Doctor Who Day

The 25th December is Doctor Who Day. Now I know that many people will claim that this has merely hijacked the ancient pagan festival of Yuletide and I have to say that the timing, tinsel and general merrymaking do have a certain familiarity but if the Christians have been pulling this trick off for centuries then why not Whovians?

The Time Of The Doctor has been much anticipated – mainly because we have now known for several months that we are to get a new Doctor in the form of Peter Capaldi. However, this was really the last great hurrah for the outgoing incumbent, Matt Smith. Regeneration stories have varied greatly over the years. I would say my personal favourites are The War Games (where we actually only see the regeneration start) and The Caves of Androzani where we see the 5th Doctor turn into the 6th. This was actually rather unexpected as it wasn’t the end of the series but the story was fabulous and saw the Doctor sacrificing himself to save his companion – a common theme throughout the show’s history.

The central idea behind The Time Of The Doctor was a brilliant one – the Doctor has run out of regenerations and uses up his remaining life defending a town under siege from the Daleks (and many other assorted alien species). This was actually one element that I think could have been simplified. There was really no reason to have any other aliens in the plot – although the Daleks have become a bit rubbish and whilst they are very good at flying around and causing random explosions they don’t seem to be particularly good at exterminating. In the past, half the townsfolk would have been lit up like fairly lights, but now they are very good at saying “Exterminate” without carrying out the deed: all talk and no ray-gun.

The other one element I could have done without was Clara’s family who appeared to add nothing to events (although her Grandmother was good value – and did she indicate that she had met the Doctor way back when?) However, I think that is nit-picking and for me the real female lead was Tasha Lem as the Mother Superious and head of the good guys: sexy and commanding and probably not to be messed with (although one suspects that the Doctor has done.) I looked up Orla Brady to see what else I’ve seen her in and she does pop up all over the place – however her birth certificate appears to be 20 years out of step with her face: timey-wimey or what? I did rather like the disembodied cyberman head, “Handles”, which rather harked back to the 790 robot in oddball Sci-Fi Lexx. In fact Handles made for a perfectly decent companion - did the Doctor need Clara at all?

Given the break-neck pace of the last three episodes (Name, Day and Time of the Doctor) I do wonder whether Steven Moffat had anticipated Matt Smith staying another series. There do seem to have been many, many loose ends ties up in these episodes and it feels like an entire series arc has been squeezed into 3 hours. It’s a pity as I had really hoped that Matt would do at least one more season. I think it is possible for an actor to stay too long in a role and I found David Tennant’s Doctor to have become a rather repetitive pantomime towards the end. I even think Tom Baker made a series too many but it’s not something I could accuse Matt Smith of who has always remained a delight to watch: I really felt a lump in my throat when he dropped his iconic bow tie to the TARDIS floor.

In spite of the packed script with more loose ends to tie than a threadbare Persian rug, I think Moffat did pull this one off and it does feel satisfactory – not only because it makes sense within the shows history from the last 4 years but because it makes sense over the last 50. Quite what the casual viewer would have made of plotting that relies on knowledge of episode details from 1983, 1977, 1969 and so on is debateable. Again, I think this would have worked better in a series long plot arc but that clearly wasn’t an option. Possibly it’s just better to assume that the audience will remember the plot details from the other 799 episodes!

That just leaves our first proper look at Peter Capaldi. My god, that man has scary eyes! I think he might just be able to stare out a Dalek until the old dustbin implodes. From what I can tell he is going with a Scottish accent and I think the relationship between him and Clara will be more of a generational one – possibly a 3rd Doctor / Jo Grant type relationship (or even a 1st Doctor / Susan one?) Anyway, we now have a long wait until the next series comes on but I have high hopes for the future with old freaky eyes. For now, it’s goodbye, Matt, and thanks for all the fish fingers and custard.