Yes, and that one barely made it past my “contrivance alert” alarm.
I thought the whole thing was a bit of a letdown really.
Typical Russel Davies writing, all build up, paint the characters into a corner and then a big deus ex machina ending.
I for one was glad when the Doctor finally regenerated.
I am looking forward to Matt Smith and the new creative team, the trailer for the new series looks good, vampires, Daleks (back to their old look) and the return of the Angels from Blink.
As for this episode well (in spoilers for those that haven’t seen it yet)
[spoiler]The Master was great, hopefully they can find a way to bring him back, as he never actually died in this one, although how he’ll escape from a very pissed off Rassilon is beyond me.
Rassilon undoing the Master’s work and returning everything to normal was a stupid deus ex machina bit and give the fact that Gallifrey was about to displace the Earth seemed pointless anyway. In fact the Time Lords did very little in this whole appearance. I did like the crashed Dalek ships on Gallifrey though.
As for the Doctor’s extended regenaration sequence, it could have all been missed out as far as I’m concerned.
It was nice to see the old characters again, but fairly pointless.
When did Martha marry Mickey? Last time we saw her she was engaged to the young Doctor from the hospital she first worked in.[/spoiler]
Thanks for linking to the trailer for the new series - missed that yesterday! I was hoping Matt Smith Doctor would be dressing a bit different to Tennant Doctor but their outfits seem very similar.
Like everyone else I was pretty much yelling at the television for the looooooooooooooooooooooooong regeneration scene to be over. I’m not even sure I agree it was nice to see all the old characters again, it’s not like they’re going anywhere. The next Doctor can come and drop in on them any time he likes. The exception to this was Donna, I’m glad she got a happy ending - she deserved it. I was a tad annoyed that they seemed to completely sidestep the “her brain will blow up” warning, it’s like it didn’t even happen.
The opposite. When Tennant first appeared four years ago, he asked Rose if he was ginger, saying “I always wanted to be ginger”.
I’m going to miss the various supporting cast (Rose, Donna, Wilf, Martha Jones etc.) as much as David Tennant. I’m not even sure we’ll see Captain Jack again, unless they air more Torchwood specials.
I would like to see the Doctor’s daughter to return sometime in a special. Georgia Moffett did a great job in that role.
Torchwood is coming back. That’s been confirmed. I’d be surprised if Cap’n Jack wasn’t the star.
I think the ginger bit (yes he wants to be ginger) is a much a play against cultural prejudices (red heads are subject to significant prejudicein the UK) as is Cap’n Jack’s bisexuality (male preferred) and the frequent interracial romances.
I thought the point was that you don’t die instantly from a big overdose of radiation - you’re “walking dead” for a while and may even briefly appear to be getting better. So the Doctor used the little time he had to “reward” himself by running around playing Santa. To me it made sense in context and was kinda poignant.
OK, I was wrong about the ginger thing.
But from a truly massive dose of radiation like that, you’d be dead. No brief walking around period for you. Especially you wouldn’t writhe around in agony while the radiation hits you and then stand up and be OK.
I did like the bit about the author woman getting to see the Doctor. That was a nice moment.
Yes, any human would be dead just like that.
I like the show but I don’t get to see every episode or follow every story line. Does anyone want to explain what the Doctor was doing during the final sequence when he seemed to be rushing around either fixing things or doing favours? Who were those people, and why was it poignant/significant for the Doctor to go and see them one last time? For example, where was Freema Agyeman, who was she with, and what was the point of the Doctor turning up there when he (apparently) didn’t do anything or contact her in any way?
Martha was with Mickey Smith, you know, who started off as Rose’s boyfriend but then became a dimension-hopping freedom fighter after getting tangled up with the cybermen. (I can’t believe I just wrote that sentence…) No he didn’t contact Martha but I think the point of that scene was that the Doctor saved her from being shot, so that was his “gift” to her.
The boy and the woman he was with are Luke and Sarah Jane of the Sarah Jane Chronicles, which you probably wouldn’t have seen as it’s aimed at kids/young adults and aired at an appropriate time for them. I’m sure you know who Captain Jack is, the guy he ended up chatting up was in the xmas special from two years ago (the ears aside I’d do Russell Tovey too - and wiki tells me he’s gay and single, woo hoo!).
Wow, that’s an interesting fucking take on it. As a gay fan of the show, right after Voyage of the Damned aired, I went on record thinking Russell Tovey would make a great companion for the Doctor, even if just for a little while. Of course the idea was quickly shot down on the boards. Hm.
The character of Alonso was never portrayed as gay, and while I’ve been to more than my fair share of gay bars here and there around the world, I didn’t get the impression CPT Jack was cruising an intergalactic gay bar, or that Alonso was going to be the evening’s trick. It would however, be very cool if Jack Harkness took on a little cutie companion for awhile, and had some adventures. Sorry if that strikes you as hamfisting in a “gay people are okay too” message.
Now Martha and whatshisface having their little “give us a kiss, sweety, because WE’RE MARRIED” was certainly some gratuitous and pointless STRAIGHT ACTION wedged in. I’m surprised they didn’t shag right there, while under fire by aliens on who knows what planet.
The way they forced the Doctor to regenerate bugged me a bit. Russel T. Davies seems too fond of the “Trap character in a booth and expose him to lethal amounts of radiation” death lately and it feels really badly written. Nuclear Power doesn’t work like that, Davies.
It’s been established once those mysterious time lord regeneration energies kick in, strange things can happen. Doctor Who lost a hand one time, grew another one, and the severed hand stayed “alive.” I have no problem believing regeneration energy kept him alive and well while “containing” the radiation damage temporarily.
Let’s not forget Captain Jack is immortal, and can reconstitute himself from being all blowed up, thanks to a brief exposure to time lord energy.
As was Donna and her fella getting married was too. I had this conversation with someone once who said the old “it’s not people being gay I have an issue with but sometimes they can be pretty in your face about it - I mean, straight people don’t do that”. To which I promptly pointed out her engagement ring, and the wedding ceremony she was planning, and no doubt the pictures of her children that would go on her desk when she had them. Thankfully she got my point and realised the double standard she’d been promoting.
So does it bug you because gay people aren’t okay? Or are you annoy because it somehow felt more gratuitous than Mickey and Martha, or Donna’s wedding? Or are you just being obtuse and missing the point of a very sweet scene where the Doctor gives the canonically bisexual Captain Jack the one gift he’d truly appreciate–companionship (and hopefully hot sex) with a good looking guy?
I loved the episode. I thought it was very effective and I cried through the last 15 or so minutes. I’m glad that the Doctor had a chance to see his companions one last time, and I’m glad we had a chance to say goodbye to them as well. Since I didn’t want him to die, I had no problem with the fact that he got some “walking around time.” Which, lets’ face it, could have been all of ten minutes since he’s got a freaking time machine. And anyway, as has already been pointed out, the Doctor isn’t human, so why hold him to human standards when it comes to radiation?
I’m particularly happy that the Master was redeemed in the end. His “Get out of the way” pretty much made the episode for me. All in all, a satisfying farewell and end of the song.
Why couldn’t he shake the radiation out of his body and into his shoe, then thow the show away?
All I thought was Spock croutching there saying “remember.”
The ep was full of little nods like that, it seemed to me. A lot of the sound effects seemed canned, and I know I’ve heard a lot of those sound effects in video games years and years ago.