Well, the End of Time Part 1 is done, and in just under a week, part 2 will be shown.  And again, the ending of the episode was extremely poor.

Russell T. Davies, yet again had overall a good episode, which tripped over it’s own feet at the end.  His biggest issue seems to be the old, “What do I do next”? syndrome.

He seems to be unable to deal with the Plot Leveling & one-uping the story.  If your not familiar with those TV Tropes, then let me explain.  The problem with a continuing series is that after the hero solving the problem, what does he do next?  Go to disneyland?  No, typically there is another adventure.  Well, it can’t be easier than the previous adventure, right?  Why not?  Because it’s not a challenge, and the viewer’s know that.

So, the “Big Bad” must be bigger, badder, and more evil.  So, if handled poorly, you get into a “Big Bad” evil race.  The hero must be able to solve the problem, so he either get’s a new device to solve the problem, or the big bad get’s weaker, in a never ending cycle.  At least until the next big bad shows up.

I believe that RTD hasn’t been able to solve this issue, or is uncomfortable with this genre problem.  He seems to be much more comfortable with drama, compared to hero dramas.

So this is part of why the season finale’s, typically seem to be magically solved at the end….  Even Deus Ex Machina’d.

Hopefully RTD will pull a rabbit out of the hat, but this feels like he was sitting down and had this type of conversation with himself:

• Well, I need something really a “Big Bad” for Tennant’s last episodes
• Oh, well I wanted to bring the Master back.  He’s really a big bad…
• But, he’s already been defeated….  How can I make it him more dangerous.
• What if there are more than one?
• Yesssss…  Oh what if everyone was the Master?
• Now how do I do it?

How could this have been handled better?  Well, if the Master spent more than 5 minutes at the computer, and there was some sign of struggle with programming this, it might have worked better.  After all, what medical device is designed to “destroy” the patient?  And how the heck is the Doctor suppose to be able to save everyone?

If the special effect’s for the transformations were something other than Linda Blair’s head turning session sped up 100 times, than maybe it would of went over better.

And did the Master even think any of this over?  He’s going to rule over himself?  So Clone #101 – 250 are going to be comfortable going to work on the farm so that he doesn’t starve?  They are him, they’ll never be accepting of that role.  It’s not like he has a TARDIS to escape the earth with.

I am looking forward to Steven Moffat taking over, hopefully the scripts will be much more consistent, and handle this sort of thing better.