As an episode, it doesn't really work, but those final moments, leading up to the regeneration - it''s perfect and I'll rewatch that part over and over again
I will say Smiths closing speech about change and remembering all the people you used to me really hit me at the time and resonates so much with me looking back at my life and how much I have changed and how different I am now. Its beautiful and is one of those speeches i feel could be significant at any time. Even now while we are stuck in Lockdown it's still got a relevance to it.
I heard this was meant to be a series long, but Matt Smith left early and Moffat wanted to give Capaldi a clean slate so it all had to be tied up here. If so that would explain why every monster ever came back again cause they'd already done this once in S5, it's not as special anymore. The only things that need to be there are the Silence and the Daleks. And Madame Kovarian, I wish we could have actually seen her break away from the Silence and go back in time instead of it just happening off-screen and the Dr hearing about it.
Its such a shame Matt made his decison when he did, things like the Silence working for the Church and being revealed as Confessional Priests, the expanation for Kovarian and her group would all have been slowly revealed. Imagine a seige of Trenzalore that lasted half a series. Instead it all had to be tied up within a single episode. Not sure if true or not but I also heard that Tasha Lem was supposed to be River, but Alex Kingston was unavailable at the time for filming. This would make more sense of their interactions, and her ability to fly the TARDIS. Given the circumstances and having to condense an entire series of plot into one episode its amazing its as coherent as it is really.
If this was like the David Tennant specials like a hour each with space in between it could be really thought out and have things flow a little better. Its just a shame that the possibility didn't come to fruition
@@pettytyrant2720 I can actually see that being true about Tasha and River. I have expected Tasha to rip off her head and be revealed to be river. Characters were so similar. They could have had her as another incarnation of river. That would have worked so much better.
I can understand why they'd do it if that is true, but it would actually be kinda interesting to see a Doctor literally inherit a situation from themself and see how that would play out.
4:23 Side note, what the hell happened to Clara's dad? Last time he's seen is (technically) in a flashback where he and Clara are at her mother's grave. Afterward he never even gets the slightest vague reference to his existence anywhere!!! Idk, maybe he fell through a crack and was never born...
I think it was Moffat not knowing what to do with Clara. He just threw stuff at the wall to see what would stick. That’s why she has a family then doesn’t, then babysits then doesn’t and then she had Danny Pink and then she doesn’t.
A lot about Clara's earth existence really troubled me. Like, who was the woman at the Christmas dinner? Didn't her mum die?? And then the kids she was living with never came up again and her job changed from babysitter to teacher? I am so confused...
@@felicia7302 - I have a theory that The Day of the Doctor - Hell Bent Clara is a different version than Series 7 Clara. That's how inconsistent the writing is lmao.
nightowl The trouble with that theory is that there’s no evidence for it. Given the story arc with the splinters of Clara, they missed a trick by not having a point where one of the splinters took her place, for example if she’d entirely disappeared into The Doctor’s time str... oooooooooh.
Moffat’s typical ways with companions families. Amy’s Mum and Dad were so important as a plot point in series 5, never seen or mentioned again. Brian was lucky because Chibnall wanted to give him so closure and then we get the same again with Bill’s foster mother... forgotten again. A running theme through Moffat’s era sadly. Having said that, originally When Clara died in face the Raven, the Doctor was supposed to take her body back to her father and gran with Rigsy, but they cut the scene. It’s also extremely jarring how she’s suddenly not a nanny, not with the Maitland family, suddenly a teacher and we’re meant to assume this all takes place off screen. I know in some prose they gave a reason as to the Maitland father was able to look after his kids now but a little knod onscreen would’ve been great.
I'm kinda mixed on 'The Time of the Doctor' myself. All the ingredients are there, but trying to do all of them justice in one hour just doesn't work. It's trying to be an Xmas special, an 11th Doctor Era wrap-up, and a regeneration story all in one. Plus, there's one too many farewells between Eleven and Clara. Matt Smith's final scene, however, is just perfect and fitting for his Doctor. A nice bookend scene to his era.
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS EPISODE My 5th fav modern era dr who ep 5 Time of the Doctor 4 Midnight 3 Human Nature/Family of Blood 2 Day of the Doctor 1 Heaven Sent
Whereas The End of Time felt stretched over 135 minutes, this feels crushed into 60. Moffat planned this as a series arc and you can tell as he tries to condense it
I’ve always wondered if Tasha Len was originally supposed to be Madame Kovarian. I feel like that would have made more sense to tie the threads of the previous seasons together, rather than just mentioning her as a throwaway line.
@@Tsukiakari-qb3tk Yeah I always felt like they originally wrote it with River in mind, then when they changed it, they just kept a lot of the old dialogue.
I love that you referenced the bald bit. I just watched this episode with my kids tonight, and in the middle of the teary goodbye, I blurted out, "You know, they are both bald in this scene..."
I enjoy this story more than I thought, mainly the second and third acts. Act one drags it down, like the pointless unfunny nudity gags which only seemed to be there because steven wanted (but failed) to have Jenna do a nude scene, If you look back, the number of times he seems to try and make this happen, other stories like the Snowmen and Deep Breath, it's a little creepy. Also the pacing is really off, though I suppose that's what happens when you cram in 13 episodes into 1 hour.
My opinion of this episode is really mixed. I love the fact that the old man doctor gets to become the grandfather of the universe. The relationship between Clara and 11 is pretty decent here. The fact that the doctor goes back and refuses to leave, even for ten minutes, is 11s story coming full circle for when he forced Amy to wait. I have to beg to differ on the Handles 'death' scene because that always hits me die to the music and 11s performance. The fact that 11 is surrounded by the people he save fighting off everyone (opposite to 12) and the speech he gives on the clocktower is pretty snazzy and his last speech is amazing and is almost as tear jerking as Tennant's. However, lots of it feels very half done and some feels forced. I think that's down to moffat having to answer all the questions from the past 4 years and after all the hype it felt like a let down. So yeah. It's okay :) *KIDNEYS!*
Strangely I actually really like the rushed, crammed feel of this episode lol. Feel like it feeds really well into the dissonance between the time Clara experiences and the time the Doctor does - an hour or so and centuries
I think this episode is alright, better than End of Time. I hate the cringy opening and nudity jokes. It just sours the whole experience in order to achieve a rather cheap and pointless laugh. I get that Moffat was in a hard situation, with having to tie up three seasons of unresolved plots so that Capaldi could start clean and for that, I think it works. It answers the questions about the Silence easy enough, Madame Kovarian was a rogue chapter that took extreme measures to stop Time War Part Two Electric Boogaloo and it makes enough sense.
My greatest grievance with Smith's last episode is that his actual regeneration was done within a blink of an eye. It was just like he bent over and suddenly Capaldi was with us. We had no time to realise it was happening, suddenly a new doctor was just there. I may be the only one, but for me it really undercut his final speech and made it spin towards shock/comedic more than emotional/dramatic.
