Before the end, a moment of thanks

[jvowles]

I'm a few hours from watching the last episode of Doctor Who: The End of Time.

This is the last time we'll see a new episode with David Tennant as the Doctor; it's also the last time we'll have Russell T Davies at the helm.

As my friend jblum suggests, it's a good time to say thank you. So while this is partly directed toward Russell, it's also directed toward David, and the entire team. Those who made the miracles happen.

Thank you, Russell, for writing a novel featuring the Doctor a decade ago; thanks for putting a gay Doctor Who fan in a little show that got a ton of attention. Thank you for convincing the BBC that this madcap old racehorse had life left in. Thank you for being the driving force behind the regeneration of one of my favorite things in the universe.

Thanks for choosing exactly the right people to make it work -- for Chris and for David, for Billie and John and Noel and Camille, for Catherine and Freema and Kylie. Thanks for Derek Jacobi and John Sim. Thank you for making a whole new generation fall in love with Liz Sladen and a silly tin dog. Thanks for the Autons, the Daleks, the Cybermen, the Macra, the Judoon, the Slitheen, the Sycorax, the Weeping Angels, the Sontarans, the Toclafane, and the Master.

Thanks for planets that have a north, for the Shadow Proclamation's useful Article 15. Thanks for the Dalek on the stairs, the police box that was (terrifyingly) the same size inside as outside, the day when (just this once) everybody lives, the MP from Flydale North, a girl in the fireplace, and the big bad wolf. Thanks for redeeming Mickey; thanks for the compulsory upgrading, the return of UNIT, the cat people, the bitchy trampoline, the Face of Boe, the wire-fu monks, the angry Queens. Thanks for burning up a star to say goodbye to Rose, and for burning up 8 minutes in a love letter to Peter Davison.

Thanks for companions who have families and for knowing that the Doctor needs someone...and why. Thanks for making stories, not just plots; thanks for the stuff you teased and delivered; thanks for the lovely lies you told and the way you played the fans. Thanks for Daleks vs Cybermen at last; thanks for making Paul McGann completely official; thanks for the soaring victories and the horrifying failures and the little moments of joy.

Thanks for five terrifying, silly, wonderful Christmases. Thanks for the day the Doctor saved the day with a satsuma and stayed for Christmas dinner; for a bride who was more than she seemed -- so much more than a temp from Chiswick; for Wilfred Mott and Bannakaffalatta and Astrid Perth; for a Doctor who wasn't quite himself fighting a steampunk baddie. And thanks for this Christmas, when you gave us back the Time Lords.

Thanks for Torchwood and its distracted, sexy, heartfelt madness and ever-shrinking cast. Thanks for giving Sarah Jane a mission and a family and a lovely touch of darkness. And thanks -- oh god THANKS -- for bringing them all back, and for that glorious moment when the TARDIS is fully staffed and flies smoothly. Thanks for "You are not alone" and all that it ought to mean.

Thank you for bringing all of these things to pass...thank you for showing us all we love about the Doctor, for making him slightly more -- more human, more alien, more caring, more lonely, more amazing, more disturbing, and more wonderful than he's ever been. Thanks for the scares, the kisses to the past, the glimpse of an amazing future. Thanks for knowing when to go, and for choosing the best possible caretaker.

Thanks for giving us back the Doctor and making the world love him as much as we always have.

And tonight, like David, and you, I'll be watching your last hurrah with thanks.

And I have no doubt it'll be.....fantastic.