Overdue Doctor Who Review: The Stolen Earth/Journey's End

[@kaizoisevil]

This episode felt a lot like the "Avengers Endgame" of Doctor Who, with them bringing back multiple companions for a grand finale.

[@antcoloniesofearth7295]

kaizoisevil No it didn’t. It was nothing like Avengers Endgame. The Legacy of Time is the closest you will get to End Game or Day of the Doctor. How many doctors had their solo series, almost all of them. How many companions have had a solo series, 2 at most. So it is t Endgame. A multidoctor story like The Legacy of Time is an End Game equivalent.

[@antcoloniesofearth7295]

kaizoisevil Endgame was good. This story was bad. And only 2 companions had standalone spinoffs. Day of the Doctor was actually good. The Legacy of Time which also features David Tennant was even bigger.

[@MrTARDIS]

@@antcoloniesofearth7295 , Please stop impersonating me in comment sections. All those reading this comment, I'd greatly appreciate if you could report the above commenter for impersonation.

[@MrTARDIS]

@whyemceeay, click the channel name and you'll see the difference.

[@SomeRandomGuy908]

MrTARDISreviews reported for you. (I love your channel)

[@DalamReviews]

Totally agree, I had never seen Torchwood or The Sarah Jane Adventures and the episode worked perfectly when I saw it for the first time at about 11 years old.

[@Lahey3]

I love The Stolen Earth. A chance to see all of those companions reunited and talk with each other. This was something big.

[@Gamelover254]

I actually disagree with needing more “fun” dialogue. I thought Tennant’s no joking dialogue and seriousness actually made this finale feel really serious and life threatening. One of the problems I have with Doomsday is when the Daleks begin attacking people and killing them, we cut back to the Doctor making jokes and commenting on his 3D glasses. It kinda sucked out the impact of the Dalek invasion. Here Tennant took the role much more seriously. Also I felt this finale was purposely more focused on the companions and the End of Time was more focused on the Doctor himself. Davies was actually very smart. He let all of his companions be the major players in this finale and wrapped up their stories, and then let The Doctor have his own finale later. I think it works really well.

[@Schming]

Also, I love the little reference to Genesis of the Daleks in this one when Davros recognises Sarah Jane.

[@fardareismai4495]

Dear Nathaniel/Vera, I want to thank you for your consistent and thoughtful reviews and discussions of (difficult and important) topics. Your opinions and points are always well structured, you show insight in writing, story and character development and also implications of certain stories. Even in the rare case I disagree with your opinion, I enjoy watching the videos you put up. I also appreciate the fact you're taking up LGBTQ+ topics frequently and raise awareness of them in connection to popular culture. Thank you for being a wonderful, smart nerd sharing so many things that are important to me and commenting on it in a thoughtful, respectful and considerate way. Greetings from Germany.

[@ChannelPup]

It may not be the most nuanced or subtle tale in Doctor Who history but it will likely never get bigger than these two episodes. This finale was an absolute dream come true for me and it's still a truly epic space opera today. This finale was operating on a truly spectacular level

[@Ben-vf5gk]

Yeah, this is the kind of finale that I could not believe would exist outside big finish

[@CulturePhilter]

I loved the crossover aspect to these episodes. A truly unique era of Doctor Who, a connected universe of shows, reflected in these episodes.

[@greghawkins59]

Seriously miss that era, would love to see torchwood come back at least

[@greghawkins59]

Captain Jack meeting the 13th doctor would be hilarious

[@lucypreece7581]

my fave moments come from Jack after the Metacrisis Doctor and Doctor Donna are revealed. just classic and totally what you expect from Jack

[@antcoloniesofearth7295]

Lucy Preece It was stupid and irrelevant.

[@landlighterfirestar5550]

It was hilarious and entirely for fun

[@johnmoraites6020]

MrTARDISreviews it was Brilliant

[@jasonthayer1309]

I love how Sarah Jane actually tells Mr. Smith to knock off that fanfare they always did in the show!

[@antcoloniesofearth7295]

Jason Thayer Yea, it took being in Doctor who to realise how annoying it was.

[@bookwermofthefandoms]

What fanfare?

[@PipsyProductions]

@@bookwermofthefandoms He has his own theme song which plays every time he appears in Sarah Jane Adventures along with a really dramatic activation scene

[@nightowl8477]

I love how Jackie literally had nothing to do. I'd say it's lazy writing, but tbf it's in-character.

