Oodsong: Oh, Ten.

Because the ood song brought this up, I am going to wade through the death of Ten. There is no special heading for this cluster of quotes, except perhaps "depressing, painful to watch but extremely meaningful death of my favorite character/hero/role model ever". If you haven't seen this before my angsting will seem silly to you, so you might want to skip to the next post. Also, this doesn't nearly justify the complexity of this sequence. Moving on.

"Journey's End": Everyone who ever mattered has come together. The Song of Freedom plays triumphantly while the Doctor and every one he cares about fly Earth back home using the TARDIS. It is the first time the Doctor has a family, particularly since being an instrument of the necessary genocide of his species. Yeah, that's gonna last. About three minutes.

"You know why this TARDIS is always rattling about the place? It was designated to have six pilots and I have to do it single-handed."

"You know, you act like such a lonely man, but you have the biggest family on Earth."

Oh yeah, uh, then everybody leaves/has to leave and Ten subsequently becomes unhinged and tries to control space and time so he doesn't have to watch more people die. But first this:

"'Oh, Doctor... what about you now? Who've you got? I mean... all those friends of yours...' 'They've all got someone else. Still, that's fine. I'm fine.' 'I'll watch out for you, sir ...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.'"

The Doctor shuffles away into the TARDIS. It is Big. It is empty. Suddenly, privately, the Heroic Blue Screen of Death is witnessed. Yikes.

Oh, Wilfred. What a kind old man. Lookin' out for him in the sky. The Doctor said he would be proud if Wilf was his dad. Except, wait for it- Wilf ends up being the instrument of his death!

Of course, the whole two-parter "The End of Time" is fantastic, but I'm going to stick to the cafe scene [he realizes he became unhinged (see "The Waters of Mars") and is incredibly lonely] and the regeneration.

Don't blink, you'll miss it- I think his guard just slipped.

"-Merry Christmas! [laughs] Look at us."
I really like that line. Can't really peg why. Maybe it is that line between laughing and crying.

So, moving on, the doctor wins the day relatively unscathed. Though it is debatable whether the woman he saw and gave the expression below before sending her back into oblivion with the rest of the corrupt Time Lords was his mother, or, hey his wife? We will never know. Damn you Russell T Davies. Nah, just kidding, I love you. All I know is during this part the familiar "Doomsday" music came on.

Oh man! It's all over! He survived!

But wait.

What is that soft knocking noise? Hmm, Wilf in the operating booth because he let the other guy out... and the nuclear device is still active. Oh dear.

And now, back to our regularly scheduled script quoting.

Wilfred Mott: [stuck in the chamber] I'm sorry. Look, just leave me.
The Doctor: [smiles] Okay, right then, I will.
[bitter]
The Doctor: 'Cause you had to go in there, didn't you? You had to go in there and get stuck, oh yes. 'Cause that's who you are, Wilfred. You were always this, waiting for me, all this time.
Wilfred Mott: No, really, just leave me. I'm an old man, Doctor. I've had my time.
The Doctor: Well, exactly, look at you, not remotely important. But me... I could do so much more.
[raging]
The Doctor: So much more!
[quietly]
The Doctor: But this is what I get. My reward.
[angrily sweeping desk clear]
The Doctor: But it's not fair!
[finally looks at Wilf, to himself]
The Doctor: Ohhh... I've lived too long.
[starts walking towards the chamber]
Wilfred Mott: No. No, no, please, please don't. No, don't, don't, please don't... please!
The Doctor: [gently] Wilfred, it's my honor.
[briskly]
The Doctor: Better be quick... three... two... one.

And then, in a glass box scene more than worthy of Spock's death-by-radiation in "Wrath of Khan", the Doctor gets blasted with radiation, sinks to the ground, and silently curls up into a ball on the floor. Then the door opens, he steps out, and thus begins the willful prolonging of regeneration.

He "gets his reward" by saving a few friends from early deaths and sets up a couple more financially and romantically. I liked Jack/Alonso; poor guy just lost Ianto and went a bit beserk too. But that's Doctor Who spinoffs, and we're not getting into those.

Finally, he visits Rose before she met him. Rose, who saved him from himself. I loved her character. That makes me sound even more obsessive, doesn't it? But he can't put off regeneration any longer, and he begins to make his way back to the TARDIS. When he stumbles in the snow, Ood Sigma appears and the ood are all singing for him to show him he is not entirely alone.

The TARDIS is, again, quiet and empty, and we hear Ten's breathing accelerate as he starts to freak out.

Ten's final words on screen before he regenerates? A sad, longing, panicked:

"I don't want to go!"

But he still pretty much keeps his cool. Because ten is the "I'm always alright" guy.