Well just got done watching pt2. Some surprises along the way.
[spoiler] They never truly explain Wilf’s connection to the Doctor fully. [/spoiler]
[spoiler] We now know who drove the Master over the edge. Seeing that it was his own people. [/spoiler]
[spoiler] Talk about desperate times the Time Lords reconstituted Rassilon. Yeah that worked out well didn’t it. [/spoiler]
There are probably more but we can start with that.
IMO, if there’s a spoiler tag in the title of the thread, we needn’t bother with spoiler tags in the posts themselves.
He’s there at the end of the Doctor’s life. In fact, he’s responsible for his death. Consider the whole Bad Wolf thing that was tied into the Ninth Doctor’s death.
The fact that they didn’t explain the woman in white and her connection with the Doctor and with Wilf leads me to believe that there’s going to be more to that story.
My guess: Considering that they made mention of Wilf being the Doctor’s father several times, maybe he actually is. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see him with a pocketwatch hidden away somewhere. OTOH, if he’s just a regular human being, perhaps that’s why the Doctor is so much different than the other Time Lords and could explain why Earth holds such a special place in his hearts.
Along the same lines, the look of recognition between the Doctor and the “weeping angel” Time Lady (who was also the woman in white) looked to me like a mother and son reunion, which would also explain her connection to Wilf, if he’s the Doctor’s father.
[spoiler] We now know who drove the Master over the edge. Seeing that it was his own people. [/spoiler]
What I especially enjoyed is that the events of this episode were responsible for the Master’s madness back through the entire run of the series. Ain’t time travel great? 
[spoiler] Talk about desperate times the Time Lords reconstituted Rassilon. Yeah that worked out well didn’t it. [/spoiler]
I was starting to doubt it was him until they finally said his name.
I may have squeeed a bit. 
There are probably more but we can start with that.
I’m not sure how I felt about the violence of the regeneration. Blowing out the windows? Shattering the supports? This is a ship that’s been designed around, by, and for Time Lords. Surely a natural process of Time Lord regeneration couldn’t harm it, could it? I mean, the TARDIS has withstood the combined forces of a Dalek army attacking it. How is the energy of one Time Lord going to send it careening out of control?
I figured the reason 10’s regeneration was so violent was because he delayed it so long- instead of letting the energy out when it was time, he held it in until he could see everyone, so when he couldn’t hold it in any longer, the dam broke open and all that energy poured out much more violently than if he’d let it leak out as it surged.
And it looks as if the set may have been redesigned from what I saw of Matt Smith’s trailer. Not sure what I think of that.
I am quite disappointed. I wanted to like it, but I didn’t.
Things I hated:-
Terrible story and conclusion all around. As much as I was intrigued by them bringing back the TLs with all the history and whatnots, that part of the story just ended up kind of silly. They were defeated as quickly as they came in - how sad and silly is that? Same goes for how quickly the whole “everyone’s a Master” got resolved as well. I suppose it’s RTD’s tendency to squish way too much in the episode and hoping it’ll all fit together somehow. It didn’t for me. I’d rather see a more satisfying conclusion to one villain than to overpack the episodes with the prime minister bits, then the Master, then the TL bits in all together to be resolved in some typical hammy fashion. I think the speculation on how everything would fit in together were better stories than what actually transpired in this special.
Along the same lines, I could have done without seeing the whole end bit. They really over-milked it to the point of annoyance. I just thought it dragged on and on and on and on, I actually got to the point where I’m glad to see a shiny new Doctor to replace whiny Ten. Maybe it’s because we’ve already saw the ‘whole gang’ all back in the S4 finale, so it felt like overkill. Especially Rose. I actually really liked Rose back in the day, now it’s like, sheesh, move on, Doctor. I’m sick of seeing Rose again and again even though she’s supposedly trapped in a parallel universe. And I also think the whole Tardis exploding with sparks and fire from his regeneration was totally unnecessary and done all for show. In comparison, Nine’s regeneration was a much more touching one - nothing exploding and no crazy 20 minute goodbye sequences, but far more poignant, affecting and absolutely stunning. I was really sad to see Nine go, and it was heartbreaking. Here, it’s like, just leave already (and I love Tennant as the Doctor). Does this mean I’m a robot? I wasn’t even particularly sad.
Martha and Mickey? Meh. I thought she was engaged to Tom back in S4. No offense to Mickey, but why does Martha have to end up with Rose’s sloppy seconds all the time?
Donna If the finale last season was heartbreaking enough, I think having her in the special yet not doing anything at all was even worse. I don’t understand why it’s suddenly a happy ending because the Doctor gave her a lottery ticket (with Hurley’s numbers? :D) - when was it ever about MONEY? I would have preferred to not have seen her at all, if she ended up not mattering at all in the big scheme of things in the special. I mean, all I wanted was maybe a moment where she looked like maybe she remembered everything she did, even for just that one second! So at least I know she won’t be old Donna completely and will have a good life with her husband - because she sensed what she and the Doctor have done together and who she really is as a person; NOT because she got married and got rich on a lotto ticket.
