Dr. Who Series 3 - Last of the timelords
Added 2022-06-11 15:19:19 +0000 UTCSOOOOOOO- this is it!!!
We finally got to the 3rd finally of this wonderful show, and I can´t tell you how happy I am about chosing this show, to be my first and main one on my channel. I could have never imagined this journey to be such a joyfull one :D
Comments
That could be an explanation. But it´s stupid :D :D
Nicologik
2022-08-22 12:43:26 +0000 UTCMy guess is that because the episode as broadcast by the BBC is longer than usual, it was cut for US transmission to fit into a timeslot with ad breaks, with the shorter version somehow then being used by Amazon others. Grr...!
Andrew Gwilliam
2022-08-22 12:31:36 +0000 UTCWow a 500 page book ? That are sooo many pages, just wow :D Haah ok, I´ll look into it, as soon as you tell me that it´s safe lol :) Thank you for telling me about that book. I had no idea something like that existed. :)
Nicologik
2022-08-22 09:31:27 +0000 UTCI´m sorry you had to work harder than usual to synch the episodes. I didn´t even know there were different versions before going into the episodes. I really liked the Master. I´m a little sad he´s already gone, although I´m not even sure about that. Hmmm who knows. :) Haha poor David, I didn´t even recognize he has so much dialogue in every episode lol. :) Oh I didn´t know that about the laser screwdriver. That´s so unfair, that it wouldn´t work for the doctor. But I guess it´s pretty clever of the Master. :) I wonder why they cut those extra scenes out of the Amazon version. I wished they would have just left it as it was. But thank you for telling me about the missing scene with the professor. :) Yeah the flying doctor really looked goofy. That was the part of the episode that I liked the least. Martha is great, she is brave and she did everything she could, and she saved the world :)
Nicologik
2022-08-22 09:29:21 +0000 UTCYou asked how the writer came up with the ideas. Around this point - i.e. before Russell T Davies started to write the Christmas episode - he was contacted by a journalist friend for a long-form interview about how he (RTD) wrote Doctor Who scripts - from the initial concepts to working out the characters and the dialogue. This turned into a very, very long email correspondence that covered the whole next series. They published it (abridged) as a 500-page book so we can all read how RTD came up with his ideas. I say *we* can read it - of course it is stuffed with spoilers so *you* can't read it. You can't even look at the cover yet. We see how ideas are created, and then dropped, and then reused in a completely different story. At one point he sends a long email and in his email stream-of-consciousness he changes his original story idea into the one we see on the screen. They include early drafts of the scripts and the book has production photos and little cartoons by RTD. I reach for the book whenever I re-watch this part of New Who.
Andrew Vignaux
2022-06-15 09:50:29 +0000 UTCWell, that was a slight challenge. Both of my DVD copies are the extended version so I spent a bit of time re-syncing with the blurred picture. But that was fun too. The Classic Master was known for BIG plans - sending a fleet of rockets out to the universe is perfectly in line with that. Creating a paradox machine and bringing the Toclafane humans back 100 trillion years to kill their ancestors - yep, that's a bigger plan than we've seen before. I loved how much you got invested in the character of the Master. Here's a nice quote from David: "It was quite interesting having John playing the Master and me being incapacitated as an old man because usually I'm the one who's spouting pages of stuff at 300 miles-an-hour while everyone else kind of stares at me. It was interesting to have the tables turned. John was the one who had the endless dialogue and I just sat there looking old." There was a level of tension - a level of hopelessness through this episode. The way that the viewer expects the "three" conspiracy between our team to work and enable the Doctor to escape from the ship and find a way to defeat the Master - is just simply stopped because the Master is invulnerable. The only person left is Martha. The Master's laser screwdriver only works for him (he calls them "isomorphic controls") which is why it doesn't work for the Doctor. In one of the extended scenes (at least I don't think it's in the Amazon version), Martha goes to see Professor Docherty (the older woman who betrayed Martha to the Master) in the new time-line to give her flowers and to say "I don't blame you". Martha also phones the new time-line Tom Milligan who is working in a hospital. Hm. The flying Doctor was actually a flying David who was fitted into a very uncomfortable harness. And then they put glowing CGI over it. I'm not a fan of the flying Doctor - I think a walking, glowing Doctor would have worked better. How brave is Martha! This is the series of brave Martha Jones. I rate the episode higher than IMDB as well.
Andrew Vignaux
2022-06-15 09:37:34 +0000 UTCOh thank for that insider information :) I understand why the performance of Simm annoyed you. I also like the fact that it was a three parter finale. And there was enough story telling to keep the tension over all the episodes. Which isn´t easy to do. I just wished, I could like it more.
Nicologik
2022-06-14 08:49:44 +0000 UTCI've only watched this once,on its first broadcast - and it fell short for me. My problem with it (other than the poorly done 'Doctor in a cage' CGI) was that Simm's Master is just too OTT. Simm wanted to play him in the style of the first Classic Master (a sort of sinister businessman); but RTD felt he had to match Tenant's heightened delivery,so told him to ramp up his performance to the max. It annoyed the hell out of me. Another irritation was the revelation of the Boe identity at the end - this felt to me like RTD coming up with the idea on the spur of the moment while writing. What this story was able to do,however,was show that the revived series could do serialised storytelling. That it didn't need to cosily wrap a story up in one (two,at the most) episode/s.