[@williamcorpening6132]

My favorite part where Davies nailed it was the absolute terror everyone felt reacting to the return of the Daleks. Dialogue still could have been better..

[@theeorigin4651]

When Torchwood and Mr Smith play the message from the spaceships and go from 'Right, lets have you' to 'oh no, were dead', totally decomposing since theres nothing they can do is hands down one of the shows greatest moments. Chills every time. Theres a similar scene in The Last Sontaran in SJA (only good part of the episode).

[@CouncilofGeeks]

Sarah Jane preemptively mourning how young Luke is to be killed really does gut me.

[@Ben-vf5gk]

@@CouncilofGeeks Yeah That's actually really dark

[@paulbrecken2136]

I completely agree, I will sit through all of this just for Donna and wilf. Heartbreaking 💔

[@callisto8413]

I like how Davros now has a robotic right hand which replaced his organic hand which was shot off in Revelation of the Daleks. Also the Daleks plot ties in with the First Doctor Who story The Dalek Invasion Of Earth.

[@TheQuietReader1920]

I've been so excited to see your thoughts on this finale. I make no bones about the fact that it is my favourite series finale, and I think that the emotional lows (love Donna's departure but damn, Harriet Jones has such a great send off!) and highs (I think the Earth towing scene at the end is so beautifully triumphant) that it paints over the rougher points. You're right about the dialogue though, but if you read Davies's "The Writer's Tale" you can see how he worked through that particular script and what his personal priorities were. It's not an excuse, but it is an interesting insight into how he worked!

[@antcoloniesofearth7295]

Matthew Crook This was not he best finale. The Parting of the Ways was so much better and The Doctor Falls was better.

[@TheQuietReader1920]

@@antcoloniesofearth7295 That's fair enough; I love Parting of the Ways and The Doctor Falls, I think for me this one just strikes an emotional note the most. It's just a matter of what connects to me best, but I certainly do love those others you mentioned!

[@theshadowdirector]

This contains probably one of the most egregious cases of ‘instant win button’ with the Meta Doctor literally pressing a few buttons and destroying every damn Dalek around. This was the pint where I really noticed and became tired of the Daleks having to be all or almost all completely destroyed every single time. Also the Doctors chastisement of the meta Doctor for what he does also strikes me as one of his less justified sanctimonious moments.

[@HereComesPopoBawa]

"This was the pint where I really noticed..." - I know it's a typo, but I suspect that RTD might have written the script over lunch with a few pints.

[@squalloogal]

For me this isn’t a two parter but is tightly linked to Turn Left (my favourite episode). To judge it without the beginning of this part of the Doctor and Donna’s story is like judging any story without its foundation and introduction. Personally, I find it more memorable than doomsday. I also quite liked Bad Wolf, which has become a recurring theme. Just my two cents.

[@meganrobinson9867]

Some how this episode is a bigger crossover than the 50th anniversary

[@clayprent8753]

Still the best series finale of all of NuWho. It works near perfectly with very little flaws, and even then like you say it’s just the typical RTD trademarks similar to the series 2 finale. But it weaves a lot of threads together perfectly, forms the threat, builds it up, and solves it in a brilliant but ultimately painful way for Donna. It ties up all the loose ends , finishes the storylines for nearly all the characters (past companions, the two spinoffs) and sets up the Tennant specials, which themselves are fantastic, except for The End of Time (both parts, which are really flawed imo and a good example of when and how RTD can get a ‘finale’ very wrong). Can’t wait for you to review Waters of Mars and Planet of the Dead in detail. Xoxo

[@charlesgwynn7530]

Nice job love these episodes, even though your opinions are very different to my own. It's always fun to hear what others think! Loved this Doctor Who story too, one of my favourites

[@k2montgomery419]

I love that I disagree with these opinions so often, because the reasoning is always at least well thought out and logical.

[@antcoloniesofearth7295]

Charles Gwynn Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways was better.

[@charlesgwynn7530]

@@antcoloniesofearth7295 both good I'll agree I enjoyed them :D

[@ghlmk5931]

I just love all the companions flying the Tardis together under the Doctor's supervision. The music, the setup, it just works.

[@joepegel]

I think taking Donna's memories broke something inside the Doctor. He's just not the same after this episode, and he goes to a really dark place.

[@dubbingsync]

Give it two or three episodes and he’s the darkest he’s been (in the Davis era anyway)

[@robvegas9354]

Thank you for another great video!! Great episodes and watching them on the telly every saturday night at the time was absolutely stunning stuff!! Well done Dr Who! What about a waters of mars review???

