Who's looking forward to the Christmas Special then? :D

Very mawkish. The first Doctor was pointless and threatened to smack Bill's bottom for swearing, I think this was intended as humour. Remind me of Time of the Doctor the plot was so thin and contrived. Do you want to know who Gatiss was? That pointless as well, just fanwank.

https://youtu.be/yJqsPBWbtjk
Regeneration up. Those are really sparks aren't they? It's hard to tell!

generous 6.

Not a bad character piece, but they really didn't need Bradley in this at all did they? The Doctor could have had the epiphany at the end all on his lonesome. Also the Captain's survival hinged on a gobbledygook explanation at the last crucial moment. The rest was fine, nice to see Rusty again and we learn of his fate at the edge of the universe (we find desperate time lords in Hell Bent, and daleks in good standing, what a topsy-turvey world Moffat left us with)

Capaldi's speech is right up there with the best speeches when Ash Ketchum releases a Pokemon

As for Jodie...women drivers, that's all I'll say.

Zarius wrote: generous 6.

Not a bad character piece, but they really didn't need Bradley in this at all did they? The Doctor could have had the epiphany at the end all on his lonesome. Also the Captain's survival hinged on a gobbledygook explanation at the last crucial moment. The rest was fine, nice to see Rusty again and we learn of his fate at the edge of the universe (we find desperate time lords in Hell Bent, and daleks in good standing, what a topsy-turvey world Moffat left us with)

Capaldi's speech is right up there with the best speeches when Ash Ketchum releases a Pokemon

As for Jodie...women drivers, that's all I'll say.

But what a cliffhanger! Will The Doctor survive the fall to make ten episodes to be shown next year etc

Plot twist, she falls and regenerates and we get a male 14th incarnation. Order is restored once more.

Moffat goes out with a stutter.

Zarius wrote:
Capaldi's speech is right up there with the best speeches when Ash Ketchum releases a Pokemon

.

Just watched that bit on YT (the only bit I'm watching). Fuck, it just goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on... fucking die already!

Go on, go on, go on, go on

Oh Christ! Oh Christ I just watched it!
It might have been fun for Capaldi as an actor and fan but for a viewer that was so fucking tedious!
Resist the urge to see it unless insomniac. 1st Doctor wasn't as bad as I'd  feared but that part of his brain that made him compelling in Adventures In Time And Space clearly got jettisoned in transit.
If we just get talk and talk and talk from here on in, pull the plug! The story ends with the TARDIS rejecting The Doctor and jettisoned them out into the sky. There! The end!
Makes the jokes in The Last Jedi appear funnier. Not touching this one again!

EDIT: I misheard her first line as "I'm hobbling!"

Twice Upon a Time just went on and on and on and on and there was no fucking plot. However, the regeneration scene was the only good thing about this episode (apart from the first Doctor scenes) and probably IMO the best regeneration on NuWho so far.

What was her first line? I couldn't make it out.

DogStar2000 wrote:What was her first line? I couldn't make it out.

"Oh Brilliant"

http://m.doctorwhonews.net/2017/12/twice-upon-time-overnight-viewing.html

5.7 million in the ratings

Pretty much same as last year http://news.whoviannet.co.uk/2016/12/overnight-viewing-figures-for-doctor-mysterio/

Lizo mzimba
‏
Verified account

@lizo_mzimba
4h4 hours ago
More
Jodie Whittaker's first few moments debuting as the Doctor on @BBCDoctorWho were watched by around 5.9m. Twice Upon A Time's programme average was 5.7m. #JodieWhittaker #13theDoctor #DoctorWho

https://twitter.com/lizo_mzimba/status/945590991976878080

So there's no real 'Jodie Factor' then?

Mediocre ratings for the big regeneration reveal - I reckon the Beeb might be more than a little disappointed with that!

Might be proof that political castings only appeal to a political minority.

Doesn't seem to have done any harm if you look at it that way. Unless you suggest that her era hasn't really begun in which case you can't draw any firm conclusions. The amount of people saying they weren't going to watch seems to have made no difference.

Boofer wrote:Might be proof that political castings only appeal to a political minority.

I think the popularity of genre fiction proves that. People often side with tradition over the radical.

I think most people that are saying that they weren't going to watch are talking about the next full series.

Mr. Happy wrote:Doesn't seem to have done any harm if you look at it that way. Unless you suggest that her era hasn't really begun in which case you can't draw any firm conclusions. The amount of people saying they weren't going to watch seems to have made no difference.

That's a fair enough point. Although you could say that that the beeb may have expected a compound impact on the ratings given the combination of Xmas, regen and gender change.

