Rate & Discuss: The Time of the Doctor

December 25th, 2013
Warning! This article and its comments may contain spoilers...

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: This 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!

Rate this episode
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(61 Votes, Average: 3.52/5)
80 comments on this article
  1. Patrick
    January 5th, 2014 at 8.46pm | #1

    @pirko

    The Silence will fall imo I think means that if the Doctor spoke his name that Silence would fall but the Silence/Confessioners tried to silence the Doctor before reaching Trenzalore. in the end silence didn’t fall as the Doctor did not speak his true name.

  2. Grace
    January 6th, 2014 at 8.19am | #2

    I just saw it thanks to I-tunes. Except for Karen coming back to talk to “Raggedy Man” I was bored to pieces. They didn’t even try to write an episode did they? Just stuck a bunch of plots from past episodes together just to try and pretend they didn’t screw us over by not answering our questions! Matt deserved better. Delete! Delete! Delete!

  3. Nezquix
    January 7th, 2014 at 3.41pm | #3

    Dull as dishwater!!
    Kept harking back to episodes LONG forgotten in Matt Smith’s era, confusing, regeneration seems to have been neatly solved though.

    Can Doctor Who writers make episodes that are less convoluted and less self indulgent?

    Matt Smith wasn’t the best Doctor but he deserved MUCH better. Bring on Peter and getting back to some DECENT Who stories please!! (Oh and maybe the Doctor doesn’t have to snog everything in sight?!)

  4. Nezquix
    January 7th, 2014 at 3.48pm | #4

    @Andy COMPLETELY agree!!!

  5. the other guy
    January 8th, 2014 at 6.17pm | #5

    @Ella

    Lovely video Ella! Couldn’t agree more. The bit you said, “if you’re a Doctor Who episode…”, oh the look on your face is priceless. Hope there are more video reviews in your future.

  6. isabella
    January 9th, 2014 at 9.48am | #6

    I definatly agree with you there was no plot,there was no sense.
    just the same stuff they use over and over again.It realy could have been better.

    And Ella your video was very good ,I hope you do more of them ,if you havent wached ella’s video it is very good I would reccomend it.

  7. isabella
    January 9th, 2014 at 9.54am | #7

    Who else is looking forward to the next series of doctor who?

    The only thing I don’t understand is the doctor’s body is meant to look younger every time but Capaldi is 55 so that doesn’t make any sense and also at the end he says”does anyone know how to fly this thing”when really he is still the Doctor so he should know how to fly it.

  8. JC
    January 9th, 2014 at 4.00pm | #8

    @isabella
    If you’re new to Doctor Who, it’s understandable why you’d think he has to look younger each time he regenerates.

    Actually though, he can look any age when he regenerates and it’s even been suggested he could change genders, so Peter Capaldi being in his mid-fifties isn’t a problem.

    Also, when the Doctor or any Time Lord regenerates, it’s a very stressful, confusing and disorientating event and the Doctor can often temporarily forget things or his personality can be mixed up until enough time passes that his body settles down again.

    So the 12th Doctor forgetting how to fly the Tardis is more than likely because he’s post-regeneration. Once his body and mind settle into his new body, he’ll be the Doctor again.

  9. Simon
    January 11th, 2014 at 11.04pm | #9

    yet there were still many unanswered questions
    1. Who came through the crack in the eleventh hour? It wasn’t the Doctor definitely know that!
    2. Who bellowed “Silence will Fall” in the pandorica opens?
    and i’m sure there was a few more
    Not to mention unanswered plot lines form Tennants era

  10. Patrick
    January 12th, 2014 at 10.02am | #10

    @Simon
    what do you mean through the crack in the eleventh hour?

  11. Simon
    January 24th, 2014 at 5.55am | #11

    @Patrick
    In the eleventh hour there was a shadowed figure who passed but we didn’t see who it was. Watch the eleventh hour between 15:50 and 16:07 a shawdow is seen coming past, who was that figure.. it wasn’t the doctor and it wasn’t prisoner zero so who else could it have been???? Unless im missing something

  12. Patrick
    January 25th, 2014 at 8.19pm | #12

    @Simon
    That shadowy figure in the eleventh hour was the 11th Doctor from the Big Bang episode when he runs up to young amelia pond and tells her the story about the TARDIS cos as you know from the big bang he steps into the crack and amy on her wedding day remembers certain aspects of the Doctor like the bow tie and the straps on his shirt etc :)

  13. isabella
    February 1st, 2014 at 11.41am | #13

    @JC

    thanks for that comment but I am not new to doctor who but I just assumed that he would be younger because in the official doctor who magazine it says almost every year:” we are looking forward to the younger faced doctor etc. ”
    But thanks for pointing out my mistakes.

  14. JC
    February 1st, 2014 at 12.05pm | #14

    @isabella
    Ah ok, sorry, but yeah, he can look any age when he regenerates.

  15. isabella
    February 1st, 2014 at 2.06pm | #15

    Its ok we all make mistakes right

  16. isabella
    February 1st, 2014 at 2.08pm | #16

    I also heard that they were talking about instead of having Capaldi they were going to have a girl/a black person. But oh well

  17. Joe
    February 5th, 2014 at 9.02pm | #17

    @isabella
    the 12th doctor is the first in a new regenration cycle so the doctor will start of old then get younger again

  18. Profzed
    February 5th, 2014 at 9.18pm | #18

    1st Doctor – looked old
    2nd Doctor – looked a bit younger than 1st
    Third Doctor – looked somewhat older than 2nd
    4th Doctor – looked a bit younger than Third
    5th Doctor – looked much younger than 4th
    6th Doctor – looked a bit older than 5th
    7th Doctor – looked about the same age as 6th
    8th Doctor – looked much younger than 7th
    9th Doctor – looked about the same age as 8th
    10th Doctor – looked about the same age as 9th
    11th Doctor – looked much younger than 10th
    12th Doctor – looks much older than 11th

    (Not including the War Doctor in the above because he’s grumpy.)

    So there’s no set pattern of the Doctor looking younger and younger each incarnation. Of course, it’s up to the Producer who gets hired to play the part.

    The next actor to play the part could be someone like Sir Ian McKellen, and therefore would look much older than the 12th Doctor.

  19. Courtney
    February 17th, 2014 at 3.03pm | #19

    Imagine if the doctor came back as a toddler…. X3

  20. Clara Evans
    February 17th, 2014 at 10.07pm | #20

    @Courtney be an interesting turn of events, but it would never happen. They probably will never go younger than Matt Smiths original beginning age.

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