04x13 - The End of an Era

[bunniefuu]

It's the best finale
we could possibly give.

It is huge.

It's always wow!

Wow is the word
as Doctor Who crescendos
to a cataclysmic conclusion.

You do just think, "Where now?",
you know? "Where possibly now?"

And there you go.
You get two Doctors.

What have you done?!

Fulfilling the prophecy.

I am the Doctor.

The stakes are higher,
the explosions are bigger

and the list
of returning characters is
longer than it's ever been before.

It's a tight squeeze in the TARDIS
as we witness the end of an era.

There's a lot of stories to be
told and finished off,

and a lot of people's journeys
that have an end to reach.

One will still die!

Shudder!

Whole place was blowing up.

expl*si*n!

There was fire raining down.

Fire!

This year, we had to deliver
the grandest finale of all.

Flames! Bang!

Come on, come with me! I promise
I shall save you! Flames!

Never forget, Doctor, you did this!

I name you for ever!

You are the Destroyer Of The Worlds!

When we filmed Christmas this year,

the Voyage of the Damned, I thought,

"That's the biggest we'll ever do."

And then I read these scripts,
and they're even bigger!

With it being the finale,

there's that sense that
the stakes are higher than ever,

this is a bigger battle
than we've ever witnessed before.

Everything has to be bigger
and better and louder

and more extraordinary than
we've managed before.

It's universal, the scale of
this episode. It's the first time

in the new series we've said
the entire universe is in danger -

not just the universe,
but every reality beyond that.

For this one, it's your reaction to
the crucible about to explode and
things falling down on you. Right.

So shudder, Danny. Shudder.
What happens after the shudder?

It'll start going bang, bang...

What we had to do is create a
sense that the whole ship is

exploding, so we had various
different effects happening,

lots of pyrotechnics exploding.

I've got a girder falling down,
which is obviously happening
in front of him.

When I see them with my naked eye,

I know what they'll look like on
camera, cos I tighten the lens,

so you fill the frame with the
expl*si*n, whereas obviously
when you go in a big room,

it happens there, little expl*si*n,
so it goes "pfut".

But we then put a big expl*si*n on
it. The visual of it is shocking.

It's all controlled effects, OK?

I'm f*ring it all on the button.
It's safe, all right?

As long as I stay
in the same place?

As long as you stay
in the same place, all right?

Right, stand by, then, please!

And...action!

Shudder!

Come with me!
I promise I can save you!

Never forget, Doctor,

you did this! I name you forever!

You are the Destroyer Of The Worlds!

More, more, more, more flames!

And cut, thank you.

Make things safe, everyone!

Oh, stunning!
Look at that, that's brilliant!

When you see it, I think
it is terrifying.

And I'm really thrilled with it.

It's exactly what I wanted.

'Is he dead?'

I couldn't tell you.

Impossible!

Brilliant!

This is so busy and so mental, and
so epic and universal in scale that
you need two Doctors to solve it.

Two Doctors, yes.
That was a nightmare.

How come there are two of you?
Human biological matter crisis.

On a technical level, the two Doctors
is a whole other consideration that

we had to make because,
obviously, there is only one David.

Were we to have a limitless budget,
you know, we'd film every scene
with David as both characters.

We don't, we only have a certain
number of effects sh*ts where we

can see the two Doctors together,
so we picked those carefully.

And I'd love to do a sh*t here
which is with two Doctors.

So I'd like to see Doc number one
settling into the back position here

about to set off and go,
and Doc number two for real,
in the foreground here with Rose.

Off we go!

In all the other moments
where you just kind of...

The camera is over the shoulder of
one Doctor looking at the other,

where you might just see
an arm of a Doctor

or part of the side of his head,
we've a really good double for David.

'There's a chap called Colm
who's a musician, very nice chap.

'He's doubled for me now and again
throughout the series.'

There's a few sh*ts of the
back of his head here and there.

There are two or three...
I shouldn't tell you this!

There are two or three wide sh*ts
where, just as he turns,

you can cut to a close-up
of the real one - David.

He's got the same sideboards,
he's got the same height,
he's got the same figure.

And was just as handsome...

What have you done?!

If you sh**t me in brown
and then you also need me in blue,

then you have to lock the camera
while I go and get changed,

and then Colm's standing in
to line up the sh*t,

then you do a pass with Colm in for
reference and a pass with Colm out.

Now get in the TARDIS!

HE MUMBLES

With the Doctor suffering
a double dilemma, the TARDIS
travels back to Bad Wolf Bay.

Time for the Doctor Who
team to pack their bucket
and spade and hit the surf!

♪ Left my soul there

♪ Down by the sea

♪ I lost control... ♪

It's really weird, actually,
being back today,

because of it mirroring
almost two years ago

when we were here for Doomsday, when
the Doctor said goodbye to Rose.

I love you.

Quite right, too.

And, I suppose...

Rose Tyler...

, take one. A camera mark.

