The Time Of The Doctor (Grading/Discussion)(SPOILERS!)
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If the Time Lords came back through the crack on Trenzalore, the Time War would have reignited (bad) and the people of Christmas would have been killed in the crossfire (also bad). And the Doctor makes no distinction between Dalek and Time Lord in that case, since innocents would be caught in between. (Nine and Ten often met races who were nearly driven to extinction because they were bulldozed by the two sides in the war)
As for the Daleks themselves, I imagine that, in their weakened, post-Time War state, they were closer to the Cybermen and the Silence in terms of power. After all, everyone spent centuries fighting not just the Doctor, but each other, until the only two factions left were the Daleks and the Silence, but that still took at least 4 centuries to wear everyone else out.
But it is clear they can open and close cracks as they like so why not open one somewhere else? Moreover why since they were convinced at the end that it was the Doctor why didn't they come through anyway ?
Well that was the longest trailer I've ever seen. When's the full version coming out? 
Seriously though, it was OK. I liked the basic simplicity of the story, but it was very rushed, overwrought and a bit overstuffed. Appropriate for Christmas I suppose.
Out of curiosity, do we know what the official (probably-made-up-because-he's-forgotten) age of the Doctor is now? He's been saying 1200 since the fake-out death and aged 300 years in the first half of the special, which would make him 1500 by the time Clara and the Tardis made it back. I didn't catch home much more time passed after that other than "centuries". Do we think he's made it to the big 2000 yet?
Also, anyone notice that since the Gaiman episode everyone appears to be habitually referring to the Tardis as "she" instead of "it"? I like how they've kept that idea up. One of the best touches in modern 'Doctor Who' IMO.
Seriously though, it was OK. I liked the basic simplicity of the story, but it was very rushed, overwrought and a bit overstuffed. Appropriate for Christmas I suppose.
Out of curiosity, do we know what the official (probably-made-up-because-he's-forgotten) age of the Doctor is now? He's been saying 1200 since the fake-out death and aged 300 years in the first half of the special, which would make him 1500 by the time Clara and the Tardis made it back. I didn't catch home much more time passed after that other than "centuries". Do we think he's made it to the big 2000 yet?
Also, anyone notice that since the Gaiman episode everyone appears to be habitually referring to the Tardis as "she" instead of "it"? I like how they've kept that idea up. One of the best touches in modern 'Doctor Who' IMO.
Older. He was 1500 when Clara returned the first time. He could easily be 2000 now, which would make Matt Smith's incarnation older than all the other ones combined.
I liked Handles, too.
Anyone else thought, that he shared a character trait or two with K-9?
Almost makes you wish he had build a K-9 Mk VI, but then that would have been incredibly sad, because they would have killed him during the episode.
Also, they played the Long Song from Akhaten to his regeneration! Yay!
I enjoyed it immensely. Much better than the bloated clusterfuck that was "The End Of Time". Although due to the excessive commercial breaks on BBCA, it didn't really feel rushed to me. Nor did I have any real issues with the story or pacing. All in all, about what I expected, and Smith did a fantastic job. Considering he's been the face of the Doctor during the era of it's greatest popularity worldwide, it'll be interesting to see how things go forward. Can't wait for next year!
I'm glad Moffat got my dream memo about The Doctor using his regeneration to destroy his enemies.
One gets the feeling the 50th anniversary special ate most of the budget and they crew was forced to make do with whatever they had left for the christmas special.
One gets the feeling the 50th anniversary special ate most of the budget and they crew was forced to make do with whatever they had left for the christmas special.
That is a nice touch. The statue on the desk reminded me of Idris/Sexy.Well that was the longest trailer I've ever seen. When's the full version coming out?
Seriously though, it was OK. I liked the basic simplicity of the story, but it was very rushed, overwrought and a bit overstuffed. Appropriate for Christmas I suppose.
Out of curiosity, do we know what the official (probably-made-up-because-he's-forgotten) age of the Doctor is now? He's been saying 1200 since the fake-out death and aged 300 years in the first half of the special, which would make him 1500 by the time Clara and the Tardis made it back. I didn't catch home much more time passed after that other than "centuries". Do we think he's made it to the big 2000 yet?