I see where your coming from but I love this story. Yes a lot happens in this story but I don't find it overwhelming and everything connects quite naturally. Everything that it set or has been set is finally paid off in an extremely satisfying manner. The idea of The Doctor staying at the town for hundreds of years to defend it is so fitting for Matt Smith's Incarnations. I love this story
Thank you for pointing out that there was never any indication that they gave the Doctor another cycle of 13 regenerations! So many people talk as though this is obviously what was done as though it is cannon (I don't know if it has been made cannon elsewhere) when that was never stated in the show and left it completely open to as many regenerations as the writers want.
I'm I remembering the episode " off to kill Hitler" and we see river song's re-generation from Amy & Rory's school friend and during that episode she saves the Dr by giving him her remaining regenerations. After poisioning him with a 💋?😯
I really, really like this special. I rewatched it just the other week. Get rid of the Silence stuff, Cracks in Time stuff, and Time Lord stuff and Christ, that's a good story. Just too cluttered. Maybe just one of those three elements I named would have done it. The humour's a little off but I honestly do think it's a near-perfect story, and a great end to 11.
I think that both Smith and Capaldi each needed one more season. I hesitate to say Eccleston because his character arc in Series 1 was so perfect. Now while I love Time of the Doctor, it is overall a rushed conclusion that could easily have been expanded to fit a Series 5-styled season arc of 13 episodes that naturally build to a big conclusion on Trenzalore. Capaldi had a great exit, but I do feel like he had a dream team with Bill, Nardole and Missy that often gets overlooked because it only lasts for 12 episodes and is so close to the dreaded Chibnall Era. A full series of him travelling with Missy, not knowing when to trust her, while still getting caught up in student shenanigans and reluctantly guarding the vault that technically still houses Missy just sounds like such an appealing idea to me. Looking back with the knowledge of what we have now, I really miss the Moffat era despite all its problems.
This was definitely a strange one, but I do love Smith’s speech and that he looks directly at the camera. The regeneration effect was weird though. Eleven leans back and instantly he’s transformed into Twelve, no transitioning between the two faces (or was that BBC America’s editing?). This episode is crammed isn’t it? But other commenters have pointed out that Smith was leaving earlier than originally planned, so maybe that’s why. Still, it had its moments.
To be honest, I really hated time of the Doctor because I felt it was rushed and overcrammed with too many dangling plot threads to wrap up (some from TWO years prior) and the regeneration felt disappointsntly quick after buildup. I wish this had been a two part special like the end of time so that they could have breathing room. Coming off that this concluded an underwhelming season (other than three episodes and day of the Doctor) overall IMO, it really solidified why series 7 is my least favorite doctor who season (more than series 11, which has problems too).
I really chocked up over Handles' death. But then I'm very sensitive when bad stuff happens to animals and robots. But yeah, in spite of how much I enjoyed this episode, I too feel that it could've used way more time, cause what we basically got was a _feel_ for a few really great stories that needed more development. Too bad we're not getting the "full version" on any of them... By the way the Daleks may have come from a time period before Asylum of the Daleks took place. And then you have to remember that the Daleks are not a singular faction, there are multiple offshoots that operate independent of each other and it's no stretch to assume that some offshoots were not plugged in to the Dalek Hive Mind. But that's just me trying to justify plot holes with my headcanons :P BTW very neat edit there at the end ;)
13:12 I did notice she fancies him. It’s just they had absolutely no chemistry at all so I didn’t think about it because the 11th Doctor and Clara have THE WORST CHEMISTRY IN THE GALAXY Edit: loved the outro!
I didn't even realise that when I first watched their episodes. It wasn't until Capaldi said "I'm not your boyfriend, Clara" I was like whaaa? You're right they had ZERO chemistry. 11 and Amy now that was chemistry.
12:05, honestly the Daleks forgetting the Doctor really bugged me when I saw Asylum of the Daleks, but I will admit that assuming all the episodes from this point were exactly the same, they probably should have saved the daleks remembering the Daleks to The Magicians Apprentice/Witches Familiar considering all there appearances from Asylum of the Daleks onward had no real difference depending on whether or not the Daleks remembered the Doctor, and Davros showing up again gives the Daleks a good reason to remember the Doctor
Instead of handles, Series 7 should've just had charlie the Badger puppet as 11's companion and just have him wear a bow tie and a fez. Also whenever 11 goes on a long ramble, he would ask Charlie what his opinion is and it cuts to him and he just sits there inanimate and cut back to 11 going "yes indeed you are right" because screw reality
I've always loved Time of the Doctor, but more than anything I'm so thankful someone like Moffat who actually cares made the inevitable "13th regeneration" story. Imagine if Chibnall was in charge of that story. It would be so terrible. Apart from that, I always vibed how it's the most christmassy feeling episode, it takes the eleventh doctor's fairytale aesthetic and ends him in that perfectly fable way and has him dying as the old toymaker of the town its so good, it wraps up all the loose ends in Moffat's run like the Silence and the Cracks in what I always found to be a relatively satisfying way. Eleven's final monologue was great, Amy ended as his imaginary friend (full circle), handles was adorable and ya Clara's family christmas was weird but gave some laughs.
For me, this is the worst of all the regeneration stories in Who history. I agree with all your criticisms of the episode. I also feel that the Doctor being on his last regeneration and seeking a last-ditch solution to avoid his ultimate death could have been a story arc spread across an entire season - instead Moffat chose the remove that opportunity completely with a lame gimmick. It's similar to Clara influencing Hartnell's Doctor into taking a different Tardis when he was trying to escape from Gallifrey - there's another potential entire story arc that a future Doctor might have had to revisit but was instead ridden roughshod over by Moffat.
The worst thing was the planet called Christmas.And the explanation that theres a island called Easter .They still don't celebrate with Easter eggs all year round!.
All I remember people talking about at the time was the quick regeneration at the end. Because most people clearly didn't get that the main regeneration section was the Doctor blowing up a Dalek Spaceship with a wave of regeneration energy... thinking back on it... God that bit was stupid.
In Hell Bent when the 12th Doctor is having his stand off with Rassilon, Rassilon asks, “How many regenerations did we grant you?” Implying that the new regeneration cycle they gave the Doctor did not have the same limits as his first one.
I remember feeling like I was watching a Cliff Notes version of a longer adventure. That really annoyed me for a regeneration episode. I wanted this to make me feel close to events and really make me care... especially about The Doctor regenerating. Unfortunately, nothing lands as it should because of the distance created by trying to do SO MUCH in so little time.
@@CouncilofGeeks he probably grew his hair back in the hundreds of years on trenzalor, but wasnt it a "reset", meaning all of the age was rewound, including his hair that he grew?
Also the limitations on Timelord Regenerations is a limitation controlled by the Timelords. Without the Timelords around to enforce it there is nothing to say the Doctor cannot have unlimited regenerations.
