Ncuti Gatwa’s “Last Time Lord” Speech In Doctor Who Season 15 Highlights A Lingering Problem Of The Chibnall Era
The Doctor’s history is a very complicated one, and his status as the “last of the Time Lords” has been repeatedly brought into question in recent years. It was certainly true when the Ninth Doctor emotionally confessed, “I’m the last of them… they’re gone” in his second adventure, but the show has given so much extra backstory in the years since that it’s hard to take these words at face value.
The Fifteenth Doctor’s “Last Time Lord” Speech Lacks Emotional Impact
The Doctor Knows That Gallifrey Survived The Time War
While it was touching to see the Doctor recognize his heritage in “Lux,” the speech that he gives ultimately lacks conviction and emotional impact because of how convoluted the story of Gallifrey has been recently. When actors such as Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant gave similar speeches during their time on the show, it worked effectively because the audience had no reason to believe that Gallifrey still existed. Every word could be taken as the Doctor intended it, and it helped develop the Doctor’s story in a powerful way.
Gallifrey Shouldn’t Have Been Destroyed So Quickly After Coming Back
Audiences Didn’t Even Get A Chance To Return To The Time Lord’s Home
The Doctor’s journey to reclaim Gallifrey took ten years in total, and it was the single overarching subplot that connected the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth Doctors. While every incarnation of the Doctor had their own companions and storylines, this grief for Gallifrey was the one thing that connected them. This is why it was so impactful when the 50th anniversary special, “The Day of the Doctor”, revealed that Gallifrey had actually been safe all along, as multiple versions of the Doctor from his past, present, and future teamed up to transport the planet into a pocket dimension.
But after this ten-year-long subplot of the Doctor saving his people and overcoming the grief that had plagued him since the show’s reboot in 2005, it only took another five years before the show ruined all this character development by having the Master destroy Gallifrey again. This made so much of the show’s previous storytelling redundant, and Doctor Who’s unwillingness to discuss Gallifrey’s second destruction in any meaningful depth proves just how poor of a writing decision it was.
Can Future Doctor Who Seasons Resurrect Gallifrey (Again)?
It’s Probably Too Late For Gallifrey To Be Saved A Second Time
Another reason that the second destruction of Gallifrey doesn’t work from a narrative perspective is that now it’s almost impossible to bring the planet back without the entire storyline feeling repetitive. Saving Gallifrey was the single plot thread that connected the modern era for almost a decade, and “The Day of the Doctor” was supposed to be a way of wrapping that up for good – and, crucially, reintroducing Gallifrey and the Time Lords to the show.
