back to article Doctor Who: Oh, look! There's a restaurant at the end of the universe in Hell Bent

Readers please note: THIS IS A POST-UK BROADCAST REVIEW – THERE WILL BE SPOILERS! Finally, the Doctor is over his mid-life crisis and his Sonic Screwdriver is back where it belongs. I was hoping that Clara (yes, I'll get to Clara) would keep the sunnies for herself after she reversed the polarity on the human-compatible neural …

  1. msknight

    I knew it. I bloody knew it. They never kill the companion. Well, I think they did once.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Happy

      Re : "They never kill the companion"

      Yep... poor Adric...

      Alltogether... great episode !

      Loved the "get off my planet"... twice...

      And the high councel gets to leave on the next shuttle...

    2. Jordan Davenport

      To be entirely fair, we did indeed see her die... Just not exactly as we thought we did.

      1. TRT Silver badge

        Companions who died and stayed dead.

        As well as Adric, they also killed Katarina and Sara Kingdom. The first Doctor's reign was the bloodiest!

        Kamelion also "died", and at the hands of the 5th Doctor himself! And so, with Adric, I guess that makes Peter Davison's reign... I don't know... equal to the first Doctor's perhaps, as Kamelion was an android and it was a mercy killing?

        And then there was Astrid and Adelaide Brooke though I don't class them as companions due to my definition of companion, that being a character who has appeared in more than one story, and has travelled between stories by TARDIS, with Sara Kingdom and The Brigadier included due to (i) the length of the Dalek Master Plan and (ii) the Brigadier just because it's right that he should be.

        Which would make 10's reign pretty gruesome too. Watch out whoever travels with 15!

    3. Ian Michael Gumby
      Boffin

      @msknight Uhmmm but she is dead.

      You really have to follow the science fiction guide in time travel...

      Her death did occur and its a fixed point in time. She is dead and will be dead. She has no heart beat and exists out of the temporal universe. She is both dead and immortal. Its this duality which is in itself a paradox. They should never had been able to pluck her out of her time stream. In doing so, they created this paradox and it will be corrected if she goes back to that moment in time.

      The interesting thing is that there are now two Tardis' loose on the universe.

      1. x 7

        Re: @msknight Uhmmm but she is dead.

        "The interesting thing is that there are now two Tardis' loose on the universe."

        I'll think you'll find its the same Tardis, just an earlier version.......she'll take it back to Gallifrey in time to hand it over to the first doctor when he escapes.

        If you remember the Doctor's Tardis didn't "like" Clara when she first signed up......that will be because the Tardis remembered that she'd abandoned the Doctor and flown off

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: @msknight Uhmmm but she is dead.

          Well that would explain why the chameleon circuit broke at the end of the show. I was wondering if that was just a design flaw in all the tardises where they were just dodgy, but if it's the same one, then at some point they give it back to the Doctor, and manage to get one more change out of it.

  2. mike white 1

    Impossible Girl

    maybe she's been in between heartbeats all along in all her various incarnations?

    1. msknight

      Re: Impossible Girl

      Ever since she stepped in to his time stream a couple of years ago?

      1. james.aka.damingo

        Re: Impossible Girl

        ...Mind Blown

    2. Super Fast Jellyfish

      Re: Impossible Girl

      Possibly but I thought they were just fragments of herself. It was never clear whar happened to her after she met the doctor - I guess on Earth they all ended up in Me's Home for Old Companions of the Doctor!

  3. J.G.Harston Silver badge

    Yay! A stable plot loop. She goes the long way back to Gallifrey and nudges OneDoc off into a working Tardis onto his adventures.

  4. Aqua Marina

    So now we have Capitan Jack, and Clara as fixed points in time. Can any anagrams be deduced from those names :p

    Awaiting a future episode of Torchwood!

    1. heyrick Silver badge
      Happy

      Kinda hoping for a spin-off series where Clara and Me raise hell across time and space. Neither are Time Lords, both are immortal (in a manner of speaking), and they are joyriding a TARDIS. What could possibly go wrong?

      1. Roq D. Kasba

        As a spinoff it would be rather elegant - lots of people call for a female Dr, and its been flirted with with the Missy character that gender is just a 'thing', much as Torchwood did with sexuality. It would give 'Me' a female-based doctor story without upsetting the traditionalists or cannon. And if they do, then I'd love to watch it.

        Some people dislike Moffat and what he's brought to the series, but I respect him. He knows about storytelling and legend, has obvious reverence for the subject matter, but I'd playful within it, much as he is with Sherlock. You don't get to make two of the country's greatest exports without being at least a little bit good...

        1. AF

          They reinforced the gender-as-a-thing in this episode too, with the General regenerating into a woman after being a man for at least the last regeneration - she's all back to normal now!

          1. TRT Silver badge

            It's the job...

            during the war her body was flooded with retrotosterone, a predominantly male hormone associated with regret and the frustration arising from not being able to go back in your own time-line and fix things.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Shite, sack Moffat.

