Doctor Who: The End of Time part 1

[eve11]

Guys, you had me all worried as I was skimming reaction posts... and maybe my expectations were low or something, but I loved this episode to death. I loved every minute of it. Dunno if it was just me, but it had a crazy Old School Who feeling; I loved the Master, and he totally reminded me of like, Geoffrey Beevers in the Deadly Assassin-- over the top, insane, and a total evil villain. But at the same time there's something more there, and holy crap, I really love the idea that the drums are like, the Time Lords who have stored themselves in the Master's head and are waiting to re-awaken. But now, it's Time Lord v. Human, right? because the Master's set the initial template, I can just see the Time Lords instituting some diversity and using the Human Race to bring themselves back instead. And f-ing awesome... Timothy Dalton as the Time Lord narrator-- wow.

And Donna and Wilf, and the cactus aliens and the Doctor are the only humans left on Earth, heck, how creepy and crazy is that? I guess I was prepared to see something "over the top" from skimming some reaction responses, and maybe that expectation was enough to let me get over the crack-i-ness of the Master imprinting himself across everyone and go straight to the horrific creep show factor of it, but wow, I thought that was pretty damn brilliant, and really also a throwback to the craziness of the Old School too. Also, they threw me for a loop because I thought that the lady in the suit that Wilf kept seeing was possibly a new version of the White Guardian, and that the narrator was the Black Guardian, so it threw me when he was revealed to be a Time Lord. Wow.

(BTW, Has anyone here listened to "Mission of the Viyrans"? That's Five and Peri and deals also with the whole "people transforming into someone else" and it is wicked creepy. It is only 25 minutes long but it is f-ing brilliant.)

I loved Wilf, I loved the Silver Blanket (I'm getting that wrong, because I can't remember the name, but I loved it). The cafe scene between the Doctor and Wilf was really good, really heartbreaking. Everyone brought their A game, acting-wise. I thought that the stand-offs between the Doctor and the Master were well done. I liked the cactus aliens, and even the multi-billionaire creepy bad guy, and how the Master totally let himself be considered "restrained" until it didn't suit him anymore. John Simm was really good in this; I liked this portrayal of the Master much better than the end of season 3. Ha!

The only thing I didn't like (and I didn't like it when they did it in 'Contact' either) was inserting Barack Obama into it. WTF? Can't we just go with a fake President? ALSO, do Brits really care that much about the US president that it's like, "Oh, the President will be talking today", and they don't even bother saying, eg, "The President of the US"? That seemed off to me. I can understand Americans thinking that, but the idea that the British populace is waiting for the American President to save them all from recession.... um, that strikes me as rather annoying.

Other than that, though, I loved it to pieces. Is it next week yet????

Comments

[eve11]

I kind of liked the superpowers, because they were obviously a result of the regeneration/revival gone wrong. They were superpowers but they were also killing him. I thought he was great in this, though, there was *one too many* "remove the hood and show my face" bits.

I loved the "Master of disguise stuck in the face of the Prime Minister" line.

Silver Cloak! Thank you. :)

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

I think maybe superpowers just strike me as inherently cheesy. Combined with RTD's demonstrated ability to take a half decent idea and kind of ruin it by adding extra glowiness and levitation, and I think my initial eyerolling impulse was entirely understandable, whatever the tradeoff. :)

I loved the "Master of disguise stuck in the face of the Prime Minister" line.

That was a great line, yes. :)