Well time for a post as its now the Christmas season and I hope you've all had a good Christmas and this post will be very much the subject of the Yuletide as it will be on The Time of the Doctor, Matt Smith's swansong as Doctor Who. So let's give it a look.....
So the story is quite involved so I will only cover a paragraph's worth (as that's all I can be arsed doing tonight! ;-)). And it all begins with the Doctor (Matt Smith) who in his TARDIS along with thousands of other ships receives a transmission which can't be deciphered which is being sent out across the universe. The Doctor soon rejoins with Clara (Jenna Louise Coleman) and the two of them travel to one of the spaceships which is lead by Mother Superious Tasha Lem (Orla Brady). Tasha asks the Doctor if he will investigate the cause of the message to which he does and along with the help of a detached Cyberman head, named "Handles" (voiced by Kayvan Novak) which the Doctor has kept as a temporary personal assistant, the message is decoded and it reads "Doctor Who?". The origin of the message also appears to be from Gallifrey, which exists in an alternate universe and the Doctor finds a crack in the wall of the church tower within a small town called Christmas. The Doctor then says that the crack is a scar tissue within reality and that it was created by the Time Lords who he believes wish to contact him so they can escape into our universe. The Doctor then asks Tasha what is the name of the planet they are on and she reveals it to be Trenzalore, the planet where the Doctor is said to die on in the future. When the Doctor presents his conclusions to Tasha that if he reveals his true name then the Time Lords will be set to arrive into the universe, but as a result the time war will begin again. So the Doctor decides to stay on Trenzalore and he tricks Clara into sending her home by the TARDIS, and in order to keep the peace he has to defend against all outside attackers, as well as never reveal his true name in order to prevent the Time Lords from coming through. And from here it get's messier until the story eventually reaches its rather emotional climax.....
As a finale to Matt Smith's tenure in his role as the Eleventh Doctor, The Time of the Doctor is a bit of a disappointment, as it promises much but in the end it comes up a bit short. And once again the main problem of the story lies with Steven Moffatt's overly complex plotlines which do more to confound an audience then entertain them. And its Moffatt's inability to write a story in an even remotely linear fashion is what often alienates me from watching the new Doctor Who series at times, regardless of what he has done for the show as he has written some excellent episodes, but here is a prime example of his over indulgence in trying to be clever and intricate, which threatens to really backfire on him and on the show.
That aside however there are still some enjoyable moments in the story and its a nice touch that the Doctor is set to live out what turns out to be his last regeneration on the planet Trenzalore, where we finally see him age into an old man. And in order to keep the show going they also had to write in some kind of neat plot strand where the Doctor will receive a whole new regeneration cycle, which (SPOLIER!!!!) he receives at the end of the story. This was also another amusing moment where the Doctor reveals that he had actually used up all his regenerations, which included the War Doctor and also the Tenth Doctor's aborted attempt to regenerate, which he put down to "vanity issues!" (which was in David Tenant's era, in the episode "Journey's end"). There is also a rather amusing scene where Clara near the start of the story walks into the TARDIS to find the Doctor is completely naked! (something which Matt Smtih appeared to enjoy in his tenure in the role!).
Which brings me on to saying a little about the performances and Matt Smith for starters gives a charming performance in his last outing as the Doctor, and yeah okay he still does all that annoying talking with his hands and running about, but you get as an actor he must miss the part and he seems to relish the moments he has here before its all over. Smith also get's some funny lines of dialogue as you would expect such as when the aged Doctor says to Clara before he goes to confront the daleks for the last time "They like to talk so much I'll probably get bored before they even shoot me!". His final scene is also nicely played although it is a bit schmaltzy when we see Karen Gillan as Amy Pond come down the stairs of the TARDIS and she gives him a gentle touch on his cheek, as the Doctor pretends to see her for the last time. Smith also has a funny moment where he winds up Tasha Lem as she feels herself turn into a human dalek (as the dalek head stalk pops out of her forehead!) and he tells her "Never send a woman to do a doctor's job!!" and she slaps him, fights off the daleks and the Doctor kisses her.
Jenna Louise Coleman does a good job as Clara Oswald (and she's rather fine!) although she mainly just runs about, get's deserted by the Doctor and cries often when she realises how little the Doctor has left. Jenna's best scene however probably comes when she talks toward the crack in the church tower wall, as she pleads with the Time Lords to help the Doctor (and in that scene you hear Jenna's real Northern accent break out a little!). Orla Bradley also puts in a decent performance as Tasha Lem, who helps the Doctor out, although it turns she is also a human dalek, but the Doctor helps her fight off the Dalek impulses from taking her over, and he kisses her afteward and she says "Next time give me notice before you are going to do that!".
And finally I will mention Peter Capaldi who makes his first appearance as the Doctor and even though he is only onscreen for no more than 30 seconds he does make an excellent first impression as the twelfth doctor. And when Matt Smith makes that sudden sharp snap back and he turns into Peter Capaldi, when Peter looms toward Jenna, you can't help but think Malcolm Tucker has shown up when he gives that intense glower, before he groans and delivers his first line "Kidneys! I've got new kidneys! I don't like the colour!". And from even this one scene you get that Capaldi could make for being a great doctor, although its easy to surmise this based on Peter's excellent acting capabilities, but we will just have to wait and see how he get's on in the role, which he will fully take over next year and his first season will show in Autumn 2014. Whatever happens its great that we've got a terrific actor to replace Matt Smith in the role and it promises to be well worth watching.
As for the story's flaws, well as I already mentioned the plot is very convoluted and half the time its difficult to follow and no doubt will take a few viewing to get to grips with (either that or just read the summary on Wikipedia). I also felt the inclusion of the Daleks and the Cybermen were pretty redundant as they never really announce themselves in the story as they are more simply background enemy fodder for the Doctor to fight off. The pacing of the story is also a bit slow and there are times where it even becomes a bit boring to watch and there is too much faffing about before the story arrives at its climax and the whole thing of the Doctor being like the local hero of the rather stupidly named town Christmas (purely as the story really lacks much else in the way of Christmas references) is also a bit dull, even though its a nice touch to see the Doctor age naturally over 300 years without regenerating. I also felt like most of the new episodes when it comes to going for an emotional impact that they will always overdo it and from that point of view I always preferred the original series where they dealt with the doctors' depatures in a more understated way rather than hype them up in a way that they will try and guarantee the fans will reach for the hankies! (well that's the way I see it anyway, call me cynical if you will! ;-)).
So overall the Time of the Doctor isn't a wholly satisfying end to Matt Smith's tenure as the Doctor, which is a pity especially after the very entertaining 50th anniversay episode, The Day of the Doctor, which in itself would have been a much better way for his era to have ended. Regardless of that though the story does have some nice moments here and there and while his portrayal of the Doctor might not have been everyone's cup of tea, Matt Smith did provide a unique, quirky and at times even charming take on the role for the most part, which no doubt will be missed by many.
And on that note I shall bid yee farewell and Merry Christmas to you's once again. :-))
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