24 June 2007

The Sound of Drums: Doctor Who


In part-two of the three-part season finale, The Doctor, Martha and Jack escape the Futurekind of 100 trillion years in the future by using Jack's Vortex Manipulator. While Jack claimed it was broken, the Doctor was able to fix it and retun them to the 21st Century.

Here, the Doctor reveals that he knows the Master is here, because before the Time Lord stole the TARDIS, the Doctor was able to freeze its control, sending it back to the last place it was before it travelled into the future.

The Master -who after leaving the Doctor in the future- arrived 18 months prior to when the Doctor met Martha, and began his scheme at become the Prime Minister of Great Britian. Which he succeeds at doing.

It's up to the Doctor to stop his old enemy from releasing the Toclafane into this dimension. But the Master is very much aware of the Doctors plan, and stops him.

The episode ends with the Toclafane arriving to do the Master's bidding.

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As with all three-part shows, this was basically the set-up for next weeks season finale. But aside from that, it was still good. There is much to ponder here, as we get a better understanding of Gallifrey and the Time War, and how the Master -last seen trapped in the Eye of Harmony by the eigth Doctor in the 1996 TV movie survived.

I suspect that the Futurekind are the Time Lords themselves -after all, the Master contends that if the Doctor did know the truth, it would break his hearts. Plus, the Master says that the word Toclafane is from their childhood.

The series once again plays to long-time fans of the series, by having the Master giving jelly babies to his wife, or "companion." Or when the Master begins talking to the cameras, and the world, he says "People of Earth, please attend carefully." Those were spoken by the Master in 1981's final episode of Tom Baker's reign as the Doctor, Logopolis.

There was a Sea Devils comment that I missed, also.

Next week: The Last of the Time Lords


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