Watching Doctor Who

Well, folks, that’s all the Doctor Who until Christmas. What did you think of series three? What did you think of The Master’s love of music? If you would like to see a really well done fan music video that includes the musical scene from this episode set to Scissor Sister’s “I Can’t Decide” - go here. Did anyone else watching this episode on the SciFi Channel experience the episode freezing during a commercial at some point in the last 15 minutes of the show?

For the record, I should be continuing with reviews of Torchwood, Sarah Jane, and Classic Doctor Who Eps until the show starts up again next year. Next week I will finally review Smith and Jones, as I somehow missed reviewing it back at the beginning of the series.

Well, enough chatter. On to the review!

Episode: Last of the Time Lords by Russell T. Davies
Rating (1 to 5): 4
Time: The Year That Never Was and Nowish
Place: Earth and on the Valiant
Baddie: The Master and the Toclafane
The Doctor’s Death Wish: Well, he fights the Master, but really he wants them both to live.
The Doctor enjoys: Saving the world
The Doctor dislikes: Losing the only other Time Lord in existence.
The Doctor apologizes to: The Master, while he’s on the Psychic High. (A bit Bad Wolf-ish, really)
Saxon? Is The Master.
Rose? Is mentioned as a former “companion who absorbed the time vortex” and is the one that Martha felt second best because of.
Who fancies Martha? A former Pediatrician turned Freedom fighter named Tom Milligan.
Doctor-y Strangeness: He tuned himself to the Archangel network and uses it (and all of the thought of the folks on the planet and nearby) to escape a cage, reverse the damage that The Master did to him, and to stop the Master from firing his Laser Screwdriver.
Scary Stuff: The Toclafane in general, especially when you find out who they are.
Does someone local help out? The Resistance, Tom Milligan, Martha’s Family, Lucy Saxon (sort of)
What we learn: There is an advisory out there warning folks to stay clear of the Earth. Jack is really strong. The Doctor sealed the rift at the Medusa Cascade single handed. 900 years of life without regeneration would make the Doctor very small. A Toclafane sphere can be taken out by a lightning strike or the equivalent amount of energy. The Toclafane are the humans that The Doctor helped get to Utopia. The Master never could resist a ticking clock. Jack is the Face of Boe, apparently.
My Favorite Bits: Sol 3 advisory. Martha: Resistance Fighter. “Great. I’m traveling with a Doctor.” “I can’t decide…” “-Anything else I should know? -I’ve met Shakespeare.” “Say hello, Gandalf.” “In days of old, Doctor, you had companions that could absorb the Time Vortex.” “A gun in four parts scattered across the world. I mean, come on. Did you really believe that?” Lucy joining in and thinking “Doctor.” “-Can’t go in there, we’ll get slaughtered. -Yeah. Happens to me a lot.” Yay for the Temporal “undo” button. “-You’re an impossible thing, Jack -I’ve been called that before.”

Observations and musings:

Martha has spent an entire year walking the Earth in order to help her friends and her family. And really, the people of the Earth. In the process she has become famous. (Not that anyone remembers her in the end besides the folks on the Valliant.) I liked how she checked up on folks that she encountered during the Year That Never Was once everything was back to normal. Martha Jones saved the world. Good on her. And she was strong enough to leave The Doctor. For now, anyway. Don’t worry. She’ll be back. She even gets to hang out with Jack in a couple of episodes of Torchwood next year.

The Doctor has spent the last year being treated like a Dog, it would seem. During this year he has also worked out who the Toclafane really are. Too bad The Master is paranoid enough to have a weapon that only works for him, or The Doctor’s attempt to wrest control might have worked. Growl. Poor Doctor. He spent a year of putting up with indignities so he could attune himself to the Archangel network. Martha’s family is scarred by what they went through. Maybe The Doctor has been scarred by so much already that the Year That Never Was and the ensuing death of The Master just make him a bit more broody. Especially when you add Jack and Martha both leaving him. Well, with the Titanic crashing into the TARDIS, I’m thinking that he won’t have time to think about it for a while.

Anyone else notice that Lucy Saxon has a few bruises? It looks like the Master *is* the all around cad I thought he was. And Jack is chained up. I guess he’s proven himself just too dangerous to only lock up? Good to know he’s really strong. Strong enough to get himself free if need be. And he’s apparently The Face of Boe. Egad! Am I the only one who thought “Chibi!Doctor” when The Doctor was made very small? Oh, what’s the deal with Lucy picking up The Master’s ring, and the echoing laughter in the background? I suppose that we’ll find out in time. The Titanic had to run into the TARDIS just after The Doctor got it all fixed, didn’t it?

And that’s all for series 3.

Image Source: http://www.time-and-space.co.uk/

Last of the Time Lords, Doctor Who, Scissor Sister, I Can’t Decide, Torchwood, Russell T. Davies