The End of Time (TV story)

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This article is about the television story. For the novel, see The End of Time (novel)

The End of Time was a two-part Doctor Who special that was broadcast during the 20092010 Christmas season, concluding the 2009 "interim season". It featured the final appearance of David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor and briefly included the first appearance of Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor. The story also revealed many aspects of the Last Great Time War, and gave important development to the character of the Master.

From a production standpoint, it marked a significant sea change in the history of Doctor Who. Like only The War Games before it, The End of Time ushered in a complete change of regular cast. Unlike that 1960s story, however, it was also the final story for its principal producers, Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner, and was the last regular story for its head writer, Davies. It was also the first to include any part overseen by — if not credited to — incoming lead writer and executive producer, Steven Moffat. Though Tracie Simpson was the credited line producer, her elevation to regular line producer on the first Matt Smith series meant that Julie Gardner effectively became the line producer for the first and only time in her tenure on Doctor Who.

Synopsis

Part One

It is the Tenth Doctor's final journey - but his psychotic nemesis the Master has been resurrected, on Christmas Eve! With both determined to cheat death, the battle ranges from the abandoned wastelands of London to the mysterious Immortality Gate, whilst the alien Ood warn of an even greater danger approaching, as a terrible shadow falls across the entire Universe...

Part Two

The shit like fucker dr is a c**t

Plot

==

==

References

  • The scene where Luke is saved is part of a subtle in-joke, according to Davies as in The Sarah Jane Adventures none of the children characters look where they are going while crossing the road. This is not true, as in The Mad Woman in the Attic, Rani Chandra looks before crossing.
  • Martha, a Jones, married Mickey, a Smith - a reference to her first episode, DW: Smith and Jones. This was highlighted in episode commentary.

The Doctor

  • In Part 1, the Tenth Doctor lists off things he did instead of rushing to meet Ood Sigma; among them is an implied marriage with Elizabeth I. He also implies that one nickname for her can't be used anymore. The Doctor had previously encountered her in DW: The Shakespeare Code, at which point she treated him as an enemy. Liz 10 later said that the nickname he sullied was "the Virgin Queen."
  • When the Doctor talks to Wilf in the Cafe, he mentions he did terrible things while travelling alone, possibly referencing the events of DW: The Waters of Mars.
  • This is not the first time that the Doctor has bought a lottery ticket for someone. He did so before in DW: School Reunion, using it in order to have a teacher leave so he could replace her.
  • The Doctor considers the amount of coincidence around Wilf, and the sheer unlikelihood of the two meeting so many times. He also mentioned this about Donna in DW: Turn Left and DW: Journey's End.
  • Wilf tells his fellow seniors that the Doctor usually wears a brown suit and sometimes a blue suit.

Individuals

  • Netty, a character from NSA: Beautiful Chaos, is referred to as a member of the Silver Cloak.
  • Joshua Naismith has a book titled Fighting the Future, which could be a reference to the many alien invasions in the past few Earth years or the movie spawned by popular sci-fi series The X-Files.
  • The name of Jessica Hynes' character, Verity Newman, is a reference to Verity Lambert and Sydney Newman. This is the second time the revived series has honoured the two people who are considered among the primary creators of Doctor Who; a similar reference occurred in DW: Human Nature when the Doctor, under his human guise, says his parents were named Verity and Sydney. In this episode, Hynes plays a descendant of Joan Redfern, a character featured in Human Nature.
  • Wilf mentions the planets in the sky. (DW: The Stolen Earth/Journey's End)
  • A woman on the minibus named 'Sparrow Lane' was called Sally. This could be a reference to Sally Sparrow. (DW: Blink)

Time Lords and the Time War

  • The Doctor reveals the Narrator to be Rassilon.
  • The Woman's identity is not revealed, leaving speculation as to who she is.
  • Also left unrevealed is the identity of the second disgraced Time Lord, who could be either male or female. Behind the scenes photos show the second actor to be male.
  • The Nightmare Child is mentioned to be one of the "horrors of the Time War."
  • In Part 2 several crashed Dalek Saucers are seen next to a badly damaged Citadel. This is shown to be the Last Day of the Time War, before the Doctor destroys Gallifrey.

Races and Species

The Master

  • During his resurrection, the Master tells Lucy "You will obey me!" This was a frequent catch phrase used during his previous incarnations, particularly during the UNIT years.
  • The scene in which the Doctor begs the Master to understand the difference between ruling the Universe and having unfettered freedom to travel through it parallels a similar conversation between the two in DW: Colony in Space.
  • The Doctor refers to the Master as Skeletor, the skull-headed villain from the 1980s cartoon series He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.

