DW: The Time of the Doctor

They got the name of this episode wrong, and I'll hardly be the first person to say it: it should have been The Continuity of the Doctor. All those missing bits and pieces from the previous seasons we've been wondering about are brought up, and I guess answered in a way, here. And... doesn't that make it a crap Christmas special?

This is it! Hey, it's the origin of the Silence! Er... all right. It's the origin of the crack in time! Well, kinda... It's the origin of the question! Rather disappointingly... It explains the whole twelve regenerations thing! Except only us hardcore nerds ever cared about it. It featured Matt Smith in old age make up! Because if you are going to have a special, why not put your main lead in prosthetic make up for most of the time. (Yes, I know there are plenty of shows with leads in prosthetics, but they were designed that way!) It answered all those questions only us fanatical ones were answering...

...and no-one else cared about. Really. I find it highly unlikely that the general watcher, except on a casual basis, cared about the whole 'name spoken on the fields of Trenzalore' thing, and what not. In fact, this retcon episode makes for a rather boring story. Outside of exposition city, what happens in this episode? Not a lot! The Doctor goes to a place, and then stays there... and then the episode ends with a Deus Ex TimeandSpacia.

And how is it all solved? With sparkly regeneration effects, because we've now proved that regeneration energy is powerful enough to destroy whole Dalek ships! And if you must do a "remember all these companions" bit, at least go with an updated version of the end of The Caves of Androzani, instead of dragging it out like some show runners. And I will give them points for a quick change over of actor.

Aside from capping off the Eleventh Doctor, I doubt families gathering around the telly after Christmas dinner found this episode particularly thrilling...

Next Time: Well, we got us a Peter Capaldi, and a mad cap adventure I'm sure awaits!

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