Impressions of The Time of the Doctor
On Christmas Night, I watched The Time of the Doctor. I was stuffed full of turkey, sausage, stuffing, baked potato, brussel sprouts, plum pudding, brandy butter and all sorts of other good things, and I was relaxed and ready to be entertained.
And I was. New ideas, new canon information to chew on... or at least nibble at, since I had already eaten enough for Christmas, Boxing Day and probably New Year's as well. There was an undercurrent of feeling that there was too much stuff coming at me, and it not feeling quite solid, and things rather rushed at the end after some not so captivating things at the beginning, but it didn't really matter. All things were leading to Capaldi at the end, so Everything was All Right.
But now it's Boxing Day, I've partially recovered from turkey gluttony, and I'm in a contemplative mood. There was a lot of... stuff thrown at us in the Christmas special, and in the cold light of morning, my reactions are decidedly mixed. So, here are my thoughts. They're still evolving, but I offer them, such as they are: the good, the bad and the intriguing.
The Good
Matt Smith has been such a good Doctor. The way he can effortlessly blend the manner of an ancient being in with the goofy, joyful and caring alien that distills much of the Doctor as we've always known him through his incarnations is brilliant. He's not my favourite Doctor, but that doesn't matter one bit. The word "favourite" does not negate others at all nor should it. There's too much competition nowadays in which the word "favourite" is bandied about as the "one-and-only". When it comes to the Doctor, there can never be a "one-and-only", or you simply cannot understand the intrinsic, inclusive nature of the Doctor at all. No. I am very fond of Matt Smith as the Doctor and he's had a good run. I'm a little sad to see him go, but it's a good sad. It's time for him to go, and he knows it and is comfortable with it. Bless him.
The Regeneration Message And I just loved it when he said (after all the action is done, and back in the Tardis)--and I can't remember now how he said it, but the message was essentially this--there are different versions of each and every one of us as we move through life. Always changing, always moving on. And that is the right way of things, as long as we never forget who we have been. That is such a lovely, life-affirming message, and the thing I like best about his regeneration. The treatment of change that can come just in an instant, from one breath to the next. Ephemeral. All in all, what a lovely way to go out. Thank you.
Jenna Coleman brings such an impish, inquisitive and caring feel to Clara. I have been enjoying Clara as the new companion very much. She feels like someone who, if I or anyone else were to join the Tardis team, would welcome us in and instantly be a good and loyal chum. I never got that feeling from Amy--apologies to those who like her--but I feel she would have been quite judging and cold and kept any new companions on the outside, never letting them in. Clara instead invites people to play their part, to see their strengths and positive side. She did it as a governess, no doubt she did it as an English teacher, and she definitely does it to the Doctor, and, importantly for this story, to the Time Lords on Gallifrey. And even in the end, when she says that she doesn't want the Eleventh Doctor to go, despite her understanding of his multifaceted nature, she is naturally reluctant to lose the Doctor as she has always known him. For this is the "real" Clara. Not her splintered shards who have accompanied his past selves no matter how briefly. But as sad as she is to see Eleven go, I have absolute faith that she will quickly embrace Twelve (or Fourteen?) without fuss and bother and not by hanging on to Eleven past his time. No matter her sense of loss, she will invite Twelve/Fourteen to find his own strengths--presumably during his memory loss.
The Bad
The dreaded name of Trenzalore, and the foreboding planet we saw in The Name of the Doctor has been reduced to a generic village with the odd name of Christmas. Why, exactly, did this generic village have that name, or indeed a "truth filter" (or whatever it was called) set around it. That seems to be a story in itself, though I don't recall any mention of a reason why. The Trenzalore in The Name of the Doctor, with the graveyards and wreckage and darkness, and with the rather frightening, gigantic Tardis, was very effective. The one last night was rather bland. By the time (after 300-plus years!), when the Daleks finally started attacking, I didn't feel any emotional attachment to the situation. It certainly didn't seem like something that would build up to the dark and effective Trenzalore from pre-Christmas Special references. The mysterious prophecy of the past two years about the question that would be asked where no-one could utter anything but the truth has been reduced to an unexplained village filter that seemed to mainly serve for comic relief replete with wig jokes.
