Pensamientos Acerca de Televisión

Doctor Who (The Second Series): “The End of Time: Part One”

Of course, it always seemed obvious to me that if the Master was ever to come down with an eating disorder, it would undoubtedly involve raging hunger -- just like in this episode.

But still... A hungry cyborg? A cyborg who is resurrected through potions?

Granted, series creator Russell T. Davies deserves kudos for resisting the temptation to toss in a visual reference to Meatloaf's “Paradise by the Dashboard Light.” (After all, the title seemed reference enough as it was.) But did we also need visual references to Silence of the Lambs, Stargate, The X-Files and seemingly almost every sci-fi movie and TV show that is not Doctor Who?

I suspect that Davies' true love is really fantasy and indeed, if you look at most of his Doctor Who as basically sword-and-sorcery stories set in space -- with Captain Jack being Fahred to the Doctor's Grey Mouser and the Doctor's various female companions playing Maid Marion to his Robin Hood -- then the stories do not seem so weird. One of these days, Davies is going to settle down and start working on a fantasy series that is either similar to his beloved Buffy the Vampire Slayer or else similar to Wizards and Warriors. However, at this point, I am still not sure whether or not that would be a good thing.

Anyway, I did like certain scenes in this episode -- including a brief glimpse of my beloved Donna Noble and quite longer glimpses of Donna's grandfather. Indeed, one of the best scenes of the episode -- if not, the whole series -- is a brief conversation in a cafe between the Doctor and Donna's grandfather.

I am not sure how I feel about the episode's end. After all, that pun was pretty bad. But I will give it credit for boasting the most memorable cliffhanger since “Utopia.”