Last of the Time Lords

"You and me, all the things we've done. Axons! Remember the Axons? And the Daleks. We're the only two left. There's no one else..."

Writer: Russell T Davies

Format: TV

Broadcast: 30th June 2007

Series: 3.13

Featuring: Tenth Doctor, Martha, Captain Jack

Synopsis 

It's been 365 days since the Master assumed world leadership. The human race is devastated and the planet is being prepared for war across the stars. But Martha Jones is returning home after walking the planet, and the fate of humanit at the mercy of the Master rests in her hands, and her hands only. Does she have what it takes to murder a Time Lord?

Verdict 

Last of the Time Lords is a brilliant episode to finish off both the epic three-part story and the series as a whole. Here we saw something that seemed impossible and the very idea was just frightening. The Master was world leader of Earth. He'd finally achieved his world domination and as leader what he did to the planet was horrific for humanity. I mentioned in yesterday's blogging of The Sound of Drums how much worse he was as a leader than Hitler was and I think that was precisely the case here. Transport was prohibited. People were killed at will. Hundreds of people were living in just one house. The coastline of many countries had been weaponised. Russia was devastated. But there was one glimmer of hope, just a tad, in the name of Martha Jones. She'd been travelling the world ever since she teleported from the Valiant, 365 days later, and she was back on British soil. Her mission, so it seemed, was to kill the Master. She'd found three of the four components to the gun that kills a Time Lord, disabling regeneration, in Beijing, Budapest and San Diego. And now she was back in London for the fourth and final component. Just how the likes of UNIT had created this gun is beyond me but I'm sure the Doctor must have had some sort of input. How else would they know of the specific chemicals that inhibit regeneration? I absolutely loved the modesty of the Master in having statues of himself built across the globe. He kept the Jones family as his personal slaves and by the looks it didn't seem as though Lucy Saxon was held in a much higher regard. The subtle story told around her character, mainly from appearance (she did look stunning!) and body language was sublime. The Master was clearly abusing her and despite her appeal to his monstrosity in the previous episode, and her liking of visiting Utopia, she was clearly finding it hard to stay loyal to her husband who was decimating the human race and colonising them into a war planet to go up against the stars. He'd even had the audacity to place a black hole converter into every ship as a backup! He would though make one crucial mistake that he really ought not have which would bring about his downfall. Martha's relationship with Tom Milligan was great and I liked how he was willing to help her. He showed her the devastation of England first hand and then the Toclafane came but due to the perception filter of the TARDIS key she was unnoticed. The truth being revealed about the Toclafane was quite horrifying but absolutely incredible. I liked how the Master telling the Doctor, though he'd worked it out, coincided with the scenes of Martha, Tom and Professer Docherty catching one of the spheres. When they opened it, the shock was uncharted. After the phrase of Creet from Utopia was echoed, the viewer now knew the truth. The Toclafane were the future of the human race and they'd come back in time to form an empire that would last 100 trillion years. With the TARDIS converted into a paradox machine, the fact that they were murdering their ancestors wouldn't change anything whilst it was intact. After the best efforts of the three o'clock coup with the Doctor attaining the laser screwdriver, the Master seemed like he just couldn't lose. Isomorphic controls had won him that little battle, but then he aged the Doctor even more. So much that he was reduced to a bird cage and just looked embarrassing really. The Master stood victorious. And then he found Martha Jones. Her belongings were simply destroyed but just as she was about to be killed in front of her family, the Doctor and the tormented Jack, she started laughing. All was revealed of her journey across the planet. She wasn't really looking for the gun components. She was planning a prayer. A huge remnant of hope. With the launch countdown nearing an end, Martha's mission had succeeded as people everywhere were thinking one thing and one thing only. Doctor. Even Lucy Saxon. You can't stop people thinking and with human thought on the scale that it was being linked by the Archangel Network which the Doctor had had a year to tamper with to suit him, his ageing was reversed. He stood tall over the Master now and those scenes were fantastic. The Master's worst fear (actually pretty reminiscent of what we saw depicted as his worst fear in The Mind of Evil) had come true. The Doctor was restored. And he forgave the Master. He had to. They were the only Time Lords left and he simply hoped to keep him in the TARDIS as his responsibility. The scene where the Master threatened to blow the converters and burn the planet was brilliant due to the Doctor's reaction. He knew the Master couldn't kill himself. He knew him, and that sufficed for victory. But after Francine's threat it was his own wife who took the initiative and shot her husband dead. I loved how the Master, dying in the Doctor's arms, proclaimed victory. He refused to regenerate. He was dead and the Doctor was devastated. Once more, he was the last of the Time Lords. The body of his arch nemesis burned, but the ring he was wearing lived in and was picked up and we'd see a similar return in the future in not too dissimilar style to The Movie. Speaking of past stories, there were some splendid references here with The Claws of Axos, The Sea Devils, Frontier in Space, The Parting of the Ways, Smith and Jones and The Shakespeare Code all brilliantly mentioned. When all was set and done and time had been reversed thanks to Jack shooting the paradox machine, Martha revealed she would longer travel with the Doctor. It'd only been four days since she met him but after the suffering of her family during the year that never was, she couldn't leave them. She finally told him how she felt and the Doctor almost seemed sorry he hadn't seen her in that way. A nice departure for Martha but it wouldn't be the last time we'd see her at all! The Doctor though had quite a problem on his hand as the Titanic smashed through the TARDIS interior. Quite a fantastic lead in to the Christmas special! Overall, speaking now in terms of the three episodes as a whole, an incredible finale and a triumphant return for the Master. 

Rating: 10/10