Objects

Real world

  • In Part 2, when rescued by the Vinvocci, the Doctor cries 'worst rescue ever', a cultural reference to 'Comic Book Guy', a character in The Simpsons.
  • Pictures of various historical Earth individuals can be seen in Joshua Naismith's mansion.

Technology

UNIT

  • In Part 2 a UNIT officer (with the Master's appearance) from UNIT HQ in Geneva appears.

Story notes

  • This was David Tennant's final appearance as the Doctor as well as Matt Smith's first appearance in the role.
  • The original title for Part 1 was The Final Days of Planet Earth, and was in fact the title when Davies teased readers of Doctor Who Magazine with the statement that the title was six words long. Later, however, he decided to give the title The End of Time to both specials.[1]
  • The second part is 75 minutes, four minutes longer than DW: Voyage of the Damned. Thus, it is the new holder of the title of third longest single episode, behind the 90 minute long DW: The Five Doctors and the 85 minute long DW: Doctor Who.
  • The person who knocks four times was Wilf.
  • With this, his final Doctor Who story, Davies will have written or co-written no less than ten consecutive episodes (this number counts two-parters as separate and also includes a mini-episode, but does not include Torchwood), an unprecedented accomplishment in the history of the franchise.
  • This is the first story of more than one episode since DW: Survival to have one overarching title.
  • The Time Lords return after their apparent destruction in the Last Great Time War. This is their first appearance onscreen since DW: The Trial of a Time Lord in 1986, except for a flashback in DW: The Sound of Drums.
  • This is a second time that a Sontaran has appeared as a cameo in a regeneration story, the first time being the Fourth Doctor's final story Logopolis
  • This is, along with DW: The Deadly Assassin, Doctor Who, Army of Ghosts, The Family of Blood and Cold Blood, one of the only Doctor Who stories to feature narration. However, in this case it is revealed that the "narration" is in fact part of a speech given by the Lord President to the High Council.
  • There is no traditional celebrity cameo in the story. Instead, a stand-in plays US President Barack Obama and stock audio from a speech of his is dubbed in. This is the first time in the revived series that the real world US presidency has coincided with that featured in the Whoniverse.
  • The opening credits list David Tennant, John Simm and Bernard Cribbins. Simm is the second person to be credited in the opening credits for playing a villain. The first was Eric Roberts, who likewise played the Master, in DW: Doctor Who. This is only the third time that all of the credits were male (the first being DW: Time Crash and the second being DW: The Next Doctor), discounting Attack of the Graske and Music of the Spheres, in which David Tennant is credited alone.
  • Despite this being David Tennant's last regular Doctor Who story, he filmed scenes for SJA:The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith, after the production of this story.
  • In the Doctor Who Confidential for this episode, and the ones for the other 2009 specials, the TARDIS in the opening titles bears the St. John's Ambulance badge, a nod to the Eleventh Doctor.
  • The continuity announcement before part 2 was voiced by the Tenth Doctor, and was the last time that the Christmas ident featuring him was used.
  • Russell T Davies confirmed in the commentary for part 2 that the scene where Captain Jack is in an alien bar is in a city named Zaggit-Zagoo on the planet Zog. The scene, a tribute to the famous Cantina Bar scene in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, features cameo appearances by many alien species featured during the Davies era, plus the return of Alonso Frame (DW: Voyage of the Damned) and also features the song "My Angel Put the Devil in Me", last heard in DW: Daleks in Manhattan.
  • Russell T Davies has said in an interview that The Tenth Doctor's death had been planned out since David Tennant was signed on for the role. Davies also heavily implied had Tennant not been cast, the Tenth Doctor would have died a different way.
  • During the Doctor Who Confidential episode for part two, Davies stated that the name of the Vinvocci's ship was 'The Hesperus'.
  • The Master redeems himself by sacrificing himself and saving the Doctor. According to historical accounts of the production of the classic series, this idea dates back to the original concept for Jon Pertwee's final story as the Third Doctor, which would have seen Roger Delgado's Master redeem himself in a similar fashion; Delgado's death ended this idea.
  • Given that the canonicity of the interactive of DW: Attack of the Graske and the fourth wall-breaking skit DW: Music of the Spheres are up for debate, the appearance of a Graske in the cantina scene marks the species' first undeniably canonical on-screen appearance in Doctor Who proper following several appearances in the spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures.
  • Davies originally considered having the Time Lords in an alliance with the Daleks, but after consulting with Steven Moffat and correspondent Benjamin Cook, eliminated this plot thread. (REF: Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale - The Final Chapter).
  • A line where the Doctor said that he was "half human for a couple of days in 1999" was cut.[2]
  • The End of Time was not the only finale considered. In another, the Tenth Doctor was going to bow out in a one-parter, saving a family of four aliens from a radiation leak.[2]
  • According to production team comments, this episode takes place in late 2009, ending the practice established in 2005 of having "modern day" stories taking place a year in the future and bringing the show's narrative into line with that of the real world. The default timeline explanation is that modern day Earth stories aired in 2009 and 2008 both take place in the same year; due the DW: The Next Doctor not having a "modern day" placement, it allowed The End of Time to take place on the date it aired, and set this year's stories in the same year as last year's stories.
  • In an early draft of the script, Davies had the Doctor address the "half-human" statement the Eighth Doctor made in the 1996 TV movie, dismissing it as "a 48-hour bug". The line was cut by Davies for several stated reasons, including the fact it would have confused viewers who were only familiar with the events of DW: Human Nature. (REF: Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale - The Final Chapter)
  • During the chaotic sequence after the regeneration, the Eleventh Doctor is shown spitting, an act that raised some eyebrows. In addressing this during a publicity event for the launch of Series 5, Smith explained that it was his natural reaction to all the debris raining down on him during the filming, while Steven Moffat indicated that Davies chose to leave it in.[3]
  • Russell T. Davies claimed that Omega was originally going to appear instead of Rassilon, but the idea was dropped.
  • Joshua Naismith mentions that the Gate was found buried at the foot of Mt. Snowdon by Torchwood. In DW: Doomsday, Yvonne Hartman states that the gravity clamps were found buried in the same place. Presumably, this means the gravity clamps are of Vinvocci origin.

