If history is anything to go by , Russell T. Davies will attempt to top all his premature gonzo conclusion with his final physician Who , “ The End Of Time . ” Is it too much to hope he ’s learned from his past mistakes ?
Though there ’s absolutely no denying Davies has successfully forged a massive democratic ( and , to a slightly less extent , critical ) succeeder with his resurgence of Doctor Who , I ’m sorry to say that I ’m still not entirely convinced he ’s all that dependable at writing episodes of Doctor Who . Of the twenty - two news report he ’s written for the novel serial publication ( not counting his two recent collaborations ) , I ’d only reckon “ Midnight ” a classic , although I could maybe be spill the beans into count “ Utopia ” as well , if only for nostalgia economic value .
The rest are a admixture of solid but unremarkable makeweight ( “ The Long Game ” , “ Smith and Jones ” ) , weird ethical motive play with seriously puddle points ( “ Boomtown ” , “ Love & Monsters ” ) , decorous premises let down by gratingly absurd setpieces ( “ Tooth & Claw ” , “ Gridlock ” ) , and fat put-on ( “ Aliens of London ” , “ Partners in Crime ” ) . Oh , and the finales . But more on them in a mo .
There have has more than enough compose over the last five years attack Sir Humphrey Davy , and I ’m honestly not interested in adding to that reckoning . answer it to say that while he ’s not my favorite writer , I still respect what he ’s done for the program , I do believe he ’s been a howling executive manufacturer and showrunner , and “ Midnight ” almost take a crap up for all the other missteps . There are definitely some thing Humphrey Davy knows how to do really well . But if there ’s one thing I ’m really not certain he knows how to do at all , it ’s epic series finale . Which gives me serious pause as we head into the biggest , craziest , most epic coda of them all , as both he and David Tennant unfold their swansong on Doctor Who .
Still , I am above all a Doctor of the Church Who lover , and I desperately want “ The End of Time ” to be good . I ’ll render to keep this post plunderer - free , but if you do n’t mind getting a sense of why I ’m carefully excited , check out the trailer :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDdmqD37eDM
There ’s plenitude about that to really like ( I ’m specially excited about the guy rope doing the voice - over ) . But the track record here is desegregate at best . have ’s take a look back at Humphrey Davy ’s four previous larger-than-life finis , and endeavor to figure out what run and what did n’t .
“ Bad Wolf”/”Parting of the Ways ” ( 2005 )
What go : When I rewatched the Christopher Eccleston episodes lately , I was discover by how much less predictable they felt than those star David Tennant . Maybe it ’s because Eccleston never quite set comfortably into the world of Doctor Who like his successor did , maybe it ’s because the creative team was still reckon things out as they give out along , or mayhap it ’s just that nobody has yet matched the flair director Joe Ahearne brought to his serial publication one installment , but there ’s a mad energy to this two - parter that no later on episodes quite correspond . It ’s a bit arduous to describe concretely , but there ’s a moment around when the Doctor thinks Rose is all in and morosely allows himself to be lag ( before leading a gaolbreak , of course ) that I got the sense that this really was a show where anything could materialize . The serial has gotten a little too comfortable over the past couple of series , and though that ’s made for a more consistent quality of sequence I suppose it ’s robbed the series of a routine of its legerdemain .
What Did n’t : This installment throws into high relief two of my biggest problems with Sir Humphrey Davy . One , it relies intemperately on a crew of trite pop refinement references that are almost certainly going to get on even unsound than the creaky special effects of the classic series . As an American , I still do n’t really know anything about one-half of the reality evince Sir Humphrey Davy was spoofing , and I ca n’t for the life of me find any coherent satiric tip in their cellular inclusion . I remember they ’re just there because … well , it ’s kind of funny , I approximate , and it says something about multitude being lazy . Then there ’s the fact that the plot of land does n’t really make all that much sense . The Dalek plan is convoluted — to put it gently — and a whole bunch of seemingly important stuff ( like the Daleks melting entire Earth continents ) is brush apart in the rush to the Doctor ’s vainglorious moral quandary . At this peak , it ’s a bromide to point out that Rose answer the patch through jolly much a actual deus ex machina , but that does n’t mean it ’s not worth point out .
The Bottom Line : Ultimately , this fib did some thing Doctor Who had never judge before . Sometimes , there ’s full intellect for that .
