Well that sure felt like a regeneration story didn’t it? Even if you weren’t clued to in to all of the name checking and re-visiting of previous regeneration lines it sure felt like a regeneration story. Logopolis, in particular, had a funereal tone which ran all the way to the inevitable fall of the fourth.
The Doctor Falls wasn’t anywhere as bleak as that. But what The Doctor Falls was has left the Tour scratching our collective noggins even with a full week of contemplation. What it was though, was exhaustively long, verging on The End of Time Pt II for it’s sense of completeness. It didn’t drag necessarily, but the feeling here at the Tour is that The Doctor Falls would’ve benefitted from a more normal running length of 45 rather than 60 minutes and excising some of the tension ratcheting.
The best part, unsurprisingly, was the interplay between the Masters. Simm was on top form and there was some neat wordplay to be had there which was quite effectively drawn. Capaldi was given a great defining speech and even a bit of Pertwee-style action as part of the bargain.
To be clear, the Tour didn’t didn’t like The Doctor Falls. To have the second half of a two-parter fall short of expectations is certainly not a new experience for any fan, new or old. Perhaps that’s why we slotted into the middle of our Series 10 rankings.
Images and caps for The Doctor Falls are now online.