[@karkatvantas9557]

Controversial opinion: I don't think this is a great finale. Donna should've gotten a send-off that used her inherent character strengths instead of turning her into a supergenius. That's kind of my problem with Davies' finales in general to be honest. The companions never save the day using skills they already possess, they're always helped by outside factors turning them into things they're not. Except Martha.

[@Azure-Star]

I was honestly having so much fun with everything that was happening in this episode that I never noticed those issues. I've seen the episodes a couple of times too. I get it though, good review.

[@CaesiusX]

I believe you're right about the Doctor being somewhat less dynamic in this story. Some may not have noticed it at first, (myself -iglooby- included) because we were so focused on (and excited by) _the return of everybody else_ ━ what they were doing/saying. Perhaps we just assume the Doctor will be great, so we allow for moments of mediocrity without realizing it. And when he turned out to be just *_meh_* here, we simply didn't take note. 👖 pants!

[@MANB91UK]

Nice pants!

[@xMvP_RAMPAGEX]

I must admit, when you started to talk about some of the negatives of this story, I thought 'oh boy'... But the points you made about Tenannt's dialogue in this are spot on. He's still great and they obviously gave him some of his lines to emphasise how dangerous the daleks and davros were in the moment, but yeah, it does seem a bit off at times.

[@sephirothii13]

I can tell you for me... the end, where standing the rain Wilfred asks "Oh, Doctor? What about you now? Who've you got? I mean, all those friends of yours" "They've all got someone else. Still, that's fine. I'm fine. " and he walks into the Tardis and leaves. that is a quote I have on my door at home... some of us travel the world alone... so make sure others see the sun... that is my quote.

[@brian256a]

Really enjoy your work and the way your always fair with your reviews :) good work:)

[@Ben-zw3vd]

All I can think about is the people on the international space centre being really confused

[@jvblhc]

This two-parter is one of my favorites. And here is just a short, amusing moment that happened when I was watching this a while ago with closed-captions on. In the early scene where there is an explosion at UNIT and Martha falls to the floor, somebody in the background yells out "Give me a sit-rep, NOW!". But my closed-captions had this mysterious person yelling out "Give me a cigarette, NOW!".

[@Schming]

I hope you will continue these even when you get to ones you've already reviewed. I really enjoy hearing your "second thoughts"

[@sunriselg]

I definitely agree on one point: I barely remember anything from the BIG RTD season finales.

[@willimations277]

While Midnight is (In my opinion) the best episode of NuWho, this two-parter is my favourite. I acknowledge its flaws, but it's just so fun, dramatic, sad, uplifting and makes me feel so many things. The first four series really culminated well in this story, it all truly felt like it led up to this. While many, many people don't like it, I really love this finale

[@dm613]

The Doctor always gives his enemies choice; his friends, though.... I agree, it was totally against Donna's will what he did. While we understand why, that fact still remains. My heart broke for both of them, and the Doctor literally shattered after that, too. He stopped trying to find a new companion after Donna, and spiraled out of control. No one as a companion until after he regenerated. I thought part of this did explore the Doctor's inability to do anything about what was coming.... it was strange to see the one who never stops moving and taking action stilled, and that may have been part of the awkwardness. As for Rose getting a reward, not sure about that one at all, not least of all because I can't see her being happy long term with a Doctor that has Donna's genetics in there. She may try, but I don't see it working out for either of them. Metacrisis Doctor is not a possession to be pawned off, and Rose likely sees that as well...

[@melancholymelon5316]

The supreme dalek Is my favourite dalek design

[@nightowl8477]

I've been watching Series 4 along with you, Series 5 and 6 along with FailWhale, and Series 8 and 9 along with Blind Wave. It's hard watching episodes from different seasons back-to-back, so I'm glad you (and me) are done with 4. It was nice comparing my thoughts to your's, so thanks for the reviews :)

[@nightowl8477]

I've been pushing the finale back for a few weeks cos I didn't have time, but I'm skipping the specials.

[@alyssafleischer8449]

i have such a soft spot for this episode, but since my rewatch i've found myself wishing that the metacrisis doctor had been eccleston's doctor? partly because i don't think that 10 and rose had very good chemistry until pretty late in s2, and partly because i think it would really encapsulate the tragedy of 10's arc. he tried to build this perfect version of himself and puts on all these affectations and made himself a young prettyboy for rose, but he keeps getting in over his head and shooting himself in the foot and just being kind of Wrong for his situation, and in the end he can't even live up to his own legacy that he spends so much time touting and basking in. i know it would probably make it more of a stretch mechanically to have the metacrisis doctor be 9 since the hand was 10's, but god it would be so poetic

[@CouncilofGeeks]

Huh. That’s a dang neat idea.

