Doctor Who: Twice Upon a Time (2017)

Wow! Such a good movie.

Wonderful character development!

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Blistering performances.

As much as I love peter Capaldi as the doctor, this was not the right send off for him. I honestly think that it would have been better to see him regenerate in the doctor falls. As it was a much better send off for him. But no, Steven Moffat has to go rub his grubby hands all over the wonderful ending he had for us, all just because he didn't want to lose the Christmas special slot on telly. Thanks a lot Steven.I'm not really sure where to start. I could start with the offensive characterisation of the first doctor, or the amount of fan service he tried to stuff into it. There was so much thrown at our faces and it's hard to understand any of it. Especially if your a casual viewer. To a casual viewer it would pretty much be a bit like this. So there's these glass people and they have frozen time or something, and then the doctor visits a dalek called rusty that I had never seen before and so the doctor goes back in time even though it's frozen and saves this guy called Stewart that fought in a war or something and now that bill girl is glass, or is she? Also, Bill. WTF Moffat why?!?! Why bring her back? She had a perfectly good ending in the doctor falls!!!!! And now all the focus is on her and wether she is glass or real when should be on the plot. OH WAIT! THERE IS NO PLOT!! There is literally no plot! I could go on about how the first doctor is written like a sexist when he's really not. This makes the doctor look like a bad person (bye bye half the audience). But I think I'm gonna stop here. The only good scene was the regeneration. Dam that was good. So I give it 4/10. The four was for the amazing performances by all the actors and the amazing regeneration scene that makes me cry and then scream with glee.

A little bit of backstory in the writing of this episode, Chris Chibnall (who is now the showrunner and Executive producer of Doctor who) was originally supposed to write this episode however decline, so Moffat was left to write this episode and it really shows. I watch this with my dad on the day after Christmas and within ten minutes of the show my dad fail to sleep, that's how exciting this episode was. The story is non-existent and the plot is paper thin, I don't think I can even explain the plot to you it's that weak. Basically the story involves the two doctors (12th and 1st) they get abducted by a ship run by a glass-like holographic computer, they escape to another planet where the 12th Doctor gets information from said computer from a Dalek of all things, they return to 1914 Earth and say farewell to each other before regenerating in their respected tardises, that the story in a nutshell. The Characters are no better, we are introduce to a WWI British field captain whose name isn't even reveal to us until the end of the episode and the First Doctor played this time by David Bradley. I like David Bradley in this, he plays William Hartnell's Doctor really well, however because Moffat is a complete Jerk he decided to make the First Doctor sexist which is pretty disrespectful to a man who has been dead for 42 years, not only that but William Hartnell never said or did anything sexist on the show. The whole thing comes across as a bit mean-spirited and should have been left out. Bill the Lesbian makes a comeback and her reason on why she has returned only makes sense through the eyes of Moffat. First she turns into a Cyberman, then she turns into a puddle girl, now she is made out of glass and we don't know if that's really her. Humpty Dumpty look alike Nardole comes back only to say farewell to the Doctor as do Bill and Clara (a Character I hate). You would be mistaken to think that this was written by multiple people as the episode doesn't have any real purpose other than for the 12th Doctor's companions to say goodbye which was done in The Doctor Falls which if you see my review wasn't a great story either. Everything that you see in this episode is unoriginal and has been done before though much better. Even the regeneration is unoriginal, the whole combustion whilst the Doctor (or whoever) holds his/her arms in a cross like position has been done so many times now that it's beyond tiresome not to mention destroying the Tardis whilst regenerating which was done far better in the End of Time. I like that they use the morphing effect on Capaldi's eye as it transitions into Whittaker's eyes and the use of the Bad Wolf theme not use since the End of Time, 7 years ago. The last three minutes of this episode is probably the best part, the Doctor (now played by Whittaker) presses a button and the Tardis blows up and then she falls out of the Tardis, I don't know why but I found that whole scene amusing especially the way she's falling. After watching this episode I rewatching previous regeneration stories in DW and I noticed a glaring error with this episode, the Doctor (mainly the 12th Doctor) isn't heroic. In all other regeneration stories the Doctor is always heroic despite the odds that are against him, we saw him face his fears in Planet of the Spiders, save the universe in Logopolis, risk his life to save Peri in Caves of Androzani and stop his own people from destroying the Earth in The End of Time. Here not only is the Doctor withholding his regeneration because he doesn't want to, but he also sends the WWI captain (yeah did you forget about him?) back to Ypres so he would die, fortunately for the captain he doesn't die because of the Christmas truce. Ohh as for the Captain's reveal it turns out his the Grand Uncle of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart which is just shoehorn in.

