SYNOPSIS (UTOPIA): As Captain Jack comes into the Doctor’s life again, the TARDIS is thrown to the end of the universe. As the last remnants of humanity struggle to reach “Utopia”, unknown to all, the Doctor’s greatest enemy is about to rise again…

SYNOPSIS (SOUND): The Tenth Doctor, Martha Jones and Jack Harkness return to present day London, horrified to discover that Prime Minister Harold Saxon is the Master. “Saxon” informs the world about receiving contact from an alien race called the Toclafane. Framed as fugitives, the Doctor, Martha and Jack try to sneak in and stop the Master before he unleashes a wave of terror. But his dark ambitions reach beyond the stars…

SYNOPSIS (LAST): One year later, the Master and the Toclafane are rulers of Earth, which is torn apart by a year of hell. The Tenth Doctor has been aged 900 years, and Jack Harkness and the Jones family have been reduced to slavery on the Master’s ship, the Valiant. The only hope for everyone on Earth is Martha Jones, now a legend amongst humanity. As the Master prepares to turn the Earth into a giant warship that will ultimately engulf the rest of the universe, Martha must trek through dangerous territory to destroy him, but tragedy awaits her, the Doctor and her family on the day that will pit humanity against the stars…

A stowaway clinging to the TARDIS in mid-flight pushes the Tenth Doctor and Martha to the literal end of the universe where the last remnants of humanity are fighting to survive in the hope of a bright future somewhere beyond the darkness. While a desperate struggle against the clock begins, an old foe is unknowingly brought out of hiding with long-lasting ramifications for the future. It seems that the Master has survived the Time War and become Prime Minister of modern Great Britain under the guise of Mr. Harold Saxon. As Earth’s future is placed in greater doubt than ever before especially with the Doctor pushed out of commission by his greatest enemy, only Martha Jones will be left to find a way to save her family and the world from untold death and destruction…..

The epic finale of Series 3 (fittingly composed of three parts) is one HUGE adventure in terms of scope and grandeur. It works to conclude the journeys of the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones in spectacular fashion while also bringing back one of the show’s biggest villains hinted at through various clues and references to a new Prime Minister in Great Britain. In retrospect compared to Series 2, it feels a little bit smaller as it doesn’t quite lead into anything especially new compared to the Torchwood-spawning Dalek vs. Cybermen conflict. It also has a few more flaws encompassed over the entirety of its parts rather than saving all of its problems for one spectacularly flawed moment in the climax. But the ambition behind it is definitely one of Russell T Davies’ biggest as it plays with multiple time-spanning and paradox-inducing ideas that keep it at least entertaining.

The finale starts on a good but somewhat dull note with “Utopia” which is by far the most complete of the three parts but still rather dependent on its exuberantly well-developed cliffhanger. With Captain Jack Harkness returned to the team through a contrived but appropriately over the top manner, the TARDIS team land on what feels like a Power Rangers set at night that’s supposed another world at the end of the universe. They are almost immediately set upon by monstrous humans with teeth and chased into a silo containing the last remnants of life bound for the stars and hopefully salvation from the encroaching dark. While some designs boasted here feel especially lazy and uninspired particularly in the future humans which are laughably bad and the plot is fairly dull and pedestrian when you get right down to it, there are plenty of great moments of action and acting that save it especially once the Doctor and Professor Yana meet for the first time. There is also a very inspiring vibe all throughout that really gets you hoping and believing for where these people are going that ends in a stunning reveal and cliffhanger climax that leaves you shocked, terrified, and antsy to get back to Earth.

Things continue nicely in ‘Sound of Drums’ which to this reviewer feels like the strongest part of this trilogy of stories overall. It has a great sense of dramatic development and tension as we watch the Master’s plan come to fruition and our trio of heroes forced on the run sans TARDIS or anywhere to really hide. There’s something absolutely chilling about the method in which the Master comes to power in this story and just the extent of what he’s been doing that really channels past versions of the character in a fantastic way and the Doctor and Master’s first interactions with each other in however many years is scintillatingly good even if the acting is at times a little bit silly and on the nose. This is also the part of the finale that boasts a beautiful monologue surrounding Gallifrey and the Master’s encounter with the Untempered Schism that is easily one of the biggest highlights of New Who. Backed with some of Murray Gold’s best and most memorable scoring, it’s a scene that tends to move the hearts of all Whovians watching it no matter how you may feel about the rest of the story.

It all concludes in “Last of the Time Lords” which turns into a fairly generic apocalypse future surrounding the Year that Never Was and Martha’s travels alone through a desolated Earth in order to save the day. The cinematography nails a bleak sense of atmosphere in what we do see and hear surrounding the struggles of each character and there is a decent culmination for Martha’s journey by the end that gives her plenty of reason to stand among some of the strongest of Who companions that we’ve ever had. But it’s also the weakest of the trilogy of stories by far as it rapidly becomes a game of killing time with little to no tension until the big resolution which frankly even by Doctor Who standards is exceedingly hard to believe. Combined with some especially badly aged effects and a return to boring rock quarries, it’s easily the most tedious and boring saved only by some outstanding Doctor / Master dialogue and a powerful conclusion to the dynamic that really sells the relationship the two have as frenemies as well as rips away any sort of feeling the Doctor has at this point that he’s no longer alone in the universe. Granted this moment would be slightly subverted later on knowing that the Master will be back at the end of Tennant’s run in the show but that final moment between the two is still a far better emotional resolution than anything that the previous season did with its big tearjerker ending.

