Doctor Who: Twice Upon A Time

[selenak]

The Christmas Special, and the last outing of the Twelfth Doctor. Also of Steven Moffat as the headwriter/producer of Doctor Who. Though as with RTD who after his own goodbye to the main show wrote some more episodes for both of the spin-offs at the time (i.e. Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures), I could see Moffat returning after a few years for an individual ep or two; after all, he is a life long fan, and some years distance might do his creative powers good. I thought this particular goodbye was elegic in the Grey Havens way, if you'll allow me the LotR comparison, but the last season, much as I loved the Doctor-Bill-Nardole combination and Missy's storyline, overall the sense of writerly exhaustion was to me noticable.

Still: Capaldi's Doctor was hands down my favourite of the entire Moffat era. During the last year once Bill's season was over, I rewatched s8 and 9 and fell in love all over again, with (nearly) all the aspects - Clara and her dynamic with the Doctor going from generic (in the Eleven era) to specific, intense and unforgettable, the Doctor starting out with the question of whether he's a good man and what that even means and ending with the with the knowledge that "above all, be kind", River getting a worthy send-off and my favourite outing of hers which fixed all the problems I had with how the show handled hers and the Doctor's relationship in s6 and s7, Missy becoming my favourite regeneration of the Master after Delgado (ditto for her relationship with the Doctor in terms of variations of the Doctor/Master dynamic), the unexpectedly delightful presence of Nardole, and Bill, vibrant, curious, wonderful Bill. I will miss them all, dreadfully, even though I'm really looking forward to getting to know Jodi Whittaker's Doctor, and her Companions. Such is the way of Doctor Who.

On to the episode proper.



Ever since the first proper trailer for this episode, I was hoping they'd go for the Christmas Truce. Not just because that's one of my favourite historical events in a time of senseless, pointless slaughter, but because we currently life in an era which seems to be keen on repeating the worst developments of the 20th century, and it's good to be reminded that if we as a species can be rotten, human beings can be amazing under the worst circumstances, too, and not solely in fiction. Now, various of our papers had recalled the Christmas Truce these recent days, so when the lettering said "Ypres" and "Christmas 1914", I was reasonably certain. And yet, the Doctor using this circumstance to save Lethbridge-Stewart's and his German counterpart's lives still managed to be both very him and, until a second before he did it, unexpected. (Also narratively satisfying to me that he does this via something that humans did, and did on their own, without needing him to inspire them, because, see above, sometimes I need the reminder re: the human race.) Mark Gatiss as the Brig's ancestor (father or grandfather, be that as it may) delivered a lovely, low key and very powerful performance, quite different from many of the flamboyant villains I've seen him play, and heartbreaking in his dignified humanity.

(Incidentally, his German counterpart was immediately recognizable as a non-German speaker as soon as he opened his mouth, but I simply thought that the BBC was tight on budget and didn't want to hire a foreign actor for a cameo appearance; not until the credits rolled did I find out the German soldier was played by Toby Whithouse, he of Being Human and of course various Doctor Who episodes fame.)

Facing your mortality (or not) was the obvious ongoing theme through the episode for both the youngest and oldest version of the Doctor. And so I thought it was a good choice by Moffat that the aliens of the special turned out not to be villainous in nature, not hatching an evil plot. We didn't need to see this particular version of the Doctor foil one more evil plan for his last outing. The special also specified why exactly the Twelfth Doctor hadn't wanted to regenerate in the previous episode - not the fear of change, but the exhaustion of a very long life of inevitably losing so many people he'd loved. (I thought that was obvious in The Doctor Falls, but I'd seen it argued, so it was good to have the verbal clarification. Also, the comparison to a WWI battlefield hit home. As far as Capaldi's Doctor knows as of The Doctor Falls, and speaking only of his most recent experiences, River is dead and gone, he can't remember Clara anymore, just that she was important to him and he lost her, Bill is dead, and his best enemy of millenia whom he tried to have as a friend again so hard ultimately rejected him twice over again. (Since he doesn't know what Missy actually ended up doing.) And that's before we get to billions of years trapped in a mental torture chamber. So no wonder that he just feels he's done.

Which is when he meets his first self. And his memories (in various forms). And a random human stuck in a horrible scenario who nonetheless is brave, selfless and kind. And then, at the end, the TARDIS voices her opinion, too. As re-inspirations to continue go, it all worked for me. Mind you, I have some nitpicks re: the First Doctor - first (no pun intended) of all, I'm not sure I buy the "doesn't want to change for fear of new experience" retcon, because at this relatively early point in his life, the Doctor always struck me as long for new experiences, even if One was admittedly in a melancholic mode in The Tenth Planet. Secondly, the "lol, The First Doctor was a Sixties TV character complete with 60s sexism" gag wore out its welcome pretty soon, even if it was probably meant to set up the karmic pay off of the Doctor regenerating into a woman at the end of the story. (Otoh, every time Capaldi's Doctor cringed it felt very relatable in "if I met my much younger self blathering some of the things I did say back then, I'd so feel similarly" way.) And thirdly, while David Bradley had the mannerisms, the occasional sharpness and the sadness of the occasion, that sense of whimsy Hartnell exuded was utterly missing. This being said, I loved the scene where Bill (or, well, "Bill") asks him not what he ran from when he left Gallifrey but what he ran towards, and his answer, which underlined that the Doctor at this early point in his life was still more in a bystander than an active hero mode before Barbara and Ian started to change his life.