The regeneration... Oh dear. The actual regeneration itself, as opposed to the face change which came much later--yikes. See, it seems to me that regeneration is a pretty important part of Time Lord physiology, of life cycles... you name it. It's a big deal, and it has always come after the Doctor goes through momentous events. He has faced it stoically, in pain, in fear, in anger, or in peace. But however he has faced it, it commands his entire attention, no matter his mood leading up to it. After all, it is, for a Time Lord, an important part of his life cycle. It is a manner of rebirth, for as much as he intrinsically stays the same, he takes on new aspects each time, and he never knows how it's going to turn out. It's a miracle of Time Lord physiology that is a rare and precious gift not allowed to other races. But this time? Do we witness that rebirth that is in its own way rather fitting for us to watch on December 25th (whether you are Christian, or have recently celebrated the solstice, or simply observe that this is the time of the sun returning from the darkest days of the year). Heck, I'm even curious how Time Lord society treats regeneration. After all, it must be momentous to them, and they don't generally go around adventuring like the Doctor and burning through their regenerations like they're on a sugar rush. I could imagine that they view it as a sacred thing. Who knows. I'd love to see some exploration of that. But... back to the particular regeneration at hand. Something sacred? Oh, no. Instead, the Doctor hardly gives a thought to this momentous process that he is going through. Instead, he jumps into a "in-your-face, I'm gonna stick it to ya" stance, winds up his new store of regeneration energy like some demented windmill and goes about destroying ships and the village itself as a living weapon of mass destruction. It is intentional, it is destructive, and it is killing countless living beings.
What a ghastly way to treat regeneration that is always supposed to bring hope to a dying being. Of course, it is Awfully Handy to clear the skies of the Daleks--you know, kill two birds with one stone and all that. But the Doctor has committed genocide before and has agonized over it. Now, he seems to get on a high through violence, and at the time of his regeneration too!
The Intriguing
The reset for the regeneration cycle... So... how many regenerations has he been given? Just one more? Or is "cycle" meant to be another 13? I very much suspect 13, since this is the perfect time for the BBC to extend the life of their most famous show almost indefinitely.
I was hoping, however, for the Doctor to actually die, and then for the BBC to do some kind of reboot--a reboot in which they could be more adventurous with the Doctor's incarnations. Maybe a female once in a while. Another background Earth ethnicity (though with someone who is still British. Or at the very, very least, still Commonwealth. I'm afraid I'm still very stuck on the Doctor being British. I know he doesn't need to be, but... honestly! He is. Really. It just is that way.) But I had this wish for the 12 regeneration limit to be honoured long before I ever knew about the War Doctor, and at a time when the Tenth Doctor's aborted regeneration was still a matter of discussion and not absolutely known to have used up a cycle. Now that those two factors are accounted for, and the Eleventh Doctor has suddenly been speeded up to Thirteenth, it somehow feels better to have his life extended. I don't know why. Perhaps because, as part of the audience, I thought we would have had two more actors... two more incarnations of the Doctor stretching his story into the future. And now we know we won't have that, perhaps that's why I'm somewhat more receptive to the rather predictable choice to extend his regenerations.
