Doctor Who and the Final Episode

Doctor Who has been a British television program for over forty years. The program began in 1963 and has been unique in that ten men have portrayed the lead role, The Doctor, in that history. A convenient plot device, the fact that our hero is a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey that has the ability to regenerate or change his appearance whenever he is close to death, has allowed new actors to step into the Time Lord's shoes and make the role brand new again. Each actor that has filled the shoes of this roguish Time Lord; the kind of guy who is banished by his own people, then elected president by his people, and then runs from them and their way of life, has brought something new to the part. On Christmas Day and New Year's Day, the two-part finale for current Doctor Who actor David Tennant was broadcast. Christmas Day 2009 gave us The End of Time-Part 1 as our gift this year and promised us the finale on New Year's Day 2010, and boy did it deliver.

Before we get into the spoilers, for those who have yet to watch the finale, let's discuss the time of David Tennant in the lead role and the build up to his swansong. David Tennant picked up the role at the end of the new revival of the series. Dropped from BBC programming after the 1989 season, Doctor Who stayed on the shelves (with the exception of the 1996 TV Movie) until it was dusted off and re-invented for a new generation. The first actor to reclaim the role was Christopher Eccleston. This Doctor, the ninth such incarnation, was a loner, the last of his kind. The Time Lords, according to that first new season, were all destroyed along with their Dalek (for those uninitiated, a Dalek is former human from the planet Skaro that has been mutated to remove human emotions and encased in a nearly indestructible casing...oh, and by the way the top villain for Doctor Who) enemies during the Last Great Time War. That first new Doctor, Eccleston, had recently regenerated into his then-current body. He met Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) a sweet, blonde haired British gal who taught the alien Time Lord some humanity, again.

Sacrificing one of his regenerations to save young Rose Tyler's life, Eccleston gives up the reins of the program to David Tennant. Tennant brought a new life to The Doctor. Through three seasons (new Seasons 2 through 4) David Tennant's Doctor battled Daleks, Cybermen, and The Master (three iconic Doctor Who villains) and gave us some new companions in the form of Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman), Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman), and Donna Noble (Catherine Tate). The Doctor's travels took us from the End of The Earth to Shakespeare's Globe Theater, and plenty of places in between. We grew to love The Doctor all over again.

Some critics for the show found plenty to complain about. Russell T. Davies, the head writer of the show for the first four seasons and Executive Producer, has been the whipping boy of half the fan community during his time with the show. People complained about the fact that Davies had killed off the rest of the Time Lords. They complained about the choice of actors for The Doctor and his companions. No matter what subject they complained about, at least they had a Doctor Who show to complain about. Then, at the end of Season 4, the word came down. David Tennant would be leaving the show that had made him a star. The show was not going to get an immediate Season 5; instead it would receive five special episodes, before the new Doctor arrived.

First there was the annual Christmas episode in 2008, The Next Doctor; which featured David Tennant's former Blackpool co-star David Morrissey, which pitted the Doctor against the Cybermen. Easter 2009 gave us Planet of the Dead with Michelle Ryan, which found The Doctor trying to save humans stranded on a planet with an alien menace and without his TARDIS (his time and space travelling ship...it stands for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space). November brought Waters of Mars, a spooky visit to the first human outpost on the planet Mars and a nasty water monster. All of these programs added to The Doctor's story, albeit some in a small way. Waters of Mars pushed the story into new directions when we saw our Doctor acting very similar to his nemesis, The Master. The Doctor had reached a point where he thought he could change the laws of time and space, that without the Time Lords it was up to him to decide what was right and what was wrong. Our Doctor was at his lowest after that adventure and it prepared him for his final adventure.

Now, it is time for some spoilers:

The End of Time-Part 1 begins by being the first episode in this new run to have a narrator. A new Time Lord was shown, played by former James Bond actor Timothy Dalton. Although we do not know too much about this character, he seems to be telling the story of the 10^th Doctor's final adventure to someone. We get to see The Doctor return to the Ood-Planet to fulfill their prophecy, and a prophecy that stretched itself out over Season 4 and through the special episodes. The Doctor's song was coming to an end; his life was coming to an end. The pace picked up from that beginning and The Doctor was back in present day trying to find his fellow Time Lord, The Master. Season Three saw the resurrection of The Master (a role originated by Roger Delgado in 1971, and played during Season Three and during this two-parter by John Simm), but it also saw his death as he refused to regenerate. The finale of Season Three also gave long time Doctor Who viewers a bit of a cliffhanger. We saw The Doctor burn the body of The Master on a funeral pyre, but we also saw The Master's ring, capable of holding The Master's Time Lord self, picked up by a red finger nailed woman.

The whole universe was having bad dreams of The Master. This information sent The Doctor looking for him. Part 1 saw him find his former friend and enemy, but his life was coming apart. His resurrection was flawed and he was a ticking time bomb. The episode also had a billionaire on a quest for immortality and when mixed with The Master, it became a plot to once again bring back The Time Lords. Season Three saw him using the last vestiges of humanity to create a new Gallifrey on Earth, only to fail, but this episode saw The Master using alien technology to change the genetic template of every person on the planet to his; creating six billion Masters.

