My thoughts on ‘The Time of the Doctor’

I watched this year’s Xmas special with great interest, and while many are whining about it… I was quite pleased with Matt Smith’s final episode as the Doctor.

 

 
So here is my first impressions of ‘The Time of the Doctor’…

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A warning sweeties… spoilers!

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1. An emotional farewell to Matt Smith.

On par with David Tennant’s fond farewell, Smith’s Doctor also gets a chance to say goodbye to his most valued companions (Amy and Clara) before dropping his bow tie and changing into Peter Capaldi in pretty quick fashion.

I really liked it as it also reminded me of Nine’s final moments with Rose. There really are some similarities between those two couples.

 
2. Fixed points in time are only that until Moffat decides to discard them.

The Doctor’s sly move at the end of season six when he used a robot to avoid dying in the desert was just the beginning. Once the writers danced their way around that one, I was left thinking what other ‘fixed points’ would they try to bend next. We didn’t have to wait too long as the 50th Anniversary special saw Doctor Who, along with two other reincarnations of himself, saved his home planet by suspending it into a parallel pocket universe. So the fact that they’ve now written around the whole fixed point of his death on Trensalor can’t be all surprising.

 
3. Since the Doctor didn’t die on Trensalor, does that create a paradox that contradicts everything that happened in ‘The Name Of the Doctor’?

I understand why some are not crying foul that changing the future pretty much deletes ‘Name Of the Doctor’ and Clara’s journey into the Doctor’s timeline, thus becoming the Impossible Girl.

Yeah, that is a bit of a paradox but as long as the Doctor (in whatever form) returns to the very same planet and wages ANOTHER huge battle and dies, that would resolve the issue paradox rather easily.

 
4. Clara’s new crib looks awfully familiar.

I’m sure the doctor likely would have (and should have) noticed that Clara was living in what used to be Rose Tyler’s apartment building! I’m just surprised more Whovians didn’t.

 
5. Who is Clara’s Granny?

Upon second viewing, I noticed something I missed the first time: Clara’s grandmother is wearing Amy Pond’s rings!

This can mean one of three things:

a) She (or her husband) bought these rings at a pawn shop.

b) Granny is a descendant of Amy and Rory…

c) Granny is Amy Pond, which means Amy is Clara’s Grandmother! This would also mean River is Clara’s aunt.

 
6.How did Clara survive outside the Tardis?

We all know that Captain Jack was killed holding onto the Tardis while in flight, but Clara does the same with little or no effect.

This inconsistency can easily be explained. First, she was holding onto a key, something Jack didn’t have. Clara was someone that was close to the doctor, so the Tardis used its energy to expand its field and protect her.

Also, the Tardis probably thought Jack was trying to hump it.

 
7. The doctor ages?

This is not the first time the doctor has aged… but one thing all these aging incidents have in common? The Tardis wasn’t there… which means his lack of aging is because of the Tardis. So whenever it goes away, the doctor will age like everyone else.

 
8. The old doctor looks very familiar…

Am I the only one who thought that this aged Matt Smith looked rather familiar?

Seriously, how cool is that an old Matt Smith looks so much like the 1st Doctor?

 

9. Is this the same crack in time?

No, it’s not.

This is a new crack in time caused by the Time Lords.

This would certainly explain why this crack in time acted much differently than the previous one that sucked people into nothingness and whatnot.

 
10. Why did the Time Lords help the Doctor?

To be perfectly honest, they didn’t. The Time Lords were only out to help themselves.

In Day Of The Doctor, it took “all Thirteen” Doctors to save Gallifrey and lock it away in a parallel pocket universe. If the Time Lords don’t give the Doctor more regenerations, then Thirteen wouldn’t have been there to save Gallifrey. That could have doomed the planet.

It wasn’t help; it was their way of trying to avoid a paradox that could threaten their own existence.

 
11. Handles was pretty cool.

Was I the only one who thought the Doctor was having a Tom Hanks/Wilson kind of relationship with the decapitated cyberman?

 
12. Enter Peter Capaldi

I thought the blink of an eye regeneration was quite good. Instead of dragging it out, the doctor takes his new form in the time it takes to sneeze.

I liked it, but not what came after.

 
13. Why does the Doctor have amnesia?

The new Doctor asking Clara how to fly the Tardis was pretty awful. I really, really hope that Moffat & Company are not planning on starting Capaldi’s run as the Doctor with a whole ‘who am I’ storyline which would be completely boring and a waste of previous episodes in what is a usually short dozen episodes.

It would be a funny start to Capaldi’s run as the Doctor if he grinned and said that he was kidding and landing the Tardis. I really hope they’re not going to start the next season with an amnesia story…