And about the numbers of the regenerations, it's a bit of a relief for us to know that Moffet doesn't want us to start calling the later Doctors by new numbers. However, it's going to be confusing for non-attentive fans considering that Capaldi really is Number 1 Cycle B, as opposed to "Twelve". Nevertheless, I imagine the Doctor himself most likely thinks in the old way. He's suppressed the War Doctor for so long, that he doesn't think of him having a number, really, and Ten's second regeneration didn't change his personality or appearance, so it would be natural to still think of him as being the same incarnation and hence the same number. Of course, I doubt that the Doctor regularly refers to himself as "Ten" or "Eleven", or "Back when I was Four". But on the other hand, you never know. After all, he does keep track in the same way, as when he told Sarah Jane Smith that he had regenerated "half a dozen times since then" (which still skips out the War Doctor but accurately includes his other selves. And, I'll have to rewatch to be sure, but it seems to me that he referred to Ten or "the Tenth" last night when he said he had vanity issues. Either way, it seems that the old numbering system may more accurately portray the Doctor's own sense of identities, and that the numbering will just continue upward (assuming that Capaldi will continue to be referred to as "Twelve").
Given the whole business of the Doctors' numbers not being what we've always thought them to be, what does this make of the Valeyard? Especially since the Valeyard is supposed to be a negative aspect of the Doctor from "somewhere between his twelfth and final incarnations". Well, with the new information we got last night, we know that the Doctor's twelfth incarnation is the Tenth Doctor. Or more specifically, the Tenth Doctor between his regeneration in Journey's End and his final regeneration in The End of Time. The same version of the Tenth Doctor that contained (perhaps for the majority of the time) the Time Lord Victorious. The being who did not want to obey the Laws of Time and was willing to change the fates of others for his own personal satisfaction? Given that the Valeyard seems to have been relegated by the powers-that-be to a mere anomaly from classic Who, this is a bit of a diversion that is unlikely to ever be answered on screen. However, it would make for some awfully interesting fan-fiction.
The Twelfth/Fourteenth Doctor's end of the regeneration process seems to be going a bit rocky. Amnesia? I look forward to seeing how this plays out. Is the Tardis going to crash again? That would make the third time in a row...
These are not all my thoughts. I think I'd need to watch it again to think more deeply about other things, or to comment on the smaller (e.g. what happened to the Weeping Angels? Who is the Mainframe lady? A post-Library manifestation of River Song, as some people have suggested?) At any rate, I will stop here and wish you all a Happy Regeneration Recovery. And Happy Boxing Day.
And I was. New ideas, new canon information to chew on... or at least nibble at, since I had already eaten enough for Christmas, Boxing Day and probably New Year's as well. There was an undercurrent of feeling that there was too much stuff coming at me, and it not feeling quite solid, and things rather rushed at the end after some not so captivating things at the beginning, but it didn't really matter. All things were leading to Capaldi at the end, so Everything was All Right.
But now it's Boxing Day, I've partially recovered from turkey gluttony, and I'm in a contemplative mood. There was a lot of... stuff thrown at us in the Christmas special, and in the cold light of morning, my reactions are decidedly mixed. So, here are my thoughts. They're still evolving, but I offer them, such as they are: the good, the bad and the intriguing.
The Good
Matt Smith has been such a good Doctor. The way he can effortlessly blend the manner of an ancient being in with the goofy, joyful and caring alien that distills much of the Doctor as we've always known him through his incarnations is brilliant. He's not my favourite Doctor, but that doesn't matter one bit. The word "favourite" does not negate others at all nor should it. There's too much competition nowadays in which the word "favourite" is bandied about as the "one-and-only". When it comes to the Doctor, there can never be a "one-and-only", or you simply cannot understand the intrinsic, inclusive nature of the Doctor at all. No. I am very fond of Matt Smith as the Doctor and he's had a good run. I'm a little sad to see him go, but it's a good sad. It's time for him to go, and he knows it and is comfortable with it. Bless him.
The Regeneration Message And I just loved it when he said (after all the action is done, and back in the Tardis)--and I can't remember now how he said it, but the message was essentially this--there are different versions of each and every one of us as we move through life. Always changing, always moving on. And that is the right way of things, as long as we never forget who we have been. That is such a lovely, life-affirming message, and the thing I like best about his regeneration. The treatment of change that can come just in an instant, from one breath to the next. Ephemeral. All in all, what a lovely way to go out. Thank you.
