3.12-13: The Sound of Drums/The Last of the Time Lords
Synopsis: The Doctor, Martha and Jack teleport to London, 2007, the
day when Harold Saxon (a.k.a. the Master) is elected Prime Minister, having enthralled the human race via a telepathic field, masked as a mobile phone network called Arcangel. Our three heroes are quickly
identified as Britain's Most Wanted, and they must go on the run. Meanwhile, Martha's family are arrested and taken prisoner by the Master.
The Master pretends, as Prime Minister, to usher in a new era of interplanetary camaraderie. He uses this as a vehicle to reveal who he is, and uses his alien "minions" to destroy ten per cent of Earth's population, and hold the planet hostage. The Doctor leads his friends into a trap aboard the Master's ship, where he is aged one hundred years and Jack is killed (if only temporarily). After receiving a set of instructions from a hopelessly old Doctor, Martha escapes and vows to take down the Master.
One year later, Martha returns to Britain after a trek across the Earth, doing what the Doctor instructed. She is caught and taken prisoner on the ship with her family and friends. She reveals that over the past year, she has spread her story of the Doctor, and instructed everyone on Earth to think of the Doctor at a designated time. The Arcangel network binds the thought together and the power of it becomes manifest, restoring the Doctor to full strength. He turns back time, and the year of the Master is erased from memory, except for those present on the ship. The Master's "wife" then shoots him, and he appears to refuse to regenerate, while the Doctor weeps over the loss of the only other living Time Lord.
The Doctor and Martha deliver Jack back to Cardiff, where he unwittingly reveals that he is to become the fabled Face of Boe, the Doctor's old prophetic friend from five billion years in the future. Finally, Martha opts to rejoin her family rather than continue to travel with the Doctor, as she feels it is best to abandon her unrequited love for him.
Golden Comic Moment: It doesn't take a Time Lord genius to realize that one of the things that makes these episodes work so well is the very talented John Simm as the Master. Part of his appeal is the ability to play black comedy with impeccable timing, and run the gamut between calculatingly evil and utterly bat-crap crazy, and all that that implies, without ever overdoing it, or taking us out of the moment. It's also pretty cool to remember that he played the so-sane-it-hurts Sam Tyler in Life on Mars, and compare notes.
The comedy lies, of course, in the fact that the Master is unashamedly, certifiably, bonkers. Although, as time goes on, it gets less and less funny, and even in the early scenes, the foreboding is palpable. Nowhere is this more true than in the scene which begins with the Master, as new Prime Minister, announcing to his cabinet, "Let the work of government begin!" and throwing his files up in the air like a handful of confetti. The scene ends with him murdering the entire roomful of people, yet, we can't help but chuckle nervously at the matter-of-fact way in which he does it. As he dies from inhaling some unnamed poisonous gas at the Master's hands, the minister cries out, "You're insane!" To this, the Master replies with a delighted, absurd, "thumbs-up" signal.
Golden Fangirl Moment: It's at this point where Martha's heretofore unwavering Companion-ness begins to unravel. It's becoming very clear that after nearly a year in close, but not close enough, quarters, she's a little sick of doing what the Doctor tells her to do. In a bit of dramatic irony, we, the audience, now know in retrospect that this was a necessary shell-breaking in order to set up the worldwide trek she was about to undertake without the Doctor's help. But in the moment, in context, it's just satisfying to watch her throw off the shackles of his "authority," and shout at him, "I'll do what I like!" once she realizes that the Master has got hold of her family. And she doesn't hesitate to shout, in the same scene, when her sister is arrested, "This is your fault, it's all your fault!" Notice that the Doctor does not argue. And indeed, three episodes hence, he will confess to Donna that Martha was brilliant, but he nearly destroyed her life.
And yet, it's obvious that her devotion to the Doctor has not died. If it had, she could never do what she needs to do, to save the world. In spite of herself, in spite of the fact that she's grown weary of being constantly in the Doctor's shadow (and arguably, in Rose's), she still loves him, dammit. The totally exhausted look on her face when the Doctor is explaining what a perception filter does, it speaks volumes. "It's like when you fancy someone, and they don't even know you exist," the Doctor says to her. Martha looks at Jack with eyes that say, "I can't do this anymore."
