vilakins | Doctor Who: The Last of the Time Lords

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Doctor Who: The Last of the Time Lords

Most of what I can say about The Last of the Time Lords has already been said.

Martha was great: walking round the earth raising hope and rallying support for the Doctor. I wasn't keen on the floaty glowy Doctor (or what he was preceded by) but Martha totally rocked, and I loved how she laughed while she was kneeling, expecting to die. The constant harping on the unrequited love she has for the Doctor I regard as RTD's fault; Martha has been a great companion otherwise, and could you ever imagine her blubbing on a beach? I cheered as she took her life back and walked away, I assume to meet Doctor Milligan.

Pity that doesn't work out. I hear that she's going to join Torchwood as possibly their first sensible member, though that still won't make me watch. At least they've left it open for her to guest-star next year.

The Jones family I regard as deliberately humiliated by the Master in their servants' clothes (I shall give RTD the benefit of the doubt) just as Lucy was exposed in her red dress and obviously beaten. Because if I thought RTD was that racist and sexist, I would get more angry than was good for me, and I'm still very pissed off about Harriet Jones. You know, I thought the bastard was leaving and I'm very disappointed to hear that was just a rumour.

Professor Docherty was wonderful. Maybe if I wished very hard, she would be the new companion? Nah, no chance.

The Doctor must have had his brains compressed when he was Gollum because thinking he could contain the Master on the TARDIS was plain stupid (what, as a prisoner? a pet?) As was ignoring a bloody great companion who stood by him in 1913 and spent a dangerous year on a defeated earth; he even said in front of her that the Master was the only one he could care for. As others have said, I don't think I like you any more, Doctor.

The Master is coming back. I'm guessing that's Lucy who picked up the ring (is it a significant ring?) but that could be deliberate misdirection. The Master is still around when the Face of Boe (see where pride in your prettiness gets you, Jack?) says that the Doctor is not alone. so he's around then--but hey, time travel is twisty and makes my head hurt.

The Titanic? Oh, that'll be a fun Christmas Special with all those doomed people. If it is the Titanic. I mean, how could an ordinary earth ship breach the TARDIS?

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The Master is still around when the Face of Boe... says that the Doctor is not alone.

No, I didn't take it like that; I took it as Boe knows about all the twisty time-travel Master-at-the-end-of-the-Universe stuff; it doesn't mean that the Master is still around in the year 5 billion.

I mean, how could an ordinary earth ship breach the TARDIS?

It's been coated with Plot Devicium. Really. I don't expect sense from RTD.

I took it as Boe knows about all the twisty time-travel Master-at-the-end-of-the-Universe stuff; it doesn't mean that the Master is still around in the year 5 billion.

Agreed, but my other idea which I've just crystallised is this: Boe was telling the Doctor he was not alone. If all he knew about was one year in which the Master treated the Doctor as his dog and rejected his offer of friendship or whatever it was, then would he say that? The unbalanced hatred we saw wouldn't alleviate the Doctor's loneliness, but perhaps an on-going battle of wits with an equal might. So I infer that the Master survives. :-)

Hmm. I like and approve of this logic. :)

Argh, I just quoted it again in my reply to you!

Well, I still like and approve of it. :)

And besides, a year is a pitifully short time in either of their lives, so knowing a fellow Timelord for that brief time then losing him would only make the Doctor's loneliness worse.

It would, indeed. *sniffle*

I think RTD's said that there are no plans to bring the Master back next season, but there is no doubt in my mind that, as long as the show keeps going, we'll see him again eventually.

Well, I'd like to see what happened after the scene with the ring. That was the Master laughing, wasn't it?

I'm quite certain it was, yes. :) And the possibilities for what happens after that are definitely interesting.

That's too convoluted for me. Mind you, I'm still taking it with a grain of salt as to whether Jack is really the Face of Boe or not. Even if he's Officially Supposed to be.

Even RTD says he regards it as just a theory.

I did theorise in my review of Utopia that if Jack lived for billions of years, he would no longer be human. He did remember the Doctor though (I thought he might not); I think his brain had to change to store the memories of such a vast life.

Hey, it's the Moloch theory of evolution (hahaha): it all ends with beings with huge heads and withered bodies (e.g. Doctor Gollum), and Jack lived long enough to mutate into nothing but a head. :-P

A head with enough psychic power to teleport itself around the galaxy...