    1. J.G.Harston Silver badge

      One of the best episodes so far.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        "One of the best episodes so far."

        Only if you've ever watcher one episode of Dr Who, do me favour.

        Come back Sylvester McCoy era script writers, all is forgiven.

      2. adrianww

        This is obviously using some new definition of the word "best" that I was previously unaware of.

        Although I suppose - to be fair - there have been worse episodes during this shark-jumping train-wreck of a series. Like the first two or three which ensured that I didn't so much watch this rest of them as sit in the room doing something else of a Saturday evening while others watched it.

        Still saw enough of what was happening to vote for putting it back on the shelf for another couple of decades though...

    2. sisk

      Shite, sack Moffat.

      Nonsense. I could see saying that after the train wreck of season 8, but this season was superb. Over the past 12 weeks the show has returned to it's roots. So much of this season reminded me of the early eras I fell in love with. No, I say let Moffat keep doing what he's doing.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Sack Moffat +1

        No, I say let Moffat keep doing what he's doing.

        Personally I'm finding this series tired, predictable, too many of the sets and plot lines samey. Look at the repeated "shuffling monsters, run away, run away, in dark industrial environment, with emphatic exclamations" crap. I suppose at least the four billion year time loop doffs its cap at the concept of retreading, although I think that's an in-joke at the expense of the audience.

        Capaldi is a good actor, was excellent in Musketeers, but as the doctor he's just not the man. His impressively vehement "I will hunt you through the universe" and "be afraid, very afraid" type declarations are then completely frittered by the inability of the over-arching story to allow a vengeful doctor, and that undermines the point of casting the rather grizzled Capaldi.

        The rot started with the wet-lettuce of Matt Smith. Capaldi is far better, but still doesn't fit. I suggest a petition to Downing Street demanding a change in the law to force David Tennant to work as the doctor until the end of his days.

        1. steamrunner

          Re: Sack Moffat +1

          Funnily enough, of the four modern-era Doctors (five if you include John Hurt), the one that I feel was the *least* Doctor-ish was David Tennant. All creds to him as a brilliant actor, all-round good guy and for making the show huge with a new audience (well, huge-er... the first revamped season did most of the hugeness on it's own with no fanfare, to be honest), but I don't rate him as much as the others. Good. Great even. But no gold cyberman-killing star. Sacrilege, I know...

          S.

        2. Heathroi

          Re: Sack Moffat +1

          tennant. the weedy shouty one? no way.

        3. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Sack Moffat -2

          "I suggest a petition to Downing Street demanding a change in the law to force David Tennant to work as the doctor until the end of his days."

          oh dear god no - it'd be the end of Who - what with all the 'ever so sincere' monologues with, clowning around and gurning.

          He was dreadful - and represents everything that was wrong with Who during the RTD era.

          I was too giddy that Dr Who was simply back to care at the time, but he began to grate immensely.

          Oh, and your utterly wrong on every level by the way.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Sack Moffat -2

            Yeah, i thought Tennant was really good too mate! glad to see you share my appreciation for the best modern doctor. We should get coffee together and discuss how brilliant he was in the role.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        "...train wreck of season 8..."

        I thought Mummy on the Orient Express was one of the better received episodes.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      dont overdo it

      It wasn't shite, not at all, but I have to admit that I also didn't think it was all that great either.

      The problem with these story twists is that they don't add up. They are highly entertaining, awesomely well executed (the bar scene was chilling, the unarmed take over of Gallifrey was very statisfying, and the old Tardis was also a nice touch). But if you dig deeper, like most geeks do, then you'll end up disappointed over so many loose ends.

      So the Sisterhood of Karn was on Gallifrey. So they knew where it was. Why didn't they tell the doctor?

      And even though I personally like seeing Clara again I also was hoping that the story would focus more on Gallifrey and the time lords instead of only centering fully around Clara Oswald again.

      Shite? Go wash your mouth sir. Acting was very well executed, the emotions then layed into it was awesome. But true; it didn't leave me with the amount of satisfaction that I hoped for.

      1. Tom Sparrow

        Re: dont overdo it

        Didn't the sisterhood say they had been called to Galifrey or did I imagine that? I guess it found them (presumably some point in the 4.5.billion years the Dr had been away)

      2. AF

        Re: dont overdo it

        There was a comment that Gallifrey was no longer hiding by this point - either that, or the Sisterhood saw a review of it on TripAdvisor which the High Council couldn't get taken down.

        I did think it was interesting to have the Doctor finally use a gun to shoot someone; he knew they wouldn't be perma-dead but still, it's ending a life. That was pretty big.

        1. illiad

          Re: dont overdo it

          But the doctor did say "death?? no, with regeneration, its just 'man-flu' :) "

          1. TRT Silver badge

            Re: dont overdo it

            I wouldn't dis' the sis'. They are a superb creation; creepy as sh** and a foil for Time Lord arrogance and pomposity. Morbius has to be one of my favourites.

