The End of Time
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For the book by Julian Barbour, see The End of Time (book).

The End of Time[37] is a two-part Doctor Who special. Part One is scheduled to be broadcast on BBC One on 25 December 2009 in the UK and on 26 December 2009 on BBC America in the USA.[38] Part Two will be broadcast on BBC One on 1 January 2010.[35] For the first time since the revival of the series in 2005, both episodes will have the same overall title, followed by "Part One" and "Part Two".[39] This will be the last story for David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor prior to the character's regeneration into his eleventh incarnation, who will be played by Matt Smith.[40] It will also be the last Doctor Who story written by Russell T Davies,[41] who shepherded the series' return to British television in 2005 and has since served as the series' executive producer and chief writer.[1][40] Davies will be succeeded as executive producer and showrunner by Steven Moffat.[1][40]

Bernard Cribbins, who appeared in the story "Voyage of the Damned" and throughout Series 4 as Wilfred Mott, grandfather of Donna Noble, will act as a companion to the Doctor in this two-part story.[2] The special will also feature the return of many other actors to the show, including Catherine Tate,[8][9] Jacqueline King,[10] John Simm,[42][43][44] John Barrowman,[26] Jessica Hynes,[28] Russell Tovey,[26] Elisabeth Sladen,[29] Tommy Knight,[29] Billie Piper,[27] and Camille Coduri.[27]

Plot
[edit] Part One

The Master is reborn on Christmas Eve. Battles rage across the wastelands of London and at the mysterious Immortality Gate. Meanwhile, the Ood warn of a danger that threatens the entire universe .[45]
[edit] Part Two

The Master's plans are out of control, the sound of drums grows louder and an ancient trap is closing around the Earth. The Doctor faces the end of his life, as he and Wilf must fight alone and the prophecy warns: "He will knock four times."[35]
[edit] Writing

Davies described the story as "huge and epic, but also intimate."[46] Davies had been planning the story for some time, indicating that it continued the trend of series finales being progressively more dramatic:
“ I knew I'd write David's last episode one day, so I've had this tucked away. You do think: 'How can the stakes get bigger?' And they do. They really do. I don't mean just in terms of spectacle, but in terms of how personal it gets for him. ”

—Russell T Davies[44]

The Christmas specials constitute Davies' last script for Doctor Who and Julie Gardner's last job producing the series. It also is the last episode Tennant is appearing in, having elected to leave with Davies and Gardner to allow Davies' successor Steven Moffat to start with a clean slate.[47] In issue 407 of Doctor Who Magazine, Davies wrote about the night when he finished the script:
“ I've had these last pages ready in my head for months and months. Years, to be honest. It takes as long to write as it does to type. [...] So I keep rattling away until... The last words. Trouble is, last words don't really exist. In ten minutes time, I'll change my mind about Scene 25, and go back to write something different. Then I'll get up tomorrow and change all sorts of stuff, before sending it to the office. And then the proper rewrites start. [...] Even then, you keep writing; you keep writing; you think of lines people should have said for the rest of your life. Still, what the hell, let's allow a bit of ceremony. The last words.

Maybe I should sit here for hours, deliberating over them. But I know exactly what they are. I type them out. Times like this, typewriters would be better. Typewriters are romantic. A little metal letter should fly. It should hit the paper, whack! Tiny particles of ink should puff and settle. But no, there's just a plastic keyboard. I press the key. The final letter is n. Then a full stop. And that's it. Save. Done. Good.
”

—Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Magazine issue 407, Production Notes.[48]

When asked about the emotional impact of writing his last Doctor Who script, he said, "I would have thought that when I handed in the last script I might have burst into tears or got drunk or partied with 20 naked men, but when these great moments happen you find that real life just carries on. The emotion goes into the scripts."[1] Tennant and Julie Gardner separately said that they cried when they read the script.[40][49]

The last three specials of 2009 are foreshadowed in the episode "Planet of the Dead", when the low-level psychic character Carmen gives the Doctor the prophecy, "You be careful, because your song is ending, sir. It is returning, it is returning through the dark. And then... oh, but then... he will knock four times."[50] This evokes memories of the Ood prophecy to the Doctor and Donna in "Planet of the Ood".[51] Tennant explained the prophecy meant that the Doctor's "card [had become] marked" and the three specials would thus be darker—characterising "Planet of the Dead" as the "last time the Doctor gets to have any fun"—and that the subject of the prophecy was not the obvious answer:[49]
“

David Tennant
Really, from this moment on, the Doctor's card is marked. Because when we come back in "The Waters of Mars", it's all become a little bit darker"
Julie Gardner
And as we know, David, he really does knock four times.
Tennant
Yeah, absolutely, and if you think you've figured out what that means, you're wrong!
Gardner
But when you do figure it out, it's a sad day.

