Journey’s End

What a funny old story! Catnip for anyone who’s been marathoning the show alongside its spin offs. There is a mind bending quality to seeing members of the Torchwood base and 13 Bannerman Road sharing the same space - alongside every contemporary companion and extended recurring cast. This feels years ahead of its time, big team ups being more anticipated in the oversaturated age of the MCU - though I guess Doctor Who has been doing this since The Three Doctors. Big Finish has perhaps overdosed on this approach in recent years.

This show couldn’t be like this every week, but as a one off, the relentless raising of stakes acts as a culmination of his first four series and an epic way to (almost) round off the (first) Russell T Davies era. “The end of the UNIVERSE itself!!” There is enough craftsmanship in the writing that you forgive the million macguffins “Osterhagen key”, “reality bomb”, “warp star” and a special gun that the alt-10th Doctor pulls from nowhere at the last moment.

Whilst it’s not the perfect story by a long stretch, and much of my love from it comes from it successfully spending all of the cultural capital the show and its spin off had hard earnt over the previous four years, I do think it is a good yarn. In fact - I’ve underrated it until this watch through.

The only place it truly falters for me is when Donna (imbued with The Doctor’s Time Lord powers) starts messing around with the controls on the Dalek’s ship as a way of making the story end, and making the Daleks go from being world ending threats to playthings in a matter of seconds - not the most satisfying payoff after constantly raising the stakes. The emotional hit though when Donna loses all of her memories and reverts to the character we met in The Runaway Bride is RTD at his best.

I’m reading the contemporary issues of Doctor Who Magazine along with this marathon (one of my many self-imposed impediments slowing my way through the show). It was sad and interesting reading Elisabeth Sladen stating that she believed this would be her last ever episode of Doctor Who. Luckily she was wrong - getting one last appearance (besides her work on the wonderful Sarah-Jane Adventures) under her belt before sadly leaving us. What a magnificent performer.