The End of Time Part 2 review and writing lessons to learn from his mistakes
In a word it was terrible. Everything that RTD generally gets wrong was done wrong here. In fact I think this is the worst episode of New Who I've seen since Donna and the Adipose at the beginning of season four. Actually. No. Fuck it. This is the worst episode of New Who yet. And that's really saying something- hello Shirley Henderson episode.
Someone else described the way RTD works way back when the episode first aired in the UK. They described the way his scriptwriting worked as something like this:
Season One: RTD: I want this to be dramatic and emotional
Audience: Cool, though some of your episodes had some plot holes.
Season Two:
RTD: I want this to be dramatic and emotional
Audience: That's ok and it is very emotional and dramatic but some things still don't make sense.
Season Three: RTD: I want this to be dramatic and emotional
Audience: Ok, OK but the deux ex machina's are getting REALLY annoying
Season Four: RTD: I want this to be dramatic and emotional
Audience: It is dramatic and emotional but NOTHING is making sense anymore
Christmas Specials:
Rtd: I want this to be dramatic and emotional!!!
Audience: I can't tell if it is emotional or dramatic anymore because nothing makes sense but now I've stopped caring because I know that it is not going to make sense and is it all over and is that shouting man gone and can I bring my sore head out from under that rock now?
Thats exactly how I feel about RTD, so kudos to whichever lj user came up with that.
Again there was not enough scenes of relative quiet, like we saw in WOM. There were again maybe only two scenes that were actually dramatic and emotional in a way that wasn't manipulative or contrived; the scene between Wilf and The Doctor talking about killing The Master and the scene where The Master sacrifices himself to defeat the Time Lords and help The Doctor.
So now for the things that made me hate the episode:
-The green aliens served no purpose to the plot and wasted time which could have been spent on the Time lords and The Master and The Doctor. It was like RTD didn't really know where his story was going.
- The Timelords were defeated in about 20 minutes or less using a very lame deux ex machina. I think that the return of Gallifrey would have been more effective as a three parter or even a four parter where a sense of danger could have been achieved.
- Donna's character was given a poor ending, almost as bad as the one given to Rose at the end of season four. I agree with Mary Ann Johanson at flickfilosopher. Rtd wrote himself into a corner with her. She cannot ever remember her travels with The Doctor without dying, and yet she will never reach her full potential unless she CAN remember. The only solution to this problem is for her to die after remembering travelling with him. This or NEVER remember and always have a part of her missing. BUT because in the first part RTD had her remember, it made the most sense for her brain to overload and have her die in a way that would have been genuinely sad. It would have been sad, but right for the character.
I think RTD has had a problem with the need for sad endings for characters since the start of his tenure as scriptwriter. It happened with Rose too. Instead of remaining stuck at the end of season four back in the parrallel universe alone, she got given, by means of lame deux ex machina, her own human doctor. Now this to me never made much sense in terms of Rose's character because the whole reason that she loves The Doctor is because he ISN'T human and because he does take her on these adventures through space and time. RTD could have left her alone, which would have elicited genuine sad emotion from fans, but instead he chose the easy way out.
The same inconsistency again happened with The Master and Lucy Saxon. She went from being completely into him from series three, to being all morally upright to the point of wanting to destroy him in the end of time. Now I know that she was physically abused in LOTTL, but I felt like she shot The Master to make him stop hurting her, rather than because he destroyed part of the world's population and I also don't see how she would have known anything about how to stop him from resurrecting. The actress who plays Lucy has said things about her character that quite frankly are at complete opposite to what RTD has said. It's almost like RTD had one idea for season three and than suddenly changed his mind for end of time in a way that actually really undermined Lucy's character and the way the actress played her. But enough on inconsistent character developement.
- Things weren't explained even though they should have been.
eg The White Lady- is she The Doctor's mother? Or is she a future regeneration of Doctor Donna (because the doctor looked from Donna to the Lady)
eg 2 The Dad's Army that Wilf creates- what was their purpose to the story? comic relief? a means of having Wilf meet up with The Doctor. Surely RTD could have come up with something better than that
eg 3 How did The Doctor not die after crashing down hundreds of feet through skylight?
eg 4 After crying insanely at the end of LOTTL: when The Master "died" why did The Doctor seem to not even care about The Master's sacrifice when he goes into the Time Lock?
eg 5 Why were the Ood so advanced?
eg 6 Why did The Doctor fear death so much and face it like such a wimp? What a trite way for the excellent DT to go!