Jenna Coleman brings such an impish, inquisitive and caring feel to Clara. I have been enjoying Clara as the new companion very much. She feels like someone who, if I or anyone else were to join the Tardis team, would welcome us in and instantly be a good and loyal chum. I never got that feeling from Amy--apologies to those who like her--but I feel she would have been quite judging and cold and kept any new companions on the outside, never letting them in. Clara instead invites people to play their part, to see their strengths and positive side. She did it as a governess, no doubt she did it as an English teacher, and she definitely does it to the Doctor, and, importantly for this story, to the Time Lords on Gallifrey. And even in the end, when she says that she doesn't want the Eleventh Doctor to go, despite her understanding of his multifaceted nature, she is naturally reluctant to lose the Doctor as she has always known him. For this is the "real" Clara. Not her splintered shards who have accompanied his past selves no matter how briefly. But as sad as she is to see Eleven go, I have absolute faith that she will quickly embrace Twelve (or Fourteen?) without fuss and bother and not by hanging on to Eleven past his time. No matter her sense of loss, she will invite Twelve/Fourteen to find his own strengths--presumably during his memory loss.
The Bad
The dreaded name of Trenzalore, and the foreboding planet we saw in The Name of the Doctor has been reduced to a generic village with the odd name of Christmas. Why, exactly, did this generic village have that name, or indeed a "truth filter" (or whatever it was called) set around it. That seems to be a story in itself, though I don't recall any mention of a reason why. The Trenzalore in The Name of the Doctor, with the graveyards and wreckage and darkness, and with the rather frightening, gigantic Tardis, was very effective. The one last night was rather bland. By the time (after 300-plus years!), when the Daleks finally started attacking, I didn't feel any emotional attachment to the situation. It certainly didn't seem like something that would build up to the dark and effective Trenzalore from pre-Christmas Special references. The mysterious prophecy of the past two years about the question that would be asked where no-one could utter anything but the truth has been reduced to an unexplained village filter that seemed to mainly serve for comic relief replete with wig jokes.
The regeneration... Oh dear. The actual regeneration itself, as opposed to the face change which came much later--yikes. See, it seems to me that regeneration is a pretty important part of Time Lord physiology, of life cycles... you name it. It's a big deal, and it has always come after the Doctor goes through momentous events. He has faced it stoically, in pain, in fear, in anger, or in peace. But however he has faced it, it commands his entire attention, no matter his mood leading up to it. After all, it is, for a Time Lord, an important part of his life cycle. It is a manner of rebirth, for as much as he intrinsically stays the same, he takes on new aspects each time, and he never knows how it's going to turn out. It's a miracle of Time Lord physiology that is a rare and precious gift not allowed to other races. But this time? Do we witness that rebirth that is in its own way rather fitting for us to watch on December 25th (whether you are Christian, or have recently celebrated the solstice, or simply observe that this is the time of the sun returning from the darkest days of the year). Heck, I'm even curious how Time Lord society treats regeneration. After all, it must be momentous to them, and they don't generally go around adventuring like the Doctor and burning through their regenerations like they're on a sugar rush. I could imagine that they view it as a sacred thing. Who knows. I'd love to see some exploration of that. But... back to the particular regeneration at hand. Something sacred? Oh, no. Instead, the Doctor hardly gives a thought to this momentous process that he is going through. Instead, he jumps into a "in-your-face, I'm gonna stick it to ya" stance, winds up his new store of regeneration energy like some demented windmill and goes about destroying ships and the village itself as a living weapon of mass destruction. It is intentional, it is destructive, and it is killing countless living beings.
What a ghastly way to treat regeneration that is always supposed to bring hope to a dying being. Of course, it is Awfully Handy to clear the skies of the Daleks--you know, kill two birds with one stone and all that. But the Doctor has committed genocide before and has agonized over it. Now, he seems to get on a high through violence, and at the time of his regeneration too!
