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BBC The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords |
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| Story No. | 200-201 |  |
| Production Code | Series Three Episodes Twelve and Thirteen | |
| Dates | June 23 and 30 2008 |
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With David Tennant, Freema Agyeman
Written by Russell T Davies Directed by Colin Teague Executive Producers: Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner. |
| Synopsis: The Master has assumed control of the Earth. |
Last of the Russell Scripts by Dom Kelly 17/6/08
(I'm referring to this as just Last of the Time Lords for this review. Dunno why, I just am)
It's hard to look at Last of the Time Lords as anything but the ultimate end result of the Russell T Davies era of Doctor Who. Like the very era that it appears to draw to a close, Last of the Time Lords is capable of powerfully fantastic scenes and ridiculously puerile scenes. It's everything that Russell T Davies has ever wanted to say condensed and honed into 95 minutes of footage, and it's an incredible experience.
In terms of basic story structure, Last of the Time Lords is Russell doing epic as he's wanted to do every single season finale. Bad Wolf was the end result of a season's worth of "Bad Wolf" references, of the Rose-holding-back-the-Doctor's-darkness relationship, of the Ninth Doctor himself (and Captain Jack, to an extent). However, it was set in the far future, which immediately divorced itself from Rose's actual place of origin and thus meant that Jackie and Mickey made brief cameos at best, which certainly defeated the whole purpose of their support in Series One. In Doomsday this was thrown on the opposite side of the coin; Jackie, Mickey and Pete were all integrated directly into the story, and there were links to Harriet Jones (who only got a brief mention, but was whose mention was certainly important for Series Three's progression), as well as the end result of a season's worth of "Torchwood" references, which then allowed the series Torchwood to spurt out as the illegitimate (but interesting) lovechild. However, Doomsday, unlike Bad Wolf, was forced to sideline its enemies as a result; a Cyberman vs. Dalek war should have felt momentous and powerful, yet Captain Jack and a couple of news reporters shooting at Daleks in Bad Wolf somehow had more impact as a depiction of war. Worse, Doomsday ended up being a tired run-around with no real plot at all, and simply ended in a manner that was deliberately geared to deal with Rose and her family. And, finally, the last thing these stories both have in common is a get-out clause from the danger at hand, which is magic yet annoyingly unrealistic at the same time (what an odd criticism!); Rose absorbs the TARDIS power and destroys the Daleks with a wave of her hand, whereas the Doctor opens a hole and the Daleks and Cybermen are sucked in.
Last of the Time Lords manages to be the first of the three finales, then, to actually balance the epic side of things and the domestic side of things really well. All right, so Leo's buggered off who knows where, but elsewhere Martha's family are very much woven into the narrative. It was Martha's mother, after all, who spent the second half of Series Three, post-The Lazarus Experiment, confiding in Mr Saxon's agents, which unknowingly betrays Martha. Not only are the mother and father taken, but Tish is too, and all are forced to wait on the Master's every need. A fascinating scene is the three of them arguing over which of them will kill the Master in the end, and it's not just talk either, as, say, Mickey's macho posing in Doomsday is; Martha's mum actually picks up a gun and is fully prepared to shoot the Master before the Doctor makes her realise that that'll make her no better than him (of course). On the other hand, we have the epic, which also works rather well. There are the Toclafane, which allow, ala Bad Wolf and Doomsday, the surprise appearance of a previously acquainted species, and there are scenes of them falling from the skies in the same ways that Daleks tore out of their spaceship in Bad Wolf, or the Cybermen appeared throughout the world in Doomsday. Better yet, the Toclafane are even more interesting than both of the aforementioned races, being far stronger in numbers, and much weaker and more futile alone.