13 regenerations would get the Doctor 39 seasons if everybody cycled out after 3 seasons. We already have TWO gap years. So that's 41 years. What the Timeless Children did was say that the Time Lords gave the Doctor a new cycle to keep up a ruse and the belief that he needed it
Did it not occur to the people of Christmas or to the Doctor himself that if he wasn't on their planet the constant years of attack and destruction wouldn't be happening to them?
Time of the Doctor was meant to be Matt's next series, but after he decided to leave, Moffat decided to change things up and tell it in a more fairytale way as his regeneration.
@@CouncilofGeeks Moffat has also said he was thinking of leaving after this episode. It's in the last few minutes of this first of the three part interview ua-cam.com/video/ZOfIIqb8Uhg/v-deo.html
Unfortunately a lot of the faults with the episode, at least in terms of the narrative and how rushed it feels, lie with Matt Smith making the split second decision to leave the series. Originally Matt had said he wanted to do at least one more series, so Moffat had envisioned this epic series long arc that would pay off all the plot threads of the Eleventh Doctor, and he and Matt could both exit the show having told their story, but then somewhere during the filming of Day of the Doctor, Matt decided he'd be leaving at Christmas. So Moffat had to condense all these plot threads into a single episode, select Doctor 12, and stay on for another year so Peter could settle in., which reignited his spark for writing the show.
@@CouncilofGeeks As soon as I started seeing posts like this, I knew you were going to ask this. Rightly so too. Personally, I've never heard this either, not until today.
I may be talking out of my hat, but I believe that this episode was intended to be an entire series, Matt Smith's final one, with him trapped in The Town Called Christmas for its entirety. But, these plans were thrown into disarray when Smith opted to not renew his contract to go do other projects. There was a tie-in book that filled in the gaps of the missing adventures
My top 3 eye roll moments from this episode: - The town being called Christmas - Clara's Dad insisting that her Grandmother tell them "the story about a pigeon" (like... what?) - The "Striking Twelves" Christmas cracker
This used to be one of my favorite episodes. I really loved "Never tell me the rules" and the regeneration proper, plus i thought it was thematically good that the doctor was willing to spend his final life defending a small village. My overall enjoyment of this episode has gone down just cause i realized outside of that last act theres nothing really that grabs me. I've realized that i can let individual moments make me rate things way higher than they probably deserve and thats what happened here. I still love the moments here that made me love the episode back when it aired, but as a whole its just sorta a hot mess.
I'm soooo glad we got Donna. I think she's the only woman in Doctor Who who seemed to be able to exist for some time without a love interest! Please correct me if I miss someone.
Overall, I really like this episode a lot but I can't disagree with your points about stuff being brought in, that we have no reference or attachment to. It's a fault of many shows and movies. It always brings me back to Sean Bean in Goldeneye. He's just there as 006 and we're meant to buy this friendship with Bond. Then 006 dies (of course he does, it's Sean Bean) and you feel nothing and also, because he's in the main credits, you instantly know he's the bad guy. They should have established his character in a movie first, then brought in his 'death' in the following movie. The bit about Clara's non-existent boyfriend feels like it would fit better in Moffat's previous work with Coupling. It's bad for DW.
This used to be my favourite episode of all time. And it´s still in my top 5, but nowadays, for my favourite episode I probably juggle between The Return of Doctor Mysterio and Hell Bent....
@@MrDarthT In Let’s Kill Hitler the Tessalector tells The Doctor that the Silence is a “religious order or movement”, maybe that’s what you are thinking about??
I disagree I always got Clara fancying the doctor. I sort of liked how things tied up and called back to Matt smiths first series. Things that I was confused about for answered but other things didn’t. I never really liked Clara’s home stuff. I usually like the domestic stuff but hers was lazy. I agree with everything else you said. I’m rewatching doctor who and watching your reviews along the ride. I lost interest after this episode and so I wanted to fix that. If this was a three parter 90 mins long each would have been great. something I never got I don’t know if this is a plot hole but why didn’t he just put the city in the Tardis. The fact the Tardis just kept coming and going shouldn’t have happened. The priestess flying the Tardis I don’t like. River should have been in this as she has been really important to this storyline. She should have came and got Clara instead and then gone maybe
7:50 I disagree. The story's like a collection of fairy tales - different adventures spanning years and years, but we're stuck with Clara's perspective as she watches the Doctor age and gradually slip away. It's a really nice endcap to Matt's run. Was it executed the best? No, but I think the idea for the structure of the story is genius, and absolutely fitting.
Still that works better in an anthology of stories in a book, on one tv episode a collection of fairy tales doesn't work as a structure and having all the monsters there just feels like a retread of Pandorica Opens. Not to mention we have those godawful narrations. I would have found the story much more engaging if it hadn't announced how much time has passed and let us work it out ourselves. Imagine if Blink had gone and "then Cathy Nightingale was sent back in time by the Weeping angels where she lived out the rest of her life" or Eleventh Hour "and then Amy waited fro the Dr for fifteen years..."
@@Ben-vf5gk - yeah, sometimes Steven's framing devices are weird and misplaced. Like the poem in A Good Man Goes to War. I think the structure of the episode is perfect in terms of cutting from Clara in her flat to the Doctor on Trenzalore, as he ages more and more. It's just too small a runtime with too much stuff it wants to do, so it becomes cluttered. Did we really need the cracks in time back? It was pretty well resolved. And did it have to be the Time Lords specifically? Why not just have the Silence try to get the Doctor to confess his name, or something?Half he screen time is just exposition, and it's so confusing. As a kid, I lost interest in Doctor Who after Series 6, going from the biggest fan in the world to not bothering to ask when it's back on. The Day of the Doctor and The Time of the Doctor were the only epsidoes I watched from Series 7, and Christ I was bewildered.
Do you have a Peter capaldi Dr who costume ready? I think a black suit with suit vest would suffice. I thought the addition of Clara's family was the writers taking inspiration from the bad Texas chainsaw massacre sequels
I feel like this episode's biggest problem was that it was paying off stuff that happened a series or two series' ago. By the time this happened I forgot why I should care. I forgot about the dangling plot threads. I just wanted something new and this is going back to the stuff that should have been wrapped up in series 6.
The naked thing was awful. Clara has never "fancied" the Doctor though they've flirted, and this episode RUINED The Silence. Nothing we've seen supported that twist. I mean this episode did swing for the fences. But failed. Its still better than a meh limited imagination, and all the stuff at the end with Amy and taking off the bow tie makes me cry every time. EDIT: That ending was AWESOME.
Clara definitely fancies the Doctor. It's most evident in The Snowmen, but it's been there the whole time. She is overly flirty with everyone so I guess it can be hard to spot as it's a character trait of hers, but yeah, I always felt it was there. I don't really like it either but Clara had a lot of traits that get exceptionally annoying as her character progresses
Sontarons don't reproduce sexually, but are clone in batches of many. Presumably there's a dud batch, hence same actor and makeup - and he already played a dim sidekick in The Sontaron Stratagem.
