Time and the Doctor

On Christmas, Matt Smith’s run as the 11th Doctor ended with the episode “The Time of the Doctor. While initially critical of the episode, after thinking about it for a while, and realizing how much enjoyment I got during so many moments in the episode, I warmed up to it.

However, it is still a very flawed episode. That is one thing I am noticing universally in the reviews for this episode is that people thought the episode was rushed. This probably most eloquently stated by Morgan Jeffrey of the Digital Spy, who gave the episode a 4 stars out of 5. Wikipedia has a great summary of what he said:

Morgan Jeffrey of Digital Spy gave a positive review and gave the episode 4 stars out of 5 and said “Matt Smith steals the show, his final turn on Doctor Who is one of his very finest, perhaps even his absolute best.” He also compared it to David Tennant’s final episode and said “Smith’s regeneration scene too is a thing of beauty, like David Tennant before him, Smith gets to break the fourth wall, just a little, in his extended final monologue, it’s perfect.” He also was positive towards Clara and felt that she was now being written in a more human, empathetic way now that “the impossible girls arc is over”, “even if it was a bit rushed” and felt that “steps were being taken in the right direction” with the character. He praised Jenna Coleman’s performance, “she is dependably excellent.” But he did say “‘The Time of the Doctor’ is a case of the parts being greater than the whole. It has great scenes and standout moments rather than being a great episode.” He did also criticize the pacing and felt that “a repetitive story structure robbing many key moments of their power.”

io9 makes a similar point, though in a more pointed manner, outright stating it should have been a two-parter like The End of Time.. Their logic with that was that Moffat would have been able to flesh out the storyline conclusions to various plot threads from Series 2-7. I do have to agree with this. Doctor Who and Moffat got shafted here. The Time of the Doctor had all of 61 miutes to wrap up the story of the 11th Doctor, plus a number of his remaining plot threads. Meanwhile, the 10th swan song, the The End of Time, had a whopping 135 minutes, and even the 9th Doctor’s finale had 90 minutes.

Another criticism I am noticing is that Amy Pond should not have been there at the end of the episode. The train of thought for this is that it pushed Clara, the current companion, out of the spotlight at the end. I myself don’t know what to feel about this. On one hand, I think it is poignant that the first face the 11th saw also the last one. On the other hand, as a character, Clara was really screwed over in this episode, albeit out of good intentions.

There are a handful of personal gripes I have as well. For example, while many issues were solved, what about Clara’s sacrifice at the end of The Name of the Doctor? Remember that the whole reason the Doctor met Clara was that she had jumped into his timeline, being scattered to the 4 winds. With him not dead, does that mean the last 10 episodes unravel? Or will he come back one more time to rest for eternity? And for another, a mini-episode in the Series 7 box set shows that Clara was introduced to the idea of other companions during her time on the TARDIS, not to mention her time at the Black Archive in The Day of the Doctor showed a number of the Doctor’s other companions on a chart. One would think she would be able to connect the dots a bit.

However, I had a good time watching this episode. I laughed some, I cried some, I laughed some more, cried some more, laughed some more, cried some more, cried some more, and cried some more.

I also like how many of the loose ends were tied up. The one I especially like out of all of them is the revelation that the Silence and Kovarian were extremists of the religious organization “Church of the Silence.” In essence, we have Space/Time Al-Qaeda. In addition, we also get to see that Clara is a bit….weird. Her attitude to the Christmas Turkey resembles something Abby from NCIS would say.

Series 8 and the Future

The most obvious thing for the series next year is that we are starting off with a Doctor with some deal of Memory Loss. He has forgotten how to fly the TARDIS. This harkens back to 2 different things in Classic Doctor Who. Depending on which one we are hearkening back to, this could have a huge effect on the show coming forward.

First of all, often after regeneration, the Doctor would have memory problems. This occurred with the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th Doctors immediately after the regeneration, often providing a bit of drama for the Serial in question, but generally resolving itself before the next story started.

However, a more curious example could be what happened to the 3rd Doctor. The 2nd Doctor was forced into regeneration after breaking a number of rules regarding non-Interference. In addition, his knowledge on TARDIS operation was blocked. This of course, would heavily enfeeble the Doctor. Not being able to pilot his own ship, he would need to rely on someone else…

Take a Look in the Background. Who’s flying the TARDIS?

In addition, recent revelations from some hardcore Whovians has revealed that the voice asking “Doctor Who?” from beyond the crack at the beginning of this last episode was Ken Bones, who voiced the General in The Day of the Doctor. This would mean the TIme Lords responsible for giving him the regenerations were likely friendly.

The General

Which would add a new wrinkle. However, if one remembers back to the Series 5 Finale, when Amy was exposed to the Crack, it was explicitly stated the following.

The Doctor: Memories are more powerful than you think, and Amy Pond is not an ordinary girl. Grew up with a time crack in her wall. The universe pouring through her dreams every night. The Nestenes took a memory print of her and got a bit more than they bargained for, like you. Not just your face, but your heart and your soul.

And that was over the course of no more than 18-20 Years. The Doctor was in very close proximity to the crack for no fewer than 300 years, probably much more than that. The Time Lords on the other side may have gotten one hell of a detailed picture of his mind, and his memories, both of his companions and his actions. While the Amnesia might be an accident, it is not out of the question that the friendly Time Lords, while wanting to save him, also want to take him down a peg or 50. Perhaps force him to keep a companion.

