Last of the Time Lords
Encyclopedia
"Last of the Time Lords" is an episode of the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 science fiction television series Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...

. It was broadcast on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...

 on 30 June 2007, and is the thirteenth and final episode of Series 3 of the revived Doctor Who series. It is the last of three episodes that form a linked narrative, following "Utopia
Utopia (Doctor Who)
"Utopia" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 16 June 2007 and is the eleventh episode of series three of the revived Doctor Who series...

" and "The Sound of Drums
The Sound of Drums
"The Sound of Drums" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 23 June 2007, and is the twelfth episode of Series 3 of the revived Doctor Who series...

".

One year after the events of "The Sound of Drums
The Sound of Drums
"The Sound of Drums" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 23 June 2007, and is the twelfth episode of Series 3 of the revived Doctor Who series...

", the Master
Master (Doctor Who)
The Master is a recurring character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. He is a renegade Time Lord and the archenemy of the Doctor....

 has conquered the Earth and enslaved its population. He holds the aged Doctor prisoner, and prepares warships for a new Time Lord Empire. Now it is up to Martha Jones to carry out the Doctor's plan and save the universe.

This episode shows the departure of Freema Agyeman
Freema Agyeman
Freema Agyeman is a British actress who is best known for playing Martha Jones, former companion of the Tenth Doctor in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who, and itsspin-off series Torchwood...

 and John Barrowman
John Barrowman
John Scot Barrowman is a Scottish-American singer, actor, dancer, musical theatre performer and media personality. Born in Glasgow yet growing up in Illinois after his family emigrated to the United States when he was eight years old, Barrowman was encouraged to further his love for music and...

 as Martha Jones
Martha Jones
Martha Jones is a fictional character played by Freema Agyeman in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who and its spin-off series, Torchwood. She is a companion of the Tenth Doctor in Doctor Who, replacing Rose Tyler...

 and Jack Harkness
Jack Harkness
Captain Jack Harkness is a fictional character played by John Barrowman in Doctor Who and its spin-off series, Torchwood. He first appeared in the 2005 Doctor Who episode "The Empty Child" and reappeared in the remaining episodes of the 2005 series as a companion of the ninth incarnation of the...

 respectively until Series Four.

Plot

A year after the appearance of the Toclafane, the human population is on the verge of extinction. Having escaped from the Valiant, Martha Jones
Martha Jones
Martha Jones is a fictional character played by Freema Agyeman in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who and its spin-off series, Torchwood. She is a companion of the Tenth Doctor in Doctor Who, replacing Rose Tyler...

 has traveled the Earth, staying out of the Master
Master (Doctor Who)
The Master is a recurring character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. He is a renegade Time Lord and the archenemy of the Doctor....

's detection through use of the TARDIS
TARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...

 key acting as a perception filter and contacting groups of humans to find a special gun created by Torchwood
Torchwood Institute
The Torchwood Institute is a fictional secret organization from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and its spin-off series Torchwood. It was established in 1879 by Queen Victoria after the events of "Tooth and Claw". Its prime directive, is to defend the earth against...

 and UNIT
United Nations Intelligence Taskforce
UNIT is a fictional military organisation from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures...

 that can defeat the Master. She is led by Thomas Milligan, a former doctor, to Professor Docherty, and together the three are able to electrocute and capture a Toclafane. They learn the Toclafane are humans from the far future, having become insane and cannibalising themselves after discovering nothing at Utopia
Utopia (Doctor Who)
"Utopia" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 16 June 2007 and is the eleventh episode of series three of the revived Doctor Who series...

. The Master created a Paradox Machine with the Doctor's TARDIS to bring the Toclafane back in time and avoid a temporal paradox
Grandfather paradox
The grandfather paradox is a proposed paradox of time travel first described by the science fiction writer René Barjavel in his 1943 book Le Voyageur Imprudent . The paradox is this: suppose a man traveled back in time and killed his biological grandfather before the latter met the traveler's...

. Martha and Thomas leave to find the last component of the gun, after which Docherty provides the Master with Martha's location, desperate for any information on her own son.

