Doctor Who: Twice Upon A Time
Dec. 26th, 2017 04:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakThe 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.
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.
no subject
Date: 2017-12-26 10:09 pm (UTC)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.
no subject
Date: 2017-12-27 08:06 am (UTC)