"'Tis the season to be jolly, fa-la-la....."
Tails off and looks around. Notices that there is complete silence from the collective blogging community, checks watch and sighs.
OK, so I'm a bit late to wish everyone Merry Christmas and the like, but consider it done anyway. If you feel I'm too late for Christmas '09, simply save my best wishes for Christmas '10, as I am sure I will iterate them to you once again then.
Sadly, due to the demands of Christmas / New Year as well as the onset of the dreaded Lurgi (Ah, my dear Dr Seagoon. Allow Me. My Card, My Card, SNAP!) , I haven't done any blogging for the last few weeks. But this shall change.
Expect more articles from me over the next few days and weeks, but for now, to welcome in my first blog of 2010 (seriously, it's 2010! That's a date I only ever used to see stamped under the words "Best Before" on cans of Beans!) it is one of our old favourites...
A Dr Who Review!
Listens for applause. Is surprised to hear some. Mental note - must go and see psychiatrist due to being able to hear applause in my head.
Well here we go...
DR WHO - THE END OF TIME (Yes, this covers both parts)
In Which - The Doctor gets told by the Ood that some bad stuff will happen. The Master is infecting everyone's dreams, before rudely getting resurrected, James Bond turns out to be a Time Lord and David Tennant finally passes the mantle to Matt Smith.
What did I think - Well, it was big. The reason I'm writing this review of both parts together, is that I really didn't feel that part one stood up well on it's own, simply because it felt very strange, structurally. But as a whole, I really enjoyed it.
The return of the Master, while not really a surprise for this program (Dr Who does love to resurrect dead / extinct life forms at every opportunity) felt strange and weird, being as it seemed to utilise magic rather than anything else, which is an area Dr Who normally steers away from, but it did the job and returned him. With Jedi powers. Which was strange.
Speaking of which, there was quite a lot of obvious Star Wars influences across the two parter (The Master's lightning, the high council of time lords (which looked just like the council from the Star Wars prequels) and the gun turrets on the Vivocci ship to name but three), but this is not necessarily a bad thing. Seriously, who didn't love watching Bernard Cribbins dogfighting with lasers? It was fab.
So yeah, the Master's powers were a bit strange, and barely explained (although there was a line about his botched regeneration, which, if you watch Confidential/Listen to the commentaries such as I do, you realise that he has that energy because his cells are ripping apart, but it should possibly have been clearer in the actual program), but on the whole John Simm worked wonders, starting properly manic, and then calming down to be the Master we all know and despise.
The trouble with Part One though, was that most of it seemed to be Doctor chases Master, Doctor talks to Wilf, Doctor finds and talks to Master, Doctor talks to Wilf... oh wait, we've got ten minutes left, we'd best build up to a (admittedly fantastic) cliffhanger.
But then, once it grabbed and didn't let go, it was superb. The Vivocci, while appearing to be pointless comedy aliens, actually served a purpose to the plot (for a change), and the explanation for the Time Lords return made sense.
Yes, it was a bit deus ex machina that the Doctor returns them to the Time War by shooting the diamond, but the Master having vanished with them leaves ample possibilities for a return from either or both of them, so I like that. Uncertainty is good.
And then, in a completely unexpected move, first the person who causes the Doctors death is Wilf (which I didn't see coming, and yes, I know he didn't really cause the death, he just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, but still...), and then, the Doctor takes half an hour to regenerate, with just enough time to go and see his former companions....
This, for me, is the most divisive area of the episode. It felt, in many ways, as if it was done solely to say "This is the end of the RTD / Tennant era, so let's go back and see everyone we can." But it was done well. No speeches, no hugs, just little moments, and the prospect of Donna becoming a multi-millionaire. So yeah, I think I liked it. Also it seemed like a reflection of the real world, where the public has been aware Tennant is leaving for over a year, so it's felt all drawn out. Plus I can see how it's the only way they'd have got the Doctor alone in the TARDIS to regenerate, and he needed to be alone for the start of the new series.
But Martha married Mickey? REALLY?
The Good - Once again (as with Waters of Mars, and indeed most of the new Dr Who), I felt that the performances were exceptional across the board, the Time Lords were used sparingly and well, the plot made some sense, and we got a resolution (of the bad guys) where they're not utterly defeated, so bringing them back is easy. Oh, and how good was Bernard Cribbins? What a lovely man!
The Bad - I hate to say it, but Donna was underused and pointless. It's almost as if RTD came up with the episode assuming they wouldn't be able to get Catherine Tate, but then they did so he had to shoehorn her in. Her only purpose was to provide a third cliffhanger, which was then solved quickly, and then she lay unconscious in a street for the rest of part two. Also, the Naismiths were sorely underwritten and appeared to have no proper plan, but they worked as plot devices, so it wasn't too bad. Also, as I've previously mentioned, the pacing for Part One seemed very strange.
Conclusion - 9/10. It was a brilliant finale for David Tennant, and regardless of my Donna issues and the small pacing problems, it was a wonderful piece of televisual entertainment. Bravo RTD.
On a side note - who saw the trailer for the new series? Was the Dr really hitting an old-style Grey Dalek with it's own plunger?? - Bring it on :)
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