The Master's forces corner Martha and Thomas; Martha gives herself up, but Thomas rushes at the Master in a rage and is shot down. The Master also destroys the gun, and takes Martha back to the Valiant so he can kill her in front of the artificially-aged Doctor
Doctor (Doctor Who)
The Doctor is the central character in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, and has also featured in two cinema feature films, a vast range of spin-off novels, audio dramas and comic strips connected to the series....

. In the control room, the Master readies the timed launch of Toclafane fleets to conquer the rest of the universe, then demands Martha kneel before him. She does so, but as the Master glories in the last few moments of the countdown, Martha begins to smile. She reveals that the gun was simply a MacGuffin
MacGuffin
A MacGuffin is "a plot element that catches the viewers' attention or drives the plot of a work of fiction". The defining aspect of a MacGuffin is that the major players in the story are willing to do and sacrifice almost anything to obtain it, regardless of what the MacGuffin actually is...

. She had really spent the last year following the Doctor's last instruction: to prepare the surviving humans to concentrate their thoughts on the Doctor upon the completion of the launch countdown. The Master's own Archangel network channels the collective psychic energy to the Doctor, which rejuvenates him, much to the Master's horror. As the Master cowers in defeat, the Doctor says to him, "I forgive you."

Martha and her family free Jack
Jack Harkness
Captain Jack Harkness is a fictional character played by John Barrowman in Doctor Who and its spin-off series, Torchwood. He first appeared in the 2005 Doctor Who episode "The Empty Child" and reappeared in the remaining episodes of the 2005 series as a companion of the ninth incarnation of the...

, and they attempt to break the Toclafane defenses around the Paradox Machine, while the Master tries to detonate the fleet which would destroy Earth as well. The Doctor calls the Master's bluff, as the Paradox Machine is destroyed; save for those on the Valiant, the events of the last year are erased and the Toclafane disappear. As the Doctor and his allies consider the Master's fate, he is shot by his wife, Lucy Saxon. The Master refuses to regenerate for the Doctor and dies in his arms, leaving the Doctor to believe he is the last Time Lord. The Doctor burns the Master's body at a pyre
Pyre
A pyre , also known as a funeral pyre, is a structure, usually made of wood, for burning a body as part of a funeral rite...

; sometime later, a woman's hand picks up the Master's signet ring from the ashes.

The Doctor returns Jack to Torchwood, while Martha decides to leave the Doctor to care for her family and finish medical school. She gives him her mobile phone and says, "If that phone rings, you'd better answer it." As the Doctor pilots the TARDIS away and contemplates the recent events, the bow of a ship called the Titanic bursts through a wall of the control room, leaving the Doctor perplexed how that could occur.

Continuity

  • In the episode's commentary, writer Russell T Davies called the implication of Jack's nickname ("the Face of Boe
    Face of Boe
    The Face of Boe is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Not portrayed on-screen by an actor, the Face of Boe is a wholly mechanical effect, resembling in appearance a gigantic, wrinkly human-like head with, in place of hair, numerous tendrils which...

    ") "a theory" as to the Face of Boe's origins, prompting Executive Producer Julie Gardner to urge him to "stop back-pedalling" about the two characters being the same. Davies then mentioned the addition of a line in "Gridlock
    Gridlock (Doctor Who)
    "Gridlock" is the third episode from the third series of the revived British science fiction television series Doctor Who which aired on 14 April 2007. The Doctor returns to a much grittier New Earth with Martha Jones and meets the Face of Boe one final time. But as New New York becomes a deadly...

    " in which the Face of Boe calls the Doctor an "old friend", suggesting a strong connection between him and the Doctor.
  • Davies also jokingly termed the hand seen removing the Master's ring from the ashes of his funeral pyre "the hand of the Rani
    Rani (Doctor Who)
    The Rani is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. She was played by Kate O'Mara. The word "Rani" means "queen" in the Urdu and Hindi languages and "The Rani" follows the naming convention for other renegade timelords, "The Doctor," "The Monk," "The War...

    ".
  • The hand seen picking up the Master's ring was included in order to leave open the possibility of reintroducing the character at a later date. In part one of The End of Time
    The End of Time
    The End of Time: The Next Revolution in Our Understanding of the Universe, also sold with the alternate subtitle The Next Revolution in Physics, is a 1999 science book in which the author Julian Barbour argues that time exists merely as an illusion.-Auto-biography:The book begins by describing how...