About Clara Oswald

The Impossible Girl & Lady of Second Chances

At this point, Clara has become one of the most influential companions in the history of the series. For one, she has an inverted ratio to the Doctor in terms of who (hehe) is saving who. With the last episode, the Clara has now saved the Doctor no fewer than 8 times, as compared the inverse standing at 5. This does not count unknown instances with other incarnations of Clara, aside from the well known three (Clara Prime, Clara Oswin Oswald, and Oswin Oswald.)

In addition, she also holding credit for preventing the Doctor from pressing The Moment, saving Gallifrey. And to top it all off, her answer to the Time Lords caused them to give the Doctor a whole new round of 12 regenerations, with one of the best moments of the episode, as quoted below:

Clara: You’ve been asking a question, and it’s time someone told you you’ve been getting it wrong. His name, his name is the Doctor. All the name he needs. Everything you need to know about him. And if you love him, and you should, help him. Help him.

However, it will be safe to say that Clara may be a bit strained after the last episode. Not only did the Doctor trick her twice into going home (though for understandable reasons), but she got a first hand look at how oblivious he can be to his companions and their feelings and thoughts in the most brutal way possible.

At the same time however, we also get to see how much she cares for, and to some level, loves him. This moment made me tear up the most.

Hey, it’s okay. It’s alright. Don’t worry.

For Killgore: EastEnders, Soaps, and how they killed Classic Who.

A Bad Show

And for Killgore. I remember, his mocking of EastEnders following Doctor Who, and noting it was still on, after all this time (1985.). Now, as warning, if you don’t hear from me again, my mom, grandma, and a close friend in Oklahoma are likely responsible, as they like Soap Operas.

In this case, there is something more insidious here. Namely that EastEnders played a role in the hiatus that killed Classic Who.

You see, Michael Grade despised Sci-Fi, and Doctor Who especially. He gave the show hell for its low production values, but refusing to increase Doctor Who’s budget. In addition, he was responsible for the firing of Colin Baker under some very corrupt circumstances, likely involving an affair:

Former Doctor Who production manager Gary Downie, however, claimed that the dismissal was for personal reasons: “There’s a history between Michael Grade and Colin. Liza Goddard was Colin’s wife. And she was Michael Grade’s best friend. The divorce was acrimonious and she moved into Michael Grade’s house while she was getting over the divorce. And I’ll say no more. Michael Grade was determined. He did not want Colin working for the BBC.”

This is not the only matter in regards to him, as he also became known as the “Pornographer-in-Chief” for his stint on Channel 4 after leaving the BBC when the programming on that channel became a great deal smuttier. This is also compounded by a very creepy, almost fond attitude to the nasty past revealed in the Jimmy Savile Scandal that rocked the BBC last year. Mic Wright of the Daily Telegraph summarized the issue on October 3, 2012:

Grade recounted the tale of his father, Leslie, booking a British tour for Jerry Lee Lewis in the late Fifties. The gigs were cancelled because the rocker had brought his 13-year-old bride along. As he shared the anecdote, Grade chuckled…It was grimly appropriate that Channel 4 chose two middle-aged men to opine on the treatment of girls in the 60s and 70s. Those women, dismissed as “groupies”, had far fewer chances to speak out then, less of a platform and a voice than the celebrities who exploited them.

Now, some of you, especially Killgore, may ask “What does this have to do with EastEnders?” Well, that is a very simple answer. During Grade’s dubious tenure, he was a big advocate for Soap Operas on television. He purchased the Australian Soap Opera, The Neighbors, for the Daytime Schedule, with it starting to show in October 1987. In addition, on the advice of his over-privileged, school-aged (at the time) daughter, he gave Neighbors another time slot later. However, his biggest long term effect was the creation of EastEnders, which has continued into the present day. In addition, another series, Howard’s Way, was started, though that one mercifully ended in 1990.

Unfortunately, things would not be complete with the defilement that EastEnders did to Doctor Who for it’s 30th Anniversary. I should forewarn all of you, this will make you angry, and at least one of you might re-enact the first portion of the 11th Doctor’s Regeneration. I regret to show you, Dimensions in Time, a Doctor Who/EastEnders crossover.

Youtube Video

What’s really sad here, is there was a plan for a full one 30th Anniversary Movie, Lost In The Dark Dimension. It was to be a movie, and would have featured the 4th Doctor with his companions being Ace and the Brigadier, A synopsis of the overall plot is below.

The story would have centered on an older version of the Fourth Doctor, the Brigadier and Ace with shorter appearances by the other surviving Doctors, though in more minor roles. Classic monsters would have included the Cybermen, Daleks, the Ice Warriors and the Yeti.

The central idea to the story was that of the alteration of time by an evil creature so that the Fourth Doctor would not have died and regenerated after falling from the Pharos Project (as seen in Logopolis). In doing so, the creature created a “Dark Dimension”. The Doctor had to revert back the timeline before he and his future incarnations were erased from time by the effect.

The production would have also featured “Summerfield”, who would have been the Seventh Doctor’s companion Bernice Summerfield from the New Adventures book series.

It ended up cancelled for 2 reasons. One was an objection by the BBC Controller Powell’s objections to the concept, followed by the BBC then joining Phillip Segal’s proposal for pants-on-head idiotic plan for a US reboot of the Doctor with B-List actor Eric Roberts as the Master. Granted, this also gave us the fantastic Paul McGann as the 8th Doctor, but The Enemy Within was not good.