a plot by the time lords to get out of the time bubble worked as a story, because it raises too many questions about going back in the timeline etc. etc.

Regarding good bits, I'm sure that in Ep1 Wilf said something which was an homage to Bernard Cribbins appearance in the first Dr Who movie all those years ago. I didn't write it down though, and can't remember what it was!

 

[Rykion]

I liked the End of Time storyline overall. The Doctor jumping out of the spaceship was a bit much. The 10th Doctor showed some angst over his impending regeneration, but he was no coward. There was never any doubt he would sacrifice himself for Wilf. I liked the chances to say goodbye the Doctor was given.

The glimpse we were given of the warrior Timelords left me wanting more answers. How did Rassilon end up as Lord President? Was he brought back like the Master, or had he found true immortality? Who was the woman? I hope we see more, and I hope some of the Timelords do end up returning.

I'm grateful for the work RTD has done bringing back the Doctor, but I'm looking forward to seeing what Steven Moffat will do.

 

[Felon]

I liked the End of Time storyline overall. The Doctor jumping out of the spaceship was a bit much.

Yes, falling a distance of several hundred feet from a vehicle that's moving at a speed that's likely a few hundred KPH, crashing through plate glass, and slamming into a hard surface and not even suffering a single broken bone is flat-out stupid. The Doctor is not Daffy Duck. Not even David Tenant's Dcotor.

I mean, shouldn't THAT have prompted a regeneration in and of itself? Logopolis, anyone?

Thanks for everything you've done, Russell Davies, but I'm glad you're moving on.

 

[lin_fusan]

I don't think I can say anything that hasn't been covered already.

I liked it because it was slightly scaled back from his usual throw-the-kitchen-sink method of finales, but the randomness of the story did get me to hope that Steven Moffat and Matt Smith will improve the series.

Specifics:

Spoiler

I liked how the 10th Doctor didn't want to change.

I both liked and am annoyed at the glass booth being the cause of his death. I liked that it was a simple sacrifice as opposed to being the Master or the Time Lords that causes him to die, but it was so simple that I kept wondering why doesn't he reverse the polarity of the neutron flow or use his sonic screwdriver or use the usual McGuffins and technobabble. (This is the danger of depending on technobabble to solve your plot problems.)

I felt that the return of the Time Lords could have been a whole separate episode and that this would have made a good three-parter, if not for the fact that Part 1 was all setup that could have been condensed down to 15 minutes.

I also can't help but feel that Russel T. Davis was manipulating the audience with the second part. While I enjoyed David Tennant's performance, his angst about dying felt like RTD was tugging at our heartstrings and knowledge that this was going to be DT's performance.