by Dr Kain » Thu Sep 12, 2019 1:25 am
And here it is, the end of an era, but sadly, Tennant does not go out with a bang, rather a whimper.
The Water of Mars - Ugh, I'm not sure what makes this episode bad, it being down right boring or the Doctor being completely out of character. The man goes through all of these different personalties at the drop of a hat and it doesn't make sense. He starts off quite firm on his stance of not helping for like 40 minutes, then suddenly says, "You know what, screw the rules, I'M THE TIME LORD!" and saves the remaining people, only to then go, "Oh "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!", I shouldn't have done that." There are no transitions or pacing to that aspect whatsoever. I feel like there should have been an episode between Planet of the Dead and this one to really develop the sudden power trip he gets at the end. And then there should have been another episode to really make him realize the error of his ways instead of one woman committing suicide. It just feels unnatural and forced. Hell, I could have accepted it had he been like, "Sorry, I was going through menopause for a sec, but I got betta."
Of course, like I said, the other half of the problem is that the plot is just so uninteresting. The water monsters have got to be some of the blandest monsters of the entire relaunch, perhaps even the entire series. Once again it felt like they were trying to recapture what made the Satan two parter so good and failed miserably.
The End of Time - When this first aired, I felt something was off, but I chalked it up to it just being due to the commercial interruptions that occurred every 5 minutes. This time around, there was nothing to excuse, this story is just down right terrible. One of Tennant's worst stories in his entire run. First off, yet again, it's utterly boring. It's like they were told they had to stretch out an 80 minute plot into 130 minutes split over two episodes to make it feel "special."
Secondly, the Doctor is a whiny little "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!" the entire episode. He comes off more like an entitled brat who was told he could not have that candy bar in the grocery store. I really wish you could take the scene after he says, "But I don't want to go," and put it at the end of Journey's End so you could give him something worthy of regenerating over.
Third, the Master has gone from an evil villain to Saturday morning cartoon villain with super powers. WTF? Simms really took the over-acting to new heights (literally in the case of the Master being able to fly thanks to his lightning abilities).
Fourth, the plot dealing with the Time Lords makes no "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!" sense whatsoever. Additionally, Timothy Dalton was wasted on such a "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!" ass plot that went nowhere. The entire thing was absolutely pointless. Oh, and hey, the Earth is in danger yet again. <slams head against the wall>
Fifth, what was up with Martian Manhunter's ever changing accent? Jesus dude.
Finally, when the hell did Martha marry Mickey? Martha was engaged to Dr Lucifer well before Mickey came back to that Earth. That makes no sense whatsoever.
The best thing about this story was Wilfred. He was the only character I was invested in at all as he was the only one that had any worthwhile dialog during the entire thing.
Overall, Tennant deserved so much better instead of this half-assed crapfest they gave him. I have no idea why they ever bothered to do all of these specials instead of just having him regenerate at the end of Journey's End. That would have been so much better. Instead, we get this boring as hell... whatever this was.
Anyway, if I'm going to rank the specials, it would follow as this:
1. Planet of the Dead
2. The Next Doctor
3. The End of Time
4. The Water of Mars
As for my top 10 favorite episodes from Tennant's entire tenure, it probably goes:
1. The Girl in the Fireplace
2. Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead
3. Blink
4. Army of Ghosts/Doomsday
5. Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel
6. The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit
7. Human Nature/Family of Blood
8. Midnight
9. The Fires of Pompeii
10. School Reunion
With that said, the journey is over once more and while Tennant ended his run in garbage, he is without a doubt the best Doctor right behind Tom Baker. So much of his attitude reminded me of Tom and many of Tennant's episodes could rival Tom's. Next up, Matt Smith and I really hope these episodes are as entertaining as I remember, especially his second season.