From Somewhere, Volume Two

You think that hurt? Try watching it.

One of the many the awful truths of Doctor Who is that regeneration will suck. And not just because you’ll miss whoever happens to be the Doctor- no, really Leigh- its because the story it takes place in is usually quite bad.

Off the top of my head, there are only two regeneration stories in the history of series that I’d consider really good.

The War Games was Patrick Troughton’s finale.  And it’s a loonnnng goodbye-10 parts, no less- and when the Time Lords do show up at the end- having heard of them only through reputation up to that point in the series-you know it won’t end well.

The Caves of Androzani was so good, it actually served to redeem much of Peter Davison’s lackluster run as The Doctor.  Also, the best cliffhanger ever, just saying.

The previous nu-Who regeneration story, 2005’s The Parting of the Ways, adequately dealt with the Doctor’s guilt over both ending and surviving the Time War- a plot device which had set the events surrounding the return of the show into motion . Unfortunately, this story was also saddled with an unnecessary pseudo commentary on the popularity of reality television and game shows.  That story signaled the arrival of David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor and series head writer Russell T. Davies’ preoccupation of not knowing quite when to stop.

And if you feared RTD  just was not going to reign it in for his last Who hurrah,  you get a gold star. Unfortunately, that also means you get “The End of Time- Parts One & Two“.  I’m sorry- I’m so, so sorry.

Thoughts and possible mild spoilers after the jump….

The Time War subplot running throughout the RTD run was a simplification of the series concept- allowing for both a continuation of sorts from old series without all the baggage of its continuity. It also allowed for the re-establishing of the Time Lord mythology without us having to see them, thus priming the pump for when / if they showed up.

So, what should have happened when they (SPOILER) show back up would have been akin to their appearance in The War Games.

The only problem with that is we never got a proper description of the Time Lords themselves, or the how the High Council operated within the context of the new series. Sure, we got Ten going on about the fields and the grass in many a misty colored memory of Gallifrey. But the only negative depiction of the Time Lords came from The Master (John Simm) in Series 3’s The Sound of the Drums ,  when he blames them for driving him mad. And even at that point, he’s not quite a sterling character reference- thus his description of Time Lord behavior is easily dismissed and forgotten.

But to remind viewers of that plot point from two seasons back- once The Master is revived via Part One’s plot contrivance, his big plan is to amplify the drums in his head to root out the source. ::cue dramatic music::

So, what should have been “oh shit, it’s the Time Lords” becomes “is Timothy Dalton really spitting to Camera?“  Really not the impact I would assume RTD was aiming for. I don’t even mind Dalton’s Lord President being named Rassilon, because I believe that no one should be forced to watch The Five Doctors. Ever.

And to further underwhelm the effect of the Time Lords- Rassilon is not that much of a threat.

The rest of it is really way too much padding and meditation on life and death and regeneration- and while it does showcase Bernard Cribbins’ awesomeness and allow a space for David Tennant to cry, it doesn’t move any of the plot forward. The time spent on the all the meditating could gone toward filling in massive plot holes. Like:

Fleshing out the Time Lords in order to make them a more credible threat.

Explaining what the hell the Ood society’s rapid acceleration had to do with anything. Was it because the Doctor screwed time over in Waters of Mars? Was it because the Time Lords were trapped in a time lock and forced to repeat the final day of the Time War like bad Groundhog’s Day sequels? Was it because Donna had a headache? And why would the Ood in the far future be affected by the Master’s amplified signal in 2009- which was clearly meant for humans?

In her time with The Doctor, Donna Noble never encountered The Master. So how is it that all those Masters running around would trigger the Meta-Crisis, when Nasmith’s book  (let alone the events of Torchwood: Children of Earth, which gets a mention) didn’t? While we’re there, wouldn’t the existence of Verity’s (Jessica Stevens) book be a much bigger memory / crisis trigger? And The Doctor just lets that one slide?

Luke Smith is not human. Sarah Jane’s adopted son is an alien. He was not affected by The Master’s  amplification (learned via the phone conversation with Clyde), nor – as proven by our Cactus friends- were any number of other alien races known to be running around the planet.  Which brings us back to the mystery of our suddenly oversensitive Odd- who are hundreds of years in the future.

Who the hell was Claire Bloom supposed to be and why did she appear to Wilf? If it were Susan or Romana- how would they know who Wilf was? It’s suggested in the lonnng coda she’s some form of Future-Donna- which makes no sense at all.  Either the Doctor’s continually lying about the importance of Donna not remembering anything, or he’s completely wrong about the Meta-Crisis. Both of which undercut the hell out of the entire previous series and the four specials that led up to this.

In the midst of all the useless noise- Tennant, Simm, and Cribbins rise above the material and turn in wonderful performances-and should the Time Lords become credible again, I wouldn’t even mind having Dalton back. And we’ll just have to hope we never have to see Billie Piper struggle with those teeth again.

But enough about that- let’s get to what you came here for: Off the last three minutes alone, I’m already digging Matt Smith and Stephen Moffatt- who both take that hand off and run with it.

Renaissance Vampires, Weeping Angels, WWII Daleks, and the return (make that RE-introduction) of River Song.

Bring it on, Boys…..