    , the hand is revealed to be that of, Miss Trefusis, a disciple of Harold Saxon.
  • The Master makes reference to the Sea Devils (which the Third Doctor
    Third Doctor
    The Third Doctor is the third incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by actor Jon Pertwee....

     and the Master encountered together in the 1972 serial The Sea Devils
    The Sea Devils
    The Sea Devils is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from February 26 to April 1, 1972.-Synopsis:...

    ) and the Axons
    The Claws of Axos
    -Writing:In late 1969, script editor Terrance Dicks contacted new writing duo Bob Baker and Dave Martin after reading a draft script they had sent around the BBC for another production, A Man's Life. After offering the duo a seven-part story in November 1969 for Doctor Whos eighth season, Baker and...

     (which they met in 1971's The Claws of Axos
    The Claws of Axos
    -Writing:In late 1969, script editor Terrance Dicks contacted new writing duo Bob Baker and Dave Martin after reading a draft script they had sent around the BBC for another production, A Man's Life. After offering the duo a seven-part story in November 1969 for Doctor Whos eighth season, Baker and...

    ).
  • Earth is referred to as Sol 3, the third planet from the star Sol
    Sun
    The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...

    , as it was in The Deadly Assassin
    The Deadly Assassin
    The Deadly Assassin is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 30 October to 20 November 1976...

    .
  • The Master's laser screwdriver is said to have isomorphic controls, a property the Doctor attributed to the TARDIS controls in Pyramids of Mars
    Pyramids of Mars
    Pyramids of Mars is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 25 October to 15 November 1975.-Synopsis:...

    . In "A Christmas Carol" Kazran Sardick has isomporphic controls, which the Doctor initially asserts do not exist.
  • Clips from "Smith and Jones
    Smith and Jones (Doctor Who)
    "Smith and Jones" is the first episode of the third series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 31 March 2007. It sees the debut of Freema Agyeman as new companion Martha Jones...

    ", "Utopia
    Utopia (Doctor Who)
    "Utopia" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 16 June 2007 and is the eleventh episode of series three of the revived Doctor Who series...

    " and "The Sound of Drums
    The Sound of Drums
    "The Sound of Drums" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 23 June 2007, and is the twelfth episode of Series 3 of the revived Doctor Who series...

    " are used in this episode.
  • The Doctor's desire to meet Agatha Christie
    Agatha Christie
    Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...

     is fulfilled in the episode, "The Unicorn and the Wasp
    The Unicorn and the Wasp
    "The Unicorn and the Wasp" is the 7th episode in the revised fourth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was aired by BBC One on 17 May 2008 at 19:00. Perhaps due to its later broadcast, it received an overnight audience rating of 7.7 million, making it the...

    ".
  • Martha mentions that both UNIT
    UNIT
    UNIT is a fictional military organisation from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures...

     and Torchwood
    Torchwood Institute
    The Torchwood Institute is a fictional secret organization from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and its spin-off series Torchwood. It was established in 1879 by Queen Victoria after the events of "Tooth and Claw". Its prime directive, is to defend the earth against...

     have been studying Time Lords for several decades. Torchwood was set up in "Tooth and Claw
    Tooth and Claw (Doctor Who)
    "Tooth and Claw" is the second episode in the second series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and was first broadcast on 22 April 2006. In 1879 Scotland, the Doctor and Rose meet Queen Victoria...

    " for the specific purpose of tracking the Doctor, while the Doctor worked for UNIT in the mid-20th century
    UNIT dating controversy
    The UNIT dating controversy is an ongoing debate in Doctor Who fandom, concerning exactly when the stories featuring the fictional military organisation known as United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, or more recently as the Unified Intelligence Taskforce, take place in the timeline of the...

    . During the Doctor's tenure with UNIT, a full season of stories revolved around the Master, ending in his capture by UNIT in The Dæmons
    The Dæmons
    The Dæmons is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in five weekly parts from May 22 to June 19, 1971.-Plot:...

