It is the second episode of a two-part crossover story featuring the characters of spin-off shows Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures, preceded by "The Stolen Earth", which aired on 28 June.

It marked the final regular appearances of every companion introduced in the Russell T Davies era, including Catherine Tate as Donna Noble.

Gwen and Ianto find safety in an impenetrable time lock and Sarah Jane is saved from Daleks by Rose's ex-boyfriend Mickey and her mother Jackie.

[5] The music during the travel back to Earth's original place is the "Song of Freedom" heard at the end of "Planet of the Ood" and appearing on the series' soundtrack.

[6] This episode's original ending involved the Doctor, following the final scene where he is alone in the TARDIS, being alerted to something on the monitor and as he checks two Cybermen rise up behind him.

[8] K9 (voiced by John Leeson) makes his first appearance since The Sarah Jane Adventures story The Lost Boy,[9] and his first in Doctor Who since "School Reunion".

[12] The beach at Southerndown, a few miles west of Cardiff, is used once more as Norway's fictional Dårlig Ulv Stranden (Bad Wolf Bay).

[18] This was removed in the last edit of the episode, but was ultimately cut because the production team felt it made the Bad Wolf Bay scene "too long and complicated"[19] and that producing another TARDIS should not be seen to be so easy.

[8] "Journey's End" was watched by 10.57 million viewers when broadcast on BBC One,[23] giving it a 45.9% share of the total television audience.

Although Crompton said, "It was inevitable that the start would be an anti-climax", she praised the special effects and also noted that she would miss "the warmth and humour" that Tate brought to the series.

[29] Lucy Mangan in a humorous review for The Guardian that rewrites the dialogue between Tennant's and Cribbins' characters at the end as a discussion of the plot, described it as providing "something for everyone".

[30] In The Times, Andrew Billen called "Journey's End" "a spectacular finale that... gave the lie to the truism that more always, dramatically speaking, adds up to less.

Though he expresses that he saw little need for Mickey and Jackie in this episode, he asserts that Donna had "the saddest end for a companion ever" and praises Davies for just managing to keep the plot together.

He compares Davies's writing style to "PT Barnum showmanship" and praises both the dark and light elements of the episode.

He praises the action sequences and the portrayal of Davros, Donna, Rose and the Doctor, but remarks that the overcrowding of minor characters made parts of the script seem "underdeveloped" and describes the Daleks as mostly "[c]annon fodder".

[12] Ben Rawson-Jones of Digital Spy describes the episode as "a satisfying and epic crowdpleasing conclusion" to the series and particularly praises Tate and Donna's exit.

[33] Writing for the Doctor Who blog on the Radio Times website, William Gallagher called "Journey's End" "event drama" and "party television".

"[34] IGN's Travis Fickett gave a negative review of this episode, claiming 'it misses the mark in almost every way' and 'plays like the most outrageous of fan fiction.'

He claimed the Meta-Crisis Doctor and Doctor-Donna 'stretch credulity so far that it becomes translucent', and that 'it's sort of silly to even bring Rose back when you've got the episode stuffed with almost every other character from the series'.

Writing for Comic Book Resources Brian Power agreed with Piper and felt that the ending was out of character for Rose.