[@jamiestevens3074]

Phenomenal, emotional, fun, memorable, epic and intense story BUT should’ve been a three parter!

[@glygriffe]

I am a character-driven person and I started crying when you talked about the Doctor taking Donna's choice away... Do I have to tell you that I LOVE Donna?

[@calliesanderford3410]

Did you record this review before or after the Lion King? I got sensory overload at times during these two episodes due to enjoying both Torchwood and Sarah Jane Adventures. Donna and Wilf broke my heart and I wanted to slap her mother. Really enjoyed last night's livestream, it went all over in fun... Hope you have a lovely family vacation!

[@roxxychik06]

This was a wonderful grand finale so intricate and flowing to me. This is by far my most rewached finale. I just love seeing it over and over

[@djcomicc]

I really like the episode but the meta-crisis is weird to me. Like he's basically the same as what Donna becomes so why doesn't he have to have his memory wiped. Also i think he makes Rose's ending just too good. However if they retcon him to be the Valeyard I will take it all back

[@bobsayshi7073]

I am surprised you didn't actually talk about the semi-regeneration

[@martynstembridge7714]

I enjoyed both episodes , then and now. They felt like the grand climax to four years worth of storytelling, and I'll always love the way RTD built a universe that was cohesive and filled with characters who would come and go ... Harriet Jones for example, had a big long character arc, from being lovable and strong, to angering the Doctor in the Christmas Special, to her brave sacrifice in this story .... Plus the Daleks had been building up to this massive story ever since 'Dalek' in series 1 ... The RTD era FLOWED nicely .... JB was FANTASTIC as Davros, and after waiting four years for his return, I wasn't disappointed. Like all RTD finales it was a bit too crazy and cheesy at times, but by this point I just expected and enjoyed that. But you were right, Tennant got swamped a bit in this story ... He wasn't able to shine as much as normal because SO MANY characters came back ... I know we still have the specials to come, but this is the moment where New Doctor Who was about to change ... The fun and adventure of the first four years had reached its climax ... and Moffat was on the horizon.

[@mayotango1317]

In the horizon, the Moffat era who was the golden age of creative ideas and weird scy-fi with the lovely Pond Family and the great Nardole. Then Chibnall kill the show.

[@bacul165]

Any special reason for completely ignoring Martha? I'm not her biggest fan, but you actually mentioned everyone else...

[@antcoloniesofearth7295]

Barbara 165 Because Martha is one of the worst uncharacteristic companions of the modern series. Definitely Tennant’s worst companion.

[@landlighterfirestar5550]

Because the show criminally underutilized her. Council of Geek’s words

[@karkatvantas9557]

@@antcoloniesofearth7295 Try to impersonate a bit better. Trilbee loves Martha.

[@maniacmadness115]

Has anyone told you your teeth are immaculate!!!

[@Jedi_Spartan]

Is Radio vs the Martians on Spotify?

[@42vonbyrd]

Donna's departure sours what I think is a fun, yet messy finale. I do appreciate them in a way fixing that in later seasons.

[@JoshsBookishVoyage]

Definitely feels like a Davis Doctor Who Series Finale which is ironic considering his return now.

[@gaillemberg396]

yessssssssssss i was so excited for this one! i 100% agree. i always felt so uncomfortable with the dialogue for this story. also the 5000 times somebody says something to the doctor, or asks him a question, and he just STANDS there. i wanted to strangle him lol

[@Superdm64]

I adore this two parter. Unlike you, I tend to prefer the first halves of Davies' finales (with the exception of Bad Wolf) because I feel that he always does a really great job of building up these gigantic stakes but then his resolutions can be a bit too quick and easy. In this case though I feel that both parts hold up really well. It features my favorite piece of Murray Gold's music ( the Dark and Endless Dalek Night) and introduced me to Davros, who is my favorite Who villain. For me the scene that always sticks out and gives me chills is in Stolen Earth when everyone realizes that it's the Daleks. Everyone's reactions in that moment are great but the one that particularly gets me is how Sarah Jane breaks down and laments the fact that Luke will likely die at such a young age.