            1. lorisarvendu

              Re: dont overdo it

              Never mind "The angels have the phone box."

              "Don't Dis the Sis!"

              That Tee-shirt design has got to be done!

              1. TRT Silver badge

                Re: That Tee-shirt design has got to be done!

                Tempted to put "KAAAAAARN!" across the back of it, just for confusion's sake.

            2. Eponymous Cowherd

              Re: dont overdo it

              They kind of put me in mind of the Bene Gesserit

    4. TheProf
      Facepalm

      "Shite, sack Moffat."

      Your talents are wasted on this crowd. Haven't you got a 4chan audience for your thoughtful insights?

      1. adrianww

        Sack him? No. But...

        To be fair here, I wouldn't say that Moffat should be sacked. Possibly returned to the role of dedicated screenwriter (at which he has already demonstrated his ability) while someone else takes on the responsibility of running the show as a whole, but certainly not sacked.

        This series has, however, largely been shite and I really don't understand how anything other than severely rose-tinted glasses (or hopeless addiction to all things Whovian) could make anyone believe otherwise. I really did have high hopes for Peter Capaldi in the role and I think he has tried very hard to make something of the rather shoddy mess that he has been given in terms of plotlines and script but this has been the first season of the "new" Dr Who where I, for one, have found the sow's ear simply too ugly, trite and frivolous to be turned into any kind of purse, much less a silk one.

        Still, takes all sorts I suppose. If it rocks your boat, more power to you, but I still think I'd prefer to see it shelved again (or canned altogether) rather than watch another season like this one.

    5. Eric Olson

      Could we do a poll...

      Where in addition to rating Doctors (as before), we get some demographic about the age now, when they were introduced to Doctor Who, and what Doctor they started with?

      I'm getting an impression that people have fond memories of the old series and nothing that Moffat or any past, current, or future Doctor could supplant them. There's nothing wrong with nostalgia and saying the new doesn't measure up to the old. That's fine. But clearly from a commercial standpoint, Doctor Who is doing fine with Moffat at the helm, which even for the BBC is a necessary consideration (and why the original series was "suspended" for 16 years).

      1. Vinyl-Junkie
        Thumb Up

        Re: Could we do a poll...

        For the record, here goes:

        I'm in my early 50s, I just about remember the last of the second Doctor's episodes, but my memory really starts with the third Doctor and the UNIT-based episodes. Continued to watch through to Sylvester McCoy but found the lack of commitment from the BBC and its impact on the show painful towards the end.

        Watched the movie and was disappointed, watched the first episode of the Ninth Doctor and was instantly hooked. I have, overall, enjoyed pretty much all of the new series to date, with particular liking for David Tennent's,erm, tenancy, and now Peter Capaldi's.

        Whilst certain aspects of recent series have been annoying (perhaps deliberately so in the case of the sonic sunglasses, given the end of this episode) overall I've enjoyed it. I don't think that, overall, Moffat is quite as good a helmsman as RTD, but he's no slouch either.

        1. Number6

          Re: Could we do a poll...

          I joined with the third doctor, gave up shortly after Colin Baker took over, then picked up again somewhere with Tennant.

          Part of the problem is that it's harder now, the Doctor has been to most of the important events in the Universe and on Earth, so the writers have to get more imaginative (although I did like the Doctor's instruction to President Nixon about recording everything...)

          I think the multi-part stories were an improvement, less of the trivial and a bit more chance for character and plot development. I thought Capaldi was suffering from poor scripts when he first took over, a bit like what happened to Peter Davison, but he's shown how good he can be. I don't think Moffat is as good as Davies but he's produced some good stuff along with a sprinkling of dross.

  6. x 7

    "Could this be a spin-off series, perhaps?"

    Teenage Mutant Lesbian Timelords perhaps?

    PS perhaps they could meet up with Jenny and have a threesome in the Tardis? Please?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Trollface

      Re : "Teenage Mutant Lesbian Timelords"...

      Throw Rose in there too and we've got a deal mister !

    2. Paul Crawford Silver badge
      Coat

      I'm glad I am not the only one thinking that.

      Thanks, mine is the dirty mac...

      1. TRT Silver badge

        If they go down the tipping the velvet route...

        Martha.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: If they go down the tipping the velvet route...

          Oh cum now people. Martha and Rose are both happily attached to their men.

    3. graeme leggett Silver badge

      The internet is your shellfish-of-choice for that sort of material....

    4. Badvok
      FAIL

      What you mean with two women who aren't teenage, lesbian or timelords? And only one of whom could possibly be considered mutated.

  7. Mr Flibble
    Thumb Up

    Nice to see an old TARDIS interior…

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Sadly that's about the only thing that was decent in the whole sorry mess.

    2. Uncle Slacky Silver badge

      It was a reused prop...

      ...from the docudrama "An Adventure In Time And Space". Nice to see the round things back, though...

