Twice Upon a Time (Christmas Special - 2017)

I thought the Christmas special was good. I think Moffat has often struggled a bit when he's tried to do bit fate-of-the-Universe finales or special episodes so I think it was maybe a good idea to do something a bit more focused on the characters where ultimately there's not a big threat. I thought David Bradley was great as the First Doctor, he was excellent in An Adventure in Space and Time as William Hartnell so it's good to see him getting to play The Doctor in the show itself. I particularly liked his interactions with Capaldi. Overall it had a fairly bitterwseet tone but there was enough humour in there to stop it being dour.

It's a bit difficult to judge much about Jodie Whittaker from the brief glimpse we got of her, although I think it's the right decision not to have her appear in this episode too much or she might overshadow Capaldi's farewell. I am a bit sad to see Capaldi leaving because he was great in the role, it's unfortunate that he didn't really get the scripts his performance deserved until his final season.
 
A spectacular and emotional send-off for Peter Capaldi and Steven Moffat.
So many wonderful elements: First and twelfth doctor contrasts and similarities; concepts of immortality; closure with Bill and Clara; pyrotechnic regeneration ...
Obviously, the 13th Doctor is going to survive her Earth re-entry. I'm no so sure about the future of the TARDIS. Holy flaming, abandon ship, space wreck!
Best line: "I suppose, one more lifetime won't kill anyone."
No, Doctor, it won't. (y)
 
Let's say that after having your long-term love of Doctor Who sorely tested by NuWho only to have it go down in flames after "The moon is a giant space dragon egg also btw space dragons can give birth to an egg of exactly the same shape and mass of the egg which they broke free from f*ck you science", would this Christmas episode be worth an eyeball?

(And let's not even go to "bloke who is ex-army and on the ball enough to leap over an alien critter he has never seen before to save lives gets run over and killed by a granny doing all of 10MPH").
 
After watching the episode I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. By no means was it the best episode, but it was fun, with entertaining situations and some closure for this era of Doctor Who.

Of course the big moment was always going to be the regeneration. Something I was always worried about - not because of the sex change, but just because...

It was done well, and in much the same way as Matt Smith simply was the Doctor from the moment he appeared, I felt the same was true of Jodie Whittaker. The look in her eyes, and the look on her face when she saw herself was just spot on. The only complaint I have about the change?

The destruction of the TARDIS, spinning out of control and the look of a desperate fall to Earth. Virtually exactly what happened to Matt Smith.

Thought of the moment? It looked as though the TARDIS was encouraging the Doctor to regenerate and then (it might be just my perception) tried to eject her after the regeneration?
 
While it wasn't the deepest of episodes, I found that I enjoyed it quite a bit. Mostly because of Bradley and Gatiss. If BBC doesn't immediately start filming the First Doctor episodes with Bradley, then they are fools. Bradley was brilliant.

Where it went off the rails was at the end when Capaldi was giving his speech. Too long and needless.

I hope that with the new Doctor and a new show runner that the quality of the next series with rise to something resembling the classic series.
 
All I really have to say, is that I hope the "New Doctor presses a button, Tardis goes down in flames" bit wasn't a crack about female drivers.
 
I watched it (and this is the first time in a couple of years that I've watched Doctor Who) but I see that it's still the same old same old. Personally, I think they'd be better renaming it Doctor Twee.

Won't be watching the new series.
 
I thought it was okay, nothing more. There wasn't really a sense of threat. What happened to the creatures that grabbed someone's (I can't even remember who) head? Maybe I missed that. The whole Peter Capaldi regeneration was dragged out for how many episodes? And Bill came back again again? And Clara? I know they were memories, but hmmm.

I only found one of the original Doctor's sexist jokes funny (because it was so ridiculous) and thought they went over the top with the constant sexist lines.

I liked that not every alien/invader (or whatever word they used) has to be bad, but felt they could have done a lot more with that.

And when I said I wanted to avoid all spoilers surrounding the new Doctor, I was told something along the lines of "how could a new Doctor be a spoiler?" Well, the first female Doctor is a bit of a change!
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread starter Similar threads Forum Replies Date
ctg The Orville - 3.06: Twice in a Lifetime The Orville 7
Extollager Hawthorne's The Snow-Image and Other Twice-Told Tales Literary Fiction 2
DannMcGrew Stories are read twice in readers’ minds: Once for information, then for meaning Writing Discussion 3
Ian Fortytwo Books that I have read more than twice. Book Discussion 64
Extollager Hawthorne's Twice-Told Tales Literary Fiction 35

Similar threads


Back
Top