Rate & Discuss: The Time of the Doctor
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. And amongst them, the Doctor.
It was the end of a mighty era tonight as the Eleventh Doctor faced his final curtain call…
The Name of the Doctor was followed by The Day of the Doctor but this Christmas it was all about The Time of the Doctor as Matt Smith prepared to hand over the TARDIS duties to our new hero, Peter Capaldi. It was a climactic adventure four years in the making as various arcs were tied up to make way for a new Time Lord. But was it a worthy climax?
Christmas in the TARDIS is always an eventful time but this year the drama was pushed to new levels as a menagerie of monsters returned and the Doctor found himself caught up in a terrible battle. Not everyone got out alive as the Doctor was aided by old friends but his fate was already sealed by a timey-wimey trap that started to close around him.
The clock strikes 12 and a new journey has begun but did Matt’s swansong adventure do justice to his tenure as a whole? Our emotions ran high and there were some last minute surprises, but do you agree with Jenna Coleman who has said it was the “perfect” way to say goodbye? Join in the conversation and let us know. Raggedy man, we salute you!
NOTE: The discussion will NOT be spoiler monitored so please do not read the comments if you haven’t seen The Time of the Doctor. You have been warned!
He must have grown tired of working 11 months a year non stop
i loved it! answered alot of questions and i cried when matt died. capaldi could be seen as the 12th doctor or the 1st seeing as he is the start of a whole new regeneration cycle.
hold the phone! if gallifrey is what has been on the other side of the cracks since season 5 then does that mean when matt got stuck there he was in a universe where gallifrey existed and amy brought him away from that?
loved karens cameo at the end sort of made it that though clara was there, amy was in a sense the first and last face matts doctor saw and i like that :)
Day of the Doctor was better, but then, Day of the Doctor was *perfection*, so that is no surprise. ;-) I loved this. It was a perfect send-off, and I’m ready to meet Capaldi’s Doctor when the next season starts up. ;-) I’m very happy that there won’t be a split season this year. It was good, it tied up a lot of threads with neat little bows, but left Gallifrey still unresolved, which I think is as it should be; the Doctor needs something to push him forwards. I was sad to see Matt go, but it’s time, and they’ve got everything settled for the future now.
I thoroughly enjoyed it Matt was in excellent form as usual but i couldn’t agree with Stephen M that it would be more tear jerking than Ten’s demise Ten is still the king
and the Unanswered questions are as follows… who came through the crack in the eleventh hour because it wasn’t the doctor, who bellowed “Silence will fall” in the TARDIS and who was the woman in the shop that Clara talked about? three unanswered questions which im guessing steven is going to carry on into series 8.
Loved the episode and CLaras reaction to seeing a regeneration
@Francis Cowzer
i think tens end was prolonged too long.
he needed to let go
tens end was angsty, one of denile and left you with a bit of a sour taste
matts was one of acceptance, of the past and for the future, acknowledging the past, not letting it rule his head but never letting it go.
it was one of the better regenerations
The only thing that bothered me was that the little girl looked nothing like Amelia. Everything else was beautiful and could not have been more perfect. Bravo to all involved. Matt was outstanding as The Doctor and will be so missed.
@Kelli
i agree, you could tell it wasnt the same girl
@Katie
Totally agree with you.
@Kelli
The original actress, Caitlin Blackwood couldn’t because she was too tall and is obviously older so had to go with another actress.
@Katie
Uhm, it was made pretty clear the Doctor was dying of old age. The biggest clue might be this piece of, admittedly cryptic, dialogue:
“Here I am, dying of old age” ~ The Doctor
I mean I know Moffat tends to do a lot of “between-the-lines” writing, but you really can’t have been paying much attention. It fits in with pretty much everyone who says they don’t like Moffat’s writing, actually. None of them seem to pay attention, missing the subtle details like the Doctor shouting “I AM DYING OF OLD AGE” off the top of a bell tower.