    .
  • The 2007 Children in Need
    Children in Need
    Children in Need is an annual British charity appeal organised by the BBC. Since 1980 it has raised over £500 million. The highlight of the Children in Need appeal is an annual telethon, held in November. A teddy bear named "Pudsey Bear" fronts the campaign, while Terry Wogan is a long...

     mini-episode "Time Crash
    Time Crash
    "Time Crash" is a mini-episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on 16 November 2007, as part of the BBC One telethon for the children's charity Children in Need...

    " takes place within the last few minutes of this episode.
  • The Story of Martha
    The Story of Martha
    The Story of Martha is a BBC Books original novel written by Dan Abnett with David Roden, Steve Lockley & Paul Lewis, Robert Shearman and Simon Jowett and based on the long running science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones...

    , a new series novel
    New Series Adventures (Doctor Who)
    The New Series Adventures are a series of novels relating to the long-running BBC science fiction television series, Doctor Who. The 'NSAs', as they are often referred to, are published by BBC Books, and are regularly published in the spring and autumn of each year. Beginning and concluding with...

    , chronicles the journey and tales of Martha Jones during her year on Earth.
  • In the series 4 episode "The Sontaran Stratagem
    The Sontaran Stratagem
    "The Sontaran Stratagem" is the fourth episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 26 April 2008...

    ", Martha is engaged to Thomas Milligan, the pediatrician she travels with during this episode. However, by The End of Time
    The End of Time
    The End of Time: The Next Revolution in Our Understanding of the Universe, also sold with the alternate subtitle The Next Revolution in Physics, is a 1999 science book in which the author Julian Barbour argues that time exists merely as an illusion.-Auto-biography:The book begins by describing how...

    she has instead married Mickey Smith
    Mickey Smith
    Mickey Smith is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, played by Noel Clarke.Mickey is introduced as the boyfriend of the Ninth and Tenth Doctor's companion Rose Tyler, and a recurring character on the programme...

    .

Outside references

  • The Master refers to the aged version of the Doctor as "Gandalf
    Gandalf
    Gandalf is a character in J. R. R. Tolkien's novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. In these stories, Gandalf appears as a wizard, member and later the head of the order known as the Istari, as well as leader of the Fellowship of the Ring and the army of the West...

    " from J. R. R. Tolkien
    J. R. R. Tolkien
    John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...

    's The Lord of the Rings
    The Lord of the Rings
    The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...

    .
  • Whilst attempting to mend a television to pick up the broadcast from the Master, Professor Docherty remarks on a fondness for Countdown
    Countdown (game show)
    Countdown is a British game show involving word and number puzzles. It is produced by ITV Studios and broadcast on Channel 4. It is presented by Jeff Stelling, assisted by Rachel Riley, with regular lexicographer Susie Dent. It was the first programme to be aired on Channel 4, and over sixty-five...

    and states that "it's never been the same since Des took over. Both Deses", referring to Des Lynam
    Des Lynam
    Desmond Michael "Des" Lynam, OBE is an Irish television and radio presenter based in the UK.He has hosted television coverage of high profile events for many years...

     and Des O'Connor
    Des O'Connor
    Des O'Connor, CBE is an English comedian and singer. A former talkshow host, he was the presenter of the long-running Channel 4 gameshow Countdown for two years...

    's hosting of the show after the death of Richard Whiteley in 2005.
  • When Professor Docherty was interrupted with Martha Jones, she said she didn't care if it was the Queen of Sheba.
  • While working on a troublesome computer to access the data from the one Toclafane struck down by lightning, Professor Docherty says, "Who ever thought that we would miss Bill Gates
    Bill Gates
    William Henry "Bill" Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author. Gates is the former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen...

    ?"

Production and publicity

  • This episode, along with "Utopia
    Utopia (Doctor Who)
    "Utopia" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 16 June 2007 and is the eleventh episode of series three of the revived Doctor Who series...

    " and "The Sound of Drums
    The Sound of Drums
    "The Sound of Drums" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 23 June 2007, and is the twelfth episode of Series 3 of the revived Doctor Who series...

