Rate "The End of Time" Part One

So - waddya reckon?

I need to watch it again before rating it - I was watching it with the family and certain members of it saw fit to deliver a DVD commentary on it which meant I couldn't really concentrate on it.

FWIW, ratings wise I'm waiting until we've seen the pay-off in part two.

However what I can say is that we didn't see the last minute at the preview screening last week. But I was told that night that the story would go off in ways I wouldn't imagine. Now I know why and, given the awesome clip for part two now available, it's quite simply fanwanktastic.

I have been of the opinion that this whole episode was merely a set up. That does now seem to be the case. As does some mega reset.

i thought it was the s***, myself. as did my mum and dad.

not very festive though...

Really enjoyed watching it... thought simms performance was fantastic.. glad the Timelords are back.. although fear not for more than another 60 mins or so.. Shame donna was not in it more.. strangely felt a bit padded out in places. Must say the clip for Part 2 on website looks better than anything so far in part 1... 4 out of 5 from me.

Need to watch it again (sober), and have seen Part Two, to know what I really think - when very drunk, however, loved Simm's master (again) and was actually quite excited by the Time Lords shouting a lot in the council chamber from The Phantom Menace.

Got fed up with people asking me where the Master's new superpowers had come from, mind.

Think I might even save the rewatch 'til twenty-to-six on New Year's Day...

(Provisional rating - Pertwee out of five)

They went from the absolute brilliance of everybody turning into the Master into the corny wankiness of the Time Lords coming back. And don't they look f***ing stupid!

Rich Flair wrote:They went from the corny wankiness of everybody turning into the Master into the absolute brilliance of the Time Lords coming back.

Also works this way round.

Rich Flair wrote:And don't they look f***ing stupid!

From what I've seen of the classic series, this was always the case.

Rich Flair wrote:They went from the absolute brilliance of everybody turning into the Master into the corny wankiness of the Time Lords coming back. And don't they look f***ing stupid!

Nope they look great... and to be honest the only really corny thing was everyone turning into the Master.. quite stupid really...

Lucy McGough wrote:Also works this way round.

No, it doesn't!

ifjsrussell wrote:

Rich Flair wrote:They went from the absolute brilliance of everybody turning into the Master into the corny wankiness of the Time Lords coming back. And don't they look f***ing stupid!

Nope they look great... and to be honest the only really corny thing was everyone turning into the Master.. quite stupid really...

No, it's wank and tired. They'll be gone next week, so it's no matter.

I was with family and only caught about 50% of it but then I watched it properly when I got home. I really enjoyed it, very different, and that's good. I like it when we get something that's not quite Doctor Who but is also something so inventive that only Doctor Who could do it. It was also good to see a slow pace, reminds me of some of the longer classic stories. Actually, Time Lord reveal, something on a massive scale and a regeneration at the end. It's the War Games 2!

It's a 4/5 from me.

Sorry, being a grinch earlier!

john simm was completely great and is my favourite master

Lucy McGough wrote:

Rich Flair wrote:And don't they look f***ing stupid!

From what I've seen of the classic series, this was always the case.

They were usually rubbish, 10 minutes in The War Games aside. (And The Deadly Assassin, where the were supposed to be rubbish). I was impressed by the scene in this story, though.

barnaby salton wrote:john simm was completely great and is my favourite master

What he said.

I don't think I'll rate this one till I've seen the second part and then rewatched both.

Some highlights for me: I loved the scenes with Wilf and Ten, probably my favorite part of the story. Simm was absolutely great, just chewed the scenery. The Time Lords were a fun cliffhanger.

The "Master race", hrmm. I'm of two minds on that. On the one hand, it was perfectly in keeping with the Master at that point. A mad plan of a madman. On the other hand, the execution of it was kind of silly.

Bring on the next episode!

Zoltar wrote:I don't think I'll rate this one till I've seen the second part and then rewatched both.

Agreed, Zoltar. I need to see how this resolves itself. But I'd like to renew my prediction from a few months ago that the Time Lords were returning. Not that I'm jumping up and down and saying "I told you so," but to remind everyone that I thought at the time RTD was getting ready to hit a great big reset button. I think that reset button may be rather unsettling for fans who only caught on to Doctor Who in 2005 with the relaunch. Prepare yourselves.

Zoltar wrote:Some highlights for me: I loved the scenes with Wilf and Ten, probably my favorite part of the story. Simm was absolutely great, just chewed the scenery. The Time Lords were a fun cliffhanger.

Wilf and Ten, having a mutual cry. The Doctor talking about how regeneration was like a death. Iconic moments, dialogue that I predict will have a lasting imprint on fans. Absolutely brilliant stuff.

