Russell T Davies is probably the most inconsistent writer on the staff of his own damned show, but last week's penultimate episode really smacked those fanboy buttons. John Simm pitching his performance as The Master as the anti-David Tennant. That sequence on Gallifrey: the lush SFX of the establishing shot, the old style Time Lord regalia, the JK Rowlingesque notion of the academy. The CAPTAIN SCARLETT Cloudbase/S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier stylings of The Valiant. And the WHO fansites have been buzzing with speculation about how this will be resolved all week.
After watching yesterday's edition of CBBC's TOTALLY DOCTOR WHO, I've a theory about how things are going to play out in tonight's final episode, so I'd better spill it now rather than wait to be proven wrong, and my speculation becomes redundant. First, we saw a new clip of Martha and Milligan cracking open one of the "Toclafane" and being revolted. So: inside each one of these little robots is something horrifying and familiar, such as: a human brain - ta dah! Now, when the rift was opened, apparently six billion of these "Toclafane" crossed over. Where would The Master get six billion human brains? Well, there's about that many humans on Earth, so... on an alternative Earth, maybe? Such as the Cyberman Earth the Tylers are stuck on?
Well, the "Toclafane" do look a lot like little versions of the Cybermen-creating hardware from season two, complete with little blades buzzing around out of their bottoms, don't they? They fire lasers from a little armature... like Cybermen. And the last shot of Totally pulled out to a shot of... a looming Cyberman. Dun-dun-dun! And what was that The Master said last week about how The Doctor's hearts would break if he knew the truth about his new allies?
So, anyone holding out for a possible return to the series by Billie Piper in the future? Uh-ohs!