Here I am in the home stretch of Series Three, it's weird how fast these are going by now. This morning I actually had to cut the treadmill short because of time, I got started a bit late on my workout and had to stop as soon as the episode was over. So, barely over three and a half miles today. That's ok, though. It was a good workout. I feel like at this point I have achieved everything I wanted out out of this project, and now I am just running out the clock to get through the last three months to wrap it up.

Speaking of which, this morning's viewing ran off to the very end of time and also brought back an old friend. And an old enemy. So let's talk about that.

Utopia

(TARDIS Data Core recap)

Plot-wise, this story actually follows on directly from the end of the first season of Torchwood in which Jack Harkness hears the sound of the TARDIS in Cardiff and comes running. I expect I'll get around to watching that particular story sometime in August. In any case, Jack comes running, the Doctor sees him, and deliberately dematerializes the TARDIS instead of welcoming him on board. Jack jumps on and rides the exterior of the ship right through the Time Vortex, and his presence causes them all to rocket forward to the very end of time.

The entire universe is collapsing, the last of humanity is trying to reach the titular Utopia, but their escape rocket won't power up. The scientist behind the construction of the ship, Professor Yana, asks the Doctor for his help, and so of course the Doctor does a Very Clever Thing and the rocket is powered up. Unfortunately, the savage FutureKind manage to sabotage things at the last minute, and while Jack saves the day down in the radiation chamber, back up in the lab Professor Yana finally remembers that he is, in fact, the Master.

Ooh! Ah! Turns out "Yana" is short for "You Are Not Alone", and that the Master used a Chameleon Arch to turn himself human and hide from the Great Time War and running to the end of the universe. By the time the Doctor realizes what is happening, YanaMaster regenerates into ManicSimmMaster and steals the TARDIS. Oh noes!!

Look, after the previous three episodes pretty much anything was going to pale in comparison. On its own merits this is a decent episode, although there really isn't much plot there. The whole thing is just a string of circumstances to arrive at the big reveal. The FutureKind baddies are woefully under-developed as adversaries, they pretty much exist to be Chaos Monkeys when the plot needs things to blow up.

Martha gets some scenes with Yana's insectoid assistant and swaps unrequited love stories, and once again the Sainted Rose gets drug out, dusted off, and revered. Seriously, no other past companion has been lingered over like this. Poor Martha deserved much better.

Derek Jacobi is very good as Professor Yana -- which you would pretty much expect from a highly-decorated Shakespearean actor, but he isn't given a whole lot to work with. At least he is properly dramatically evil once the Master is finally awakened within him. It's a stark contrast to John Simm, whom I love as an actor but who plays the Master with a cartoonish level of mania that (to my taste at least) does not befit the character.

But I guess we'll get into that tomorrow.

As for me, I have maintained my level of 100 push-ups per day, and I am slowly growing my sit-ups until I can do 200 per day. I keep being surprised by myself when I look in the mirror, pleasantly so. This whole Doctor Who thing really seems to be working out. So that's nice.

STATS:

Doctor(s): Tenth
Companion(s): Martha Jones, Jack Harkness
Episode(s): Utopia
Steps Walked: 6,612 today, 2,830,415 total
Distance Walked: 3.57 miles today, 1,476.27 miles total
Push-ups Completed: 100 today, 1,814 total
Sit-ups Completed: 72 today, 340 total
Is the Doctor So, So Sorry?: Nope, today it is Professor Yana's assistant Chantho who is so sorry
Weight: 249.12 lbs (five day moving average), net change -58.18 lbs