SPOILER WARNING…Beware all who read beyond this point…
Written by Russell T. Davies
Directed by Euros Lyn
“And so it came to pass, on Christmas Day, that the human race did cease to exist. But even then, the Master had no concept of his role in greater events. For this was far more than humanity’s end. This was the day upon which the whole of creation would change forever.”
Random reactions to part one of David Tennant’s finale as the 10th Doctor:
(1) SHEER AND UTTER MADNESS!!!
BONKERS! As insane as a sack full of insane people, tossed out of an insane truck, driving insanely fast on the insane highway to hell! The blond, hoodie-wearing Master with super-powers and cannibal tendencies?!? A Virginia Woolf-inspired prison as the setting for a resurrection straight out of a really really BAD 1970s horror film?!? A father/daughter with a creepy, heading-down-the-Caligula-path relationship, fooling around with technology they know nothing about, even as cactus people conspire in the basement?!? And that conclusion…that bloody ridiculously, mad-as-toast freakshow of EVERYONE ON EARTH becoming the Master?!?
And this is just PART ONE?!? After seeing the Master in a series of dresses, I think I need to lie down…
(2) PASS ME A TISSUE
The cafe scene goes down in Doctor Who history as one of those moments people will always bring up in the folk memory. Two old men, seeking out each other’s company, because no one else understands their pain…a meditation on regeneration as death…the pain of Donna’s situation…David Tennant acting his socks off…
File under the dictionary definition of “poignant“…and speaking of definitions…
(3) ACTING
The scene between the Master and the Doctor in the wasteland: could that possibly spark any less?!? Utterly compelling, utterly astonishing, and once again…completely BONKERS!!! John Simm putting a new spin on agony and ecstasy…and David Tennant giving new meaning to anguish and confusion…all directed to within an inch of its life by Euros Lyn, with his sharp, icy blue camera palate.
(4) THE BLOODY FRAKKING TIME LORDS ARE BACK!
And they brought their own version of George Lucas’ Galactic Senate chamber with them! Must I say more about this?!?
Do I dare rate this? This completely loopy, outrageous episode that pushes Russell Davies-era Doctor Who off cliffs most of us can’t even fathom? It make Last of the Time Lords look sedate by comparison! And yet…bloody hell, I enjoyed it. But don’t ask me what Part Two is going to bring. How on earth do you conclude something like this?!?
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