I'll start all of this off by admitting that I've already done an entry similar to this one.
Way back in the late 1800s, I compiled a Ranking the Regenerations List. Basically, I looked at all the regenerations the Doctor had been through up to that point and arranged them in order of preference. I even added an Appendix to this list later after another regeneration had occurred. I should, in fact, go back to this list some time and make a further contribution to it since there have been another two regenerations since the Appendix!
Anyhow, what aspect of regeneration you're meant to actually appreciate in a List like this is a fairly subjective concept. When analyzing such things, some fans only look at the very sequence, itself. Basically, they're merely thinking of the actual scene where the process takes place. Like when Seven is lying "dead" in the morgue during The Enemy Within and morphs into Eight. Or Five collapses on the floor of the console room of the TARDIS in the final moments of Caves of Androzani wondering if he might actually survive spectrox toxemia by turning into Six.
Others view the full final story of an incarnation as what constitutes a regeneration. If they enjoyed all four parts of Logopolis, for instance, or both episodes of The End of Time, then these are "good" regenerations.
I, however, was even more comprehensive when I compiled that List. I view a regeneration as an incarnation's final adventure and then however long the recovery process takes afterwards. For the most part, the after-effects of a regeneration usually clear up by the end of the new incarnation's first story. Ten, for instance, seems to have properly stabilized by the end of The Christmas Invasion. So I feel that Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways/The Christmas Invasion are the full representation of that particular regeneration.
Those were the guidelines I used all those decades ago when I took the trouble to figure out what order I appreciated all these regenerations in and put together a BOOK OF LISTS entry about it. But now I want to look at something slightly different.
I want to analyze Swansong Stories.
WHAT'S A SWANSONG STORY?
That second example of what some fans feel constitutes a regeneration has a different title for me. I call it a Swansong Story. "Swansong", of course, being a fancy poetic way of simply saying: "last". So The War Games or Time of the Doctor would be considered Swansong stories to me. They are that final adventure an incarnation has before submitting to the process of regeneration and allowing someone new to stand in their place.
That definition, however, can be a bit blurry, in places. A story like The War Games puts a serious kibosh on things since we don't actually see Troughton transform into Pertwee. This allows us the room to create the whole theory of Season 6b. A concept that allows the contradictions to canon in tales like The Two and Five Doctors to work. Where it's believed that the Second Doctor ran around for quite a while after his trial and accomplished secret missions for the CIA before truly suffering his forced regeneration. Some fans now even believe that he turned into the Fugitive Doctor during that time too (still not entirely sure how that works - but who am I to poke holes in fan theories?!). So The War Games is, in some ways, not really Two's final outing. But, at the time that it was broadcast, that's what it was considered. So I'll let all that extra headcannon that we've created be cast to the wayside and accept The War Games for what it's meant to be.
Because there's a clear and distinct difference in my head between a Swansong Story and a Regeneration, I decided to compile this second list. Taking away Robot from Planet of Spiders, for example, can make a huge difference with my levels of appreciation. Which, in turn, can cause the Swansong story to have a very different place on this list than it did when I was Ranking Regenerations. So I figured it was worth my while to write this entry. If you're really into all this, you can look at both lists and notice the various nuances. I will even take the trouble to post links to the other List and its Appendix at the end of all this.
EXCEPTIONS
As is always the case, there will be some things that happened in the show that resemble what we're discussing but won't actually qualify to make the List. In something as wild and diverse as Doctor Who, there will always be exceptions of this nature.
The first and most obvious exception would be Poor 'Ole Sixie. I suppose, if we really wanted to, we could view The Ultimate Foe as his Swansong Story. Especially since I think it's a great little two-parter that has a nice epic quality to it that a Swansong can frequently have. But it still wouldn't be entirely fair to do such a thing. We can't truly consider it a Grand Finale to the Sixth Doctor since absolutely no one knew, at the time, that this would be his last story. So Six won't get a ranking on this list.
I also don't think that the few minutes of Seven that we get at the beginning of The Enemy Within qualifies as a Swansong, either. It's more like a protracted cameo that results in a regeneration. A Swansong, for me, constitutes a full story that sees the current Doctor changing at the end. Which is not what happens in The 96 Telemovie. So this one also won't make it into the entry.
