TV Gold

Chris Herbert wrote:I am getting bored of these season finalies. They seem to have loads of money thrown at them yet don't deliver on the plot or characterisation.

I think the master character fails miserably.

All the real gems sit in the middle of the season. Why does everything have to be of such massive scale everytime the series ends? Of all the scripts they must have had available I really hated this.

I will hold out and hope the last episode redeems itself!

Well yes Chris I can certainly agree with you regarding John Simms version of the Master (something I believe I touched on in a previous post (e.g. 'macho posturing and insane humour')), definitely not a patch on the sinister, 'you will obey me' original of dear Roger Delgado, or even come to think of it, Anthony Ainley. Yes, again I agree with you regarding the overblown 'season finale', whatever happens tonight I doubt it will displace my personal favourite of "Human Nature'/'The Family of Blood' or even, if I'm honest, 'The Shakespeare Code' which pleasantly surprised me.

I guess nowerdays its all about 'maximum impact' and ratings grabbing in such a more fiercely competitive viewing marketplace.

Right then, few things to say about the end of Season Three so lets get down to it with...

After the dramatic resolutions offered up in both “The Parting of the Ways” and “Doomsday”, season three’s finale, which goes by the title of “The Last of the Time Lords”, seems relatively tame by comparison. The previous “The Sound of Drums” episodes initial graphically tense Toclafane conquest of the people of Earth giving way to laboured preparations for an outer space war. However by using Martha as the intrical character to instigate the main plots resolution it ably demonstrates just how much more self assured and confident this young medical student has become over the entire season since we first met her during season opener “Smith and Jones”. Strangely for a concluding part it does, in my opinion, feel rather slow and pedestrian, certainly compared with the preceding episode electing to use extended narrative, aging related special effects and more childish macho posturing by the Master than delivering the more typical special effects laden battle scenes we’ve seen in previous years. With the greatest respect to John Simms performance overall I feel rather disappointed by the rather petulant, immature reimaging of the Doctor’s arch nemesis whom in my opinion, ultimately failed to convey for example the same distinguished, slightly unsettling persona we can associate with Roger Delgado’s definitive original portrayal. The eventual fate of this foe will leave some, myself included, no doubt feeling rather cheated that the possibility of future confrontations has been sadly negated. The resolution of the story whereby the events are effectively erased from time, seems fairly perfunctory and left me feeling as to both what was the point of it all and just how much threat was actually posed by the Master. In the final summation “The Last of the Time Lords” seems to be, apart from the lasting effect of its events on the Doctor and Martha (she will undoubtedly return again after a short break next year!), a fairly low key rather undemanding ending to what has undoubtedly been a fine season.

Secondly...

Once again, in my opinion, very little worth mentioning beyond my initial ‘brief overview’ reaction other than to liken the glowing ‘rebirth’ of the Doctor, floating above the incredulous Master rather reminded me of a similar emergence sequence towards the end of the 1972 Jon Pertwee story “The Mutants”. Worth praising is the chilling reveal of the interiors of the Toclafane, where the past and future of the escaping humans seen during “Utopia” collide with gruesome results!

…and a final word on that cliffhanger end scene leading us towards this years Xmas special now identified as “Voyage of the Dammed”. The TARDIS interior breached by the Titanic certainly seems like an intriguing teaser which could be likened to the ship collision that occurred during classic series story “Nightmare of Eden” or possibly the dramatic break up of the TARDIS during 1984’s “Frontios”.