Episode #251: The Time of the Doctor

" We all change, when you think about it. We're all different people all through our lives. And that's okay, that's good, you've got to 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. "

Episode #251:      The Time of the Doctor.
Companions:        The 11th Doctor and Clara Oswald.
Air Date:              25th December 2013.

Orbiting a quiet backwater planet, the massed forces of the universe's deadliest species gather, drawn to a mysterious message that echoes out to the stars - among them, the Doctor. Rescuing Clara from a family Christmas dinner, the Time Lord and his companion must learn what this enigmatic signal means for his own fate and that of the universe.

At the end of Matt Smith's time on Doctor Who we nice big Christmas special that not only wraps up a number of open mysteries but sees him regenerate into his 12th/13th incarnation in the form of Peter Capaldi. We finally see the outcome of the crack in the universe that appeared in his first season, the question hidden in plain sight and the answer to just how many regenerations does a Time Lord actually have. All wrapped up in a nice package.

While it starts off in the usual way of Christmas specials being set on Christmas it thankfully does not stick to it like previous specials did. It moves away from that to being set in a small town called Christmas instead which although strange doesn't feel like the Christmas element is being shoved in your face. Just for that immediately it gets a thumbs up.

The story shows us what is supposed to have happened to make Trenzalore look like it did when we last visited it with The Great Intelligence. A mysterious message is cast through all time and space through the crack in the universe which when translated turns out to be a question that only the Doctor can answer - his name. Hence I suppose why the show is (retconned here) called Doctor Who I guess. When the assembled alien menaces attack the town of Christmas is saved by the Doctor and his tenuous allies from the Papal Mainframe - the Silence - over and over again through the centuries until the Doctor is an old man at the end of his life. Although since events played out differently than we saw in The Name of the Doctor does that mean that The Great Intelligence is not dead after all and could return? Good question.

Importantly we learn that a Time Lord does indeed just have 13 lives and the rumours of that going around since the latter years of the 4th Doctor are true. Thankfully the Time Lords intervene and present our hero with a whole new set of lives. They promised the Master the same thing in The Five Doctors had he been successful. Speaking of which, we see once again the seal of the high council that the 5th Doctor took from the Master in that story. Nice bit of throwback there.

The story itself is good, exciting and emotional at the end. It is fun which is what I would expect from a Doctor Who special at Christmas. However it does get a little silly in places again. Wooden cybermen and sontarans reduced to a cheap laugh especially did not sit well with me. It seems that the Sontarans haven't been given a serious appearance since the reappeared in The Sontaran Stratagem and The Poison Sky under the 10th Doctor.

It is a shame to see Matt Smith go as although I was not convinced when he was first announced he grew on me very quickly. His first few moments in The Eleventh Hour really enamored me to his character. Even now I do miss him. He is probably my favourite modern Doctor to date. The end of an era. Let's see where we go from here.