Also, anyone notice that since the Gaiman episode everyone appears to be habitually referring to the Tardis as "she" instead of "it"? I like how they've kept that idea up. One of the best touches in modern 'Doctor Who' IMO.
Geronimo!
Didn't like the episode, but after wishing for a Dalek companion for Christmas, I got Handles. Next best thing. I couldn't have asked for more. And was it just me, or did I get Dalek River Song too?
And Capaldi's introduction's got to be the best thing to ever happen in recent Doctor Who. For a moment there, I even thought he was going to attack Clara.
Didn't like the episode, but after wishing for a Dalek companion for Christmas, I got Handles. Next best thing. I couldn't have asked for more. And was it just me, or did I get Dalek River Song too?
And Capaldi's introduction's got to be the best thing to ever happen in recent Doctor Who. For a moment there, I even thought he was going to attack Clara.
Oh, and another black mark against it, I had to look up the cast list on Wikipedia to be completely sure who Clara was supposed to be having Christmas dinner with as they recast her Dad. And as the younger woman is only credited as "Linda" I'm not sure what the familiar relationship was supposed to be there- a step mum or girlfriend of her dad's? Aunt? Cousin? Some random bird? I mean, I was never a huge fan of the companions family playing a large role in the show but at least they used to do more with them than have them randomly turn up without being completely clear who they are.
The Silence were explained in the least interesting way possible as well: The Doctor had already found out in between their appearances and just throws it in as dull exposition? Bah.
Two things I'm a bit confused by:
Why were the people of Christmas celebrating Christmas all the time? To use the Doctor's analogy, they're not constantly sharing chocolate eggs on Easter island are they? Is it some sort of tourist destination or something?
[The people of Christmas were almost Ba'Ku level wet blankets as well, most of them seemed perfectly happy to go on celebrating Christmas whilst the poor old Doctor had to do all the hard work. Hey guys, priorities, your home is under constant attack, maybe scale back Christmas to once a year and deal with the threat of instant death first?]
The Time Lords plan... so in order to know it's safe to come back into the Universe, they're sending a question only the Doctor can answer so that when he judges the time is right he can say his name and they will come back through?
Except... they've also created a truth field around the planet so that rather than judging the right time the Doctor will be compulsed to answer the question truthfully the second he hears it.
Except... despite the truth field he doesn't answer the question despite it being repeatedly asked. So does the truth thing work or not, and what was the point of it?
The Silence were explained in the least interesting way possible as well: The Doctor had already found out in between their appearances and just throws it in as dull exposition? Bah.
Two things I'm a bit confused by:
Why were the people of Christmas celebrating Christmas all the time? To use the Doctor's analogy, they're not constantly sharing chocolate eggs on Easter island are they? Is it some sort of tourist destination or something?
[The people of Christmas were almost Ba'Ku level wet blankets as well, most of them seemed perfectly happy to go on celebrating Christmas whilst the poor old Doctor had to do all the hard work. Hey guys, priorities, your home is under constant attack, maybe scale back Christmas to once a year and deal with the threat of instant death first?]
The Time Lords plan... so in order to know it's safe to come back into the Universe, they're sending a question only the Doctor can answer so that when he judges the time is right he can say his name and they will come back through?
Except... they've also created a truth field around the planet so that rather than judging the right time the Doctor will be compulsed to answer the question truthfully the second he hears it.
Except... despite the truth field he doesn't answer the question despite it being repeatedly asked. So does the truth thing work or not, and what was the point of it?
He was rather...predatory and intense for a second there. I expected hi to say "Who are you? Wait, who am I?" but we got the random and funny "Kidneys!" line.
I liked it, but agree that it was a bit rushed and slightly disjointed. Smith and Coleman were brilliant though, and I loved the regeneration scene.
I'm really going to miss Matt Smith.
I'm really going to miss Matt Smith.
I liked having all the kids pictures around, much like Amy's scrap books of adventures with the Raggedy Man. Counter point that with the Clara dropping into the story the way Matt was into Amy's 1st story (appearing over the years relative to The Doctor but only minutes for her) this made a sweet bookend for the two companions as well.
