Sometimes being a long-term fan means being a ‘grumpy-fan’ and/or ‘contrarian-fan.’ The notion of conventional wisdom is one that hardens over time. Is The Web Planet a complete snooze of a story? Well, actually, yes. But there are adherents which will advocate for the nuances that many simply will not.
You get the idea. So before canonical opinion congeals, we would like to aver of the concept of ‘bi-generation.’
We’re against it.
Now don’t get the Tour wrong. It is a novel concept and solves several problems presented in The Giggle, and we really like the notion that not only would Tennant (or any outgoing Doctor) not finish their regeneration story, but wouldn’t even come close, leaving the resolution to the successor. But what we didn’t take to is the lack of closure for the ’14th’ Doctor. Having the Doctor crisscross his own timeline and thus invite multi-Doctor stories not only makes sense–it’s an event to look forward on the rare occasions that it has happened. The ‘closure’ we speak of is for the audience, not the storytellers, and gives ‘us’ permission to move on (or stop if you as a viewer prefer).
Yep. It’s that important.
But the notion of closure is an especially curious one for one David Tennant. The conventional wisdom (once again) has it that the last 20 or so minutes of The End of Time Pt II, the victory lap as it were, was too indulgent and lessened the overall impact of the story. The Tour Supremos loved it. One long extended sniffle before the final end.
But it was an end.
We suppose given the notion that Tennant was back, even as a bridge to a new era, should in theory lead to this particular Doctor surviving his regeneration should not be a surprise in retrospect. But it’s messy, although it did lead to some lovely scenes with his new ‘found family,’ another extended coda (2 for 2) for the end of one era and beginning another.
As for Ncuti Gatwa? It’s all to play for, and the wait will not be too long.
Images and caps for The Giggle are now online.
