And so it ends. The final story of the Chibnall era, and the last time we'll see Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor (unless she returns for a future special). I'll be posting my overview of the whole CC / JW era - with its pros and cons - later this week, but for now let's look at The Power of the Doctor.
Did the showrunner manage to pull a rabbit out of the hat - right at the very end?
Warning: there be spoilers ahead...
Series finales and festive episodes can be big events - especially when written by Russell T Davies - but to date we have only had one really big Special episode. That was the 50th Anniversary story The Day of the Doctor. As a celebration of 50 years of Doctor Who, it didn't quite get there. It was much more a celebration of the revived series only - with very little of the classic series in its mix.
This new story isn't designed to meet a Doctor Who anniversary, but instead it's honouring the 100th birthday of the people who make the programme. By having Tegan and Ace included in a meaningful way - more than just a pair of cameos - The Power of the Doctor celebrates the series in both of its incarnations far more than the Moffat story ever did.
Aldred and Fielding were just the two main returnees from the classic era. What we hoped for was some surprise guests - and boy did we get them.
After the Doctor is apparently regenerated out of existence she finds herself in a bleak landscape, where she encounters aspects of her previous existence. Cue appearances by David Bradley, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann. For some reason the latter insisted on wearing his costume from the Night of the Doctor mini-sode, which just looked wrong. His co-stars all joined with the idea that this was simply a representation of a single Time Lord, so why couldn't he?
There was one other previous Doctor appearance - the Fugitive one. The Doctor was appearing to companions as an interactive AI hologram, and she was one aspect of this.
Old school fans will have loved it when this hologram interacted separately with Tegan and Ace - appearing to each as their version of the Doctor. It was a pity that Colin Baker never got to have a similar scene.
If the appearance of old Doctors was a beautiful surprise, then there was a further one right at the end. After Yaz is reunited with Graham, they set up a sort of "Companions Anonymous" support group, to enable them to talk to people about their adventures without people thinking them mad. Joining this group, along with Dan, Tegan, Ace and Kate Stewart were Katy Manning's Jo, Bonnie Langford's Mel, and William Russell's Ian Chesterton.
The final nod to the past was, of course, the final confirmation that the 14th Doctor is played by David Tennant. And he is the 14th. Russell T Davies has now officially called Ncuti's Doctor the 15th.
So far, so nostalgic. When it came to the actual plot for this episode, I'm afraid it demonstrated a lot of the problems with Chibnall's writing. Some things happened for no apparent reason, and there were plot holes a plenty.
Another surprise not yet mentioned occurs very near the start. After a lengthy pre-credits sequence involving the space bullet train under attack by the Cybermasters, during which Dan is almost killed, he suddenly announces his departure. He walks out of the TARDIS and plays no further part in proceedings until the support group at the end. This was a none too satisfying ending for the character. I suppose the stage had to be cleared to allow for Ace and Tegan to join in.
The Master's plan made little sense (a nice nod to the past was his description of the "Master Dalek Plan"). He captures a sentient energy form to feed a device which will allow him to force a regeneration on the Doctor - making her regenerate into him. I didn't quite grasp what he wanted from this. If he wanted to undermine her, he could just as easily have gone round claiming to be her. If he did become her, why not adopt any of her personality and morality? There was absolutely no difference between the Master and the Doctor-Master.
His base in 1916 Russia had no relevance to the plan, other than to allow him to be Rasputin. (The only benefit of this was the sight of him dancing to the Boney-M hit. Many will claim to hate this scene, but we previously saw the John Simm version dancing to the Scissors Sisters - so we have precedent).
Later, the same device which needed a captured sentient energy form is powered by half a dozen Cybermasters regenerating. Why couldn't he have just used them in the first place?
The sentient energy form destroys the artificial planet and gets free. Why hang around till the end of the episode to do this?
It turns out that Ashad was a clone of the original. The Daleks seemed to be drilling into a volcano to activate it. They're defeated by Ace and Graham. But were they doing the same thing at other volcanos? How can triggering one single volcano set them all off. The Doctor resolves the volcanic eruptions with a bit if stupid technobabble - the artificial planet managing to freeze the lava somehow.
Another old companion, of more recent times, is Vinder. It was hardly worth his time turning up, and his own companions - Bel and Karvanista - were nowhere to be seen.
This episode will be best remembered for three things - the appearance of the old Doctors, the appearance of the old companions, and the regeneration. The actual story itself less so.
Some fans were looking forward to seeing Tennant in Whittaker's costume. As it was, her clothes regenerated along with her body (again we have precedent with Troughton's full outfit and Davison's boots). Instead it was the Master who we saw in the 13th costume.
I was sad to see Jodie go. I've always said she is a good actor who has been badly served by the writing, and I think this remained true to the end. The regeneration scene looked wonderful, though her final words didn't have anything like the impact of other Doctors of the revived series.
Once the end credits had rolled, we got the briefest of glimpses of the new RTD era. This included Neil Patrick Harris as - reputedly - the Toymaker and our very first glimpse of Ncuti's 15th Doctor.
With no Xmas or New Year Special for the first time since the series came back, we have a whole 13 months to wait, as the trio of 60th Specials definitely won't be screened until November 2023.
PS: overnight figures 4.04 million. Legend of the Sea Devils had only 2.20 million.
And for completism's sake - the final Regeneration portrait. You see what I mean about the final words...
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