What makes it different from others?

Purely Joyful Movie!

Good idea lost in the noise

Good concept, poorly executed.

The whole world is having nightmares but not Donna's granddad Wilf. The Doctor having been called by the Ood finally returns to the Oodsphere, who make a prophecy of a return of something dark, The Master, and something bigger. The Master returns, brought back by a female cult, but Lucy intervenes, seemingly sending the Master a little crazy. The Doctor meets up with Wilf, discussing his fears after the events on Mars where he played God. Millionaire Joshua Naismith and his daughter Abigail have the Master kidnapped and bound, and try forcing him to repair a piece of technology they've discovered, the Immortality Gate, but two of Naismiths' staff are aliens wanting the machinery for their own ends. Naturally being a genius, The Master takes full advantage of the technology, turning everyone into himself, not Donna, who's placed in mortal danger.Favourite scene possibly Wilf meeting The Doctor in the Coffee shop, it's a very touching, heartfelt scene brilliantly done by both. Wasn't it nice to see some more matures actors and actresses on show.Plots and subplots, one seeming villain, masked by another. It's a very clever plot, cleverly written. I liked lots of it, return of Donna and Lucy (only briefly admittedly,) there's a good pace, good sense of urgency. Humour is provided by The Silver Cloak, again nice to see some older talent, June Whitfield is just delightful. Talk about joy seeing the Doctor in one of my regular coffee shops (The Kardomah) so random. Wilf and The Master are both very welcome returnees. I absolutely detest the Master's ability to jump, shoot beams and turn part skeleton, it does not work on any level. Don't really like the Naismith characters they fail somehow. Poor John Simm, his performance cannot be faulted, but the script is not so good for him, again!! I bet he had fun making it though. WHY DID HE HAVE HIGHLIGHTS!!!!Full of flaws but full of fun, the trailer was stunning, Gallifrey was back!!7/10

In this first episode of a two-part conclusion to the terrific stint of David Tennant as the Doctor has him having to deal with a reborn John Simm's The Master, insatiably hungry and intent on global control. Before you know it a wealthy London citizen (David Harewood) has provided him with alien technology (a type of "transporter" that "mends whole planets", a type of medical device that can perhaps provide David's daughter with eternal life if it can be fixed) in the hopes that The Master will repair it so it can benefit him. Harewood's Naismith had kidnapped The Master after he was in the middle of tormenting the Doctor. The Master has attained the ability to fire off immense beams of intense lightning and can uncannily leap high into the air. The Master seems compelled to feed in order to survive but his condition, according to the Doctor, is tearing him apart. How is The Master alive yet again? Well, he has an order dedicated to him, and they recovered his signet ring after the Doctor had burned his body to ash. The signet ring and "biologicals" from the lips of The Master's wife, Lucy Saxon (Alexandra Moen), held prisoner until needed, were able to resurrect the Doctor's arch nemesis. Lucy does try to destroy The Master within the prison as he is being reborn, failing to do so, as the Doctor surveys the remains of the building which is gutted and skeletal. The Ood feel a "great darkness", a "shadow" about to come across the universe, and what this refers to is actually not The Master, but something even more dangerous…the Doctor's own Time Lord brethren (led by Timothy Dalton, of all people, who also narrates this special Christmas episode) plan to "end time itself". So to say the Doctor has his hands full is an understatement. To use an alien medical device to transform the entire human race into the likenesses and personalities of The Master himself is enough of a huge plot problem fit for the annual Doctor Who Christmas special, but for the close of the first part to have Dalton encouraging support from his Time Lord army on destroying time itself sets a grand stage for the second part to come. It was nice to see Wilfred (Bernard Cribbins) assisting the Doctor in catching and stopping The Master, and the use of Donna (Catherine Tate), unaware of anything regarding the "Man in the Blue Box" any longer, proves to be quite a dramatic device as everyone changes around her and all the suppressed memories return. This episode was your basic set up for the slam bang finale of Tennant as the Doctor, allowing Simm to rabidly devour the scenery as his character does a turkey or meat that passes before him. This could be quite a pop culture item in the future as Barak Obama, the current Pres, is mentioned as a potential salvation to the burgeoning recession, turned into The Master during a press conference like the rest of the planet! Tennant's approaching end as the Doctor is hinted at in quite an emotional scene as the actor does seem to be speaking from his own heart through the character acknowledging his own end was near, close, while speaking with Wilfred in a diner.

