10 Doctor Who Endings That Get Worse The More You Think About Them

8. Last Of The Time Lords

Series finales can be tricky to nail. You’ve got to wrap up your arcs, have the heroes find a way to defeat the big villain, deliver a solid individual episode and maybe even set up the next series, all in a tight 45 minute episode.

Easier said than done.

Last of the Time Lords actually almost does stick the landing. Having the Doctor’s plan be to defeat the Master with words and hope rather than a super-duper special magic gun is actually brilliant. And even more, it's Matha who executes this plan, giving her more agency than many other companions and showing why she has always deserved to travel with the Doctor. So far so good!

But all this goodwill quickly falls apart when you see David Tennant turn from a wrinkly little CGI goblin to a floating blue wizard that has since affectionately been dubbed by fans “Space Jesus”. That big ol’ reset button is then hit, effectively undoing all the drama and consequences seen in the previous two episodes. What was the point in any of it? It all feels very convenient and just an easy way to reestablish the status quo, which is a criticism that can be levelled at most RTD finales to be fair, but this one is more egregious than most.

And hilariously, nobody ever addresses the fact that the entire world still saw the President assassinated on live TV, so I guess none of it mattered in the first place!