The End of Time: Part One

On the one hand I think this is a hugely underrated, very high quality story but on the other hand I do not think this was quite as amazing a finale as the 10th Doctor deserved or Russell T. Davies era deserved.

This incredible era was, for MY taste, the most consistently high quality era since the Hinchcliffe & Holmes era with Tom Baker in classic Seasons 12 to 14. My ratings for the 10th Doctor's era edge ahead of even the hugely consistent 3rd Doctor era. So it is slightly unfortunate this era comes to an end with a story that is not one of the very best.

Having treated us with stories like Midnight, Turn Left, The Stolen Earth and The Waters of Mars in his recent writing efforts, RTD seemed to slightly over extend his ideas in this story in my opinion. However, I still think it gets very overly harshly judged by some fans because I think it is actually very good.

The downsides in my view are:

A few aspects of the plot which are a bit overblown.

The Vinvocci aliens are a little bit cheesy and silly imo.

Naismith, his whole entourage and his plans are all a bit underwhelming.

The Master turning into a superpowered, super hungry monster and then turning all humans into him are entertaining but a bit over the top.

Loads in this story is of top standard though:

It is exciting, fun and emotionally strong.

It features the Doctor's great nemesis the Master and has brilliant scenes between him and the Doctor.

It has powerful aspects about the return of the Time Lords.

It has superb acting from Tennant, John Simm, Timothy Dalton and the wonderful Bernard Cribbins.

It has a mysterious cameo from Claire Bloom and a small, touching return for Catherine Tate as the great companion Donna.

It is very well produced with effects, music, direction etc all at top level.

It has some amazing dialogue, particularly between Tennant and Cribbins which are extremely moving right up to the tear jerking regeneration scene.

All of this deserves huge praise and it shows off Davies' writing skills and Tennant's immense acting prowess.

Overall this is very high quality in most respects. While I think it falls slightly short of reaching the greatness it deserved, it is still a very strong finale.

David Tennant was, for me, one of the best Doctors with his awesome acting and emotional range. He was a joy to have as our hero.

Russell T. Davies deserves huge thanks and praise for all his excellent work in bringing the show back, making it so successful and creating so many incredible new stories for us to enjoy.

Thanks David & Russell, your era was one of the best ever.

My ratings:

Part One - 8/10 Part Two - 9/10 Overall - 8.5/10.

"Not if President Obama ends the recession tonight!"

"Here, on Christmas Day, the President has promised an instant and radical solution to the world-wide depression. Barack Obama will lead us all into a new age of prosperity!"

*gag* Though hilarious in retrospect. But I must ask, was writer Davies subtly critiquing Obama (or his drooling fangirls)? Naismith, a black man, extols Obama's coming White House presser to the Master: "You might want to see this, sir. Proof that the human race can mend its own problems." Risible, considering that these humans are hijacking alien technology only with the secret help of two different alien species.

This show matches the plot holes usual to Doctor Who with superior special effects, but this episode is largely prologue to the superior Part Two.

The general feeling of disappointment I've had with these specials, following the tremendous fourth season continues with this - the first half of David Tennant's swansong as the tenth Doctor.

Having visited the Ood planet and learning of their nightmares from an Ood Elder (Brian Cox), The Doctor (David Tennant) rushes to Earth as he learns of a cult resurrecting The Master (John Simm). They meet and, for the first time, The Doctor discovers that the drumming in his head, that has driven The Master to madness, is real. Before he can help, the Master is captured by Billionaire Joshua Naismith (David Harewood) who plans to use technology taken in the fall of Torchwood to grant his daughter eternal life. He wants the Master to help fix the technology, which he does, but not without rewriting it to nefarious purpose.

I suppose that, for a season finale in particular, I felt this was a bit underwhelming. I was looking forward to the Master's return but here he's a corrupted version, obsessed with eating to restore his failing regeneration energy and whilst Simm throws himself into it with his usual commitment - it's not the conniving return of the Doctors intellectual equal we might have hoped for. The visual effects for his special powers is also a bit disappointing. Harewood's Naismith isn't established enough before he's seemingly lost to the plot and whilst it's nice to see the Noble's again, they don't play that big a part.

Really perhaps, the problem is that not enough actually happens in this episode. The narration leads to a reveal, but not much actual story, and I understand that the split on these two partners is to leave The Doctor in a seemingly impossible situation at the end of the episode, before reversing it next week but the pacing of this feels off, with all of it happening in the last five minutes and it all being a bit meandering up to that point.

I keep saying in my reviews of the two-part specials that, when the first one is amazing - I shouldn't go overboard as we're only halfway through. I'm hoping that the underwhelming start is made up for in a superior conclusion.

My first viewing of Doctor Who was the season of Eggleston. He and Rose captured me immediately. When the Doctor regenerated into David Tennant I was flabbergasted and said that I wouldn't continue to watch. But I did watch. David Tennant became my favorite Dr Who.

So here we are. DT is leaving. My first instinct was to leave the Whoniverse.... But I rethought that and remembered how upset I was when Eggleston regenerated into Tennant. So I will soldier on and hope there are many other Doctors for me to love.

About this episode, I didn't enjoy it. A Christmas Special? Nothing Christmas or Special about it. It doesn't stand up against the previous Christmas Specials and wastes the talent of DT.

For me The only reason to watch was David Tennant and Wilford. Both were wonderful.

I won't give spoilers other to then to say I was damn surprised about how good it was. I have been a fan for over 30 years and this episode was in line with some of the greatest of ages past, such as War Games, Deadly Assassin, Trial of a Time Lord, etc. It takes 5 years of of the series and wraps it up beautifully. The episode, plus the preview for the following week make this the most amazing thing I have seen on TV that I have seen in years. I was amazed at what they did. Any of the other reviewers who complain about the episode I say those peeps are whiny little bitches. I'll say it again, they are whiny little bitches, its a fantastic episode that will go down in history. Screw all of the nay-sayers!!!!

UPDATE: After watching Part 2...I am disappointed.