Finally, there's the many regenerations Tennant's Doctor goes through. A Swansong needs to legitimately transform the Doctor from one actor to another. This only truly happens in The End of Time. Tennant still gets to keep being Tennant during Stolen Earth/Journey's End and The Giggle. So only one of the three stories qualify.
With the exceptions noted, we can now examine the twelve "proper" Swansong stories that the show has given us:
12) THE END OF TIME
I wouldn't quite call The End of Time legitimately awful. But I will say it comes perilously close.
The first part is fairly passable. There are some odd choices, though. Many have remarked how the Master shooting lightning and flying through the air feels "intensely unDoctorWhoish". I find myself agreeing with the sentiment. It seems more like a sort of bad super hero movie. I'm also not sure why Time Lords are suddenly capable of smelling each other from over great distances. That was very odd, too. I get that it's was a way of trying to visually represent telepathic recognition better. But, like the lightning and the flying, it didn't really work.
The big sappy scene in the cafe with Wilf and the Doctor was okay. But, given that they're going to have another talk like this in Part Two, it seemed a bit extraneous. We soon see what the real purpose of the scene was: marking time.
Padding is something we see a lot of in End of Time. There is just so very little to the plot, here. Yes, it's big and exciting to see the Time Lords again. But it might have been nice to give them an actual decent story to appear in.
Evidence of the inadequately-sized plot grows. The end of the first episode is really difficult to sit through. Yup, we get it. The Master has taken over the bodies of every human on the Earth except Wilf and Donna. But we don't need nearly ten minutes of his stupid grinning face over and over all across the world. I'm reminded of the ending of Part One of Hand of Fear. Where we have to watch Sarah Jane Smith walk endlessly through a nuclear power plant in order to pad the run-time.
Part Two just gets worse. Very little is really happening and whatever development we do get moves sooooo slowly. There's just not enough, here. Not even for one hour. Forget about two!
Enduring fifteen minutes of the Doctor just running around and saying bye to everyone is what finally gets me to just swear the whole thing off. This all seems especially silly since we had a gigantic former companion love-fest just a few episodes earlier in the Series Four finale. Why are we doing this again so soon?!
There are a few things that do save the story from a "completely awful" status. Timothy Dalton is fantastic as Rassilon. He takes the very little he's been given and turns in into something very intense and interesting to watch. One can see why he is the success that he is as an actor. Also, the presence of the mysterious woman talking to Wilf is undeniably cool and even a bit touching. How she compels the Doctor to make a better choice when dealing with his foes is a brilliant moment.
Ultimately, though, The End of Time tends to let me down. It relies too heavily on the sadness of Ten leaving and doesn't really deliver much beyond a bunch of overwrought sentimentalism. I'm not even all that fond of Tennant's final line.
"I don't want to go." just seems a bit too whiny!
11) PLANET OF SPIDERS
There's a lot to like about Planet of Spiders. I always found its main theme of conquering fear regardless of the consequences to be quite powerful. The Doctor stating that message at the very end of Episode Six as he stumbles out of the TARDIS and collapses on the floor was actually quite moving. It's a genuinely beautiful moment.
The power struggles going on between the various human and arachnoid characters that are siding with the Great One also gives us a lot of interesting political intrigue. Particularly Lupton. The speech he delivers that explains why he sought meditation to begin with actually creates a legitimate degree of sympathy for him. The symbiotic relationship he develops with the spider on his back is also great fun to watch.
The ongoing exploration of the powers of the blue crystals of Metebilis Three is also quite fascinating. Especially with the effects one of them has on Tommy. I also love that Tommy's pureness makes him invulnerable to the attacks of the Spiders.
Finally, there's the Doctor's mentor. What a great role he plays in the whole adventure. Being there for his old pupil when he needed him most.
It's all really great stuff. So why is the story second from the bottom?
We all know why:
That damned chase sequence.
