Doctor Who: The End of Time (2009)

I love this movie so much

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

After four long years, 64 televised episodes (not counting the animated stories and charity specials) David Tennant was finally hanging up his sonic screwdriver as the tenth incarnation of the now contemporary and reinvented Time Lord. Having just previously featured in two one-hour, one off specials rather than the now requisite thirteen episode (ten story) which would comprise of a whole series (a move made to ease in the transition as new executive producer Steven Moffat took over the reigns from Russell T. Davies and the production team made redesigns to the next series TARDIS, opening credits sequence etc.), Tennant's long anticipated swan song, a two part Christmas special entitled "The End of Time" hit television screens across Britain. The subject of much hype and much speculation considering the ominous prophecy imparted to the Doctor at the conclusion of the passable "Planet of the Dead". The cryptic enigma of who would knock four times would soon be answered. But as if much of the fare that we have come to expect from RTD the premiere instalment of "The End of Time" promises much but delivers little in the way of a totally coherent or inspired and original plot.The premise focus's on the Doctor having to return to the planet earth having received a vision with the aid of the elder of the Ood, whose home planet he was visiting. A vision which concerns the resurrection of the Doctor's arch-nemesis the Master who will in some way play a part in the end of time itself which will mean the destruction of future events that the Doctor currently inhabits with his alien associates. What soon follows is a rather poorly constructed and stilted resurrection scene which utilises the necessity of the inclusion of the Master's widowed wife Lucy Saxon (who married him when he had adopted the moniker of Harold Saxon) requiring the adage of a number of one dimensional Harold Saxon cultists as best be described who with no coherent rhyme or reason (apart from that they're devoted to their "Master") are willing to sacrifice their lives to revive the deceased Time Lord. As you might imagine things don't go according to plan (due to a rather miffed Lucy throwing a figurative spanner in the works) and things come to an end rather disastrously. But not after some mind blowing OTT performances from all involved, yes even Simm. The story more or less develops from there and not well as would be hoped. With the Doctor being reunited with Wilfred Mott, one of RTD's more sublime and wonderful creations and played beautifully by the brilliant Bernard Cribbens it allows the pair to have a ingeniously acted but at times nonsensical moment (given the context of the series history) in a café. The brief moments involving former companion Donna played by comedian and actress Catherine Tate do add an emotional weight to proceedings and do to a slight extent forward the plot but the whole more "spiritual" angle which RTD has rather limply applied to past stories just seems like a rather lazy method of not allowing the Doctor to use his deductive powers and discover things for himself. On top of this is Simm's given interpretation of the Doctor's adversary and fellow Gallifreyan who believe it or not is even more maniacal and twitchy than was last seen in series three's closing episodes. Although his performance is more, fine tuned than in his initial appearance in this episode I miss wily sociopath who the villain was, rather than the crazed Hannibal Lectre prototype that he has been moulded in to. A confrontation between the two rivals within a barren London wasteland though featuring some electrifying and eye-popping special effects is reasonably well handled and allows once the dust settles for Simm to deliver a solemn, reticent performance as he eloquently mulls over he and the Doctor's past childhood on Gallifrey and what they have both become. Both actor's cope with the repartee between their respective protagonists/antagonists well but unfortunately it's a moment that is all too brief and the Master is whisked away by paid mercenaries in the employ of potty millionaire (is there ever any other kind?) Joshua Naismith who requires the ingenious skills of the Master for his own ends which entails the Immortality Gate, a humdrum creation by RTD which is merely a variation of the Nanogenes seen in series one's "The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances" and themselves were ripped off from an old episode of "Red Dwarf". If this isn't bad enough Naismith's need for the Master and the gate which involves his daughter Abigail,(Tracy Ifechaor in a cringe-making and lamentably artificial performance)is shallow and trite to the point of boredom. The Vincocci, a pair of alien scavengers played by "Being Human's" Sinead Keenan and Lawry Lewin are nicely realised by the two and do add something to the part and help move things along although it's to a rather nonsensical conclusion which isn't merely laughable and looks like something out of a bad sketch of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" not to mention it makes the inclusion of the Naismith's practically unnecessary, as they add little if anything to the plot making them nothing more than disposable, gratuitous fodder. But as the episode comes to a close and we hear the beautifully resonant and strengthening tones of former Bond star Timothy Dalton which culminates in a spectacular although not altogether surprising reveal given a certain photo that leaked on to the internet. I couldn't help but get a tad excited as to the prospect of what the following weeks concluding part might bring. But given this was Russell T. Davies who had penned this story those hopes as had been the case before could be so, rudely shattered as had ultimately my hopes for this opening morsel.

