The End of Time
Jan. 4th, 2010 03:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
daibhidcSo, what did I make of that?
That's ... a heck of a good question.
The plot was exciting enough, and featured enough transtemporal gibberish to keep my inner technobabble nerd happy[1]. I've always thought the Time Lords work best as villains, if they have to appear at all, so no complaint there. And if you want to talk "trad", then how does the Master bringing some alien invaders to Earth, realising he's made a mistake, and helping the Doctor defeat them grab you?
But my word, the ending dragged on a bit, didn't it? First the Doctor survives everything, then he hears the knocking again! And he has to rescue Wilf from the isolation chamber[2]. And then ... everything stops for about a minute of the Doctor rambling on before he actually sacrfices himself.
And then, of course he seems to be fine, and has time for a whistlestop tour of his companions (Mickey and Martha? Seriously? What happened to Tom?) before showing any ill-effects at all!
Having said that, the bit where the Doctor tells Sylvia he got the money for the lottey ticket from Geoff (so it's really his present to his daughter) had me tearing up a bit. (Although when Donna tucked the ticket into her bodice, she really should have pointed out that her wedding dress doesn't have pockets!)
But then he finally regenerates, destroying the console room in the process (er, why? That didn't happen last time, or when the Master regenerated in the TARDIS) and Matt Smith has a quite awesome bout of post-regenerative mania.
So, a good story, let down by an overdose of epiloguing. And worse yet, epiloguing before we get to the climax.
[1]Although I didn't understand the bit where the Lord President says he's targeting where the Master is "now". Even accepting that Doctor Who has it's own version of San Dimas Time (Gallifrey Standard Time), "now" should surely be ''during the Time War''. Or is the idea that the "time-locked" Time War isn't in "the past" (GST), but the Time Lords are "locked away" in the present? Because that doesn't gibe with the Doctor consistently and repeatedly saying they're dead.
[2]Did they explain in Part One why you need to lock yourself in one booth to open the other one? 'Cos I think I missed that bit.
That's ... a heck of a good question.
The plot was exciting enough, and featured enough transtemporal gibberish to keep my inner technobabble nerd happy[1]. I've always thought the Time Lords work best as villains, if they have to appear at all, so no complaint there. And if you want to talk "trad", then how does the Master bringing some alien invaders to Earth, realising he's made a mistake, and helping the Doctor defeat them grab you?
But my word, the ending dragged on a bit, didn't it? First the Doctor survives everything, then he hears the knocking again! And he has to rescue Wilf from the isolation chamber[2]. And then ... everything stops for about a minute of the Doctor rambling on before he actually sacrfices himself.
And then, of course he seems to be fine, and has time for a whistlestop tour of his companions (Mickey and Martha? Seriously? What happened to Tom?) before showing any ill-effects at all!
Having said that, the bit where the Doctor tells Sylvia he got the money for the lottey ticket from Geoff (so it's really his present to his daughter) had me tearing up a bit. (Although when Donna tucked the ticket into her bodice, she really should have pointed out that her wedding dress doesn't have pockets!)
But then he finally regenerates, destroying the console room in the process (er, why? That didn't happen last time, or when the Master regenerated in the TARDIS) and Matt Smith has a quite awesome bout of post-regenerative mania.
So, a good story, let down by an overdose of epiloguing. And worse yet, epiloguing before we get to the climax.
[1]Although I didn't understand the bit where the Lord President says he's targeting where the Master is "now". Even accepting that Doctor Who has it's own version of San Dimas Time (Gallifrey Standard Time), "now" should surely be ''during the Time War''. Or is the idea that the "time-locked" Time War isn't in "the past" (GST), but the Time Lords are "locked away" in the present? Because that doesn't gibe with the Doctor consistently and repeatedly saying they're dead.
[2]Did they explain in Part One why you need to lock yourself in one booth to open the other one? 'Cos I think I missed that bit.
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True that.
Date: 2010-01-04 03:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-04 03:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-04 03:18 pm (UTC)I still think Donna should have got her memory back though. that would've been a proper gift for her.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-04 03:38 pm (UTC)The bit with Wilf knocking I thought was fine, and some of the finest acting from DT ever. I just wanted to hug him.
The serenade to RTD's ego that was the companion tour (and the last minute hook up between Mickey and Martha!!) was unneeded.
The explosive regeneration I think was as a result of The Doc holding in the energy and radiation so long. I think. Or it is really because The Grand Moff wants an excuse to redesign the TARDIS interior. I'm hoping white, with real roundels. I was worried that ElevenDoc seemed to be channelling Boris Johnson. However the official trailer (which I shall not link to, but can be found on youtube and the BBC site easily enough for spoilerhounds) has allayed that a little.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-04 04:10 pm (UTC)It was a security feature, kind of like an airlock, since it was designed to withstand radiation from the outside due to the Immortality Gate.
I'm not sure why it would then be designed to vent the radiation into the chamber in the event of a catastrophe.
The other thing about the radiation — we saw in "Smith & Jones" that Time Lords can expel radiation out through their big toes. The only thing I could figure is that the dosage of radiation in this case was so high that the Doctor's body was essentially overwhelmed by the blast so it couldn't process the radiation as it did in the X-Ray room.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-04 10:32 pm (UTC)Martha & Mickey was a shock but fun.
Luke & Sarah Jane was poignant - she's seen other regenerations and it was almost as if "something" passed between them.
Capt Jack was a hoot! Alonzo!! Priceless :-))
So I forgave them a little indulgence.
And - yes - I believe he did explain about the safety protocols for the 2 booths in Part one
no subject
Date: 2010-01-05 01:19 am (UTC)Perhaps something like this (http://joeengland.deviantart.com/art/My-TARDIS-89915228)?