Why would they use the same actor they cast as Clara's dad as a 20-something in the 80's to play a 50-something in 2013? Of course they would look for an older guy.
And I think it was meant to be pretty clear that Linda was meant to be the standard-order evil stepmother type.
You're nitpicking here. We still don't know a lot about Clara and this IS the first time we have met her "proper" family. They only had an hour to work with. Maybe they'll explore more later, or if the rumor is true that Jenna is leaving midway through series 8, this will be the only time we see them. In which case, they served their purpose....to show us that Clara's family is like everyone else's.
Enjoyable episode, but as others have already said, it was rushed and the story was messy. Actually, the story wasn't all that messy and tied up some loose ends nicely, rather the pacing of the episode was messy. It was a mix of the usual forced "IT'S CHRISTMAS!" cheer, the need to check off a list, the want of a bunch of monsters in one episode, and the drive towards The Doctor's regeneration. As a result, we didn't get a strong sense of The Doctor living in Trenzalore for hundreds of years, besides Matt Smith's strong performance and the old make-up (which was much, much better than the make-up used in "The Last of the Time Lords"). Even though it was expected, I didn't like the acknowledgement of the meta-crisis as a whole regeneration and I wasn't remotely surprised by Gallifrey giving The Doctor a new cycle of regenerations, although I did like the foreshadowing with the callback to "The Five Doctors." Tying The Crack with the search for Gallifrey was also a nice twist.
The regeneration was a bit wonky and felt like a case of having the cake and eating it, too. The Doctor uses his regeneration energy to defeat the Daleks (and I guess everyone else decided to flee?), and yet is able to pull a Tenth Doctor by holding off the final process so Matt Smith can get a proper goodbye to Clara and the audience. I loved his final moments and the surprise appearance by Karen Gillan (although that was clearly not Caitlin Blackwood), but it reminded me too much of "The End of Time."
I had hoped, but certainly didn't expect, Peter Capaldi would get more than a few seconds of screen time, but what little we did get, I enjoyed. Next autumn can't come soon enough. I just hope, as others have already said, Moffat avoids large, complicated arcs in the future. The search for Gallifrey is enough for me.
The regeneration was a bit wonky and felt like a case of having the cake and eating it, too. The Doctor uses his regeneration energy to defeat the Daleks (and I guess everyone else decided to flee?), and yet is able to pull a Tenth Doctor by holding off the final process so Matt Smith can get a proper goodbye to Clara and the audience. I loved his final moments and the surprise appearance by Karen Gillan (although that was clearly not Caitlin Blackwood), but it reminded me too much of "The End of Time."
I had hoped, but certainly didn't expect, Peter Capaldi would get more than a few seconds of screen time, but what little we did get, I enjoyed. Next autumn can't come soon enough. I just hope, as others have already said, Moffat avoids large, complicated arcs in the future. The search for Gallifrey is enough for me.
Except, that it was also supposed to keep you from failing the answer.
But then he did answer, more than once.
His name IS The Doctor.
Once the Time Lords realized that, they decided to help him instead of helping themselves totally in the spirit of The Doctor!
The more I think about this episode the more I like it.
One random thought, for a second there I thought, they would reveal Clara's gandma to be a former companion of the Doctor. Would that have been too much?
Yeah, but it doesn't say when you have to answer. And The Doctor's price for delaying and delaying was to very nearly die until the Time Lords changed their mind as you quite rightly said, his name is The Doctor
: )
Not really, the couple they met said they would need to get used to the field. I would guess by that you don't have to answer. Once used to the field, you develop the civilized habit of not blurting out what's on your mind.
Except, that it was also supposed to keep you from failing the answer.
But then he did answer, more than once.
His name IS The Doctor.
Once the Time Lords realized that, they decided to help him instead of helping themselves totally in the spirit of The Doctor!
The more I think about this episode the more I like it.
One random thought, for a second there I thought, they would reveal Clara's gandma to be a former companion of the Doctor. Would that have been too much?