"But we had the best of times."

Hey, SPOILERS!

That Russell T Davies is nae feart! Journey's End is perhaps his ballsiest script yet, poking the hardcore fan squarely in the eye right from the get-go. I must admit something before I continue this review and say that I didn't see Journey's End on first broadcast on account of being in Shetland, one pub did have it on though and there was a brief moment where I had to decide whether or not to ask them to turn it off or turn it up!

So with that out the way let's take a look at poke in the eye #1:- Namely the "Regeneration". The press have been speculating wildly over whether or not David Tennant would be staying in the role past last weeks cliffhanger. I never once for a moment thought he was going to fully regenerate into the 11th Doctor. And I'm not entirely sure what the hell everyone's problem is about him healing himself and siphoning off the energy into the hand in the jar. After all, the Doctor is about to regenerate in Part 3 of The Caves of Androzani but pauses so that he can return to save Peri. So is it too much to ask us to believe that if he's got some matching bio-data to hand (hem hem) then he can halt the regeneration?

The hand and the regeneration energy, of course, gave us one of the other things some fans might find upsetting, but I'll come to that in a minute. As I said last week, I was sorely disappointed with last years finale and the distinct lack of confrontation between the wonderful David Tennant and John Simm. (Something, rumour has it, we might be getting next year.) Thankfully we had plenty of confrontation between Tennant's Doctor and Julian Bleach's rasping, chillingly portrayed Davros. Not only that, but instead of a CGI house-elf Doctor like last year, RTD gave us 3, yes 3! Doctors for the finale. Loved Tennant's portrayal of the slightly unhinged half-human version of the Doctor, and Catherine Tate's DoctorDonna was a joy to behold. Granted the whole thing was an excuse to satisfy those real people watching the show who want the Doctor and Rose to be together, dropping them both off on Bad wolf bay (The Doctor really is a dick, dropping the woman he's supposed to be in love with in Norway? How's she supposed to get home?) to start a new life and grow old together, personally I give it six months.

Lost in Translation much?

I had no problem with this, it seemed right somehow and is, I suppose the only real resolution to the Doctor and Rose's relationship. Rose wasn't great this week, liked her approval of Martha but apart from that she was in full-on lovesick puppy mode which just made me queasy. Talking Tylers; the appearance of Rose's mum holding a massive gun was ridiculous and her presence in the episode overall was bordering on the uneccesary.

Hands up if you have nothing to do this week...

Overall though, all the characters did seem to fit together for the climax rather well, highlighting the idea of fashioning weapons out of people and how maybe the Doctor hadn't taught his companions so well afterall. And as for that scene in the console room, never before have I been simultaneously grinning and cringing at the same time! Triumphant stuff.

The defeat of the Daleks was far far too comedic and totally jarred with the way they'd been portrayed up to that point. They were really properly menacing again and all the rolling them about the floor was just ridiculous. The genocide by clone-Doctor was pretty good though. Speaking of genocide; German Daleks? A step too far? Discuss.

And finally, and most sadly of all "the death". Davies has pulled this trick before and I really wished he had the balls to actually kill someone close to the Doctor this time round, afterall that was the whole theme of the episode. (It was very much focused on performance over plot.) Instead he retconned Donna, erasing her mind of all her adventures with the Doctor and turning her back into the irritating, gobby temp we met way back on Christmas Day 2006. Donna will be sorely missed by me, I really grew to love her as she evolved through the past 13 weeks and she is by far the best companion the show's had since Sarah Jane Smith. No more Tate, I expect, also means no more Cribbins, who excelled himself in those final scenes bringing actual actual tears to my eyes. ("She was better when she was with you." "I'll keep an eye out for you son...")

Overall, it was a slightly too long, (15 minutes of saying goodbye does not justify a longer timeslot ) big ballsy round-up of Russell T Davies' brave new era of the show, light on plot but made up for in sheer spectacle and great performances from our 2 regulars and the villain. Farewell to Rose, and to Donna, and heres to 4 (Or is that 5?) exciting special episodes from Russell T Davies and David Tennant.

The Geeky
"I'm half-human, isn't that wizard." - Further derision towards that plot twist in the 1996 TV movie.

"Do you come from an old welsh family?" - Pointless and unnecessary reference to 2005's The Unquiet Dead but never mind!

Davros and Sarah Jane's discussion of the events of Genesis was just ace

So that's it, the last regular episode until 2010. Christmas sees David Tennant reunited with David Morrissey and the Cybermen. I mean, that's got to be good....right?