    ", are treated in several sources as a three-part story, the first such story in the revived series of Doctor Who. However, Russell T Davies has said that he regards "Utopia" as a separate story, but notes that the determination is arbitrary.
  • "Last of the Time Lords" was a subtitle proposed at one stage for a film version of Doctor Who
    Doctor Who
    Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...

    that was in development from 1987 to 1994.
  • This episode was planned to be broadcast live to the crowds attending Pride London
    Pride London
    Pride London is the name of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender registered charity which arranges LGBT events in London, most notably the annual gay pride parade which is held in June/July. The most recent Pride London was on 2 July 2011. The 2010 event was attended by 1 million people,...

     in Trafalgar Square
    Trafalgar Square
    Trafalgar Square is a public space and tourist attraction in central London, England, United Kingdom. At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base. There are a number of statues and sculptures in the square, with one plinth displaying changing pieces of...

     via a giant screen. However, a local curfew after the nearby attempted terrorist bombing
    2007 London car bombs
    On 29 June 2007, in London, two car bombs were discovered and disabled before they could be detonated. The first device was left near the Tiger Tiger nightclub in Haymarket at around 01:30, and the second was in Cockspur Street, in the same area of the city....

     the previous day prevented the screening. Freema Agyeman
    Freema Agyeman
    Freema Agyeman is a British actress who is best known for playing Martha Jones, former companion of the Tenth Doctor in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who, and itsspin-off series Torchwood...

     and John Barrowman
    John Barrowman
    John Scot Barrowman is a Scottish-American singer, actor, dancer, musical theatre performer and media personality. Born in Glasgow yet growing up in Illinois after his family emigrated to the United States when he was eight years old, Barrowman was encouraged to further his love for music and...

     attended the event.
  • In order to keep the episode's details secret, access to preview copies of this episode was restricted. There was a similar moratorium on copies of "Doomsday
    Doomsday (Doctor Who)
    "Doomsday" is the thirteenth and final episode in the second series of the revival of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on 8 July 2006 and is the conclusion of a two-part story; the first part, "Army of Ghosts", was broadcast on 1 July 2006...

    " the previous year and on the series four finale "Journey's End
    Journey's End (Doctor Who)
    "Journey's End" is the thirteenth episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who first broadcast on BBC One on 5 July 2008. It is the second episode of a two-part crossover story featuring the characters of spin-off shows Torchwood and The Sarah Jane...

    " the following year.
  • The episode was allocated a 50-minute timeslot for its initial broadcast, as with "Daleks in Manhattan
    Daleks in Manhattan
    "Daleks in Manhattan" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 21 April 2007, and is the fourth episode of Series 3 of the revived Doctor Who series. It is part one of a two-part story, concluded in "Evolution of the Daleks"...

    " previously, and 55-minute timeslots for the BBC Three
    BBC Three
    BBC Three is a television network from the BBC broadcasting via digital cable, terrestrial, IPTV and satellite platforms. The channel's target audience includes those in the 16-34 year old age group, and has the purpose of providing "innovative" content to younger audiences, focusing on new talent...

     repeats. According to Russell T Davies in Doctor Who Magazine
    Doctor Who Magazine
    Doctor Who Magazine is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...

     384, this is because it ran over-length but they did not wish to lose the material. The official run time from freemaagyeman.com for the episode is almost 52 minutes. The final episode of The Trial of a Time Lord
    The Trial of a Time Lord
    The Trial of a Time Lord is a fourteen-part British science fiction serial of the long running BBC series Doctor Who. The serial, produced as the twenty-third season of the Doctor Who television series, aired in weekly episodes from 6 September to 6 December 1986...

    was also extended by five minutes in 1986.
  • In the audio commentary, the producers reveal that Graeme Harper
    Graeme Harper
    Graeme Harper is a British television director. He is best known for his work on the science-fiction series Doctor Who, for which he is the only person to have directed episodes of both the original run and revived run of the programme...

     filled in to direct some scenes after director Colin Teague
    Colin Teague
    Colin Teague is a British television director, who trained at Redroofs Theatre School in Maidenhead. He is most associated with Doctor Who, being the first person to have directed for the main show and both of its spin-offs, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures...

     was injured.
  • At the start of this episode, The Master enters the bridge of the Valiant as "I Can't Decide" by the Scissor Sisters
    Scissor Sisters
    Scissor Sisters are an American band "spawned by the scuzzy, gay nightlife scene of New York" who took their name from a sexual position between two women also known as tribadism...

     plays in the background. He refers to it as "track 3", its place on the Scissor Sisters' second album, Ta-Dah
    Ta-Dah
    * *The UK Edition of the album has a pregap, consisting of two minutes of silence after "Everybody Wants the Same Thing". Subsequently, what seems to be the sound of an elevator reaching its destination floor is heard as an 8-second interlude at the end of the pregap...

