PART 3 of 3
Written by Russell T. Davies
Directed by Colin Teague
“Didn’t you learn anything from the blessed Saint Martha? Siding with the Doctor… is a very dangerous thing to do.”
It’s an episode that has divided fandom into love it and hate it camps, on a scale I haven’t seen since the late 1980s. Last of the Time Lords is many things to many people…but what everyone can agree on is that it’s certainly one hell of a ride.
THE CONTROVERSIES
Lets get these out of the way – the primary reasons so many fans hated this episode:
(1) The Shrunken-Gollum Doctor
(2) The messianic god-Doctor
(3) The “turn-back-time” solution
(4) The “everyone think good thoughts” solution
(5) The Return of the Jedi funeral pyre rip-off
Hmm…well, here’s my take on each of them:
(1) The Gollum Doctor moment does push the ridiculous when he’s put in the cage, but the actual moment of transformation is quite frightening (especially in the use of black & white images that makes the entire experience look like a cross between Quatermass & Nosferatu). It’s also quite dispiriting and poignant when the little, aged, utterly humiliated Doctor crawls out of his clothing. In short, there was no chance everyone was going to like this, but in my mind it does work on most levels…and the cage allows John Simm to preen and brag to the Doctor at his maniacal best (I love the wake-him-up-in-bathrobe moment).
(2) After two previous deus ex machina season finales, this one is actually the least offensive – after all, the revitalized Doctor simply uses his power to prevent shootings & land safely upon the ground to deliver the words that are devastating to the Master’s ego: “I forgive you”. I’ll buy it.
(3) Well, no offence, but considering that the Master made himself a PARADOX machine, it’s only natural that everyone realizes that using a pseudo-reset button IS way the story will end…with the added bonus that all the major players remember what happened. And hey…it worked beautifully in Superman (the effects were just as nicely done here as well).
(4) Well, in some respects the pseudo-prayer thing is corny, but it also fits in with the Doctor’s nature…you’ll have to take it or leave it. But as the Doctor says to the Master, about Martha’s spreading-of-the-word: “As if I’d ask her to kill”. Sums it up for me.
(5) The burning pyre? Well, we’re offended by the supposed stealing from Return of the Jedi because we’re all such geeks…and I didn’t see anyone complaining of theft with the multitude of funeral pyres on display in Troy. Besides, with Murray Gold’s amazing score, the moment works magnificently…even thematically, considering how the Doctor describes the end of the Time War.
Anyhow, on to the good stuff…
CONTROVERSY? BAH, I say!
Ok, this isn’t perfect. Last of the Time Lords tries to be epic to the power of ten, and it nearly collapses under the weight of its ambitions. As I’ve listed in the controversies, some of the most contentious issues of the story border on the ridiculous and the outrageous…the mountain-top confrontation between the Doctor & the Master isn’t quite what it should be…Jack is pretty much treated as an afterthought…and the entire episode has been hurled at the audience with an attitude of “we DARE you to accept this!” It’s as if the production team – and Russell Davies himself – have only just managed to reign in their creative madness.
That said, there are several reasons why Last of the Time Lords is still successful.
(1) John Simm is still playing at being the best Master ever. Drunk with power, he’s a cross between JR Ewing of Dallas and a collection of Italian lotharios…scarred by his ugly predilection for violence and humiliation. This is a man who controls everything, and makes sure that everyone knows it. He’s Lord Byron on acid, and he manages to be both a break in tradition from previous Masters, yet still full of the familiar conquer-the-universe bile that fueled the Roger Delgado and Anthony Ainely Masters of years gone by. He’s simply stunning.
(2) Freema Agyeman rules the world! I’ve adored her since her arrival, but there are so many people who dislike her…and I can’t imagine why. Martha Jones is completely marvellous, and rocks the world…literally. All this time, the Doctor trusted her to do the right thing…and thanks to Freema’s performance, Martha has her finest moments in this episode. Brave, resourceful, full of faith & strength of character, she is everything the Doctor (and the audience) wants in a companion…
…and then she decides to leave!!!! ARGH!! NO!!!
Luckily, we haven’t seen the last of the great Martha Jones…and the even greater Freema Agyeman…
(3) David Tennant can read the bloody phone book and we’d be entranced…but once again, he manages to deliver the goods and wipe nearly everyone else off the screen…especially when he cries over the Master’s dead body. Finally, we see what kind of anguish the Doctor has been suffering as the last surviving Time Lord…and it’s heart-rending.
(4) Murray Gold’s most epic, most amazing score yet! The full-blooded version of the Time Lord theme…the western-style high noon tones of Martha’s return to the Valiant…mixed in with all the best themes of the season. I can’t wait for the next release of a soundtrack CD!
(5) The finale leading into the Christmas episode…well…THAT you’ll have to see for yourself. 
It’s not perfect…it’s over-ambitious…it’s full of the sublime fighting against the ridiculous. It doesn’t quite have the emotional impact of The Parting of the Ways or Doomsday, but – strangely enough – it’s thematically the best of the three season finales to date. A pity that the diamond didn’t have enough of its rough edges cut away.
Mind you, anything more refined and more epic than this would have killed all of us from adrenaline shock. 
Season three ends with Doctor Who in the best shape of its life…roll on Christmas and Voyage of the Damned.
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