I think that reaching the regeneration limit with smith thing would have worked better if they pointed out that the doctor has routinely used his regeneration energy to heal himself and other people. It so much more satisfying if his selflessness and recklessness with his own life leads to an early 'death' rather than '10 was vain and regenerated into himself' which isn't even true to begin with.
15:45 right?? How cool is it that, after The Time of the Doctor, the Doctor doesn't know how many regenerations he has left. Maybe it's one more, maybe it's thirteen more, maybe it's infinite. *It causes the Doctor to be mortal because any body could be his last.* Now the Doctor, truly, is immortal. *Sigh.* The concept Steven introduced was so short-lived, and I honestly think it's one of the best long-term additions to the show. But it was cut short to one Doctor by Chris.
This is like a worse version of how the Hellboy comics ended. Avoiding spoilers, the audience is distanced from Hellboy and the story is told through unreliable narrators, like he's truly become a fairy tale. Then, at the end it gets more intimate and conclusive.
The Timeless Children actually opens up a plot hole, since The Doctor shouldn’t have needed a new regeneration cycle if he had infinite regenerations from the start.
well, heres a theory. what if at the end of asention of the cybermen, it was the doctor/brendan using the chamelion arch to change into a timelord, and in the time of the doctor, that is the doctors regenerations being granted back to him
This is one of the most overhated episodes in my opinion. It’s streets ahead of The End of Time and it works better for me than Twice Upon a Time. Not my favorite regeneration story but people really tend to overexaggerate the flaws with this one. And I think that Smith’s final scene is the best final scene of any NuWho Doctor.
Not one of my favorite episodes but do find something sweet in the Doctor dying of old age. I also liked tasha lem but she seemed like another River. And your adaptation of his speech made me squee.
If 11 was wearing a wig, why did it regenerate with the rest of the body? Shouldn’t we have seen 12 with that wig post-regeneration since it was fake hair?
Somebody brought that up, but then it was pointed out that he was on Trenzalore for hundreds of years prior to regeneration, so it had time to grow back.
I didn't like this episode when I watched it the first time, and I like it less now. 'I can see the strings' really hits it dead on; I can feel Moffat desperately trying to make this all work, like buttoning up a shirt that's too small.
The payoffs are intended to reveal exposition about neglected plot threads that haven't stood the test of time at all, such as explaining The Silence as an attempt to prevent the return of the Time Lords that apparently all the various victims of the Time War see as a re-opening of horrors of time warfare. Even for the most attentive of geeks, this is a plot thread not worthy of the plot, i.e. it is unearned plot payoff considering how it was used across season arcs as cheap mystery box payoff for seasons long bereft of seeing the plot actually play out in meaningful story telling. Its just writers' room plot glue spilled before the viewers who understand writers make up plot glue all day long. Plot glue only obtains meaning through hard work by all the rest of the production team addressing consistent plotting over time. We barely saw the Time War. Its nice it got paid off but the Silence and the Time War were ever just shiny mystery box dangled from time to time to justify a plot to kill, and then marry, the Doctor. We got to see that story and it is quite independent of the plot contrivance behind the scenes that justify a sense of mystery and build-up. Its all in a way just a way of observing that, now that tv is online for all time viewers are quite a bit more sophisticated about showrunner's crafting of cheap hooks and cheap payoffs, and valuing quite a bit more happy memories of successful characters and stories that are more a matter of hard work and luck than clever plot inventions that only address the momentary needs of the writers to convince an audience to stand by at such and such an airtime and tune in until the end, which used to be the goal. Now the goal is pleasing a fan base which takes monumentally more care, preparation, patience and devoted hard work. I recently watched a Classic Who episode of McCoy's Doctor and Ace. I adore Ace but it was of a different era of relaxed standards, with goofy plotting and goofy performance, because it was only tv and was ephemeral entertainment for daily living. I regret I am ruined for such relaxed Who standards.
This review was spot on. There were a lot of good ideas in the episode, but they were not given time to develop, and they did not agree in tone. Then there were the bad ideas, like Clara's boyfriend and the naked scene. It stuck the landing, but the execution was wobbly.
As an episode, it doesn't really work, but those final moments, leading up to the regeneration - it''s perfect and I'll rewatch that part over and over again
That's my opinion. I honestly think most people just skip to the last half hour of this eppisode
I remember nothing except that last bit so this almost feels like a review of an episode I've never seen lol
I will say Smiths closing speech about change and remembering all the people you used to me really hit me at the time and resonates so much with me looking back at my life and how much I have changed and how different I am now. Its beautiful and is one of those speeches i feel could be significant at any time. Even now while we are stuck in Lockdown it's still got a relevance to it.
I heard this was meant to be a series long, but Matt Smith left early and Moffat wanted to give Capaldi a clean slate so it all had to be tied up here. If so that would explain why every monster ever came back again cause they'd already done this once in S5, it's not as special anymore. The only things that need to be there are the Silence and the Daleks. And Madame Kovarian, I wish we could have actually seen her break away from the Silence and go back in time instead of it just happening off-screen and the Dr hearing about it.
Its such a shame Matt made his decison when he did, things like the Silence working for the Church and being revealed as Confessional Priests, the expanation for Kovarian and her group would all have been slowly revealed. Imagine a seige of Trenzalore that lasted half a series. Instead it all had to be tied up within a single episode. Not sure if true or not but I also heard that Tasha Lem was supposed to be River, but Alex Kingston was unavailable at the time for filming. This would make more sense of their interactions, and her ability to fly the TARDIS. Given the circumstances and having to condense an entire series of plot into one episode its amazing its as coherent as it is really.
If this was like the David Tennant specials like a hour each with space in between it could be really thought out and have things flow a little better.
Its just a shame that the possibility didn't come to fruition
@@pettytyrant2720 I can actually see that being true about Tasha and River. I have expected Tasha to rip off her head and be revealed to be river. Characters were so similar. They could have had her as another incarnation of river. That would have worked so much better.
I can understand why they'd do it if that is true, but it would actually be kinda interesting to see a Doctor literally inherit a situation from themself and see how that would play out.
I think a mini series would have paced this epic story perfectly. Couldn't have thirteen episodes to be honest, but give me a five episode run anyday.
4:23 Side note, what the hell happened to Clara's dad? Last time he's seen is (technically) in a flashback where he and Clara are at her mother's grave. Afterward he never even gets the slightest vague reference to his existence anywhere!!! Idk, maybe he fell through a crack and was never born...
I think it was Moffat not knowing what to do with Clara. He just threw stuff at the wall to see what would stick. That’s why she has a family then doesn’t, then babysits then doesn’t and then she had Danny Pink and then she doesn’t.
A lot about Clara's earth existence really troubled me. Like, who was the woman at the Christmas dinner? Didn't her mum die?? And then the kids she was living with never came up again and her job changed from babysitter to teacher? I am so confused...
