We finished watching Doctor Who series four at the end of July, just before going away for most of August. After returning, I remembered that before series five there was a series of ‘specials’, in the course of which David Tennant would regenerate into Matt Smith. We saw these in 2013, but I hadn’t remembered anything about them.
The first episode, ‘The next doctor’, was the Christmas special for December 2008. I assume that the title was deliberately misleading, since this is not the episode in which the Doctor regenerates. It’s set in Victorian England, in a Dickensian environment with children in workhouses. We see a formal funeral with men only, in top hats and black suits. There’s also a ‘scarlet woman’ (assumed) - a beautiful woman dressed in red who shocks the men in black, and who is in league with the Cybermen.
Oh, and there’s also a man who insists that he is the Doctor. He has a sonic screwdriver, sort of, and has created a rather unusual tardis. He has an assistant, the feisty, courageous Rosita, and he has clearly done several Doctor-like things. He knows all about cybermen, too… but his memories are very confused, and he doesn’t remember much at all, other than the most recent events.
The second episode, ‘The world of the dead’, is set primarily in a huge desert, supposedly a different world. It starts with a dramatic ‘mission impossible’ style scene, watching a masked woman commit an ingenious crime. She runs from the police and boards a bus, where she meets the Doctor. There’s a fast police chase and a tunnel is blockaded… but the bus leaps through a ‘wormhole’ into this other world.
Most of the story is about trying to figure out what has happened, and - more importantly - how to get back. Michelle Ryan is excellent as Lady Christina, who proves to be highly intelligent and almost a match for The Doctor. When we watched the ‘confidential’ extra on the same DVD, there was discussion about whether she might have made a good companion. But, it was explained, as David Tennant’s role as the 10th Doctor was coming to an end, he wasn’t taking on any new companions. There’s some humour in this episode, and in the ‘extra’ too.
The third episode, ‘The waters of Mars’ is in stark contrast, despite it also taking place on another world. The Doctor arrives looking cheerful; he has no expectations of anything other than a friendly visit. He quickly discovers that the people living in the space station there are the first settlers in Mars, people whose names he knows well. The year is just 2059. When he learns the date, he becomes rather unsettled, insisting he should go.
Some of the filming is done in the style of a horror movie, with tense moments and music before a ‘monster’ is revealed… I found myself hiding my face in my hands more than once. I found it really quite scary as a story. But it was also interesting theoretically because the Doctor insists that an imminent disaster is fixed in the history of time, and there’s nothing he can do about it. This clearly stresses him…
There are some scenes later in the book which demonstrate, once again, David Tennant’s superb acting ability. His acceptance of his role reaches its limit, and he decides to do something that he knows is wrong, against the laws of time. He is the last of the time lords, so he decides that he’s in charge - and the usually friendly doctor becomes arrogant and appears angry.
The specials end with a two-part episode, ‘The end of time’. These were apparently broadcast on Christmas Day 2009 and New Year’s Day 2010. That would account for Christmas decorations being in evidence on the first part, and mention of the new year in the second. But they’re not typical ‘holiday’ episodes. Instead, they’re a dramatic end to David Tennant’s role as the 10th doctor.
In part one of ‘The end of time’, the Master is resurrected, in a somewhat bizarre and disturbing form. He has extra powers, but sometimes he appears as a skull. He is excessively hungry, attacking food in a rather gross and very greedy way; it’s implied that he also eats people if he can’t get other food.
What I liked best about these episodes is that the Doctor reunites with Wilf (Bernard Cribbins) who turns out to be a very significant person. I love his sense of humour and the joking friendship he has with the Doctor. It was also nice to see Donna, although it was essential she should not remember anything about her travels.
I’m not sure I entirely followed the storyline, which includes a ‘gate’ (supposedly harmless) which the Master reprograms. It also includes episodes showing the Time Lords, who were supposedly lost permanently in the time vortex. Timothy Dalton is excellent as their leader. The episode ends with the Master changing everyone on earth (with a couple of exceptions) into clones of himself.
Part two of ‘The end of time’ is faster-paced with a lot of chase scenes and a storyline that becomes increasingly more confusing. The Doctor and Wilf are rescued, and we learn that the Time Lords are responsible for the constant beat in the Master’s head, which is driving him crazy.
One has to put aside any kind of logic with this show, and accept that the progression of time is - as the Doctor said once - a ‘big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff’. So the world - indeed the entire universe, and time itself - are due to end. But, obviously, they don’t. I didn’t follow the processes, but it’s all very well done even if I had to hide my eyes a few times, when the action became too fast.
At the end, it’s clear that the Doctor is going to regenerate - it’s no surprise as he’s been expecting it since the end of Series Four. He keeps going longer than would be expected, surviving several near-death experiences. And I particularly liked what he called his ‘reward’ - revisiting former companions and loved ones, seeing how they were doing.
David Tennant is a great actor, and never more so than this final episode when we see him in many different moods. He is angry and also grieving about the fact that regeneration is not just like changing skin. It’s the end of his personality, even if in another sense he will continue living.
Each DVD of this box set features just one episode of about an hour, and a good number of ‘extras’. We thoroughly enjoyed watching the Doctor Who confidential documentaries, a few deleted scenes, and other random extra features.
Highly recommended if you like watching Doctor Who, and particularly if the tenth doctor is one of your favourites. The rating for most of these is PG which reflects the lack of any nudity, sexual content or 'strong' language. But there's inevitably a lot of tension and some violence, so it's not recommended for a sensitive child. I don't think I'd want to show it to children under the age of about ten or eleven, even though, back in the 1960s and 1970s, Doctor Who was billed as a children's TV programme.