This episode features David Bradley recreating the very first Doctor (originally played by William Hartnell) and accompanying Peter Capaldi in his final adventure before his 12th Doctor regenerates into a female 13th Doctor. The episode begins with a beautiful clip from Hartnell as the 1st Doctor sstarting to feel his regeneration coming before a slightly unnecessarily noticeable transition to Bradley playing the 1st Doctor. The tiny flaw in this transition is quickly forgotten as Bradley does a fantastic job throughout the episode. Bradley is a supremely good actor and it shines through in this respectful, humorous and magical portrayal of the Doctor. Capaldi is on top form and the story is thoughtful, moving, funny, interesting and works really well in all departments. I also loved Mark Gatiss role of the Captain who joins the adventure and turns out to be of lovely significance. The element which lifts the story even more into greatness is the inclusion of the Great War (now known as World War I) and the movingly beautiful scenes and thoughtful ideas presented with brilliant acting all round. Excellent stuff.Steven Moffatt's final episode as 'showrunner'/writer is among his best in my opinion. Moffatt has been a great servant to the show and the writer of some truly great episodes but also has been the architect of some overblown and illogical plotting in his years in charge. His use of humour has also been known to slip into silliness from time to time. I think he had a bit too much power and was not quality or logic checked enough at times. I hope new writer Chris Chibnall will have a team around him working to ensure stories are logical and top quality. Chibnall has incurred the wrath of a section of fans before he even starts by casting a young woman in the role of the 13th Doctor. The over the top online reaction to that decision is typical of online craziness nowadays about everything (Doctor Who, Star Wars, Game of Thrones etc all attracting online hate every time they depart from this vocal section of fans personal view of how it should go.). No sensible, measured approach is shown by these internet moaners, they just have huge over-reaction, hate and exaggeration, ignoring facts to claim their own personal view is the only acceptable truth and lacking any consistency in judging new work against earlier work. For instance I have seen online ranters saying this episode was poor because it was 'boring'. Well classic series of Doctor Who had slower pacing, relative lack of visual wonder and less action. There was also a lot of filler conversation and repetition of capture and recapture etc. This was due to the multi episode story format and constraints and expectations of the era. I LOVE those classic series. I loved it then and I still love it now. Slower paced, character building, thoughtful presentation of views and ideas all can be great. This episode is like classic Who in many ways and to criticise it for those aspects as if Doctor Who has to be a non-stop roller-coaster of action is ridiculous unless someone is a fan of the series only since 2005. The script, plot and acting in this episode carries off the slower paced, less action oriented story superbly well and matches most classic Doctor Who great stories. I am not saying this is the best episode ever but it easily sits alongside the top class.My own personal view is that a female actor taking on the role of the Doctor is of no real consequence as long as the acting and writing quality is high. Surely anybody should judge quality not gender. Yes, we all grew up with a male Doctor but why does gender matter really? If it is written and created well it will be absolutely fine. I suspect Jodie Whittaker will not be among my top 5 or 6 Doctors but I am willing to bet her tenure will be a lot better than the show was during the 6th Doctor's era or the first two years of the 7th Doctor when the show was well below the usual standard of writing or production.The 13th Doctor's arrival at the end regeneration scene was rather dramatic. I think I would have preferred a less shocking introduction and it has given more ammunition to the haters who latched onto the scene as evidence of it 'ruining their show'. I will wait and see her first episode though before I form any initial thoughts on her or Chibnall. This episode was about Peter Capaldi signing off as the 12th Doctor and he really finished on a high. His acting was superb and the writing gave him a great send off. Moffatt chose to have the 12th Doctor suffering a sort of identity crisis throughout his time, I guess you could argue the new cycle of regenerations given to the Doctor could cause this or just the chain of events could have made him question himself in a kind of mid-life crisis type situation. I loved that in Capaldi's farewell Moffatt allowed his Doctor to have a feeling of resolution and renewed faith in himself. Maybe this was overdue but it was done very well indeed. I hope fans can be open minded and stop over-reacting. The show goes through cycles and changes, it always has. If it ever slips it is only temporary so why not stick with it and try to look for the positives. By all means make constructive criticism where appropriate but be reasonable. Too much to ask in the online craziness but no harm in me trying.

To me this episode was perfect. I've seen a lot of complaining about the lack of action and no enemy. But they're missing the point. 12 already had his final battle in the doctor falls. This episode was more about the doctor learning about himself and everything he stands for. It showed the evolution of him. I loved the story of how the first doctor left galifrey because he wanted to see how good could ever beat evil and actually the answer to that was himself. David Bradley was a great first doctor and he's a great actor and its a shame he couldn't be his own original doctor. The final shots of the ww1 Christmas truce were beautiful it sums up why the doctor loves the earth so much that these soldiers who are at war could lay down their weapons for one day just to be kind was a brilliant moment and the scene of the 2 doctors standing there watching like ghosts was truly amazing. The cameos were a nice touch. Clara needed to be there in some form and they had a nice moment even if it wwsnt actually her. Also it was obvious Peter and Jenna didn't film the scene together but it was still a lovely moment and while nardoles appearance wasn't necessary it was still a nice and his speech about his battlefield being empty because everyone else had fallen was truly tragic and the last bit where they hugged and disappeared leaving his arms empty truly hit me hard. 12 I feel truly struggled with being alone more than any other.Capaldis 2 final speeches were truly beautiful about kindness. A doctor who had often been criticised as to dark or to cold and ruthless has shown he is the one who values kindness more than most. Say what you want about Moffat but he has truly given the doctor as a whole so much depth, he truly understands what makes him tick. Peter Capaldi you have been amazing both in the role and out of the role you truly are the doctor the universe we all need and have done so much and you deserve a great career ahead still and I may not like it but doctor, I let you go.The only negative I have is Jodie whitakers first scene. It felt lazy to me. This was chibnals debut scene and he did nothing to establish her character, the first words were as cliche and unoriginal as you can get then basically copied the 11th hour opening. Really hoping this isn't a sign to come for his era.But overall a beautiful episode for Peter Capaldi and him and Steven Moffat will truly be missed. Thank you gentleman for the best era of doctor who in my humble opinion.Overall rating: out of 10...12