We cheer for Martha Jones on all fronts, and feel for her. And though we would very much like for the Doctor to realize how freaking amazing and gorgeous she is and to sweep her off her feet with a big "Rose Who?" it will never happen. And so, we take pleasure in watching her begin to break away, and foreshadow the (thus far) only dignified, voluntary, non-shaking-with-grief-and-hot-tears, departure of a Companion. This makes us feel vindicated!
Cringeworthy Moment: As Americans, we acknowledge that these episodes were made during the George W. Bush administration, and most of the world (we think rightly) did not have a favorable opinion of him, and how he handled global issues. So, we will ignore the fact that the U.S. President remains murdered even after the Doctor turns back time (that seems unnecessarily harsh!), he's an arrogant blowhard and bows to "God's will," in the lamest way possible. (We did notice that in The End of Time, Barack Obama is called by name, and treated as a formidable world leader with a viable plan of action.)
But we would like to take exception to the semantics. It's weird, but it's the kind of stuff that bothers us. There is a subtle awkwardness in the Master calling Arthur Coleman Winters the "President of America," because no one says that. But we can give him a pass, because the Master is not only not American, he's not even human! However, we cannot give a pass to the fact that President Winters calls himself, "President Elect of the United States of America." This would mean that he has recently been elected president, but has not yet been sworn in, which would make him not the President yet (and 2007 was not an election year - Americans don't have elections in odd-numbered years). We are disappointed that Colin Stinton, the American-born-and-bred actor who played the President did not notice this. Perhaps he's not a total geek like we are.
But alas, all of the American-related faux pas are merely annoying, not actually cringeworthy. It's really the scene in which the Master sings, I Can't Decide Whether You Should Live or Die that makes us cringe, in a good-drama sort of way. The details of the scene hint at the disgustingness, the depravity of the Master, and not just on the world-domination front. Consider: he's got the Jones women doing his bidding, running about in those short black and white uniforms, while the men are chained up in the boiler room. Plus, he dances with those showy, undulating hip movements. His wife, Lucy, wears that slinky red dress, and while she was Stepford-esque before, she now looks utterly defeated, complete with catatonic voice and bruises around her eye. He is very appreciative of the massage that he gets from the "gorgeous" Tanya, and suggests that it might be fun if Lucy and Tanya got to know each other. The whole thing reeks of a desire for sexual dominance and hints at violence. In short, the Master has an oddly rapey quality. (Can we say that about a Doctor Who character, even if it's a villain?)
Again, in retrospect, in the case of Lucy Saxon, we can see that there is foreshadowing going on, that their sick relationship is exposed in order to set up her "departure" from him later on (which is, admittedly, much more brutal than Martha's departure from the Doctor). But we don't think it's an accident that the Master draws the parallel between the Doctor and Martha, and himself and Lucy, by using the words "A Time Lord and his human Companion."
Golden Moment: Well, it's the series finale in which the Companion saves the day. Which one, you ask? It's the one in which she does it without being imbued with any special Vortexy or Time-Lordy qualities. She does it with her own brilliance, perseverance and rhetoric, albeit at the Doctor's instruction. She walks across the world and gives hope to the masses, but that's not all she does, and we get to see a little bit of that amazingness when the sort-of-doomed Tom Milligan brings her to a "safe" house in London.
"If Martha Jones became a legend, then that's wrong because my name isn't important," she says to them, in a version of the speech she gave in similar cells, all across the world. "There's someone else. The man who sent me out there, the man who told me to walk the Earth. And his name is the Doctor. He has saved your lives so many times, and you never even knew he was there. He never stops, he never stays, he never asks to be thanked. But I've seen him, I know him, I love him, and I know what he can do."
