So, Jackie has kept in touch with The Doctor’s old friends. Ace knows that if she wants to contact him she only has to phone. And of course, The Doctor will be there at the drop of a hat to help her. Of course he would.

In fact, on the TV show he is appallingly bad at going back and keeping up with old friends. In my version of events, though, he makes up for that.

This is an episode full of Time Lord special powers, something that is not seen on the TV show as often as it might be. The Doctor generally gets the upper hand by being clever rather than superheroish. A notable exception was when he slowed time to get past the blades of the cooling system in End of the World and when he read the report on Extra Terrestrials in super fast time in Aliens of London. The tenth doctor has done very little ‘super power’ stuff at all.

This, of course, is a matter of writing style, and possibly budget restraints on TV. For myself, I like to use The Doctor’s powers. So he tries to psychically read the burnt records in the filing cabinet. He reads the thoughts of the girls in the dining room, and identifies the alien presence within Brenda. He survives the attempt to burn him to death and is able to mentally fight the Edgar demon.

But the hero of the hour this time is the TARDIS itself, which takes over the fight from The Doctor, duelling with Edgar. It has been pointed out that this fight with the two green rays of light bears a close resemblance to the action at the end of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Well, just a bit. But then again, the portkeys in the same story rather resemble Time Rings from Doctor Who. Not to mention Ford Anglias that are bigger on the inside than the outside. There isn’t much that is new in science fiction, even less in fantasy. So we’ll agree to differ on that one.

And so, Edgar in his bouncing ball prison sailed off into space and Brenda was free to go home to her loving family on Tibora, another Time Lord Dominion Planet where The Doctor is adored and worshipped. Such is life for the last Time Lord.