      1. Electron Shepherd

        Re: It was a reused prop...

        "I like the round things"

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          "I like the round things"

          Enough about Clara already!

          1. TRT Silver badge

            Re: "I like the round things"

            Yeah, she does have big eyes.

  8. Boris the Cockroach Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    I think it was

    more of a case of just how far would you go for the person you love...

    The doctor would go 4.5 billion years...... or so

    1. mike white 1

      Proclaimers

      I would walk 4 billion years and I would walk 4 billion more.......

    2. dajames

      Re: I think it was

      The doctor would go 4.5 billion years...... or so

      ... except he didn't, did he? He went a day or two and then died and got reconstructed from the pattern buffer (oops! wrong technobabble) a few hundred billion times with no memory of any of the previous times. It may have taken 4.5 billion years, but the final Doctor only experienced one iteration of it.

      1. TRT Silver badge

        Re: I think it was

        The first 10 million were the worst. And the next 10 million. They were the worst too. After that he went into a bit of a decline.

        1. muddysteve

          Re: I think it was

          I was going to thumbs-up this one (the Marvin quote), then saw it had 42 already and couldn't bring myself to change it.

      2. goweb

        Re: I think it was

        I seem to remember the Doctor saying that he remembered all of the iterations at the end of Heaven Sent.

      3. VinceH

        Re: I think it was

        "He went a day or two and then died and got reconstructed from the pattern buffer (oops! wrong technobabble) a few hundred billion times"

        It was overdue for Doctor Who to jump on the bandwagon and make join the long list of science fiction shows that have done a Groundhog Day episode.

        1. graeme leggett Silver badge

          Re: I think it was

          A "chronic hysteresis loop" is shown in Meglos (aka the one with the cactus) in 1989.

          There the Doctor and Romana have a few seconds between repeats, they break free by repeating the actions early. If my memory serves me right.

      4. Allan George Dyer

        Re: I think it was

        "It may have taken 4.5 billion years, but the final Doctor only experienced one iteration of it." - Did you miss the bit in his monologue to Clara in the Tardis where he claimed to remember?

  9. Super Fast Jellyfish

    Who moved my cheese

    I mean Tardis...

    Awesome start, some great old series references - including the McGann hybrid I dissed last episode - slight slow down over did she or didn't she reverse the polarity and revved back up for the finish.

    Few niggles:

    I think given Me is several billion years old she's the one taking Clara under her wing, especially as she seems to be able to read Gallifrian?

    I thought Taridises had a Timelord over-ride switch, so Me and Clara can be brought back?

    Apart from that, great end to the series, but I hope he doesn't spend the next one looking for Clara.

    1. Richard Wharram

      Re: Who moved my cheese

      McGann hybrid?

      I thought I'd watched it. Did I miss everything?

      1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

        Re: Who moved my cheese

        The McGann Doctor said he was half human on his mothers side.

        1. Richard Wharram

          Re: Who moved my cheese

          Well I know that obviously. I thought maybe you meant a specific reference this episode.

          1. MrT

            Re: Who moved my cheese

            There wasn't really a specific reference to it, but a very strong hint when Me was pressing the Doctor on the whole hybrid thing and why he spent most of his time fussing over Earth.

            The orphanage in the Gallifrey badlands has featured a few times in the current post-movie revival. Here's hoping the popular sci-fi circle isn't squared and they have an episode where the Doctor goes back to baby-boom America to write a book on childcare...

            1. TRT Silver badge

              Re: Who moved my cheese

              No, that was in the Star Trek universe.

        2. Uncle Slacky Silver badge

          Re: Who moved my cheese

          The Doctor always lies, however.

          1. TRT Silver badge

            Re: Who moved my cheese

            Not always. It's just "the Doctor lies".

          2. sisk

            Re: Who moved my cheese

            The Doctor being half human was sort of an important plot point in the movie. It really didn't leave much room for that to be a lie.

    2. ben edwards

      Re: Who moved my cheese

      The Tardis translates.

    3. MrXavia

      Re: Who moved my cheese

      She may be old but doesn't remember it all. Doesn't even have her diaries

  10. Super Fast Jellyfish

    Rassilon?

    Sorry did I miss something, but how did Rassilon get reborn? Is that somewhere in the 'New Adventures'?

    Or is it a title given the Lord President?

    1. Richard Wharram

      Re: Rassilon?

      Yep. Admittedly my attention-span is limited these days but I thought Rassilon was long dead.

    2. Chewi

      Re: Rassilon?

      I forget exactly but this isn't the first time we've seen him since the old days. Previously played by Timothy Dalton. It's all on Wikipedia if you're curious.

      1. J.G.Harston Silver badge

        Re: Rassilon?

        Didn't the Time Lord High Council revive him to offer him the Presidency to try and win the Time War?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Rassilon?