There's still quite a bit of fun to it. It's a great hoot when Pertwee runs over the stuntman/hobo with a hovercraft. And the police officer that's trying to keep up with everything in the early stages of the chase offers some nice comic relief, too. But the sequence is just soooo long and soooo indulgent that it really does do a lot of damage to the overall entertainment value of the narrative. Especially when, as the whole thing starts to wrap up, Lupton and the Spider escape the Doctor by just teleporting away. Why didn't they just do that to begin with?!
But, if we're being honest, it's more than just the chase scene that damages Spiders. This is another one of those notorious Pertwee Six Parters that didn't really have the material to sustain that kind of run-time. Which is why, of course, we get a gigantic time filler like the chase sequence. But we see other stuff like this. Particularly in the latter episodes. They plod along so badly, in places. The plot could have been competently handled in about three episodes. Sitting through all that extra padding makes it difficult to stay excited about the whole adventure.
My final major gripe about this tale is that it doesn't so much use Buddhist imagery as feel like a Buddhist recruitment video! I really don't feel like Doctor Who is a show that should delve so deeply into the theology of any religion. Can the program be influenced by organized faith? Sure! Have a party! Put some Messianic imagery into that 96 Telemovie. That won't bother me in the slightest. But if McGann had suddenly turned to the camera and spent several minutes preaching about the Redemptive Blood of Jesus - then I would've taken serious issue with that. Planet of Spiders, however, does get up on a bit of pulpit regarding Barry Letts' own spiritual beliefs (yes, I know Buddhists don't actually preach from a pulpit - but I think you take my point!).
While there's a lot to like about this story, it also does a lot to shoot itself in the foot. Which causes the whole thing to finish up quite low in these rankings.
10) DAY OF THE DOCTOR
Probably Day of the Doctor's biggest problem when you put it in this category is that it is, technically, a Swansong story - it just doesn't feel like one! It's a great anniversary tale. An awesome multi-incarnation adventure. But we almost don't notice the fact that we are saying goodbye to one of the Doctors, here, too.
Like the incarnation immediately before him, the Reign of the War Doctor is a short one. But, while Moff went out of his way to give Eight a very special send-off, the War Doctor's regeneration is added almost as an afterthought. It felt like the Head Writer was trying to be a completist more than anything. He didn't want another Doctor to go without a proper regeneration scene so he dropped the sequence in just after War says bye to Ten and Eleven.
There is just so much else going on in Day of the Doctor that we can't really give much attention to the fact that this is also meant to be the War Doctor's last great hoorah. It does almost feel like another special mini-sode should have been made where John Hurt was brought back for just a little bit longer. Rather than be given something that lasted less than a minute where he just paraphrases Hartnell and then makes a goofy joke about ears for his final line (albeit, it's still a good last line!).
Day of the Doctor is a really great story. But it doesn't really take the time to tackle the War Doctor's departure. I'm sure hiring Hurt wasn't cheap. Getting him to come in and film extra footage for a special mini-sode of his own would have probably been a bit costly. But it was the 50th Anniversary. BBC could have forked out just a bit more cash for a show that has made them so much money for so long. This would have worked better as a send-off for this incarnation. It also would have given the Anniversary Special some nice bookends. A mini-sode on each side!
In defense of Day of the Doctor, they do still give the War Doctor a nice little arc throughout the course of the plot. He's an incarnation of the Time Lord who doesn't believe he can live up to the name he's given himself. But, as the story reaches its conclusion, he realizes he is the Doctor, after all. Just like all the others. This does help the tale feel just a little bit more like a proper Swansong.
Which is why it doesn't quite sit at the bottom of this list. Had it just been a quick regeneration scene right before the Tom Baker cameo and nothing else, it would have finished last. Thankfully, it's a bit more than that.
9) TIME OF THE DOCTOR
It should be noted that the next four stories are so close in quality that they're quite interchangeable. Their positions on this list could, easily, re-arrange at any given time. It all depends on my mood, really. Sometimes, I just like a certain story better than the other three for a while. So it gets bumped up until my tastes shift again! So where I am currently ranking these next four tales can be considered transient, at best. Fifth place will, of course, always remain consistent. But Ninth to Sixth can easily swap around!