[@Venemofthe888]

More positive than the lion king review lol. I do think series 4 is my favourite and i really liked every episode even the bad ones. Davros coming back was a huge deal like i knew of him and they have mentioned him in new before i believe the 9th doctor made a passing reference to him. It was interesting twist to have all the tv series connected and come together for what was a huge threat. I would say the first part is the stronger part but losing Donna was a huge gutpunch and i still think its the most devastating doctor who goodbye.

[@Emily_The_Cartoonist]

when the doctor is on the ground holding donna asking wilf for help, that moment gets me everytime. also they planned to show the doctor giving the meta doctor a piece of tardis to grow, and i'm happy they deleted it cuz i feel like that would take away what the meta doctor is for rose, a shot at a normal life with a person who is more or less the doctor

[@lwaves]

I didn't know that about the TARDIS piece. That really would have ruined it, as to me, the whole point of the meta Doctor was that he was human, so he was free to love Rose in ways that the Doctor couldn't. Making him a Doctor Lite would have been terrible.

[@Emily_The_Cartoonist]

@@lwaves yeah i totally agree, you can find the clip on youtube, rtd says that it didnt really help the story so he cut it

[@markfinnigan4994]

20/20 hindsight is a wonderful thing

[@Caileanish]

I've never understood the love for this story. It's kind of an indulgent mess really. The only thing that saves it really is the Donna finale

[@mwaymont]

To me it always seemed like Davies approached the show with a mixture of romance and melodrama especially during Tennant’s run- the melodrama often coming across in Tennant’s performance in the form of his character’s mannerisms and expressions to what is going on. Though that did seem to work for his incarnation

[@WiloPolis03]

Always thought Journey's End was kind of anticlimactic. It's like Age of Ultron, it has a few great moments but altogether it's just too much.

[@CapriUni]

Well, if nothing else, your comment about how these two episodes were a celebration of everything the revival of "Doctor Who" had been, up to that point, gave me a hankering to watch the music vid of "500 Miles" that the *entire* cast and crew made for their wrap party: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aJSZoniEjM1loLM

[@jamiestevens3074]

The one dislike is Davros.

[@nathamiell]

The real question is if you're going to continue Ovverdue Reviews for Matt Smith. Although at that point they'd be re-reviews. I'd still watch those.

[@CouncilofGeeks]

I didn't start doing reviews until Day of the Doctor.

[@BadWolf739]

I always felt like this episode would have worked better if Rose had been handled differently. I had this idea that the dimensional canon that she talked about in Turn Left didn't work very well. It's why she kept fading in and out of the parallel worlds. It allowed her to cross over but she had a limited amount of time with each jump. I felt like that would have made the episode more interesting if she kept fading in and out of being present. It also would have preserved to some degree the end of Doomsday as she and the Doctor are still very much separate but they can see each other again even briefly. I also never really liked the medicrisis Doctor or why she went back to Pete's World. Seemed like finally having crossed back over she could have just stayed.

[@Ben-vf5gk]

This episode has slightly gone down in my estimations. It's still good, Julian Beach makes for a great Davros, he and the Doctor have great interactions, I like seeing most of the returning characters even if I feel some didn't have anything really to do and Donna's exit just kills me. However this finale, while probably being one of the better examples of one, is the fourth Davies finale in a row and the third to include Daleks and even back then I noticed the formula these followed.

[@darkstone2583]

I loved this episode and i totally forgot about the dialogue and i actually think that's fine even if there are off moments it makes me forget it by all the good so i forgive the off moments

[@nightowl8477]

I think it's fine the Doctor doesn't do much. This is a celebration of companions. They save him for once. But I get what you mean about the dialogue. Freema's delivery was terrible too. Not their fault.

[@heathla1]

I think that the bringing together of all the characters over shadows any of the story problems and of course the Donna good bye (crushed).

[@will8994]

I love the Stolen Earth, but by god do I hate Journey's End.

[@Faerie_Kim]

I don't like the fake regeneration or the deus ex machina of the Doctor Donna. I also think it gets hard to keep track of everything or be properly in the moment during the first part because there's too many characters and too much going on. But I like Davros, Dalek Kahn and the reality bomb. Also it is fun having Jack, Martha and Sarah Jane back. I like the bit where the doctor gives up, and the Harriet Jones stuff is awesome. She's awesome. The ending is heartbreaking of course.

[@lwaves]

That fake regen (that was a regen) has caused so many arguments and problems, All that for cliffhanger that really went nowhere. Davros was great, probably the best one of the returning classic villains in new Who. Although once again, the marketing dept screwed it up by showing him in the trailer, ruining the surprise of hearing his voice for the first time with the characters.

