Dr Who: End Of Time: DVD Review

Dr Who: End Of Time: DVD Review

Doctor Who - The End of Time
Rating: PG
Cast: David Tennant, John Simm, Timothy Dalton, Bernard Cribbins
Released by BBC and Roadshow Entertainment
And so the end comes to pass on one of the most popular Doctors in the show's 47 year old history.
The End Of Time - Parts One and Two (aka 2009 Winter specials) sees David Tennant's Doctor vacate the TARDIS for the last time as he takes his swansong.
Since the end of the Waters of Mars, the Doc's known his time is up and his death draws near - and so summoned by the Ood, he finds his old nemesis the Master (John Simm, all bleached hair and hoodie) reborn and on the brink of bringing around the end of time itself. However, what neither of them realize is that pretty soon everyone's lives will be changed forever by the return of something no-one could foresee&
The End of Time is brilliant in places - and infuriating in others. It's not just David Tennant's swansong, but it also sees the departure of the team which brought back the show in 2005 - including head writer Russell T Davies, who wrote these two episodes which clock in at over 2 hours of Whooey goodness.
But the cracks show in some of the story telling; if you're being nitpicky, you could claim that Davies has stolen various parts of fantasy elements for the (slightly absurd) resurrection of the Master; and when the big bads of these episodes are revealed, the plot holes abound.
That said though, while the first part of the story lacks a little, it's the end which sees this corker of a finale come to life - thanks in large to the acting of two people; David Tennant, who showcases all of his best at the end and Bernard Cribbins, who despite being in his eighties, shows what a wonderful actor he is. Simple scenes between this pair will leave most of you close to tears as they show (in one scene in a café) what good writing and superlative acting can do.
EXTRAS: On Blu Ray, the final product looks superb in full HD and is well worth investing in if you have the extra cash. Also included on the 2 disc set are the behind the scenes making of the final episodes (complete with David Tennant's last day on the set - and all the emotion which comes with that), as well as the BBC idents made specially for the series swansong over Christmas 2009. But the highlight has to be the David Tennant video diary in which we actually witness through his own camcorder, the end of the era - just brilliant.

Oh and one thing I almost left off - you get your first look at the 11th Doctor Matt Smith at the end of these episodes - and if you're not left salivating for more, you're clearly never going to be a Whovian. The perfect send off piece on a great set.

Rating: 9/10