I liked the regenerated Doctor Who series when it returned to BBC in 2004/05 with Christopher Eccleston being the 9th Doctor. But Chris’ tenure didn’t last long and he was soon replaced by David Tennant after 1 season.
DT proved to be a huge hit with the audience and he made the role of his own. His cheeky grin was captivating and he played the time lord with a touch of humour which was much needed for this kind of genre. The scripts of season 1 and season 2 were really solid, and I could recall many memorable moments and interesting characters. Season 3 started to slip somewhat and I stopped watching season 4 until John Simms joined the cast (partly because of the daft story lines and partly because of annoying Catherine Tate).
Then the news came that DT was to leave Doctor Who behind this Christmas. The first episode of the farewell finale started on Christmas day, I couldn’t say that I wasn’t captivated by the return of the Master and Time Lords. Espeically when nearly every one on the planet became the Master, that was a real touch of genius. It wetted my appetite and I was hoping a big bang on the New Year’s Day.
The start of second episode didn’t disappoint, we learnt a bit more about the time war, then the pace dropped, as if the early energy was all zapped out with the impending regeneration of the Doctor.
The worst was yet to come. After 40 minutes, the sentimentality took over. The script was turned into total slop. The last 20 minutes was like an extended farewell tour for DT aimed at viewers’ tear ducts. Alas, I have a stone heart and am not so easily moved by human sentimentality. I found it such a drag. I remembered when Chris left the show the story line was more coherent. And his regeneration took no fuss and was well weaved into the story line. So why did we need this extended round-the-time tour? Wouldn’t it be more interesting to spend a bit more time on the return of the time lords and Gallifrey.
It was such a damp squib at the end. A wasted opportunity.
With the arrival of a new Doctor, perhaps it’s also the right time for the BBC to introduce more new blood into their script writing team(Russell T Davies' running out ideas). Frankly without sound plots, the Doctor may be once again confined inside his Tardis and be returned into a dark space and time.
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