Ha! Probably. And for some reason that really cracks me up. :-D

Given that we're talking about Jack here, there's got to be a dirty pun involving the word "head" here somewhere, but I don't think I'm going to try to find it. ;)

I rather like that he ended up in a jar like the hand.

Heh. They do like body parts in jars on this show, don't they? :)

(Oh, man. Now I want a Futurama crossover... :))

I'm ignoring it. Boe said he was the last of his kind. I think "last and in fact only human made immortal by Rose-Tardis" is pushing it.

Martha is, indeed, wonderful. I'm immensely sorry to see her go, because I think what Doctor Who desperately needed at this stage was a companion who was an actual adult, and Martha fit the bill beautifully. And she's far, far too good for Torchwood.

(I'm desperately hoping, by the way, that we'll now get a companion who doesn't have UST with the Doctor. Maybe a heterosexual male? Those have been pretty thin on the ground lately.)

I regard as deliberately humiliated by the Master in their servants' clothes

I'm quite sure that was the intention, but it was still wince-worthy. I thought it was possibly just a racially-oversensitized American reaction that made me cringe at having all the black characters suddenly dressed in servant's uniforms, but apparently a lot of people on the other side of the pond find it unfortunate, too.

thinking he could contain the Master on the TARDIS was plain stupid (what, as a prisoner? a pet?)

While there were a lot of things in the episode that had me rolling my eyes, this was actually something I loved, just in character terms. Yes, it's a crazy, doomed plan that is never going to actually work. And, yes, there's a slightly disturbing element to it, although I think it has to be regarded in light of the fact that, honestly, the Master is deeply mentally ill at this point and really does need to be locked away from people he could hurt, and treated if at all possible. But I love the fact that the Doctor wants to help his old enemy rather than kill him. That seems to be a bit of a theme this season, that we've moved from Nine's murderous rage at the last Dalek and last season's "I used to have so much mercy," into attempts to redeem his worst enemies, rather than to destroy them. Admittedly, in the case of other enemies, the fact that he imprisons rather than kills them is anything but merciful. But things like this actually help me feel less of the "I don't like the Doctor any more" thing, which is an immense relief to me.

And, y'know, there's "care for" and "care for." The Doctor may like, even love, humans, but no matter how awesome Martha is, there's no way that any relationship he's capable of having with her is going to be anything like the incredibly complicated, emotionally fraught, centuries-long relationship he has with the Master. He's dealing with deep, personal issues at that moment that have nothing to do with Martha. I dislike how insensitive he's been towards her at other times, but I really can't blame him just then. And Martha, unlike Rose, genuinely seems to understand that there's no sense in expecting too much from him on on the interpersonal front.

That's my take on it, anyway. Mileage can and does vary immensely, this being fandom. :)

The Master is still around when the Face of Boe (see where pride in your prettiness gets you, Jack?) says that the Doctor is not alone. so he's around then

Or else Boe knew that that version of the Doctor hadn't met the Master yet, so for him there was still another, even though for Boe he'd already died. (You're right. Time travel. Ouch! *clutches head*) But of course he's not dead. The Master's nearly as unkillable as Jack. :)

I mean, how could an ordinary earth ship breach the TARDIS?

I'm really hoping there's a reason. Maybe it has something to do with the Master mucking around with it?

And she's far, far too good for Torchwood

Is she ever.

I'm desperately hoping, by the way, that we'll now get a companion who doesn't have UST with the Doctor. Maybe a heterosexual male?

Or an older woman like Docherty. That would be so cool, but yeah, it wouldn't attract the fanboys, and though RTD despises fans, he needs an audience.

Admittedly, in the case of other enemies, the fact that he imprisons rather than kills them is anything but merciful.

Yeah, I think in many cases, death would have been a lot better than what he did to aliens who had less effect than the Master. Yet someone who plans to destroy a planet and subjugate a galaxy gets a hug? It rang false to me, and even though this is the only Master I've seen, I could tell that forgiveness and pity would both be deep, deep insults.

As for Boe, as I commented to above (I'm still getting my thoughts in order): Boe was telling the Doctor he was not alone. If all he knew about was one year in which the Master treated the Doctor as his dog and rejected his offer of friendship or whatever it was, then would he say that? The unbalanced hatred we saw wouldn't alleviate the Doctor's loneliness, but perhaps an on-going battle of wits with an equal might. So I infer that the Master survives. :-)

Maybe it has something to do with the Master mucking around with it?

OK, that might make me watch. Because otherwise I just don't have that much interest in watching people drown.

Or an older woman like Docherty.