After four long years, 64 televised episodes (not counting the animated stories and charity specials) David Tennant was finally hanging up his sonic screwdriver as the tenth incarnation of the now contemporary and reinvented Time Lord. Having just previously featured in two one-hour, one off specials rather than the now requisite thirteen episode (ten story) which would comprise of a whole series (a move made to ease in the transition as new executive producer Steven Moffat took over the reigns from Russell T. Davies and the production team made redesigns to the next series TARDIS, opening credits sequence etc.), Tennant's long anticipated swan song, a two part Christmas special entitled "The End of Time" hit television screens across Britain. The subject of much hype and much speculation considering the ominous prophecy imparted to the Doctor at the conclusion of the passable "Planet of the Dead". The cryptic enigma of who would knock four times would soon be answered. But as if much of the fare that we have come to expect from RTD the premiere instalment of "The End of Time" promises much but delivers little in the way of a totally coherent or inspired and original plot.The premise focus's on the Doctor having to return to the planet earth having received a vision with the aid of the elder of the Ood, whose home planet he was visiting. A vision which concerns the resurrection of the Doctor's arch-nemesis the Master who will in some way play a part in the end of time itself which will mean the destruction of future events that the Doctor currently inhabits with his alien associates. What soon follows is a rather poorly constructed and stilted resurrection scene which utilises the necessity of the inclusion of the Master's widowed wife Lucy Saxon (who married him when he had adopted the moniker of Harold Saxon) requiring the adage of a number of one dimensional Harold Saxon cultists as best be described who with no coherent rhyme or reason (apart from that they're devoted to their "Master") are willing to sacrifice their lives to revive the deceased Time Lord. As you might imagine things don't go according to plan (due to a rather miffed Lucy throwing a figurative spanner in the works) and things come to an end rather disastrously. But not after some mind blowing OTT performances from all involved, yes even Simm. The story more or less develops from there and not well as would be hoped. With the Doctor being reunited with Wilfred Mott, one of RTD's more sublime and wonderful creations and played beautifully by the brilliant Bernard Cribbens it allows the pair to have a ingeniously acted but at times nonsensical moment (given the context of the series history) in a café. The brief moments involving former companion Donna played by comedian and actress Catherine Tate do add an emotional weight to proceedings and do to a slight extent forward the plot but the whole more "spiritual" angle which RTD has rather limply applied to past stories just seems like a rather lazy method of not allowing the Doctor to use his deductive powers and discover things for himself. On top of this is Simm's given interpretation of the Doctor's adversary and fellow Gallifreyan who believe it or not is even more maniacal and twitchy than was last seen in series three's closing episodes. Although his performance is more, fine tuned than in his initial appearance in this episode I miss wily sociopath who the villain was, rather than the crazed Hannibal Lectre prototype that he has been moulded in to. A confrontation between the two rivals within a barren London wasteland though featuring some electrifying and eye-popping special effects is reasonably well handled and allows once the dust settles for Simm to deliver a solemn, reticent performance as he eloquently mulls over he and the Doctor's past childhood on Gallifrey and what they have both become. Both actor's cope with the repartee between their respective protagonists/antagonists well but unfortunately it's a moment that is all too brief and the Master is whisked away by paid mercenaries in the employ of potty millionaire (is there ever any other kind?) Joshua Naismith who requires the ingenious skills of the Master for his own ends which entails the Immortality Gate, a humdrum creation by RTD which is merely a variation of the Nanogenes seen in series one's "The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances" and themselves were ripped off from an old episode of "Red Dwarf". If this isn't bad enough Naismith's need for the Master and the gate which involves his daughter Abigail,(Tracy Ifechaor in a cringe-making and lamentably artificial performance)is shallow and trite to the point of boredom. The Vincocci, a pair of alien scavengers played by "Being Human's" Sinead Keenan and Lawry Lewin are nicely realised by the two and do add something to the part and help move things along although it's to a rather nonsensical conclusion which isn't merely laughable and looks like something out of a bad sketch of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" not to mention it makes the inclusion of the Naismith's practically unnecessary, as they add little if anything to the plot making them nothing more than disposable, gratuitous fodder. But as the episode comes to a close and we hear the beautifully resonant and strengthening tones of former Bond star Timothy Dalton which culminates in a spectacular although not altogether surprising reveal given a certain photo that leaked on to the internet. I couldn't help but get a tad excited as to the prospect of what the following weeks concluding part might bring. But given this was Russell T. Davies who had penned this story those hopes as had been the case before could be so, rudely shattered as had ultimately my hopes for this opening morsel.

---- Contains Spoilers ----- I don't know where to begin to tell how awful this episode was; so I will list the thing that IMO were good before proceed to some serious bashing of the ridiculous writing that has become a trademark of this new series of DW.In short, take everything that is bad about Davies "style" (i.e. "coincidences", deus ex machina, fast endings for no reason whatsoever, and more), factor it for this high-expectation Christmas special, and you will have an idea of what it's like.I especially liked Simm's, Tennant's and Cribb's acting; to me these were the only bright spots in a really ugly piece of television. Simm's in particular was really good, even more so perhaps given the crap RTD gave him in the plot, so I will start complaining about what they (RTD) did to the Master's character; please bear with me, but I really cannot stand shitty writing in a serial I like.Now, the Master is supposed to be a time lord, and he should be quite scary even then. More so, perhaps, if you make of him the psychotic monomaniac he has become. But a time lord is not a dark lord of the Sith. That is just wrong, there is no excuse except for a very lazy writer. I mean, the resurrection thing is cheesy enough even without the "flying and shooting energy beams" crap.And since we are talking about that resurrection thing, let me say how much I hated that scene. It makes no sense no matter how do you think about it.The Naysmiths were, in a word, unnecessary. Really, do the mental effort of removing them from the story and you will find that there is nothing to be missed. Moreover, the actress who played the daugther Abigail was just terrible; so in fact you could remove them and gain in quality.The visual effects were terrible, especially the final one. That "shaking face" thing is not only ugly to see, it also screams "They are cutting our budget!". The gods know if they don't have a good reason to do so.The whole "timelords returning" thing is a crappy reset button. Unfortunately this is what you get when you dare giving RTD white paper. Oh, I am so happy he is leaving this show. By the way, i think that the return will not happen, for the very simple reason that no writer could be so stupid to give away the coup de scene an hour earlier. But still...