“We all change. When you think about it we are all different
people all through our lives and that’s ok, that’s good, you gotta keep moving
so long as you remember all the people that you used to be. I will not
forget one line of this not one day, I swear, I will always remember when The
Doctor was me.”
Matt Smith’s time
as The Doctor has finally come to an end in a story that takes place yet again
on Trenzalore. The Doctor’s greatest battle to defend the people of
Christmas from all his greatest enemies all in orbit around the planet waiting
to see if he says his name to allow the Time Lords to return. The Time of
The Doctor is 2013’s Christmas Special and it is a bitter sweet affair as we
say goodbye to Matt Smith as he regenerates and we say hello to Peter Capaldi.
The Time of The
Doctor is a mixed bag. On a whole I did enjoy it but there were a couple
of things that got me scratching my head wondering why Steven Moffat felt he
needed to add these situations into the story. For one why did they find it
necessary to have The Doctor walking around naked? Even when The Doctor
used the holographic clothes and then went to meet Clara’s parents for
Christmas dinner he was clearly naked and it just made for a really stupid
moment. It just seemed so juvenile and doesn’t need to be in a science fiction
show. I know the show needs to be light hearted at times but that was
just too immature. What’s next fart jokes? Umm well that’s been done
already so, moving on.
I’m also tired of
every woman who The Doctor befriends or knows wants to sleep with him. This
is getting old and is a tired gimmick that has run its course. Hopefully
in Peter Capaldi we don’t see this anymore and we can get back to storytelling
and leave the soap opera stuff to Eastenders and Coronation Street
In true Doctor Who
form he sacrifices his life to defend the innocent. The people of
Christmas are the benefactor of The Doctor protecting them and he ends up
protecting them until he is an old man living out his final moments. In
fact this deed will end up killing him as he cannot regenerate anymore. I
like how this was resolved as the Time Lords bestowed upon him another
regeneration cycle. It was simple and not complicated and that is exactly
how it should have been. Something uncomplicated as just giving The
Doctor a new life cycle with no drama and reviving an old man at the end of his
life. We know the Time Lords can do that as they offered The Master the same
thing as a reward in The Five Doctors. It was just a perfect way to do it and
the show will go on without a hitch.
I really enjoyed
watching The Doctor who stayed for Christmas as it was a story and something
you would expect The Doctor to do. It was interesting to see how he
changed through the time that Clara came back to see him and what he did in the
meantime by fixing the children’s toys and telling them stories of his
adventures. It was also sad to watch as this was a man who is used to
exploring and he is stuck in one place defending everyone and he is doing it
and you can see him get old in front of you and you can’t help but feel sorry
for him. This part of the story I really liked and it felt cheapened by the
stupidity of the opening minutes.
I liked how
everything was resolved from his era. What he saw in the hotel room from
The God Complex, who blew up his TARDIS and the meaning of the crack. For
the diehard fan of the show this was good and put an ending to storylines but
the casual viewer might be confused and lost. Oh well if they were expecting
a light hearted Christmas tale then the jokes on them. Its Matt Smith’s
regeneration story they should have known what they would be getting themselves
into it’s not as if the interviews and news articles did not make mention of
storylines coming to an end plus it is his farewell and those stories are never
lighthearted to begin with. Plus the resolution to the storylines was
quick and they did not add precedence to the overall story so there shouldn’t
have been much confusion from the casual fan.
I did like how
The Doctor used his regeneration energy to destroy the Daleks. If it can
destroy the inside of the TARDIS I guess it can destroy the Daleks. This
takes us to Matt Smith’s farewell scene the whole reason for this year’s
Christmas special. This is one of the best and emotional swan songs in
many years of regeneration stories. Steven Moffat is really good at
writing emotional speeches and this one is one of his best. It was sad
watching him talking to Clara with the Long Song from The Rings of Akhaten
playing and then Amy Pond makes an appearance as he has visions of his past that
makes the moment even more emotional. It really hit home when he took off
the bow tie and looked at it and dropping it to the TARDIS floor as it
symbolized that his life is over and that the bow ties are cool man is now
forever gone. I really liked how they handled this and it was such a powerful
scene and quite fitting for Matt Smith. It was even more shocking and
emotional was how fast he became the next Doctor as we get a quick glimpse of
Peter Capaldi to the shock of Clara whose facial expression are priceless and
Jenna Coleman did an excellent job in this scene.
So the Matt Smith
era is over and in life all good things come to an end but in Doctor Who they
do end but with good things yet to come. So like Amy Pond said “Raggedy
Man… Goodnight.”
8 out of 10