After taking the good Doctor into some very dark territory with "The Waters of Mars," Russell T. Davies returns the Doctor back to his roots with "The End of Time, Part One," the first half of David Tennant's final story as the Tenth Doctor. From the very beginning of the episode, Davies intends to create a memorable story to give Tennant a fond farewell. And the story really is brilliant, exciting, wacky, and scary in the tradition of classic "Doctor Who." The cast and crew do a fantastic job of creating this amazing story, preparing us for the second half of the story, which promises to give Tennant an epic, fantastic farewell. While some may find it too outlandish, it does so with great fun and excitement, making it worthwhile. And the cliffhanger is the biggest, most exciting one yet, ending the show on a double-whammy! Longtime fans will surely love it! Allons-y! Grade: A+

I can't say I was overwhelmed by any of the DOCTOR WHO specials . Neither was I impressed with any of the previous Christmas specials so when we get a two episode Chritmas special I wasn't getting any hopes built up . Seeing as it signals the end of the Tennant/ Russell T Davies era I was expecting Rusty to throw in everything including the kitchen sink . Think of the previous season finales squared and you have the idea . Thankfully after seeing this episode not only were my low expectations met they were far exceeded No story in the show has ever been perfect but RTD has restrained himself with a relatively simple plot . Someone builds something they shouldn't have and the story's villain uses it to build a " master race " . There that's the plot explained perfectly and while there's not enough narrative to reward an audience on repeated viewing it's a simple enough story well told for the most part . Thankfully Rusty hasn't thrown a massive spanner in the works buy bringing in anally retentive past references every five minutes . We're reintroduced to the Ood again , Donna Noble has a cameo , there's a couple of nods to the season three finale and a cliffhanger ending featuring the Time Lords . Just enough to remind die hard fans why nostalgia plays a large part in their lives without alienating casual viewers This probably won't be remembered as a masterwork from the show and undoubtedly in years to come it will be remembered as reintroducing the Time Lords as well as writing out Tennant from the show . What The End Of Time does do very well is entertain the audience and much of this revolves around John Simms as the Master . No longer Prime Minister Harold Saxon the portrayal is a sort of hybrid between Hannibal Lector and a chav . But Simms is having so much fun playing the role it's impossible for the audience not to be swept along with him There are some flaws . As has been pointed out already there's little internal logic for the Master to be able to fire lightning bolts and jump hundreds of feet in the air and seems to be an excuse for The Mill FX team to show us what they can do while June Whitfield is the most superfluous guest star ever featured in the show . There's also the Shimmer creatures which seem to be included to simply impress young children but seem somewhat silly compared to the more dramatic aspects of the story . These however are very minor flaws and I watched this episode in front of my parents without feeling any shame or embarrassment to being a die hard fan .Truth be told I'm sure they were thoroughly entertained as well as millions of other people who sat down to watch this . Whilst not being a great piece of storytelling it is undoubtedly 60 minutes of highly entertaining high quality television

---- Contains Spoilers ----- I don't know where to begin to tell how awful this episode was; so I will list the thing that IMO were good before proceed to some serious bashing of the ridiculous writing that has become a trademark of this new series of DW.In short, take everything that is bad about Davies "style" (i.e. "coincidences", deus ex machina, fast endings for no reason whatsoever, and more), factor it for this high-expectation Christmas special, and you will have an idea of what it's like.I especially liked Simm's, Tennant's and Cribb's acting; to me these were the only bright spots in a really ugly piece of television. Simm's in particular was really good, even more so perhaps given the crap RTD gave him in the plot, so I will start complaining about what they (RTD) did to the Master's character; please bear with me, but I really cannot stand shitty writing in a serial I like.Now, the Master is supposed to be a time lord, and he should be quite scary even then. More so, perhaps, if you make of him the psychotic monomaniac he has become. But a time lord is not a dark lord of the Sith. That is just wrong, there is no excuse except for a very lazy writer. I mean, the resurrection thing is cheesy enough even without the "flying and shooting energy beams" crap.And since we are talking about that resurrection thing, let me say how much I hated that scene. It makes no sense no matter how do you think about it.The Naysmiths were, in a word, unnecessary. Really, do the mental effort of removing them from the story and you will find that there is nothing to be missed. Moreover, the actress who played the daugther Abigail was just terrible; so in fact you could remove them and gain in quality.The visual effects were terrible, especially the final one. That "shaking face" thing is not only ugly to see, it also screams "They are cutting our budget!". The gods know if they don't have a good reason to do so.The whole "timelords returning" thing is a crappy reset button. Unfortunately this is what you get when you dare giving RTD white paper. Oh, I am so happy he is leaving this show. By the way, i think that the return will not happen, for the very simple reason that no writer could be so stupid to give away the coup de scene an hour earlier. But still...