First vs Last: The Specials Season

[SiHart]

2009- the year of the not all that special specials!

First up at Easter, we had Planet of the Dead- a trip to the desert with giant insects and UNIT.

At the end we had The End of Time itself, with Time Lords, The Master and all that other stuff that they threw into the mix before the regeneration of David Tennant into Matt Smith.

But which do you like best, first or last?

[Si Hunt]

The luck ran out didn't it? Season 4 had continued that trend of New Series Who getting better and better and suddenly it just felt like it had no-where left to go.

Si sums it up perfectly - "Planet of the Dead" from the title down was a not all-that-special special. Sure, Dubai looked beautiful on film but at the end of the day, it was just a desert and that "iconic" image of the bus on the sand just wasn't enough to carry a whole story, let alone a feature length one. So what we got was a fairly bland actress companion, some not especially interesting guest stars, some bog standard insect aliens and not much plot.

I won't go into "What If" territory too much again, but they could have chosen some other ingredients - let's see, a country village, the Autons and some eclectic English actors (Nigel Havers, John Hurt, Leslie Dunlop, Pauline Quirke, those kinds of people) and made the whole thing a lot more interesting and cheaper than this humourless production. I feel they put production values above a decent script.

"The End of Time" too, felt like a big fat pudding of a story, and not in a joyous way like "The Stolen Earth" which, unfortunately, was so extreme and so fun that it took the format to its very limit, leaving this loveless and bloated. It's structured really badly, the first episode featuring some unfunny comedy business with June Whitfield and the Doctor and the Master running round a quarry. Better to have done something else entirely and left the finale as "The End Of Time" Part 2, which isn't too bad. The cactus people are good, there is the lovely "knocking" scene and the last 15 minutes are gorgeous, even if the bloody singing Ood was a return cameo too far.

And the less said about the "sunglasses and hat" scene, the better. Sorry, but this was just the worst scene in the whole of New Doctor Who. I'm not a prude. I'm not against the Doctor having relationships, but the image of the Tennant Doctor loafing out the TARDIS and making a stupid crack about having had sex with the Queen was just crass and undignified. Nasty humour, best exemplified by the joke which, once said, has to be explained twice more in case we didn't get it. Because clearly we are all morons. Go away.

I'm almost tempted to choose "Planet of the Dead" just as a reaction to that scene, but as Part 2 is exciting and, almost, a worthy final flourish, we'll give it to that on the grounds of being slightly less shit.

But oh, how we should have been careful what we wished for! It wouldn't REALLY have hurt for us to have a year off Who would it? Tennant could have bowed out wonderfully in "The Stolen Earth", and all the money could have gone into making Matt Smith's first season better. We'd have coped.

Si.

[stuartdg]

I enjoy Planet of the Dead a great deal,its the Doctor having fun but it all feels a bit inconsequential


End of Time is a decent payoff to the Tennant era wrapping everything up in suitably epic fashion,so it gets my vote

[Philipnet]

I didn't like the End of Time.
Timothy Dalton as the head Evil Timelord - nah!
Planet of the Dead it is - just!

[SiHart]

I don't really like either of them. Planet of the Dead is a slight tale at best and The End of Time is dreary and dull, miserable and unmemorable.

So Planet of the Dead because if nothing else, it's over quickly.

[Rob McCow]

There are some aspects of 'The End of Time' that I like, whereas 'Planet of The Dead' really has nothing to recommend it.

[Si Hunt]

Blimey. It's unusual to find a Doctor Who that Steve really detests. But fair enough, it's a very bland and unloveable tale. I've not really any idea of what it was about either. I want to say something about flying bats but who knows where those bug eyed aliens fitted in.

Si.

[Terry Leptil]

It has to be The End of Time, a fitting end for David Tennant with memorable moments such as Timothy Dalton as Rassilon (spitting as he shouts his lines), Bernard Cribbins tagging along for the ride and John Simm's creepy OTT performance as the Master with guest cameos at the end by the 10th Doctor's companions and an unexpected twist. It has eveything you could want. What more do you need?

[Si Hunt]

Something less than five hours long and a plot?

Si.

[SiHart]

Something a little less self indulgent?

[Si Hunt]

Less self-indulgence I say.

"The Next Universe" - coming soon folks!

Si.

[SiHart]

That's different... at least it's fun!

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Dear me, I admit that Part One of TEOT is a bit unnecessarily bleak (although coming after The Waters of Mars it was always going to be) but I loved Part Two, again despite the convenient way the nonsensical Time Lord business with the impossible diamond falling to earth from inside a Time-locked planet is all dealt with.
It must have really caught some people on a bad day I guess. 1st January 2010 was my nephew's fourth birthday so I was in quite a good mood although I found the two EastEnders eps either side of Who really were quite difficult viewing.

That said much as it was a bit of a non consequential story I also rather liked Planet of the Dead.

[J.R. Southall]

If this had been The Next Doctor vs The End of Time, voting would have been so much easier!

As it is, the last twenty minutes of Tennant pretty much make up for the rest of a pretty messy double-special, so it got the vote for that. But oh how much better, and more memorable (and more appropriate), it might have been, had the Daleks been involved as well!

