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locker_monsterI don't know what to say. I waited all day to watch the second part of "The End of Time" and the resolution was...
I'm going to go with meh. Less crack than last week but not really that satisfying either. The episode probably could have been shorter. The last, what? Fifteen minutes was the Doctor saying good-bye? I liked the idea but it just kept going on forever. But more on that later.
So the Time Lords really didn't come back, per se. They were trapped in the Time Lock of the Time War, trying to figure out how not to die. I did like that the Doctor had to get rid of them because the War turned them into monsters, so to speak. So he didn't just end the war and wiped out his own people because he had no choice. He did it because the alternative would be worse than the War itself. And the Time Lords are a bunch of jerks anyway. They think they know everything and can control everything. Was the whole notion of the Time Lords not wanting to die suppose to reflect the Doctor's own reluctance of facing his death? Both didn't want to go, but the Doctor chose a slightly more graceful way to go? Or am I finding meaning where there isn't any? ;-) So I guess this means the Time Lords are stuck back in the Time Lock, along with the Master? I prefer it this way. The Doctor doesn't need these people breathing down his neck.
Was the point of the story also to give the Master some humanity? By the end of the story he realizes he's been manipulated from the start by the Time Lords, which just sucks since he's the master manipulator, but the Master pretty much saves the day. Or did he strike out against the Time Lords in revenge? You decide! But this story pretty much went nowhere. Nothing comes of the Master turning the human race into the "Master race". They just track down the signal and open the way for the Time Lords to come back. And the human race only returns to normal because the Lord President waves his iron fist. Jeez, all the Doctor did in the end was shoot a piece of machinery. I also don't like the idea that the Master is the way he is because of the Time Lords. The motivation is suddenly exterior to the character, which sort of frees the Master of any wrongdoing, like how Hal Jordon in the comics went crazy and tried to bring people back from the dead but then it turned out he was really possessed by some space alien. I guess the Master is left with an identity crisis in the end. Who is he if he isn't some destroyer of worlds?
The story seemed to lag once the Doctor and Wilf made it onto the Vinvocci ship, like Russell didn't know how to make it to the end. And once we make it back into the mansion, it was just one thing after another. The Doctor falling through the skylight. The Time Lords returning. The Doctor deciding who to shoot. Wilf stuck in the glass box. As reasons for a regeneration go, radiation is nothing new. Three regenerated after he absorbed too much radiation and he was fighting giant spiders. At least Ten didn't smack his head on something, like Six did.
Once again, there were good bits. The Doctor and Wilf on the ship, with Wilf trying to give the Doctor his gun was nice. The Doctor should never carry a gun, even if it does mean saving the world. The Doctor also faces the fact that his cleverness has led people to their deaths and the Doctor is nothing but clever. The Vinvocci's rescue of the Doctor was cute. Not exactly the most elegant escape. And the Doctor got to channel Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons: "Worse rescue ever." I'm not annoyed Donna's role wasn't bigger. She's not the Companion of the story. But at least she had a moment to be awesome. It was good to see everyone at the end, too. If you're going to have a regeneration, you should bring back past Companions in some shape or form.
But the execution of it was a bit weird. Martha and Mickey are married? What? What happened to Tom? Did Martha dump him? For a second I thought we were in a parallel world, but Martha clearly recognized the Doctor. Odd way to work in Mickey and it leaves so many questions. Finding Jack in an alien bar was nice and quite typical of Jack. Aw, he got to hook up with Midshipman Frame from "Voyage of the Damned". Russell finally found a way to bring him back; he had planned it for "The Stolen Earth" but it didn't quite work then. The Doctor saves Luke from being run over and Sarah Jane gets to see a glimpse of him. They already had a good-bye in "The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith" so this was a nice little coda. Donna's wedding. No giant space spiders this time. :-) The notion that the Doctor went back in time to meet Geoff was a nice touch, but using the money to buy Donna a lottery ticket felt weird. But Donna deserves it. Seeing Joan's great granddaughter (Verity Newman; nice reference) was unexpected, but they had considered bringing in the character if the actress who played Harriet couldn't make it back for "The Stolen Earth". Very left field though. And Rose. I'm glad the Doctor didn't try to break down the walls to see her. Visiting her in the past makes much more sense. It's a bittersweet scene, though. He's there to see her one last time but he can't say anything profound. The Doctor can't even stand next to Rose because Rose clearly didn't remember seeing Ten's face before. And it's Rose who he saves for last. Draw your own conclusions. :-D
The regeneration. "I don't want to go"? That's Ten brilliant parting line? The line Russell came up with months in advance while still writing season four? I guess it's better than Six's parting words, "Carrots, carrots, carrots." And I guess it sort of reflects the sentiments of everyone involved: us the audience, David as the Doctor, and Russell as the writer. But why did the regeneration take forever? Was he fighting it off so he could visit everyone one last time? It was like the end of The Lord of the Rings; the last book kept going on like that, too. I think it's because we knew it was coming and all of the scenes before it just made the waiting more agonizing. But it's great that the last thing the Doctor does before he goes, if you don't count all of the good-byes, is to save a life. He could have easily left Wilf in the glass box to die, but he doesn't. At least there's a reason why the TARDIS gets a makeover. It caught on fire because of the Doctor's regeneration. Eleven's reaction post-regeneration was sort of cute. Legs! Arms! Nose ("I've had worse.")! Chin! And he's still not ginger.
