![]() ![]() I’ve always loved The Master as an enemy, as he’s the one foe the Doctor faces who’s the most obvious foil for him. The Master jumping high into the air? That was just outright daft, and for me went against what makes him such a potent foe for the Doctor. Not as silly though as The Master’s subsequent transformation into an auditionee for Ang Lee’s Hulk movie. A wise choice, given that it was all just a little bit silly. On the plus side of the Master’s regeneration, at least it was done very quickly. It’s a shame that Alexandra Moen’s Lucy Saxon didn’t get much to do here, but the character was here to serve a narrative purpose, before going kaboom. It was loud, daft and over the top: themes we’ll be returning to later. The bringing back to life of one of the Doctor’s deadliest enemies I thought was bordering on the wrong side of ludicrous, and it really offered a taste of what was to come for the character. There’s the resurrection of The Master for starters, but it’s here for this reviewer where the episode suffered the most. What’s the something bigger? Mr Davies is understandably holding the full scope of that and a few other cards back for New Year’s Day, but things are set up quickly and efficiently here, and a lot happens in an hour. Not only is everyone having dreams, not only is The Master coming, but there’s something bigger instead. We’d already seen this scene, of course, when the BBC showed it during its Children In Need telethon, and in hindsight, it gets through a lot of work. There’s no time for pratting around at all. But even the post-credits first scene, where Tennant steps out of the Tardis in his holiday gear, is quickly quashed with the appearance of Ood Sigma standing in the snow. ![]() The foreboding voiceover at the start quickly brought the image of The Master into things, as if Russell T Davies was very keen to get down to business quickly. That’s appreciating that we all know where this tale is heading, but even so, there was little concession in tone to the festive season. ![]() And it was a surprisingly dark tale we got for a Christmas Doctor Who episode, too (even factoring in the regular deaths in Voyage Of The Damned). ![]()
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