Now for the multiple endings. I could have liked this alot, but it felt forced and gimmicky. Jessica Hynes as the book signer was a genuinely emotional moment, as was Rose before she'd met The Doctor and Sarah Jane and her son, but Martha and Mickey felt random and unexplained as was the fact that they were both fighting an alien on earth? How did that happen?
Donna's ending I've already gone on about at great length, but again, her marrying a random without ever meeting her full potential and with Wilf's implication from end of time 1 that it isn't necessarily for love leaves a bad taste in my mouth, as does the fact that she is essentially just another good for nothing no hoper because she has lost a part of herself.
Jack's scene was alright but I wish RTd could have come up with something more original than Star Wars for inspiration. I could literally see Hans Solo and hear the music played from Tatooine in the background.
Basically by the end of it all, I'd had enough, I just wanted DT to hurry up and regenerate already so we didn't have to keep dealing with his annoying emo man child attitude and get a different script writer already, one who perhaps understands the meaning of subtlty.
I think Matt Smith will make a good Doctor from the little we saw of him, Stephan Moffat has proven himself to be a good script writer so I say bring it on. Please, please no more lame deux ex machinas, no more reoccuring companions, no more forced happy endings, move away from earth for awhile, write drama not kids cheese and I will be happy.
*Note to self, learn from this Christmas special. Make sure that when you edit you're novel, you don't make the same mistakes as Russel.
When writing,
1. Have consistent character development. If you're character seems to be acting in a way that is at odds with the rest of the book, it dosen't work.
2. Don't be afraid to kill characters off or have some sad endings. Don't bring characters back to life because you suddenly think they'd make a good foil for X or because you think everyone loves happy endings. They don't. I know because I'm one of the ones who likes them sad and bittersweet.
3. Don't have all of the action happen all at once only to be resolved in a couple of pages. If this happens it probably means that the rest of your novel is full of filler. If it dosen't relate to a part of the plot, delete it.
4. Don't leave things unanswered unless there is PURPOSE in leaving things unanswered.
5. It is OK to have moral grey areas.
6. Have a story and stick with it. None of this one second its for kids, the next for adults, the next for teens. Don't write for the biggest possible audience, write for yourself, and let the novel/episode find its own audience.
7. Don't reuse the same cliche's over and over (Kit and The Horsekin I'm looking at you, oh and RTD of course with the recurring villains), the reader/viewer WILL get bored, and the suspense and fear of the adversary is lost.
Well that's all from me for now. Whew what a rant!
Someone else described the way RTD works way back when the episode first aired in the UK. They described the way his scriptwriting worked as something like this:
Season One: RTD: I want this to be dramatic and emotional
Audience: Cool, though some of your episodes had some plot holes.
Season Two:
RTD: I want this to be dramatic and emotional
Audience: That's ok and it is very emotional and dramatic but some things still don't make sense.
Season Three: RTD: I want this to be dramatic and emotional
Audience: Ok, OK but the deux ex machina's are getting REALLY annoying
Season Four: RTD: I want this to be dramatic and emotional
Audience: It is dramatic and emotional but NOTHING is making sense anymore
Christmas Specials:
Rtd: I want this to be dramatic and emotional!!!
Audience: I can't tell if it is emotional or dramatic anymore because nothing makes sense but now I've stopped caring because I know that it is not going to make sense and is it all over and is that shouting man gone and can I bring my sore head out from under that rock now?
Thats exactly how I feel about RTD, so kudos to whichever lj user came up with that.
Again there was not enough scenes of relative quiet, like we saw in WOM. There were again maybe only two scenes that were actually dramatic and emotional in a way that wasn't manipulative or contrived; the scene between Wilf and The Doctor talking about killing The Master and the scene where The Master sacrifices himself to defeat the Time Lords and help The Doctor.
So now for the things that made me hate the episode:
-The green aliens served no purpose to the plot and wasted time which could have been spent on the Time lords and The Master and The Doctor. It was like RTD didn't really know where his story was going.
- The Timelords were defeated in about 20 minutes or less using a very lame deux ex machina. I think that the return of Gallifrey would have been more effective as a three parter or even a four parter where a sense of danger could have been achieved.
- Donna's character was given a poor ending, almost as bad as the one given to Rose at the end of season four. I agree with Mary Ann Johanson at flickfilosopher. Rtd wrote himself into a corner with her. She cannot ever remember her travels with The Doctor without dying, and yet she will never reach her full potential unless she CAN remember. The only solution to this problem is for her to die after remembering travelling with him. This or NEVER remember and always have a part of her missing. BUT because in the first part RTD had her remember, it made the most sense for her brain to overload and have her die in a way that would have been genuinely sad. It would have been sad, but right for the character.
