Doctor Who, Christmas Special: The Time of the Doctor (2013)

I'm a big fan of Doctor Who and have quite enjoyed the Matt Smith arc. That being said I thought this episode dragged on and on and on. Don't get me wrong it was entertaining and would have made an alright normal episode, but to be the last episode for our beloved Mr. Smith? Could have been better. In a sense this pulled a Bioshock: Infinite with the beginning and end being good (though I thought the end could have gone differently as well) but the middle lacking. I don't want to give away the episode so I shall be somewhat vague. The beginning has all the suspense and excitement expected of a special, with all the great races making an appearance, and the banter between Clara and The Doctor being humorous. But then the middle when he is in the town and all of the narration and time is passing just drags. At some point it really just becomes a "I get it already, please move on now" situation. There is admittedly a bit of nice dialogue between Clara and The Doctor, but it is short and sweet. Then we get to the second part of the middle and the excitement picks up for a bit, but then after a bit again it drops back down leading into the end. We get more narration and a bit of a drag again, with a feeling of "I feel as though I have already been through this, in this episode actually!" Now finally it comes to the end and we all know what this episode is for so there is no spoiler in saying here we see the end/death of the 11th (by name only) Doctor. This is done well and of course seeing Mr. Smith go is saddening, but with of the issues the middle of the episode had I ended up actually more so feeling pure relief that it is finally over, and this is not what should be for such a sad moment. Now as for the well known issue of The Doctor's regeneration cycle coming to an end, it was expected for there to be something that happens which allows him to keep living (as the show is not being cancelled). As to how this is done, without giving away any spoilers, I understand why it was done in such a way and I get how it is meaningful. The problem is I felt that it was easy, and I don't mean that there should have been a bigger ordeal for it to happen. No that was pretty well established throughout the episode. I just felt that from a writing stand point it was easy, it just seemed forced and with out the proper "substance" (for lack of a better word) to really give it that "wow" factor. With all of this being said, the episode was good and should be respected for it's part in saying goodbye to Matt Smith. I just felt the middle could have used some tweaking and the ending could have had (again for a lack of a better word) "more."

As a new Doctor Who fan that recently started watching the series from the Chris Eccleston’s portrayal as the Doctor, I have to say that there couldn’t be a better episode, along with Day of the Doctor, to cap off the experience. What a tremendous payoff this is! However, it reflects poorly on BBC’s hodgepodge presentation of various Doctor Who bundles that neither this set nor the 50th Anniversary set has a season associated with it, leaving them to confusingly mix together. Surely there must be a better way to organize these two sets than to leave them as “No Season” titles? It’s left my Doctor Who collection a terrible mess. If not for this, it would definitely have gotten five stars.

Peter Capaldi is not the Doctor! He is the Master! Samuel Anderson is playing a chameleon arched version of the Doctor!

We already had seen the ones with David Tennant. The other ones are fluff. We should of just paid $3.00 for the ONE episoide that was good

Awesome, just way, way good.

Thank you, Matt, for a wonderful tenure as the Doctor. You were the coolest!

First off: A majority of the negative reviews are reflecting upon the poor marketing that went into the Season Pass. "The End of Time" episodes were included in the Pass, and since many already owned them, they felt cheated, along with the fact the Christmas episode was released on iTunes the morning after it aired. However, if the purchasers who left poor reviews read what was included and understood that the episodes are not released till the morning after, there would be fewer poor reviews. That being said, I thought the actual Christmas special was really good, but not quite the best. I will be careful to avoid spoilers in the rest of my review. I agree with the reviewer who said that some of the scenes with villains seemed rushed. I see why they were rushed, but I feel it would have been better to add more time to the special to allow room for more details. That being said, the important parts that contributed towards the plot were timed quite well. Some have said the plotlines were sometimes too confusing and did not blend well together in some areas. I did not find them to be a bit confusing or not fitting, although I can see how it is possible to view them as so if the viewer is not paying attention. *POTENTIAL SPOILER BELOW* While some may say the regeneration was "rushed" as well, I actually think it was quite a fitting way for the Eleventh to regenerate. He was, sometimes, erratic; hence his regeneration ended up being so. *POTENTIAL SPOILER ABOVE* Overall, I felt it was a pretty good farewell to the Eleventh. Now for the nine month wait till we see the Twelth in a full episode...

I absolutely love it. If you're a huge Who fan and will be watching this special many times, then it is most definitely worth the price. I like that the other episodes and the farewell to Matt Smith are included with the season pass.

It's not really necessary to include the 2-part End Of Time story in this “season.” If anything The Eleventh Hour would've been a better inclusion since it's the real beginning of 11’s story. The special itself was pretty good, but really you're better off buying that single episode than this whole set.

The Doctor is strict ,nice,and cool!