cybersontaran As much as I love peter Capaldi as the doctor, this was not the right send off for him. I honestly think that it would have been better to see him regenerate in the doctor falls. As it was a much better send off for him. But no, Steven Moffat has to go rub his grubby hands all over the wonderful ending he had for us, all just because he didn't want to lose the Christmas special slot on telly. Thanks a lot Steven.I'm not really sure where to start. I could start with the offensive characterisation of the first doctor, or the amount of fan service he tried to stuff into it. There was so much thrown at our faces and it's hard to understand any of it. Especially if your a casual viewer. To a casual viewer it would pretty much be a bit like this. So there's these glass people and they have frozen time or something, and then the doctor visits a dalek called rusty that I had never seen before and so the doctor goes back in time even though it's frozen and saves this guy called Stewart that fought in a war or something and now that bill girl is glass, or is she? Also, Bill. WTF Moffat why?!?! Why bring her back? She had a perfectly good ending in the doctor falls!!!!! And now all the focus is on her and wether she is glass or real when should be on the plot. OH WAIT! THERE IS NO PLOT!! There is literally no plot! I could go on about how the first doctor is written like a sexist when he's really not. This makes the doctor look like a bad person (bye bye half the audience). But I think I'm gonna stop here. The only good scene was the regeneration. Dam that was good. So I give it 4/10. The four was for the amazing performances by all the actors and the amazing regeneration scene that makes me cry and then scream with glee.

Smoreni Zmaj Christmas Special between 10th and 11th season of renewed Doctor Who returns to the roots, not only by appearance of first Doctor, but also by catching spirit of old black and white Doctor Who from half of last century. Fans of complete franchise will be pleased with nostalgic atmosphere of this episode, but those who follow this show since 2005. might be disappointed by lack of action and special effects. Personally, I like both series, but I prefer new one and, although I felt charm of the old Doctor in this episode, I was also a little bit bored. Still, quality of Moffat's and Capaldi's valedictory episode is undeniable. Capaldi was truly great Doctor and I miss him already, and David Bradley must be acknowledged for the very convincing imitation of the original Doctor.7/10

jaygpeterson It gets a "C" as a story -as a end of a Doctor aka Regeneration story: D-. The only part of it that brought any emotion to me other than "Oh God, it's awful" was when "the Captain" asks for the Doctor to check in on his family and he gives his name as "Lethbridge-Stewart." And as a YouTuber "Wingy Media" said it is a far better nod to the great Brigadier (Why was he never promoted? Surely between his record and longevity and coming out of retirement, he would have at least made Major-General, if not Lieutenant-General?) than that stupid Cybermen story which was 98% bad. Wingy Media noted that there is no real threat in the story. Compared to the best regeneration stories of "Planet of the Spiders" and "Logopolis" it falls flat. Here are my nit-picky comments. Who were those moderately good looking "actors" who were supposed to be Ben and Polly? Anneke Wills was/is beautiful, the replacement Polly was looked okay but she looked like she had bleached hair. Michael Craze was a handsome chap, this guy was ordinary with an awful haircut. Michael deserved better. Now to David Bradley. He did a good job, I agree with Wingy Media the sexism of him was WAY overdone and completely unnecessary and out of context. He would not have said "smacked bottom" to someone he just met. The problem with Bradley was the way he was written. Bradley should have added some of Hartnell's fluffing to his lines. There have been three First Doctors. Richard Hurndall played him in "The Five Doctors" and was much better written. Well to be fair to Steven Moffat, "The Five Doctors" was written by Terrance Dicks.Finally, the regeneration scene: Long drawn out and a little boring until we blow up the console room again and now the Doctor falls out of the TARDIS -sorry that isn't believable outside of an atmosphere. I mean Doctor Who plays very fast with physics (I can much more readily embrace relative dimensions -I was pretty good at algebra), but falling out side of the space time capsule from at least a high altitude? Not believable: For every action there is an equal and opposite action.Post Script: Jodie Whitaker. I liked her in Broadchurch, she delivered some lines/scenes that were extraordinary. The proof will be in the acting pudding. My initial reaction to her is a bleach-haired woman as the first woman Doctor! That's sexist from the start. At least with Peter Davison they made sure his roots didn't need attention (or as Mrs. Slocombe would say, "Me roots need doin'." I would have like the first woman Doctor to be more exotic looking. I would have cast Emerald Fennell mostly known here in the USA as Nurse Patsy Mount in "Call the Midwife." She is tall and exotic looking whether in her natural blonde hair or the red of Patsy Mount. And the last side note of Jodie's 13th/14th Doctor: The outfit. Oh my God! My brother defends it saying "it's what you would expect of a man newly turned into a woman." At first I kind of agreed with that, but upon reflection: No. The man has traveled for hundreds of years with a whole bunch of beautiful and hot women with him. The wardrobe is full of their various items plus what the original material that the commissioners of this type 40 space time capsule thought it would need. My thoughts were the following top three previous outfits: Wendy Padbury's (Zoe) sparkly catsuit, Sarah Jane Smith's Andy-Pandy outfit, or Leela's skins. Those outfits would be a real nod "to the Dads."PPS: At least this story isn't the worst regeneration story. That award goes to David Tennant's two parter end which was really, really bad.

bob the moo Twice upon a Time is the title of this episode, which sees a nice bit of casting by drawing David Bradley from the depiction of the actor William Hartnell, to here play the character he was most famous for (while Bradley himself is more famous for Game of Thrones now). This is one of the many positive things that this special held out; a final outing for Capaldi, a final appearance for Mackie (somehow), and a regeneration into a new Doctor. Lots on offer, so it is frustrating that it doesn't really hit many high notes as it goes.The plot sees time frozen, but it is the tone that seems the most awkwardly stuck between two stools. It knows it has to be 'important' but at the same time it also kind of knows that it should be entertaining too. Any time it tries to do one, it seems overly conscious not to move too far from the other; the end result is something that is very middle-of-the-road and lacks conviction in what it is doing. Capaldi deserves a stronger bow out than this; he gets his moment on screen but the episode itself doesn't build up as well as previous exits have. Bradley's Doctor isn't used particularly well at all; there is a novelty of seeing him but mostly his character is not great - which is a fairly poor situation if you are going to bring the original Doctor back. As a story there isn't really a pace to it, and I didn't find myself held by it as it unfolded. Returns and references for many characters just felt like they were throwing things at the screen, not that the story made sense to have them all.This weakness meant the more important moments felt fake, or at very least unearned. The use of the WWI setting and famous moment is corny, the references/connections to other characters are clunky as usual, but what bothered me more was the way that themes were not delivered on as they could have been. More could have been made of the two Doctors being there - more could have been done to engage that reflective tone, and to bring it round to be a conclusion and decision to start afresh. At times it seems to be looking for this, but the show doesn't have the determination to go for it.