In terms of elements applicable to the whole story, the entire triduum uses the idea of hope very effectively before the Thirteenth Doctor would channel it into the very fabric of her being in a couple of eras time and there are some stellar imagery and ideas used very effectively such as the future of humanity being used as a weapon against its own past. The production is great across the board from present to future and all of our leads are at their very best acting-wise for the most part. David Tennant continues to be exceptional as Ten even if some of the makeup he’s given looks laughably bad today, John Barrowman fits beautifully into this team and is Captain Jack Harkness to the fullest with some great conversations on his immortal nature a little bit forgotten in the climax in favor of Martha’s arc and story, and every member of the side cast gets a moment or two to stand out and take part in the explosive festivities particularly the Jones family who, while not nearly as engaging as Jackie Tyler and Mickey Smith, still get some strong moments of development and getting pushed to the brink by the dark events of the adventure.

But really, there are two big standouts in this story on which the entirety of the finale stands. The first is Freema Agyeman in her best story as Martha Jones, hands down no contest. It feels like Davies decided to shove all of her strongest development as a character into this story and the situation really uses some of her natural talents to the fullest especially in the final third that focuses specifically on her and how her wanderings through a destroyed Earth rally the people in support against the tyrannical power in control. It’s fantastic seeing a companion use their natural abilities to save the day and not through some ridiculous mystical Time Vortex or deus ex machina and it leads to the best companion departure of the Tennant era as she uses her own power to see the situation she’s in and leave of her own accord and on her own terms. It’s frankly fist-pumping and worth some of the nonsense the character has gone through in order to get to this point for her.

The other is in the villain and before we get into that, a small disclaimer: the Master is this reviewer’s favorite Doctor Who villain no matter the incarnation or the quality necessarily and it’s great to see him return and make his first appearance(s) in the New Series with an absolute vengeance. With that being said, Derek Jacobi was and still is a fantastic actor portraying a simply lovely human professor and an equally sadistic Master. He does a brilliant job at getting you to really love and sympathize with him as Yana and once the guise is dropped, fear him in shock and awe as he kills the servant and friend who had been helping him before dying himself in a regenerative blaze of glory. Thank goodness we would get much more of him in audio form through Big Finish’s various range and series because he simply is incredible and the best part of the first third easily. John Simm, on the other hand, is a bit more hit or miss despite the fact that this reviewer has a bit more of a soft spot for him. He definitely has his moments of malevolence and cunning and his younger guise is a perfect counterpoint to David Tennant’s younger Doctor. But at times, he is a little bit too over the top and silly (not counting the infamous Teletubbies moment which does have precedence in canon) and it does get to be a tad much and at it’s worst his performance feels like a caricature of the character more than the character himself. Thankfully he still has the appropriate menace to him when it counts and he would get a lot better in every future appearance since both with Tennant and ESPECIALLY with Capaldi in Series 10.

After a long and somewhat tumultuous season, Series 3 ends on a finale that is significantly flawed in multiple ways across the board but is still one heck of a rollercoaster ride at its absolute best. With a cinematic and large-scale feel to it jumping from generic to interesting to generic again the span of three parts, it channels and concludes the arc in a coherent and very intense fashion. However some failings in loose writing and over the top acting mean it fails to land quite as well as other more streamlined and serious finales of the show even with a great departure for a Who companion and some incredibly strong Doctor / Master chemistry. It very much has its strong points and you can’t deny it for being one of the most memorable New Who Tennant stories in all of canon but you can also nitpick it to death and the climax may justifiably be a little bit too much for science-fiction fans to take seriously. It’s definitely a good ending to the season and worth the watch in many respects but certainly not one of the best.

Utopia / The Sound of Drums / Last of the Time Lords by Russell T Davies $22.76 7 Story / Narrative 6.5/10

















Writing 7.0/10

















Performances 8.5/10

















Soundscape 7.0/10

















Accessibility 6.0/10

















Pros Huge sense of scale and scope

Intense cliffhangers and tension (UTOPIA / SOUND OF DRUMS)

Great acting from all involved

Strong finish for Freema Agyeman's Martha (LAST OF THE TIME LORDS)

Beautiful Murray Gold Score

Derek Jacobi / John Simm fantastic Masters

Great general production / cinematography Cons Bland plot and landscape (UTOPIA / LAST OF THE TIME LORDS)

Climax a bit too unbelievable (LAST OF THE TIME LORDS)

Silly costumes and effects (UTOPIA / LAST OF THE TIME LORDS)

Over the top acting (SOUND OF DRUMS) Purchase from Amazon