Well, according to the posters on Doctor Who Forum, that was a load of rubbish.
Couldn’t disagree more. Absolutely cracking finale. RTD’s finale’s have always been very hit-or-miss with me. I loved Doomsday (although Rose’s departure dragged a bit - and any weight it had has now been shot to pieces anyway), hated the “Super-Rose” ending in Parting of the Ways, and similarly hated the “Super-Doctor” ending in Last of the Time Lords, which then only got worse as it descended into “guess which movie we lifted this bit from”.
So I was slightly worried after the superb Stolen Earth, that I was going to be left dissappointed. However, I didn’t have to worry.
Right from the start, after the country tearing itself apart for a week over James Nesbitt/Robert Carlyle etc being the new Doctor, instead we get the Doctor redirecting the regeneration energy into his hand and saying “Right. Where were we?” An incredibly funny anti-climax after all the palava that had me laughing out loud.
And this finale was just filled with great moments. Jack and Mickey meeting up again. The reference to the warp star from SJA. DoctorBlue and Donna shouting “Oi!” at each other, Davros recognising Sarah Jane, K9’s cameo, DoctorDonna, everyone flying the TARDIS as it tows Earth home. And so many more.
I’ve mentioned before that this finale was feeling like a swan-song to RTD’s era (despite the upcoming specials), and I still feel that way. It was a beatiful ending. Full of fun, and tragedy.
Talking of tragedy, Donna’s exit was very well done. Incredibly painful to watch and heart-breaking. She’s been the best companion out of the entire 4 seasons without doubt (oh, how I’ve changed my tune) so it was incredibly sad that she was the one who suffered the “everlasting death” Caan spoke of. Bernard Cribbins was fantastic as usual, and I must’ve had something in my eye during his speech about watching for the Doctor.
Without doubt, this has been the strongest series yet of Doctor Who. Every episode was a winner for me that I’d happily go back and re-watch now, and its the first series I can say that about.
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Agree, cracking episode, there is a lot of fan bitching, but to be fair the fake regeration, that I’ve seen called a gimmik etc, was actually pretty central to the plot.
Of course tehr eis now huge speculation, is he now the 11th doctor as well? and will the toy company release a DoctorBlue action figure?
I think they’ve probably already released one, given how many variants of the Tennant figure there are kicking about
From what I’ve read online, with some of the complaints there definitely seems to be some bitterness that the regeneration was a fake-out. You’d think they all wanted rid of Tennant.
While I’m more than happy to give Last of the Time Lords a kicking, I do feel its a bit of a shame how much slamming this finale’s taken online. Hopefully the general public’s opinion will be more balanced.
However, I’m now very curious to see what Steven Moffat gives us as a finale after 4 years of RTD writing them.
I’ve read mixed reviews from the fan community, main criticisms are the fake regeneration (Although how would the plot have worked without it and control over regeneration has been shown before (The master not regeneratiing)), spining daleks is called making them too unthreatening (Although I thought it was very in character for Donna) and that there was too much fan pleasing and not enough plot (I’d say a rip roaring ride, never pausing for breath)
However for once WHo fandom is united in one thing, AWARDS for Mr Cribbins, everything from a Knighthood to a BAFTA.
I think The Moff, as he is now known, will do Ok, I’d expect him to stick roughly to RTD’s general formula, while slowly adding his own variations on to it.
He may not write the Finale, he might leave that to someone else. Will 2010 be the year of the Zygon?
I’m with you on the episode being a ride. I don’t think you were supposed to think too carefully about it.
Spinning Daleks is a classic as well. I’m sure that happened back in the Hartnell stories all the time.
At least everyone’s agreed about Bernard Cribbins though. There does seem to have been the feeling that he stole every episode he was in. Donna’s fate was made even more heartbreaking by his speech about keeping an eye open for the Doctor in her name.
Heck, that whole Dalek/Paintgun scene from last week was his idea
At most I think the Moff (or The Vast Toffee MN as he’s also known on some podcasts) should stick to the structure RTD used in this season. Write the opener to establish the new companion, then write the finale. Basically keep the number of episodes he writes to a minimum (not that I dislike his writing, just that showrunning and script editing everyone else’s work takes up a heck of a lot of time). It’ll be interesting to see what he does though. Maybe he’ll write even less than RTD, preferring just to steer the ship and provide the plot arcs and outlines for the season and let other writers fill in the details. Or maybe he’ll be even more hands-on?
I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what he does with it. But I’m expecting season 5 to follow a similar style to RTD’s seasons with him branching out in his own direction more as his reign goes on and he settles in.