The End of Time-Part 2 shows us Timothy Dalton's Time Lord, who is not just some Time Lord but The President of Gallifrey. He and his fellow Time Lords are stuck in a Time Lock on the last day of the Last Great Time War. They are trapped. Prophecies about the End of Time and the war between The Doctor and The Master fill their Council Chambers. A plan is formulated. The Time Lords try to escape the Time Lock and the final days of the Last Great Time War and they plan on using The Master.

The episode worked on so many levels. It gave us a great send off for David Tennant. His Doctor must make a decision. He can kill The Master and save the six billion people on Earth. However, this would mean The Doctor would have to kill, something he has been hesitant to do. In the entire history of Doctor Who, we've only seen him sparingly use deadly force. He has never used a gun, although he did brandish one in the wonderful Season Four story, The Doctor's Daughter, however here we see The Doctor pushed to the point where there is no other option. The Time Lords' plan to escape the Time War has been revealed and The Doctor knows that will not be good for anyone. He places himself into the position where he has two options; kill The Master and prevent the Time Lords from escaping the Time War or kill The President of the Time Lords and prevent their escaping. In a tense moment, The Doctor shows why he is the Doctor. He decides not to kill and instead destroys the machinery trying to bring back the Time Lords. The President tries to kill him, but The Master, in a selfless act, saves The Doctor and disappears along with the returning Time Lords.

Humanity is saved. Earth is saved. The Doctor lives. It seems like a triumph, but then the prophesized four knocks take place. The prophecy repeated throughout the specials and Season 4 contained the line "and he will knock four times". Most viewers thought this meant The Master, who had been driven insane by the Time Lord plot at resurrection by the sound of a Time Lord's two hearts beating...four knocks. Instead, it is Wilfred Mott (the grandfather of former companion Donna Noble) that knocks four times. Wilfred Mott (played wonderfully by Bernard Cribbins) had appeared in other Doctor Who episodes prior to being introduced as the grandfather of Donna Noble. He searched for the Doctor and takes on companion role for the two-part story. His character is stuck in a glass booth, holding back radiation, and must be saved. He knocks on the door four times to wake up The Doctor after the Time Lords are sent back. The Doctor, who is angry, saves Wilf but in doing so, condemns himself.

The Doctor takes Wilf back home and sets out to "get his reward" before the end. We see The Doctor travelling to visit his former companions. Although internet rumors suggested otherwise, we get to see Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman) and Mickey Smith (Noel Clarke) as two freelance alien fighters. They are married and happy. The Doctor saves them from a Sontaran (another Doctor Who classic villain that got the 21^st Century make over). The Doctor next saves Luke Smith (Tommy Knight) from getting hit by a car while talking on his cell phone. The "son" of former companion Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) rushes off to tell his mother The Doctor has arrived and they both get a chance to wave a good-bye to their friend. The Doctor also visits a book signing by Verity Newman (Jessica Hynes). Newman is the great-granddaughter of Joan Redfern (a character, also played by Hynes, that figured into the 8^th and 9^th episodes of Season Three, when The Doctor disquises himself as human and hides with Martha Jones in the year 1913). The Doctor, as the human teacher John Smith, had fallen in love with Redfern but when aliens seeking him out forced him to reclaim his Time Lord nature, The Doctor leaves but not before leaving Joan Redfern his dream journal. The dream journal, dubbed The Journal of Impossible Things, recounted the story of The Doctor, a time travelling alien. The Doctor's visit with Verity Newman, at a book signing where she has published the original journal, has The Doctor asking if "she" (Joan) was happy at the end. Our Doctor takes us next to some intergalactic bar scene and Captain Jack Harkness (who had fled Earth at the end of 2009's Torchwood: Children of Earth). Finally, The Doctor stops to visit his all time favorite companion, Rose Tyler (played by Billie Piper). The Doctor finds Rose and her mother, Jackie, on New Year's Eve. He and Rose have a few words (Rose believes he's had too much to drink). The meeting is special because it is twelve months before Rose gets to meet The 9^th Doctor. She doesn't know him, but he sure as hell knows her.

The regeneration scene was fantastic. The special effects on the new run of this series has always been top notch, critics be damned. The stories, although there are some logical, scientific, of historical problems with some, are always entertaining. The regeneration scene has The Doctor changing, and because of whatever reason (be it the amount of time he held in the regeneration or the amount of radiation he took into himself) it is violent. The windows of the TARDIS are destroyed, fires break out inside, and parts of the ship are destroyed. Then we get to meet The Doctor, new lead actor Matt Smith (who at 27 is the youngest actor to ever fill the role, taking the title from 1980s star Peter Davison). His introduction is quick, as he examines his new body. He finds his legs, his arms, his ears, nose, teeth, and finds he is still "not ginger" (meaning no red hair). His TARDIS is crashing to Earth, and our new Doctor is prepared for new adventures, a new companion (Amy Pond, to be played by Karen Gillan), and a promise that the show will return with Season Five in the Spring of 2010.

Overall, I have to place The End of Time-Parts 1 and 2 at the top of my all-time favorite Doctor Who finales. I was too young to have watched most of the Doctors depart; however I have watched those that I could get my hands on. Some of the transitions were done wonderfully, like The Caves of Androzani, and others were horrible, Time and The Rani, but all in all, the stories help the audience transition to a new lead actor and this one was top notch.