Doctor Who: The End of Time (part 1)
Jan. 3rd, 2010 07:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kerravonsenYes, I've seen it now. And I'm posting my reactions to Part 1 before I watch Part 2, because I want to guess and speculate and then discover how wrong I am.
I thought I recognised The Narrator; it was Timothy Dalton. I checked the credits to make sure.
Well, we have another RTD spectacular. I guess this will be the last RTD spectacular we'll have. As ever, part 1 is full of portents, massive buildup, a dramatic climax, leaving us with an impossible-to-solve situation. I expect that part 2 will be full of emo and complete lack of logic. Not that there's a great deal of logic in this one. Leaping lightning-zapping Master! With Acolytes! And Anti-Acolytes.
So, how many of you didn't see The Ring coming? No hands raised, I see. I liked how Lucy got to be all dramatic. And the whole half-alive starving life-force vampire that the Master turned into is, well, almost par for the course for him. How many times has he resurrected himself, and/or become half-something-else? Tremas, Cheetah people, gooey ectoplasm that took over the ambulance driver, then apparently the Time Lords themselves resurrected him for the War. And now this.
Yes, we saw some Oood. Though really, all that that gave us was a recap and a dramatis personae. Which as far as those things go, wasn't bad, really.
He will knock four times. And so he did. Not for any particularly good reason, just to have something to foreshadow, really. Then again, pointless running around is Doctor Who's forte.
I liked the bit where Wilf and the Doctor were sitting in the cafe. Poor, sad, emo Doctor. Of course, he was referring back to Waters of Mars.
I liked the green cactus people. Mainly because they weren't actual villains, just grey-area not-quite-criminals.
RTD stole the idea of the healing-template from The Empty Child, of course. Only maxed out for melodrama rather than creepiness. Melodrama? No, pantomime villain silliness, complete with cross-dressing.
The Drums; according to New Who canon (but, IMHO, not Old Who) the Master has been hearing The Drums since he looked into the Vortex as a child. So therefore, it would seem likely that they have something to do with the Vortex, and thus with the End of Time.
Donna remembers! She'll probably die saving the day. (sigh)
It's interesting that the "causal nexus" thing is being connected to Wilf as well as Donna. Does that mean that it's genetic?
When the woman talked to Wilf on the TV, I was rather annoyed at her. What good does all her cryptic pronouncements do? If I had someone making cryptic pronouncements at me, I'd be suspicious. Well, I guess I started being suspicious of her when she prompted Wilf to (a) get a gun (guns are always bad news) and (b) lie to the Doctor.
Yes! The Time Lords were wearing proper regalia! Though actually, that style of regalia didn't come in until later; when we saw Time Lords with the 3rd Doctor, their clothing style was much less pretentious. I wonder why the change?
At the end of the episode, what do we have?
* A planet full of Masters. (If he wasn't insane before, he surely would be right now - what, billions of Points of View, how could he cope?)
* The Doctor
* Wilf
* Donna (Doctor-Donna)
* Two green cactus-people.
* The woman who's been giving visions to Wilf.
* The Narrator and company.
Doubtless everything will go all wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey in the end.
Questions
* These Time Lords in the end bit: where did they come from, and why the heck would they want to end Time?
* Do these Time Lords have something to do with the Drums?
* Is the woman who's been giving visions to Wilf a Time Lord? Is she a Good Witch or a Bad Witch? (probably a Good Witch; RTD isn't subtle enough to make her a Bad Witch).
* Whom will Wilf shoot? (of course he will shoot someone, he has a gun)
(a) The Master
(b) The Doctor
(c) Donna
I'm not sure if I'll go back and read other people's reactions, or go straight on to part 2. Depends how well I can avoid spoilers.
added after reading others reactions
Someone pointed out that the bit where Wilf entered the church, where he was standing in front of the plaque of those who had given their lives for their country, probably meant that he was going to die. Good point. Highlighted by the fact that he was wearing a green khaki-coloured jacket in that scene.
I thought the skeletons in the vending van were that the Master had zapped them, but someone else thought that he had eaten them down to bone and then re-dressed them. Hmmmm. That makes his remark to Naismith ("You'd be good to eat") actually more chilling.
Yes, the lightning-bolt and leaping stuff is him burning up his life-force to do those things; the resurrection-gone-wrong has given him super powers and is killing him at the same time.
Someone suggested that the Saxon Acolytes were Saxon's inner circle on the Valiant, that the Master had messed with their minds and invented a religion with himself as saviour. That actually makes it make a bit more sense. If they were on the Valiant, of course they wouldn't have forgotten, they'd still be worshipping him.
One thing I meant to say earlier was that the Master's actions were a mix of his usual elaborate plotting, and complete improvisation. Elaborate plotting with all the setup with his Acolytes. Improvisation with the Healing Gate, because I don't think he could have known about its existence beforehand, but he used it to the hilt when he had the opportunity.
Unless, of course, everyone was being manipulated. Which could well be. By these Time Lords, or by whatever-is-behind-the-Drums (if they aren't the same).
Another thought is, if the Master comes out of the Healing Gate, would the effects be reversed? Naw, too easy.
I thought I recognised The Narrator; it was Timothy Dalton. I checked the credits to make sure.
Well, we have another RTD spectacular. I guess this will be the last RTD spectacular we'll have. As ever, part 1 is full of portents, massive buildup, a dramatic climax, leaving us with an impossible-to-solve situation. I expect that part 2 will be full of emo and complete lack of logic. Not that there's a great deal of logic in this one. Leaping lightning-zapping Master! With Acolytes! And Anti-Acolytes.
