Guest cast confirmed for 'The Time of the Doctor':

 

Sheila Reid (Clara's grandmother)

James Buller (Clara's father)

Elizabeth Rider (Linda)

Tessa Peake-Jones (Marta)

Kayvan Novak (the voice of Handles)

Mark Anthony Brighton (Colonel Albero)

Sonita Henry (Colonel Meme)

Rob Jarvis (Abramel)

Jack Hollington (Barnable)

 

And of course the main cast:

 

Matt Smith (the Doctor)

Jenna Coleman (Clara Oswald)

Orla Brady (Tasha Lem)

Peter Capaldi (the Doctor)

Quite funny how they've completely stopped using the new Daleks at all now :lol:

 

Those children's toys should NEVER have happened. Didn't they only feature in 2 episodes anyway? (The WW2 one and the Pandorica Opens?)

Those children's toys should NEVER have happened. Didn't they only feature in 2 episodes anyway? (The WW2 one and the Pandorica Opens?)

And 'Asylum of the Daleks' (albeit with a more creepy, metallic lick of paint). I reckon they'll just be using those models if there are ever any Dalek hierarchies in episodes (like with the Parliament and the Prime Minister in 'Asylum of the Daleks') as if they are of more importance than the bronze models.

If anybody hasn't seen the trailer already:

 

 

Looks fantastic! :wub:

 

!!!

I want River to come back :(

Orla Brady speaking about her character, Tasha Lem:

 

Brady told Flicks and the City: “I do play a galactic nun. Tasha Lem is somebody who is from the Doctor’s past. She’s an old friend of his and in this episode he comes to her for help.

 

“We have not met Tasha before, but we’ve met her forces. We’ve met the troops of the Papal Mainframe in a former episode and this is the big boss. She’s the Mother Superious of the Papal Mainframe.

 

“She’s extraordinarily powerful. So she’s like the head of the Galactic UN. She’s a peacekeeping force but they’ve got more firepower and more willingness to use it than the Earthly UN. They are a scary outfit if you are on the wrong side of them, but I think the Doctor has to feel that she will help them, and indeed she will, because she’s an old friend of his.”

 

On the Silence she said: “Obviously the Silence are part, or become part, of the Papal Mainframe, so I did have scenes where Silence were present and they have a certain allegiance to me.”

 

On whether her character is good or evil: “Broadly speaking I’m on the side of good. I’m supposed to be not frightening, but authoritative. You’re supposed to believe that she can run these troops and the Silence, and this giant ship and the UN of space.

 

“She will use her firepower if necessary because she does get cross, shall we say, with the Doctor at a certain point because she’s used to troops pretty much being under her control and doing what she asks of them. She does ask the Doctor to do a particular thing and he’s a bit of a loose cannon and goes rogue, so she’s not best pleased to a certain point.”

 

On her character’s origins: “She’s human, but Steven Moffat said she’s a descendant of humans. It’s like there’s some element of her that is not quite human. She doesn’t have specific superpowers, much to my huge disappointment, but there’s a strain of something else, something alien.”

 

Preview clip:

 

I thought the episode was alright but nothing special, it did drag at the start, got better as the episode plodded along, just looking forward into the new regeneration with Peter Capaldi, hopefully it bring something new to the table.

It was good in the sense that it wrapped up everything from Matt Smith's previous era, the references to previous episodes were a little shoehorned but some of them worked and hopefully that's us off to a completely fresh start for Capaldi, with only Clara making the crossover.

 

There was really too much of everything, I imagine it must have been a frustrating watch if you hadn't watched much and/or had forgotten previous episodes and having literally every well-known monster in there every time one can just cheapens them in their inevitable future appearances down the line. Capaldi didn't sound great from his few lines although I guess I'll have time to warm to him.

 

Basically, I liked it but it could have been a little more restrained rather than throwing everything at the wall to finally finish Smith off. However many months there are until the proper series should hopefully be enough for me have a complete break from it and forget everything I find annoying about it.

I was rather disappointed with this in all honesty - some scenes lasted too long and the ending was a complete cop out (His names the Doctor and nothing else is needed?! Come on! Although I was always a bit unsure with that storyline in general, the doctor does not need to have a name!) and far too rushed. The last scene didn't really pack the power it should have as Matt's send off. Also too many villains and a lot of them were underused, I still can't get a feel of these new Cybermen even though they've featured in two episodes so far.

 

Some parts were good - the 'confess' monsters were great and I just wish they would've dwelled on it more. I am also glad everything was wrapped up so we can start afresh. I'm very much looking forward to Capaldi's debut, the little I saw of him at the end was pretty decent. I assume its gonna be quite a while given there wasn't even a trailer at the end :(

Edited December 25, 201311 yr by Father Walrus

the ending was a complete cop out (His names the Doctor and nothing else is needed?! Come on!

I assume its gonna be quite a while given there wasn't even a trailer at the end :(

Well they're not exactly going to tell us what the Doctor's real name is... It's part of the mystery of the fifty years that Doctor Who has been running. If 'Doctor who?' was answered, where else would there be to go?

 

Filming for series 8 starts in January, and the series apparently airs in August, approximately the same time as Series 6 Part 2 aired, so we'll probably end up with a trailer in June or July.

 

---

 

It was definitely a fantastic episode! So much emotion thrown into it by Matt and Jenna, and I felt a real sense of emotion as I was watching it too. The parts where they wrapped up the unanswered questions were especially fantastic! The crack in time, I did not expect to see return! That was a great twist on something we thought was complete, and I'm surprised nobody really guessed that it was what was in the Doctor's room (although we were probably all led to believe that it was going to be the War Doctor (following confirmation of who he was)). I love how that played an essential part in how the Doctor's life and future was determined. Granted, it was a bit of a cop-out that Moffat decided to have it just be Kovarian that exploded the TARDIS, but it was still nice to have closure on that, being probably the biggest mystery of Matt Smith's era.