Things I liked:-
I LOVE WILF! Bernard Cribbens is just really fantastic in part 1, and was no different in part 2. He made the special bearable for me, because he and the Doctor were golden together. RTD is actually really great at writing small emotional moments and stories - like any one of Wilf and the Doctor’s talks - it’s just that he’s truly crap at those huge throw everything in but the kitchen sink big ‘earth/worlds/universes/time in crisis’ ones.
I did like how the Doctor gets everything done, is happy about being alive still, and then hear the four knocks at the end. Though I wonder if Wilf wouldn’t have knocked a different way given the Doctor told him about the prophecy already.
That being said, I did like the general idea behind the Master’s crazy. It was nice to see him redeem himself ish for a bit there. But I’m not sure if it was enough to redeem the hammy setup behind the whole Master story.
After this year’s mostly lackluster specials, and after this finale, I’m really, really excited to see what Smith and Moffat will do next season. Geronimo! Huh. Maybe that’s what they were trying to do here - to cushion people’s expectation of the new season, because it has to be better than this - then, they’ve succeeded.
Some really great acting all around despite a weak story.
I am very sad. I don’t think I could ever like the new Doctor as much as David Tennant. I will give him a chance though.
I loved that he saw all of his friends before he went…i especially liked him giving Jack that note - “allons y Alonso!!!” LOL
And the fact that Martha and Mickey are married - that was really awesome I thought - never saw it coming.
My immediate thought was also that he had delayed the regeneration too long and this was the consequence. It had clearly “started” immediately after the radiation event, as his face healed right away. I think we saw pent-up energy that burst forth all at once as soon as he let go to let it happen.
Basically think of it as holding your breath. You can do it for awhile but there comes a release point where you have to let go. That’s what the Doctor was doing. He could have just let it happened. He held it back as long as possible to say farewell to the people he cared about. Now that doesn’t mean we won’t see any of these people again. Just that the next time he will look different and he wanted them to remember him as this generation.
Plus doing it this way gives the show a reason to redesign the Tardis set. If you remember in Pt 1 Wilf commented on how untidy the inside of Tardis was. Guess that was a bit of foreshadowing there.
Oh well have to see what the inside looks like in the spring.
BTW in the old series they fairly regularly did a redesign of the Tardis set. Usually the new Doctor wanted a change got bored with the look. Or there was damage that had to be fixed so new set time.
FYI–[spoiler]I’ve seen set pics that show a quite old school looking TARDIS from the OUTSIDE. [/spoiler]
I liked it. I do think the Time Lords were defeated kinda quickly though:
“The Time Lords have returned and we are going to bring back Galifrey!..what? …we’re done already?..but…awwwwwwwww!”
I wasn’t sure about the new doctor but I definitley started liking him when he said (paraphrased) “two eyes good, mouth, nose(I’ve had worse)”
As a story, I didn’t like “The End of Time” very much. It was too much packed together too quickly. I really like the twist that the Master’s madness was essentially caused by the Time Lords themselves. It added a dimension to the character that I really appreciated, it also made him really yet another casualty of the war. Early on the series there were several references to consequences of the war, such as the Gelth losing their corporeal bodies. The Time Lords turned the Master essentially into another weapon for their use… Sometimes I wonder what it is the Doctor sees in Humans, and a big part of it I think is our Humanity. I really wanted to see the return of the Time Lords be a permanent thing. In the old series (not that I ever watched it), one of the Doctor’s nemesis ’ was basically his own people, not to mention individual members of that group.
As for the woman in white, I had two guesses. My first was that the woman might be Susan, the Doctor’s Granddaughter. As I recall she went off and married some non-Timelord somewhere. My second thought was that she was indeed the Doctor’s Mother - no evidence to back that up though.
Every time the Doctor and the Master have gotten together, the Doctor has offered to take the Master and travel together. Though I know it won’t happen, I always hope that the Master would go. Maybe just for a special. This episode especially, I got the impression that somewhere lurking under the sociopath is a person very much like the Doctor.
Have no idea what to think of 11. When we lost 9, I was sad and thought I’d never like 10. Now, I’d take 10 over 9 any day. I guess we have to wait to see what 11 is like, but I’m trusting the producers here. I don’t think I’ve seen enough to make a judgement call.
Okay, somebody help me out.
As hard as I tired to set the TiVo correctly, it still chopped off a little at the very end.
So the Doctor regenerates and the Tardis seems to be heading for a crash landing sometwhere. What did I miss? Did anything significant happen after that?
Nothing happened after that. The Doctor yelled “Geronimo!” and that’s it.
And then during “Demons” they showed a “coming soon” for the next season.
I expected that right after the episode, and they didn’t even say it was on during “Demons”, which probably would have had more people watch it.
If “Geronimo!” is this new Doctor’s tag line, we’re not going to get along very well…
Agreed, this will get old real fast. From the preview clip looks like we might see a bigger interior of the Tardis.
Thankfully, I think I prefer Geronimo over Allons-y, so
I didn’t expect to see River Song so soon in the previews! I’m looking forward to the Moffat.
That’s Blasphemy!! 
is this mean Jack is going to hook up with a native american at the end of 11th doctor ?
When are the triplets going to talk WHO???
This is a story ark I can get into. Unless of course it’s a 40 year story arc. Hey guys, I’m sure any of us here can help with a concise history leading up to Eccelston’s reintroduction of the famous Time Lord. :D:D:D