Doctor Who (13th Doctor)

[IndigoPrime]

A bit of consistency in start times would help. Doctor Who bounces all over the shop and they wonder why on-day viewing figures collapse, only allowing the show to be partially saved by catch-up/on-demand.

[BPP]

Off trots the best actor to have played the doctor (and boy was he great at dying over the last three epsoides) and a good old crash bang wallop start for the new one. Gold Star from me.

[Taryn Tailz]

One line, just one line...and you know she IS the Doctor.

Very sad to see Capaldi go however, as I've found him to be my personal favourite of the new series Doctors.

[Mardroid]

I enjoyed that.

Is it wrong that the first thought that popped into my head when she pressed a button and the Tardis capsized was "women drivers, eh?" I'm really not sexist, and I understand it's a myth (women are generally far more careful drivers than men, on average), but my mind can be naughty sometimes in what it spits up and finds humorous.

Oh and the Doctor 'adjusting the time frame'. Is this something the Tardis has shown the capability of doing before? I would think the Doctor could have picked up the German soldier and deposited him and the British officer to the time period of the armistice with similar results. Maybe that's exactly what happened off-screen, but the general implications seemed to be that he edited the time line of that stand-off event from the Tardis console, starting with that good ol' yank of the lever.

I also noticed that the Doctor seemed to recognise the name of the officer, possibly affecting his decision to save him. I confess, I don't remember it, but I'm poor at remembering character names.

Oh and maybe the Doctor should find a wide open space to regenerate, if he is going to be blasting energy about. I'm not sure standing near advanced electronic equipment that allows you to bomb around time and space, is a good idea.  No wonder the tardis can get temperamental.

[Mattofthespurs]

I thoroughly enjoyed that.
Best Christmas episode for quiet a few years imo.
Thumbs up!

[Leigh S]

Grouch time!

I thought was OK, but all the usual problems of slow pacing and inward looking self congratulatory monoluging rather than plot.

It failed the wife and kids test by some margin.  Elsie (9) was very excited to watch it with dad, but walked off - Joe (12) has no interest in watching it, despite being a Potter fan and currently reading Charley's War!) - Clare (wife) complained it was "for the fans" - she defends RTD era Who as very watchable, and I'll give her that  - be careful what you wish for I suppose, as Moffatt has only intermittently reached the heights I hopedd, preferring to squander interesting ideas ("Hey it's an interesting idea, I have to DO something with it???")

Firsst Doctor is sexist chump - great. One or two jokes to that effect, fine (s long as you don;t labour them as here), but lose/cut the tell dont show of Capaldi's fan serving "never cruel or cowardly" speech and beef up the reason for the Firsts appearance and dilemma....

This "I don;t want to die/go" stuff, where the back room movements in the show become meta on the screen.... It isn't inherently bad, but when it is so blatant... we get you are leaving Moffatt, and you don't want to. We get that you think Doctor Who CAN be a fairytale, and are using the old Doctor to represent the "mingmongs" who won't buy into moon/egg shenanigans and are probably really, like, sexist and stuff (in 50 years time, will we have Doctor 25 calling out Tennant and Smith for their "shagging across time" and porn loving Ladisms?)

On Chris Evans radio show the other day, the producer was leaving, so they had about 10 minutes of backroom people talking about how great she was... it was excruciating radio (well, more so than usual for Evans) and shoed no self awareness that there is an audience tuning into to this that has no interest in.

Which is a shame as the basic "ideas" were interesting, as is generally the case. 

[Colin YNWA]

Well not watched Who for a couple of years but Jodie Whittaker has got me to try it again AND the kids are old enough AND my daughter is interested in a woman being The Doctor, so we were in and positive...

... I thought it was pretty good, but did suffer from being a little self absorbed and self referencial. It once again (one of my main beefs with the show) got a bit too distracted by now 'smart' it was and seemed to forget to be an hour of fun telly at the same time (so many things manage it).

Worse though the kids (6 and 8) found it pretty boring and didn't really buy in. They are still up for next series but over all this one wasn't for them. They did stick it out and asked what I considered all the right questions, but they just found it a bit dull.

Interestingly my daughter (8) thought the first Doctor's control room was way cooler than the current one!

[JamesC]

I really enjoyed that. Best of the Xmas specials by a long way I think.

[Mattofthespurs]

Interestingly, given some of the views on this forum, The Times reviewer today gave it a thumbs up but mainly because it was easy to follow and was not self referencial.

[Tinmachine]

Was a moving episode. A meditation on life and death. Found it not really to be self contained at all. Needed some knowledge of the Capaldi era, re his companions and the Dalek from Journey to the Centre of the Dalek.

Capaldi went out on a high note. Sad to see him leave, and would have loved to have seen another year from him under the new regime.

Bill Bradley was fantastic as the first Doctor. I wish the BBC would strike while the iron is relatively hot, and remake the missing stories from the first Doctor with Bill in the role. Would be better much better than the animation they're using with Shada and Power of the Daleks.

Jodie, didn't really get to make much of an impression. Ending in a cliffhanger, TARDIS is gone, and the Doctor is falling from a rather great height. Certainly will have me watching again.

Great setting for the story, loved the sets and overall design. However, like much of the Moffat era it was a bit of mess if one didn't give the story their full attention. Which there is nothing wrong with that demand, only it's Doctor Who and catering to a large audience isn't a bad thing, neither is writing 'up' but I think that is where the program may well have been losing an audience. Moffat was better as a writer than show runner.

[Taryn Tailz]

I enjoyed that.

I also noticed that the Doctor seemed to recognise the name of the officer, possibly affecting his decision to save him. I confess, I don't remember it, but I'm poor at remembering character names.

It was Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart's Grandfather.

[Mardroid]

I enjoyed that.

I also noticed that the Doctor seemed to recognise the name of the officer, possibly affecting his decision to save him. I confess, I don't remember it, but I'm poor at remembering character names.

It was Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart's Grandfather.

Thanks Taryn. I thought it might be something like that. I haven't watched much old Who so, while I'm aware of a character called The Brigadier I didn't know his actual name.

[von Boom]

I really enjoyed that overall. Bradley and Gatiss stole it I think. I wish they'd reshoot the First Doctor episodes with Bradley. That would be something.

I just thought that the Doctor's speech to himself was a little overlong and needless. High marks all around for this Christmas episode.

[Professor Bear]

I assumed the sexism of the original Doctor wasn't meant as a reference to supposedly non-progressive fans, as since the RTD era, Who show runners have made it quite clear they don't care what the fanbase thinks.  If this was meant as a jab at them, it would make Moffat quite reactive.
Overall, I found that a bit boring.  Say what you will about Chibnall, but he's a shameless populist, and that may be what the show needs to inject a bit of life into it now, as it's been getting a bit mawkish and cloying.  As long as we don't have to sit through some sort of "I've lost me memry an 'ave terr lives as a hooman" story or something shite like that right out of the gate, I'll give the new show a gander when they finally get around to filming all the episodes.

[IndigoPrime]

I thought it was fine. Probably could have done with a few hours less of speech at the end (the show still desperately needs a script editor that the showrunner has to cede script control to), and that last sting of Moffat sexism to round things off (HAHAHAH WOMEN CAN'T DRIVE! Oh do fuck off).

Other than that, it was fine, for me not really a patch on the otherwise really solid last series, good to for once see a 'foe' that's not evil, and had some great work from Gatiss and – some iffy scripting aside – Bradley.

Bastard of a cliffhanger though. I do hope that one was agree with Chibnall, because otherwise that's a bugger to deal with as an incoming writer.