26/12/2013

The Time of the Doctor ~ Matt Smith's superb swansong as the Eleventh Doctor



As you may have gathered by now, I am quite the Doctor Who fan. I enjoyed many of the treats during the run up to the 50th anniversary a couple of months ago, and I loved The Day of the Doctor itself. Now, at Christmas time, comes the traditional festive special of Doctor Who. But this was a special with a difference - it was the last hurrah for Matt Smith and his time as the Doctor. Like any Doctor Who event nowadays, the build up was massive, so much was promised, and this time there was not much wrong at all so far as I could see. The Time of the Doctor for me was, absolutely and positively ram jam packed full of gems.

OK, basic stuff first. This is a Who Christmas episode, so more often than not it has to be fairly Christmassy. There have been a couple of exceptions to this in recent years. David Tennant's last seasonal special for example, which also in turn saw his regeneration into Smith, was I think definitely all about the action and the epic nature of the story, with Christmas time being a sort of fitting background in a way. Don't get me wrong, the results were quite brilliant. Smith's specials (four no less including this one - quite a good run then!) were all fairly festive in their own way, from his first Christmas Carol, one of his greatest episodes ever in my view, to this year's final bow. This year might have seen his most Christmas-filled episode of all in a way. We begin with the Doctor and Clara rushing in and out of a typical, or not so, Christmas dinner with gusto, comedy and innuendo abandon. We then see that the town where all the action is set to happen, over centuries, is called Christmas itself, and it is presented in an incredibly wholesome and charming way, despite it being the setting for some fairly climactic action. All that plus the fact that (without wishing to provide too many spoilers) the Doctor grows to be quite Santa-esque in some respects before his regeneration. He even mends toys.





So we have the Christmas elements well and truly. Check. But as I said, this is far more than another Christmas one-off. This is the epic goodbye to the Eleventh Doctor, not just to where he's at now, after many joyous years of watching him, but also to all the elements and characteristics, and some characters of his tale that we know and love. To send the Doctor on his way, we were given an awesome battle. It was said that it wouldn't be just one foe to see the Time Lord off; it took loads. And it was done brilliantly. We saw him battle Cybermen, the chilling Weeping Angels, Sontarans and the dreaded Silence. The Silence was a bit of a funny one for me, as they were created and developed within the frame of Smith's tenure as the Doctor, so much so that I, as well as other fans, were kind of expecting an epic final standoff against them all on their own. Instead, again trying to avoid spoilers, we got a quick, slick and inventive way to explain the meaning of "Silence will fall", and a bit of a turnaround in the end for these unique characters, which was unexpected but for me, quite welcomed. An all star line up of Doctor Who's greatest villains would not be complete of course, without the Daleks, and in the end, it came to a final showdown between them and the Doctor once more, and I wouldn't wish for any different. We also interestingly got a taste of things possibly to come, with the slight re-emergence of the mythical Time Lords and Gallifrey, as hinted at in the 50th special. Though not totally definitive or physical, their presence was well and truly felt, and I think the next Doctor won't have seen the last of them.


We were also lucky enough to see some great characters and performances in this episode. Guest staring was Orla Brady as the feisty, flirtatious and powerful Tasha Lem, and also a big shout out to Rob Jarvis of Hustle and Tessa Peake-Jones of Only Fools and Horses fame, who popped up as fleeting but charming characters. We also got to see some background to companion Clara at last, which was a joyous thing to see, and very festive too. Of course the lovely Jenna Coleman returned as the uncanny and incomparable Clara Oswald; I think this has been one of her best episodes to date. After a relatively short time, and a whirlwind of character plots and subplots, she is well and truly a companion now.



But of course, obviously yet rather wonderfully, the star of the show must be and truly is Matt Smith, as he puts everything he's got into his last adventure as the Doctor. Not only that, but this episode shows a lot of snippets and plot elements of the Eleventh's journey reappear and pretty much resolve themselves. From the aforementioned Silence, to the true significance of Trenzalore, to the eponymous crack in space and time, which dominated Matt Smith's first series. We even got a fleeting return of Karen Gillan as Amy Pond. But the man himself really came into his own, more so really at the end of his truly blistering career as the mad man with a blue box. We were reminded what a truly great Doctor he is. He still goes on quite a character journey in his last episode, but always with his trademark exuberance, charm, charisma and power. He even brought forth a lovely and incredibly touching new "companion" arc in his final episode with a character called "Handles". Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor truly was a great one, and for me, yes it was sad seeing him go, but it was more touching than heartbreaking. It did remind me of what a great run he has had, and how he came to recognize his full potential and more, and finally it had me smiling as I watched him bring all of it to a head in his last adventure. Thank you Matt Smith, you were a cracking Doctor. 
Geronimo!
















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