And as for Simm the Unhinged, well, I was fully prepared for that. Keith Topping's blogs on the subject warned me we'd be seeing the Master presented as Heath Ledger's Joker. It was incredibly done. I'd have to agree, we've finally had an actor as the Master we can say has been definatively the best. Roger Delgado and Anthony Ainley are, I hope, celebrating the fact that their character has been crafted and performed so 'masterfully.'

Zoltar wrote:The "Master race", hrmm. I'm of two minds on that. On the one hand, it was perfectly in keeping with the Master at that point. A mad plan of a madman. On the other hand, the execution of it was kind of silly.

It had elements of the Wire from Idiot's Lantern for me. And yet, the fact that Wilf and Donna didn't assume the Master's visage is a telling clue that this is a short lived phenomenom. A device that can cure whole planets? A narrator who's revealed to be Lord President of the Time Lords describing the Master as incredibly important to the events that follow? The reset button we're heading for will bring us back to 1996, narratively, I predict.

Still, on it's own merits, Part 1 was tremendous. It feels like old times, having to wait a whole week for the next part of the story. Like it's 1982, and the PBS transmission of part 4 of Logopolis has now been circled on my calendar. I love this daft TV show for doing that. And yet, like waiting for part 4 of Logopolis, I dread what I know is coming. But that won't stop me from watching.

Patrick wrote:And yet, the fact that Wilf and Donna didn't assume the Master's visage is a telling clue that this is a short lived phenomenom.

Has to be. It requires a reset button of some sort, so the quicker the better - especially as it can't be allowed to detract from the return of The Time Lords. The whole point of it could be to show the sheer power of the Immortality Gate, for that is surely what Dalton is after.

Well, I've watched it again and I think I concur with the idea that you can't rate it until you've seen part 2. Unlike RTD's other finales, this looks like it was meant to be seen as one whole story divided into two parts, rather than something episodic with a different emphasis in each.

The first half hour is a bit of a mess, but it's about getting the pieces into place and does form an episode on its own, ending with the revelation that the Narrator is a character within the story, not just a voiceover. It does pick up after that when the story gets in motion and the Master's plan is wonderfully insane.

Oh, and my wild guess is that Clare Bloom is Romana - everything with Wilf and Donna is part of her complicated plan to stop Timothy Dalton's Evil Timelords from carrying out their plan, which would involve killing the Doctor. The real wild version of that theory is that she actually is Wilf, having used the Chameleon Arch to hide as a human male.

Oh, and on Wilf and Donna not being affected, I thought the explanation for that was that the Doctor protected Wilf by putting him in the power room and altering the settings ('radiation shielding') so he's not affected. Donna not being affected, coupled with the fact that the Vinvocci aren't affected and clarify 'he's set it for human' indicates that she's not physically fully human anymore.

Patrick wrote:And yet, like waiting for part 4 of Logopolis, I dread what I know is coming...

I was like that for parts 2 and 3, as well...

Nick Barlow wrote:Oh, and my wild guess is that Clare Bloom is Romana - everything with Wilf and Donna is part of her complicated plan to stop Timothy Dalton's Evil Timelords from carrying out their plan, which would involve killing the Doctor. The real wild version of that theory is that she actually is Wilf, having used the Chameleon Arch to hide as a human male.

Hmm. Romana making a return? I dunno, Nick. Bringing back an iconic companion is better served as a central part of the story. Look at how Sarah Jane's return was handled.

As for Wilf, I have a theory about this. Remember how it turned out to be Dalek Caan (KHAN!!!!!) who was drawing the timelines around Donna to ensure that she and the Doctor would again find one-another and be in the right place at the right time to defeat Davros, the Supreme Dalek and the Reality Bomb? I think that with Donna' mind having been wiped, the only person around Donna that could again happen to is Wilf. And the person who's converging timelines around Wilf is, I predict, the crazy looking lady who's doing the drawings and making the prophecies at Tim Dalton's Time Lord table.

In other words, it appears that the Time Lords returning is not necessarily good news for the universe, and not all Time Lords are monolithic in their opinion that they should return. Crazy-Doodling-Time Lady may be Gallifrey's version of Dalek Caan, i.e., one of those who wants the Doctor to stop it, and using Wilf as the nexus around which that's going to happen.

Patrick wrote:Crazy-Doodling-Time Lady may be Gallifrey's version of Dalek Caan

She certainly looks to be!

Patrick wrote:In other words, it appears that the Time Lords returning is not necessarily good news for the universe, and not all Time Lords are monolithic in their opinion that they should return. Crazy-Doodling-Time Lady may be Gallifrey's version of Dalek Caan, i.e., one of those who wants the Doctor to stop it, and using Wilf as the nexus around which that's going to happen.

I find myself hoping she'll be credited as "Crazy Doodling Time Lady" at some point. But yes, I do think the universe and all of time are rather dubious about the Time Lords returning.