Dr. Who End of Time and a new Doctor in the Tardis
Sooner or later I knew the folks heading the new Dr. Who franchise would try to bring back the gang on Gallifrey. Timothy Dalton as Rassilon was decent actually. The Master’s lightening jumping was stupid. Using President Obama as a prop was silly. David Tennant’s departure was sad but done well. And the new Doctor’s entry into the world was quirky, which is good for Dr. Who.
For those who like quick breakdowns, the first paragraph should be enough. For more of an indepth look, lets press on! I for one never really liked that the Doctor was the last of the Time Lords. Gallifrey is as important in the Dr. Who mythology as the Tardis is. Why they decided on the reboot to remove them is beyond me.
It is a little unbelievable as well that one Time Lord can subdue every other Time Lord in existence. His Tardis isn’t the only one ever created ya know. The Master had one back in the original show. The ability to make it change to be anything on the outside, not just a police box, wasn’t broken on the Master’s Tardis. Tardis’s are like cars to the folks on Gallifrey after all.
At any rate, they removed Gallifrey and the Daleks from the story line. Of course, you wouldn’t know that from the amount of times the Daleks have appeared on episodes. Why is it that the Emperor of the Daleks, Davros and a host of others managed to escape the time locked Time War but the Time Lords can’t? They are the TIME lords after all, they can’t handle a simple time lock?
The End of Time episode also reintroduced the Master into the storyline. I think this is always a good thing. The Doctor is nobody without the Master to be his archenemy. The one thing that was over the top here was the lightening bolts and skeleton face thing that was happening. Ok, we get it, he was using his life force, regeneration life force, to do it, still it was corny. And what ever happened to Time Lords only being able to regenerate 12 times? I digress. But, ok, the Master could do his impersonation of Storm and lightening jump hundreds of feet at a time. Weird but ok.
Next we saw Timothy Dalton, as Rassilon though I thought he was the first Time Lord president not the current, try to break free of the Doctor’s time lock and break back into the real world. Honestly though, could ya blame him? Wouldn’t you? Would you really let an entire race, the first and most powerful race to exist, just die? Yes, they clearly on insane these days with the whole desire to ascend ala StarGate and be beings of thought, but is that a bad thing? It worked for the Ancients. I suppose if it ends time it would be.
The Doctor saved the day, back then, by stopping them and time locking them and then going off and being depressed about it. One thing that caught my attention here was something Rassilon said about the Doctor possessing something that allowed him to do what he did. I wonder if that will come up again? Probably.One thing about the reboot of the franchise is that they are some sneaky bastards and do come up with some cool plot twists.
And the Doctor saved the day this time too. The beating of the drums defining the Master’s entire life was bold. It ripples through the past and colors all the Master’s past actions. We know those past actions, those that watched the show over the years, and it makes us wonder. Beneath the surface it’s a very nice explanation for the Master’s actions compared to the previous reason. In the old show, the Master had regenerated 12 times already and wanted to regenerate once more. He ended up stealing the body of the father of one of the Doctor’s new companions. The drums as a replacement explanation for his actions was a nice tie in to the reboot and to the new plot line of Gallifrey being locked away.
And on that note, the “he will knock four times” was simply brilliant. It wasn’t the Master or Rassilon but an old guy jumping into a glass box to save some stranger from doom. I have to admit it was very cool way to do it. Classic.
Overall I really enjoyed the show. Some subtle levels of corniness but it was a good departure for David Tennant. I thought his time as being the Doctor was one of the best in a long time. Possibly the best since the venerable Tom Baker (all may bow at his name), who of course was THE Doctor. I look forward to Matt Smiths tenure as the Doctor. Though he does seem a bit young he has the classic quirky look that we are accustomed to.
I actually think that the Master, Gallifrey, the Time Lords and the Daleks will all be back at some point. Perhaps for just a quick introductory show. After all, don’t Time Lords in the past travel to the future? Sooner or later the Doctor has to run into someone else that may be living in the far past but decided to go to the far future? Or did his time locking lock them all up for good? Only time will tell. No pun intended.