Ratings

  • Part 1 - 11.57 Million - According to BARB.
  • Part 2 - 12.27 million - According to BARB.
  • In America, three broadcasts of Part 2 garnered a combined total of 1.42 million viewers, a record for BBC America.[4]

Filming locations

  • Tredegar House, Newport. [5]

Rumours

  • It was rumoured that Martha Jones and Mickey Smith would not appear (in particular given Freema Agyeman's commitments to the non-BBC production Law & Order: UK), however this was proved false as the two appeared as did Billie Piper and John Barrowman, whose involvement had been reported in the press during production of the specials.
  • Prior to the BBC's official announcement in mid-November, it was unclear whether Part 1 and Part 2 would both carry the same title (as prior to this only the title of Part 2 had been confirmed by the network). Following the broadcast of DW: The Waters of Mars, Russell T Davies was quoted in the media as saying the title of Part 1 would have six words, leading to speculation over what it might be before it was announced that the two chapters would share the title The End of Time. The original name for the first part was "The Final Days of Planet Earth" but this was changed by Davies as he felt that it didn't fit the episode as a title.
  • It was hinted by Russell T Davies that Donna Noble and/or Wilfred Mott would die, mentioning "Donna's final words" and speaking grimly of Wilf's fate in The End of Time. In another interview, Bernard Cribbins also made a cryptic statement regarding Wilf possibly "regenerating." Ultimately, both characters survived.
  • It was rumoured that Harriet Jones would re-appear, but she did not.
  • It was widely reported in media and on fan discussion boards that the character played by Claire Bloom would be the Doctor's mother. Ultimately, the woman's identity was left a mystery. A variety of speculation emerged. Some people supposed it to be the Doctor's mother, others believed it to be an alternative world's Donna based on the way the Doctor looked at her after Wilf asked who the woman was, or, by the same logic, Susan, who is the Doctor's own granddaughter. IMdb originally reported the character as being the Doctor's former companion, Romana. This was taken down shortly after it was posted. Julie Gardner in the episode commentary, stated that she would like to believe that this woman is the Doctor's mother, however Davies then stated to the podcast listeners "It is whomever you want it to be".
  • Similarly, the identity of the other dissenting Time Lord is also left a mystery. The character is mentioned as male by Russell T Davies, but the costuming and camera angles make it difficult to determine gender.
  • When it was reported that Billie Piper would appear, speculation mounted as to whether the events of Journey's End would be undone, or if somehow she and the Meta-Crisis Tenth Doctor would somehow be able to leave Pete's World. Ultimately, Piper appeared in a context that prevented conflict with Rose's character arc, as Tate's appearance did not undo Donna's arc.
  • Many fans speculate that Rassilon's glove is the Hand of Omega; it uses the same prop as the Resurrection Gauntlet from Torchwood, a glove used by an unknown humanoid alien race that had (possibly among other powers) the ability to bring back the dead.
  • The Tenth Doctor's last words would be "Don't forget me." This stemmed from "A Letter from the Doctor", a feature written by Russell T Davies for Doctor Who Storybook 2010 which consisted of fragments of dialogue and descriptions taken from TV various TV episodes, in reverse chronological order. The first words of the Letter are "Don't forget me", while the last were "Hello! Ooh, new teeth..." which were similar to the first words uttered by the Tenth Doctor in DW: The Parting of the Ways. This led to newsgroup-based speculation that extrapolating from the format that the final words of the Tenth Doctor would be "Don't forget me." Ultimately, the final words of the Tenth Doctor were, instead, "I don't want to go." The Tenth Doctor does, however, say "Don't forget me," to Sarah Jane Smith when they part company in The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith which was the last episode filmed by David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor (and which echoed Sarah Jane's words to the Fourth Doctor when she initially left the TARDIS in DW: The Hand of Fear). In The Writer's Tale: The Final Chapter, Davies reaffirms a statement made soon after Tennant joined the series that his final words, "I don't want to go", were written long before Tennant's final regular episode was composed.

