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NuWho Rewatch: The End of Time
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.