Undisappointment

The tough thing about reviewing the End of Time is that there's so much of it. We're talking feature-film length here, two and a quarter hours. Not liking some of it does not necessarily mean not liking all of it.

And you can even not like some aspects personally, while fully accepting that they're there for different types of people than yourself. I may have rolled my eyes a little at the Master shooting lightning from his hands, or the Hesperus chase sequence, or Gallifrey-as-Coruscant, or the Mos Eisley Cantina homage, but hopefully the kids loved them. Also, it's great the Doctor Who can finally be Star Wars if it wants to be, after all these years, even though I wish it wouldn't be, as Star Wars is a bit rubbish and Who is great ;)

As already stated, I found EoT's plotting to be a real letdown. But that's not to say there wasn't much to enjoy as well. The acting was first-rate: Tennant, Simm and Cribbins pulled out all the stops, perhaps in the hope of impressing Actual Hollywood Movie Star Timothy Dalton. And much as I felt the need for the Doctor to regenerate was, in typical RTD style, tacked on as an afterthought rather than arising naturally from the plot, once that train of events was set into motion I was pretty happy with how the Tenth Doctor faced his "death".

Some have found Ten's final "tantrum" and "cowardly" last words rather distasteful. I thought they were great. When he realizes that he's going to have to sacrifice himself to save Wilf, his diatribe proves that he understands the temptation to be the Time Lord Victorious... understands and rejects it. He's spent the year since he last saw Donna feeling lonely and miserable. How could such a life more valuable than that of a cheerful, honest family man like Wilf?

After absorbing the lethal radiation, the Doctor gets to take his reward. I don't know that his whirlwind trip to visit all of his old friends and companions makes literal sense, but on a metaphorical level is perfect. I don't think it was necessary for him to save them all one last time, but it reminds us that he's saved them all before, that without him none of them would be as happy and successful as they are now. Verity Newman's cameo tells us that life goes on forever; even after one generation is dead, we live on in the memories and the faces of our grandchildren. Captain Jack tells us that life goes on right now; he's been drowning his sorrows over the death of Ianto Jones, but here comes dishy Midshipman Frame to help him heal. And Rose back in 2005... she tells us that even when a story is over, somewhere else it's only just begun.

As Doctor Who fans with significant DVD collections, we of all people know that last bit to be true. The Tenth Doctor hasn't been lost to us. His story is still here, to revisit as much as we like, to build on if we choose. Only now we have an Eleventh Doctor to enjoy as well. How is that not a win/win scenario?