By Leah Stone
For many, Christmas is a time for happiness. For laughter for giving and for having fun. Until you get to the evening (at least for Whovians, anyway). As, Christmas usually signals the regeneration of The Doctor. Perhaps the BBC think that Christmas is a good time, to give the present of a new Doctor. However, others would argue that they are taking more than giving as you are sat there in tears when the regeneration process starts. This year, we lost Matt Smith, the Eleventh Doctor who had a soft spot for bow ties, fezzes and fish fingers with custard, and introduced Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor.
For many, Christmas is a time for happiness. For laughter for giving and for having fun. Until you get to the evening (at least for Whovians, anyway). As, Christmas usually signals the regeneration of The Doctor. Perhaps the BBC think that Christmas is a good time, to give the present of a new Doctor. However, others would argue that they are taking more than giving as you are sat there in tears when the regeneration process starts. This year, we lost Matt Smith, the Eleventh Doctor who had a soft spot for bow ties, fezzes and fish fingers with custard, and introduced Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor.
The episode starts with ships from practically every alien race, circling around an unknown planet, the TARDIS amongst them. The Doctor has somehow managed to befriend a Cyberman head he calls Handles, and is using it as his personal assistant to decipher a message being broadcast from the planet surface. There is an extremely comic scene where the Doctor meets Clara’s family and then he and his companion head back to the planet. Handles detects the message originates from Gallifrey itself.
The Doctor and Clara are teleported to the planet in order to find the origins of the message which is coming from a crack in the fabric of the universe in the wall of a church. We find out that the cracks that the Doctor had previously closed were opened by the Time Lords, who were saved during the events of the 50th anniversary episode “The Day of the Doctor”. Handle translates the message as “Doctor Who?”
The Doctor and Clara are teleported to the planet in order to find the origins of the message which is coming from a crack in the fabric of the universe in the wall of a church. We find out that the cracks that the Doctor had previously closed were opened by the Time Lords, who were saved during the events of the 50th anniversary episode “The Day of the Doctor”. Handle translates the message as “Doctor Who?”
The Doctor is caught between a rock and a hard place. If he answers answers the question the Time Lords would return and cause a full scale war between all groups present, but to not answer would result in the destruction of the planet. So the Doctor decides to stay, in order to guard the planet (which we discover is Trenzalore) and protect it from any invading forces trying to break through the force field that currently surrounds the planet.
The continuity of the episode is brilliant. The phrase “The Silence will fall when the question is asked” is finally explained. The Silence wanted to stop the Doctor from going to Trenzalore so he couldn’t answer the question. Also, I have to applaud the performances of Matt Smith and Jenna Coleman. Although Clara has been my least favourite companion, Coleman’s acting in this episode was amazing, especially in the final scenes when the Doctor regenerates.
I have always liked Smith as the Doctor, although I found some of his stories lacking in certain areas, that was not his fault and his acting helped to make up for some of the lacklustre plots. You could tell, in his farewell scene, that he really meant how he felt and he definitely gave a big yank on my heart strings. Then you get Peter Capaldi, who, although he only gets a few lines, makes me chuckle right away by complaining about the colour of his kidneys. My preference for a goodbye episode is for it to be funny, and to remind me of old times, and to then make the actual goodbye an emotional scene, and this episode definitely does that.
I have always liked Smith as the Doctor, although I found some of his stories lacking in certain areas, that was not his fault and his acting helped to make up for some of the lacklustre plots. You could tell, in his farewell scene, that he really meant how he felt and he definitely gave a big yank on my heart strings. Then you get Peter Capaldi, who, although he only gets a few lines, makes me chuckle right away by complaining about the colour of his kidneys. My preference for a goodbye episode is for it to be funny, and to remind me of old times, and to then make the actual goodbye an emotional scene, and this episode definitely does that.
So much happens in such a short space of time. It was like having a full length movie stuffed into an hour long television episode, with many unanswered questions from Smith’s series’ left until this episode that it would be extremely hard to follow for someone only just getting into Doctor Who or has missed some episodes. It seemed every few minutes a plotline was answered and it was hard to keep up with everything that was happening. The concept was, but there was just too much of it. There were Cybermen, Daleks, Silence, Weeping Angels, Sontarans, all just too much.
Although the acting was first class, the continuity was great and it had the emotions flowing, it was far more complex than it needed to be. Here’s hoping for Capaldi.
Although the acting was first class, the continuity was great and it had the emotions flowing, it was far more complex than it needed to be. Here’s hoping for Capaldi.
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