So, how many of you didn't see The Ring coming? No hands raised, I see. I liked how Lucy got to be all dramatic. And the whole half-alive starving life-force vampire that the Master turned into is, well, almost par for the course for him. How many times has he resurrected himself, and/or become half-something-else? Tremas, Cheetah people, gooey ectoplasm that took over the ambulance driver, then apparently the Time Lords themselves resurrected him for the War. And now this.
Yes, we saw some Oood. Though really, all that that gave us was a recap and a dramatis personae. Which as far as those things go, wasn't bad, really.
He will knock four times. And so he did. Not for any particularly good reason, just to have something to foreshadow, really. Then again, pointless running around is Doctor Who's forte.
I liked the bit where Wilf and the Doctor were sitting in the cafe. Poor, sad, emo Doctor. Of course, he was referring back to Waters of Mars.
I liked the green cactus people. Mainly because they weren't actual villains, just grey-area not-quite-criminals.
RTD stole the idea of the healing-template from The Empty Child, of course. Only maxed out for melodrama rather than creepiness. Melodrama? No, pantomime villain silliness, complete with cross-dressing.
The Drums; according to New Who canon (but, IMHO, not Old Who) the Master has been hearing The Drums since he looked into the Vortex as a child. So therefore, it would seem likely that they have something to do with the Vortex, and thus with the End of Time.
Donna remembers! She'll probably die saving the day. (sigh)
It's interesting that the "causal nexus" thing is being connected to Wilf as well as Donna. Does that mean that it's genetic?
When the woman talked to Wilf on the TV, I was rather annoyed at her. What good does all her cryptic pronouncements do? If I had someone making cryptic pronouncements at me, I'd be suspicious. Well, I guess I started being suspicious of her when she prompted Wilf to (a) get a gun (guns are always bad news) and (b) lie to the Doctor.
Yes! The Time Lords were wearing proper regalia! Though actually, that style of regalia didn't come in until later; when we saw Time Lords with the 3rd Doctor, their clothing style was much less pretentious. I wonder why the change?
At the end of the episode, what do we have?
* A planet full of Masters. (If he wasn't insane before, he surely would be right now - what, billions of Points of View, how could he cope?)
* The Doctor
* Wilf
* Donna (Doctor-Donna)
* Two green cactus-people.
* The woman who's been giving visions to Wilf.
* The Narrator and company.
Doubtless everything will go all wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey in the end.
Questions
* These Time Lords in the end bit: where did they come from, and why the heck would they want to end Time?
* Do these Time Lords have something to do with the Drums?
* Is the woman who's been giving visions to Wilf a Time Lord? Is she a Good Witch or a Bad Witch? (probably a Good Witch; RTD isn't subtle enough to make her a Bad Witch).
* Whom will Wilf shoot? (of course he will shoot someone, he has a gun)
(a) The Master
(b) The Doctor
(c) Donna
I'm not sure if I'll go back and read other people's reactions, or go straight on to part 2. Depends how well I can avoid spoilers.
added after reading others reactions
Someone pointed out that the bit where Wilf entered the church, where he was standing in front of the plaque of those who had given their lives for their country, probably meant that he was going to die. Good point. Highlighted by the fact that he was wearing a green khaki-coloured jacket in that scene.
I thought the skeletons in the vending van were that the Master had zapped them, but someone else thought that he had eaten them down to bone and then re-dressed them. Hmmmm. That makes his remark to Naismith ("You'd be good to eat") actually more chilling.
Yes, the lightning-bolt and leaping stuff is him burning up his life-force to do those things; the resurrection-gone-wrong has given him super powers and is killing him at the same time.
Someone suggested that the Saxon Acolytes were Saxon's inner circle on the Valiant, that the Master had messed with their minds and invented a religion with himself as saviour. That actually makes it make a bit more sense. If they were on the Valiant, of course they wouldn't have forgotten, they'd still be worshipping him.
One thing I meant to say earlier was that the Master's actions were a mix of his usual elaborate plotting, and complete improvisation. Elaborate plotting with all the setup with his Acolytes. Improvisation with the Healing Gate, because I don't think he could have known about its existence beforehand, but he used it to the hilt when he had the opportunity.
Unless, of course, everyone was being manipulated. Which could well be. By these Time Lords, or by whatever-is-behind-the-Drums (if they aren't the same).
Another thought is, if the Master comes out of the Healing Gate, would the effects be reversed? Naw, too easy.
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no subject
Date: 2010-01-03 10:09 am (UTC)Donna remembers! She'll probably die saving the day. (sigh)
Yeah, my thought too. Sigh.
It's interesting that the "causal nexus" thing is being connected to Wilf as well as Donna. Does that mean that it's genetic?
I wondered that too. Wilf is Donna's maternal grandfather, so it seems to have skipped a generation. Or maybe Wild is different because he's close to a time-lord hybrid, Donna. Sarah Jane is human and attracts every alien invasion or manifestation. :-) I think it's a bit like the TARDIS knowing where and when to go to fix things--except for Mars, anyway.
I assumed he'd eaten the woman in the cart, perhaps by zapping her. Otherwise, why dress her again? Maybe he absorbed her and the vagrants in a super-fast energy way.
Anyway, I thought when the Doctor said he couldn't go back on his own timeline that that may be why he dies and regenerates--so that he can, and change things before it all goes wrong. After all, he does meet himself as other incarnations, so that would work. And if that does, then Wilf and Donna are left as he found them.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-03 10:19 am (UTC)Ha! I like that theory.
Anyway, I thought when the Doctor said he couldn't go back on his own timeline that that may be why he dies and regenerates--so that he can, and change things before it all goes wrong. After all, he does meet himself as other incarnations, so that would work. And if that does, then Wilf and Donna are left as he found them.
That would be a real cop-out, IMHO. I always thought that "going back on one's own timeline" meant one's whole timeline, no matter which regeneration it was.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-03 10:26 am (UTC)