Doctor Who- The End of Time part two

In light of the final episode of Doctor Who Season Five, the penultimate episode can be seen in a slightly clearer and even less flattering light. My initial assumption was that it was the set up for something entirely more complex than it seemed, and that while what we were seeing was nonsensical drivel it would also be the foundation upon which a complex and satisfying finale would play out. This was not the case. It turns out that almost nothing seen in the first episode served to do anything except resurrect The Master and have the Doctor drag himself around crying about how he's going to die. The Master's total, and no small bit goofy, plan of world cum universal conquest was never destined to go anywhere, but the fact that it's foiled by an honest to goodness god from a machine is in turns annoying and infuriating to someone who is tasked with describing these things without using the most obvious analogies and how-not-to-write catch phrases.
Without giving too much away the episode plays out like so- The Doctor is captured, breaks out, comes back, confronts the bad guy and is placed in a morally compromising position before the big finish. Even more annoying than the by the numbers plot is that it's paced like George Lucas had creative control. More time is addressed to characters sitting around droning on and re-hashing story elements than ever before in the series. The over riding impression given is that everyone involved was more interested in this being a two-parter than with coming up with enough story to fill the extra time. If all of the nonsense about characters and plot points that go nowhere and everyone sitting on their collective asses was cut out we could have been left with if not a better episode than at least a tightly paced episode. What we get is an over-long slog stitched together from old plot devices, shaky logic and ham-fisted sentiment.
Towards the very end, a good job is done to subvert the expectations of the audience. Inattentive viewers like me will get an extra surprise when they find that the typical run time has passed with the Doctor surprisingly un-dead and the episode continuing unabated. (It's an extra long episode ala Voyage Of The Damned.) However for me the intrigue of those subverted expectations soon into dissolved as I realized what was happening. I found myself getting more and more annoyed with the rising level of sap and sentiment of the epilogue that I was amazed that it was slowly working a bit of magic on me. The last thing that I wanted to see at this moment was more of Russel T. Davies' spin-off spectacular machinery at work (The Doctor's Daughter anyone?), but by the end of the whole hammy swan song, a few fat tears actually started to well up as the Ood sang The Doctor to his final sleep. That moment is clear and perfect. It's the sort of scene that would be utterly insane in any other context, but here it's downright beautiful. Of course you and I know that a Time Lord's regeneration is nothing like sleep so much as a dip in the Lazarus pit- a painful screamy light show culminating in a period of madness, but the Ood presumably don't know that. It is the last thing that we're ever going to see this Doctor do, and I know that I'll miss him. And I am mad that the writers used that to make me cry at such a bad episode.
A word about the new kid- I've seen a few Doctors come and go in my time. If one thing holds true, it's that when the new one pops up the first thing that self professed "real fans" scream is what an absolute twat this one looks like and how the series is over. Being the breed of nerd who scours the web for news to drive himself crazy, I had that fit months ago. At 27 the new guy will be the youngest Doctor ever. Prefer as I do the more avuncular breed of protagonist, I was not thrilled. However, since it's unlikely that Hugh Laurie will be cast as the Doctor any time soon, I'm ready to give this kid a shot.
Of course, what I'm really dying to give a shot to is a new Tardis set. I've never been wild about the current one. Much as I like the design on the show, it can be a tad one note. Brown and bronze, bronze and brown, brown and bronze. Even K-9's guts looked like they came out of City of Lost Children. Steam punk is great, but not everything needs to look like the Closer video. If the new show does nothing else right, I'm praying for a bit of the old mod glory.

 

Agreed...completely...

After reading your previous review, I decided to watch part 2  of this finale.  To sum it up, I was quite disappointed with both the direction and the acting in this episode.  Since when does the Doctor get a chance to say good-bye to his cast members during his demise????  Not even the great Tom Baker had an exit like Barty Crouch (aka David Tennant) and I am glad about that!!!

This was one of the most drawn out, boring, WTF, endings I have seen.  I almost turned it off to save myself from the horror that was ensuing.  This did not do any justice to the character, nor did it provoke me to become interested in the new Doctor...which is sad. 

As for the Tardis...what a disappointing way of introducing a new set design.  If anyone deserved a dramatic exit like this one, it would have been the 9th Doctor, who supposedly was the Darkest of them all...having to deal with the death of his race.  And for the Time Lords return...lame...lame...LAME...

So, Mr Servo...is Hugh Laurie actually British???  If so, I think he would be a welcome addition to the series...DAMN you BBC!!!

Thanks Kal.  I was really looking forward to this story.  The 9th's final episode was outstanding.  Traditionally, their first episodes are weak, and their last kick ass.  This was a bit the other way.  His first (The Christmas Invasion) was good, but this...  oy vey!
As for the Tardis, they trashed it in the previous season finale and it snapped right back to the old rust cave design, so who knows?
You really should give the 10th Doctor a chance.  The rest of his run was nothing like these episodes.  He was brilliant. 

 

I would have liked to see the "New" doctor(s) get older as his regenerations diminished, rather than progressively younger. If you ask me, Tennant is a great actor, but really not so much 'The Doctor' as Eccleston was; the reason Tennant became so entrenched was due to the volume of episodes he featured in, thus leaving huge amounts of room for character development. I would have loved to see Eccleson hang on to the role for a bit longer, perhaps even swapping his position in the timeline of Doctors with Tennant.

Hugh Laurie, I believe, would have made a great 11th doctor, and it would have fit in my 'preferred timeline' (Tennant in his 30s, Eccleston in his 40s, Laurie in his 50s). Another actor I would have loved to see in the TARDIS' driver's seat is Bill Nighy (in his 60s, 12th Dr? fine by me). Now that would be an eccentric Doctor.
The way I envision the 13th (final) Doctor is a grumpy old man, sick to death of the universe and all its problems, just dealing with said problems as they arise because there's no one else to do it. The actor I picture doing this is Geoffrey Palmer (in his 80s), as he seems to pull off 'Grumpy old guy' really well; however, I am unsure how well he would pull off the Doctor's trademark comedic eccentricity.
IMO, Matt Smith (pretty-boy/new-guy) seems to be gearing the Doctor down a road directed towards an audience of Twilight fangirls, but I suppose only time, a few seasons, and another regeneration will tell.

You might be interested to know that during the 6th Doctor's run (around '86) it is revealed that between the Doctor's 12th and (presumably) final regeneration he becomes an evil character called The Valeyard.  It's revealed that he has put the 6th Doctor on trial in a convoluted effort to have him executed and usurp his own past regenerations.  Everybody get that? 
At the rate the new show is going through Doctors it's likely that we'll all see that many regenerations within ten years.  It will be interesting to see how and if they handle it.  Also, don't forget how Number 10 used his regeneration energy to heal himself but not change, so there's also the matter of weather or not Number 10 is also Number 11 and the new guy is really 12. 
Ah, continuity discussions.  I love them so.