They say that event TV is dead and the days of friends and family all watching a show as it is broadcast (either together or individually) are over... Try telling that to the Doctor! Twice in one year, barely a month apart he has dominated the TV ratings (OK, so maybe not the most viewers of the day but certainly the most viewers in its time slot) Hot on the heals of The Day Of The Doctor, this year's Christmas Special (for it has become a tradition that feels like it's been around forever) promised to be a cracking end to the anniversary year. The Doctor was arriving at Trenzalore to face his last days, Daleks, Cybermen and Weeping Angels would be there and we knew, some how, despite the limits set in place during The Deadly Assassin we were going to meet a new Doctor as Matt Smith was due to regenerate into Peter Capaldi.
I had made two predictions ahead of the anniversary special. Whilst watching the prequel The Night Of The Doctor, which included the regeneration of Paul McGann into John Hurt, I predicted that the gap would finally be closed and we would also see John Hurt regenerate into Christopher Ecclestone in The Day Of The Doctor. My second prediction and hope was that Steven Moffat would do something a little different and not leave Capaldi's arrival until the end but instead have the Doctor regenerate two thirds of the way through and let the new Doctor finish things off... My first prediction was correct (though we didn't see the full regeneration sequence) so how would I fair on the second...
Disappointment came first. Moffat seems to like the companions being tied to their home even more than RTD did and yet again we find Clara happily getting on with her normal live cooking Christmas for her family while the Doctor is jumping from one spaceship to another trying to find out why so many are gathered around a mysterious planet and what planet it is. I really wish the Doctor would just take his companions away with him and stop dropping them off home while he has other adventures that even we don't see. But then, this is a Christmas special so there has to be some Christmas in it (yawn) and it's also become traditional for the companion to either be absent or in a very reduced roll. Luckily, The Time Of The Doctor does include Clara as part of the main plot, though the Doctor would rather she wasn't. Following some confusing garbage about going to church in the nude but using holographic projections to protect their modesty in the eyes of others (really, it's a cheap gag that doesn't make any kind of sense and serves no other purpose) the Doctor and Clara are introduced to the Truth Field in the town of Christmas and when the Doctor discovers that the planet is Trenzalore he sneakily sends Clara in the TARDIS with a one-way ticket home so she is spared the pain of seeing him die and then be stranded alone.
Events unfold, the Doctor ages and loose ends that we didn't realise existed are all tied up. We learn why the TARDIS was exploding in The Big Bang, we learn what the oldest question in the Universe is and why it must never be answered, we see the Doctor grow old and start to look surprisingly like William Hartnell! For no real reason, the Doctor has a Cyberman head as a pet and there is a Punch & Judy style puppet show that looks suspiciously like The Curse Of Peladon! EDIT: Having viewed it again some time later, the creature looks more like a Monoid from the Hartnell adventure "The Ark", so I'm not too sure now. (29/08/14)
Clara eventually arrives back on Trenzalore, clinging to the outside of the TARDIS having tried to get back in as it started to de-materialise. She's angry at the Doctor for sending her away, he's angry at her for coming back but of course they are both glad to see each other and ultimately she helps him save the day. Not before he explains that he can't survive the events though. The line feels rather crowbarred in but addresses everything that fans have been talking about regards regenerations - he can only do it twelve times so we expect Peter Capaldi to be the last, but we learned in The Day Of The Doctor that Matt Smith was already the twelfth incarnation after the inclusion of John Hurt (even though he didn't call himself the Doctor) and also there was a pseudo-regeneration when David Tennant restored himself and created a non-Time Lord version of himself as a side effect! All the debates and discussions about this confusing state of affairs were brushed away by the Doctor and Matt Smith confirming himself to be the very last Doctor... So of course he needed to find a get-out clause and it was obviously going to come from the Time Lords who had offered the Master a complete new regeneration cycle if he helped them in The Five Doctors 30 years ago... and as if to flag this up early on in this episode, the Doctor quite randomly produced the seal of the high council (as given to the Master by the Time Lords in The Five Doctors and taken from him by the third Doctor, who believed he had stolen it) to help Handles translate the mysterious message. Confused yet?
Over all, The Time Of The Doctor was an enjoyable adventure with several moments of fan service which culminated in the appearance of Amy Pond as the Doctor was reset. I think it was confusing, exciting, funny and silly all in equal measures and ultimately did its job: to entertain, conclude the Matt Smith era and introduce Peter Capaldi... and what an introduction he had! Matt Smith's exit was a powerful explosion of regeneration energy followed by a calm as his young face returned and he said goodbye, then in a flash of classically old-school "Jekyll And Hyde" he fell out of one shot and Peter Capaldi fell into another. No morphing of overlaid faces just a flash and a bang, job done! He complained about the colour of his kidneys and asked Clara if she knew how to fly the TARDIS!
Where do we go from here? The chemistry between Matt and Jenna was brilliant and it feels like they had a full series together despite it only being half and it is a shame to lose that. Things are bound to be different with Peter as the Doctor because he will have a different style but he is also a lot older. How will Clara react to the change? She knows all about it and has seen all his previous selves so there is no concerns there... And what about Vastra, Jenny and Strax? Presumably they will be featured again but they will have to accept the new Doctor... More immediate though, how will the new series open? Moffat is known for not liking scenes to be left hanging during the show's absence so I doubt it will pick up where The Time Of The Doctor left off but we must surely have some kind of getting to know you scene as the pair presumably scramble to control the TARDIS...
So my prediction was wrong. Matt Smith may have started the regeneration earlier in the episode than might have been expected, but Capaldi didn't appear until the end... maybe next time... I'm planting the seed right now, take it or leave it!
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