[@mikedignum1868]

I never agreed with what the doctor did to Donna in the end. She wanted to stay as the Doctor Donna and not go back to the way she was, no matter how short her new life would be.

[@michaelolsen2760]

The exit of Donna is undercut a bit because of the special but no where near as badly as Clara repeated deaths

[@HereComesPopoBawa]

You say that the Doctor would have _had to watch_ Donna die, but I think that's not why he took that choice from her. The Doctor has seen a lot of death, and accepts death - but does not accept injustice. He did so because _he would have been the cause_ of her death, which puts a huge wrinkle in the ethics of whether or not to intervene.

[@jaqsplays8049]

Did you know that Julian Bleach also played the nightmare man in Sarah Jane adventure once i found out you can hear it when rewatching The nightmare man.

[@Venemofthe888]

Him as the nightmare man looks like the joker like when i saw him for the first time

[@dubbingsync]

He also had the Ringmaster role in Torchwood. Which is also a creepy episode.

[@shmee123ful]

hay council of geeks I don't know if your into comics that much but I think you might like the doctor who comics made by titan and IDW, the idw ones even give us a few extra storys with 10 and donna. and titan is fanatic

[@superraegun2649]

The thing that really annoys me about this episode is that none of the companions really get anything to do. Think about it, they all set out on their missions to do something, but none of them end up really doing anything, they all just end up being taken to The Doctor. The only companion who actually achieves anything is Donna, and all she does is touch a hand and everything just magically works itself out from there. That’s why this episode will always be one of my least favourite season finales.

[@robo3007]

Doing the Music of the Spheres special after this?

[@nobodyshome4633]

Robin Powell - I hope so❤️ it’s a very nice little story with one of my favourite 10 dialogues ever x

[@Horrormaster13]

Can someone explain to me how the Hell was Davros able to survive Crucible's destruction? It was never explained, not even when he returned in Season 9 in "The Magician's Apprentice" and "The Witcher's Familiar" Episodes.

[@binkey3374]

Horrormaster13 It is a time travel show. So those could be encounters with an earlier Davros. But also, since his introduction in Genesis if the Daleks, Davros has a habit of getting killed off and then brought back later with no explanation of how he survived.

[@jonsnor4313]

dalek voice" He will explain later." That the master , the bad master came back without reson was bad through. I have no problem with missy because she is a new master.

[@sjzara]

I found obvious plot holes distracting: for example, testing the doomsday weapon on people was completely pointless, when it could have been tested equally well on a peanut. Then there was the business of “this was always going to happen, I only helped” - simple nonsense. Then there was making the supposed showing of the doctor’s “true nature” a brief throwaway. Also - if the doctor and Tardis are connected, why did the Doctor mourn its loss? Finally (and not Davies’ fault as it was after his time) how did the Tardis become so stable if it needed 6 pilots?

[@007robotchicken]

Just rewatched this two parter. I don't much care for these two episodes. The tone of the episodes really clash against the rest of series 4 to me. It feels like they want me to take the Daleks and Davros so seriously, but at the same time, there are so many goofy and silly things happening on screen that it pulls me out of it. And that kind of thing has worked for me before, like in The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances, but I feel like they didn't get the balance quite right here.

[@jonathan.palfrey]

Quite nice to see so many characters brought in, it becomes a reunion party; but the whole story is grossly implausible and ridiculous. I'd like Doctor Who to be science fiction, but it goes on and on being silly fantasy, and I go on being disappointed. Too bad about Donna-it seems almost impossible for the show to get a rid of a companion in a way that feels right.

[@NPCarlsson]

Personally, I think this and The End of Time are extremely overrated, but I'll admit this is at least better than The End of Time. I mean, it's call having all of these characters together, but a lot of the dialogue is just "Oh, it's you" "Nice to see you again" "We've met before that one time" "I don't know you but now I do" and the rest is just some Daleks do Dalek things, some characters go to their own subplots, but it amounts to nothing because they're all gonna be in the same place at the end. And then Donna becomes super genius and saves them all.