    .
  • Two sets of audio commentaries were recorded for the episode: one with producers Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner
    Julie Gardner
    Julie Gardner is a Welsh television producer. Her most prominent work has been serving as executive producer on the 2005 revival of Doctor Who and its spin-off shows Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures...

    , and Phil Collinson
    Phil Collinson
    Philip "Phil" Collinson is a British television producer. He was initially an actor, before switching to working behind the cameras in the industry as a script editor and writer on programmes such as Springhill and Emmerdale, later becoming the producer of Peak Practice, Doctor Who and Coronation...

    , which was intended for podcast
    Podcast
    A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...

     broadcast to coincide with the episode's initial UK telecast, and the other featuring actors David Tennant, Freema Agyeman, and John Barrowman, which was included on the UK DVD release of the episode as part of the Series 3 box set. However, the Region 1 (North America) release of the DVD saw the actor commentary replaced by the earlier podcast version, although a production error resulted in the set's booklet not indicating this substitution (and the booklet also omits Tennant's name).
  • This episode marked the last regular-episode use of the Doctor Who theme music
    Doctor Who theme music
    The Doctor Who theme is a piece of music composed by Ron Grainer and realised by Delia Derbyshire at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Created in 1963, it was one of the first electronic music signature tunes for television and after nearly five decades remains one of the most easily...

     arrangement by Murray Gold
    Murray Gold
    Murray Gold is an English composer for stage, film, and television and a dramatist for both theatre and radio.-Television:Gold has been nominated for a BAFTA four times in the category Best Original Television Music, for Vanity Fair , Queer as Folk , Casanova and Doctor Who...

     that had been introduced in 2005 and used (notwithstanding minor modifications and an extension of the closing theme in 2006) thereafter. The opening theme would be heard once more in its 2005 arrangement in the Time Crash short episode, before both opening and closing themes would be revised beginning with Voyage of the Damned and continuing into Series 4 in 2008.

Cast notes

  • Reggie Yates
    Reggie Yates
    Reginald "Reggie" Yates is a British actor, television presenter and radio DJ of Ghanaian descent. He went to Central Foundation Boys' School.-Early career:...

     is credited as playing Leo Jones; however, the character Leo only appears in this episode as background. The audio commentary for the episode mentions that Leo was originally scheduled to appear in the sequence showing Martha's return to Britain, but Yates was double-booked.
  • Zoe Thorne also voiced the Gelth in "The Unquiet Dead
    The Unquiet Dead
    "The Unquiet Dead" is an episode in the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who that was first broadcast on 9 April 2005 and is the first episode of the revival to be set in the past. In Victorian Cardiff, the dead are walking, and creatures made of gas are on the loose...

    ".
  • Uncredited as the hand that picks up the Master's ring was production manager Tracie Simpson.

Critical reception

According to official BARB
Barb
Barb may refer to:* A backward-facing point on a fish hook or similar implement, rendering extraction from the victim's flesh more difficult* Wind barbs for each station on a map of reported weather conditions...

 ratings, "Last of the Time Lords" was watched by 8.61 million viewers. It received an Audience Appreciation Index of 88, considered "excellent" for a drama. Stephen Brook, writing on Guardian Unlimited
Guardian Unlimited
guardian.co.uk, formerly known as Guardian Unlimited, is a British website owned by the Guardian Media Group. Georgina Henry is the editor...

's Organgrinder blog, said the episode was "certainly an epic conclusion... but not a satisfying one." He felt it was too epic and too rushed, and "the resurrection of the Doctor... left me cold." Stephen James Walker, in his book Third Dimension: The Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to Doctor Who 2007, summed up the episode as "bleak and depressing", and listed the ill treatment of the Doctor, the use of a reset button
Reset button technique
The reset button technique is a plot device that interrupts continuity in works of fiction. Simply put, use of a reset button device returns all characters and situations to the status quo they held before a major change of some sort was introduced...

 and the underuse of Captain Jack as among the problems he had with the story.

External links


Reviews


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