The End of Doctor Ten - Part 1

****Possible Spoilers Beyond This Point****

I have now watched "The End of Time - Part 1" twice, the second time without the interference of family squabbling in the (not-so) background and, as with the previous Master story am slightly under awed with the Master himself, and subsequently the story as a whole. I am not a huge fan of any character whose whole personality is "he is insane!" I need more. So you can understand how disappointed I was when I heard months ago that he would be returning to the Who-verse.
The whole episode was filled with flaws, but still had me hooked as, ever since it was revealed that the Doctor was the last of the Time Lords, I have waited patiently for the inevitable return of other Lords and / or Ladies. The glimpses in this first-parter was enough to make me enjoy the episode despite its flaws.

I was disappointed with the reveal of who had actually picked up the Master's ring at the end of "The Last of the Time Lords," though there is still time for this to be rectified in Part 2. I was unhappy with the resurrection ritual for the Master itself, which I felt could have been handled a non-magical way and hope that the mention of the Book of Saxon will not be ignored in the second part. I was also disappointed with the multi-powered Master, a plot-turn that was unnecessary. And I felt uncomfortable with the incestuous fawning of father and daughter (David & Abigail Naismith), which I am sure wasn't just in my mind.

I knew a while back that Timothy Dalton was due to play a Time Lord, and as yet we do not know his name, though I feel that I may have had a premonition when the titles ran after Part 1! I did not know for certain that there would be a whole Time Lord resurrection storyline though, but felt that the credits shown for the cast of the two-parter, in the media and television listings publications in general, gave certain hints towards this. Maybe I am wrong, but having characters in Doctor Who called "The" anything, sort of hints that they could be Time Lords (THE Doctor; THE Master; THE Rani), and in this we have THE Partisan & THE Visionary. It certainly piqued my interest (as if it wasn't already) when I saw these "names."

Part 2 should, hopefully, include a final resolution of the Donna Noble story, in which I am afraid to say I expect her to die (as the premonition that the "most faithful" would die from the last series never actually occurred.). I am guessing that the Time Lord personality that it repressed in her memory, and which is coming back to the forefront of her mind as of this episode, will be the spark that is needed to reignite the life of the Time Lords, or something along those lines. And what of Wilf. Previously, the Doctor thought that Donna was the most important being in the whole of creation. But what if he was wrong and it wasn't her. What if it was a relative of her? What if it was Wilf who was the most important?
I could be wrong though as, in a repetition of the previous end-of-series-finale, all and sundry seem to be popping back to show their faces in the second part of this story, including Sarah-Jane Smith, Rose Tyler & Captain Jack, so it could be one of these three (though I can't see them killing off Sarah-Jane Smith, what with her having her own show and all!).

Overall, I want to refrain from "slagging" this episode off until I have seen the second half, but on its own it wasn't RTD's best work by far, which is a shame for David Tennant's departure. Let's all hope that the finale has more than a redeemable effect on Part 1, lets hope it has an explanation for ALL the flaws.

As for those people who have been moaning about Timothy Dalton's excess of saliva, have none of them been watching Mr Tennant at all? He spits everywhere, in almost every episode, and so did John Simm in this episode, AND he had food in with his projectile sputum! So knock it off.

I am looking forward to New Year's Day for the Dr Who episode alone, as it will mark the beginning and the end, as all New Year's tend to. Hopefully, it is the end of the great and the beginning of the better. With Mr Moffat at the helm I am hoping for brilliance indeed and more spine-chilling moments that we all know he can provide.