New Who Finales in Perspective: Series 3
Guest contributor Tomas Edwards continues the series looking back over all the New Who finales, this time with Series 3.
Question: why hasn’t there been another three-part finale? Answer: I have no idea, because the one time they did have one, it worked perfectly. Simultaneously feeling like three separate stories (admittedly Utopia feels even more separate than the other two) and one big saga, this is the sort of thing I’d love to see Doctor Who do more often. Having seen the Series 8 finale, this one still remains my favourite Master finale.
“A hermit? With friends?”
The Tenth Doctor is one of my personal favourites, and rarely is he has exhilarating to watch than in this epic story. We see a full range of Tennant’s acting ability, from his confrontations with the Master, to his admiration of Yana, his farewell to Martha and that excellent scene with him reminiscing about Gallifrey (More on that later). It’s on odd choice to replace him with CGI for most of Last of the Time Lords, but Tennant still provides excellent voice acting. Here we see the Doctor truly tested in many ways, first by taking him well out of his comfort zone to the end of the Universe itself, then by bringing him face to face with his greatest nemesis, and the one which whom he has the closest and most personal connection. I think the moment which best shows the hardships this episode put him through is the cliff-hanger to The Sound of Drums. His pure horror and distress at what’s happening is heart-breaking to watch, I remember first seeing it and genuinely thinking this was the end for the Doctor: a fantastic scene.
“Martha Jones, they say, she’s gonna save the world.”
As I probably said in my Smith and Jones article, Martha is an often forgotten character, dismissed as being a lovesick puppy and generally the weakest companion of New Who. However, this episode does nothing but prove that assertion wrong. Yes, she loves the Doctor. But as we see in Last of the Time Lords she learns and develops and grows to realise that she really doesn’t need him. Her exit is one of my favourites (that I’ve seen, which, for shame, is not a massive list), as it truly sums up the journey her character has been on, and feels like the best possible end for the character. But also throughout the adventure we so her growing away from the Doctor. At first we just have some snarky comments about Rose in Utopia, and then in The Sound of Drums we see her go against the Doctor and try to stop the Master capturing her family. Finally in Last of the Time Lords we learn she’s walked the Earth to save the Doctor, and see that she truly is his equal, something that she herself realises, bringing her time on the TARDIS to a satisfactory close.
“I…am…the Master.”
It is potentially controversial for me to say this (and I want it known that I adore Roger Delgado nonetheless), but I definitely prefer the Master in the new series to the classics, and that John Simm and Derek Jacobi are my favourite and second favourite Masters, respectively. The additions to his character made in this story (the drumbeat in his head and the more heightened levels of insanity) greatly added to the character I found, making him both a more enjoyable character to watch on screen (the gas mask scene always has me cracking up) and simultaneously a deeply unsettling villain. The way he dances to the Scissor Sisters before ordering the decimation of the Human race reinforces how sadistic he is, and John Simm perfectly finds the balance between hilarity and terror. Although his character reaches yet greater heights in The End of Time, the seeds for that excellence are sewn here, and prove to be outstanding themselves. Meanwhile, Jacobi’s short stint as the Master was chilling and perfectly brought the character to 21st century audiences.
“I’m the man that can’t ever die.”
Captain Jack Harkness; some hate him; most love him. And one of them is me. Although it’s doubtless that John Barrowman’s lovable rogue is at his best in Torchwood, his appearances in the parent show are still deeply enjoyable experiences. His chemistry with David Tennant is stellar, the mutual respect and initial apprehension between the two men is exhilarating to watch, and their best moment together has got to be the scene in Utopia when they discuss Jack’s immortality. Having never seen Torchwood when I first watched this episode, it was the first proper insight into this aspect of his character, and my word is it a good one. The dialogue from RTD is superlative (it’s an area I’ve often felt he excels in), and the delivery flawless. Jack’s musings over still being alive at the end of the Universe are an interesting thought, even if the reference to the Face of Boe suggests he won’t live that long. Nonetheless, the idea that he is Boe is an ingenious one, and I love the ambiguity of it.
“Human race; greatest monsters of them all.”