There is no other Swansong story that deals more with wrapping up loose threads than Time of the Doctor. All three seasons of Eleven's tenure have been leading up to this moment. There has been so much foreshadowing and clues and unanswered questions. They all need to get resolved in this final hour of his existence.
Moff took a huge risk, here. He pushed wibbly-wobbly timey-whimey to its ultimate extreme. Making sure that there would be an adequate pay-off to all the mystery he'd built up was going to be difficult to accomplish. As the Swansong approached, I thought of shows like Lost. It had done something similar to this. But its final conclusion where it tried to answer all the questions it had created seemed largely unsatisfactory to its fans. And I wondered if the same thing would happen, here.
Impressively enough, Time of the Doctor does resolve all of its arcs quite nicely. It even remembers to show us what the Doctor saw behind his door during God Complex! In this sense, I'm quite happy with what this episode delivers.
There are some other aspects to the story that don't work so well. It makes a few odd choices: The Doctor running around naked in front of Clara. Or a wooden Cybermen. Those are the bigger ones that come to mind. It also feels just a bit too light on plot. Like we needed something just a little bit more than the Doctor defending a town called Christmas.
But there are also quite a few things to like about Time. Once more, I appreciate how Moff subverts expectations. Everyone was thinking the Battle of Trenzalore would be so huge and epic. But I do enjoy the fact that the conflict is so much simpler than we fancied it to be. It's just about defending a simple little town called Christmas. I know I'm, technically, contradicting myself, here. But it is possible to dislike and like something at the same time! What the story really needed was just one more subplot. Something that fills things out a bit better but still doesn't draw away from the beauty of its simplicity.
Most significantly, I'm really happy with how Moff faces the problem of the Doctor no longer being able to regenerate and deals with it. Lesser writers would have done all they could to avoid the matter!
So, yes, Time of the Doctor is a bit of a mixed bag. But, overall, it's quite solid.
8) THE WAR GAMES
The War Games begins a tradition in Swansong stories that continues to this day. The production team makes the decision that, since the latest lead actor is leaving, they should make it a big deal. So they have the current Doctor go out on a high note. He saves the entire Earth from some huge diabolical plot to either conquer or destroy it. Or, they go for really big stakes and he prevents a Universal Catastrophe. Yes, these things can also happen during a particularly non-important event in the middle of a season. But, because the Doctor "dies" in this particular story, it all feels more special.
Troughton's Final Tale is a huge sprawling epic that begins as a period piece with intriguing anachronisms and evolves into an intense hard sci fi adventure with the fate of the Galaxy at stake. But a big nasty threat to the cosmos was not going to be enough for this send-off. The story also reveals a significant portion of the Doctor's origins. Essentially, The War Games is a legitimate milestone in the show's canon.
As great as this story is, it has one fatal flaw: Ten episodes is just too damned long. It is just bit too much to sit through. Not a lot. But a bit. Admittedly, I really only put it on if I'm using it for research purposes for this blog. It's rare that I sit through it purely for enjoyment.
I get that there were problems with other stories in the season and that they needed to draw this one out to compensate for them. They did get away with eight episodes earlier in the year. The Invasion is very engaging. But The War Games doesn't quite pull it off. It might have been nicer if it had been whittled down to six episodes and another four-parter had been cobbled together. I'm guessing that, for whatever reason, this was impossible to do and there was no choice but to go the way they did.
I can't pick on War Games too hard for its run-time, though. It still propels itself along quite well and uses very little padding. For the most part, the plot is always advancing. With little or no capturing-and-escaping or other such tricks to fill things out.
Which is why the story does end up doing decently on this list. In some ways, it is too long. But, to its credit, it never actually drags much. I'm not sure how it's possible to have both these traits at once. But The War Games manages to accomplish this!
7) WORLD ENOUGH AND TIME/THE DOCTOR FALLS/TWICE UPON A TIME
I had quite the debate with myself over this one. I could, technically, view Twelve's Swansong as just being Twice Upon a Time. If I did, it would be in a very different place on this list.
