Doctor Who: Twice Upon a Time (2017)

Redundant and unnecessary.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

It was the end of an era for doctor who, other than a new doctor it's was the end of Steven Moffat and the end of doctor who as we know it. I was expecting it to go out on a bang, but it didn't, the first doctor was a stupid mistake and a complete mockery of hartnells doctor. Since when was the first doctor sexist and the twelve doctor pc gone mad (apparently women can't clean anymore). Other than that I thought that this episode had a boring plot, poor cgi and just a terrible episode. It would have been so much better if davros was behind the plan instead of rusty, no one really liked that episode and most regular non fan viewers will have forgotten about the episode so wouldn't have a clue what's going on! The music was recycled the twelve doctor wasn't the one I knew and was just there to suddenly talk about feminism which he hasn't really talked about before but as it's a female doctors first episode, you have too. Bills character also felt pointless and ruined her departure from The Doctor Falls. Clara's cameo could have been executed better and a montage of there travels would have improved the scene even more, I would not recommend this episode to anyone.

A little bit of backstory in the writing of this episode, Chris Chibnall (who is now the showrunner and Executive producer of Doctor who) was originally supposed to write this episode however decline, so Moffat was left to write this episode and it really shows. I watch this with my dad on the day after Christmas and within ten minutes of the show my dad fail to sleep, that's how exciting this episode was. The story is non-existent and the plot is paper thin, I don't think I can even explain the plot to you it's that weak. Basically the story involves the two doctors (12th and 1st) they get abducted by a ship run by a glass-like holographic computer, they escape to another planet where the 12th Doctor gets information from said computer from a Dalek of all things, they return to 1914 Earth and say farewell to each other before regenerating in their respected tardises, that the story in a nutshell. The Characters are no better, we are introduce to a WWI British field captain whose name isn't even reveal to us until the end of the episode and the First Doctor played this time by David Bradley. I like David Bradley in this, he plays William Hartnell's Doctor really well, however because Moffat is a complete Jerk he decided to make the First Doctor sexist which is pretty disrespectful to a man who has been dead for 42 years, not only that but William Hartnell never said or did anything sexist on the show. The whole thing comes across as a bit mean-spirited and should have been left out. Bill the Lesbian makes a comeback and her reason on why she has returned only makes sense through the eyes of Moffat. First she turns into a Cyberman, then she turns into a puddle girl, now she is made out of glass and we don't know if that's really her. Humpty Dumpty look alike Nardole comes back only to say farewell to the Doctor as do Bill and Clara (a Character I hate). You would be mistaken to think that this was written by multiple people as the episode doesn't have any real purpose other than for the 12th Doctor's companions to say goodbye which was done in The Doctor Falls which if you see my review wasn't a great story either. Everything that you see in this episode is unoriginal and has been done before though much better. Even the regeneration is unoriginal, the whole combustion whilst the Doctor (or whoever) holds his/her arms in a cross like position has been done so many times now that it's beyond tiresome not to mention destroying the Tardis whilst regenerating which was done far better in the End of Time. I like that they use the morphing effect on Capaldi's eye as it transitions into Whittaker's eyes and the use of the Bad Wolf theme not use since the End of Time, 7 years ago. The last three minutes of this episode is probably the best part, the Doctor (now played by Whittaker) presses a button and the Tardis blows up and then she falls out of the Tardis, I don't know why but I found that whole scene amusing especially the way she's falling. After watching this episode I rewatching previous regeneration stories in DW and I noticed a glaring error with this episode, the Doctor (mainly the 12th Doctor) isn't heroic. In all other regeneration stories the Doctor is always heroic despite the odds that are against him, we saw him face his fears in Planet of the Spiders, save the universe in Logopolis, risk his life to save Peri in Caves of Androzani and stop his own people from destroying the Earth in The End of Time. Here not only is the Doctor withholding his regeneration because he doesn't want to, but he also sends the WWI captain (yeah did you forget about him?) back to Ypres so he would die, fortunately for the captain he doesn't die because of the Christmas truce. Ohh as for the Captain's reveal it turns out his the Grand Uncle of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart which is just shoehorn in.

Since opinions about Doctor Who seem to have degenerated into polemics, consisting of either uncritical adoration or irrational hatred, a moderate view of Moffatt's final episode seems like a helpful offering. This episode was okay. It wasn't horrible. It didn't make me want to throw things at the television, like some of Moffatt's episodes. But it wasn't thrilling either, and I was surprised to find - just as I was thinking that the main plot must be about to kick in - that in fact the episode was almost over, and what I had just watched WAS the main plot. That was a bit of a let-down. Compared with previous Christmas specials, this one featured no cataclysmic disaster for the Doctor to avert at the last minute. What we expect to be the monster in fact turns out to be benign. On the upside, this is a refreshing idea, something unexpected. But it does make the episode quite anti-climactic. The story was also notably simpler and more straightforward than Moffatt typically is, and there was no "timey-wimey" stuff. That too is a positive. One just wishes that the gap left by those things had been filled with something a little more engaging and dramatic than what we got. As a send off for Capaldi, it was a bit of a whimper. Heaven Sent it was not, alas.That said, the episode, had some very enjoyable aspects: David Bradley put in a thoroughly charming performance as the first Doctor, almost making you wish that 12 might just regenerate back into him. The banter between the two doctors was very engaging, and Bradley and Capaldi played off one another brilliantly ("I AM younger" - hilarious). More problematic was Moffatt's decision to make the first Doctor into a raging chauvinist (which he never really was ) - funny at first, perhaps, but the gag went on far too long. More structurally, there didn't turn out to be any real reason for both of them to be in this episode - it had nothing to do with the central plot - it seems Moffatt just though it would be "cool" to have the first Doctor in an episode. Gatiss put in a quality performance as the confused WWI soldier - proving yet again that he's a better actor than writer. I wasn't thrilled to see Bill back again - not because I didn't like her character, but because I think continually bringing back old companions (under any pretext) nullifies the emotional effects of their leaving in the first place, and is frankly just cheap fan service. (In that connection, I now realize that I DID almost throw something at the TV when she-who-shall-not-be-named put in a brief appearance as well...) It's hard to say anything good about Capaldi's final speech and regeneration scene: the speech was forced, cheezy, meaningless, and yet another example of how Moffatt can't write human (or alien) emotion. The regeneration itself was brief, and exactly the same as the previous two. Could have used a little more imagination there. As far as the next Doctor's introduction goes - it was brief, but looked good. Not a lot to go on, but there was certainly nothing to object to in her performance or look so far. The episode ending with her falling out of the Tardis was a nice touch. I have to say, I'm feeling optimistic about her portrayal at this point. In sum, weak plot, great performances, not much drama. I'd give it 6.5, but IMDB doesn't allow half points, and 7 seems a bit high for this episode.

The 12th Doctor refuses to change and bumps into the original 1963 Doctor Who.One of the very best Doctor Who shows ever! Wonderful acting from everybody (I felt like the original Doctor actor was still alive in 2017), at times funny, great sets, and just a good solid hour of science fiction.The timing of the screening (December 2017) could not have been better as this made up for the rather average Star Wars film (The Last Jedi) which also appeared in December 2017. Twice Upon A Time restored my faith in 2017 sci-fi TV/film making.The only negative to the whole hour is Capaldi's very long drawn out goodbye speech right at the end before he changes. He mentions children and everything else under the sun and at one point I was yelling out: "okay, right, just bloody change will you!"But all things considered, a must for all 1960s Doctor Who fans and for many other people as well.