On Jan 5, 9:09 am, Bill  wrote:
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> The new Doctor was one of several things I didn't like. But I haven't
> been thrilled with the choice of a 26 year old since it was announced.
> I was also one of many who weren't pleased with the choice of a 30
> year old Peter Davison back in the day. I have never been pleased with
> portraying the Master as the Joker to the Doctor's Batman instead of
> the Doctor's Moriarty. Then to blame the Time Lords for the Master's
> lifelong obsession with power, chaos, death, and destruction just made
> no sense. I don't think the Return of the Time Lords plotline was
> explored enough. Returning the Time Lords would have meant releasing
> all the consequences of the Time War, but none of that was shown. It
> was one throw away line.
I have to disagree.  Showing it could only have been a
disappointment.  When I read Contact, one of the more interesting
concepts to me at the time was that when we imagine the technological
and cultural advancement of a society that at some point it becomes
impossible to imagine farther into the future.  You end up at a
singularity.  Ellie Arroway imagines that we might consider a symphony
to be a technical masterpiece if its counterpoint was the reverse of
the melody, but in a society where such a feat was considered simple
then what would they consider a masterpiece.  Davies treats the
Timelords in much the same way.  The notion of fighting a war using
time itself as a weapon with all the technological power of the
Timelords and the Daleks unleashed would produce wonders and horrors
that we can't imagine much less explain.  Thus we get "The Moment,"
"The Cruciform," and "The Nightmare Child" as examples
of the types of
weapons being deployed.  The Timelords don't need to explain to each
other what these are, they simply understand them.
> That could have been explored in greater
> detail instead of the overly long goodbyes to all the old companions.
> Basically, The End of Time showed Russell T. Davies main fault as a
> writer: he doesn't consistently pay off what he has set up. While
> Doomsday and Journey's End were more than satisfactory, Parting of the
> Ways and Last of the Time Lords ended with a deus ex machina that
> really didn't change much. Okay, I think I've gone off enough for a
> while. Sadly, The End of Time simply deteriorated into a long maudlin
> farewell. Okay, I've ranted enough for a while. I hope the new
> creative team can prove my doubts wrong.
To me, the Doctor is what his companions make him, and given that this
series has given him some really memorable companions, it seems only
fitting that he should say goodbye in his own way.  Moffat has shown
us that he's able to write really interesting counterparts to the
Doctor vis a vis Captain Jack and Nancy in The Empty Child/The Doctor
Dances, Reinette in The Girl in the Fireplace, Sally Sparrow in Blink,
and River Song in Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead.  Though I
cringed a bit at "Geronimo" I look forward to his tenure as showrunner.
--- SBBSecho 2.12-Win32