“ Army of Ghosts”/”Doomsday ” ( 2006 )
What do work : Of all the MD Who finales , this is in all probability the most coherently plotted . The mystery of the void material is set up early with the 3D glasses , and a lot of the apparent consistent problem ( like the ghosts not count anything like Cybermen ) is deftly treat . The nature of the Genesis Ark is a nice touch , there ’s some amusive character clobber in the relationships at Torchwood One , and the reunification between Jackie and Alt - Pete always gets me , despite my dependable effort . I was never a vainglorious fan of the special position the series allot Rose , but I ’ll admit the conclusion is well handled .
What Did n’t : There are still a couple nonaged plot holes , like exactly how an organization as elect as Torchwood One could fail to mark the Cybermen convert their own employee in one of their hallway . Davy ca n’t balk a couple moment of abject fatuousness , like Cyber - Yvonne crying an oily bout at the ending of the story . And for what is supposed to be the big Cybermen / Daleks showdown , the Daleks really do kick just a little too much ass to make the engagement seem worth speak about . But then , they did n’t confront the real Cybermen . I ’d wish to see the Daleks go fifteen rounds with the original bruisers from Mondas . ( Yes , the Daleks would still bring home the bacon , but there ’d be way more mad schemes and war cry of “ Excellent ! ” )
The Bottom Line : frankly , for a story that is essentially one big exculpation to pit the Daleks against the Cybermen , it realise a surprising amount of sense and pack a middling decent worked up punch . This is probably my favorite of the bunch .
“ The Sound of Drums”/”Last of the Time Lords ” ( 2007 )
What Worked : The Toclafane are probably the single creepiest idea in the history of Doctor Who . Just recollect about them weirds me out all over again , so I really have to give Humphrey Davy credit for that . I have to admit , I hated this story on first screening , but on a rewatch I realize why it ’s sort of devilishly bright — the whole thing is about what it would be like if the Master advance . Davies is so audacious in following through on that premiss that “ Last of the Time Lords ” ends up being the most wonderfully reprobate episode in Doctor Who story , as you slow realize even the tiniest details of the Master ’s game are stand for to hurt the Doctor .
What Did n’t : Well , there ’s the fact that President Winters is a really obnoxious parody of Americans ( and as a politics swot , I ’m still bothered by the fact that he call himself “ President - Elect ” , which just makes absolutely zero good sense ) . Humphrey Davy write himself into a turning point by making the Master ’s triumph such a complete one , and he never really come up with a good solvent . I ’m sorry , but the Dr. being furbish up by the combined faith of humanity is one of the silliest things I ’ve ever seen , even if it is kind of set up by the existence of the Master ’s telepathic electronic internet . And the radical - ancient Doctor is really too ridiculous for words .
The Bottom Line : The Master takes over for two episodes , and Doctor Who goes entirely mad . That ’s actually a reasonably compelling way to expect at it , I ’d say , but I still do n’t think that excuses some of the just plain silly clobber Humphrey Davy include .
“ The Stolen Earth”/”Journey ’s End ” ( 2008 )
What Worked : A mass of the apparatus is pretty firm . aboveboard , Davies has always been a lot good at work up up to the full-grown proceeds than actually delivering on said bribe ( “ Utopia ” is a pure example of this , as it ’s pretty much all frame-up and thus works surprisingly well , delay the payoff to the finale ) . Julian Bleach ’s Davros might just be the best villain of the new serial , even if he really is n’t given all that much to do . The circumstances of Donna is actually kind of muscular , but its shock is decrease after all the uncalled-for Edgar Albert Guest stars . The one thing those guests do help do , though , is really hammer nursing home that all the Dr. ’s friends eventually leave him . So there ’s that .
What Did n’t : Charlie Jane said it good with her review – this is really just one large devotee fable . And it is n’t even all that good as fan fable . It just make a bunch of unrelated characters together because they occur to have their own tv set shows , sets up a moderately tedious moral debate that the Doctor is understandably going to make headway , and lay waste to sentence giving character entirely complimentary resolutions when they had already had much better ones ( why yes , I am looking at Rose ) . I really do n’t care the fake regeneration , as I recollect it cheapen the whole concept , but that might just be me being techy .
https://gizmodo.com/doctor-whos-midlife-metacrisis-5022358
The Bottom Line : While “ Last of the Time Lords ” is insane , “ Journey ’s conclusion ” is just absurd . There ’s a big difference , and I ’m not sure what this sequence does that any of the previous epics did n’t already do .
So based on all that , here are the five things I ’d most like to see “ End of fourth dimension ” accomplish :
1 . Tell a tenacious story .
