"The Time of the Doctor" - Doctor Who Reaction!!

[@stuartarmstrong5190]

A pretty good episode. I love all the nods to Matt Smith's run but it just doesn't quite hang together. As you mention, I think Moffat wanted to tell this over a longer period - I think possibly half a series or even a whole series, but Matt decided to leave. For me, it's the best regeneration speech ever. Originally, I believe Matt standing on the clock tower and shooting the Dalek ships with regeneration energy was supposed to be the last time we saw him but Moffat decided that Matt ought to have a better farewell speech. I am SO glad they did, even if it is slightly weird when Capaldi suddenly pops up!

[@ledocteur911]

Handles The Goat

[@davidrenwickjunior]

Would you react to Gallifrey stands by the confession dial?

[@triem23]

Well, genuinely glad you two enjoyed this more than I did. This is my least favorite regeneration story of all time - yes, I'm including "The Time of the Rani" in that. I'll open and close with some good things to say. I like Handles, but let's not dwell too closely on the Doctor carrying a head around for a few hundred years. Problems: Back at "Day of the Doctor," I mentioned a had an issue I was waiting to bring up. Ok. 7b was chock full of "Doctor WHO?" and all of this "the Doctor's real name" stuff, then DotD PERFECTLY resolved this. "It's not the name I was born with that's important, but the name I chose." Perfect! No notes! Moving on, we never EVER need to talk of this again. "Time of the Doctor," and we're right back into this "Doctor WHO?" nonsense... Moffat had a perfect ending, then just had to take it one step too far... This will come up again during the Capaldi years. Multiple times. In the meantime, who cares what the Doctor's real name is? We've already got the correct answer. It doesn't matter. The name "The Doctor" is the important one. The Doctor's "real name" will either be random name-babble (like, "Colavandularisheva") or "Chuck." I vote for "Chuck." There's a lot of plot threads wrapped up here, but I didn't find the answers satisfying... Oh, three seasons later it turns out the Silence are pretty cool after all, and the issues caused prior were just those five jerks over there *points*. Wait, now 11 is all horny for Clara and is ready to be her boyfriend? Isn't 11 still married to River? At least from his standpoint? Given Amy Pond is a character I had major problems with, including saying to the Doctor, "Oi! WHERE'S MY SNOG?" at her WEDDING, I can only assume Moffat has problems with the institution? Either way, BAD married 11! No hit on Clara! (This was obviously a last minute thing Moffat decided to play with so that he could have an episode of Clara looking at Capaldi and being all, "but now you LOOK OLD!" for some character drama, and we'll come back to the point with Capaldi's post-regen story). I am so tired of comedy Sontarans. Remember when Sontarans were huge, brutal and scary and did things like pile rocks on bound captives to see how much weight they could take on their ribs, and for how long, before they suffocated? Hey, despite the flaws with that story remember how the Sontarans actually got troops on the ground and took the Citadel? Sontarans are Dalek/Cyberman level threats only held in check because they are busy fighting Rutans. Strax is great. Strax is much less great when every Sontaran is just Strax. Your video largely skipped over the Battle of Trenzalore montage, but it should be noted that a bunch of Weeping Angels were shown in front of mirrors with post it notes on them. Weeping Angels can be stopped by mirrors? Moffat just largely defanged his best monster. It's been established the Doctor's pockets are bigger on the inside, and the Doctor absolutely now carries a couple of pocket makeup mirrors. Weeping Angel appears. Doctor tells companion to stare. Doctor hands companion mirror. Doctor tells companion to hold it. Doctor adjusts sonic screwdriver to correct frequency to shatter stone. Episode is over. Wait, regen energy can blow up Daleks, destroy Dalek motherships, and detonate hard enough to blow snow off trees over the horizon? How, exactly, did the Time Lords get fought to a standstill again? Ah, yes, because Time Lords are petty, vindictive, power hungry, greedy, and too busy squabbling with each other to formulate plans, else they'd give regeneration cycles to soldiers and let the soldiers blow up tons of Daleks every time they are critically wounded, clearing an area out before the soldier's next regeneration picks up their gun and fights on. Clara's tearful speech at the crack. Jenna-Louise Colman is fantastic. She tries really hard... But I had to laugh at, "if you LOVE him like I LOVE HIM!" No, Clara, they don't - the Time Lords really don't like the Doctor at all. He is the "mad fool." The Time Lords would pour through another regen cycle with or without your pleading for one reason only... The Doctor is the only Time Lord who can release Gallefrey from stasis... I mean unless the Time Lords are dumb enough to bargain with The Master again, assuming The Master is still around! There's something else to be said about this scene, but, since these comments were spoiler-free we'll come back to the point after the relevant episodes. Ok, enough complaints. Let's end this on more positives. There is some really amazing practical makeup work in this episode, especially aging up Matt Smith. Smith's final speech, leading up to "I'll always remember when the Doctor was me," is the moment where Moffat gets it right. It's long, but, heck with it. It's great. Ok, so it's not as long as Tennant getting to travel and look in on every Companion ever, but...y'know, let's go all the way back to Davison. The VFX are unclear, but interviews indicate that the intent was that Five began to regenerate at the end of the third episode, but he's sitting on his regeneration and risking true death until he gets Peri out. That's pretty amazing. Even going back to Pertwee in "Planet of the Spiders," he comments on being lost in the Vortex before making it back to Earth. It's been established for a long time that a Time Lord can hold off regeneration for an extended period. Then again, we also know a Time Lord can regenerate at will if they choose - see Romana in "Destiny of the Daleks." Anyways, enough rambling. On to Capaldi! Very much looking forward to the *SPOILER REDACTED*