Call it the home field advantage: British fans of, yes, the beloved British sci fi series Doctor Who will have a 24-hour head start on the sendoff to Tenth Doctor David Tennant, The End of Time, which airs on BBC America on Dec. 26.
The two-parter marks the last of the stand-alone specials that have been airing since the show stopped airing as a regular series. In fact, America gets a crack at penultimate special The Waters of Mars, this Saturday; it airs at 8pm on BBC America.
Our favorite sneakered Time Lord just hasn’t been the same since he lost his last companion, Donna, and left Rose in an alternate universe with his slightly daft clone. The Doctor – and the show – work best when he’s bouncing off of a companion who knows him and his endearingly weird ways well.
In the new special, the Doctor’s still flying solo when the Tardis touches down on Mars on the very same day the planet’s first settlement of humans is destined to mysteriously, cataclysmically, self-destruct. Lindsay Duncan plays the base’s snappish commander, and Tennant gets a good rapport going with Duncan. But this one’s a little top-heavy with horror/suspense, and bottom-heavy with the Doctor’s speechifying. Frankly, he’s gotten too angsty for our tastes, but then, I suppose one has to build toward that Eleventh regeneration somehow. That presumably will take place in the The End of Time, which welcomes back John Simm and – if the jam-packed teaser trailer can be believed – Catherine Tate. Let me try that again: John Simm! Catherine Tate!
The Waters of Mars premieres Dec. 19; The End of Time Part One, Dec. 26; and The End of Time Part Two, Jan. 2, on BBC America.
This article appears in December 18 • 2009.
