Journey's End vs. The End of Time

[Smiley]

What are current opinions of these two finale episodes of David Tennant's run? I love Journey's End, and there are very few moments I like in The End of Time. In fact, of the four/five specials after the fourth series, only Planet of the Dead is one I want to watch again.

 

[Csalem]

I like the last twenty mins or so of End of Time but I did not like the Doctor jumping from the spaceship and falling into the house and surviving. All I could think of was the Fourth Doctor's regeneration.

Overall I prefer Journey's End. It is the perfect ending for the RTD era.

 

[The Wormhole]

If it's a choice between the two, then, Journey's End.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

Journey's End with or without Stolen Earth?

 

[The Wormhole]

Well, either way I still go with Journey's End.

 

[captainkirk]

The End of Time has some great moments and some of the best music in the series, but it also has some of the weirdest stuff RTD ever came up. Journey's End has all the companions of the RTD era team up and ties in the spin-offs while bringing back Davros. I think it works much better as a send-off to that era of the show.

 

[Qonundrum]

I like the last twenty mins or so of End of Time but I did not like the Doctor jumping from the spaceship and falling into the house and surviving. All I could think of was the Fourth Doctor's regeneration.

Overall I prefer Journey's End. It is the perfect ending for the RTD era.

While it's true TV shows find innovation, influence and inspiration from other shows or even older seasons or eras of the same show, the great fall and getting up with a couple scratches seemed out of place given character constraints. Even the 13th incarnation pulls the same "drops down from orbit but doesn't fry like an meteoroid and lands through a structure's roof and steps back up virtually unscathed" trick. Wasn't any less stupid a scene during 10's fall and is the audience supposed to be awed and impressed for either occasion? Back when the show was more grounded (but not perfect), 4's fall had far more tangible repercussions.

And for a show that uses the sonic screwdriver so incessantly and under far more dire circumstances, how it was made unusable for this episode was simply laughable. The writers needed more time to deal with (for once) making the Doctor unable to get out of a situation credibly. (Yes, Classic WHO also cheated in storylines. Those get pointed out when discovered too. )

"Journey's End" wasn't great either but it was more consistently flowing as a story. "The End of Time" starts incredibly silly and then goes into serious mode for its second part and just as smoothly as when you're driving 60MPH on the freeway then on a whim change the gear from "D" to "R". In real life, do not try driving 60MPH on the freeway then on a whim change the gear from "D" to "R"!!!

If nothing else, these newer episodes only validate the superior nature of the older ones for not being so cringe-inducing by comparison.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I like Journey's End a lot... and then the mind-rape happens.

The End of Time has a lot of good ideas... but they're buried under so much shit, and it really feels like they ran out of money.

So... neither?

 

[Mr Awe]

I vote for neither. Both stories are heavily flawed.

 

[matthunter]

I can just about handwave Ten and Thirteen surviving their falls as Ten's occurred whilst the Immortality Gate was active, and presumably he could make use of the healing energy without being overwritten by the Master. And Thirteen was still in the excess regeneration energy stage we've seen used to regrow a missing hand for Ten and surviving a hail of bullets for River.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

On the other hand, maybe the Fourth just let himself regenerate early because of the Watcher. Maybe the Watcher is supposed to be Death, when he didn't actually die but his time had to come to an end, anyway.

 

[Lucky]

I love both, but if I had to pick a favorite, it would be Journey's End. It was almost a magical episode. Seeing all the companions flying the Tardis and Earth back home was a joy to see. I love The End of Time as well, but mostly for the Doctor/Wilf cafe scene in Part 1, and the last act of Part 2, with the Doctor revisiting his companions and then regenerating. I did think Tennant's final moments were perfect though.

 

[starsuperion]

Journeys End...
The End of Time was a special commercial for the Time War, and felt like a cop-out. They should have done a full 2 parter on the Time war as a whole.
Tho, I did like seeing Bond as Rassilon. Dalton is a wonderful actor. Very nice too. I've met him at a con once. Extremely nice guy.

 

[VDCNI]

Journey's End, it's flawed but like Earthshock it has enough oomph to keep you engaged during the episode, it's only after I felt it was a bit empty. The End Of Time is ok but it doesn't have the same drive and impact.

 

[arch101]

I like both. I always think of Journey's End as the climax of the Tenant era, and the specials and End of Time as the epilogue. If you think of it like that, it all works just fine.