[@EmpireEmployeeRick]

Personally don't like this episode, I used to as a child but when I watch it now it's so disappointing! Rose pisses me off as usual and the resolution is crap and overlooked for some reason. Donnas exit and how mickey jack and Martha went off was nice, roses exit Can just shove it! I hate it and I hate her and the romance feels so in your face and it feels like it's trying to force emotions for the most part. But like I said I love Donnas exit and the scene in her house after wiping her mind and when ten said "well maybe you should tell her that once in a while " to Donnas mum was great. He's my least favourite doctor but that was a good moment. Also I like Julian bleach in the role of davros. There the only things I like for the most part it's just fanwanking for lack of a better word and really poorly resolved

[@rogvortex58]

Amazing build up. Lousy payoff. First episode was great the way all the whoniverse characters came together, and Davros being revealed. But then we got another deus ex machina, worse than the archangel Doctor. Seriously, Davros and the Daleks defeated by super temp Donna? Was RTD even trying? And Rose gets her own Doctor? Overkill, and clear signs of favouritism.

[@HOAfan11]

I would have to disagree with your analysis of "super temp Donna". I thought it was a clever twist when you consider the Donna we were initially introduced to. She was a temp who did not feel she was important and her first marriage was a shambles and meeting the Doctor and saving civilisations gave her life meaning. That meaning was further emphasised by how she became "The DoctorDonna" for it to then be wiped from her mind (all that knowledge and memories of saving civilisations) to becoming...unimportant...again. It was incredibly upsetting to see the lives she saved be wiped but it's nice knowing that civilisations still sing songs about Donna Noble ~ the most important woman in the world.

[@AMoniqueOcampo]

Donna deserves better.

[@ClaraFinn]

I like The Stolen Earth as a setup, but I’ve never really liked Journey’s End. There’s plenty of it that I enjoy - mostly i’d say that Davros is great and Donna’s exit is written pretty much perfectly, but there’s just too much going on that i don’t like. Everything surrounding the meta crisis Doctor is stupid. If there’s one thing this story needed it’s not another character. He exists so Rose can get a happy ending, and i politely disagree with you because in my opinion it does undo Doomsday. Because Donna’s exit is so sad it’s like Russell decided to undo the last unhappy ending to try and balance it. Maybe he exists as a way to let the Doctor Donna to happen, but is having a fakeout regeneration (something else I dislike) to create a CLONE OF THE DOCTOR really the best thing he could think of? The very fact that there’s a Tenth Doctor clone who’s part human in a manner vague enough so that he’ll age like a normal human (conveniently for Rose) but who is seemingly different from what Donna becomes. It’s just something I never liked even as a kid and it has not grown on me. Also, the doctor’s condemnation of him for destroying the Daleks... really? So what was the OG Doctor’s plan? Politely ask the Daleks to stop being mean? He didn’t have the bad wolf entity or a convenient one-way door to the Void this time, *something had to destroy the Daleks or the entire universe is still in danger* , it doesn’t matter if the reality bomb is gone, it’s still Davros and a massive full power empire. And the Doctor acts like meta crisis did something supremely wicked and evil. The resolution itself is yet another Davies ex machina. I buy that Donna is now a supergenius, but I don’t buy that she can just press a load of buttons and fix everything (as well as make all the Daleks spin around inexplicably). I find it lazy and the fact that this extra length episode has such a rushed resolution is mind boggling. It’s not as bad as the Doctor becoming a wizard due to the power of prayer, but it IS worse than Rose eating the time vortex and fixing everything. People claim Moffat’s finales were bad and that he couldn’t write resolutions, but Davies often couldn’t either. I think people were more willing to forgive him though because he went for spectacle more and also nostalgia I guess. The idea of assembling all the past characters together is all well and good in theory, but this isn’t the Avengers. This isn’t a pair of 3 hour blockbuster movies, this is a pair of TV episodes totalling about an hour and 45 minutes. So of all these characters they bring back, almost none of them actually contribute anything worthwhile. Like you said the Doctor gets sidelined a fair bit. Sarah’s only purpose is to give Jack the warp star and for (admittedly brilliant) Genesis nostalgia. The characters from the other shows don’t actually serve much, they pop up as a cameo as an introduction and then they just show up at the end to advance the plot. Jackie doesn’t do anything. Mickey is only here so he can leave the parallel Earth. Also there’s the infamous ‘if there’s so many realities how come Davros’s plan has never succeeded’ plot hole. I’m sure there’s explanations for it, but that sort of problem happens when you go this big scale. I rambled too much. Oops

[@tbass94]

I felt Billie Piper’s performance was a bit off in this too tbh

[@gunlovingliberal1706]

I always felt there was something wrong with this story, but could not pin it down. I think you just explained it. The Doctor's dialog is not up to par.

