End of Time, part 2

[lizbee]

This is not a spoiler: the Tenth Doctor died as he lived: pulling faces with really loud music playing in the background.

Maybe it's just the effect of lowered expectations (ie, anything more complex than seventy minutes of David Tennant fingerpainting would have been an improvement), but I really enjoyed this. It's as if RTD sat down and said, "What will please Liz without being any good at all?"



First, there was UNEXPECTED FREEMA. Not wholly unexpected, because I was spoiled this morning, but still, FREEMA WITH DREADLOCKS. WHICH IS AWESOME. Obviously filming took place around the time this picture was taken; that issue of DWM appeared just over a month after the episode was meant to film. Anyway, I'm easy for Martha. FREEEEEEEEEEEEEMA!

Second, UNEXPECTED MICKEY.

Third, UNEXPECTED MICKEY/MARTHA MARRIAGE! Which I thought was deeply stupid when it was just a ridiculous rumour in The Sun, and I'm still kind of WTF at it. Because, what, women aren't allowed to be single in RTD's universe? (In fairness, he also paired off Jack.) But having them actually on screen together made it a lot better than just "oh, and we married off the two black companions that the Doctor didn't treat that well", and I like the idea that they are freelance alien fighters. Only, remember when Martha was a doctor? Yeah. Anyway.

(I have decided that Tom died in "Journey's End", heroically defending African AIDS orphans from Daleks. And Martha had Mickey staying on her couch when she got the news, and their friendship grew as Mickey supported her in her grief and Martha helped him re-adapt to this universe, and eventually they realised they were in love. Only by that stage, they'd already gotten married in order to foil some overly-complex alien plot, so that was handy.)

(Having made up my own fanon to help deal with the headspin, I shall now proceed to get impatient with people who do not share my made-up-fanon and have problems with the pairing. I KNOW I'M ONLY MAKING THINGS HARDER FOR MYSELF.)

Seriously, though, I liked this because I am a SUCKER FOR TIME LORDS. And throughout the history of Doctor Who, stories with Time Lords and Gallifrey (in any medium) tend to be a bit rubbish. Soon as I see those silly hats coming, I switch off the part of my brain that deals in common sense and settle down for some fun. Last week? Would have been infinitely better with more Time Lords, and I don't just mean the Pointless Narration of Rassilon.

OMFG RASSILON! At some stage in the war, presumably after Romana was deposed from the presidency (SHUT UP I AM VERY FOND OF THAT SUBCANON), they thought it would be a brilliant idea to BRING BACK RASSILON AND PUT HIM IN CHARGE. Seriously, no wonder the Doctor had to nuke the place. He probably spent his first years in office sorting out the Robes of Rassilon, and the Bling Diamond of Rassilon, not to mention polishing the Rod of Rassilon (*snerk*), and then it was like, "Shit, there's a war on. OKAY, GUYS, OPERATION: VORLON IS NOW IN PLACE". And so the madness continued.

Also, the woman in white was obviously Susan, AMIRITE? Because Wilf is all, "Who is she?" and the Doctor looks significantly at Donna. SUSAN FOREMAN, BITCHES! STILL LOOKING AFTER HER GRANDFATHER! I bet she was aces in the Time War, too, before it went totally mad. What with having had all that practice in the post-"Dalek Invasion" world.

Seriously, I'm just not rational where Time Lords are concerned. The whole thing was bloated and silly, and we really didn't need all those scenes with Meglos II: The Cactusing, but there were Time Lords, so I loved it. (Ask me about "The Invasion of Time" someday. Go on. Ask.)

And there was that bit where the Doctor was all, "I got clever. I learned to manipulate people into killing themselves". Which is ... being Seven, and doing Seven was right and necessary, but it's also right and necessary that he's still dealing with that.

So here are the bits I didn't like:

- Simm is decent, but when it comes to selling a bad script, he's no Delgado.
- Wilf's "you're the most wonderful man on the planet!" As usual, RTD takes a perfectly good scene, ramps it up to ten, and kills it dead.
- It's a good thing I never bonded with Donna, because her arc was even more pointless than Rose's. She started off a loud, outwardly-shallow, secretly insecure, financially dependent woman hunting for a man to make her complete. She ends up much the same, but with money and a husband. So that's okay. Apparently RTD's goal was that, decades from now, people would still be angry about Donna's fate? I'd say he did a good job, but all I can do is shake my head and go back to my book.

Unexpectedly, I liked Rose's scene. Maybe because she was kind of adorable back when she had a soul? Maybe because this time Billie got the accent right and didn't sound like she'd just come from having a root canal? I don't know. She had a terribly cute jacket, which almost made up for the hair extensions.

AND THEN THERE WAS SMIFF. You can never tell about a Doctor from his regeneration, or even his first episode. But he seems to have more face than the average person, and the first being he kissed was himself, which is appropriate for any Doctor.

As for the trailer, I'm disappointed we didn't get to hear Amy speak, but I loved Eleven's look of amazement when he punches that guy. Perhaps he'll follow in Three's footsteps and be a Venusian Aikido master? Let's hope.



Hey, guys? IT'S MOFF TIEM NAO!

Comments

[copracat]

Tennant made Simm's performance seem understated.

I don't think I can talk about Donna without getting more upset than I'd like to be.

I thought the Rassilon reveal was hilarious.

Bring on a new Doctor and a showrunner not stupidly in love with his lead.