Doctor Who: Twice Upon A Time

[LavarosVA]

Just felt like discussing the Christmas Special with you all. I quite liked it, a fitting end to Capaldi's Doctor in my opinion. I think his final speech hit just the right note between fond farewell and tragic exit. I think the only way that it might of been better was to see a glass memory of Missy, so she could tell him that at the end she did reform. I know that eventually the Master/Mistress will be back and it will be as an antagonist, but I think it would of been nice for a moment that the Doctor had what Missy was craving in her first real appearance. Having his friend back at the end.

A second complaint that all things considered is minor but: why does the Doctor continue to regenerate in the Tardis midflight in the modern series? Is it just a way for the previous incarnations to say screw you to the one coming up? Breaking something in doesn't mean you actually have to break things after all.

[Durandal_1707]

God, that was good. Really a shame that we couldn't have had more than just one season with that trio. Oh well. Looking forward to seeing Jodie in action (beyond the obligatory "fall out of the crashing TARDIS" that seems to be requisite for every new Doctor these days).

[MissKittyFantastico]

I really enjoyed it - went along to the cinema for the occasion, and it was worth it, even though they (smartly, I feel) veered away from the big/cinematic angle and went for a more personal story. Even though I'd seen the clip before, seeing the archive footage of William Hartnell fade so effortlessly into David Bradley on the big screen was a shiver-down-the-spine moment just for the sense of DW history. I really felt for the Captain very quickly, right from the start, so once the story was done and everything was on the table that became a satisfying tribute. The critic in me does wonder if maybe Twelve's final speech could have been trimmed down a bit - I did kind of get an '...and another thing' feeling a couple of times - but eh, brevity isn't everything. I feel like Moffat and co. went out with their better qualities on show, and I'm very excited to see more of Thirteen when she lands (however literal that may need to be).

[Dînadan]

In some ways I found it disappointing. It wasn’t bad, just...small and not particularly special. It works great as a coda to the last season but didn’t feel satisfying as a Christmas Special; if it had been part of last series more fully I think it could have been one of its high points, but as the Christmas Special it falls short for me.

I did like the nod to First’s regeneration in the regeneration scene with Twelve’s ring falling off Thirteen’s hand, although I do have to question the wisdom of the regeneration trashing the Tardis (again). While it has happened before with the last couple of regenerations, I’ve already seen ‘women drivers’ comments popping up regarding it. I’m guessing the reason is to have an excuse to explain away the change in sets, although I’m not sure that’s really necessary; Fourth had a change from the classic white control room to the classy wood panel room with the explanation of it being a secondary room or something, and then changed back without one as far as I can recall (behind the scenes being because the replacement set got damaged in storage between seasons iirc), and as far as I can recall, Eleven’s change from the colourful ‘child’s imagination’ style room to the darker more sci-fi room was done without explanation (iirc it happened between losing Amy and Rory and meeting Victorian Clara so can be explained as changing/being changed to reflect his more emo mood, but no explanation was given on screen), so they don’t have to have a regeneration blow it up to explain the change, and if it’s just to seperate the Doctor and Tardis for her first episode, there are other reasons that could be contrived.

[RobbyB1982]

People are complaining about the length of Capaldi's farewell speech being like 5 minutes. I think these people have forgotten about Tennant's 20 minute parade of death.

I liked the ep, I think it was a good sendout.

[GandALF]

I'm glad they didn't hit the reset button on Bill but I'm confused by why they allowed the first doctor to be of his time when they went out their way to butcher those romans so thoroughly.

[LavarosVA]

People are complaining about the length of Capaldi's farewell speech being like 5 minutes. I think these people have forgotten about Tennant's 20 minute parade of death.

I liked the ep, I think it was a good sendout.

I actually like the speech. It may be a bit self indulgent, but as a farewell to a series Moffatt and Capaldi put so much of themselves into, from atleast a meta stand point it's earned.

[Paul Walker]

I really liked it.

By keeping it personal, the focus was on what we liked about Capaldi's Doctor. It also means that if Chibnall wants to do big next year, he can, without it feeling like Doctor Who always getting bigger and badder.

There were some lovely little moments in it. I wish that River Song had made a cameo, ditto Missy.

I wasn't overly keen on the part where Chibnall took over, as it has the Doctor losing control of the TARDIS on regenerating for the 4th time in a row! (Tennant crashed into London, Smith fell out and crashed into Amy's garden, Capaldi asked "Does anyone know how to fly this thing?" before ending up in a T-rex, and now Whittaker has tumbled out the TARDIS while it blows up). They need to think of a better way to explain rennovating the TARDIS. Or even better, don't. Just have the Doctor walk in and not even notice that it looks different, but carry on using it the same way he always does.

In the same way that Missy muses "It doesn't matter which face he's wearing, they're all the Doctor to me" you can imagine the Doctor having a similar view of the TARDIS' desktop settings.

Anyway, thank you Steven Moffat for 12 years of Doctor Who stories, and your 7 as show runner. You'll be missed, but I look forward to seeing where the show goes from here.

[jadenova]

The Tardis was moving because the Doctor had a class to teach on Monday.

[SuccubusYuri]

I felt...mostly-underwhelmed. I didn't dis-like the special, but it was...bizarrely mundane for its premise. Like when they encounter the captain the first thing in my head was, "How is this guy Lethbridge-Stewart?" Perhaps Moffat has just grown predictable due to his constant attempts to outsmart his audience, but that in particular was egregious. xD I liked the overall concept a lot, particularly the idea, "Hey, the world isn't always ending. Sometimes the universe is just nice." I liked the personal connection between the Doctors, it wasn't like the usual thing we've had since The Three Doctors, with various incarnations embarrassed or outright hating themselves, One and Twelve seemed to understand each other, and genuinely respect each other underneath the snarking, more so than these meet ups usually go.

My absolutely favorite line, oddly, was First's comment, "Just look at her," in front of the glass avatar. It was a good piece of character contrast, and almost (not entirely unjustified) criticism about how technobabble modern Who can feel time to time, rather than simple, straightforward problem solving. And it did a decent job of not letting one Doctor outstrip the other, though First felt...a LITTLE lost and out of it. I'm sure it didn't intend to come across as Hartnellism, but I felt he should have been quicker on the uptake, feeling sometimes more like a FAN of the First Doctor watching the new special than the actual Doctor would add up the evidence, having a vast and knowing mind. Those these are just personal grudges, in general I felt it was very respectful to the First Doctor.

...Generally. A pet peeve was how heavily they leaned on his..."old fashioned sensibilities"? Not that they were wrong in the assessment, nor should they have just ignored it, but there were 2 or 3 too many of them. We got the point, and it numbed the better ones with eyerolls from the cringey ones.