The Paradox Machine helps Russell T Davies establish the epic nature of the script without compromising anything. Previously, with stories such as Aliens of London and The Christmas Invasion, Russell has been forced to show through stories such as Love & Monsters how such catastrophic alien encounters can shake up the British public for a day or two and then disappear into obscurity. It worked, but also felt a tad silly; furthermore, it meant that, in Doomsday, Russell could only allow himself to have one person on the street shot, which meant that the whole Dalek/Cyberman war didn't even really extend beyond Torchwood Tower (or whatever the building is called). Here, Russell finally stops being cautious. In the buildup at the end of episode one, after all, it's difficult to speculate as to how the Doctor can possibly cover up what the Master's done as he has before; the president has been shot and the Master, posing as prime minister, has betrayed his people on air and allowed millions of Toclafane to rain down and destroy everything. In the second part, which is set a year later, it's immediately obvious that these things finally have consequences, that most of the human race has been destroyed, that the Master really does rule everything. The Paradox Machine allows Russell to show us a disturbing image of what would happen if the Master won without so drastically changing contemporary Earth as to make, say, the next companion's opening story a story set in a destroyed city.
People have criticised the Paradox Machine for being a far too obvious way for everything to be reverted to normal, but I think this is missing the point. The Master needs the Paradox Machine to have the Toclafane kill their own ancestors without any ill effects, and therefore it's obvious from the outset that things cannot possibly be this way. In the end, it's worth pointing out that even though things are restored to normal at the end of the story, everyone still remembers their experiences. If you think about it, Martha remembering the Master's regime and it affecting her personality is no different to Martha remembering the events of The Family of Blood and that affecting her, despite John Smith being a paradox of sorts himself. It has an impact on the characters, and that's the important bit.
Anyway, it also means that, for the first time, a deus ex machina ending is signposted way in advance in a finale, and it makes its use much more conceivable than, say, Rose using the TARDIS or the hole in Doomsday (I know that both were technically signposted to an extent, but they still felt incredibly tacked on and, well, tacky). Unfortunately though, as if addicted to the idea of magical endings, Russell for some reason decides that we need the Doctor to be rejuvenated by millions of people across the world thinking the word "Doctor", which tips the balance into silliness.
Last of the Time Lords is the ultimate expulsion of Russell T Davies' desire for constant political satire (or perhaps more accurately, political comment) in the series, too. In Aliens of London, there were obvious digs at 9/11 and its ramifications, including the inept capabilities of the security forces. In The Long Game, there were digs at the media and its censoring of the news - and the use of emphasis on particular words to create fabrications within the truth. There was more political satire in Boom Town and The Christmas Invasion as well. Last of the Time Lords, then, goes much, much further. A charismatic and slightly strange posh man in a suit rises to Prime Minister and screws over his country; the Tony Blair parody is obvious. Having that said, though, it's interesting that the Master kills off the American president whereas most parodies would depict the Blair character as kissing the Bush character's arse. In fact, I'm not certain why the President remains dead by the end of the story, either; is this Russell finally killing off the man he truly hates? Or is there going to be some continuity springing from here? Then, almost as an extension of The Long Game, Saxon's satellite network is mind-altering and manipulative, forcing the public, unknowingly, to vote for him against their own will, and to tap endlessly. We even get, ala the Blue Peter parody in Aliens of London and the Eastenders scene in Doomsday, appearances from barely-famous people telling us to "Vote Saxon!", such as boy band McFly.
All of the political satire is here interesting, and that's mainly because of Harriet Jones. Now, Harriet isn't at all in this story, but her presence is, strangely, felt throughout. If we think about it, it was the Doctor who ended her regime, and then inadvertently caused a worse regime with Saxon at its head; could this be a prophetic forewarning about the Blair to Brown changeover? I do really marvel at Russell's vision in showing us a continued political interest in all of these alien invasions and the Doctor's reaction to these, because even if they get a bit preachy and too politically minded at times, it's sometimes fascinating to see just how they deal with it all.