          When the Master turned on the High Council and disrupted their former attempt to bring Gallifrey back into the Sol system, he shouted "Into the void, Rassilon!" into the Lord President's face.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    You'd have thought the Time Lords would know enough to avoid self-fulfilling actions - they effectively torture the Doctor for 4 billion years because they're afraid of a mythical "hybrid" and, guess what...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Joke

      You'd have thought the Time Lords would know enough to avoid self-fulfilling actions - they effectively torture the Doctor for 4 billion years because they're afraid of a mythical "hybrid" and, guess what...

      Surely the whole torture thing was completely unnecessary? If the Time Lords want to find out who destroys them in the future they simply need to go to the future in a Tardis and have a look. The whole last two episodes could have been done in 10 mins. :-)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Ah yes, but if they had done that, they wouldn't have tortured The Doctor so he wouldn't have been in the future kicking their arses.

        They needed to create the events that lead to their destruction before they could go and witness it, unfortunately in doing so, they didn't need to go and witness it as it was already too late - problems with torturing a time traveller.

        What they should have done:

        Someone: "This hybrid jobbies going to conquer Gallifrey"

        Timelords: *fingers in ears* lalalalala

        And everything would have been golden. We Humans learned this a long time ago, most advanced species in the Universe my arse.

        1. stucs201

          Er, what destruction?

          Angry as he was all he did was exile a few people. The whole "standing in Gallifrey's ashes" thing seems to actually just mean he was there at the end of the universe when it had reached that state by itself.

          1. Alien8n

            Re: Er, what destruction?

            @stucs201 That's often the case with prophecy, you interpret it in one way, only to find that you can still fulfil the prophecy in a completely different way. The Doctor standing on Gallifrey at the end of the universe fulfils the prophecy, however the Timelords bring about their own destruction by not realising that the true meaning of the prophecy may not be their destruction at all.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Clever but convoluted

    I enjoyed this episode in the main but somewhat melodramatic at the end. Definite spin off series definitely on the cards I think

  13. TRT Silver badge

    I was worried about the return of the tedium...

    in the gen 1 Tardis console room. But the set distracted me enough to forgive the dragging pointless dialogue during that 5 minutes. The rest of it was pretty damned good. Capaldi is superb - line in the sand, not saying a word, just acting with his eyes.

    1. Mark Eccleston

      Re: I was worried about the return of the tedium...

      Acting with his eyebrows.

      1. TRT Silver badge

        Re: I was worried about the return of the tedium...

        The Roger Moore school of acting?

        1. Faceless Man

          Re: I was worried about the return of the tedium...

          Moore's eyebrows are binary: Up or Down. Capaldi's can convey every emotion known to man, and a couple I don't think we've discovered yet.

    2. Whitter

      Re: I was worried about the return of the tedium...

      Methinks that was a cover for the Doctor lying again. No reversing the phase; no "unsure what this will do". He takes the knock again, just like the last 4.5 billion times. Or one can easily postulate: does he just turn it off and pretend?

  14. Jemma

    Given that 'me' at the end was pouting fit to burst (and making her jealous is probably a 'berserk button' moment par excellence) when Clara walked in I can see fanfics aplenty... but think about the BBC doing a relationship between those two.. lesbian necrophilia (since Clara is not alive.. but not dead.. so undead.. oh dear) on the Beeb? makes Brookside look positively dull.

    Hmm.. Martha..

    The problem I have with Clara is as a companion she's the gormless wonder but that's not really what she's there for; she's there so 70% of the audience tune in to drool.

    Capaldi would be fine as the Doc bar the CoE Torchwood arc, you know, where he wipes out his family on primetime TV and inspires several meatspace idiots to do the precise same thing. I fervently wish they'd stop doing the test drive thing for Dr Who on other related series.

    1. Tom 7

      Re lesbian necrophilia

      I did worry about my sexual status but she has one heartbeat left so just this side of catholic self loathing.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      she's there so 70% of the audience tune in to drool

      You've got me there. And if the scriptwriters are reading, could I just say the snug fitting fluffy jumper was a choice of genius. But WTF did the other 30% tune in for?

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Shobogans

    Does anyone else think the series is setting up the Doctor as being one of the Shobogans? They seem to treat him as though he belongs among them.

  16. Jess

    Was worried he'd do an RTD

    After a penultimate episode as good as Heaven Sent, I was worried that this week would be a let down. (There are precedents.)

    However it was really good.

    I liked the twists. Making out Me was the hybrid. The implication that the 8th Doctor was telling the truth about being half human, but without confirming it.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Was worried he'd do an RTD

      Interesting; I heard it as Moffatt playing with the audience before throwing that stupid half-huiman meme out of the window for once and for all. I mean, in what way could that ever be a good idea ?

    2. Whitter

      Re: Was worried he'd do an RTD

      In fairness, I think Moffat was a tad clever there: all hypothesis were correct. The hybrid was the Doctor; Me; Clara and/or any combination thereof.

  17. I Like Heckling Silver badge

    I can't make up my mind...