There's a lot about this episode that just didn't make sense and it raises some questions, too. Who the hell was that woman talking to Wilf? She doesn't get named and the Doctor recognizes her at the end. I like to think she was Romana but I don't know if that makes sense. The woman said she was lost once, too. Okay, so Romana was stuck in N-Space last we saw her but is that considered "lost"?![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
newnumber6 had a good idea about the woman that I didn't consider: she's Susan, the Doctor's granddaughter. Also a good possibility. Apparently in the podcast commentary, Julie calls her "The Doctor's Mother", but not everything Julie Gardner says is canon. And the Lord President is Rassilon? The same Rassilon who was one of the founders of Time Lord society. Um, okay. Maybe it's just a popular name on Gallifrey. And why is Wilf important? The Doctor suggested in the first part they keep meeting for a reason. So I get that it was Wilf who knocked four times in the end. Is he responsible for the Doctor's "death" then? Is that why he's important? I don't see these questions being answered next season.
The trailer for next season hit the internet pretty quickly and I ended up watching it before watching this episode. It's so weird, seeing new footage of this Doctor we know nothing about. I just watched "Planet of the Spiders" yesterday and the first two episodes of "Robot" today, and it's that same disconnect. It's the Doctor, but not the Doctor. The man you're used to is no longer there but you know it's the same man. Will you like him? Hate him?
I'm not sure what to make of Eleven from just seeing the trailer. Seeing him in Ten's suit is kind of disturbing. There's one shot in the trailer where he's clearly still wearing Ten's clothes so I wonder if he'll change clothes mid way through the episode or wait until the end. The show looks different visually somehow. I can't quite put on my finger on it. It looks like the Daleks are back (bleh) and so is River Song. Or, at least Alex Kingston is back. We also get Eleven punching a guy and he's holding a gun. And why is Amy Pond kissing him? Can we go at least one season where the Companion doesn't kiss the Doctor or vice versa? And is "Geronimo" Eleven's catchphrase? We'll see come March or April.
Sigh. I'll miss Ten. To borrow a phrase, he was my Doctor. While he wasn't the first Doctor I was introduced to, he was the first Doctor I grew attached to. He'll live on in my DVDs. :-D
I'm going to go with meh. Less crack than last week but not really that satisfying either. The episode probably could have been shorter. The last, what? Fifteen minutes was the Doctor saying good-bye? I liked the idea but it just kept going on forever. But more on that later.
So the Time Lords really didn't come back, per se. They were trapped in the Time Lock of the Time War, trying to figure out how not to die. I did like that the Doctor had to get rid of them because the War turned them into monsters, so to speak. So he didn't just end the war and wiped out his own people because he had no choice. He did it because the alternative would be worse than the War itself. And the Time Lords are a bunch of jerks anyway. They think they know everything and can control everything. Was the whole notion of the Time Lords not wanting to die suppose to reflect the Doctor's own reluctance of facing his death? Both didn't want to go, but the Doctor chose a slightly more graceful way to go? Or am I finding meaning where there isn't any? ;-) So I guess this means the Time Lords are stuck back in the Time Lock, along with the Master? I prefer it this way. The Doctor doesn't need these people breathing down his neck.
Was the point of the story also to give the Master some humanity? By the end of the story he realizes he's been manipulated from the start by the Time Lords, which just sucks since he's the master manipulator, but the Master pretty much saves the day. Or did he strike out against the Time Lords in revenge? You decide! But this story pretty much went nowhere. Nothing comes of the Master turning the human race into the "Master race". They just track down the signal and open the way for the Time Lords to come back. And the human race only returns to normal because the Lord President waves his iron fist. Jeez, all the Doctor did in the end was shoot a piece of machinery. I also don't like the idea that the Master is the way he is because of the Time Lords. The motivation is suddenly exterior to the character, which sort of frees the Master of any wrongdoing, like how Hal Jordon in the comics went crazy and tried to bring people back from the dead but then it turned out he was really possessed by some space alien. I guess the Master is left with an identity crisis in the end. Who is he if he isn't some destroyer of worlds?
The story seemed to lag once the Doctor and Wilf made it onto the Vinvocci ship, like Russell didn't know how to make it to the end. And once we make it back into the mansion, it was just one thing after another. The Doctor falling through the skylight. The Time Lords returning. The Doctor deciding who to shoot. Wilf stuck in the glass box. As reasons for a regeneration go, radiation is nothing new. Three regenerated after he absorbed too much radiation and he was fighting giant spiders. At least Ten didn't smack his head on something, like Six did.
