Journey's End (2)

Season 4, Episode 13, Aired
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Episode Summary

Location: The Dalek Crucible and Earth
Date: 2009
Enemies: The Daleks and Davros

The Doctor Who series four finale, sees the Doctor, Donna Noble, Martha Jones, Sarah Jane Smith, Captain Jack Harkness and Rose Tyler fighting to save all of creation from the Daleks. In the midst of the Medusa Cascade and a master plan from Davros that leaves the Earth far from home... can the Doctor and his companions save the Earth, let alone the Universe?moreless

9.1
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Fan Episode Reviews (55)

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  • Deus ex Machina Rules in Epic Doctor Who Finale

    6.5
    "Fair"
    By ronindave, Jun 11, 2011 Report Abuse
    At the risk of garnering thumbs down from obsessive Who fans here who can't accept the reality of good stories and bad ones where Doctor Who is concerned, I will say this episode had lots of potential that ultimately fizzled out as everything was wrapped up in a matter of moments much like the last 3 season finales.

    Journey's End is very much a retread of all of Russel T Davies season finales. in the first season, you had a huge armada of twisted Dalek ready to destroy a futuristic Earth only to be stopped with a wave of the hand of inexplicably omnipotent Rose (the Tardis makes you a god?).

    In Season Two you had thousands of Cybermen and Daleks swarming over London and possibly the Earth only to be all sucked away into the Void including the newly made cybermen who wouldn't have had those void particles that would caused them to be sucked away.

    In Season Three you had thousands if not millions of deadly spinning globes dominating the Earth. An aged Doctor rejuvinates by somehow patching into the psychic network of Earth so when everyone thinks of him, he becomes "magically" younger and powerful then he basically hits the reset button so almost none of it ever happened.

    Now in Season Four you had guest stars galore up against a dalek armada out to destroy creation itself. Another doctor is created out of his hand and Donna gets Doctor like intelligence and they wind up taking out the whole armada in a matter of minutes by twisting a bunch of knobs and stuff on a device left in Davros' room.

    Sensing a pattern? While on one hand, it's just a show and one should just enjoy it for the acting, special effects and character interaction but on the other hand that is no excuse for sloppy writing. RTD is great at the emotional moments and character development but he keeps building up epic stories particularly in the season finales and giving ludicrously resolved endings that rely on wizardy and deus ex machina rather than science or cleverness.

    Now I enjoyed the episode for its overall splendor and seeing the characters together but I wish there had been a more satisfying resolution to the crisis.moreless

    DO YOU AGREE?

    5 4

  • Season finale with all companions in and a farewell to the best one....

    9.5
    "Superb"
    By iamthelexx, Apr 18, 2011 Report Abuse
    Following on from the previous episode, all companions are on board the Tardis at the end despite Dalek Khan's warning that the most important companion will die. Before they flee, the Dr powers his regeneration into the spare hand, and Donna is almost killed when the Tardis descends into the lava pits of the ship, and the Dr regenerates from the hand, and it is revealed Donna is part time lord. Defeating the Daleks, they take the Earth back to it's rightful place in the Universe. Once back, Jack and Sarah Jayne leave the Tardis one by one to commence with their lives, Mickey joins them having deciding he is needed back in the real world. Rose and Jackie and the duplicate Dr, end up back in Norway in their own world, and as Donna plans her future, it comes clear that it is not meant to be as she malfunctions, and has to go home, albeit reluctantly.moreless

    DO YOU AGREE?

    7 1

  • All companions in the 2005 series come back to save the universe. When every one including the Doctor is helpless only one can save them, the great and unique: Donna Noble. The whole of creation would have disintegrated if not for the Doctor and Donna.moreless

    10
    "Perfect"
    By lovetherunning, Apr 18, 2011 Report Abuse
    I don't like the way they got rid of Donna. It was great for storyline, but I'm glad she was the one who was part time lord and got to show her unique brilliance one last time. I'm also happy everyone was friends with her, and Rose wasn't jealous or mean to her. She was unique in this series in that she was the Doctor's best friend. I also can't believe Tennant's leaving Doctor Who soon. They could bring him back though, with that other Doctor in the alternate reality with Rose. The writers left some room for ways to bring all the recent companions back into future episodes, if you think really hard and look for any way possible.moreless

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    6 2

  • Sadly disappointing

    3.0
    "Bad"
    By HammerFanUK, Apr 18, 2011 Report Abuse
    After having been thrilled by the previous episode, I had high hopes that this one would NOT - like the previous couple of WHO season finales - turn into a string of cop-outs and frantic, muddled plotting. My hopes were dashed. The truth seems to be that Russell T Davies simply cannot write endings. At the very beginning of the episode, what happens to the Doctor (carried over from the previous episode's conclusion) is such a terrible anticlimax that every viewer must have felt cheated. Unfortunately, things didn't improve from there. The emotional tone of the previous episode was completely lost in a series of frantic run-arounds and damp squibs. It's almost as if RTD thinks that action is the only thing that matters, and that a plot doesn't need logic because "it's for kids". Once again - and I don't think this is too much of a spoiler - we have a deus ex machina in an ending where all the destruction that's gone before is magically reversed. As Robert Holmes - the greatest of the writers of the "old" Doctor Who - liked to point out, in a series like this, plot is everything. It's very disappointing to see the series producer repeating some of the mistakes of the 80s show: one major reason for its decline was that viewers couldn't follow the plot of half of the Sylvester McCoy stories.