    Was this a good episode, or another mediocre one with moments of genius... I really am torn on it. There were some lovely touches, some great moments from Capaldi who seems to be at his best when there's no Clara around... and that's not just because I have disliked that particular companion all along for her gormless and useless contributions to the plots of the last 2 seasons... whilst the writers desperately try to paper over the flaws in her character and give her depth and meaning.

    I actually cried out 'Thank F*ck for that' when the new sonic screwdriver appeared at the end... good riddance to the glasses... the most pointless sonic device ever conceived of in this show.

    I can see how the writers might want to set up a return of Clara, or a spin off. Maisie Williams has been excellent in her role and I'd like for her to reprise it at some point. But Clara's time is done and they should have killed her off and be done with it instead of this.

    Once again we have a timelord character regenerating from male to female, the second time it's happened in the Capaldi era. Not only that, they went from white middle aged man to young black woman... They are certainly gearing up to do something similar with the Doctor, and that I think is long overdue if they can pull it of in the same way they did with Missy.

    But aside from all of the wonderful genius moments... there was a lot of overindulgent and pointless melodrama that left me feeling bored.

    I can't make up my mind if I really enjoyed this episode or not... the moments of brilliance overshadowed by the pointless bits or did they do enough to edge them above it all... it's 50/50 right now. Perhaps I need to watch the season again in the new year and look for little things I may have missed... but I was looking forward to the death of Clara and I feel cheated by what they did in the end.

    Roll on the xmas special is all I can say... and please start a new arc so we can finally put this one ot sleep.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I can't make up my mind...

      > Was this a good episode, or another mediocre one with moments of genius.

      Well, there were certainly mediocre moments: e.g. the pilot in the shuttle-thingy saying: "You must come with me, this is a military vehicle" (my emphasis). Really? A big flying thing with two big guns sticking out the front and you need to tell everyone that it's military?

  18. Will 28

    For me this summed up everything that Moffat is getting wrong

    I appear to be in the minority, but in my opinion, every Moffat story seems to have the same flaw. He's planned out some scenes, then he has connected the scenes. He hasn't remembered to actually make a story. We had the scene where The Doctor returned to Gallifrey and confronted Rassilon. Having done this they very swiftly skipped through a quick note that Rassilon might come back, some mentions of the prophecy, then onto the scene where he rescues Clara. Some quick shots of people panicking and running around, then we're onto the scene where they're walking around the matrix with all the old favourites jumping out. Then a Clara to Doc conversation to lead onto the scene in the tardis...

    I could go on, but personally I watch these episodes and feel like I'm just being pulled around into little bits of script. The actual plot to the episode was very weak, just a lot of suggestions of a plot, which is what he's been doing right through his time scripting. I keep finding myself saying "Ok, where are you going with this then? Oh, you're not".

    1. Zog_but_not_the_first
      Happy

      Re: For me this summed up everything that Moffat is getting wrong

      Perhaps he should have used some rolls of wallpaper. John Cleese and Connie Booth used this technique to write Fawlty Towers. Sketching out (literally) the plot strands on the paper meant that nothing was introduced without a resolution, and in the end everything (sort of) made sense.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Alien

      Re: For me this summed up everything that Moffat is getting wrong

      "I appear to be in the minority, but in my opinion, every Moffat story seems to have the same flaw"

      That's because he's trying to squeeze four episodes into one and still get in the human interest bits between the doctor and the companion. So, sometimes whole plot devices are rendered into one declarative sentence.

    3. adrianww

      Re: For me this summed up everything that Moffat is getting wrong

      I think the problem that Moffat has suffered is the same one that plagued Babylon Five and Star Trek: DS9 back in the day. It seems like the majority of science fiction series (and franchises) at some point attempt to do the whole "encompassing story arc" thing. Unfortunately, the producers and writers get so obsessed with trying to shoehorn in oblique little references to past and future events, plot sidelines and other self-referential details that they forget to make the individual plot elements, characters and episodes within the overall story compelling in their own right.

      It's like someone having the vision of some wonderful, elegant building in mind and then spending so much time, money and effort on the pretty drawings and architect's models that, by the time they come to build the thing for real, they can only afford the shoddiest of materials and the end result is a slipshod, rickety assemblage of poor quality bits and pieces.

      Whereas, if they concentrated on the key individual elements first (immediate plot, character, etc.) and then built the story arc around those afterwards, they might stand a chance of coming up with something bigger, better and more compelling. Foundations first and then start building your soaring spires - not the other way around.

      (And yes, of course, I realise that they have to have at least some vague idea of where they want the whole thing to go but it still feels as though too many series put the end-to-end story arc first and then forget to build it up out of good stories along the way.)

  19. Big_Ted

    How did I miss it ?

    Matt Smith ending, he gets to go and find Gallifrey which is missing / in some pocket universe or somewhere.

    Now suddenly its at the end of the universe . . . .

    WTF ?

