Twice Upon a Time

"It's far from being all over."

Writer: Steven Moffat
Format: TV
Broadcast: 25th December 2017
Series: 2017 Christmas Special

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, First Doctor

Synopsis

As the Twelfth Doctor nears regeneration, he stumbles on his original self, also refusing to undergo the change. It takes a captain, a glass avatar and a familiar face to convince the Doctors that the universe still, and always will, needs them.

Verdict

Twice Upon a Time was a very good Christmas Special and I think for the first time, I was fully able to appreciate the actual plot of this episode. When new episodes go out, it's very difficult to be judging things properly as everything is all brand new and exciting but as I've already seen this episode, and fully disapproved of some of the writing of the First Doctor, I could let that slide a bit and try to judge it mostly on its story. I think it definitely helps that I have read the Target novelisation and I have to see this was definitely a little better than I remembered. I found it quite intriguing because it obviously featured the Twelfth Doctor's regeneration, but it wasn't a regeneration story to say. I mean, most of the focus for the Doctors was on regeneration but we didn't see the cause of regeneration here. That had already occurred in World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls but the Twelfth Doctor was just postponing it. He didn't want to change. That seems to have been a common feature of the three latest regenerations now and I have to say it's becoming a little repetitive. The Doctor is all about change so surely he should be used to it and embrace it now. I thought the opening of the episode with the archival footage of The Tenth Planet was extremely well done and I loved the little recreations of what occurred in part four of that story. It was bookended very nicely once the First Doctor decided that he was going to change after all. It was all done beautifully and I do think David Bradley did William Hartnell justice. Now, there's no doubt that he could have done a lot better but I can fully appreciate the difficulty in the task. He wasn't helped by the writing earlier which I still think is an absolute shame. For someone who is as big a fan of Doctor Who as Steven Moffat to completely misunderstand the character of the First Doctor is just baffling. He was not sexist and that's the only impression new viewers probably took from him here. I could understand the arrogance if this was the First Doctor of An Unearthly Child but the placing was just all wrong in the timelines. Anyway, I really liked the concept behind Testimony. That was a really neat idea and it was quite subtle in that it wasn't an evil plan. That seemed to stump the Doctor a bit which was quite humorous. I loved the First Doctor's reaction to seeing glimpses into his future. A future where he would become the Doctor of war. It was actually quite emotional and I can't imagine what the First Doctor must have been thinking. You could see the guilt in the Twelfth Doctor's face. Bill's role as part of Testimony was good and I really liked that the Doctor refused to accept her memories as being the real person. I thought it was a lovely touch that his memories of Clara were returned though. The Christmas Truce was fantastically done as the Christmas element of the special and I thought the Captain, a relation to the Brigadier and Kate, was a terrific character. The farewell speech of the Twelfth Doctor was decent and I liked the idea of children being able to here the Doctor's true name. The Twelfth Doctor had been angry, darker and different and developed hugely during his era but he was still the same old Doctor saving the universe. He wasn't everybody's cup of tea, but I thought Peter Capaldi was a stellar Doctor. Now, I let him go. Onto the post-regeneration scene and I did not remember it being so long. I thought it was phenomenal and I am so incredibly excited to see Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor. The image of her in the TARDIS monitor was sublime and the effects of her falling out of the TARDIS are almost time to be seen! Overall, a great episode and a fitting farewell to the Twelfth Doctor.

Rating: 8/10