In an interview for DWM, Russell said he had decided against bringing back the Master up until Last of the Time Lords because he hadn't worked out how to write him. If anything, it's much easier now to look back at the previous series and see his efforts at trial runs of just this. Simon Pegg playing the Editor in The Long Game? If that's not an attempt at creating a Master-like character, then I don't know what is. The same applies, albeit less so, for Headmaster Finch (his name even has "master" in it!) in School Reunion. Yes, I'm aware that Russell didn't write that episode, but his hands were certainly all over it (Toby Whithouse didn't even know Doctor Who continuity, after all). In Last of the Time Lords, Russell has quite obviously clocked how he's going to do the Master - just as in Series Three the Doctor is much better portrayed. John Simm is both cheeky and nasty at the same time. He's been described as the Anti-Tennant (which makes for some interesting speculation; what would the Anti-Eccleston have been, then? Robert Carlyle?), and it's evident to see why. The jokey nature of his character is set directly from the moment that he enters the cabinet and insults everyone, pulling silly faces, and then gasses them to death, giving the thumbs up as he does so. Later examples include the "What has reduced you to this? Oh, that's right... Me! Ha ha!" speech, and his obsession with pop music. Remembering Chris Eccleston dancing to Soft Cell and Britney Spears in The End of the World, and Dave Tennant deciding to dance his socks off in Tooth and Claw, it is rather interesting that the Master does the same here. To be honest, I feel that this works better: I'm not at all enamoured with the songs, but at least both, lyrically, do have some relevance to what's happening on screen, and there's something inherently fascinating - and despicably evil - about a villain who listens to pop music.
Speaking of dancing... Last of the Time Lords also does some interesting things to the "companion as lover" concept that Russell has been throwing at us since Series One. It's very easy to compare the Doctor and the Master here, because both acquire blonde female companions. However, the difference between them is quite pronounced too. Since Mrs Saxon in episode one is enjoying herself but not intruding on the Master's business, it's easy to see her as Rose in Series One. Now, Rose in Series Two suddenly decided to become too big for her boots, smug and needing compliments every five seconds, which the Doctor annoyingly succumbed to. However, it's slightly redeemed because here it's easy to determine that Lucy Saxon must have gotten too big for her boots too, and what did the Master do? Well, I'm not entirely sure - apparently she was supposed to have a black eye, but it was so subtle that it didn't show up on camera - but we do see the Master acquiring many other female companions, and Lucy does shoot him at the end. Whatever he did to her must have been bad and it really makes the Master feel like a much nastier version of the Doctor, who would never do such a thing, no matter how much they have in common. Some people have suggested, since she picks up the ring at the end, that this was a prearranged assassination on the Master's behalf (ala Snape and Dumbledore in Harry Potter), but this implies that Lucy has unwavering loyalty to him and I doubt this if he beats her up (even though it's possible). Ultimately, I feel that she despised him; however, if she returns in Series Four and the above speculation turns out to be true, I'll not only eat my hat but vomit on it in surprise.
Oh, as if the comparisons weren't enough, what other Doctor/Master comparisons do we have in this story? The Master has a laser screwdriver, which completely and utterly shits all over the Doctor's (annoyingly overused) sonic - and it appears to have isomorphic controls too, so the Master's a paranoid and self-serving bugger. What's interesting is that the Master decides to punish the Doctor by aging him considerably and imprisoning him (although the little troll bit goes way too far), which, presumably, is a deliberate revenge act against him being forced to spend a long life in Professor Yana's body.
Which leads me nicely on to the Time War. Russell's investigation of the Time War and the effects that it has had on the Doctor reaches its culmination here. The inclusion of the Master compounds this immediately; here's another Time Lord who, despite being a rival, the Doctor wants to keep alive because he wants another of his kind still alive. After saying "We don't have to do this anymore!" furiously in Utopia, the Doctor both says he forgives the Master all his crimes, and then cries out in rage and frustration (a high point of acting from Mr Tennant) when the Master refuses to regenerate and dies in his arms. The burning of the Master's body is a tidying up act for the Doctor, a final destruction of all hope he had of his people ever being restored in any form.