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Very true. If RTD had known that Moffat was going to use them for one mediocre episode and then effectively mothball them for goodness knows how long he'd have been perfectly justified in bringing them back alongside the Time Lords as originally planned.

[Si Hunt]

Something went very wrong there didn't it. I can't imagine, if they had the time again, they'd choose to bring back the Daleks in the fourth episode of the first series then never use them as the major villains for years again.

It's hard to believe it was as simple as the design being hated. I'm surprised that stopped them. After all, no-one liked the whole 'huge 2 year story arc that doesn't make sense' thing and they barrelled on with that regardless.

Si.

[J.R. Southall]

The craziest thing is, the whole point of Victory of the Daleks is that it's a reboot for them, a new beginning. And it only works if there's another appearance close afterwards taking up the baton and cementing the reboot in the public's minds. The barrage of toys has probably done that job considerably more effectively than the TV show has itself.

[Si Hunt]

I totally agree. It's a prelude without a Chapter 1. I wonder why they gave up on them?

Si.

[Larry]

Pretty much agree with what every body says about Planet of the Dead a very uninspiring story that I have very little desire to watch again.

The End Of Time, loved the return of the Master, and The Time Lords for me this is how they should be and not the wimpish ones of the classic series - and who couldn't feal a tear or two when Wilf, tells The Doctor to take his gun because he dosen't want him to die. I felt David Harewood, was wasted in this and also the re-set safety switch use for Donna spoilt the ending of Journey's End. Didn't really like every one becoming the Master, and The Doctor, even being able to find Martha and Jack really made no sense at all. The drawn out re-generation seemed to be nothing more than RTD indulging himself and I think would of worked much better if the Doctor, had just visited Rose.

certainly neither of them are as good as Waters of Mars, but of the two End of Time despite it's faults is by far the better .

[Zbigniev Hamson]

Dear oh dear what a poor selection. What a disappointing year all round. We were expecting a few specials spread throughout the year, instead we got 1 in Easter, 1 in November and then 2 at Christmas. And they weren't that special. The Waters of Mars was the only one I can remember enjoying at all, but it's not on the cards here so I've had to go for Planet of the Dead for the simple reason that it doesn't have the Master in a dress in it. Or a sickly sweet extended up-its-own arse ending.

[Andrew Curnow]

I've only seen Planet of the Dead that one time, but quite enjoyed it - Lee Evans was surprisingly good, and it had something of a 'romp' about it.

The End of Time, first time out, I really didn't like, and was left feeling very unimpressed (except with Bernard Cribbins' scenes). But watching it again a year later (with Zel, who'd managed to go a whole 12 months without seeing it!) I liked it a lot more. I still think the 'visiting old companions' sequence is a bit indulgent, and part 1 is particularly bad (the faff with the Master's revival, etc) but overall it's not too bad. Like ZH, I think Waters of Mars was probably the best of this batch, but I'm going for End of Time.

[Alex Me]

Hmm a surprisingly poor choice here. Not really a fan of either, I dislike the "stealing is ok if you are only doing it for fun" aesop of Planet of the Dead, and End of Time sets up loads of exciting things in its first half but really fails to deliver on it.

End of Time gets the vote for given us another outing of the Simm's master even if he is somewhat sidelined when the time lords turn up.

[brandynigma]

It's the End of Time for me, mainly for Part Two.

Overall, Part One should have been shortened to about 15 minutes (Doctor visits the Ood Planet as the Master is resurrected BY NAISMITH, getting him to the plot a bit quicker) and tacked on to Part Two to make a movie length special.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

After all, no-one liked the whole 'huge 2 year story arc that doesn't make sense' thing and they barrelled on with that regardless.

Si.

2 year? So does that mean it's actually over then? So did we ever get any real explanation of what the Silence really are, or want, or where there special Lodger TARDIS comes from? Or are we not meant to ask? Oh... or why there was a big stone wall outside the TARDIS doors when River was trying to get out. Yeah you're right it doesn't make sense. Maybe it is over, maybe it isn't. Who can even tell.

[Stuart Wallis]

2 year? So does that mean it's actually over then? So did we ever get any real explanation of what the Silence really are, or want, or where there special Lodger TARDIS comes from? Or are we not meant to ask? Oh... or why there was a big stone wall outside the TARDIS doors when River was trying to get out. Yeah you're right it doesn't make sense. Maybe it is over, maybe it isn't. Who can even tell.

Or why Amy didn't recognise the Daleks etc.

Anyway...

All TEoT has going for it is Timothy Dalton and Bernard Cribbins. The story - what there is of it - doesn't get going until episode 2; has characters who don't really contribute much, if anything; and really marks the start of the current tide of plotholes - why was the TARDIS shown in the stained glass, who was the woman in white, and why was she there?; has a villain that's embarrassing by being two sandwiches standing in for a picnic, he's that bonkers; and needs the ending shortened by about a quarter of an hour.

All PotD has going for it is Lee Evans and a running time less than half that of TEoT. If I were forced to watch one of them again, I'd hope it were PotD. As it is, I'm in no hurry to see either of them again.