Doctor Who - Spoilers!

[JonWes]

I thought it was very nice, overall. I actually thought it was an interesting take on a regeneration story. Following from Day of the Doctor, it does feel slightly anti-climactic. It's a much smaller scale story in a lot of ways, and I'm sure that was intentional.

I really enjoyed the bit of fun between Clara and the 11th Doctor. I'm not quite sure I've warmed to Clara as an actual "real" person yet. She still feels too much like a template of the "perfect" companion. But, there's no denying she can be a lot of fun.

Spoiler:

When the action moves to Trenzalore and the Papal Mainframe, the structure of the story gets a bit weird. There's a lot of time spent with Tasha Lem and lots of futzing about, which I felt could have been better served developing the town of Christmas and the Doctor's connection with it a bit more. The quick gallop through his time (with Tasha's voice over) there did a pretty good job of showing his connection to the people, as well as the business with Barnable. But Clara comes and then she goes and then she comes back again. It's like little pieces of story in fits and starts. It might have been nicer to somehow FEEL the years passing and the constant struggle the Doctor is undertaking. But, because of the Christmas theme, until the very end there's something that feels very safe and cozy and drama-free about the Doctor's time in the town called Christmas. For this reason, you're left with a feeling that "The Name of the Doctor" wrote a check that "Time" couldn't quite cash as far as there being a feeling of an epic battle taking place here.

The answers to the questions that have been built up over the years are, frankly, a bit lame in some cases. "Oh, that was just some splinter group and they tried to blow up the TARDIS and prevent you from getting to Trenzalore." I don't know... I was just hoping for more. The fact they were trying to stop the Time Lords from returning (and that the Time Lords were on the other side of the crack) is pretty interesting, I suppose. It all seemed to fit together well enough. The revelation the Silence are actually priests was interesting as well!

But, after all of this, I did find the ultimate end pretty interesting. That this Doctor just gets old (we're never really told how long he was on Trenzalore - more than 300 years! He might have lived as long as the First Doctor or more!) was actually very touching in a lot of ways. How great is Matt Smith? So wonderful. I loved his send-off of Handles the Cyberhead. Not every actor could sell that moment. I liked that the Time Lords gave him (if nothing else) a new set of regenerations, though it seems like it really threw away the opportunity to do something a bit more interesting with it. I think, essentially, it was Moffat's way of saying "Eh, this stuff doesn't matter, let's move on." It was pretty simple (Clara just asked nicely!) but it did fit the whole fairy tale theme of the episode.

It was a SLIGHT bit of a cop-out that a young Doctor gets to make the actual regeneration, but I'll take it! The bits with Amelia and then Amy at the end... I totally cried when Amy came back to say goodbye.

I feel like we got even less of 12 than we did of 11 when we first saw him! I didn't love that Moffat cribbed and tweaked 11's first lines about legs. I would have rather had 12 say something a bit more distinctive. But the line about whether Clara knew how to fly the TARDIS or not was fun.

Was it a triumph, like Day of the Doctor? I don't think so, but I thought it was still very enjoyable.

 

[Doctor Who]

Spoiler:

I feel like they handled it a bit wrong, with Capaldi's 1st line, yeah. When 10 came on, he went on about the teeth and then just resumed and gave a giant grin, 11 had a thorough check if he had everything and the "Geronimo!". And even though it doesn't fully link up, War Doctor and 9, saying he hopes the ears will be better and 9 checking them at Rose's place. We got very little dialogue but I have to admit, what was there was pretty good in general. I just think we didn't really get the feel of what it'll be as much as we did before. I also find it odd that they're crashing again. It made sense when 10 turned into 11, the TARDIS got a pretty big beating. I'm probably looking too far into it.

Also, I really liked the make-up. It looked very realistic, I was surprised.

 

[TheObsoleteMan]

Overall I thought it was a bit bland, but I don't think anything could've followed Day of the Doctor. I did like how they managed to make all of the plot holes from previous seasons make sense with just a few lines of dialogue. I also thought Matt was incredibly charming, he really carried this thing on his shoulders.

I want Capaldi episodes now! How long do we have to wait?

 

[Ghost of QG]

September, or too long. Great sendoff to a great Doctor...

 

[Matt S]

September, or too long. Great sendoff to a great Doctor...

Sept is the next new episode?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?

I really liked this episode myself, as it was pure Matt Smith. That was a helluva a initial regeneration for him too

 

[Kamandi]

I thought at one point Tasha Lem was going to become River Song. The whole thing about the Doctor going to church naked would take on a new meaning.

I liked how old 11's scenes with Claira looked like Harnell with Susan. It does seem like 11 "grew up" a bit following the resolution of the War Doctor's story and making peace with his past.