The first indications of any ratings boost for a female Doctor might come from the breakdown. If there isn't much of a spike for the end of the episode, then it could indicate a lack of enthusiasm among the public.

The Doctor: Capaldi really reinvented his take over his tenure; just having watched Deep Breath a couple days ago, I appreciate the way this Doctor is congruent with what we've seen since 1963. Where in Deep Breath it almost seemed like 12 went out of his way to be brusque and unapproachable and almost a cartoon of William Hartnell, in this ep 12 is very much in the template we've seen since basically The Chase.

David Bradley's Character: I will be very candid; my mantra is simple. The truth, the truth, and always the truth no matter who it may offend. See H.L. Mencken's Hymn To The Truth. While there is a good bit of the First Doctor in the character David Bradley portrays in this ep, the viewing women as simply hired help just is not something that existed in William Hartnell's eloquent and iconic portrayal of the First Doctor from 1963-66; his companions weren't servants or lesser beings; they were children and students. He was pushing 60 and his companions were 20-30, and he was portraying a character somewhere in the neighborhood of 400 teaching people in their teens, twenties and thirties.

It looks like Team Who watched the first three serials and wrote from there, if they even did THAT much. What we see here bears NO resemblance to Hartnell's work afterThe Chase. They invented a preposterous reboot of one of the most iconic characters in the show's history that bears a bit more than passing resemblance to the First Doctor. But David Bradley's character is NOT what William Hartnell portrayed so eloquently between 1963 and '66. see the following link:

http://gallifreybase.com/forum/showt...php?p=10593811

That said, Bradley's explanation for WHY he left Gallifrey is reasonably compelling. Logically. good should always lose.

La Whitaker: I am heavily on record as being completely and unalterably against the idea of a female Doctor as it is a fundamental re-writing of the show's DNA. No, the program Isn't "all about change." It's a serial anthology where viewers watch to see the adventures the characters get into, not the personal lives of the characters. To confine remarks to this particular episode, the idea of a new Doctor being incapable of properly piloting the TARDIS is getting a little shopworn and stale. Why can't we have a Doctor simply regenerate and get on with it like Tom Baker and Patrick Troughton did?

The Companions: There are so many it's hard to say anything one way or the other. David Bradley's character is really as close to a Companion's role as foil for the Doctor as anything. Bill acts well as the Conscience Of The Doctor as so many female companions since Barbara have. Nardole is really almost an afterthought, but I must say I thought Clara's appearance really added something important to the Story of Twelve, an important and appropriate bit of closure.

The Story: This is the first DW that I have come close to turning off, just having wrapped up a Hartnell marathon. The "women as hired help" idea in this story is completely ahistorical and demonstrates a complete lack of research on the part of Team Who. Did they just not bother to read the scripts? If they did,, they would have seen that at least after The Rescue, Hartnell bore great resemblance to Patrick Troughton's portrayal. The story itself, though, was a refreshing change from the alien invasion trope that has become so common in Christmas specials. It's all about hope, and while some see the Christmas 1914 on the Western Front bit as sentimental, I thought it was one of the best points of this episode.

Summary: While I wanted to like this ep, its rewriting of the show's fundamental DNA and rewriting of heavily established DW history (the completely invented David Bradley persona) are VERY off-putting. As of right now, I don't really know if I'll watch DW again except on DVD or Britbox. The current regime has zero respect for the show's elegant and well-established heritage.

4, for the rewriting of several of the most fundamental constants in DW.

Alright, I just finished watching the Christmas special. I actually watched it in two sittings, since in the first sitting I switched it off in disgust within the first 15 minutes after hearing the 1st Doctor's sexist remarks. What a way to disgrace the show's history and the memory of William Hartnell, you fucking cucks.

As for the rest of the episode... there's really not much to say about it. Overall, it was rather dull and uneventful. The 1st Doctor's inclusion within the story was completely pointless, as he barely did anything. You could have removed him from the episode entirely and the story would play out almost exactly the same. Clara and Nardole's return also felt rather shoehorned in and unnecessary. Overall, there's just really not that much to say about it. It was very mediocre and underwhelming.

To it's credit however, the WW1 scene near the end where they drop off the captain and the two Doctors stand and watch the two armies come together and play football on Christmas day was rather nice and heartwarming, and fits well with the festive theme.

As for the new Doctor... well... I don't think I really need to say anything. Almost everyone here is in agreement that a female Doctor is an absolutely terrible idea. So I'm just gonna end it here.


Rest in Peace, Doctor Who. You had a good run.

I watched Person of Interest instead. Far less embarrassing.

Stay tuned for more...tales of interest!