The Last Of The Timelords

A year on from when the previous episode was set and Martha is back in England. She has made a name for herself. As the human population has been enslaved Martha is their hope. They have all heard of her and her ability to escape unscathed and to walk the Earth unseen. They say that only she can kill the Master. Martha has done what the Doctor has asked of her. She has went round the world building hope so that the Archangel project can then be turned around against the master. Allowing the Doctor to be brought back to his normal self and the Earth to be returned to normal.

I have never been so disappointed with the new series of Doctor who as I was with the end of series three. I thought Martha did finally get the chance to shine in this episode but it was really the only good thing about it. The biggest disappointment was with the Master. Once again he was portrayed as a bit of a joker but that wasn't the worst. At the start he torments and punches the Doctor while he is in the form of an old man. Then it is hinted that he has been beating his wife. Although you don't see this the marks around her eye and her jumpiness around him were a dead giveaway. The Master was always a sinister and evil character but never would he have given way to needless violence such as that. He got his kicks out of doing bigger things. It just made him seem more cowardly than evil. A bully who picks on those weaker than him. There was then that hint at the end that Captain Jack is in fact the Face of Boe. It felt like a kind of let down to me.

Martha also then refused to go away with the Doctor again. Just as I was getting to like her character. However, she is not disappearing from the screens forever. She will be appearing in Torchwood for the first half of the new series. Then she will appear in Doctor Who half way through that (from that I am guessing that Captain Jack will be a recurring character in Doctor Who). The Doctor will not be alone. In the Christmas special Kylie Minogue will be guest starring. Then in series 4 Catherine Tate will be returning as Donna Noble for all 13 episodes. I can see most people getting excited about Kylie being in the show. I like Kylie but I just don't see her in Doctor Who at all. It's just using a big name to guarantee that the Christmas special will get as many viewers as possible. Same as with Catherine Tate last year. They are both popular amongst similar age groups. Why can't the Christmas special just be about Doctor Who rather than the names?

In the end I did like Catherine Tate as Donna Noble but for 13 whole episodes? I'm not sure about that one. With the return of Martha half way through will that mean bickering and petty jealousy between the two characters? The cynic in me believes that's what will happen. Timewarden your right I'm not usually so critical of Doctor Who. I try not to be. I see the new Who and classic Who as two entirely different shows. My enjoyment of one usually doesn't interfere with the enjoyment of the other. Plus I very much like David Tennant as the Doctor. Don't get me wrong there have been one or two episodes that I haven't enjoyed, "Love and Monsters" being at the top of the list and I still believe that the Daleks are being over used. Over all though I have liked it. However, the portrayal of the Master was too much for me as is the return of Donna. When I first heard about Billie Piper was down to play companion to the Doctor my first reaction was that I wouldn't watch it. Curiosity won out and she surprised me as Rose. I was cynical about David Tennant as the Doctor but then at that point I hadn't seen him in much. As you know my opinion on that changed quickly. I have been tempted once again not to watch series 4 and this time due to the return of a character I could tolerate in one episode. I know curiosity will win out again though and I can't help but hope that I will be pleasantly surprised.

Timewarden, I would hope that the episodes would improve after RTD leaves but we have a whole series to get through first and I worry that the show will be killed off by then. If David Tennant also leaves they would need to find someone just as engaging if not more so to take his place. As for the writers, if RTD is as controlling as you have mentioned in your posts then I think that they would have the freedom to go in other directions. Maybe they would be able to really push the show out there. It's just one of those things though, we'll have to wait and see.

Crazeeforbooks, Tom Baker is one of my favourites too although I do have a soft spot for Patrick Troughton too. Ian Marter was placed in the role of companion as originally they were looking for someone older to play the Doctor. They though Ian Marter would do a lot of the physical stuff that the Doctor wouldn't be able to do. A little like the first Doctor and companion Ian. When Tom Baker got the role of the Doctor it was decided that a younger male companion wasn't necessary and so they only kept him on for a few story lines. Ian Marter has written a few books (I can thank Timewarden for telling me about this a while back). He wrote many of the Doctor Who stories into novel format. He also wrote "Harry Sullivan's War" which is a story about Harry after his adventures with the Doctor. I do have a copy of it somewhere but have only read a few pages of it. He wrote about Harry as a James Bond character which put me off a little but I will eventually go back to it. After watching "Robot" again that actually made me laugh. Harry goes undercover in the story and Sara makes a sarcastic comment about him playing at James Bond.