@@felicia7302 - I have a theory that The Day of the Doctor - Hell Bent Clara is a different version than Series 7 Clara. That's how inconsistent the writing is lmao.
nightowl The trouble with that theory is that there’s no evidence for it. Given the story arc with the splinters of Clara, they missed a trick by not having a point where one of the splinters took her place, for example if she’d entirely disappeared into The Doctor’s time str... oooooooooh.
Moffat’s typical ways with companions families. Amy’s Mum and Dad were so important as a plot point in series 5, never seen or mentioned again. Brian was lucky because Chibnall wanted to give him so closure and then we get the same again with Bill’s foster mother... forgotten again. A running theme through Moffat’s era sadly. Having said that, originally When Clara died in face the Raven, the Doctor was supposed to take her body back to her father and gran with Rigsy, but they cut the scene. It’s also extremely jarring how she’s suddenly not a nanny, not with the Maitland family, suddenly a teacher and we’re meant to assume this all takes place off screen. I know in some prose they gave a reason as to the Maitland father was able to look after his kids now but a little knod onscreen would’ve been great.
I’m glad you’re doing these “Take-Two” reviews! Especially since your earliest reviews were constrained by remaining spoiler-free.
Precisely my thoughts.
I could never spoiler free review anything lol that sounds really difficult
Matt's farewell speech is the single greatest moment in all of the Revived Series, no other even comes close.
I'm kinda mixed on 'The Time of the Doctor' myself. All the ingredients are there, but trying to do all of them justice in one hour just doesn't work. It's trying to be an Xmas special, an 11th Doctor Era wrap-up, and a regeneration story all in one. Plus, there's one too many farewells between Eleven and Clara.
Matt Smith's final scene, however, is just perfect and fitting for his Doctor. A nice bookend scene to his era.
Please tell me I’m not the only one who thought Nathaniel was announcing his departure from the channel. But it turned out to just be the outro
Indeed you were not.
it was a bit nerve wracking yeah lol
I get having the Weeping Angels show up and other species that were central to the Matt Smith era.
Eleven is my favourite Doctor, so I was really sad to see him go.
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS EPISODE
My 5th fav modern era dr who ep
5 Time of the Doctor
4 Midnight
3 Human Nature/Family of Blood
2 Day of the Doctor
1 Heaven Sent
That's a really lovely list!
I'd add Can You Hear Me to that.
Whereas The End of Time felt stretched over 135 minutes, this feels crushed into 60. Moffat planned this as a series arc and you can tell as he tries to condense it
77 mins
I’ve always wondered if Tasha Len was originally supposed to be Madame Kovarian. I feel like that would have made more sense to tie the threads of the previous seasons together, rather than just mentioning her as a throwaway line.
The Confession Dial she feels more like River Song than Kovarian
I love your videos
@@Tsukiakari-qb3tk Yeah I always felt like they originally wrote it with River in mind, then when they changed it, they just kept a lot of the old dialogue.
I agree, Madam Kovarian would have made sense. I remember hearing the character was originally to be River Song, but Alex Kingston was busy.
I love that you referenced the bald bit. I just watched this episode with my kids tonight, and in the middle of the teary goodbye, I blurted out, "You know, they are both bald in this scene..."
I enjoy this story more than I thought, mainly the second and third acts. Act one drags it down, like the pointless unfunny nudity gags which only seemed to be there because steven wanted (but failed) to have Jenna do a nude scene, If you look back, the number of times he seems to try and make this happen, other stories like the Snowmen and Deep Breath, it's a little creepy.
Also the pacing is really off, though I suppose that's what happens when you cram in 13 episodes into 1 hour.
My opinion of this episode is really mixed. I love the fact that the old man doctor gets to become the grandfather of the universe. The relationship between Clara and 11 is pretty decent here. The fact that the doctor goes back and refuses to leave, even for ten minutes, is 11s story coming full circle for when he forced Amy to wait. I have to beg to differ on the Handles 'death' scene because that always hits me die to the music and 11s performance. The fact that 11 is surrounded by the people he save fighting off everyone (opposite to 12) and the speech he gives on the clocktower is pretty snazzy and his last speech is amazing and is almost as tear jerking as Tennant's. However, lots of it feels very half done and some feels forced. I think that's down to moffat having to answer all the questions from the past 4 years and after all the hype it felt like a let down. So yeah. It's okay :)
*KIDNEYS!*
I DONT LIKE THE COLOR 😂😂
If this was a series-long setting/arc it would have been cool
it was supposed to be, you can even see where each story begins and ends
Strangely I actually really like the rushed, crammed feel of this episode lol. Feel like it feeds really well into the dissonance between the time Clara experiences and the time the Doctor does - an hour or so and centuries
I will always remember when the tie hit the floor...
I think this episode is alright, better than End of Time.
I hate the cringy opening and nudity jokes. It just sours the whole experience in order to achieve a rather cheap and pointless laugh. I get that Moffat was in a hard situation, with having to tie up three seasons of unresolved plots so that Capaldi could start clean and for that, I think it works. It answers the questions about the Silence easy enough, Madame Kovarian was a rogue chapter that took extreme measures to stop Time War Part Two Electric Boogaloo and it makes enough sense.
Sense? The doctor and the silence worked together
oh I was not prepared for that end bit - are you trying to make us cry here? that was beautiful. that speech always makes me cry anyway
Honestly I love this episode although the one complaint I have is that my favourite doctor had to leave😂
I love that end speech so beautiful
I love your reviews.
My greatest grievance with Smith's last episode is that his actual regeneration was done within a blink of an eye. It was just like he bent over and suddenly Capaldi was with us. We had no time to realise it was happening, suddenly a new doctor was just there. I may be the only one, but for me it really undercut his final speech and made it spin towards shock/comedic more than emotional/dramatic.
I see where your coming from but I love this story. Yes a lot happens in this story but I don't find it overwhelming and everything connects quite naturally. Everything that it set or has been set is finally paid off in an extremely satisfying manner. The idea of The Doctor staying at the town for hundreds of years to defend it is so fitting for Matt Smith's Incarnations. I love this story
20:52 Oh wow, all of the nostalgia
I do like how Handles gets to be considered a Companion just based on this one story. Good for Handles.
Thank you for pointing out that there was never any indication that they gave the Doctor another cycle of 13 regenerations! So many people talk as though this is obviously what was done as though it is cannon (I don't know if it has been made cannon elsewhere) when that was never stated in the show and left it completely open to as many regenerations as the writers want.
I like this one tbh, the Clara stuff is pretty eye-rolling but I enjoy most of what’s going on
Your ending was brilliant 👏🏾
I'm I remembering the episode " off to kill Hitler" and we see river song's re-generation from Amy & Rory's school friend and during that episode she saves the Dr by giving him her remaining regenerations. After poisioning him with a 💋?😯
I really, really like this special. I rewatched it just the other week. Get rid of the Silence stuff, Cracks in Time stuff, and Time Lord stuff and Christ, that's a good story. Just too cluttered. Maybe just one of those three elements I named would have done it.
