Monday, November 18, 2013

Doctor Who 50th Anniversary: Stolen Earth/Journey’s End





Doctor Who: 
Stolen Earth/Journey’s End 
By Russell T. Davies

“Never forget Doctor.  You did this. I name you forever. You are the destroyer of worlds!”

If Series Two’s Dalek and Cybermen battle got the fans panties moist then the Series Four finale was like a hurricane for them.  These two episodes had it all, from the Daleks invading Earth and the return of Rose and Davros to a possible regeneration, to the many companions that have appeared in the RTD era to having the three surviving members of Torchwood and Sarah Jane, her son and K – 9.  Did I miss anyone oh yeah UNIT and Harriet Jones Prime Minister.



This season ending story was pretty good even if it had a lot of characters in it.  I thought when I first watched this story way back in 2008 that with all those characters the story would be weak and drawn out to give everyone ample screen time.  That was not the case as the story was very entertaining and had a smooth pace and everything was set up nicely. I enjoyed this story even if it was an obvious nod to the fans to give them something big and for RTD to go crazy just once. 



Russell T. Davies tied up a lot of loose ends with the two part season finale.  The Tennant era was coming to an end and it was time for one last adventure with Doctor 10 and his companions.   The obvious loose end was Rose and her family and finally getting rid of her.  Plus RTD resolved the mystery of The Doctor’s severed hand. Didn’t see this one coming and did not really care for him using a regeneration and its energy to clone himself and to give us a cheap cliffhanger to make everyone tune in the following Saturday.  Did like how when Donna touched it she became The Doctor/ Donna who ends up getting a sad ending.  What was classic was the David Tennant impersonation Catherine Tate did.  It was pretty good and spot on. 


Stolen Earth/Journey’s End will be remembered as the story that brought the two spin off series into the fold.  It was good to see members of the shows Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures contribute to this story.  I just like the way the two shows have become part of the Doctor Who universe and Stolen Earth/Journey’s End brings this home for all of us. Plus Captain Jack and Sarah Jane add something special with their appearance.  Something you just can’t get with Rose or Martha.  Don’t get me wrong Rose and Martha are integral to the story but Captain Jack and Sarah Jane just have that classic companion element that can’t be duplicated.


Stolen Earth/Journey’s End was very sad especially the ending.  The way The Doctor had to make Donna forget everything she experienced including him.  It was a very sad and moving moment that you felt for Donna that you wished The Doctor could find another way but he really couldn’t.   But in order to save Donna’s life and this was the sad part was that he had to get rid of the Time Lord essence from her and the memories which was sad in a way because I really liked Donna as a companion and now we will never get to see her again like she was.  Donna was truly the best companion for Doctor 10 and the best companion so far of the new series.


I really like the battle of wits between Davros and The Doctor.  With Davros showing The Doctor the worst of himself and what he makes his companions do for a brief moment Davros wins.  Bt showing The Doctors that his companions would kill for him and thus making them act like soldiers Davros shows The Doctor that he lets his companions do the dirty work while he just sits there and takes credit and swoops in and save the day.  In essence Davros shows The Doctor a part of himself that is not all that nice and violent. Possible a byproduct of the Time War.



For a season that was absolutely a step up from last season this story was a fitting end.  Well it is not the greatest story of all time but it is a great send off  for the man who brought the show back.  It had the elements of his four seasons running the show and it gave us some epic moments good or bad to talk about for a while.  For example why was the big Dalek weapon control in the prison part of the ship? But put that aside RTD did give us four years of 55 episodes plus the upcoming four specials that some of us never thought of seeing again since the show went off the air in 1989.
Grade B

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