It is a lovely little reminder of who the Doctor is, and why we watch him every week. It's subtle, and it's here in this story for a different reason from when we've seen it before - but there it is, from someone in-the-know.
And when the Master mocks her, calls into question the validity of her crusade of "faith and hope," she explains, "I told them that if everyone thinks of one word, at one specific time... right across the world. One word, just one thought at one moment, but with fifteen satellites... a telepathic field binding the whole human race together. With all of them, every single person on Earth, thinking the same thing at the same time, and that word is Doctor." It is quite a Golden way to tie up a very large plot in a surprisingly tight sci-fi package. Especially in the Russell T. Davies era, when the sci-fi package isn't always just-so! And, it gives the audience a nice big payoff to two episodes' worth of questions. The Master uses the Arcangel Network to brainwash the masses - so what? Martha's been walking across the world and has become a legend - how, exactly?
Plus, we now have a new angle on our heroine. She is not just the Doctor's Companion, not just a clever woman who travels with the man because she loves him to bits... she's tough as nails and literally capable of saving the world!
As Martha herself says later, "I spent a lot of time with you thinking I was second-best, but do you know what? I am good!" Never have truer words been spoken by a Doctor Who Companion! And farewell, Godspeed, Martha Jones!
Why I Beg To Differ: Doctor Who Magazine cites as its Golden Moment the sequence in which Doctor literally sits around a campfire telling Martha and Jack about what Gallifrey was like. It is a rare look into the childhood of the Doctor, where came from, how and why, and it gives us a glimpse of the Master and a bit of his history with the Doctor, apart from what we had seen in the classic series.
We would argue that the scene in which the Doctor and the Master talk on the phone accomplishes this even better. In that scene, they swing back and forth between bitter rivals and old friends. They talk to each other like brothers, teasing each other at one moment, being borderline-nice and reminiscing at the next moment, then back to the bile and threats.
But the real reason I beg to differ is that Martha's speech (speeches, plural, really) are at the heart of the story - they save the world! Moreover, the rhetoric contained within her speeches lies at the heart of Doctor Who as a series: the Doctor is awesome, and our faith in him is not only totally justified, but necessary. And it's vindicating for a fan to watch the man who "never asks to be thanked" acknowledged, for one shining moment, by the planet which he as saved countless times.
The Master pretends, as Prime Minister, to usher in a new era of interplanetary camaraderie. He uses this as a vehicle to reveal who he is, and uses his alien "minions" to destroy ten per cent of Earth's population, and hold the planet hostage. The Doctor leads his friends into a trap aboard the Master's ship, where he is aged one hundred years and Jack is killed (if only temporarily). After receiving a set of instructions from a hopelessly old Doctor, Martha escapes and vows to take down the Master.
One year later, Martha returns to Britain after a trek across the Earth, doing what the Doctor instructed. She is caught and taken prisoner on the ship with her family and friends. She reveals that over the past year, she has spread her story of the Doctor, and instructed everyone on Earth to think of the Doctor at a designated time. The Arcangel network binds the thought together and the power of it becomes manifest, restoring the Doctor to full strength. He turns back time, and the year of the Master is erased from memory, except for those present on the ship. The Master's "wife" then shoots him, and he appears to refuse to regenerate, while the Doctor weeps over the loss of the only other living Time Lord.
The Doctor and Martha deliver Jack back to Cardiff, where he unwittingly reveals that he is to become the fabled Face of Boe, the Doctor's old prophetic friend from five billion years in the future. Finally, Martha opts to rejoin her family rather than continue to travel with the Doctor, as she feels it is best to abandon her unrequited love for him.
Golden Comic Moment: It doesn't take a Time Lord genius to realize that one of the things that makes these episodes work so well is the very talented John Simm as the Master. Part of his appeal is the ability to play black comedy with impeccable timing, and run the gamut between calculatingly evil and utterly bat-crap crazy, and all that that implies, without ever overdoing it, or taking us out of the moment. It's also pretty cool to remember that he played the so-sane-it-hurts Sam Tyler in Life on Mars, and compare notes.