There are two monsters present in this finale. In Utopia the Doctor and co. face off against the brutal tribe of Futurekind, while in the next two episodes the Master uses the Toclafane to invade Earth. Both species represent twisted and disturbing possibilities for what humanity will become, bring Series 3’s exploration of human nature and our uglier side to a satisfactory conclusion. The Toclafane in particular are highly effective monsters, their childlike voices and attitudes disturbingly juxtaposed to their horrific actions. Although we see very few of their killings up close, we hear and see enough to show just how ruthless they are, putting them, in my humble opinion, on a par with the likes of the Cybermen and Daleks regarding their sheer danger and brutality. The revelation that they are the Humans the Doctor sent to Utopia is a horrific one, and really delivers a gut-punch to the audience. This is, in my view, dark Doctor Who at its best.
“You built this system out of food and string and staples. Professor, you’re a genius.”
In Utopia we spend most of the episode in the company of Professor Yana, played to perfection by Jacobi. His character is an interesting one, a tired old man who’s genius has gone unnoticed simply because there aren’t many people around to notice it. It’s a rather tragic story, but nowhere near as tragic as the fact that the Professor was a fabrication and this sweet old man was killed so the Master could take his place. If the death of John Smith to allow the Doctor to return to the Universe was heart-breaking, then surely the death of an equally kind man to allow a horrific murderer to live again is on a completely different level. Naturally this element is underplayed in the episode, with the focus being on the excitement and adrenalin generated by what was happened, but in retrospect it is a saddening thought.
“There stood the citadel of the Time Lords”
Perhaps one of the most beautiful scenes in all of Doctor Who is the first time in New Who we get to see Gallifrey, and it is definitely worth the wait. Murray Gold’s music is perfect, perhaps my favourite of his tracks, and it perfectly matches the Doctor’s poetic dialogue and the stunning CGI work. After a quarry and some grey plastic corridors stood in for Gallifrey during the classic series, it’s wonderful to see it in all its rightful glory, with its burnt orange sky and beautiful glass-domed city. The concept of the Untempered Schism is an ingenious one, and provides a dark and interesting insight into both the Doctor and the Master’s pasts, as well as providing a fascinating new element of Time Lord lore.
“And that word… is Doctor.”
Ah, and now we reach the most controversial element of this story, the resolution. I concede, some suspension of disbelief is necessary to believe that the power of thought is enough to reverse the aging effects of the Master’s laser screwdriver, turn the Doctor into a flying, all-powerful pseudo-Jesus being, disintegrate the Doctor’s birdcage and generate a rather cool light-show, however, the above elements are awesome enough to experience that I can forgive the thinness of the explanation. And the concepts of the archangel network and the power of words were already established earlier in the series (in The Sound of Drums and The Shakespeare Code respectively), so it didn’t come completely out of nowhere. And it’s not even the first time Tennant’s Doctor has been portrayed with religious connotations (New Earth being the first example that springs to mind). And I maintain that every person on Earth restoring the Doctor to his previous age through the power of thought (with the aid of Gallifreyan technology) is no less believable than one person restoring the Doctor to having ever existed through the power of thought (with the aid of a time crack). And I’m not knocking that scene from The Big Bang, I find both moments’ bending of my suspension of disbelief acceptable because the execution of the scenes was so exquisite.
Conclusion
Overall, I think that this three-part epic of a finale is an excellent example of how the end of a series ought to be done. It ties things up and gives us a few things to think about, it says goodbye to an excellent character in an excellent way, incorporates a stellar villain, a terrifically grand plot which is paced intelligently across the three episodes and the return of a much-loved old friend and it has a mass of memorable moments.
Rating
The following ratings were achieved by taking a sample of ten people and getting them to rate the finales by each of the five criteria assigning a rating out of ten to each. This allowed us to come up with an average for each of the categories and then an average score for the episode. Whilst ten is quite a small sample size, regression to the mean was beginning to show. The results for this finale are as follows:
- Episode Score – 9.10/10
- Finale Rating – 8.95/10
- Monster Score – 8.90/10
- Arc Resolution – 9.10/10
- Character Development – 9.20/10
This gives the episode an average score of: 9.05/10. This means that the leader board now looks like this:
- Series 1 – 9.40/10
- Series 3 – 9.05/10
- Series 2 – 7.53/10
Join us tomorrow for Series 4!