Hold on, this is the parallel
universe, right? You're back home.

And the walls of the world
are closing again.

Return to Bad Wolf Bay is a tricky
scene to act, tricky to direct,

tricky to edit as well,
because is it sad? Is it happy?

, take .

And...action!

You made me.

Exactly.

You were born in battle,
full of blood and anger and revenge.

Remind you of someone?

That's me when we first met.

And you made me better.

Now you can do the same for him.

But he's not you. He needs you.

That's very me.

I think it was the most perfect
choice to focus on the human Doctor

and to pull it right back

to what Rose was like

when she met the ninth Doctor,

and her influence on the
Christopher Eccleston Doctor,
and to make him better.

Rose, get out the way, now!

No! I won't let you do this!

That thing
k*lled hundreds of people.

It's not the one
pointing the g*n at me.

I've got to do this,
I've got to end it!

But look at it.

It couldn't k*ll me, it's changing.

What about you, Doctor?

What the hell are you changing into?

So it's throwing back at Rose
the most extraordinary compliment,

that she is like the Doctor,
she makes people better.

Don't you see what he's trying
to give you? Tell her! Go on.

I look like him, I think like him -
same memories, same thoughts,
same everything.

Except I've only got one heart.
I've only got one life.

Rose Tyler...

I could spend it with you.

There is part of her that feels
very comfortable and very attracted

to this new Doctor,
because he is the same guy.

But, clearly, he's not, and clearly
she's saying goodbye to this other
man that she's been in love with.

We've got to go. This reality
is sealing itself off forever.

But... It's still not right.

Cos...the Doctor's still you.
And I'm him.

For the Doctor himself,
there's just another heartbreak

and another tragedy,
and he's back in Bad Wolf Bay
where he last experienced this.

You know, he's saying goodbye again.
He's bidding farewell again.

And this time it's closing
forever and there's no going back.

And in gifting her this other
Doctor, he is not really allowing
himself to go back, either.

All right.
Both of you, answer me this.

When I last stood on this beach
on the worst day of my life,

what was the last
thing you said to me?

So, again, she takes it
back to the first time
they were at Bad Wolf Bay.

And, of course,
our Doctor can't say it.

Go on.

I said, "Rose Tyler."

Yeah, and how
was that sentence gonna end?

And why can't he say it?

He can't say it because he
can't ever be completely human,
and he has to be in pain.

I think the Doctor is most heroic
and most compelling when he is

having to sacrifice things, when
he is having to be under pressure.

And it's terrible that he knows
that and he's gonna be alone,

but he loves this woman
so much that he gives her
the chance to have a life.

Does it need saying?

And you, Doctor?

What was the end of that sentence?

Of course he's saying, "I love you,"
Of course he is.

Even though we don't hear it,
of course he's saying, "I love you."

♪ I let somebody get
under my skin

♪ Long-distance losing
is all that I've seen

♪ Now there's a river... ♪

I always equated this scene

with that moment
in Beauty And The Beast when she...

When Belle kisses the beast
and he turns into a man.

And you're really happy
that he's human, but you're also
really upset that the beast is gone.

And I always felt
like that at the end.

I don't know where I'm going with
this, but I always felt like...

I always felt that she shouldn't
be kissing that number two,
and also he's not the same.

It's all a bit weird.

♪ Now there's a river... ♪

And I think it's such a tragedy
that the woman you love gets
someone who looks exactly like you

and who is just as good as you in
every single way, and you've got to
admit that you're happy for them,

and that's as good as it gets and
you've got to turn your back and go.

I think the beauty of sci-fi
is that anything is possible,

and I think it's never really
the end for the Doctor and Rose.

Or maybe it is, I just don't know!

Maybe I'm the one who can't let go.

But I think it's certainly the end
for the foreseeable future.

But, you know,
who knows what will happen?

Ladies and gentlemen, Catherine
Tate just did her last sh*t!

Another adventure that has
come to an end is Donna Noble's,

whose terrific time
on the TARDIS has been terminated.

Yesterday I was told, "Oh, it's
your last scene," but it wasn't.

And today, it apparently is.

They were just like
pick-up sh*ts, so...

It's really sad, you know,
because...

I've done this job
for eight months and it was so...

daunting when I first got here,
to think I had eight months,

you know, of being away.
And now I just can't believe
it's gone so quickly.

And I'll be really, really bereft

once it dawns on me
that it's finished,
because I've just loved it.

I've really loved it.

Thank you so much. I've had
such a wonderful time and it has
been because of you. So thank you.

DAVID TENNANT:
I think Donna has been a very
different co-inhabitor of the TARDIS

to anything we'd seen
in recent years.

And I think that's brought
a new energy to this show, and
allowed it to go in different...

Tell slightly different
types of stories.

I think what Catherine does
so brilliantly with Donna is that
she remains ordinary at all times.

There's so many moments I'm
proud of. Think of the performance
she gives in episode ,

standing in that circle of mirrors
where she has to travel
back in time.

