S[Christmas]: The One With the Town Called Christmas

[TravisNelson76]

File this one under "Takes Show Mythology Too Seriously."  I'm not sure we needed a WHOLE THING to explain why the Doctor was going to be able to regenerate again.  I would have preferred "It's timey-wimey-ness!  Let's move on to a fun new adventure!" to "Let's try to pull together every story thread of the last three years."
 
That said… I really liked the church stuff, the truth shield stuff, the Clara's Xmas party stuff, and more!  I just wish it all had more room to breathe.

[joshleejosh]

Granted, I lost all ability to critically watch Doctor Who about 30 years ago, but I thought this was really lovely. I agree that it suffers from stuffing 80 minutes of story into 60 minutes of show, but I feel that way about 80% of episodes these days.
 
Long passages of time are a recurring theme for 11th Doctor (Power of Three, the Snowmen, etc.), and seeing him settle down as the town sheriff/goofy grandpa to the village for 1000 years was a nice way to bring it all home. And the answer to the "Doctor--Who?" question was pretty much the most correct thing ever; after that, getting him his new regenerations was just denouement.
 
One really impressive thing: once they finally got all that Impossible Girl stuff out of the way, the relationship between Clara and the Doctor crystallized very quickly. After looking out for the Doctor throughout his personal history, she's the companion who knows him better than just about anyone else in the universe, and is looking out for him in his old age. It feels completely natural for her to be his conscience in DotD and to sit with him at the end of his last life in TotD. (And of course, now that that relationship has finally been well developed, we get to throw it out and start over. Fun!)

[TravisNelson76]

Going forward, I hope they find a new angle for the relationship between Clara and CapaldiDoctor.  As you say, joshleejosh, throwing the existing stuff out and starting over has the potential to be fun!
 
I also hope there's more development of Clara's Earth peeps.  That was one of my favorite parts of the Rose Tyler era -- how her companionship with the Doctor affected her mother/boyfriend.  Ditto Donna Noble's grandfather.

[Lisin]

I loved it. I'm easy though. It made me cry really hard which is totally to be expected. I cry a lot at Doctor Who episodes, I still haven't watched the Pond's last episode because I can't.

I'm super excited for Capaldi, I think he's going to be fantastic. I can't wait for the new episodes!

[Chip]

Overall, I liked it as much or better than some of the Christmas specials. I think I understood all that they were trying to cram in as throwaway lines about the Silence and the TARDIS blowing up. I think Capaldi was great in his brief appearance and Matt played a good old man.
 
But the one thing I HATE from Moffat is his constant use of characters actually saying "Doctor who?" over and over. No need for that for the first 48 or so years, don't know why we get it so much now.
 
Another question, when the Angel grabbed Clara, why wasn't she sent back in time? They don't all have that power, is that it?
 
Bits that made me smile that were kind of silly: when the Doctor meets Clara's fam in his non-clothes, Clara's using of the TARDIS as an oven, the wooden cyberman
 
I will probably have more to say after a re-watch, but I hope with Capaldi, the mystery is not about the Doctor or timey-wimey or Daleks, but something new and sinister.

[joshleejosh]

Well, the "Doctor Who?" question paid off in this episode, so presumably that's done with. Now they can think up some new catch phrases to beat into the ground.

[Gracie]

Another question, when the Angel grabbed Clara, why wasn't she sent back in time? They don't all have that power, is that it?

Remember in "Angels Take Manhattan", the Angel had River by the wrist and she didn't go back in time.  I hadn't thought about that until I saw your post.

Edited March 30, 2014 by Gracie

[Chip]

Someone at work reminded me about the Angel having River by the arm. I'm about to do a re-watch of the 2005 series to fill in some memory gaps. I've only seen most episodes the weekend they aired and then never gone back for a second viewing. Maybe I'll find some mention of this.

[MarkHB]

I think the "send back in time" is an effect of the Angels feeding off of the temporal displacement energy, and since it's been established that they're sentient I imagine they can control whether or not it happens.  It's not like King Midas's touch where it happens regardless.

[elle]

 

Another question, when the Angel grabbed Clara, why wasn't she sent back in time? They don't all have that power, is that it?

I remember asking this question when the show first aired, someone explained that the angel was too weak, from possible starvation or the cold.

 

Or, it was part of Moffet's over all arching plan to completely wipe out anything scary about Eleven's time* and make them seem simply ridiculous. (see bitter comment below about the "Silence")  

 

*even though they first appeared with Ten

 

Remember in "Angels Take Manhattan", the Angel had River by the wrist and she didn't go back i*even time.  I hadn't thought about that until I saw your post.

I wondered why they could not have broken the angel's wrist rather than River's.  I wondered about that too when the angel had a choke hold on Doctor Octavian in "Flesh and Stone".  Why couldn't the Doctor have broken off that angel's arm, since its intent was to kill and not to transport.

 

This episode - Watching "Day of the Moon" made me furious all over again at what this episode did to the mythology of the "Silence".   I much prefer a motivator I saw, but didn't keep a link to, that would have made a significantly better episode than this one:  The Doctor dances the Drunken Giraffe for 58 minutes then regenerates

[Whimsy]

I just now watched this. I binge watched all 7 seasons on Netflix over the last couple of months, but this episode was not available. I got an e-mail from Hulu Plus saying this was on Hulu to watch so I finally was able to see it.

After each regeneration I give myself a day or two break to digest the switch. I'm always sad with each one because I've come to love every doctor. So, needless to say, I was sad to see Matt Smith go. I loved his performance in this episode and I loved seeing Amy Pond again. I'm still not sold on Capaldi, but I'm willing to be open minded.

[Ripley68]

The Angel's were too weak to send back the person they were touching.