I would love that, but, yes, it seems unlikely. (Although, hey, who says older women can't have UST? ;))

Yet someone who plans to destroy a planet and subjugate a galaxy gets a hug?

Well, the Master is more than that, though. He's someone who was once the Doctor's friend, someone he has a personal history with, someone who is more damaged than innately evil. He's also, not at all incidentally, the only other thing that remains of Gallifrey.

I think it's also true that most of the stuff he does, he does precisely because he has this weird thing about the Doctor -- competing with him, goading him, messing with him, getting his attention. (That's my interpretation, anyway, based in large part on my observation of him in Old School episodes.) Even over and above the Doctor's logic that he's responsible for the Master because he's the only other Time Lord left, I could see him feeling responsible for him because of that.

Anyway, yeah, it's wildly over-optimistic to imagine that he could help the Master, and it's definitely displaying his personal bias as far as which of his enemies' fates he really cares about goes. And, yes, the Master isn't going to thank him for it. But I still find it to be, I dunno, a wonderfully bittersweet thing for him to want to do, and a reassuring indication that the Doctor isn't as hard and ruthless as it sometimes seems like he's becoming.

He was pretty hard at the end with Martha though, maybe because he realised who little she mattered next to another Gallifreyan. Let's hope he also gets some perspective about Rose. [rolls eyes]

I didn't realise that the Doctor and the Master used to be friends. OK, that explains it a little. I must get hold of some old serials.

He did deserve to be dumped hard by Martha, there's no doubt about it. I applaud her for doing it, even though I'd've rather had her stay around for another season or two.

I didn't realise that the Doctor and the Master used to be friends.

A very, very, very long time ago, mind you. Pre-series. (Pre-old series, I mean.) The Doctor does say as much, actually, in "The Sound of Drums," but it's an easy line to miss. When Martha asks him what the Master was to him, he says, "Friends, at first..." As with so much in Doctor Who, their past is never completely explicated, but I remember the Third Doctor once reminiscing rather fondly about how they used to playfully sabotage each other's science experiments back at the Academy. :)

Awwww.

OK, I think that explains the huggy forgivey scene a lot more for me. I'd still take a short-lived but affectionate pet over a long-lived enemy though.

OK, I think that explains the huggy forgivey scene a lot more for me.

Yeah, I think realizing that is kind of key. I don't think I'd feel remotely the same way, myself, if it were just some random villain he was hugging. :)

I'd still take a short-lived but affectionate pet over a long-lived enemy though.

So would I, but I'm not the Doctor. :)

He's still hoping to turn him back from the dark side, I think. The Doctor is not human and he knows he can never return Martha's feelings for him. On the other hand he trusts her. Not only with his life, but with the fate of the universe. He's not just trusting that she wants to defeat the Master, but also that she's fully capable of implementing his plan with no further help from him. That doesn't excuse his coldness when she dumps him though, although it's quite usual when a companion leaves of their own choosing. I still don't buy it that he was actually in love with Rose. Sorry, but my suspension of disbelief only goes so far.

That doesn't excuse his coldness when she dumps him though

Absolutely not. A little gratitude would have been nice.

I still don't buy it that he was actually in love with Rose.

Why would he be? She was a not particularly bright girl, and she was very young and spectacularly short-lived compared to him. Yet bloody RTD keep throwing it in our faces. Of course, when you compare her initials with his...

(I'm desperately hoping, by the way, that we'll now get a companion who doesn't have UST with the Doctor. Maybe a heterosexual male? Those have been pretty thin on the ground lately.)

Rumour is that it's going to be Kylie Minogue!

Apparently Martha is to appear in three episodes pf "Torchwood" and then will reappear in "Doctor Who" halfway through series 4 and remain for the rest of the series. (That bit is "official", in that it's appeared on the BBC website.)

I too worried about the breaching of the TARDIS. It could be a result of what the Master did or maybe of what Jack did in desroying the Paradox Machine.

I wish that I wasn't so unobservant. People are always mentioning things that I never spotted. In the case of this episode, I'm afraid that I never noticed that Lucy had been beaten up. But that dress was rather an effective distraction!

Rumour is that it's going to be Kylie Minogue!

I heard she was going to be in the Christmas episode.

I never noticed that Lucy had been beaten up.

Apparently a lot of people didn't; the make-up was kind of subtle. But she definitely had a bruise on her face.

And empty eyes; excellent acting.

I googled the actress and discovered that I'd seen her before. She was one of the witches in the Macbeth that Sean Bean and Samantha Bond were in not long ago in London. Didn't recognise her though, but I hope we see what happens to her character eventually.