[@lucasdolding6924]

While I do enjoy watching this finale and it is very much a fun experience (whereas Series 11's finale was just boring without much substance for example) I think this is probably one of the most overrated stories in Doctor Who where I don't think there is too much to actually praise in the story. The usual stuff like acting, music and other production was good to great, but I feel like a lot of people overlook the actual plot a lot. Rose gets an underserved ending of having her own version of the Doctor and is still mopy and annoying throughout most of the story; I get what he was going for with the Meta-Crisis Doctor, but since he did save the Universe and blew up all the Daleks, I think Davies had 10 really overreact at him and it was pretty poorly executed; Davros doesn't really do much other than shout, not having any memorable or great scenes like we got between him and 4 in Genesis or with 12 in the Series 9 opener; the Daleks are defeated by pushing a few buttons and they all explode, also lots of technobabble to explain it away; I'm pretty mixed on Donna's exit as it just undoes all her character development of the series, feeling as if Davies just wants to be tragic and not having any real point to it, unlike Clara in Face the Raven for example, although since it is effective I don't have a massive problem with it. The story again suffers from Davies trying to go bigger than the previous finale by putting the entire Universe at risk (a problem which again occurred in The End of Time where all of reality is at stake). One thing which I definitely credit Davies for is the crossover working as well as it could've and something that I have missed since, as well as the experience actually being entertaining and fun (again, unlike with Series 11). I was kinda hoping you'd be a bit more critical on the plot, but hey, if you liked it and saw little to no problems with it, that's all fine, I just feel like the story isn't critiqued enough because of how fanservicey it is and therefore more people will like it regardless.

[@judgemario]

I like this finale, but I have always felt shoving so many characters in made the story a lot clunkier than it should have been. As much as I enjoy a good cameo, Martha, Mickey, Sarah Jane, Jack, Torchwood, and Jackie felt really shoehorned into this one. Nothing they do matters that much and their scenes were pretty boring. Rose was the only one that I think should have come back since that had been teased all season. Everyone else really bloats this one and takes away the opportunity for Donna and the Doctor to get into their usual groove.

[@trollloool1307]

What did you think of Harriet jones performance and self sacrifice

[@mrdoctorgilmore]

Kind of annoyed Russell retroactively retconned her death saying she survived by standing on a trap door.

[@trollloool1307]

Galactic yo yo I did not know that

[@ClaraFinn]

Galactic yo yo I can say with almost 100% certainty that that won’t be canon.

[@mrdoctorgilmore]

I like to think it's canon just so I can add it to the list of characters from this era that were definitely going to die and this fact was repeated several times, but don't or instead suffer metaphorical deaths.

[@ClaraFinn]

@@mrdoctorgilmore "ONE OF THEM SHALL DIE!" *none of them died* "This is the story of how I died" *I didn't die i just can't see my boyfriend anymore*

[@Joe-v5o]

I miss the Sarah Jane Adventures

[@dubbingsync]

I miss it mainly because it never got that proper ending it deserved... for very understandable reasons but still.

[@jonathanskinner7647]

The bees are disappearing? The BEES are disappearing? THE BEES ARE DISAPPEARING!?!

[@epsilonjay4123]

I know this will probably seem like an unusual opinion, but I actually really didn't like this one. It wasn't as exciting as I had hoped it would be and I liked the seasons 2 and 3 finales better than this one. I thought that Most of the episode was just the characters standing around and then defeating the daleks by flipping a switch.

[@ChrisBrown-jp1hi]

The episode is way too busy with trying to accommodate all of the characters which is too bad because there was a good plot in there somewhere. It’s not an episode that I go back and watch.

[@lazy1119]

Not a massive fan of this one, it comes off as Davies patting himself on the back for an hour and a half and it would be the last time he does that. 10 should have actually regenerated here

[@theaquinnwrites]

As someone who watched that finale without watching the spin-off shows, and in fact I still haven't seen all of Torchwood or any of SJA, I can confirm that it was really well integrated, and I didn't feel lost at all! That said, I stand by "I hate Rose/10 and any incarnation of it and Rose getting the human!doctor to herself was insulting to both him and her relationship to the Doctor and they'll break up in 3-7 years max, because she'll have unrealistic expectations of him and he'll get tired of living in someone else's shadow and knowing he'll never live up to The Doctor."

[@Tsukiakari-qb3tk]

Hey 12th comment and nice review

[@M4DGESTY]

First

[@Luuuna]

Good for you