”
[edit] Filming

The first location filming for this story took place on Saturday, 21 March 2009 at a bookstore in Cardiff.[28][52] Jessica Hynes was filmed signing a book titled A Journal of Impossible Things, by Verity Newman.[28] Hynes previously played Joan Redfern in the 2007 Doctor Who story "Human Nature"/"The Family of Blood", in which the Doctor, transformed into a human with no conscious memory of his past adventures, wrote elements of his life as fiction in his "Journal of Impossible Things" and asserted that his mother's name was Verity. The name "Verity Newman" is derived from Doctor Who creator Sydney Newman and the show's first producer, Verity Lambert."[28] A pocket watch featured prominently in the plot of "Human Nature"/"The Family of Blood", and a pocket watch is featured on the cover of Newman's book.[28]

Filming also took place at Tredegar House in Newport,[location 1] which had previously been used for the filming of the 2008 Christmas special "The Next Doctor".[14][53] John Simm, who played the Master in the 2007 series finale episodes "Utopia", "The Sound of Drums" and "Last of the Time Lords", was spotted on location during the Tredegar House filming.[42][43] When asked about Simm's appearance, Davies said:
“ It's not quite as easy to guess what's happening as you think - there's [sic] nightmare sequences, and layers of fantasy, because the Doctor's coming to the end of his time. It's quite interesting to watch things being filmed, and think: 'Oh, I can see what that would look like...'[44] ”

Filming that took place during the Easter Bank Holiday was widely covered by the British press:[54][55][56] Catherine Tate filmed several scenes in the episode in Swansea, including one filmed in the Kardomah Café[location 2] and another depicting her character getting a parking ticket.[56][57] Other filming locations included Nant Fawr Road in Cyncoed, Cardiff[location 3] — the previously regular location used for the Noble household — where filming on 12 April showed Cribbins wearing reindeer antlers and boarding a minibus.[17][9][58] Filming took place in the following week on Victoria Road, Penarth,[location 4] in an area which is regularly used for a location for Sarah Jane Smith's neighbourhood in The Sarah Jane Adventures.[29][59][60] Elisabeth Sladen, who plays Sarah Jane Smith, and Tommy Knight, who plays her son Luke, were filmed on location with David Tennant.[29]

On the night of 20–21 April, Cribbins filmed a Christmas scene on Wharton Street[location 5] in Cardiff's city centre, with a large Christmas tree and brass band.[61]

The science fiction website io9 published a photograph showing Tennant alongside Simm and Timothy Dalton, with Dalton apparently dressed in Time Lord robes.[62] Rumours of Dalton's involvement in the specials had previously appeared in British tabloids.[63] On 26 July 2009, io9 published an interview with David Tennant in which he confirmed Dalton's involvement in the specials.[64]
[edit] Trailers

A teaser trailer was shown at Comic-Con 2009. The opening voiceover is provided by Timothy Dalton. The trailer includes brief shots of, among others, Donna Noble, Wilfred Mott, Sylvia Noble and Ood Sigma. John Simm is shown as the Master with blond hair in a black hood.[5]

The 'Next Time' trailer for this story premiered directly after the previous episode, "The Waters of Mars". Several images are shown, including an Ood with a square-shaped, exposed brain saying, "Every night, Doctor, we have bad dreams"; another Ood with gleaming red eyes; a blond, hooded Master standing over a construction site and laughing maniacally, his flesh temporarily vanishing to expose his skull; and Wilfred Mott speaking with the Doctor at a restaurant.

An exclusive preview of the specials (consisting of footage from scenes 4 and 5 of the first episode from just after the opening titles[65]) was shown during the 2009 Children in Need telethon on 20 November.[66] It shows the Doctor arriving at the Ood Sphere after some procrastination (including marrying Queen Elizabeth I), being welcomed by Ood Sigma and observing how unnaturally quickly their settlement has been constructed (100 years). Sharing the bad dreams of the Ood elders, the Doctor receives a vision of the Master in his mind and exclaims, "That man is dead!"[67]

An extraterrestrial race forced to live in slum-like conditions on Earth suddenly find a kindred spirit in a government agent that is exposed to their biotechnology.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1136608/

At the height of WW2, a group of high-ranking German officers hatched a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, and seize power of the military command in order to end the war. The operation was codenamed "Valkyrie", for the emergency plan that was meant to be used in case of a revolt against the Nazi government. This plan had been modified by the conspirators to ensure their success, but for various reasons the plot failed when finally carried out on 20 July 1944. The conspirators of the inner circle were shot after a kangaroo trial or sentenced to death soon after.