Doctor Who: The Time of the Doctor (2013)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Expected more

Blistering performances.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Matt Smith's 11th Doctor was the first one that I came across and though I've since caught up and seen all the others 11 will always hold a special place in my appreciation of Doctor Who. So when news came out that this was to be his final regular outing in the role I was upset. Luckily the great Moffat delivered the ending to his tenure in such a way that it made you sad to see him go. What more could anybody want?The Doctor and Clara end up on the planet Trenzalore where he is faced with an impossible task of just staying put and holding off various threats (Sontarans! Weeping Angels! Daleks! Cybermen!) in order to protect the people of Christmas and the Timelords of Gallifrey. He's there for 900 years which makes him over 2000 years old in total and makes The 11th Doctor the oldest lived incarnation of the title character. Eventually it's revealed that though he is 11th numerically he is also 13th biologically so he cannot regenerate meaning that he will soon lose his life to old age. Matt Smith and Jenna Coleman create an emotional scene when he reveals this to Clara and the two try to pull a cracker but he's too weak. The scene will be referenced in the next Christmas Special, "Last Christmas", with a role reversal of sorts.This episode is filled to the brim with the story it's telling balanced with tonnes of monsters and a resolution to all the story arcs of Smith's tenure dating back to "The Eleventh Hour" and how it fits all that into just one hour is amazing but Moffat manages it. Sure, some of it is just done by some careful handwaving but generally the story succeeds in what it sets out to do. It gives us a satisfying end to the time of The 11th (numerically speaking) Doctor and concludes all the plot strands previously left open so as to wipe the slate clean for the first Doctor of his second regeneration set: Peter Capaldi's 12th Doctor. It stands to Capaldi's credit as an actor that he manages to steal the show despite only appearing for less than one minute. One series in at time of writing and he is already fast becoming my new favourite.In conclusion, this episode is a good ending for an excellent Doctor. Though far from perfect, the story is told well and will satisfy the fans without alienating the casual Christmas viewer. There are several elements of the yuletidiness that are a bit forced -- The Oswalds watching Strictly and the turkey and the town being called Christmas -- but if you can overlook these flaws you'll be happy enough with what Moffat has given us here and will miss Matt Smith. I will always remember when The Doctor was him.

Matt Smith's regeneration episode was incredibly well handled. It is horrible that so many people hate on it. Moffet's writing was getting extremely dark and depressing, which is how he writes, but it began to get extreme in season 7. This episode in my opinion is more balanced. It blends darkness with a good amount of comedy and action, which is a blend I didn't expect. Moffat was continually portraying Matt Smith as getting old and worn out during the season, which people complained about, but I feel that was a good twist, a weary doctor who has seen to much and it has scarred his youthful face, and it ages him mentally, and in this epic conclusion he ages physically as he is forced over years to fight his worst enemies. It is the ultimate irony, to not spend your last years with loved ones or friends, but to spend your time slowly dining of old age fighting your worst enemies. Matt Smiths Acting was brilliant and Clara showed the scared and frightened girl, showing vulnerability, all wrapping together with a dramatic regeneration scene which had people complaining, but it really allowed him to really cut deep with his death but still have time in between to say memorable, very well written, last words, instead of a brisk, you were fantastic, or, I don't want to go, this controversial way of regeneration allows his enemies to share in the drama of the regeneration, and it is actually written in a way that it is used to defeat his enemies, not done before. And the final change is interesting as 11's spontaneous and inconsistent life ends with a fast bang, just as it should be.

Once again Moffat has graced Doctor Who fans with the same regurgitated, stale refuse that he seems to think the public wants. Ever since he became the primary writer on the show great plot has been substituted for quick fixes and high-tech special effects, which has led to the borification of the show. It would seem that he is hellbent on ruining a show that has stood the test of time by making it more mainstream. It's time that they had more than one writer again, because Moffat is obviously not up to the task and if things continue as they have been then I don't see the show having much of a future left. In essence this episode ended up being a mundane mixture of Moffaty laziness wrapped in moldy, three-week old bacon.

As the credits rolled. I turned to a fellow 11th fan and we both shrugged. We felt disappointed and cheated. This episode failed to engage or captivate the pair of us.(I've since re-watched the episode, and it's certainly better for a second viewing.)There is a story here in waiting albeit jumbled and incoherent. Luckily it is saved by a few prosaic lines from the Doctor. Some mysteries are answered. The burning question about the finite limit of the Doctor's regenerations has speculation put to rest. There were some gentle pokes at the fans. One example is the Doctor referencing 'the Rules' when shouting at Daleks.Why was the town called Christmas, is there any deeper meaning here? Is it just the bleakness of winter with Trenzalore and Christmas being shrouded in darkness? (Rickets must have been pervasive, perhaps that's why the Doctor required a walking stick.) Or was the stick a Dickensian Scrooge reference? We kind of get a crotchety curmudgeon of a Doctor.There were a couple of plot devices that felt half baked. Such as Handles and the truth field.Is Handles just there to identify Gallifrey and decipher the broadcast? What was the purpose of the truth field? I assumed the stand off would get broken by simply asking the Doctor his name outright (a difficult question to side step there). The Doctor states that he has a plan, and then jokes that he doesn't, another false truth?Technology is outlawed in Christmas and yet we see electric lights, and later Handles and even the Tardis. The Doctor doesn't appear buff upon re- entry to the planet either (is this just skirted over?). If technology is forbidden surely the holographic units should be stripped from them. The pair weren't naked on Trenzalore.The same old foes are dusted off for this Christmas outing: the Cybermen, the Daleks, the Weeping Angels etc. Most of which didn't really add anything and just increased the noise. Please, please put the Daleks to sleep.The featured regeneration was a whopper. But it was two staged, partly to tease us viewers. In some ways I'd have preferred to have this at the outset of the episode to quell expectations. Begin with the end, then let the 11th have his hour.I'll gloss over this story and its imperfections to make way for the next incarnation. I can only hope that the BBC start afresh next time round. I liked the 11th Doctor, but he still feels alien to me, we didn't get enough of him. There weren't many stand out stories, the 11th didn't really get the chance to shine.As a sci-fi fan I would like: less Earth, more Doctor, a new intelligent side kick and some more captivating thought provoking human alien stories. I'm not even that fussed about the time travel! You can throw away the mediocre series spanning story arcs and the dullard companions.So long chinny...