Last of the Time Lords

Review: Episodes of The Sound of Drums and The Last of the Timelords

This is a 3 part story. The Sound of Drums follows on from the brilliant Utopia in which we had the great Derek Jacobi as the Master and he was truly magnificent. Thanks to Big Finish audio adventures we get to enjoy Jacobi more but it would have been amazing to get him on screen as the Master for a bit longer.

Simm, whilst very different and shockingly bonkers is suitably menacing, fun and impressive in the role and this two parter gives him plenty of chance to treat us to a mixture of zany humour and dark threatening drama.

Both these last two episodes are very funny in the comedic dialogue and very exciting in the dramatic plot development. The story is thrilling, interesting, dark and thoroughly enjoyable. As well as Simm's fine performance we get Tennant on superb peak form, Freema Agyeman again demonstrating what a great companion Martha is and John Barrowman enjoyable as ever as Captain Jack Harkness.

The threat to Earth in the first part is wonderfully well evoked and leads to a thrilling cliffhanger.

The Last of the Timelords is harshly judged by some for being over the top and for its resolution where bad events on Earth are conveniently wiped from ever happening. I think that is very exaggerated as a criticism.

Yes the events on Earth are undone which feels a bit convenient but the whole story features the Master using a Paradox Machine and the destruction of that logically means that events that took place after the paradox began cease to exist. It makes sense (unlike quite a few stories in Moffatt and Chibnall eras). I still feel all the horrifying events shown retain most of their strength and impact despite the fact they get wiped from ever happening.

They were never going to continue with a decimated Earth for all future stories so to have a story featuring a paradox machine allowing a logical reset was, I think, a clever way to deal with it. It is pretty well executed although the way the Doctor defeats the Master is slightly hyped up for my taste.

My main complaint in this story is the way they depict the Doctor being aged into a small withered figure with out of proportion head and eyes. I would happily do a George Lucas and superimpose a better version with modern graphics over the top of the original effects haha.

My Ratings: Utopia - 10/10 The Sound of Drums - 10/10 The Last of the Timelords - 8.5/10 Overall 3-part story - 9.5/10.

A year has passed and the Master continues to reign with terror. On the Valiant, the Jones family are slave servants, Jack's in chains and the Doctor lives like a dog however...

Round and round the world she goes, north and south looking for what who knows, until she returns to where she disappeared, with a masterful plan for the Master to jeer.

Jeer he might, as Martha, in her full time curtain call, harnesses all she can to bring the world back to the way it was, and send the Toclafane back from where they came. Unforgettable, but not for everyone.

"Last of the Time Lords" is a darker than usual slice of "Doctor Who", following on from where the excellent and thoroughly entertaining "The Sound of Drums" left off. Gone is the humour, largely replaced with a bizarre streak of nihilism.

There are many adult themes running throughout the course of this episode and Russell T. Davies has really pushed the boundaries of the show and what we can expect to see before the watershed. The Master's wife, played by the delightfully pretty Alexandra Moen, is seen throughout the episode with a black eye, demonstrating that this Time Lord has a temper and a penchant for wife beating. While this is a relatively subtle touch, I initially had doubts about this as it's not entirely appropriate content for a family show. Realising that I'm starting to think like Mary Whitehouse, I appreciate that this was probably something younger viewers would not pick up on but it remains a more adult element of the show and something that's not been touched on before in the history of the series.

The Master's treatment of The Doctor is, without doubt, hard-hitting and cruel. While this emphasises The Master's state of mind, again I wondered how the young audience would react to these scenes. The sight of a wizened doctor living in a type of dog kennel / tent was unexpected, as were the later scenes involving him imprisoned in a birdcage.

While I've been annoyed by the silliness of some of Davies' stories, I initially felt that this tale may have gone too far in the other direction. I won't go into detail but there are elements of the script which are just a little bizarre and some viewers may be upset by the finale as a whole both in tone and content, particularly the truth behind the Toclafane. In addition to this, I found the rather predictable resolution somewhat weak and unsatisfying - this is going to be a story that will have fans debating its merits for some time. After watching "Last of the Time Lords" a second time, I'm more comfortable with the grim tone but I still remain unconvinced by Davies' deus ex machina ending.

Martha fans will be pleased to see the character has a large role to play in the proceedings but John Barrowman's Jack largely just gazes at events from the sidelines. Only a final, teasing bit of dialogue from Harkness (another thing that will keep the forums buzzing!) justifies his existence in this episode.

It must be said that the music from Murray Gold is outstanding and gives the production an epic feel.

In the end, I've given this longer-than-usual episode 8 out of 10. I loved "The Sound of Drums" but I'm not entirely happy with the way that this story progressed. It does, however, remain great entertainment despite being slightly anti-climatic after so many outstanding previous episodes.

Quite a lot of dodgy stuff in this that really goes against the shows cannon. The Martha and Tom (Tom Ellis) partnership was the best thing about this episode and saved the whole thing for me at least. I really do think Martha was one of the best companions, I would have loved to have seen Tom continue as well.

Spoilt brats. Those are the words I'd use to describe fans who've been griping about this episode. I thought it was magnificent, showing a breadth of imagination rarely seen on the small screen. The trouble with a lot of Doctor Who fans is that they're never happy, and never have been. At the time of Season 14, the season that was later reckoned to be the best ever, they were complaining that it wasn't as good as the Pertwee era. It was clearly a lot better. And the current show is much better still. Last Of The Time Lords was better than ANY episode of the old series. ANY episode. Easily. Why? Because it was audacious, it had an epic sweep to it, it had meaty sci-fi ideas that the likes of HG Wells and Philip K Dick would have been proud of (I'm thinking of concepts like the Paradox Machine), it boasted John Simm's fantastically enjoyable, streetwise performance as The Master (rather better than dire pantomime villain Anthony Ainley), it took risks, and most of all, it was vastly enjoyable. Sad little Doctor Who fans love to pick, love to criticise Russell T Davies, a man who has almost single handedly resurrected the show and turned it into one of the most popular and talked about on television. If the fans aren't careful they'll force him out, which would be a tragedy. This was a great end to a great series, albeit one that dipped in the middle a little. Anyone with anything to do with the making of this show: take a bow.