But it does also feel like it's the last installment in a Three Parter. World Enough and Time does open with Twelve arriving in the Arctic, dropping to his knees and starting to regenerate. The Doctor Falls, of course, gets us back there. Thus setting things up for the bridge into Twice Upon a Time. Quite a bit of attention, in general, is given to the Doctor holding back his regeneration during Doctor Falls. Which, again, links in nicely with the episode that follows it.
At the same time, Twice Upon a Time can be considered its own separate adventure. It takes place in a completely different location from the two prior episodes and introduces a whole new plot. We could legitimately see the links in World and Falls to be merely tenuous if we really wanted to.
So this was my quandary: what do I consider to be Twelve's "proper" Swansong? Deciding that it's a single episode or a Three Parter would have a serious impact on its ranking.
After much consideration, I went with the Three Parter approach.
It's a pretty simple analysis, really. World Enough and Time and The Doctor Falls are incredible. Had Twelve turned into Thirteen at the conclusion and the Christmas Special was something else entirely, this story would have been even closer to the top on this list. These two episodes are just that good.
Twice Upon a Time is, by no means, an awful story. But it certainly drags things down a bit. It had the potential to be just as awesome as World and Falls since it was a multi-incarnation story. But there were problems with how One was being portrayed. And the plot is, perhaps, just a tad too light. Giving the whole tale a slightly lackluster feel. Which causes Twelve's Swansong to lose some considerable traction. Because of Twice Upon a Time, it sits considerably lower in my rankings.
I won't deny, however, that Twelve's final moments in the console room is the best farewell scene an incarnation has ever gotten (thus far, at least). Moff writes a fantastic monologue and Capaldi performs it to perfection. It all looks absolutely gorgeous. Oddly enough, some fans complain about the bit where the Doctor claims that certain children know his name. I'm not sure why, though. It's actually my favorite part!
6) THE TENTH PLANET
The One that started it all. The Tenth Planet may feel a little clumsy, in places, but it still has a very fun energy to it. Part of its charm is definitely caused by a sort of retrospective enjoyment. Every fan knows the importance of this story so we can't help but be a bit excited about it. Particularly as we watch it for the first time.
But, beyond that, it's still a pretty decent tale. Especially since it uses several conventions that we haven't really seen in the show yet. It's the first story, for instance, that takes place in the near future. Up until this adventure, everything on Earth was either in the distant past, the present day or the far-flung future. It was interesting to dip just a few years ahead of the transmission date (and laugh just a little bit at how Snowcap Base still used a film projector - surely they would have had a TV and VCR?!) It's also the first time that the entire world is confronted with undeniable evidence of extra-terrestrial life. Everyone around the globe is aware that Mondas has entered its orbit and the Cybermen seem to make their presence known to all of the Earth. Prior to this, alien involvement on our planet had during current times been much more covert.
I have discussed, before, the General Gripe that people have with this story. They feel as though Hartnell's Doctor should have had a stronger presence in the plot. They tend to be particularly upset that he ducks out for all of Part Three. But I think emphasizing his frailty during his final hours works just fine. I also think he actually does still have a decent role to play in the whole thing. In the end, it is still his advice that results in the destruction of Mondas.
If I have any real issue with the whole thing, it's the fact that this is also the very first Cybermen story. In some ways, that does almost take away from the potence of Hartnell's departure. The Cybermen return as often as they do because they really are very effective monsters. Giving us such an engaging alien species while the Doctor is meant to be regenerating legitimately distracts us! However, it also makes this Swansong story that much more exciting. So I won't complain too much!
In the end, there might still have been better ways to write Hartnell out. But Tenth Planet remains a very exciting tale that starts off an ongoing tradition in the show that will keep it fresh and exciting for many years to come. That fact, alone, always makes it a great watch. But it's a pretty decent story, too.
5) CAVES OF ANDROZANI
Still considered by many fans to be the best Doctor Who story ever. It should, no doubt, also rank as a top Swansong tale. I, myself, do enjoy Caves of Androzani. But, as you can see, I don't think of it as highly as most do.