The comedy lies, of course, in the fact that the Master is unashamedly, certifiably, bonkers. Although, as time goes on, it gets less and less funny, and even in the early scenes, the foreboding is palpable. Nowhere is this more true than in the scene which begins with the Master, as new Prime Minister, announcing to his cabinet, "Let the work of government begin!" and throwing his files up in the air like a handful of confetti. The scene ends with him murdering the entire roomful of people, yet, we can't help but chuckle nervously at the matter-of-fact way in which he does it. As he dies from inhaling some unnamed poisonous gas at the Master's hands, the minister cries out, "You're insane!" To this, the Master replies with a delighted, absurd, "thumbs-up" signal.
Golden Fangirl Moment: It's at this point where Martha's heretofore unwavering Companion-ness begins to unravel. It's becoming very clear that after nearly a year in close, but not close enough, quarters, she's a little sick of doing what the Doctor tells her to do. In a bit of dramatic irony, we, the audience, now know in retrospect that this was a necessary shell-breaking in order to set up the worldwide trek she was about to undertake without the Doctor's help. But in the moment, in context, it's just satisfying to watch her throw off the shackles of his "authority," and shout at him, "I'll do what I like!" once she realizes that the Master has got hold of her family. And she doesn't hesitate to shout, in the same scene, when her sister is arrested, "This is your fault, it's all your fault!" Notice that the Doctor does not argue. And indeed, three episodes hence, he will confess to Donna that Martha was brilliant, but he nearly destroyed her life.
And yet, it's obvious that her devotion to the Doctor has not died. If it had, she could never do what she needs to do, to save the world. In spite of herself, in spite of the fact that she's grown weary of being constantly in the Doctor's shadow (and arguably, in Rose's), she still loves him, dammit. The totally exhausted look on her face when the Doctor is explaining what a perception filter does, it speaks volumes. "It's like when you fancy someone, and they don't even know you exist," the Doctor says to her. Martha looks at Jack with eyes that say, "I can't do this anymore."
We cheer for Martha Jones on all fronts, and feel for her. And though we would very much like for the Doctor to realize how freaking amazing and gorgeous she is and to sweep her off her feet with a big "Rose Who?" it will never happen. And so, we take pleasure in watching her begin to break away, and foreshadow the (thus far) only dignified, voluntary, non-shaking-with-grief-and-hot-tears, departure of a Companion. This makes us feel vindicated!
Cringeworthy Moment: As Americans, we acknowledge that these episodes were made during the George W. Bush administration, and most of the world (we think rightly) did not have a favorable opinion of him, and how he handled global issues. So, we will ignore the fact that the U.S. President remains murdered even after the Doctor turns back time (that seems unnecessarily harsh!), he's an arrogant blowhard and bows to "God's will," in the lamest way possible. (We did notice that in The End of Time, Barack Obama is called by name, and treated as a formidable world leader with a viable plan of action.)
But we would like to take exception to the semantics. It's weird, but it's the kind of stuff that bothers us. There is a subtle awkwardness in the Master calling Arthur Coleman Winters the "President of America," because no one says that. But we can give him a pass, because the Master is not only not American, he's not even human! However, we cannot give a pass to the fact that President Winters calls himself, "President Elect of the United States of America." This would mean that he has recently been elected president, but has not yet been sworn in, which would make him not the President yet (and 2007 was not an election year - Americans don't have elections in odd-numbered years). We are disappointed that Colin Stinton, the American-born-and-bred actor who played the President did not notice this. Perhaps he's not a total geek like we are.