The humour's a little off but I honestly do think it's a near-perfect story, and a great end to 11.
Great show this week! I look forward to your Who Review every week!
I think that both Smith and Capaldi each needed one more season. I hesitate to say Eccleston because his character arc in Series 1 was so perfect.
Now while I love Time of the Doctor, it is overall a rushed conclusion that could easily have been expanded to fit a Series 5-styled season arc of 13 episodes that naturally build to a big conclusion on Trenzalore. Capaldi had a great exit, but I do feel like he had a dream team with Bill, Nardole and Missy that often gets overlooked because it only lasts for 12 episodes and is so close to the dreaded Chibnall Era. A full series of him travelling with Missy, not knowing when to trust her, while still getting caught up in student shenanigans and reluctantly guarding the vault that technically still houses Missy just sounds like such an appealing idea to me.
Looking back with the knowledge of what we have now, I really miss the Moffat era despite all its problems.
Liking for that "We're all different people" bit at the end ♡
Great video, some interesting points
This was definitely a strange one, but I do love Smith’s speech and that he looks directly at the camera. The regeneration effect was weird though. Eleven leans back and instantly he’s transformed into Twelve, no transitioning between the two faces (or was that BBC America’s editing?). This episode is crammed isn’t it? But other commenters have pointed out that Smith was leaving earlier than originally planned, so maybe that’s why. Still, it had its moments.
So how far will Take Two Reviews go, end of Capaldi's era, series 11 or series 12?
Could well do that if series 13 takes its sweet time to come out. Or could postpone the take 2 reviews until chibnall leaves
Adjusting after Chinball's writing is like recovering from a spinal injury so I'd expect it'll be some time
To be honest, I really hated time of the Doctor because I felt it was rushed and overcrammed with too many dangling plot threads to wrap up (some from TWO years prior) and the regeneration felt disappointsntly quick after buildup. I wish this had been a two part special like the end of time so that they could have breathing room. Coming off that this concluded an underwhelming season (other than three episodes and day of the Doctor) overall IMO, it really solidified why series 7 is my least favorite doctor who season (more than series 11, which has problems too).
I teared up at the ending of this. It was so perfect
I really chocked up over Handles' death. But then I'm very sensitive when bad stuff happens to animals and robots.
But yeah, in spite of how much I enjoyed this episode, I too feel that it could've used way more time, cause what we basically got was a _feel_ for a few really great stories that needed more development. Too bad we're not getting the "full version" on any of them...
By the way the Daleks may have come from a time period before Asylum of the Daleks took place. And then you have to remember that the Daleks are not a singular faction, there are multiple offshoots that operate independent of each other and it's no stretch to assume that some offshoots were not plugged in to the Dalek Hive Mind. But that's just me trying to justify plot holes with my headcanons :P
BTW very neat edit there at the end ;)
13:12 I did notice she fancies him. It’s just they had absolutely no chemistry at all so I didn’t think about it because the 11th Doctor and Clara have THE WORST CHEMISTRY IN THE GALAXY
Edit: loved the outro!
I didn't even realise that when I first watched their episodes. It wasn't until Capaldi said "I'm not your boyfriend, Clara" I was like whaaa? You're right they had ZERO chemistry. 11 and Amy now that was chemistry.
12:05, honestly the Daleks forgetting the Doctor really bugged me when I saw Asylum of the Daleks, but I will admit that assuming all the episodes from this point were exactly the same, they probably should have saved the daleks remembering the Daleks to The Magicians Apprentice/Witches Familiar considering all there appearances from Asylum of the Daleks onward had no real difference depending on whether or not the Daleks remembered the Doctor, and Davros showing up again gives the Daleks a good reason to remember the Doctor
I like to imagine that the nuclear regeneration was "The oncoming storm"
I thought you were signing off forever! My tear ducts were primed and ready. So happy that it's not the case.
Instead of handles, Series 7 should've just had charlie the Badger puppet as 11's companion and just have him wear a bow tie and a fez. Also whenever 11 goes on a long ramble, he would ask Charlie what his opinion is and it cuts to him and he just sits there inanimate and cut back to 11 going "yes indeed you are right" because screw reality
I've always loved Time of the Doctor, but more than anything I'm so thankful someone like Moffat who actually cares made the inevitable "13th regeneration" story. Imagine if Chibnall was in charge of that story. It would be so terrible.
Apart from that, I always vibed how it's the most christmassy feeling episode, it takes the eleventh doctor's fairytale aesthetic and ends him in that perfectly fable way and has him dying as the old toymaker of the town its so good, it wraps up all the loose ends in Moffat's run like the Silence and the Cracks in what I always found to be a relatively satisfying way. Eleven's final monologue was great, Amy ended as his imaginary friend (full circle), handles was adorable and ya Clara's family christmas was weird but gave some laughs.
For me, this is the worst of all the regeneration stories in Who history. I agree with all your criticisms of the episode. I also feel that the Doctor being on his last regeneration and seeking a last-ditch solution to avoid his ultimate death could have been a story arc spread across an entire season - instead Moffat chose the remove that opportunity completely with a lame gimmick. It's similar to Clara influencing Hartnell's Doctor into taking a different Tardis when he was trying to escape from Gallifrey - there's another potential entire story arc that a future Doctor might have had to revisit but was instead ridden roughshod over by Moffat.
The worst thing was the planet called Christmas.And the explanation that theres a island called Easter .They still don't celebrate with Easter eggs all year round!.
All I remember people talking about at the time was the quick regeneration at the end. Because most people clearly didn't get that the main regeneration section was the Doctor blowing up a Dalek Spaceship with a wave of regeneration energy... thinking back on it... God that bit was stupid.
I really really love this episode. I think it's a great ending to 11
In Hell Bent when the 12th Doctor is having his stand off with Rassilon, Rassilon asks, “How many regenerations did we grant you?” Implying that the new regeneration cycle they gave the Doctor did not have the same limits as his first one.
I know, I've pointed that out as well. Including in my last Hell Bent rant.
I remember feeling like I was watching a Cliff Notes version of a longer adventure. That really annoyed me for a regeneration episode. I wanted this to make me feel close to events and really make me care... especially about The Doctor regenerating. Unfortunately, nothing lands as it should because of the distance created by trying to do SO MUCH in so little time.
if matt wore a wig, and that was established in the episode, why wasnt capaldi wearing a wig on top of his hair?
Oh wow... that's... holy crap!
@@CouncilofGeeks he probably grew his hair back in the hundreds of years on trenzalor, but wasnt it a "reset", meaning all of the age was rewound, including his hair that he grew?