Details and trivia:

- given the theme of memories, loved both the reappearance of Rusty (who, btw, also was a good reminder of the darkness the Doctor is capable of) and Testimony!Bill returning the memories of Clara to the Doctor before he regenerates. If Amy was the defining Companion for the Eleventh Doctor, Clara was this for the Twelfth, and this was a closure on a similar note of Eleven seeing Amy again just before his goodbye

- the footage of "The Tenth Planet" smoothly transitioning into new scenes with Bradley was really well done

- from "we are all fairy tales" to "life is rarely a fairy tale, but sometimes...": Moffat wraps up his incarnation of the show with a fitting nod to his overall theme

- Whithouse may not be able to speak German, but no complaints about his acting; I'm really glad Moffat chose to characterise both the British and the German soldier in identical "don't want to kill or die" terms without making one of them the more aggressive or more noble.


In conclusion: ave atque vale, Doctorus. I will miss you, hope Big Finish hires Capaldi as soon as they get the rights and team him up with Alex Kingston once more since The Diary of River Song is an ongoing thing.

Comments

[dhampyresa]

it's good to be reminded that if we as a species can be rotten, human beings can be amazing under the worst circumstances, too, and not solely in fiction.
No lie, I cried when the singing started.

My favourite shot of the episode was the ring falling to the floor just after the regeneration.

It was so good to see Bill again too.

[selenak]

re: Bill, at first I was a bit sad it wasn't the original, but then I realised the obvious reason - if Bill (and Nardole, for that matter) had been actually around while the Doctor regenerated, they wouldn't have left her alone after, and Thirteen plus the new producer start with a new ensemble.

[vilakins]

The sexism really bugged me. OK, the 60s were pretty bad, but I saw some of One's stories a few years ago and I really don't remember him being so damned crass, or indeed, bad at all.

I wish the Doctor had listened to Bill and realised she had lived a long life after he thought she'd died, but I'm glad he remembered Clara.

I was rather disappointed on the whole, but the truce brought me to tears. I know there is goodness in people from the many I know (only 3 or 4 excepted), but en masse humans do seem to be depressingly vile. Seeing the best impulses move so many at once was the high point of the episode.

It was lovely to see Nardole again, but I'd like to have known that he and the children had a decent life before they were all killed - maybe the kids at least grew up? I hated him just being left there.

I was sad to see Twelve go, and loved his "be kind" as that's the basics, really (something rich US pols and far too many US so-called Christians will never understand), but I'm so looking forward to the new Doctor.

[selenak]

I've only seen some of One's stories, and he could be irritating (both deliberately so on the writer's part, as in every early Barbara versus the Doctor scene, and unintentionally so), but not that I recall in a sexist way. Mind you, like I said, I only saw some of the First Doctor's adventures, so it's entirely possible I missed out some relevant scenes.

re: Bill and Nardole, rat first I was a bit sad they weren't the originals, but then I realised the obvious reason - if Bill (and Nardole, for that matter) had been actually around while the Doctor regenerated, they wouldn't have left her alone after, and Thirteen plus the new producer start with a new ensemble of characters.

[vilakins]

Ah, but if they had not had the copies, they could instead have had the real Bill, made of magic water or not, and Nardole, perhaps rescued by Bill after the children grew up. Neither would have to stay with Thirteen; Bill would have Heather and Nardole could well have lots of other things he'd like to do. It seemed unnecessarily complicated.

Yes, she'll have three new companions! I think that many will be good as we won't have the very intense interdependent relationships we've had all through new Who.

[legionseagle]

I can't watch (and I've actually tried to do this in the NFT) First Doctor stories because the accents remind me in class terms that I'm an un-person for that era BB, which makes me more inclined to believe that the sexism was also that bad, too.

[labingi]

Thanks for this very nice, detailed write-up. I also agree the '60s sexism jokes got old fast. Conversely, I wish--as I've often wished--that race had been called out more as a historical issue; i.e. I think someone of Lethbridge-Stewart's generation would have explicitly noted that Bill is black. It could have been as simple as "young black lady" instead of "young lady." I know the show is not meant to be realistic, but when I hear my white students say they don't think white privilege is much of a real thing, I think the erasure of race in moments like this is one of the media tropes that enables that. And I do wish they'd cast the German fellow with a German.