Caves is, perhaps, one of the most riveting and engaging Doctor Who stories ever made. Both the writing and direction are excellent. Davison seems to realize he's got a Classic on his hands and really puts in an incredible performance. Of course, this being the last time he would play the role (aside from the multi-incarnation stuff that would come along later), would also be influencing him to try that little bit harder. I do resent, however, the people who say things like: "The Fifth Doctor was finally good in this story and then he had to go!" He was excellent the whole time. I like him better than most.
So why does Caves only come in at fifth place if it's meant to be so awesome?
I did write a Greatest Hits entry that explains my slight disdain for this story (https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2022/07/unadulterated-boorish-opinion-more.html). If you don't want to go read it, I'll summarize by explaining that I find that things tend to fall apart quite badly during Part Four.
Caves of Androzani gives us another one of those "end-of-story supporting cast slaughterfests" that frequently took place when Eric Saward was script editor for the show. I moan about these endlessly. They're, basically, the cheapest way to resolve all the major conflicts in the plot of a story. You just kill off most of the guest cast rather than actually come up with a clever solution to it all. It's a bit of a disappointment, really.
Now, those other three episodes are absolutely incredible. Particularly the cliffhanger to Part Three. Davison is excellent as he shouts away at Stotz through a hole in the door. It's one of the most intense scenes in the show's history. If the last part had maintained that level of quality then this would be Number One on this list.
Sadly, however, the story doesn't get the best of endings. But, because so much of it is still so brilliant, it can hold a respectable ranking.
4) NIGHT OF THE DOCTOR
When I compiled my Ranking the Regenerations List, Night of the Doctor had only recently come out. It made it pretty far up the list. After a bit of time, I wondered if it was the fact that I was so excited to finally get to see the Eighth Doctor regenerate that had influenced my judgement. That the mini-sode wasn't anything that special. That it was more about having my fannish cravings satisfied than the quality of the content that caused me to appreciate it so much.
Ten years have passed since the mini-sode was released. At this point, the fanboy excitement has definitely settled down. However, even though it's barely eight minutes, Night of the Doctor still stands up really damn well! It's a quick, simple story that's very well-told. So much so, that it genuinely does beat a lot of the full length swansong stories that came out before and after it.
If you read my last entry about multi-incarnation adventures, you'll recall the phenomenon of "misremembering" that I discussed in it. For those that didn't catch it: it's when a previous incarnation is brought back but is not written in a way that lines up with how they actually behaved when they were considered "the current Doctor". While I didn't state it outright, Moff is most guilty of committing this crime. Both Time Crash and Twice Upon a Time display pretty glaring examples of this.
Night of the Doctor, however, is definitely one of those times where Moff did not "misremember" a thing. In fact, it's my guess that he watched The Enemy Within a few times before writing any of that script. In just a handful of minutes, the Eighth Doctor displays several of the key traits he had in his only televised adventure. Moff actually does a fantastic job of distilling his essence.
And then there's McGann's actual performance. His memory seems as good as the writer's! Although I do like how he gives his performance a much more mellow edge. It insinuates that some time has passed since we witnessed his "birth" in 1996. McGann makes such a brilliant choice with such a subtle re-interpretation of the role. I also like that there were slight alterations to his costume. This Doctor has definitely changed things up a bit over the years.
What makes this swansong the most interesting is that is tinged with a sense of failure. Even a story like Caves of Androzani feels triumphant for the Fifth Doctor. While he does nothing to actually improve the conflict in that particular adventure, he still manages to save Peri's life by sacrificing his own. Which really does overshadow the futility of his presence in the whole plot. But this isn't really the case for Night of the Doctor. While the choice he is making will, eventually, save all of Time and Space, it still feels like a bad one. We respected the Doctor more when he was refusing to participate in the Time Wars. But, in the end, he ends his eighth life by choosing to take part in something that will only diminish him. And, quite possibly, scar him for the rest of his long existence.
I love that, for once, a Doctor is allowed to go out on such a sour note. A swansong is usually a celebration of all that is noble and good about that particular incarnation. But it's not what we get this time. And I think that is both a bold and awesome choice.