Once again, there were good bits. The Doctor and Wilf on the ship, with Wilf trying to give the Doctor his gun was nice. The Doctor should never carry a gun, even if it does mean saving the world. The Doctor also faces the fact that his cleverness has led people to their deaths and the Doctor is nothing but clever. The Vinvocci's rescue of the Doctor was cute. Not exactly the most elegant escape. And the Doctor got to channel Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons: "Worse rescue ever." I'm not annoyed Donna's role wasn't bigger. She's not the Companion of the story. But at least she had a moment to be awesome. It was good to see everyone at the end, too. If you're going to have a regeneration, you should bring back past Companions in some shape or form.
But the execution of it was a bit weird. Martha and Mickey are married? What? What happened to Tom? Did Martha dump him? For a second I thought we were in a parallel world, but Martha clearly recognized the Doctor. Odd way to work in Mickey and it leaves so many questions. Finding Jack in an alien bar was nice and quite typical of Jack. Aw, he got to hook up with Midshipman Frame from "Voyage of the Damned". Russell finally found a way to bring him back; he had planned it for "The Stolen Earth" but it didn't quite work then. The Doctor saves Luke from being run over and Sarah Jane gets to see a glimpse of him. They already had a good-bye in "The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith" so this was a nice little coda. Donna's wedding. No giant space spiders this time. :-) The notion that the Doctor went back in time to meet Geoff was a nice touch, but using the money to buy Donna a lottery ticket felt weird. But Donna deserves it. Seeing Joan's great granddaughter (Verity Newman; nice reference) was unexpected, but they had considered bringing in the character if the actress who played Harriet couldn't make it back for "The Stolen Earth". Very left field though. And Rose. I'm glad the Doctor didn't try to break down the walls to see her. Visiting her in the past makes much more sense. It's a bittersweet scene, though. He's there to see her one last time but he can't say anything profound. The Doctor can't even stand next to Rose because Rose clearly didn't remember seeing Ten's face before. And it's Rose who he saves for last. Draw your own conclusions. :-D
The regeneration. "I don't want to go"? That's Ten brilliant parting line? The line Russell came up with months in advance while still writing season four? I guess it's better than Six's parting words, "Carrots, carrots, carrots." And I guess it sort of reflects the sentiments of everyone involved: us the audience, David as the Doctor, and Russell as the writer. But why did the regeneration take forever? Was he fighting it off so he could visit everyone one last time? It was like the end of The Lord of the Rings; the last book kept going on like that, too. I think it's because we knew it was coming and all of the scenes before it just made the waiting more agonizing. But it's great that the last thing the Doctor does before he goes, if you don't count all of the good-byes, is to save a life. He could have easily left Wilf in the glass box to die, but he doesn't. At least there's a reason why the TARDIS gets a makeover. It caught on fire because of the Doctor's regeneration. Eleven's reaction post-regeneration was sort of cute. Legs! Arms! Nose ("I've had worse.")! Chin! And he's still not ginger.
There's a lot about this episode that just didn't make sense and it raises some questions, too. Who the hell was that woman talking to Wilf? She doesn't get named and the Doctor recognizes her at the end. I like to think she was Romana but I don't know if that makes sense. The woman said she was lost once, too. Okay, so Romana was stuck in N-Space last we saw her but is that considered "lost"?
newnumber6 had a good idea about the woman that I didn't consider: she's Susan, the Doctor's granddaughter. Also a good possibility. Apparently in the podcast commentary, Julie calls her "The Doctor's Mother", but not everything Julie Gardner says is canon. And the Lord President is Rassilon? The same Rassilon who was one of the founders of Time Lord society. Um, okay. Maybe it's just a popular name on Gallifrey. And why is Wilf important? The Doctor suggested in the first part they keep meeting for a reason. So I get that it was Wilf who knocked four times in the end. Is he responsible for the Doctor's "death" then? Is that why he's important? I don't see these questions being answered next season.The trailer for next season hit the internet pretty quickly and I ended up watching it before watching this episode. It's so weird, seeing new footage of this Doctor we know nothing about. I just watched "Planet of the Spiders" yesterday and the first two episodes of "Robot" today, and it's that same disconnect. It's the Doctor, but not the Doctor. The man you're used to is no longer there but you know it's the same man. Will you like him? Hate him?
I'm not sure what to make of Eleven from just seeing the trailer. Seeing him in Ten's suit is kind of disturbing. There's one shot in the trailer where he's clearly still wearing Ten's clothes so I wonder if he'll change clothes mid way through the episode or wait until the end. The show looks different visually somehow. I can't quite put on my finger on it. It looks like the Daleks are back (bleh) and so is River Song. Or, at least Alex Kingston is back. We also get Eleven punching a guy and he's holding a gun. And why is Amy Pond kissing him? Can we go at least one season where the Companion doesn't kiss the Doctor or vice versa? And is "Geronimo" Eleven's catchphrase? We'll see come March or April.
Sigh. I'll miss Ten. To borrow a phrase, he was my Doctor. While he wasn't the first Doctor I was introduced to, he was the first Doctor I grew attached to. He'll live on in my DVDs. :-D
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