That said, I thoroughly enjoyed the episode. I agree with you about Gatiss ' performance, nicely understated. And it was an interesting way to bring Bill and Nardole back.

I wanted a mention of Susan, but I will accept that in-universe there's a lot of good reason not to: not risking messing up timelines by letting any info slip. And both Doctors would appreciate that without having to mention it.

[selenak]

re: race, I hear you, though: on the rare occasions when the show does go there and has characters not meant as villains but as sympathetic display historically accurate racism - as, for example, in Paul Cornell's "Human Nature/ The Family of Blood" two parter (where Joan Redfern, who is one of the heroes of the two parter, can't believe Martha is a doctor because Martha is black, and John Smith, the amnesiac Doctor with the 1913 mindset, can't either, I've seen fandom (at least the vocal part of it) revile either the scriptwriters (on the assumption they share the non-villainous character's racism) or the characters (evil forever and ever).

The episode Thin Ice this last season had Bill bring up historic racism when wondering whether it was safe for her to wander about in Regency London, and included a vile historic racist who gets promptly reprimanded (to put it mildly) by the Doctor, which is probably all in all the safest way to handle the issue, but the most honest, it's not. Then again, do I want any number of otherwise likeable characters spout racism? Not really. Hm. I do think the occasional example of unenlightened attitudes not being simply a villainous attribute would be good, though, as a reminder of just how pervailing it was. Your idea of letting Lethbridge-Stewart note strikes me as a plausible way to do that.

[watervole]

I get surprisingly sentimental about the Brigadier for some reason, so teared up for a moment when we got the Captain's name.

[selenak]

Same here!

[watervole]

I guess it's because he was such a long-running character. and because Courtney was sweet.

I was very appreciative that the Doctor got a phone call when the Brigadier died.

[davetheanalyzer]

Yeah, I liked it. This is a more grounded and at least on the lighter end of bittersweet finale, which is different and appealing.

The depiction of the One’s sexism was a bit much. Maybe the writers should have watched his era more and see if they could put it in a more subtle, thoughtless way. Still, I liked the Doctor banter, with how weird and annoying they find each other (Related – there’s a fun multi-Doctor Christmas fanmade audio story with fan actors who’re near or dead ringers of the originals if you’re interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jB5Nq3dWZfM&t=681s).

It was nice that the glass people weren’t malicious. I agreed with the Captain, they were beautiful and I like moments where the aliens aren’t bad. Though copying the memories does feel like cloning a bit, since the original copy of those memories is still going to die and so these Testimonies don’t feel like the same person. Still, I’ve seen one person muse that Jack could get Ianto back through this method, so I could see this being all sorts of fic and expanded universe fodder.

The Captain was nice and sweet. Him being saved and revealed to be a Brigadier relative (Mark Gatiss apparently says granddad, the Brigrader’s creator’s estate says great uncle? Confusing.) showed the Doctor at his best with saving people. I heard about the Christmas Truce and it was nice to see it depicted. Reading the Wikipedia page, these things were apparently more common at least in the first part of WWI than I heard, since soldiers weren’t all that eager to be a part of this.

The cameos were nice but I kind of suspected they would happen. I was amused by Clara’s snark about being insulted at being forgotten. I liked the theme of the first and latest incarnations learning to accept their end and look forward to what comes next. Twelve’s speech and regeneration was a great capstone on that, though maybe next time the Doctor should regenerate outside the TARDIS or not wait so long to do it, so it won’t go all explodey.

I will miss them all, dreadfully, even though I'm really looking forward to getting to know Jodi Whittaker's Doctor

There was a Tumblr post that might encapsulates that feeling, with it going, “Me: I DON’T WANT CAPALDI TO EVER REGENERATE” and “also me: I WANT TO SEE WHITTAKER AS THE DOCTOR RIGHT NOW.”

I was a bit sad for Capaldi’s departure but not too chuffed, having accepted he would leave and it seems like at times I don’t feel intensely as other people. Then again, the impact might’ve been dented by me not being able to resist the spoiler-hound temptation to watch the regeneration clip first.

The Thirteenth Doctor’s reveal was so well-shot. Since Chibnail apparently wrote that part, I hope he’s satisfied with the result and would ask the director Rachel Talalay to come back (Though timed more precisely, since I heard she almost didn’t take this episode because of wanting family time). Thirteen’s “Oh, brilliant” was nice and subtle comment on her new gender if that was what it was about. Her being actually flung out of the TARDIS did surprise me. I liked the closeup shot of her wounded(?) expression as she fell. I’ve heard Chibnail wanted different, so I wonder if she’ll get her TARDIS back by the end of the first episode or if she’ll spend some time stranded on Earth, ala Three. The outfit reveal had the TARDIS in the background, so maybe not the latter, but who knows.

[lokifan]

I was sure they'd use the Christmas Truce. As you say it's a beautiful real thing, and also entirely fits Moffat's general fairy tale themes and things about war and warriors.