    When did the Doctor find it ? Did I miss an episode ?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: How did I miss it ?

      They found him. They imprisoned him inside his confession dial and then brought it to Gallifrey.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: How did I miss it ?

      Ah, you must have misunderstood the phrase "frozen in time" used to describe the hidden Gallifrey - IIRC in a comparison with the "photographs" used by the Zygons to travel into the future England. What this actually meant was "not frozen in time", as also shown by the regenerations top up.

      1. BenR

        Re: How did I miss it ?

        My understanding - but this is Moffat Who we're talking about, so could very easily be confused as it has't been explained - is that originally Gallifrey was Time-Locked as part of the Time-War. Then in 'Day of the Doctor' they did the whole 14 TARDIS's "we've been calculating this for hundreds of years, just like when we tried to get the sonic screwdriver to work on wood" thing which moved Gallifrey into a pocket universe, but the War Doctor allowed himself to forget what they'd done so he assumed the Time-Lock was still the case all the way through the 9th, 10th and most of the 11th Doctors.

        The Doctors tried to break through the Time-Lock / Pocket Universe at the end of the 10th Doctor's reign in 'The End of Time', but that was obviously foiled by The Doctor and The Master.

        Then there were the Events at Trenzalore when the 11th Doctor grew old and "died" in 'Time of The Doctor', when some kind of rift opened and the Time Lords were able to grant The Doctor a new regeneration cycle through it. That was never really explained very well at all, just that they were asking "The Question", knowing that if it was answered they'd found the right universe.

        As for the whole "We found Gallifey at the End of the Universe thing" - well, we've been here before when The Master was reintroduced after using the Chameleon Arch, before he turned the TARDIS into a Paradox Machine and brought the Troclafane back to enslave earth, and The Doctor saved everyone with the power of prayer and love or some such nonsense.

        As someone else said - Moffat tends to write individual scenes of high quality, but then forgets to link them together with a story.

  20. Maldax

    Clara dies

    It was obvious Clara would be back. The way the BBC is with keeping everything hush hush they were far to eager to tell anyone who would listen "Clara Dies in this one"

    1. JustNiz

      Re: Clara dies

      Absolutely.

      Thankfully they couldn't let Jenna Coleman escape the show early. That is one seriously hot piece of eye candy. Sadly I read somewhere she won't be back in the next series though.

      1. lorisarvendu

        Re: Clara dies

        "That is one seriously hot piece of eye candy. "

        You're not kidding. Just Google "Jenna Coleman latex". Trust me. Just do it. Wow!

        1. illiad

          Re: Clara dies

          except latex is far easier to FAKE than skin.... :P

  21. Super Fast Jellyfish

    End of the Universe

    Wasn't that where the Master was hiding from the Time War? Or is Gallifrey even further along?

    Since it would take longer than 4.5 billion years from now to the end of the Universe, is there something about Timelord tech that always puts you at Gallifrey's current 'now' point? A sort of Temporal lock, so you can't go up and down the timeline and (say) prevent them evolving?

    1. TRT Silver badge

      Re: End of the Universe

      In brief, yes, IIRC. I can't remember exactly where the canon comes from - is it Trial of a Time Lord?

      The 'Time Field Buffer', the ultimate form of temporal transduction barrier, prevents travel into the past of future of Gallifrey, though it was theorised that by using two type 89 Tardis and the Star Of Rassilon these barriers to be penetrated, something that The Master attempted. I believe that even the Time Lords don't have control of these, which arose as a consequential result and vital component of the development of time travel.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Coat

        Re: End of the Universe

        The 'Time Field Buffer', the ultimate form of temporal transduction barrier, prevents travel into the past of future of Gallifrey, though it was theorised........................

        Let me help you on with the anorak over here ----------------------------------->

        1. TRT Silver badge

          Re: End of the Universe

          I know, but I grew up with Who. One of the programs that made me who I am today - shaped my interests. Or was it that I had a natural predisposition to science and technology which expressed itself as a liking obsession with Who? Met Tom Baker and Liz Sladen as an 8 year old competition winner on a visit to Shepherd's Bush studios. Drove a Dalek, played in the special FX unit studios making sugar glass and painting rubber masks... tried on props/costumes like the TimeLord cloaks etc. excellent day out that was. And that was that. Loved the programme as a child. Watch it today out of interest and habit. Some of the things they do hurt a little bit. Others things create fist pump moments.

  22. Dan 55 Silver badge

    Very DNA

    The restaurant at the end of the universe, the TARDIS as a building (he never got to use that idea when he was writing for Doctor Who so instead it appeared in Dirk Gently)...

    And so much for searching for Gallifrey, it just appeared at the end of the series. What's supposed to happen with it now, is it just supposed to float about at the end of time?

    1. lorisarvendu

      Re: Very DNA

      "The restaurant at the end of the universe, the TARDIS as a building (he never got to use that idea when he was writing for Doctor Who so instead it appeared in Dirk Gently)..."

