While I had seen and enjoyed the 1996 Doctor Who movie on FOX, it was this new incarnation with Christopher Eccleston as thie Doctor that absolutely seduced me into being an unabashed fan.
I have now watched past story arcs with all the different Doctors, read up on the history of the show, and even found a copy of the video Doctorin’ the Tardis by the Timelords(later known as the KLF).
This finale didn’t cheat.
It didn’t have a half assed deus ex machina.
I am sure only a handful of the Dopers on here have seen the new episode thus far, save the ones in the UK and those canny enough to find it elsewhere.
I am grateful to Russell T. Davies and everyone behind this new incarnation for giving me something to watch that was worth my time.
Watching the end was hard.
While the new Doctor may be a babe and a half, and for all I know an excellent actor to boot, this now departed Doctor number ten was fantastic.
Okay, perhaps Rose’s ressurection of Captain Jack could qualify as a deus ex machina.
With the unlimited power of the TARDIS flowing through Rose(and in the TV movie, wasn’t that called the Eye of Harmony) she could have concievably done anything.
Personally, killing Jack would have been a major waste to me.
A truly bisexual character such as he is both fascinating and amazing.
He isn’t stereotypical in any fashion. He doesn’t come off as fay, overly macho compensating for percieved weakness, or anything else.
His true affection for Rose and the Doctor and the natural way he expressed it was beautiful and touching.
Okay… I think he’s scorchingly hot. That aside, he’s a good actor. His swashbuckling character is one I hope remains around. The nudity last episode was… picturesque. Very picturesque. I may use that for my Christmas card.
If and when the Daleks may return, I pray the writers work very, very hard to not have it be some cheap ressurection that brings back the insane Dalek godhead.
They left without Jack! Does anyone know if he’s coming back in the next series? I loved that charecter. Wonderful to watch.
A great final episode! I’m looking forward to the Christmas episode already to see how it goes with the new Doctor. I hope he’s as good as Christopher Eccleston.
Hurrah! I didn’t like him. Bit of a bummer for him though.
Unfortunately the series ending did have a deus ex machina. Pretty well done, but a deus ex machina all the same. It seems that the Tardis alone can resolve just about anything. With that kind of power harnessed you’d think the Time Lords would be invincible, why didn’t it occur to them to do any of this?
The Bad Wolf resolution was a bit of a let down too.
Did anyone else have the same problem we did with sound? Come the big finale the dialogue was practically drowned out by the music. Could barely hear what Rose was saying! This has happened a few times in the series, but last night was the worse.
But enough of the negatives. Excellent series, way, way way better than the last co-Fox produced debacle. You really got a sense of what it must be like to be dumped back in the one time zone after seeing life as a time traveller, especially knowing it’s all happening out there, somewhere, and your life’s totally pointless. Quite depressing really!
I predict a Dr Who Christmas.
Christopher Eccleston made a better Doctor than I could have ever hoped for. I still give the edge to Tom Baker as my favorite Doctor but Eccleson was great. I really wish that he would stick around for another season. The new guy has some big boots to fill.
He was the biggest thing right about this season. Dropping the intriguing Bad Wolf clues through the entire thing was also interesting even if the resolution of that wasn’t great (I picked up the Bad Wolf stuff before it started cropping up online but I thought that was just the series creator being cute like Chris Carter always using the same time or Lucas with his THX references). The Daleks were a major threat that could be believed; later episodes in the original series had them more threatening because they had a history rather than seeming that way. There was some great direction and writing on the series, better than I can ever remember from Doctor Who (that sequence where the Daleks in this episode rose up behind the window and you could see the lights flash the familiar word was brilliant).
I am looking forward to the Dalek’s return (I think we all know that they’ll be back). And I’m sure Jack will be back sooner or later, though the Doctor does have a long history of abandoning companions.
Next season I want a propper season long story arc, though loosely connected is fine. I don’t want the Daleks back immediately (give them a year), maybe bringing the Master back instead as the big villain. I want a few stories that take place away from the Earth.
A solid ending to an great comeback season. I’ve loved Doctor Who for over twenty years and I’m really glad they found a way to make the show appealing to modern audiences but still retain the spirit of Doctor Who.
Captain Jack’s pretty entertaining, I hope he comes back too. I always liked it when one of the companions was from the future/an advanced civilization and could keep up with the Doctor’s technobabble.
My hopes for the next season are more two-part episodes and more visiting alien worlds. But whatever, the show is clearly in good hands.
That said, come on Mockingbird… that was textbook deus ex machina!
To quote Chris Eccleston “fantastic”. An excellent end to the series, with a perfect set up for series 2 and 3 to follow.
The Dalek Emperor was well conceived and designed, I even like the delusions of godhood, it gave a different dimension to the Daleks that we have not seen before. I suppose that portraying the Daleks with a newfound religious mania was a good idea. Given the penchant in the series for allegories with the 21st century, making the Daleks religous terrorists (of sorts) actually seems to work.
I’m glad that Bad Wolf did not turn out to be Adam or the Dalek Emperor, but Rose? I didn’t see that one coming. It turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Although like others have said, if the TARDIS really is that powerful how did the timelords lose the war? With that kind of power they could ressurect every casualty, forget regeneration. This seems to be a bit of a leftover from the McGann movie. Other than that I really struggle to find fault with this episode, even the appearance of Micky and Rose’s mum didn’t annoy me in the same way this time.
The Daleks were also back on form and trully evil, the Doctor only excaped extermination due to his forcefield, not to some evil genius wants to explain the whole plot type scenario, whic is very old hat. I was actually shocked when Jack was exterminated, I really expected him to escape, although this was made a moot point when Rose raised him from the dead later. As alifelong fan of the Daleks my only real issue is that the ending made it very hard to find a reason to bring them back again in the future, unless the Emperor was not self deluded and really is immortal.
Having heard some of David Tennants work for Big Finish’s audio productions I look forward to his tenure as the Doctor.
Long may the series continue. Although there have been low points in this series the quality in general has been high, as long as it does not surrender entirely and become a pink politic soap opera then I’m along for the whole journey.
Does anyone have any ideas who is actually invading in the christmas special?