Doctor Who: Utopia, Sound of Drums and Last of the Timelords

[Yukaphile]

@CrypticMirror Well I am not transphobic in the slight. Let's not pretend there's not an element of gender division, misogyny, and transphobia in this. Hell, 19 years ago, I even wanted to become a girl - back when I was still too young to understand. But if it was possible to transition without incident and go back to being male without a problem and be 100% the way you were before, I'd probably do it - curiosity and all that. The problem is that it isn't, so I can't. SF Debris, bless his soul, is still a bit old-fashioned in that regard in that he'd find it uncomfortable as he said in "Profit and Lace." I'd be willing to try and explore it, not just as a male's brain (get your head out of the gutter, pervs), but in trying to spot and see if there really IS any difference as some people think and claim. I hate gender division because sometimes it can feel as vast and insurmountable as a two-kilometer chasm, and it should not, because men and women, and whether they transition, what our identities are, there's no real difference.

[Sir Will]

I've been waiting for Chuck to tackle these episodes since he first showed them on his schedule. While I was looking forward to seeing Stolen Earth/Journey's End being torn a new one (which I hope will still be the case), this was a nice alternative.

They coming. But torn a new one for what? They were great episodes.

[Nealithi]

I may sound bad asking this, but did they give an explanation as to the gender changes for the master and the Doctor? Because if they didn't. . . Well I have a head canon.

My head canon is that when the Gallifreans became the time lords they found they could tap alternate 'possible' timestreams to preserve their knowledge by 'regenerating' a body from a failed line into the main timeline. But the change would reflect some of what was being faced at the time of regeneration. They limited the process to twelve as both a 'mystic' number for them and to keep the randomness in check. So by the Master and the Doctor going past twelve regenerations the flood gates are opened to what 'may be'. So you can get greater variation in the regenerations after twelve. Just my thought to tie it together.

[DanteC]

I'm sure I saw this scene when it was originally broadcast in Sound of Drums but didn't see it in later recordings, Martha phoning the doctor (actual medical doctor, not psychic Dobby) from the time reset and hanging up on him (you're a trainee doctor Martha, you know how busy the NHS is, shame on you!). Am I just imagining things? Cause the only reason I'd watch these episodes is for either Derek Jacobi or Tom Ellis (really surprised Chuck didn't do a Lucifer joke when he turned up).

[Linkara]

UGH I forgot about him friggin' FLYING during the finale. Terrible, just terrible. My mother and I watched Last of the Time Lords back when they first came out and we both absolutely despised that ending. It was ridiculous and silly and frankly Chuck's idea of it all being in the Master's head was a good one and I would have accepted it better if that had been the case, but the friggin' Tinkerbelle "Everyone clap and say the Doctor's name and he'll magic away his cage and go back to being a normal boy with superpowers" is just so dumb and ludicrous.

Frankly, Simm's Master was SO much better away from RTD at the end of 12's run. He had a better suit, a better demeanor... basically reminded me of Anthony Ainley - still a bit of a cackling villain, still had some of his humor, but darker, full of disguises, and arrogantly always assuming he was on top.

[Aotrs Commander]

I also forget the flying thing. In fact, I had clearly wiped it from my mind even by the time I posted last just after watching the review, since I forgot to comment like I'd intended to on how pants it was...!

Frankly, Simm's Master was SO much better away from RTD at the end of 12's run. He had a better suit, a better demeanor... basically reminded me of Anthony Ainley - still a bit of a cackling villain, still had some of his humor, but darker, full of disguises, and arrogantly always assuming he was on top.

Yeah, I was extremely psyched to hear Simms was making a return and he really knocked it out of the park, I think, there.

(That was cracking arc - Master and actual Mondasian Cybermen and the Doctor kinda didn't even win, really. Highlight of the that series, for me, the only downside being having to say goodbye to Nardol.)



Tangentially related, thinking of good bad guys returning, for the last series, given that I dropped out three episodes in because I was just not being grabbed by anything (at gave up at the point I realised I would forcing myself to watch it) and yet rather enjoyed the New Year's Special, a sprinkling of Daleks, Cybermen and/or Master is what 13 needs next season, I think and she'll do fine. (At least as far as I'm concerned... And, I guess, if not, I'll wait until somethng changes as I can get back into it.)

[Jonathan101]

The thing to remember is that Davies is an atheist, but he's the sort of atheist who thinks that religion is fascinating without really understanding it; he doesn't really LIKE it either I don't think, but he does feel that it fulfils some primal human "need" in many people. In fact he originally worked with Christopher Eccleston in a drama where Eccleston played a man who announced that he was the Second Coming of Jesus and that the End Times are upon us, only to learn that this will take the form of God and the Devil closing up Heaven and Hell and humanity being left on it's own from now on to build a better world by themselves.

In the season 1 finale, we see this theme when it's revealed that the Daleks have gone insane in the form of turning to religion and worshipping their Emperor as a god, and the Emperor believing it; in season 2, it's people believing in an afterlife and thinking that their loved ones have come back to them in the form of ghosts, only for it to turn out they are an alien invasion.

That's pretty much what happens with the Doctor here- he's not turning into a superhero, he's turning into Jesus, being powered by the faith of the surviving human race, coming back from a metaphorical death, and defeating the Master with the power of forgiveness. While I thought it was pretty ridiculous and disappointing at the time like everyone else, I can see that his intention seems to have flown over the head of audiences less familiar with his work and personality.

I'll also add that with regards to the gun being silly and the Master being dumb for falling for it, it wasn't because a gun in four parts was a weird concept per say; rather, as the Doctor says, it's ridiculous because it means the Master thought that the Doctor asked one of his companions to kill, and that is something the Doctor just wouldn't do ever, and the Master should have known better. Again, a case of intentions versus reception it seems.

[Linkara]

I don't think the gun in four parts is a bad idea either, frankly. I didn't find that idea ridiculous at all that they'd have a weapon like that to kill the Doctor or Master permanently if they needed to. And of course that couldn't have been what the Doctor whispered. Why would he whisper "Just FYI - there's a gun in four parts that will kill a Time Lord. Go get it."? What was ridiculous was him whispering "Use the Countdown." Like... how did he know there'd be a countdown? And why would Martha know what the hell to do with that information, anyway?

[Jonathan101]

Unpopular opinion- I thought the Master was WASTED at the end of Moffat / Capaldis' run.

You could take Missy and the Master out of that story (at least the second part) and change nothing. He was set up to be the main villain, and he ended up a supporting character falling around with himself (literally).

Good performance, pointless role.

[FaxModem1]

This is going to make me sound a bit out there, but I rather enjoyed the climax of Last of the Time Lords. It's stupid, and cheesy, and it could have definitely been reworked to actually make sense, as being a psychic battle in the Master's head, as Chuck noted, but I still love it for the emotional climax it is.

The episode does fail, as other commentators have noted, in trying to uave us feel sad for the Master's death and it's effect on the Doctor. This climaxes in The End of Time, in all of this could have been avoided if the Doctor just had the stones to just shoot the Master in the head, and makes us sit watching pointless needling about it.

And yeah, Captain Jack was utterly wasted.

All that said, I still enjoy this three parter. If for no other reason, as I said before, we see who the Master is when he wins. He's a tyrant who destroys everything he touches.