Ian Smith
2022-06-12 22:36:50 +0000 UTCThere's just so much wrong with this episode! When I rewatched it several months ago it irritated me so much that I didn't bother noting everything I disliked about it. I'll mention one random and entirely minor example of something I don't like. Actually, I say "minor", but it undermines this Doctor's characterisation as some sort of hero. He removes Captain Jack's vortex manipulator (time-travel device) for no good reason; the actual reason for it can only be to keep Jack stuck on contemporary Earth so that there can be a second season of "Torchwood". But within the fictional universe it's just a high-handed attitude, and it seems a pretty unpleasant way to treat a "friend" who you've only recently been reunited with after abandoning him for reasons that weren't his fault. I can enjoy "42" as a sort of "popcorn" episode. In contrast, this episode is painful to watch, and puts me in a foul mood.
Andrew Gwilliam
2022-06-12 16:52:07 +0000 UTCYeah it's quite the investment! I plan to get it as a reward for myself if I do well in my University final exams. The version on Amazon that you reacted to unfortunately cuts 5 minutes out of the episode. So lots of scenes which hint at Lucy being abused by the Master are cut. She does have bruises though, and flinches when the Master hits the Doctor. It is very easy to miss though, most people do. I've seen some people confused as to why she shot him, but it's there in subtext. I do have a very soft spot in my heart for this finale, I know it's not to everyone's taste, but I find it really engaging and fun :)
Matt Lives
2022-06-12 12:58:15 +0000 UTC£1200 ? Wow that´s a lot of money! But I guess it will only increase in value even more, over time. So it may be a good investment. I didn´t pick up on the fact that the Master abused his wife. Stephen already pointed this one out. Honestly I don´t understand why I didn´t pick up on this. It´s such an important part of the story. But thanks to comments like yours, I will know for future reactions, because I think their/or at least her story is not over yet. So thank you :) Yes 8.3 is still really good, you´re right. I like that you enjoyed this episode so much. I wouldn´t give it a 10/10, but I´m happy for you having so much fun with this one :)
Nicologik
2022-06-12 08:54:09 +0000 UTCWow, I didn´t expect that. But I appreciate you honesty. :) Out of the 3 finales I have seen, it´s the worst one. But not as an episode, becuase there will always be "Fear her" and "42". Those are my least favorite episode. At least for those 3 series.
Nicologik
2022-06-12 08:47:47 +0000 UTCI agree with you about the edited reactions. In general I do not really like them. For me personaly they are only a commercial for the individual reactor. But I do not enjoy watching them. I only find new reactors trough them. But as soon as I like the reactor I subscribe to their Patreon, because it´s a much better experience to watch the whole show with them. Especially since Youtube has this strict rules about Copyright and you are only allowed to upload pieces for a max. of 10 seconds. It´s impossible to get the feeling for an episode into a reaction on Youtube. And David better reappears for the next series! :D Otherwise I´ll have to cut out a cardboard version of him and glue it to my screen everytime I watch a new episode :D :D It´s not just you. I also thought about the biblical touch of Marthas mission. :) Thank you for pointing out the Master abusing his wife. I did not notice that at all. Maybe some things are just impossible to catch on a first watch. That´s why I´m so happy for comments like this. I will have to rewatch that episode and pay attention to it. Also I missed the "Face of Bo part". But now that you mention it. Wow how could I have missed that? I was very happy about Marthas decision. I would have loved her as a companion, but I´m happy she made a decision to live her life without the shadow of the doctor. Thank you for this comment, it really helped me, understanding additional things I din´t pick up on the first watch :)
Nicologik
2022-06-12 08:43:39 +0000 UTCWhen I watch edited reactions to this episode, I always think it doesn't really work as well as it should. It's only when (as now) I see the whole thing that it all makes perfect sense. Incredible drama with a real sense of risk, even though we know that The Doctor has to return for another series! Do you agree that there was a touch of the messianic or Biblical about the story arc of Martha wandering the Earth, telling people the good news about our Doctor in heaven? No? Just me then. I do agree about the floating Doctor bit. Hard to take seriously but that is a very minor point. Did you notice, the increasing hints throughout this episode that The Master is abusing his wife? She clearly has a black eye in one scene and in another he is taunting her about his masseuse and how attractive she is. She starts off under his spell but, bit by bit, she sees through him. And then, as sometimes happens with extremely dramatic Who stories, there is a revelation at the end which makes me almost forget everything that has gone before. The first time I heard Jack say "Face of Bo, they called me!" my jaw dropped to the ground and stayed there for the next minute. Martha leaving was very sad but I always have to applaud her taking back control of her life. I do agree that the first two episodes of the trilogy were better overall but this is still a very good one.
Stephen Males
2022-06-11 20:45:54 +0000 UTCThis is probably my least favourite episode of modern Who! I hated it.
Andrew Gwilliam
2022-06-11 18:42:41 +0000 UTCI love this finale. There's a replica of the Master's Laser Screwdriver by the propmaker for the show that I'm considering getting. It's £1200 though! Lucy Saxon (the woman in the red dress, the Master's wife) wasn't evil - she was abused. She basically had stockholm syndrome, and it's what led to her killing him in the end. The original broadcast had extra scenes which helped convey this, but you can see she has bruises in some scenes. With the IMDb ratings, I still think 8.3/10 is really good. That's like an A in an exam, or a very high 1st Class degree. Anything 7 or above is pretty good, I feel. I'd personally rate this finale a 10/10 because I love everything about it, but I'm an outlier.
Matt Lives
2022-06-11 16:40:40 +0000 UTC