3) BAD WOLF/PARTING OF THE WAYS
The first Swansong of the New Series. This thing needed to land well or all the new fans that the show had garnered would have a difficult time accepting the concept of regeneration and might not stick with things after Eccleston was gone. Fortunately, Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways is absolutely brilliant.
Like Power of the Doctor, a lot of arcs get wrapped up, here. Probably even more than what we got in Power, in fact. Which is pretty impressive when you think about it. Jodie's era was three seasons. Whereas Chris' was only one. It's quite amazing that RTD could weave so many threads in such a short time.
Several of these arcs involve the major characters that we've been following throughout the season. Jackie accepts that the Doctor is actually a positive influence in her daughter's life. Mickey comes to terms with the fact that it's truly over between him and his girlfriend. Rose decides to stop drifting through her life and stand up and make a difference. It's all great stuff.
But the most significant ongoing storyline that gets resolved takes place within the Doctor, himself. At last, he's able to face all of his survivor guilt and truly heal from it. In a scenario similar to when he had to use The Moment to wipe out the Daleks and the Time Lords, he makes a better choice. Instead of being an agent of destruction, he decides to be a coward. He refuses to let the ends justify the means. And, because of this, he's able to let go of all the shame that has been plaguing him. It's a great moment. Particularly since we hadn't actually seen the act he'd committed that was haunting him so much. RTD's writing and Eccleston's acting, however, conveys everything that we needed to know about the situation.
Having Rose stare into the Heart of the TARDIS is, perhaps, a bit too much of a Deus ex-machina. But it's still a pretty cool one. And Nine's final moments in the console room are quite touching. His era was way too short. But it really was fantastic.
2) LOGOPOLIS
Up until recently, I considered this to be the best Swansong the show ever had. It's still really only about a smidgeon behind the true victor.
I've said it on many occasions: I find Tom Baker to be overrated. He oozes a ridiculous amount of charm and really did inhabit the part. But there are plenty of actors who I like way more as the Doctor. I feel that they treated the role with much more focus and even effort than he did. This becomes particularly evident in Seasons Sixteen and Seventeen. Where Baker really does seem to be all over the place. Like he was just coming to the shoot every day, goofing off and not really getting much of anything accomplished.
If he'd been employed in an office rather than starring in a show, Management would have wanted to fire him for his lack of productivity. But they would have been reluctant to because his long history with the company would represent an expensive severance package! We've all worked with people who have taken full advantage of such a situation and just totally screw off throughout the workday (or, perhaps, we're that person!). Baker causes an entire two seasons of the show to resemble this dynamic. Like we're just watching the misadventures of the Office Goof.
Having said all that, the guy still put in a solid amount of time playing the part. Many fans do consider him to be the purest distillation of the character. The greatest Doctor of them all.
Which means that, regardless of my own feelings, I do still feel that he needed the most grandiose of send-offs. I recognize the presence that he has in the show's history and how much he has contributed to the success of Doctor Who, in general. That merits an impressive final outing.
Logopolis more-than-gives him the departure he deserves. In fact, all of Season Eighteen sets things up for his final adventure. The stories become darker and darker in tone. The theme of entropy becomes more and more prevalent. His previous companions get phased out for newer ones that are destined for his successor. They even bring back his greatest rival and make him instrumental in the transition to his next incarnation. It's all set up quite beautifully. And it's not done in the way New Who constructs these sort of things. It's not about big massive story arcs being resolved. It's about moods and atmosphere propelling things along to their final conclusion.
Logopolis, itself, is the ultimate linchpin in all of this. It's not uncommon for a build-up like this to fall flat on its ass when it gets to the end (Game of Thrones being one of the clearer examples of such a phenomenon). But Logopolis lives up to all of its expectations - and then some.
While some fans complain of how much Baker is restrained in Season Eighteen, I think it was the best choice Production could have made. His departure feels very distinguished. Basically, it's given the respect it deserves. Imagine how terrible it would have all looked if he'd still been larking about like a fool throughout his finale.
Instead, it really did feel like we were attending a funeral. The actual service is very gripping and intense - but we're still there to honor someone's passing. In fact, the whole story draws a perfect balance between seeing Baker off but still giving us a really spectacular plot.
