Twice Upon A Time (2017) Christmas Review

Shamelessly using this pic, because I lost my earlier ones
and nothing will me make me redraw those Santa hats on
an Android. 

Twice Upon A Time is a sweet, if rather superfluous epilogue to the Twelfth Doctor's run.

WRITTEN BY

Steven Moffat, one last time. Here's your salute, you deserve it.

PLOT

The meeting of the First and Twelfth Doctors causes a temporal hiccup that disturbs the operations of the Testimony, a far future organisation dedicated to respecting the dead by copying their memories and allowing future generations to learn from them.

As history settles back into place, the two Doctors must confront their future and surrender to regeneration.

ANALYSIS

I say superfluous, because the Doctor's extreme exhaustion with his battlefield of a life could've easily been focused on in the Series 10 finale, perhaps even seeded throughout earlier episodes. His epic demise occurs in The Doctor Falls and so this episode becomes - as the Capaldi era often did - an exercise in nostalgia, not just for the Hartnell era, but for the Twelfth Doctor himself. A last chance to simply enjoy Peter Capaldi and co in their roles.

Which I did, don't get me wrong, but I would've enjoyed it more had they gone out with a meaty story. For example, when the Fifth Doctor regenerated, his era had also been tied up in the previous story. But The Caves Of Androzani was still an extremely memorable tale of impossible odds.

Twice Upon A Time, on the other hand, is the equivalent of holding your grandpa's hand in a hospital with a photo album, just peacefully waiting for the inevitable.

But with that said... the First Doctor era was recreated impeccably, making it perhaps the most effective multi-Doctor story as it truly seemed like we were dipping back into the 60s. I also really appreciated the Christmas Truce setting, as it's a brilliant moment of real history and deserved the Doctor Who treatment.

CHARACTERS

Bravo to Peter Capaldi for a heartwarming final performance of a man who's indescribably tired. In a way, Capaldi's tenure seems like the fallout of all those years spent on Trenzalore, with the Eleventh Doctor simply pushing his age and misery down until it exploded in this incarnation. And he's definitely never looked older than he did here, clutching onto his coat in the middle of World War One. I really loved that scene, as well as him giving lessons to his future self, a very Twelfth Doctor thing to do.

I was a bit wary of David Bradley's First Doctor, as I've always found his line deliveries to be awkward and weirdly drawn out(as this character) and whilst this is still occasionally true, he was mostly eerily close to Hartnell's portrayal, and did a spectacular job, so much so that he was almost as good as having the man back for real. Bradley's chemistry with Peter Capaldi is also my favourite of all the multi-Doctor pairings. Their interactions were the highlight of the story.

I am set for Jodie Whittaker's Thirteenth Doctor, she seems like she's already having a blast. If Peter Capaldi was "wonderfully turkey" as I stated in my original Time Of The Doctor review back in 2013, then she's wonderfully dodo.

There's not much to say about Pearl Mackie, Matt Lucas or Jenna Coleman except that it was nice to see them all again(Clara's cameo was a bit weird, she looked... I dunno, CGI'd?). And I like that Bill's death wasn't undone.

And finally, Mark Gatiss as Lethbridge-Stewart Senior. Ha, called it(although doesn't his survival mean that history got real changed?). He was really earnest and charming in the role. It's easily the best homage to the wonderful Nick Courtney, and the Brigadier.

NOTES

*One of my pet peeves used to be that Matt Smith's regeneration story wasn't called "Night Of The Doctor", as I wanted the song "Silent Night, Holy Night" to play before his regeneration. Now I finally got my wish!

*I'm now very excited for David Bradley's upcoming First Doctor audios, as well as his run-ins with James Dreyfus' First Master(hell yeah!)!!

*The smacked bottom gag was epic.

*Actually, some of the "Hartnell was sexist" gags were pretty funny. But they did way too many of them, and Twelve running around shouting "you can't say this or that" seemed out of character. He wouldn't give a crap.

*So, it's definitely the Second Doctor who dropped the astral map on a trip to 21st century Earth(see: The Seeds Of Death).

*When they brought up the Vanguard planet and how the Testimony deals with memory extraction, I was half-expecting John Barrowman to show up.

*So, I'm supposed to believe none of the Doctors touched that brandy cabinet until River(and I love that she thought he wasn't aware of its existence)?

*I like that Rusty's become the Dalek equivalent of the "get off my lawn, kids" old man. Also, how has he survived for billions of years?? Is he secretly best buds with Davros or something?

*No use of the First Doctor's magic ring? Bah.

*Nice to see the Time Vortex again(last time was like 2011?). Looks nothing like it does in the intro for some reason.

*Since this is a multi-Doctor episode, I shan't bother counting the references.

BEST QUOTES

"My life is a battlefield, and it is empty. Everyone have fallen." Ouch. That must hit all the older fans where it hurts(no offense, I can't wait to be old).

CONCLUSION

Doctor, I let you go.