It's time to bring back the enigmatic nature of regenerating. Prior to 9 becoming 10 every regeneration had it's own unique nature. The gold blast of energy has become boring.

 

[Doctor Who]

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccikRtDLa6I[/ame]

This one has an extended War Doctor to 9th Doctor regeneration.

 

[ProgMatinee]

Tale if two shows. The first half was a mess. Second half was good. The church/nun was completely unnecessary and just made it all very confusing and was sorta lame.

 

[ChaserFan]

Just watched it a second time...I think it was a great sendoff to Smith. Not ashamed to say that I lost it when Amy showed up

Only problem I have is that we have to wait until September-ish for the next series. Really quite lame

 

[Calcifer]

I'm really confused as to how the Doctor ages, he aged something like 400 years between leaving Amy & rory and meeting clara and he still appeared unchanged. we know hurt's doctor aged but by the end of his life he's only 8 or 900 tears old ..

Overall I liked the episode but it felt a tad rushed and messy, the regeneration was very quick, not sure yet if I liked that or not.

 

[pixletwin]

I thought the episode was fun but was a bit of a mess. I didn't like the surprise hallucination and I thought it would have been better had we only seen the old Doc regeneration and found the new Doc in the TARDIS already there. 7/10.... I may have like this story slightly more than Time and The Rani.

 

[JonWes]

I'm really confused as to how the Doctor ages, he aged something like 400 years between leaving Amy & rory and meeting clara and he still appeared unchanged. we know hurt's doctor aged but by the end of his life he's only 8 or 900 tears old ..

Overall I liked the episode but it felt a tad rushed and messy, the regeneration was very quick, not sure yet if I liked that or not.

The Doctor's age is... pretty much impossible to pin down, now. The thing is, the Doctor was "forgetting" the War Doctor and was probably not counting those years, either. The Doctor was already well over 900 years old in the Classic series. Then, in the new series he actually de-ages himself, some.

I think the implication here is that after the War Doctor, he just picked any old age he liked at the time. If you consider the lifespans of the first Doctor, War Doctor and the 11th alone, I'd guess the Doctor is actually over 2,000 years old.

 

[DarthTrafford]

Great send off for Matt Smith.
I know a lot of people are saying how he's the Doctor that the U.S. fans really started the series with.
With the 9th & 10th Doctors series bouncing from the Sci-Fy Channel and BBC America.
Before 9 & 10 I only remember Doctor Who being on PBS and the only one I watched was the 4th Doctor.
This Christmas special was great. I felt so bad for Clara too.
One weird bit was she was sad and begging Smiths Doctor not to change,but when the new Doctor shows up,she's quick with the "the color of your kidneys?" line.
LOL

 

[sueworld]

I thought the episode was fun but was a bit of a mess. I didn't like the surprise hallucination and I thought it would have been better had we only seen the old Doc regeneration and found the new Doc in the TARDIS already there. 7/10.... I may have like this story slightly more than Time and The Rani.

Have to say I hated it really, and felt bored and confused in equal measure, and judging by fan reaction online I'd guess I'm wasn't the only one.

Considering it was poor old Smiths swan-song I thought that in the end he was very shoddily served by Moffats writing.

Still looking forward to Capaldi though.

 

[Doctor Who]

"****ing kidneys. New ****ing kidneys. I don't like the ****ing colour. One ****ing question, how the **** do you fly this thing?"

I do wonder, why did Capaldi Doctor forget how to fly the TARDIS? That hasn't happened before, has it?

 

[ProgMatinee]

I thought the emotional exploits at the end of the episode truly saved it. If this was a midseason episode it may rate as one of the worst in modern series. I really feel almost all of Smith's Christmas episodes were pretty bad, except for the one with the Intelligence and Clara. But the shark in space and the tree people episodes were really bad. Add this one to that list.

I feel bad that Smith's last episode was so messy and confusing.

 

[TheObsoleteMan]

I do wonder, why did Capaldi Doctor forget how to fly the TARDIS? That hasn't happened before, has it?

I think it was meant to be a humorous play on Matt's line about not forgetting a single moment of being the Doctor. He changes, and instantly can't even remember how to fly the TARDIS.

 

[Magpie 7]

I do wonder, why did Capaldi Doctor forget how to fly the TARDIS? That hasn't happened before, has it?

When he regenerates, it takes the Doctor a while to recover. 5 and 10 spent virtually the whole of their first episode horizontal

I think when he asks Clara if she knew how to fly the TARDIS it was because he was either about to pass out or his mind was still not entirely recovered from his regeneration.

 

[pixletwin]

Considering it was poor old Smiths swan-song I thought that in the end he was very shoddily served by Moffats writing.

Ultimately I have to say that I feel the same way.

 

[ProgMatinee]

If you take out the confusing "church of security/silence" stuff I think the episode becomes much more simple.