The Intriguing
The reset for the regeneration cycle... So... how many regenerations has he been given? Just one more? Or is "cycle" meant to be another 13? I very much suspect 13, since this is the perfect time for the BBC to extend the life of their most famous show almost indefinitely.
I was hoping, however, for the Doctor to actually die, and then for the BBC to do some kind of reboot--a reboot in which they could be more adventurous with the Doctor's incarnations. Maybe a female once in a while. Another background Earth ethnicity (though with someone who is still British. Or at the very, very least, still Commonwealth. I'm afraid I'm still very stuck on the Doctor being British. I know he doesn't need to be, but... honestly! He is. Really. It just is that way.) But I had this wish for the 12 regeneration limit to be honoured long before I ever knew about the War Doctor, and at a time when the Tenth Doctor's aborted regeneration was still a matter of discussion and not absolutely known to have used up a cycle. Now that those two factors are accounted for, and the Eleventh Doctor has suddenly been speeded up to Thirteenth, it somehow feels better to have his life extended. I don't know why. Perhaps because, as part of the audience, I thought we would have had two more actors... two more incarnations of the Doctor stretching his story into the future. And now we know we won't have that, perhaps that's why I'm somewhat more receptive to the rather predictable choice to extend his regenerations.
And about the numbers of the regenerations, it's a bit of a relief for us to know that Moffet doesn't want us to start calling the later Doctors by new numbers. However, it's going to be confusing for non-attentive fans considering that Capaldi really is Number 1 Cycle B, as opposed to "Twelve". Nevertheless, I imagine the Doctor himself most likely thinks in the old way. He's suppressed the War Doctor for so long, that he doesn't think of him having a number, really, and Ten's second regeneration didn't change his personality or appearance, so it would be natural to still think of him as being the same incarnation and hence the same number. Of course, I doubt that the Doctor regularly refers to himself as "Ten" or "Eleven", or "Back when I was Four". But on the other hand, you never know. After all, he does keep track in the same way, as when he told Sarah Jane Smith that he had regenerated "half a dozen times since then" (which still skips out the War Doctor but accurately includes his other selves. And, I'll have to rewatch to be sure, but it seems to me that he referred to Ten or "the Tenth" last night when he said he had vanity issues. Either way, it seems that the old numbering system may more accurately portray the Doctor's own sense of identities, and that the numbering will just continue upward (assuming that Capaldi will continue to be referred to as "Twelve").
Given the whole business of the Doctors' numbers not being what we've always thought them to be, what does this make of the Valeyard? Especially since the Valeyard is supposed to be a negative aspect of the Doctor from "somewhere between his twelfth and final incarnations". Well, with the new information we got last night, we know that the Doctor's twelfth incarnation is the Tenth Doctor. Or more specifically, the Tenth Doctor between his regeneration in Journey's End and his final regeneration in The End of Time. The same version of the Tenth Doctor that contained (perhaps for the majority of the time) the Time Lord Victorious. The being who did not want to obey the Laws of Time and was willing to change the fates of others for his own personal satisfaction? Given that the Valeyard seems to have been relegated by the powers-that-be to a mere anomaly from classic Who, this is a bit of a diversion that is unlikely to ever be answered on screen. However, it would make for some awfully interesting fan-fiction.
The Twelfth/Fourteenth Doctor's end of the regeneration process seems to be going a bit rocky. Amnesia? I look forward to seeing how this plays out. Is the Tardis going to crash again? That would make the third time in a row...
These are not all my thoughts. I think I'd need to watch it again to think more deeply about other things, or to comment on the smaller (e.g. what happened to the Weeping Angels? Who is the Mainframe lady? A post-Library manifestation of River Song, as some people have suggested?) At any rate, I will stop here and wish you all a Happy Regeneration Recovery. And Happy Boxing Day.