DW: Episode 4.13

You can easily see why it needed to be so long, what with all those endings...


The Daleks want to wipe out the entire universe... why again? What's the point? Seriously? (And did no-one hear The Apocalypse Element?) If they succeeded, yes they will be the only lifeforms in the universe, but, more importantly,... they will be the universe!! I don't know why they bothered with ships, because there would be nowhere to go. In fact, entropy would degrade their systems, and there would be no other material around to repair them, so they would just be hastening their own destruction. There's Pyrrhic victory, but that's going a bit far... (And why did we need Davros in particular? Except for being an easier mouthpiece, there really wasn't other reason, and if left alone the Daleks would have probably just exterminated the Doctor to begin with, and been a lot better for it...) Just as well it could all be fixed by simply flicking some switches!

But then we need something epic (destruction of the universe) to get together everyone, and their dog. Aside from tying together all the series and companions, did we really need them all? Yes, they all had a small part to play, but... they all had a small part to play. Some of them deserved better treatment that a mere 15 seconds of screentime (metaphorically speaking). Celebratory, yes, but not really respectful.

And then there's DoctorDonna. (I did, for some moments, think they might end up with Donna becoming a TARDIS...) I'm not sure what to say... yes, yes I did like it. Okay, I admit it. It was something new, even if Catherine Tate spouting technobabble was very disturbing, but it really was something we haven't seen before (...pause for Jon Preddle to point out several other similar situations...). And, oh your gods, how it gave something for the shippers out there. But we knew it had to end badly, not just because of what Kahn said. This is RTD, who not only needs to spend 10-15 minutes on wrapping things up after the episode ends, but loves to give us shocking, heart-rending endings (not that I was heart-rended, but then I'm a heartless bastard). Events happen to those who travel with the Doctor, and Donna was set up for tragedy from the start. An actual character arc! (Even if it ended with a huge reset button push. Meh. At least that meant we got to end with brilliant character actor Bernard Cribbens. Yay!)

This brings to close another season series of Doctor Who. No doubt there will be much writing done on this in fan magazines for some time to come, but it was a hell of a roller coaster to end four years of new Who on.


Next time: Cyber-tastic?

[END]