    I don't want to be too harsh on RTD, as he deserves credit for reviving the show, but I'm glad to see that Steven Moffat is taking over. Here's a writer who really can construct plots and leaves the viewer entertained even at the end of his stories. I'm confident that storylines will improve in 2010.moreless

    DO YOU AGREE?

    8 18

  • This episode derives too much from Star Wars: Return and the Jedi. The Doctor (Luke Skywalker) destroys Dalek Central (the death star), Davros (the emperor) was betrayed by that thing (Darth Vader)...moreless

    4.0
    "Poor"
    By charmed_babe64, Apr 18, 2011 Report Abuse
    and "everyone jumping around looking at fireworks in the sky" has parallels to the celebration by the Ewoks and everyone else in Star Wars.

    Aside from that, too many characters made the episode hard to follow. We could have done without Captain Jack, Martha Jones (and her mother), Rose's mother, Sarah Jane (and son), and the token black guy. There wasn't one clearly defined theme. The whole episode was a jumbled mess, shifting from one special effect to the other. But the most disappointing part of the episode was that no one died, as stated would happen, and we were left we a lackluster ending. Where was the big cliff-hanger? It shocks me that others describe this episode as "well-written". I for one could not believe how awful it actually was.moreless

    DO YOU AGREE?

    3 16
 

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

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    • In this episode, Donna Noble says that there's no such thing as destiny, yet in Partners In Crime (Season 4 Episode 1) when Donna realizes she parked where the TARDIS landed, she says that it's "like destiny". Edit
    • As a result of this episode, aliens are publicly known, the Daleks in particular (as shown later in The Waters of Mars). However, three years later, 2012, Henry van Staten, a man who has a Dalek locked up in cage, is apparently unfamiliar with what a Dalek even is. Edit
    • At the climax, the Doctors use a "magnotron" to send the planets back. This a reference to theTrial of a Time Lord serial in the classic series, in which the Time Lords used a magnotron to yank Earth off its course. Edit

  • Notes

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    • According to the Broadcaster's Audience Research Board, this episode was the top-rated programme of the week of June 30 (10.6 million viewers). This marks the first time in the 45-year history of the show that Doctor Who has been the most-watched programme in the UK. Edit
    • International Air Dates: United States: 1 August 2008 Australia: 28 September 2008 Edit
    • This is Series Producer Phil Collinson's last episode on the show. Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • New Doctor: All Repaired, lovely. Shh. Silent running like on submarines where they can't even drop a spanner. Don't drop a spanner -- I like Blue. What do you think? Donna: You...Are...Bonkers. New Doctor: Why, What's wrong with blue? Donna: Is that what time lords do? Lop a bit off, grow a new one -- you're like worms. Edit
    • The Doctor: (after regenerating back to his current form) There now... (Blows the golden particles away around his severed hand) You see! Used the regeneration energy to heal myself, but as soon as that was done, I didn't need to change. I didn't want to, why would I? Look at me. So, to stop the energy from going all the way, I siphoned off the rest into a handy, bio-matching receptacle; namely, my hand. My hand there, my handy spare hand. Edit
    • Davros: (Laughs manically as Reality Bomb begins to charge) And nothing can stop the detonation! NOTHING and NO ONE! (Continues to laugh) Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • Davros: It is time we talked after so very long.
      Doctor: No, no, no, no I'm not doing the nostalgia tour.       I think this is an allusion to the series three finale where The Master decides that the best way to shut the Doctor up was to take a trip down memory lane. Specifically, the Master said, "Oh how to shut him up? I know! Memory lane!" Edit
    • The title of this episode has a duel meaning. In addition to referencing the end of Donna Noble's time as a companion, it also references Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare where Feste says, "Journeys end in lovers meeting." This is a reference to the Doctor and Rose being reunited. Edit
    • Davros: (to Sarah Jane Smith) You were there on Skaro in the beginning.

      The 4th Doctor, Tom Baker met Davros for the first time in the 1975 serial Genesis of the Daleks. Both Sarah Jane Smith and Harry Sullivan were companions of the Doctor at that time. Edit

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