All of this is nicely supported by our first (New Series) glimpse of Gallifrey, marvel that it is (and much better than the shitty sets of the Classic Series, although only on par with the NA and DWM comic versions). We see Time Lords, and, more importantly, we see the initiation ritual into the Academy. The inclusion of the sound of drums in the vortex as a motive for driving the Master mad is very effective, as it both works with past continuity (or doesn't contradict it, I should say ; it even works with Master [the audio], actually) and gives the audience a window into this man's inner workings. If they had of portrayed him as a Delgado/Ainley figure, it would have been lame and very easy for the audience to criticise. I'm also glad that instead of rounding out the Time War pantheon by bringing back the Daleks, Russell did no such thing.
Interestingly, instead he brings in the Toclafane. When Utopia aired, I assumed that the Toclafane and Utopia plot would have no relevance to Last of the Time Lords, and that it was a final ending to the future human arc. If anything, the final ending is here; although the Toclafane were but a paradox and could potentially return, I find it unlikely. This really does, more so than Utopia, wrap up Russell's future human arc incredibly well.
In fact, Last of the Time Lords is full of RTD fanwank, except this time he's wanking over his own material. I already mentioned the Harriet Jones plotline, but we also get the return of Captain Jack, which gives a nice window into how Torchwood fits into the Doctor Who universe and marries the two series incredibly well. The Face of Boe explanation is rushed and clumsy, but as a way of tidying up the Russell T Davies era and leaving no threads hanging, it's excusable. Then there's the references to the previous stories in the series, such as The Lazarus Experiment and The Family of Blood (the latter more so in Utopia, admittedly, but still).
And Martha? Well. Martha's exit was highly unexpected, but also rather satisfying. After all, for a lot of fans - and the press, I suspect - Martha has suffered from the "curse of the second album" syndrome, alienating viewers attached to Rose (oh, grow up, you lot - even if Rose didn't), and she was certainly regarded as a "rebound" (Gridlock) by the Doctor and not really a true companion, even though, by the end of Last of the Time Lords, it's obvious that they share great affection for each other. This exit allows Martha and Freema to leave on their own terms without risking staleness in further seasons (even though, yes, she's scheduled to return). And it's worth noting that, despite being apparently second hand, Martha achieves more in Last of the Time Lords than Rose ever did in Bad Wolf and Doomsday.
The "sometimes brilliant, sometimes crud" aspect that I referred to at the start of the review carries over into the production. The acting is of course of a high standard - Tennant in particular excelling here, and not getting anything annoying to say, which is unusual - but there are other points of interest. The direction is absolutely astonishing; particular scenes of note are the Gallifrey scenes where the Master stares into the vortex and the burning of the Master at the end. The music, on the other hand, is both terrible and great. For some reason, Murray Gold peppers some scenes with great, different music, such as the scene where the Master ages the Doctor a second time to a weird warbling effect, but on other occasions he forgoes the pepper and goes instead for the salt, which he pours into the wounded scenes and attempts to remind us, as ever, what emotions we're supposed to be feeling. I will admit that it's harder to care about this when I do genuinely feel a lot more sorry about the death of Master than I do about Rose in Doomsday, but it's still not wholly satisfactory. And, finally, the effects? Mostly really good, other than the hangar that they, er, hang out on (what a bad pun). At any rate, this doesn't really matter.
Last of the Time Lords, or Last of the Russell T Davies Scripts? For all of these reasons, Last of the Time Lords truly does feel like the end of the era. It wraps everything up in spectacular style, whether it be continuity, or simply the messages that Russell puts in the series, whether they be political or life-affirming - such as, which I haven't mentioned yet, the juxtaposition of needing to live life with that of immortality being an absolute curse. This is the ultimate Russell T Davies script, and, whether it may fluctuate in quality or not, it's the perfect time for him to bow out of the series and leave us with an open new slate for the future.
Which, he didn't... and cast Catherine Tate instead. He can be very unpredictable sometimes...