Last of the Time Lords

Space lane traffic is advised to stay away from Sol Three, also known as Earth. Pilots are warned Sol Three is now entering terminal extinction. Planet Earth is closed. Planet Earth is closed. Planet Earth is closed

Computer

Synopsis

Earth has been conquered, the Doctor and Jack are imprisoned and the Master rules supreme. Can Martha Jones save the world?

Review

Last of the Time Lords is a bit of a mixed bag. After triumphantly reintroducing the Master in Utopia, the conclusion suffers from the story being painted into a corner by the end of The Sound of Drums.

I think one of the major missteps in the story is the time jump. We get very few stories where the Earth has been occupied by a foe of the Doctor’s, and so this was an opportunity to explore what the Master would do if he were to be victorious. Instead, by jumping forward in time, the audience is told about a lot of events rather than seeing them. Whilst I’m not saying that we should see events like the destruction of Japan, but we could at least see the characters onboard the Valiant react to this. It also feels as though events have broadly been on hold in the intervening year, and Martha has been travelling, but the Joneses, Jack and the Doctor seem to have been static. The fact that after a year, the Doctor is only just learning that the Master’s screwdriver is isomorphic feels a bit like something he should have learnt sooner. That scene just feels like it’s there for no real purpose and feels a bit half-hearted.

The conclusion of the story also suffers. In part, this is because The Sound of Drums gives Davies a difficult predicament to get out of. Having aged the Doctor and had the Master subjugate the Earth, it is almost inevitable that the story will need to hit the reset switch at some point. Having that in conjunction with the deus ex machina of the Archangel Network restoring the Doctor and giving him god-like powers to overpower the Master. This is particularly galling. The story is not exactly subtle in its Christ-like imagery, from the way Jack is chained up to the Doctor’s immortality and levitation. It’s all a bit too on the nose. Then there’s the destruction of the paradox machine by way of Jack simply destroying it with a machine gun. This all feels a bit too weightless, easy and ultimately lazy.

This story’s strength lies in the characters. These can be broken up into three subsets: The Master and Lucy, Martha and her family and the Doctor. Jack does not really have a lot to do in this story, and I cannot think of anything that he does that substantially moves the plot of the story along, but we do get the reveal that he is the Face of Boe at the end of the episode, which is a nice moment.

The time jump does progress things in terms of the Master and Lucy. Whilst Lucy certainly appeared enamoured with the Master during the events of The Sound of Drums, the intervening year has seen their relationship take a turn for the worst. Lucy sports a black eye during this episode, which shows that since the mask has slipped, the Master can act as he pleases. Of course, Lucy is the one who kills him at the end of the story. They are a dark reflection of the Doctor-companion relationship, with the Master telling the Doctor of how he took Lucy to Utopia. After all, the Sixth Doctor tried to strangle Peri after his regeneration, and there are certainly shades of that relationship here. There’s not very much for Alexandra Moen to do in this concluding part, but she does it well. John Simm is also strong as the increasingly unhinged and camp Master, who arrives into the story dancing to the Scissor Sisters’ I Can’t Decide on the deck of the Valiant. He is manically energetic, the perfect counterpoint to David Tennant’s Doctor. It’s just a shame that David Tennant is either in prosthetics or a CGI Dobby for the majority of this story. Simm’s Master always gives me goosebumps with the way he sings Martha’s name as he walks down the street as well – it is marvellously creepy. Allowing himself to die just to spite the Doctor also feels like a quintessential thing for the Master to do, even if it does remind me of how the show brings this incarnation back in The End of Time. But that’s a story for that review.

This is a strong story for Martha, who has not had the strongest series. She is my favourite Tenth Doctor companion, despite it feeling like the show didn’t really know what to do with her at times, except for her crucially not to be Rose. Whilst Human Nature and Family of Blood allow Martha to show her importance to the Doctor, Last of the Time Lords shows her resilience and skills to travel an occupied world to spread the word of the Doctor to the survivors of the Master’s cull. By the end of the story, Martha has realised that her feelings for the Doctor are unrequited, and her departure scene is wonderfully acted. I remember watching this story on first transmission and not knowing whether or not Freema Agyeman was continuing into Series 4, and being disappointed that she was leaving the show, but encouraged by the fact that the door is open for her to return. Another part of her reasoning for leaving is the impact that the events of this story on her parents and sister. There’s no denying that they do have a rough time in this story, being forced into servitude to the Master. There is a really lovely moment for Adjoa Andoh’s Francine, who nearly kills the Master, right after Martha has stepped out of the TARDIS for the second time, where she smiles when she realises that Martha is going to stay.

The Tenth Doctor is a deeply flawed incarnation, and nothing highlights that more than Series 3. The whole arc at the end of the series are caused by his mistakes, starting with the deposition of Harriet Jones all the way back in The Christmas Invasion. Tennant is really good in this story, even if he features really at the end of the story. Ending the story as the last of the Time Lords yet again gives him a truly sad ending, especially as both Jack and Martha go back to their lives.

Verdict: Last of the Time Lords is flawed, and carried through by the performances of Tennant, Simm, Agyeman and Moen. A disappointing ending to this three-part finale. 5/10

Cast: David Tennant (The Doctor), Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones), John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), John Simm (The Master), Adjoa Andoh (Francine Jones), Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Tish Jones), Trevor Laird (Clive Jones), Reggie Yates (Leo Jones), Alexandra Moen (Lucy Saxon), Tom Ellis (Thomas Milligan), Ellie Haddington (Professor Docherty), Tom Golding (Lad), Natasha Alexander (Woman) and Zoe Thorne, Gerard Logan and Johnnie Lyne-Pirkis (Sphere Voices).

Writer: Russell T Davies

Director: Colin Teague

Producer: Phil Collinson

Composer: Murray Gold

Original Broadcast Date: 30 June 2007

Behind the Scenes

• The final episode to feature an on-screen credit for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Whilst their funding for the series would continue into the next series, they would not receive an on-screen recognition of this.
• The only series finale of the first Russell T Davies era not to feature the Daleks.

Cast Notes

• Zoe Thorne provided the voice of the Gelth ambassador in The Unquiet Dead.

Best Moment

It has to be the final exchange between the Doctor and the Master.

Best Quote

Dying in your arms. Happy now?

You’re not dying, don’t be stupid. It’s only a bullet. Just regenerate.

No.

One little bullet, come on.

I guess you don’t know me so well. I refuse.

Regenerate. Just regenerate. Please. Please! Just regenerate! Come on!

And spend the rest of my life imprisoned with you?!

But you’ve got to. Come on. It can’t end like this. You and me, all the things we’ve done. Axons, remember the Axons? And the Daleks? We’re the only two left. I have no one else. REGENERATE!

How about that? I win! Will it stop, Doctor? The drumming. Will it stop?

The Master and the Tenth Doctor

Previous Tenth Doctor review: The Sound of Drums

For more Tenth Doctor reviews, click here.