And, y'know, there's "care for" and "care for."

Exactly, and it never crossed my mind that, in that sentence, he meant anything but "look after": he was dedicating himself to being a sick relative's carer, not to sex on the Tardis console. Of course it was a ludicrous idea, but it made sense in his own mind. And Martha, manifestly, didn't need looking after.

So she's effectively reproducing his reaction when she tells him she needs to stay and look after her family. And, being so much more mature than Rose, she never seriously believed it was going to work out long term with the Doctor.

he was dedicating himself to being a sick relative's carer,

That first and foremost, anyway, yeah. Not that I'd entirely rule out the possibility of sex on the TARDIS console, but I really don't think that was what was on his mind. I do think that he was imagining it might be emotionally fulfilling, though, to devote himself to caring for one person who genuinely needed him, after lifetimes of just sort of flitting through people's lives and moving on. We've heard it enough times: the guy is lonely.

Not that I'd entirely rule out the possibility of sex on the TARDIS console

The Master certainly wouldn't.

I was thinking the same thing re the Prof. Definitely one of the best bits (and from the POV of the actor it was probably quite a good ep. No Gollum or Jesus-fairy!doctor or anyfin!)

I am 'oh dear'-ing over the Titanic thing, but perhaps they'll come up with something non-painful by xmas. Right? Right?

I felt a bit sorry for the kid who won the part of Creet though. A nasty ending for his hopeful little character.

Riiiiight. With RTD at the, um, helm.

I dunno. He might quite like the idea of being a flying Terrahawks thing. :)

What I didn't get was why we didn't see the kid. Did they think it'd be too traumatic? Instead we get 'oh, yeah, and btw I'm not him but we shared all our memories' uh, why not just use one of the existing characters?

At least one of Saxon's balls (ahem) had a kid's voice; maybe that was him. But yeah, having a kid decapitated and shot was probably too much, even for British family TV.

I wonder if they deliberately had Creet talk of skies full of diamonds as a Lucy in-joke. :-P

[bah; had wrong icon]

Apparently the actor was a child who won a Blue Peter competition. So maybe they thought it would be too traumatic for him, even though it's pretty clear he must have suffered the same fate.

Professor Docherty was wonderful. Maybe if I wished very hard, she would be the new companion? Nah, no chance.

Yeah, I agree, she'd be great

She'd be brilliant: sensible, geeky, and I bet she wouldn't take much nonsense.

Or Mrs Moore! Mrs Moore! She could still be alive in this universe, though she's probably not called Mrs Moore here. I was actually hoping to meet her in the Resistance. Docherty was a good alternative, though.

Yeah, I was thinking of Mrs Moore when folks were mentioning Docherty. I'm glad we are getting these fab one-off older women characters, even if we aren't getting fab older women companions.

how could an ordinary earth ship breach the TARDIS?
I think the doctor was wondering the same thing, hence all those "What?"s at the end (short for WTF!)
Yes it looks like the Master will return. I have a vague memory of a similar event happening in a past "Who" episode. Did you notice the ring's design very, very like the design on "that watch". So perhaps this is the Master's way of avoiding death - his accoplice kills him and the Master's essence is downloaded into the ring where no doubt once some poor hapless dupe puts it on it immediately releases the Master who gets a new body.

The whole plot of walking round the world to get everyone thinking of the doctor at a single instant so he could have the psychic energy to defeat the doctor actully made me wince.
It was yet another iteration of "companion bravely saves doctor" which they'd already done to death during the series so seeing it again was annoying.

When the doctor grabbed the laser screwdriver I thought he would fiddle with it so it reversed what the Master originally did when the Master next fired at him. (which is just as well really because instead of Dobby you'd end up with a baby crawling out!)

Anyone else notice the B7 reference there by the way?

Martha saying she'd be back?

Isomorphic response.

Duh, yes, I did notice that! I said to Greg, "Just like the guns on the Liberator!" I wonder if RTD has seen B7.

Actually, isomorphic controls have been used in the past on Who -- "Pyramids of Mars" comes to mind; Sutekh couldn't steal the TARDIS because its controls would only work for the Doctor (so he took over the Doctor's mind instead).

Obviously that part of the TARDIS controls has since broken down, or the Master wouldn't have been able to steal the TARDIS.

Oh no! And all those TARDIS service agencies no longer exist!

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Doctor Who: The Last of the Time Lords

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