@@tommyhughess It probably fell off in the sneeze-regeneration XD
@@hilariousbenjamin5614 think we need a edit of that 😂
Also the limitations on Timelord Regenerations is a limitation controlled by the Timelords. Without the Timelords around to enforce it there is nothing to say the Doctor cannot have unlimited regenerations.
13 regenerations would get the Doctor 39 seasons if everybody cycled out after 3 seasons. We already have TWO gap years. So that's 41 years. What the Timeless Children did was say that the Time Lords gave the Doctor a new cycle to keep up a ruse and the belief that he needed it
I really love this episode
Did it not occur to the people of Christmas or to the Doctor himself that if he wasn't on their planet the constant years of attack and destruction wouldn't be happening to them?
Yeah but if he wasn't there the rest of the universe would have blown the planet out of the sky
Time of the Doctor was meant to be Matt's next series, but after he decided to leave, Moffat decided to change things up and tell it in a more fairytale way as his regeneration.
*citation needed.
@@CouncilofGeeks You're right, I should have a source. I believe it was in an interview that I can't find. Sorry!
@@CouncilofGeeks Moffat has also said he was thinking of leaving after this episode. It's in the last few minutes of this first of the three part interview ua-cam.com/video/ZOfIIqb8Uhg/v-deo.html
Unfortunately a lot of the faults with the episode, at least in terms of the narrative and how rushed it feels, lie with Matt Smith making the split second decision to leave the series.
Originally Matt had said he wanted to do at least one more series, so Moffat had envisioned this epic series long arc that would pay off all the plot threads of the Eleventh Doctor, and he and Matt could both exit the show having told their story, but then somewhere during the filming of Day of the Doctor, Matt decided he'd be leaving at Christmas.
So Moffat had to condense all these plot threads into a single episode, select Doctor 12, and stay on for another year so Peter could settle in., which reignited his spark for writing the show.
Several people have mentioned this. Can I get a citation on that?
@@CouncilofGeeks As soon as I started seeing posts like this, I knew you were going to ask this. Rightly so too. Personally, I've never heard this either, not until today.
@@CouncilofGeeks I'll have a look and see if I can find the source :)
I would question how the Papal Mainframe can notify the relevant afterlife, but then I considered what Missy spends the following season doing...
I may be talking out of my hat, but I believe that this episode was intended to be an entire series, Matt Smith's final one, with him trapped in The Town Called Christmas for its entirety. But, these plans were thrown into disarray when Smith opted to not renew his contract to go do other projects. There was a tie-in book that filled in the gaps of the missing adventures
My top 3 eye roll moments from this episode:
- The town being called Christmas
- Clara's Dad insisting that her Grandmother tell them "the story about a pigeon" (like... what?)
- The "Striking Twelves" Christmas cracker
This used to be one of my favorite episodes. I really loved "Never tell me the rules" and the regeneration proper, plus i thought it was thematically good that the doctor was willing to spend his final life defending a small village. My overall enjoyment of this episode has gone down just cause i realized outside of that last act theres nothing really that grabs me. I've realized that i can let individual moments make me rate things way higher than they probably deserve and thats what happened here. I still love the moments here that made me love the episode back when it aired, but as a whole its just sorta a hot mess.
Clara fancying the doctor was hinted at in bells of saint john
Yeah but I was able to block that out.
@@CouncilofGeeks and also the victorian Clara fancied him, they were clearly flirting and even kissed...
Abcd Efgh Lala Lala Lala I am not listening. Lala Lala Lala.
What was even the point of making Clara fancy the Dr? I got it with Rose, and Martha and Amy to an extent but Clara?
I'm soooo glad we got Donna. I think she's the only woman in Doctor Who who seemed to be able to exist for some time without a love interest!
Please correct me if I miss someone.
*Introducing Take Two Reviews, Now with Better Camera Quality™️!*
This is the episode where the Doctor settles down to save Christmas! I also thought Clara’s Gran had been in one other episode...
Yeah she's shown briefly at the start of Dark Water, comforting Clara after Danny's death
Great outfit!
Whoa whoa whoa, sontarans need to be in every story, my spuddy buddies
I'm guessing you're gonna be reviewing Capaldi episodes as well?
Overall, I really like this episode a lot but I can't disagree with your points about stuff being brought in, that we have no reference or attachment to. It's a fault of many shows and movies.
It always brings me back to Sean Bean in Goldeneye. He's just there as 006 and we're meant to buy this friendship with Bond. Then 006 dies (of course he does, it's Sean Bean) and you feel nothing and also, because he's in the main credits, you instantly know he's the bad guy. They should have established his character in a movie first, then brought in his 'death' in the following movie.
The bit about Clara's non-existent boyfriend feels like it would fit better in Moffat's previous work with Coupling. It's bad for DW.
Macavityyyyy
Yup, always a bad sign if Basil Exposition turns up late on.
Yay! Now you get to wear a Magician’s 🎩 outfit! Capaldi Cometh!
I never watched Series 7 as a kid. I wasn't angry, I just lost interest. I did watch this. *I was very confused.*
I did watch The Day of the Doctor, in theatre as well!
This used to be my favourite episode of all time.
And it´s still in my top 5, but nowadays, for my favourite episode I probably juggle between The Return of Doctor Mysterio and Hell Bent....
I think The Silence being a church was in "A Good Man Goes to War". This just specified that they were an off-shoot.
No, that got clarified here. The Silence got no mention in Good Man Goes to War, that was the Headless Monks.
@@CouncilofGeeks The Papal Mainframe is at least name dropped. I was sure it was at least implied that there was a religious nature to The Silence.
@@MrDarthT In Let’s Kill Hitler the Tessalector tells The Doctor that the Silence is a “religious order or movement”, maybe that’s what you are thinking about??
I disagree I always got Clara fancying the doctor. I sort of liked how things tied up and called back to Matt smiths first series. Things that I was confused about for answered but other things didn’t. I never really liked Clara’s home stuff. I usually like the domestic stuff but hers was lazy. I agree with everything else you said. I’m rewatching doctor who and watching your reviews along the ride. I lost interest after this episode and so I wanted to fix that. If this was a three parter 90 mins long each would have been great. something I never got I don’t know if this is a plot hole but why didn’t he just put the city in the Tardis. The fact the Tardis just kept coming and going shouldn’t have happened. The priestess flying the Tardis I don’t like. River should have been in this as she has been really important to this storyline. She should have came and got Clara instead and then gone maybe
It definitely needed to be a multi-part story but I don't think I could have endured more of that.
7:50 I disagree. The story's like a collection of fairy tales - different adventures spanning years and years, but we're stuck with Clara's perspective as she watches the Doctor age and gradually slip away.
It's a really nice endcap to Matt's run. Was it executed the best? No, but I think the idea for the structure of the story is genius, and absolutely fitting.
