Doctor Who The End of Time Part One & Two (2009)

I didn't like this episode at all. Amazing cliffhanger, but the rest was actually bad. The Master is way too over the top. Weird, weird episode.

"Not if President Obama ends the recession tonight!""Here, on Christmas Day, the President has promised an instant and radical solution to the world-wide depression. Barack Obama will lead us all into a new age of prosperity!"*gag* Though hilarious in retrospect. But I must ask, was writer Davies subtly critiquing Obama (or his drooling fangirls)? Naismith, a black man, extols Obama's coming White House presser to the Master: "You might want to see this, sir. Proof that the human race can mend its own problems." Risible, considering that these humans are hijacking alien technology only with the secret help of two different alien species.This show matches the plot holes usual to Doctor Who with superior special effects, but this episode is largely prologue to the superior Part Two.

This episode is a total mess. It has plots here - more plots there - and more over there - and none of them make sense. For example, there's the resurrection of the master and the whole thing with Lucy Saxon and all those people...what happened to them. Then the master's superpowers...where did they come from. Basically I think the point of the episode was to get as many people and special effects into it as possible. I mean, the superpowers aren't even needed for the story - they just ruin it. The whole episode cannot be described as anything more than little odd ideas stuck together by little bits of loose tape that just marginally form the shape of a story.

As time runs out for David Tennant's Doctor an old foe returns and a greater danger lurks in the back ground; not being revealed till the final scene. Even though he was killed in a previous episode followers of The Master have found a way to bring him back. Once back The Master is hungry, very, very hungry and also quite insane; watching him devour a turkey is a sight to behold. The Ood have alerted The Doctor that time is literally running out so he returns to Earth where everybody is being haunted by a dream which nobody except Donna's grand father Wilfred Mott can remember.The Master is captured by a wealthy individual who has taken position of alien technology which can cure anything; including ageing, he expects The Master to repair the machine so he could bestow immortality on his daughter, The Master has another use for it though, a use that will have effects for almost all of humanity and causes Donna's memories to return; memories that could do her serious harm.David Tennant did a fine job as The Doctor but John Simm stole the show being genuinely frightening as the increasingly insane Master, other fine performances were provided by David Harewood as the wealthy Joshua Naismith, Bernard Cribbins as Wilfred Mott and Timothy Dalton as the member or a race we didn't expect to see again. It was nice to see Catherine Tate return as Donna even if it was a comparatively small part compared to her previous appearances. I found the episode was slightly let down by The Master's ability to shoot beams of energy from his hands and leap hundreds of feet into the air, he didn't need these gimmicks and was much more frightening when the camera was close to his face and he was rambling insanely or devouring something. That is only a tiny complaint though and am looking forward to part two.