I think RTD has had a problem with the need for sad endings for characters since the start of his tenure as scriptwriter. It happened with Rose too. Instead of remaining stuck at the end of season four back in the parrallel universe alone, she got given, by means of lame deux ex machina, her own human doctor. Now this to me never made much sense in terms of Rose's character because the whole reason that she loves The Doctor is because he ISN'T human and because he does take her on these adventures through space and time. RTD could have left her alone, which would have elicited genuine sad emotion from fans, but instead he chose the easy way out.
The same inconsistency again happened with The Master and Lucy Saxon. She went from being completely into him from series three, to being all morally upright to the point of wanting to destroy him in the end of time. Now I know that she was physically abused in LOTTL, but I felt like she shot The Master to make him stop hurting her, rather than because he destroyed part of the world's population and I also don't see how she would have known anything about how to stop him from resurrecting. The actress who plays Lucy has said things about her character that quite frankly are at complete opposite to what RTD has said. It's almost like RTD had one idea for season three and than suddenly changed his mind for end of time in a way that actually really undermined Lucy's character and the way the actress played her. But enough on inconsistent character developement.
- Things weren't explained even though they should have been.
eg The White Lady- is she The Doctor's mother? Or is she a future regeneration of Doctor Donna (because the doctor looked from Donna to the Lady)
eg 2 The Dad's Army that Wilf creates- what was their purpose to the story? comic relief? a means of having Wilf meet up with The Doctor. Surely RTD could have come up with something better than that
eg 3 How did The Doctor not die after crashing down hundreds of feet through skylight?
eg 4 After crying insanely at the end of LOTTL: when The Master "died" why did The Doctor seem to not even care about The Master's sacrifice when he goes into the Time Lock?
eg 5 Why were the Ood so advanced?
eg 6 Why did The Doctor fear death so much and face it like such a wimp? What a trite way for the excellent DT to go!
Now for the multiple endings. I could have liked this alot, but it felt forced and gimmicky. Jessica Hynes as the book signer was a genuinely emotional moment, as was Rose before she'd met The Doctor and Sarah Jane and her son, but Martha and Mickey felt random and unexplained as was the fact that they were both fighting an alien on earth? How did that happen?
Donna's ending I've already gone on about at great length, but again, her marrying a random without ever meeting her full potential and with Wilf's implication from end of time 1 that it isn't necessarily for love leaves a bad taste in my mouth, as does the fact that she is essentially just another good for nothing no hoper because she has lost a part of herself.
Jack's scene was alright but I wish RTd could have come up with something more original than Star Wars for inspiration. I could literally see Hans Solo and hear the music played from Tatooine in the background.
Basically by the end of it all, I'd had enough, I just wanted DT to hurry up and regenerate already so we didn't have to keep dealing with his annoying emo man child attitude and get a different script writer already, one who perhaps understands the meaning of subtlty.
I think Matt Smith will make a good Doctor from the little we saw of him, Stephan Moffat has proven himself to be a good script writer so I say bring it on. Please, please no more lame deux ex machinas, no more reoccuring companions, no more forced happy endings, move away from earth for awhile, write drama not kids cheese and I will be happy.
*Note to self, learn from this Christmas special. Make sure that when you edit you're novel, you don't make the same mistakes as Russel.
When writing,
1. Have consistent character development. If you're character seems to be acting in a way that is at odds with the rest of the book, it dosen't work.
2. Don't be afraid to kill characters off or have some sad endings. Don't bring characters back to life because you suddenly think they'd make a good foil for X or because you think everyone loves happy endings. They don't. I know because I'm one of the ones who likes them sad and bittersweet.
3. Don't have all of the action happen all at once only to be resolved in a couple of pages. If this happens it probably means that the rest of your novel is full of filler. If it dosen't relate to a part of the plot, delete it.
4. Don't leave things unanswered unless there is PURPOSE in leaving things unanswered.
5. It is OK to have moral grey areas.
6. Have a story and stick with it. None of this one second its for kids, the next for adults, the next for teens. Don't write for the biggest possible audience, write for yourself, and let the novel/episode find its own audience.
7. Don't reuse the same cliche's over and over (Kit and The Horsekin I'm looking at you, oh and RTD of course with the recurring villains), the reader/viewer WILL get bored, and the suspense and fear of the adversary is lost.
Well that's all from me for now. Whew what a rant!