She's so brave and
hopeful and doomed.

I'm sorry. But I can't die!

I've got a future!
With the Doctor! You told me!

I think her humour and the genius
that Catherine Tate brings
to Donna, for me, is exemplified

best in two scenes - it's the first
scene in Partners In Crime where
they meet, and the whole dumb show.

THEY MOUTH TO EACH OTHER

But then the scene where she meets
the second Doctor...

You are bonkers! Why?
What's wrong with blue?

Is that what Time Lords do?
Lop a bit of, grow another one?

You're like worms!
No, no, no, no. I'm unique.
Never been another like me.

Cos all that regeneration
energy went into the hand.
I love that hand.

But then you touched it - wow!
Oh...! Ssshhh!

The comedy between those two
was, "Oi, oi, oi!"

Oi! Oi! Oi! Spanishhhh!

How lucky are we, it's so brilliant,
how lucky are we to get those
two on board the TARDIS?

I grew out of you.

Still, could be worse.
Oi, watch it, spaceman! Oi,
watch it, Earth girl! Oh!

I think Catherine Tate has shown
to be the most wonderful actress.

What am I supposed to do?

I'm nothing special! I mean, I'm...

I'm not... I'm nothing special.

I'm a temp! I'm not even that!
I'm nothing!

Donna Noble,
you're the most important woman
in the whole of creation!

The depth, depths

that none of us knew she was going
to kind of dig up in the show,
a wonderful performance.

Action!

You know you can fix that chameleon
circuit if you just try hot binding

the fragment links and superseding
the binary, binary, binary, binary,
binary, binary, binary, binary...

I'm fine!

You know who I'd like to meet?
Charlie Chaplin.

I bet he's great, Charlie Chaplin.
Shall we do that? Shall we go
and see Charlie Chaplin?

Charlie Chaplin? Charlie Chester,
Charlie Brown. No, he's fiction,
friction, fiction, fixing, mixing...

That's where we take it up to, yeah?

I found that scene
in the TARDIS really hard.

It broke me up the moment we
started sh**ting it. It was hard.

I won't do a full rehearsal,
obviously... No, that's fine.

As soon as David moves off from
that spot, I'm off this... OK, sure.

You do not want an actress who
is going to have to break down in
floods of tears - and they want to,

and they can do it - you don't want
to be doing that two or three times.

And...action!

I want to stay.

Donna...

Look at me, Donna. Look at me.

Think I had two gos. That was it.

And we've used the first take,
I know we've used the first take,

because they're always the best
in terms of that emotion.

Oh... Oh... Oh, my...

I can't go back.

Donna's fate is like a death, I
think. It's like... I can't bear it.

Oh, my God!

Do you know what's happening?

Yeah.

She doesn't get to remember any
of...of the joy and the wonder
that the Doctor showed her.

And I think that is
absolutely heartbreaking.

There's never been a human
Time Lord matter crisis before now.

And you know why?

Because there can't be.

The poor Doctor.
He loved Donna. Such a mate, Donna.

Such a best friend.

Help me!

Donna?!

Donna?

I think Donna's story is
brilliant and sad and wonderful,

and I think Catherine has
served that beautifully.

I had to wipe her mind completely.

Every trace of me
or the TARDIS - anything
we did together, anywhere we went -

had to go.

With this ring, I thee bio-damp.

For better or for worse?

I've never given you a key!

Get out the way!

Quite a big moment, really. Yeah!

I bloody love you!

All that knowledge,
it was k*lling her.

All those wonderful
things she did...

Sometimes I need someone.

Welcome aboard.

Hold on!

Oh, Donna Noble, I am so sorry.

But we had the best of times.

The best.

Goodbye.

No! No! No! Please!

Please! No! No! No!

No!

And that's the tragedy of Donna,
is that she will never know.

She will never know. And the...

You know, and the... Oh, it's so
sad that she will probably just...

..not reach any potential, because
she doesn't know she's got any,

you know? But hopefully she'll
be happy, Sky-Plussing X Factor.

It's desperately, bitterly sad
that Donna will never

remember any of the extraordinary
things that she's experienced.

'It's desperately sad
for the Doctor as well.'

Donna? I'm just going.

Yeah, see you!

And he has to sacrifice that
relationship for the greater good,

as he has to sacrifice
every relationship he has
for the greater good.

By, then, Wilfred.

Doctor?

What about you now?

I'm fine.

And he's left...

from having a TARDIS
brimful of all his friends,
brimful of his new family...

..a few hours later
he is on his own again.

Every night, Doctor,

when it gets dark
and the stars come out...

I'll look up...

..on her behalf.

I'll look up at the sky
and think of you.

Thank you.

I always think the more
you emphasise lonely Doctor,

the more you come back to
what the heart of the series is,

which is a man travelling
through time and space in a box.

It's desperately sad, and this
character, who deserves so much,
ends up with nothing. Again.