I remember a time before Doctor Who entered my life. I had always seen snippets here or there on various internet message boards and nerd related websites. I scoffed at the how as some stupid low budget British children’s show until the day I caved. Like so many shows and movies I said I’d never watch only to view and love Doctor Who entered into my life with The Fires of Pompeii which admittedly was an interesting doorway into the world of The Doctor. About 3 weeks later I had caught up on 3 and a half series and gleefully awaited each new installment until tonight, tonight I dreaded the new episode as it would be the end of David Tennants brilliant run as the 10^th Doctor.

I entered the first part of The End of Time a bit spoiled. I had seen various clips, read articles and done my research. It may have been because of this that the first part was a bit of a let down, wait let down is the wrong phrase the first part was just was not what I was expecting. Sure all the major players were there including John Simm as The Master who ever since his appearance in The Sound of Drums has become one of my favorite actors making his return half the reason I was so excited, also returning was Bernard Cribbins playing Wilf and a better companion the Doctor may have never had. I mean I loved watching Billie Piper running around as much as the next guy but the emotional punch that Cribbins got me with throughout The End of Time was felt in the depths of my gut. So what was different? I can’t really put my finger on it, it just felt different but not in a bad way, sometimes different is just different.

So story wise its pretty simple The Doctor knows hes going to die and The Master shows up which is not making matters any better, this is followed by The Master being “hungry” and needing to constantly eat (everything from burgers to people) to sustain his own life thanks to a miffed regeneration of his own, though it was not a Time Lord regeneration as much as it was a wacky Russell T Davies magical conjuring. Then The Master uses some alien technology to turn the entire human race into copies of himself which he dubs (in what is the best use of the phrase in history) “The Master Race” and then it ends with the entire Master filled planet and only The Doctor, Wilf and Donna (who is elsewhere) remain unchanged. Things looked pretty dire and the world was left a week to wait and see how it would all end.

Fast forward a week and I found myself watching the conclusion, a super sized 80 minute epic Doctor Who event. I’m going say right now that Timothy Dalton as The Lord President was just so fun to watch, you could really tell he enjoyed the hell out of playing a Doctor Who villain and hammed it up with the best of them. The episode it self was nicely paced as the various events that threatened the earth were dealt with leaving a little over twenty minutes for The Doctor to stew about his impending regeneration. There was some stand out scenes including an escape with The Doctor strapped to a table being pushed down stairs only to remark “Worst Rescue EVER” which got me to chuckle and a scene with Tennant and Cribbins just talking which got me to tear up (must have been the dust in my room) which was the second such occasion in the two episodes.

The “He will knock four times” prophecy has been tossed around and we were basically led to believe several different interpretations of it but when he finally knocks…WOW did not see that coming and Tennant’s monologue afterwards nearly had tears down my face for a third time but I manned up…finally. As I said this is no rushed regeneration, The Doctor has time to claim his “reward” as he puts it and that’s exactly what the last few minutes are used to do. Visits to his old companions brought back memories of series past. We get one last visit to Wilf at Donnas wedding (another scene that Cribbins pulls at the old heart strings), Martha and Mickey “freelancing”, Verity Newman (in a surprisingly emotional scene), Sarah Jane, Rose (Like Always!) and in my favorite bit good old Captain Jack in a space bar right out of Star Wars. All in all the scenes were the perfect way to express a man on the verge of death, I mean if able to I’d like to see my friends and loved ones one last time before I go, the look on The Doctors face each time was perfect and then it started.

The faint gold glow emanating from his hand soon spread to his body, residual regeneration energy started to leak and we got one final line that really made you feel for this incarnation of The Doctor, “I don’t want to go” and I don’t want you to go either! But we don’t all get what we want and within a few seconds David Tennant’s face morphed into Matt Smith’s 11^th Doctor and a new era had begun. We were then treated to a little scene with the newly regenerated Doctor which helped introduce us to the young chap filling the giant shoes of Tennant and for the most part I liked the energy he brought to it, I’m not about to write of Smith before even seeing him play the part and I hope other fans of the show give the kid a fair shake.

At the end of time David Tennant is done as is Russell T Davies, the two men responsible for filling my life with Who and making me feel like a kid again. I will miss you both contributing to this fantastic show, Allons-Y and GERANOME!

Final Verdict

The End of Time Part 1

7 out of 10

The End of Time Part 2

8.5 out of 10

Sinatra LOVES The End of Time

Goodbye Mr. Tennant you will always be MY Doctor!