Production errors

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.
File:Vinvocci original.png
The Vinvocci makeup design as originally filmed, and post-recolouring. (CON: Lords and Masters/DW: The End of Time)
  • According to the episode commentary, Russell T Davies rather expensively changed his mind about the way the Vinvocci were to look. He had originally envisaged they would only be partially green. Because principal photography had already wrapped, the only solution was to digitally composite a more complete green, and this necessitated frame-by-frame colouring of the Vinvocci scenes. At certain points in the narrative, the process fails to work convincingly, likely because of interaction with studio lighting. One obvious instance is when Rossiter is climbing into the mining laser pod while the Vinvocci ship is under fire from the missiles.
  • The security camera footage viewed by Joshua Naismith on his laptop is the same as the footage used in the episode DW: Rose on the news bulletin showing the destruction of the Henrik's Department Store.
  • When the Doctor hides the TARDIS it doesnt fade out completely at the top, you can see it still a little bit on the wooden background of the celing
  • When the Doctor goes to get A Journal of Impossible Things signed, the woman signing it is quite plainly hovering her pen just above the page and not writing in it.
  • When Rose goes into the block of flats after speaking to the Doctor, a "No Smoking" sign can be seen. This scene is set in 2005 and these signs weren't used until the smoking ban in England was introduced in 2007.
  • When the Doctor arrives at Donna's wedding, the gates he stands behind are closed, but when Wilf and Sylvia approach him, one is open. Also, when Sylvia looks at him, the TARDIS is closer to the Doctor than when they approach him.
  • The Nuclear Bolt control room switches sides of the Naismith's main hall at various points in part 2: It starts off on the right side in part 1, and stays that way until the Master reveals his true intentions to rescuing the Time Lords to Rassilon. The next shot (when all the Masters look smugly at Rassilon) shows the Bolt on the left hand side. It later swaps back to its original position. This seems to suggest the post-production crew 'flipped' the shot, which was unnecessary.
  • Similarly, the occupants changed sides within the Bolt room. Two Masters (Yellow shirt and purple shirt) did a change-around, with the purple-shirted Master taking the place of the yellow-shirted one. The first time this happens, the purple-shirted Master is on the left-hand side, and the yellow-shirted Master on the right. In the aforementioned shot (of the Masters looking smugly at Rassilon; when the Bolt swaps sides the first time), the purple-shirted Master is now on the right-hand side of the Bolt (which would be explained by a reflection of the shot). When the Bolt swaps back to it's original side, the purple-shirted occupant is once again on the right-hand side (which would not be explained by a reflection of the shot), rather than the left-hand side (Which Wilf then occupies).
  • When the Doctor is aiming Wilf's gun at the Master and Rassilon, the trigger of the gun has already been pulled in and it should've fired.
  • During the regeneration scene, the Tenth Doctor stands on the door side of the console, but when the Eleventh Doctor turns around, the handbrake lever can be seen, which is at the other side of the console.

Continuity

Timeline

For Doctor Who

For Torchwood

For The Sarah Jane Adventures

'Ginger' controversy

During the final scene, the Eleventh Doctor takes a look at his hair and utters the phrase, "Still not ginger!" This statement was misinterpreted by a number of viewers as being a negative comment on redheaded people, resulting in more than 140 complaints being filed with the BBC.[6] In response, the BBC issued an official statement clarifying that the Doctor was stating disappointment at not being ginger, a reference to the Tenth Doctor similarly expressing a wish to be ginger in DW: The Christmas Invasion. In response to claims of an "anti-ginger agenda" by the series, the BBC statement noted that the Doctor's two most recent ongoing companions, Donna Noble and Amy Pond, are both redheads.[7]

Home video releases

  • The End of Time was released to DVD and Blu-Ray both individually and part of a Specials box set in the UK on 11th January 2010. A similar release in North America was released on 2nd February 2010.

External links

Footnotes