Yep , I ’m shooting for the lunar month right out of the gate . reckon all the unlikely returns and longstanding prophecy we already know are go to figure in “ The End of Time ” , I fear that this is improbable , but Davies has shown he ’s able of doing this . I ’d really care to not have to shut off my brain to get through these specials , and I really do n’t want to spend an hr afterward come in up with insanely convoluted , fannish explanation to decide all the plot holes . If I want to do that , I ’d in all probability just view “ The Two Doctors ” again . ( Oh , Season 6B. You ’re my oldest champion . )
2 . realise that gargantuan stakes do n’t of necessity equal jumbo dramatic event .
Sir Humphrey Davy has made no secret that he endeavor to make every finale and special more epic than the one before it , and there ’s been a solid procession of that in the last four finales . After all , we ’ve gone from future Earth in risk to present Earth in jeopardy to present Earth destroyed to full universe in jeopardy . That last one was a bit of a big leap , but from the title of “ The End of sentence ” I ’d estimate that he ’s up the stakes once again , this time putting all existence for all time in danger . Which is all well and safe , but the scope of the terror does n’t necessarily imply all that much in terms of the story ’s dramatic heft .
After all , look at the 4th and fifth Doctor ’s finis . In “ Logopolis ” , the intact universe is under threat , and the whole thing is completely dramatically inert . In “ The Caves of Androzani ” , the whole matter does n’t really go beyond a few soldiers , a corrupt CEO , and some gun moon-curser , but it ’s perchance the tense four episodes in Doctor Who story because the Doctor is so completely invested in saving Peri . If there is n’t a solid personal motivation for the Doctor ’s actions , the whole affair could become rather painfully abstract and drop into yet another faker - profound moral dilemma . Here ’s hope Donna will provide just such a need .
3 . Lay off the pop culture .
“ Bad Wolf ” apart , most of this has been limited to the unfold post - crisis somersault through the boob tube television channel . It ’s comparatively unobtrusive , I suppose , and I suppose I do n’t really have anything against Richard Dawkins having a cameo on Doctor Who ( although everything I ’ve learned about Ann Widdecombe suggests I should have a problem with her order in an appearance ) . Even so , I ’d sort of like David Tennant ’s swansong to have a more timeless lineament . It ’s kind of a shame that Christopher Eccleston ’s final show will perpetually be linked to Big Brother .
4 . add up up with a coherent understanding for all the guest stars .
Again , I wo n’t foil it for people by naming specific character , but lineament are come back . A band of them . And it would be skillful for there to be a good reason behind it than a lightly veiled apology for Captain Jack to flirt with Sarah Jane Smith ( although that was confessedly sort of awesome . ) I actually think “ The End of Time ” has a injection at pulling this off , as it might in part be a lyric looking at back on the Doctor ’s yesteryear , which would actually somewhat justify all the invitee show . Such an approach necessitate a fairly deft hand , though , and Davies ’ strengths have generally been the polar opposite of nicety .
5 . Make it actually possible for the Doctor to address the conflict .
In “ Parting of the Ways ” , the Doctor was sideline in favor of Bad Wolf Rose , but then he had already shown he was n’t go to do anything to stop the Daleks . ( This was somehow reckon a undecomposed thing . ) The “ other ” Doctor has to make the hard conclusion to destroy the Daleks in “ Journey ’s End ” , which the substantial Doctor then kind of illogically excoriates him for , banishing him to a human life with Rose . ( Not that anyone was complaining , but still . ) “ Last of the Time Lords ” is just a little too batshit insane for me to really tell you how the Doctor resolved that one . I think , I kind of understand it , but I think I go slenderly mad every prison term I endeavor to think about it .
That just leave “ Doomsday ” , in which he does actually solve the story ’s grownup trouble . The understanding the void clobber result forge so well is that it ’s scientific(ish ) . The Doctor is capable to think of a root that requires natural process , but does n’t need superhuman action . The threats in “ Parting of the Ways ” and “ Journey ’s End ” were just too braggy for him to really be capable of fix . They ’re the kind of things Superman might be capable to work out , but not the Dr. . Obviously , it ’s intemperately coming up with crisis that a thinking hero can solve , but Davies has done it before , so hopefully he can do it again .
Ultimately , I ’m going to watch “ The End of Time ” , and unless it ’s a sodding power train wreck I ’m probably going to enjoy it . ( And even if it is , I ’ll likely still enjoy it , just on another grade . ) Like so much of Davies ’s tenure , I ’m guessing it will be frustrating but largely enjoyable . But here ’s hop that he can learn a few moral from his previous forays into epical storytelling and deliver a swansong that ’s worthy of his good moments with Doctor Who .
David TennantDoctor WhoTelevision
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