NuWho Rewatch: The End of Time
Mar. 31st, 2015 09:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Watched in context of the whole of the Tenth Doctor's tenure The End of Time is... still pretty rubbish.
I was really hoping that, watched in context, this would show us the tenth Doctor pulling back from the brink while at the same time being confronted by the logical end point of the idea of the Time Lord Victorious.
But no. He's still, if not sulking, contriving to make everyone else's problems all about him. He's not so worried about the prophesied end of time as he is about the prophesy of his own regeneration. He's not so worried about whether Donna is happy as that she wasn't there to stop him. He is, if anything, even more self-obsessed than he was in Waters of Mars. It's not particularly pretty.
Meanwhile, although Timothy Dalton (an actor of whom I'm fond) is doing his best, and does give the impression that he's read the memo about Time Lords victorious, there really isn't enough there in the script to really convey the concept.
And around this you've just got lots of random stuff that barely holds together. I rather wish the whole regeneration had ended with Journey's End. It's a better story and a better send off.
NLSS Child wanted to know who the woman was. I said I thought it was Romana. After I had explained who Romana was, NLSS Child rejected this hypothesis and opted for the Doctor's mother. Just so you know. Then she stood in the centre of the room for about ten minutes while Tame Layman and I sat on the sofa, and held forth about the superiority of the ninth Doctor. We agreed with her thesis, though much of her reasoning seemed to obscurely centre around a sight gag involving a banana.
So, yes, still rubbish*. A disappointing end to an era and, I think, one of Davies' worst efforts.
*Though, I should point out, that in this context "rubbish" still implies its better than the TV Movie (which I have something a of a soft spot for, and isn't dreadful by a long shot) and so in an entirely different league to, say, Time and the Rani. This rubbish in the context of NuWho not in the context of some of the horrors classic Who occasionally managed to perpetrate. A lot of my bitterness about it is that it is such a disappointment after what has gone before.
I was really hoping that, watched in context, this would show us the tenth Doctor pulling back from the brink while at the same time being confronted by the logical end point of the idea of the Time Lord Victorious.
But no. He's still, if not sulking, contriving to make everyone else's problems all about him. He's not so worried about the prophesied end of time as he is about the prophesy of his own regeneration. He's not so worried about whether Donna is happy as that she wasn't there to stop him. He is, if anything, even more self-obsessed than he was in Waters of Mars. It's not particularly pretty.
Meanwhile, although Timothy Dalton (an actor of whom I'm fond) is doing his best, and does give the impression that he's read the memo about Time Lords victorious, there really isn't enough there in the script to really convey the concept.
And around this you've just got lots of random stuff that barely holds together. I rather wish the whole regeneration had ended with Journey's End. It's a better story and a better send off.
NLSS Child wanted to know who the woman was. I said I thought it was Romana. After I had explained who Romana was, NLSS Child rejected this hypothesis and opted for the Doctor's mother. Just so you know. Then she stood in the centre of the room for about ten minutes while Tame Layman and I sat on the sofa, and held forth about the superiority of the ninth Doctor. We agreed with her thesis, though much of her reasoning seemed to obscurely centre around a sight gag involving a banana.
So, yes, still rubbish*. A disappointing end to an era and, I think, one of Davies' worst efforts.
*Though, I should point out, that in this context "rubbish" still implies its better than the TV Movie (which I have something a of a soft spot for, and isn't dreadful by a long shot) and so in an entirely different league to, say, Time and the Rani. This rubbish in the context of NuWho not in the context of some of the horrors classic Who occasionally managed to perpetrate. A lot of my bitterness about it is that it is such a disappointment after what has gone before.
(no subject)
Date: 2015-04-01 08:51 pm (UTC)I've heard this theory, and also a slightly stranger theory that it was Susan. (Is there any possibility there was a Lady President other than Romana that could fit in the timeline somehow?)
Some of The End of Time makes me cringe, especially a lot of what they did with the Master, but overall I find myself wincing less than in Last of the Time Lords. Ten's self-absorption is not pretty here as a personal trait, but as drama, I enjoy it.
(no subject)
Date: 2015-03-31 09:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-04-01 02:48 pm (UTC)It doesn't feel like a lot of what ifs, more like random ideas thrown at the screen and a regeneration at the end.
(no subject)
Date: 2015-04-01 08:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-04-01 03:11 am (UTC)I have to say, though, that Ten had a very short, tragic life. You might say he was a failure at his role in maintaining proper time lines, especially at the end... and that may be one reason he didn't want to go; he knew that.
The scenes with him and Wilf, though, were extremely heart-wrenching. Wilf looked at him with respect, but also saw him as a son. The reverse was true as well, the Doctor had high respect for Wilf and viewed him as a father-figure. Most heartbreaking of all was in the cafe, when Wilf pointed out Donna, and the Doctor really wished he could fix her, because he definitely needed her. Not just wanted her around, but needed her...
As for Donna's "reward," well, this brought her right back to where she was at the start, along with a lottery ticket. Not exactly a true reward for all she did and all the growth she experienced... That "defense mechanism" was a bit rubbish as well; falling asleep? I just wish she regenerated... it sure looked like she might have, but no, she just fell asleep...
(no subject)
Date: 2015-04-01 02:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-04-01 03:22 pm (UTC)Ten was 900/901 at the start of his life, and 904 during Day of the Doctor. He probably regenerated shortly after that, even accounting for wasting his time getting to visit the Ood. He couldn't have dallied around too much, since he was suffering from radiation sickness. I seriously doubt he was a millennium when he regenerated, since Wilfred Mott was still alive when that happened. I'd estimate he was maybe 906, max 910 when he went.
Still, you are absolutely right in saying that he definitely was feeling sorry for himself, pitying himself and absolutely acting out. He had major issues!!
(no subject)
Date: 2015-04-01 03:36 pm (UTC)I'm not sure you can infer much from the ages the Doctor states.
(no subject)
Date: 2015-04-01 03:44 pm (UTC)I'm not sure the War Doctor or Nine would deliberately lie... maybe the trauma of the Time Wars just made him forget how old he actually was.
Add to that the wibbly wobbly time thing, and I might have to concede... having a TARDIS makes actual time calculations so very difficult! You just never know how much time really elapsed.
Sheesh, this makes using simple math impossible!
*cracks up with the effort*
(no subject)
Date: 2015-04-01 07:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-04-01 07:54 pm (UTC)I just feel, really, that its a mess. It's not even focussed enough on the Doctor's self-obsession to make that a point.
(no subject)
Date: 2015-04-01 08:29 pm (UTC)Oh, look a chicken! (Sorry... lost track there.)
You're right, one minute there's a zillion Masters floating around, then it turns out he wasn't really the main problem at all. He just brought the trouble. There was a lot that didn't serve any purpose.
His "farewell tour" was interminably long and self-indulgent with bits of silliness thrown in (the car beeper? Come on!).
As I have said, the best parts were with Wilf. I loved his comment when he entered the TARDIS for the first time; instead of an impressed/surprised "It's bigger on the inside," he simply commented that it could be a bit cleaner!
It was unbearable to watch Donna in this... after all she'd done.
(no subject)
Date: 2015-04-01 08:32 pm (UTC)Oh, look a chicken! (Sorry... lost track there.)
Yes, absolutely. Lots of stuff that could have been made into something but wasn't and so *pffzzt*