Doctor Who Christmas Special 2013

So I just watched the Doctor Who Christmas Special tonight. Excellent episode with a welcome return of several foes- Daleks, Cybermen, The Silence and the Weeping Angels. And of course this is Matt Smith's last outing.

Steven Moffatt is on a roll at the moment, having penned both this episode and the 50th anniversary special. Both shows were top-notch. The last 10 minutes of the Christmas special are phenomenal without giving anything away.

So long Matt, a job well done. Looking forward to Peter Capaldi as the next Doctor Who.

 

Peter Capaldi's first official appearance in Doctor Who apart from the glimpse seen in the 50th anniversary special. Very intense eyes!

 

More of the piercing eyes. I wonder if Peter Capaldi will be a slightly darker Doctor.

 

As of now, I couldn't give a rat's ass about the Daleks, the endless linked storylines, the lack if any new ideas.

I wish Moffatt would come up with something fresh.

Very disappointing episode, I thought. Maybe Capaldi will prompt a rethink.

 

Agreed, it was a "story" that wobbled and waffled, the main purpose of which seemed to be to try to tie up the loose ends from the Matt Smith era while finding a way thereby to justify more Doctoral regenerations so that the series can continue, which, given the mythos of the show was/is important, but for most viewers is a WTF or "couldn't care less" issue.
Personally, I was glad to see the back of the Matt Smith Doctor (and it was an extended farewell....you think he's gone....and then...he's still around) as I found his Doctor to be extremely irritating for a lot of the time......not the fault of Matt Smith I'm sure, but rather of the writing.
The reliance on the "companions" whose role has become exaggerated in recent years to the point where the companion(s) are too often the main protagonists with the Doctor being a mere comedic sideshow. I hope that Peter Capaldi has better, more inventive storylines and scripts to work with, as he's a fine actor and it would be a pity to waste his considerable talent by giving him the same subservient role (in relation to the "companion") that Matt Smith's Doctor had to deal with.
Please, enough of the flirting and hints at the failed romances that this poor Time Lord has had to endure where the Doctor is treated as a sailor with a girl in every port, except that it's a girl (or two) in every incarnation.
It's becoming like "Doctor Who" is a show who's thrust is decided by a focus group, in other words, a group that is not setting the show's own agenda, but following the ideas of a "committee" who play safe according to what they see as the ideas being currently fashionable, in vogue. I hope that I'm wrong in all this, but I don't think that I am.

 

I am... underwhelmed. Too much time spend on goodbyes.

 

This was the first Doctor Who episode I stopped watching before it ended (although I will finish it later). I have one word of advice for Moffatt: simplify.

 

Having been there since the highs and lows since Tom Baker, the new regeneration seems far too complicated. Apparently they found s0me way to go beyond the previously set limit of 12, but I couldn't explain it to you. I am looking forward to Capaldi.

 

They should have hinted that the 'unpopular' Doctors (Peter Davidson, Colin Baker etc) weren't real. That way they could have reduced the regenerations and started a whole new mystery.

 

Well I enjoyed Matt Smith's residency. Took me quite a while but I think he would now be one of my favourites. He was very much in Patrick Troughton territory. I'll miss that. Capaldi could well bring something very f$%king special...of course minus his "In the Thick of It" language lol

 

When is this re-airing on BBC America? Looked for it in the listings last night but didn't see it.

 

I thought it was truly exceptional.

Moffat's Who episodes are always wonderful and this was right up there with his best. It benefitted from being the episode that resolved many of the mysteries, from who blew up the Tardis, to who the silence really are and what happened at Trenzalore.

I really pity the people who want a more simple, linear and less serialised Doctor Who. This show has the richest mythology of any show created, and has the potential to span all of space and time. Moffat is able to tap into that potential time and again and somehow manages to write story lines with twists and consequences, as well as incorporating so much originality and inspired thinking (the cracks, the silence, the weeping angels, the clockwork robots, the moment etc. were all his). And you want to disregard that for what? Monster-of-the-week stories?

Doctor Who, certainly in the modern era, has never been more fun, more dramatic, more light, more dark, more entertaining, more clever, or more imaginative. This Christmas episode simply underlined this again.

 

I found it very disappointing, ill conceived and badly written, the plot and setting were farcical, definitely the worst Christmas episode, it made me long for the episodic stories of the past, cliffhanger endings and all. I hope that the new Doctor will usher in a rethink and new approach.

 

Wasn't the worst episode ever, a lill "wobbly" as stated above but it did connect a few dots. I enjoyed many of Smiths adventures but am REALLY looking forward to seeing where Capaldi takes this series

 

I thought it was pretty bad. Hey lets have every villain show up for no real reason because it's a "special". Hey look it's a town called Christmas, why, because it's the Christmas special dummy. Let's mention every bad story arc and tie them all up again. Lets take an important piece of lore and just brush it away with a magical hand wave. Lets have long parts of the story that are just there to set up lame jokes (Matt Smith naked, truth telling). Oh hey look it's a lame cliche flashback during a death scene...

It summed up everything that was wrong with the Smith/Moffat era.

It made me want to go back and watch classic episodes. I like story arcs, I don't like them when they make no sense and never stop piling on top of each other.

 

I finally caught up last night and there's no point in repeating the same points already made except to say that I'm definitely looking forward to see Capaldi in the role. I'm hoping it provides them with the motivation needed to refresh this series. I've enjoyed all the versions of this reboot but I've enjoyed this seasons eps the least. Time to move on from the childlike goofing around Doctor.

 

Although I did enjoy the episode it seemed to be written in order to tick off all the required points you listed above. I wonder how much of the writing is a result of pandering to the bigger worldwide audience? It definitely felt like Christmas Show Special Writing 101.

I was wondering though, how long is the US/Canada version? I watched the UK version of this episode and it was 60 minutes long. Do they cut anything out for the US/Canada broadcast?

 

I don't think they cut anything, that's why this episode ran over an hour.

I wish they had made some cuts though. I found much of it to be tedious to get through.

 

My kids wanted to see that Dr. Who movie, The Day of the Doctor. What a muddled piece of junk that was.

 

Hello, I'm a bit confused. I've always believed that the Doctor was allowed to regenerate 12 times. Matt Smith was the 12th doctor, so he was the 11th regeneration. So why then was he convinced he was the last of the line?

Especially as he'd already met a 'far future' version of himself (played by Tom Baker) in the 50th anniversary episode.

 

In "Journey's End," Tennant's Doctor regenerated after being shot by a Dalek. Because of the presence of his own severed hand on board the TARDIS, he diverted his regeneration energy into the hand (which later grew into a seperate Doctor after Donna touched it), after his body had been healed, but before he'd changed form. Still, it counted as one of his regenerations, so in order, he regenerated from:

Hartnell to Troughton
Troughton to Pertwee
Pertwee to T. Baker
T. Baker to Davison
Davison to C. Baker
C. Baker to McCoy
McCoy to McGann
McGann to Hurt
Hurt to Eccleston
Eccleston to Tennant
Tennant to Tennant
Tennant to Smith.

Twelve regenerations. Smith to Capaldi became the first of the new cycle granted to him.

 

Im just grateful we didn't have to suffer thru 300 years of Matt Smith stories stuck in a town called Christmas. Pertwee on Earth is one thing, Smith on Trenzalore another altogether...

 

I still haven't forgiven them for getting rid of Amy Pond.

I will miss Smith, the first Doctor Who I ever watched.

 

Oh. Guess I missed that episode!