Logopolis also gives us the absolute best soundtrack in the show's history. The music is almost its own character in the story. It has such beautiful dark and melancholic strains to it. So many chilling moments become all-the-more potent because of the music being played behind it. Like when Four sees the Watcher for the first time.
Which leads us to another element that makes Logopolis so ridiculously cool. We never fully understand the exact nature of the Watcher (we imagine he's something similar to what K'anpo was able to create in Planet of Spiders), but he's still an awesome concept. His presence throughout the story really enhances the whole solemness of the Fourth Doctor's final moments. The gold energy effect we now get in New Who when a Time Lord regenerates does look nice. But it will never look as great as when the Watcher merges with Tom Baker and turns into Peter Davison. Even if the whole sequence was done on a cheap budget!
1) POWER OF THE DOCTOR
Fair Warning: If Power of the Doctor. somehow, figures into any of these countdowns - expect it to rank highly! There is just so much of this story that I absolutely love. Here, of course, it makes it all the way to the top. And it totally deserves the position.
It's not just a great final story. It's also everything that Jodie's era has been leading up to. From the much more simple and straightforward stories of Series Eleven to the many twists and turns during Flux. This is the culmination of it all. And it's executed brilliantly. I especially enjoyed some of the really super-clever stuff that Chibnall did. Like creating Cyber-Masters a season-or-so previously so that their regeneration energy could be used to reverse the Doctor's forced regeneration. I love when that sort of plotting is done throughout the course of an era. It's a bit like the Doctor's hand during the RTD period. But Chibnall's arc was considerably less ham-fisted (yup, I said it: Chibnall wrote something better than RTD did!).
Now, I know what some of you might be saying:
"But Rob!" you like to point out, "This isn't the only swansong story that brings various arcs to their ultimate culmination. Just look at the Eleventh Doctor!"
And, of course, at some point during this list I did!
Quite simply, other Swansong tales that have sewn up arcs don't do it quite as well as Power of the Doctor did. I really do feel that they built things up beautifully over Jodie's three seasons and then brought it all to a fantastic conclusion. I seem to recall hearing that it was originally meant to be a five-year plan. But Covid put paid to that. Chibnall, however, still ended up doing a great job of compressing things.
Of course, Power of the Doctor is chocked full of fan service. Soooooo much fan service! We've got the Doctor's three worst enemies working together. About a half-dozen old companions showing up (some only for a brief cameo in the support group scene - but it was still awesome to see William Russell there!). We've got an outlandish costume from the Master that harkens back to several different incarnations of the Doctor. And, finally, there's some totally awesome multi-incarnation action (which I've discussed quite thoroughly in the last entry). It don't get much more fan-servicey than this, folks!
Such gestures can be a tricky thing in New Who. Half the time, it's quite beautiful. Like, say, The Doctor's Wife. The other half of the time - not so much! This is one of those occasions where they get it right. Everything feels appropriately respectful to elements of the show's past rather than cheap and gimmicky.
Thirteen's final moments are also very well-crafted. A great mix between the regret of another body losing its existence and the courage the Doctor musters as he/she moves through the latest change. There's a great balance to it all. Thirteen is sad that she must end, but hopeful towards the future. The perfect attitude for an incarnation to bow out on.
There's so little fault that I can find with Power of the Doctor (the Daleks come perilously close to being extraneous - that's really about it!). Otherwise, it is a perfect sequence of events involving many nods from the past that all come together to tell one last magnificent tale for a greatly-underrated incarnation.
And thus, another gigantic list concludes.
If you're thinking: "That was nice but I need more lists!", then here's my Ranking the Regenerations entry:
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-book-of-lists-ranking-regenarations.html
And its Appendix:
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2020/12/book-of-lists-appendix-1-ranking.html
You can see that some of the regenerations hold a very different position than the Swansongs they contain because of the "New Doctor" story that follows them. In fact, my next list might just be me ranking how I like all the New Doctor stories.
Hmmm....
Just for a bit of extra fun, here's a link to something I wrote about on how to "properly" watch all the Doctor's regenerations:
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2021/05/complete-and-utter-silliness-how-to.html