 

Aside from addressing all of the open plot points, the story itself was fantastic! The real star of the episode was Orla Brady; as expected. She was so sassy and amazing! Loved her character, and it was great that she had a major part to play. Would like to see more of her, but I'm assuming that she is only a character there to form the final part of Matt's story as the Doctor (and a Time Lady too - she died again and again?! :o). I loved all of the scenes she was in, and the voice-over dialogue she had was brilliant! Added to the effect of the time passing and exactly how long the war went on for.

 

Clara was fantastic. I'm glad she was actually in most of the episode instead of just lingering in the background like she did in 'The Day of the Doctor'. The scenes where the Doctor left her and left her again were beautiful. Really added to the emotion of the episode and how the 11th Doctor always has somebody waiting on him and he rarely comes back in time for them (if at all). That was a beautiful addition. The Silence were fantastic as well, I'm glad that their story was tied up as excellently as it was. Such a fitting ending, and I'm glad Moffat explained why you forget you see them after you have. It all makes sense after seeing that episode. Absolutely everything about the 11th Doctor's era makes perfect sense.

 

The Daleks actually felt like a proper threat this time as well. Guns blazing, merciless and not a single care about anybody standing in their way - that's how they should be. They should have been like that in 'The Day of the Doctor' in the scene with the Gallifreyan family. Hopefully if they're in future stories they are as they were in this episode. Handles was a bit of a stupid addition to the episode. I don't like how they seem to want to have at least one member of each alien species that the Doctor is said to be a nemesis of as friendly. First Strax, now Handles. Are we going to get a friendly Dalek next? The scene where the Doctor went bald in the TARDIS though... That was completely unnecessary. I really hated that. Shouldn't have happened. :( Although when he was naked. YES PLEASE *.*

 

I would agree with Moffat that it was Matt's best performance, simply stunning. He felt so alive in the episode, and it was a very fitting ending. The final scenes were just beautiful. I would have preferred if he regenerated into Capaldi at the top of the tower, but that's nothing major. That regeneration was quite possibly the most epic and best we've seen so far! Fair to say Moffat's much better at doing it than RTD was. Karen Gillan back though... Didn't expect that either, and it was a really great scene to have. Rounding off the era with the woman that he couldn't bare to lose the most. That was touching. Not sure I'm keen on Capaldi just yet, but I'm sure he'll be excellent in his first series, so bring that on! Will definitely be getting the DVD of this though and I'm sure there's many more plot points still to pick up on that weren't quite fully recognisable on first glance.

 

10/10

I didn't understand half of it but the plot seemed mostly filler to me. Was enjoyable still and the last 10/15 minutes were FANTASTIC. Can't wait to see Capaldi in the role properly now.

 

Oh and WHAT was the bald Matt scene about?! :lol: Most ridiculous thing I've seen in ages and I wasn't sure if I was still awake or had drifted off to sleep... :unsure: :lol:

Well they're not exactly going to tell us what the Doctor's real name is... It's part of the mystery of the fifty years that Doctor Who has been running. If 'Doctor who?' was answered, where else would there be to go?

 

I'm not angry about that, I just wish they'd never brought his name into this thing, he doesn't have a name and that should be it. This whole 'what's your name?' storyline was unnecessary in the first place but it seems really pointless if they're just gonna tell us at the end that he doesn't have a name and that's enough - when that was obvious to all of us right from the start! I get that it was used to bring back the time lords, but I wish they'd never brought his name into it. Ending it in a completely predictable way just feels like a waste of time.

Edited December 26, 201311 yr by Father Walrus

It was decent but mainly for the beginning and the end. It dropped off in the middle and went way too slow as often seems to happen in DW these days. If they didn't rush through the beginning then they wouldn't have to pad out the middle with the same boring scenes over and over. Apart from that, everything else was pretty great.

Overnight viewing figures: 8.3m

 

Hopefully there's a great increase when the final figures come in (I imagine it'll be something like 11m), and it's #1 on BBC iPlayer, so hopefully that indicates its popularity at the moment (and there will be the sillies who recorded it to watch Coronation Street (which suffered a loss because of going up against DW, oops)).

Some parts were good - the 'confess' monsters were great and I just wish they would've dwelled on it more.

 

They were called The Silence and they dwelled on them more throughout Matt Smith's 3 series. I thought the way they were used on this episode was exceptional, after all the drama and the terror from before they were just helping out The Doctor!

 

It was a good episode all in all and the perfect conclusion.

 

I only didn't like one thing: If you can't remember The Silence after you see them, how does Clara know she forgot about them when she says "Why can't I remember you?". The question there would be "AAH! What/Who are you?". -_-

BRIEF OVERVIEW of my thoughts:

 

Matt Smith - Absolutely incredible, as per, so sad to see him go.

Clara - getting better, though she seemed to look different in every scene (this may have been the bubbly clouding my judgement)

Orla Brady - IN-f***ING-CREDIBLE, she looks younger than she did in Fringe 5 years ago! Glorious character to boot.

Storyline - good, I liked that it tried to include all of Matt's stuff and it did an admirable job given how complex a lot of it got, but it felt a tad slow at times.

Capaldi - poor, I have high hopes for him in the role proper but he felt a little lacking in that scene.

Yet another disappointing christmas episode. Par for the course now sadly.

Ugh not gonna like the new doctor I don't think. Went from bad to worse with David Tennant being the best obviously :)

Final viewing figures: 11.14m

 

Wow! :o Fifth most viewed programme of the day and Matt Smith's second most watched Christmas Special.