But alas, all of the American-related faux pas are merely annoying, not actually cringeworthy. It's really the scene in which the Master sings, I Can't Decide Whether You Should Live or Die that makes us cringe, in a good-drama sort of way. The details of the scene hint at the disgustingness, the depravity of the Master, and not just on the world-domination front. Consider: he's got the Jones women doing his bidding, running about in those short black and white uniforms, while the men are chained up in the boiler room. Plus, he dances with those showy, undulating hip movements. His wife, Lucy, wears that slinky red dress, and while she was Stepford-esque before, she now looks utterly defeated, complete with catatonic voice and bruises around her eye. He is very appreciative of the massage that he gets from the "gorgeous" Tanya, and suggests that it might be fun if Lucy and Tanya got to know each other. The whole thing reeks of a desire for sexual dominance and hints at violence. In short, the Master has an oddly rapey quality. (Can we say that about a Doctor Who character, even if it's a villain?)
Again, in retrospect, in the case of Lucy Saxon, we can see that there is foreshadowing going on, that their sick relationship is exposed in order to set up her "departure" from him later on (which is, admittedly, much more brutal than Martha's departure from the Doctor). But we don't think it's an accident that the Master draws the parallel between the Doctor and Martha, and himself and Lucy, by using the words "A Time Lord and his human Companion."
Golden Moment: Well, it's the series finale in which the Companion saves the day. Which one, you ask? It's the one in which she does it without being imbued with any special Vortexy or Time-Lordy qualities. She does it with her own brilliance, perseverance and rhetoric, albeit at the Doctor's instruction. She walks across the world and gives hope to the masses, but that's not all she does, and we get to see a little bit of that amazingness when the sort-of-doomed Tom Milligan brings her to a "safe" house in London.
"If Martha Jones became a legend, then that's wrong because my name isn't important," she says to them, in a version of the speech she gave in similar cells, all across the world. "There's someone else. The man who sent me out there, the man who told me to walk the Earth. And his name is the Doctor. He has saved your lives so many times, and you never even knew he was there. He never stops, he never stays, he never asks to be thanked. But I've seen him, I know him, I love him, and I know what he can do."
It is a lovely little reminder of who the Doctor is, and why we watch him every week. It's subtle, and it's here in this story for a different reason from when we've seen it before - but there it is, from someone in-the-know.
And when the Master mocks her, calls into question the validity of her crusade of "faith and hope," she explains, "I told them that if everyone thinks of one word, at one specific time... right across the world. One word, just one thought at one moment, but with fifteen satellites... a telepathic field binding the whole human race together. With all of them, every single person on Earth, thinking the same thing at the same time, and that word is Doctor." It is quite a Golden way to tie up a very large plot in a surprisingly tight sci-fi package. Especially in the Russell T. Davies era, when the sci-fi package isn't always just-so! And, it gives the audience a nice big payoff to two episodes' worth of questions. The Master uses the Arcangel Network to brainwash the masses - so what? Martha's been walking across the world and has become a legend - how, exactly?
Plus, we now have a new angle on our heroine. She is not just the Doctor's Companion, not just a clever woman who travels with the man because she loves him to bits... she's tough as nails and literally capable of saving the world!
As Martha herself says later, "I spent a lot of time with you thinking I was second-best, but do you know what? I am good!" Never have truer words been spoken by a Doctor Who Companion! And farewell, Godspeed, Martha Jones!
Why I Beg To Differ: Doctor Who Magazine cites as its Golden Moment the sequence in which Doctor literally sits around a campfire telling Martha and Jack about what Gallifrey was like. It is a rare look into the childhood of the Doctor, where came from, how and why, and it gives us a glimpse of the Master and a bit of his history with the Doctor, apart from what we had seen in the classic series.
We would argue that the scene in which the Doctor and the Master talk on the phone accomplishes this even better. In that scene, they swing back and forth between bitter rivals and old friends. They talk to each other like brothers, teasing each other at one moment, being borderline-nice and reminiscing at the next moment, then back to the bile and threats.
But the real reason I beg to differ is that Martha's speech (speeches, plural, really) are at the heart of the story - they save the world! Moreover, the rhetoric contained within her speeches lies at the heart of Doctor Who as a series: the Doctor is awesome, and our faith in him is not only totally justified, but necessary. And it's vindicating for a fan to watch the man who "never asks to be thanked" acknowledged, for one shining moment, by the planet which he as saved countless times.