The End of Time: Part One 

The Ood have given a warning to The Doctor. The Master is returning yet that is not the biggest threat. A darkness is coming which brings with it The End of Time.

Director:

Euros Lyn

Writers:

Russell T. Davies, Steven Moffat (showrunner)

Stars:

David Tennant, John Simm, Bernard Cribbins

1 win.

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
David Tennant	...	The Doctor
John Simm	...	The Master
Bernard Cribbins	...	Wilfred Mott
Timothy Dalton	...	The Narrator
Catherine Tate	...	Donna Noble
Jacqueline King	...	Sylvia Noble
Claire Bloom	...	The Woman
June Whitfield	...	Minnie Hooper
David Harewood	...	Joshua Naismith
Tracy Ifeachor	...	Abigail Naismith
Sinéad Keenan	...	Addams (as Sinêad Keenan)
Lawry Lewin	...	Rossiter
Alexandra Moen	...	Lucy Saxon
Karl Collins	...	Shaun Temple
Teresa Banham	...	Governor

Storyline

Forewarned and with a sense of foreboding, The Doctor races to return to Earth fearing that The Master will somehow return. He has good reason to worry since The Masters minions have in fact found a way to reconstitute him. Re-united with Wilfred Mott, The Doctor desperately tries to locate The Master only to find that he is being held by Joshua and Abigail Naismith who are using alien technology to create a new future for Earth. It's too late however, for The Master has now turned everyone on Earth into his own image. Little does he realize the greater danger that awaits them all.

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Plot Keywords:

master | tenth doctor | u.s. president | pinching cheek | ood | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Family | Mystery | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Did You Know?

Trivia

Brian Cox (Elder Ood Voice) would later be cast as Sydney Newman, the creator of Doctor Who, in An Adventure in Space and Time (2013).

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Goofs

After the Master has asked the Doctor to listen to the drumbeats in his head, when he takes his hands away there is an obvious dirty thumbprint on the Doctor's left temple. When the camera next cuts back to the Doctor the thumbprint has vanished.

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Quotes

[first lines]
The Narrator: It is said that in the final days of planet Earth, everyone has bad dreams. To the west of the north of that world, the human race did gather in celebration of a pagan rite to banish the cold and the dark. Each and every one of those people had dreamt of the terrible things to come, but they forgot, because they must. They forgot their nightmares of fire and war and insanity. They forgot, except for one.

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Crazy Credits

John Simm is the first villain in the new Doctor Who series to have his name featured in the opening credits alongside David Tennant and Bernard Cribbins.

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Connections

Featured in Doctor Who Confidential: Lords and Masters (2009)

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Soundtracks

Merry Xmas Everybody
(uncredited)
Written by Noddy Holder and Jim Lea
Performed by Slade

User Reviews

The End of an Era

On the one hand I think this is a hugely underrated, very high quality story but on the other hand I do not think this was the finale the 10th Doctor deserved. Russell T. Davies era comes to an end with a very good story but not one of Davies best. Having treated us with stories like Midnight, Turn Left, The Stolen Earth and The Waters of Mars in his recent writing efforts he seemed to slightly over extend his ideas in this story. I still think it gets very overly harshly judged by some fans because I think it is actually very good but I do think it was a step down from Davies' best writing efforts which is a shame when it was the last one for him and for David Tennant's era.

Loads in this story is of top standard. It is exciting, fun and emotionally strong. It features his great nemesis the Master as well as the powerful aspects about the return of the Time Lords. It has superb acting from Tennant, John Simm, Timothy Dalton and the wonderful Bernard Cribbins. It has a mysterious cameo from Claire Bloom and a small, touching return for Catherine Tate as the great companion Donna. It is very well produced with effects, filming, music, direction etc all at top level. It has some amazing dialogue, particularly between Tennant and Cribbins which are extremely moving right up to the tear jerking regeneration scene. All of this deserves huge praise and show off Davies' writing skills and Tennant's immense acting prowess.

The downside is the Master turning into a monster which goes a bit over the top, aspects of the plot which are a bit overblown and the less appealing elements of the Vinvocci and Naismith. The Vinvocci are just rather cheesy and silly while Naismith, his whole entourage and his plans are all a bit underwhelming. The Master going superpowered, super hungry monster and then turning all humans into him are entertaining but a bit over the top.

Overall this is very high quality in most respects, it falls short of reaching the greatness it deserved but is still a very strong finale. David Tennant was, for me, one of the best Doctors with his awesome acting and emotional range. He was a joy to have as our hero. Russell T. Davies deserves huge thanks and praise for all his excellent work in bringing the show back, making it so successful and creating so many incredible new stories for us to enjoy. Thanks David & Russell, your era was one of the best ever.

My ratings:

Part One - 8/10 Part Two - 9/10 Overall - 8.5/10

David Tennant era average rating - 8.96/10

Details

Release Date:

26 December 2009 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Wookey Hole, Somerset, England, UK

Box Office

Gross USA:

$247,798

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$247,798

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

DTS (DTS HD MASTER AUDIO 5.1 Mix)