Still that works better in an anthology of stories in a book, on one tv episode a collection of fairy tales doesn't work as a structure and having all the monsters there just feels like a retread of Pandorica Opens. Not to mention we have those godawful narrations. I would have found the story much more engaging if it hadn't announced how much time has passed and let us work it out ourselves. Imagine if Blink had gone and "then Cathy Nightingale was sent back in time by the Weeping angels where she lived out the rest of her life" or Eleventh Hour "and then Amy waited fro the Dr for fifteen years..."
@@Ben-vf5gk - yeah, sometimes Steven's framing devices are weird and misplaced. Like the poem in A Good Man Goes to War.
I think the structure of the episode is perfect in terms of cutting from Clara in her flat to the Doctor on Trenzalore, as he ages more and more. It's just too small a runtime with too much stuff it wants to do, so it becomes cluttered. Did we really need the cracks in time back? It was pretty well resolved. And did it have to be the Time Lords specifically? Why not just have the Silence try to get the Doctor to confess his name, or something?Half he screen time is just exposition, and it's so confusing.
As a kid, I lost interest in Doctor Who after Series 6, going from the biggest fan in the world to not bothering to ask when it's back on. The Day of the Doctor and The Time of the Doctor were the only epsidoes I watched from Series 7, and Christ I was bewildered.
Should of have handles after nightmare in silver
Do you have a Peter capaldi Dr who costume ready? I think a black suit with suit vest would suffice. I thought the addition of Clara's family was the writers taking inspiration from the bad Texas chainsaw massacre sequels
I feel like this episode's biggest problem was that it was paying off stuff that happened a series or two series' ago. By the time this happened I forgot why I should care. I forgot about the dangling plot threads. I just wanted something new and this is going back to the stuff that should have been wrapped up in series 6.
The naked thing was awful. Clara has never "fancied" the Doctor though they've flirted, and this episode RUINED The Silence. Nothing we've seen supported that twist. I mean this episode did swing for the fences. But failed. Its still better than a meh limited imagination, and all the stuff at the end with Amy and taking off the bow tie makes me cry every time. EDIT: That ending was AWESOME.
Clara definitely fancies the Doctor. It's most evident in The Snowmen, but it's been there the whole time. She is overly flirty with everyone so I guess it can be hard to spot as it's a character trait of hers, but yeah, I always felt it was there. I don't really like it either but Clara had a lot of traits that get exceptionally annoying as her character progresses
Sontarons don't reproduce sexually, but are clone in batches of many. Presumably there's a dud batch, hence same actor and makeup - and he already played a dim sidekick in The Sontaron Stratagem.
Yessssss its time for grumpy space dad. Yesssss give me my 12
Clara should have started in series 8 with Capaldi point blank period.
I think that reaching the regeneration limit with smith thing would have worked better if they pointed out that the doctor has routinely used his regeneration energy to heal himself and other people. It so much more satisfying if his selflessness and recklessness with his own life leads to an early 'death' rather than '10 was vain and regenerated into himself' which isn't even true to begin with.
You could argue the vain part but it is an absolute truth that he regenerated into himself. There is no doubt about that, we all saw it happen.
15:45 right?? How cool is it that, after The Time of the Doctor, the Doctor doesn't know how many regenerations he has left. Maybe it's one more, maybe it's thirteen more, maybe it's infinite.
*It causes the Doctor to be mortal because any body could be his last.* Now the Doctor, truly, is immortal. *Sigh.* The concept Steven introduced was so short-lived, and I honestly think it's one of the best long-term additions to the show. But it was cut short to one Doctor by Chris.
This is like a worse version of how the Hellboy comics ended. Avoiding spoilers, the audience is distanced from Hellboy and the story is told through unreliable narrators, like he's truly become a fairy tale. Then, at the end it gets more intimate and conclusive.
The Timeless Children actually opens up a plot hole, since The Doctor shouldn’t have needed a new regeneration cycle if he had infinite regenerations from the start.
They were hiding that fact, though.
well, heres a theory. what if at the end of asention of the cybermen, it was the doctor/brendan using the chamelion arch to change into a timelord, and in the time of the doctor, that is the doctors regenerations being granted back to him
Anyone else started crying when they quoted the speech
This is one of the most overhated episodes in my opinion. It’s streets ahead of The End of Time and it works better for me than Twice Upon a Time. Not my favorite regeneration story but people really tend to overexaggerate the flaws with this one. And I think that Smith’s final scene is the best final scene of any NuWho Doctor.
Moffatt can't do long plots, always spoils it in the next episode or two.
Not one of my favorite episodes but do find something sweet in the Doctor dying of old age. I also liked tasha lem but she seemed like another River. And your adaptation of his speech made me squee.
If 11 was wearing a wig, why did it regenerate with the rest of the body? Shouldn’t we have seen 12 with that wig post-regeneration since it was fake hair?
Somebody brought that up, but then it was pointed out that he was on Trenzalore for hundreds of years prior to regeneration, so it had time to grow back.
I didn't like this episode when I watched it the first time, and I like it less now. 'I can see the strings' really hits it dead on; I can feel Moffat desperately trying to make this all work, like buttoning up a shirt that's too small.
The payoffs are intended to reveal exposition about neglected plot threads that haven't stood the test of time at all, such as explaining The Silence as an attempt to prevent the return of the Time Lords that apparently all the various victims of the Time War see as a re-opening of horrors of time warfare. Even for the most attentive of geeks, this is a plot thread not worthy of the plot, i.e. it is unearned plot payoff considering how it was used across season arcs as cheap mystery box payoff for seasons long bereft of seeing the plot actually play out in meaningful story telling. Its just writers' room plot glue spilled before the viewers who understand writers make up plot glue all day long. Plot glue only obtains meaning through hard work by all the rest of the production team addressing consistent plotting over time. We barely saw the Time War. Its nice it got paid off but the Silence and the Time War were ever just shiny mystery box dangled from time to time to justify a plot to kill, and then marry, the Doctor. We got to see that story and it is quite independent of the plot contrivance behind the scenes that justify a sense of mystery and build-up.
Its all in a way just a way of observing that, now that tv is online for all time viewers are quite a bit more sophisticated about showrunner's crafting of cheap hooks and cheap payoffs, and valuing quite a bit more happy memories of successful characters and stories that are more a matter of hard work and luck than clever plot inventions that only address the momentary needs of the writers to convince an audience to stand by at such and such an airtime and tune in until the end, which used to be the goal. Now the goal is pleasing a fan base which takes monumentally more care, preparation, patience and devoted hard work.
I recently watched a Classic Who episode of McCoy's Doctor and Ace. I adore Ace but it was of a different era of relaxed standards, with goofy plotting and goofy performance, because it was only tv and was ephemeral entertainment for daily living. I regret I am ruined for such relaxed Who standards.
This review was spot on. There were a lot of good ideas in the episode, but they were not given time to develop, and they did not agree in tone. Then there were the bad ideas, like Clara's boyfriend and the naked scene. It stuck the landing, but the execution was wobbly.