In the Doctor Who Universe, if Donna Noble has wedding plans something is bound to go wrong. And in ‘The End of Time’ (Part One), things go rather badly for all of humankind.
The two-part Doctor Who Christmas Special marks the end of David Tennant’s run as the tenth Doctor and Russell T. Davies role as Lead Writer and Executive Producer of the series. And there have been some fantastic episodes during this era of Doctor Who – ‘Blink’, ‘The Girl in the Fireplace’, ‘The Christmas Invasion’ and ‘Turn Left’ to name a handful. So the cliffhanger of this two-part finale for Tennant and Davies should be an edge of the seat nail biter, right? Unfortunately, not so much.
Long-time Doctor Who nemesis, The Master, makes his return rather ingloriously in some bizarre Saxon ritual and then runs amok devouring hamburgers and humans alike to feed his famishment. And when meeting up with The Doctor, he just happens to turn on some Star Wars style Sith-like powers to pummel him with an electricity bolt and then zoom directly up into the air.
Granted, the quick chat between The Doctor and The Master was endearing. The visions of a little Doctor and little Master frolicking across fields of red grass is charming, but not nearly enough to save a scene which should have been filled with much more tension and suspense in this grand finale.
It was lovely to see The Doctor’s former companion Donna back and mouthy as ever, yet quite sad to know what she has lost. One can feel The Doctors despair in both seeing Donna back to struggling and just getting by when he knows she is capable of so much more and not being able to approach someone he was once so close to. It is yet one more thing The Doctor has to endure due to his strange infatuation of humans. Being so alien he can never maintain any real, long-term relationships with his companions and acquaintances.
Wilfred Moff, who has appeared in previous episodes as Donna’s Grandfather, was really a bright spot in the show. The café scene where The Doctor shares with Wilf his fear of dying was a tearjerker. Of course The Doctor has the capability to regenerate but he admitted to Wilf he will lose a sense of who he was when this happens, thus, it’s similar to dying. And Wilf is empathetic to his situation; more so than any companion could really ever be, as he, too, is in the winter of his days.
Having Barack Obama as the current United States president waiting to make a speech on Christmas Day was a bit jarring. Usually Doctor Who uses a faux president, prime minister, whatever and it is a good idea for a show like this. Something so political and current really can take the audience out of the fantastical experience Doctor Who offers.
The smaller issues of a Time Lord exhibiting Sith-like powers, silly little rituals, President Obama and a maniacal, cannibalistic Master could have been overlooked if the confrontation between The Doctor and The Master led to a thrilling cliffhanger for the final half of the episode. But the episode just didn’t pick up. Who kidnaps a Time Lord, and a deranged one at that, to do some repairs on an immortality machine? Of course The Master will hack the device for his own use. Which is acceptable. But to make all of humanity a clone of himself? What’s the point – why not just wipe them out, make zombies, or turn them into kittens?
Excitement does ring in the hall of the Time Lords, though. The whole ‘last of the Time Lords’ plot has only existed in this current Davies imagining of Doctor Who. The current Doctor believes all Time Lords perished in a Time War, which does seem a bit of a leap of faith being they are so powerful and ancient. Apparently, the Time Lords have not perished after all and are ready to return. And that allows a little leap of faith in hopes the big Tennant finale will tie up this messy first half and give the tenth Doctor the regeneration he deserves.