      Didn't he use it for Professor Chronotis's rooms in "Shada", which technically could be called part of a building (or perhaps an apartment)?

      Oh...is that my anorak over there?.................

      1. TRT Silver badge

        Re: Very DNA

        Sadly Shada was never completed in time for a canon broadcast due to a studio technician strike. It has recently, however, been done as, I believe, animation. So it is now BBC canon. At last. Rewatching Pirate Planet and City of Death recently, DNAs wordplay just shines through. It's a damn shame that he couldn't have done more / isn't still around to pen a few more episodes. My God! What he could have done with Capaldi... hardly bears thinking about, it just makes you depressed.

  23. Zot

    4.5 billion years?

    The trouble is, that the show implied that he'd been waiting that long to get out of the test. But the truth is that he was re-made every time he got caught, and didn't remember what had happened before. So in reality he was only in there a few days or hours or whatever.

    Moffat's script's tend to be collections of ideas that don't often make sense, but are there to create emotions in the viewer. The last two were not that bad, but let's hope the Chritmas one doesn't have magic elves or more bad Santa's. It's a scifi programme BBC, not a pantomime, by all means make pantomimes, but please leave the Doctor alone.

    1. Zog_but_not_the_first
      Trollface

      Re: 4.5 billion years?

      "It's a scifi programme BBC, not a pantomime"

      Oh no it isn't.

      1. adrianww

        Re: 4.5 billion years?

        Oh yes it is!

        1. lorisarvendu

          Re: 4.5 billion years?

          Behind you!!

  24. Black Rat
    Coat

    I am Ashildr's heir. Fight for me and I

    will hold your oath fulfilled. What say you?

    I know it's supposed to be Isildur but the pronunciation is to close to be mere chance.

    1. Jemma

      Well of course it is... Tolkien was a fetishist for anything in UK history and the Vikings/Saxons are a fairly big chunk of that. Hence alot of the names he creates, uses for people, places and creatures are yanked effortlessly from all those obscure parts of Viking/Germanic myth that didn't get made into opera by Wagner. As Ashildr is basically the OE (old English) form of the modern Hilda and OE is what you get when Germanic languages and half forgotten latin collide..

      Although what would happen if someone called 'me' Hilda I hate to imagine, something along the lines of black eyed and veiny I imagine.

      Thankfully we were spared the experience of Moffats take on Pervy Hobbit Fanciers although, if you squint you could kind of see Clara with hairy feet and a pipe..

      Just for the love of <insert deity here> don't mention carrots...

      Or blowing the Horn of Gondor.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        "... Tolkien was a fetishist for anything in UK history "

        Tolkien was a professor in English language and a professor in Anglo-Saxon. Whether that equates to fetishism, I'm not so sure.

      2. IsJustabloke

        Actually I think there are many parallels between Tolkien and Moffat... they both have some great ideas and stories but often fail to tell the story in an entertaining way, afte rall they both have their Tom Bombadil moments.

        I think its time to stop treating Dr who as "High Art" it isn't, it never was and it never will be. The two things that make it mostly unwatchable for me these days.

        1) The OTT and in your face PCness of the show

        2) The interminable fanwank its become.

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What I'd like to know is why they had a Rover 600 as the "American" car owned by the chap who was looking after the unconscious Doctor in the *USA* desert. Not like the BBC to skimp on that prop, given they probably had plenty of pick-up trucks as crew vehicles which would have been far more appropriate.

    1. Jemma

      Probably because they're so rare no one under the age of 30 has seen one, the Ti is worth finding. Could have been worse, there's always the Allegro Equipe.. now that would be something.. a chameleon circuit jammed on a skidmark brown Allegro estate.. the Daleks would all die laughing..

      1. Steven Raith

        Car spotting!

        It's not a Rover 600, it's a Cadillac Seville which has a vaguely similar profile to a Rover 600.

        They were available in the Uk for a short time, but being late 90s US built cars, they were even worse put together than a Rover 600, which is saying something.

        That, and a front wheel drive V8 isn't really what UK buyers were looking for, because our roads have corners in 'em - a transverse mounted V8 driving the front wheels ain't a recipe for a pointy front end. Suffice to say the Uk car press ridiculed them endlessly.

        I can understand the confusion though, at a glance they aren't dissimilar, but if you look at the roofline/door shuts towards the rear and front of the car there are clear differences - and the headlights on the Rover 600 don't wrap around as far.

        Cadillac Seville of the correct era: Clicky for piccy

        Rover 600 from similar angle: Clicky for piccy

        The scene featuring the car in the episode occurs at 52min 30secs on iPlayer, should you want to compare and contrast. I can easily believe it being simpler to shoot the scene in the US than it would be to try to find a Seville in a presentable state in the UK, too.

        I've always found the fact that they tried to sell the Seville over here to be an oddity, which is why I recognise them when I see them. That, and I'm a major car geek.

        Steven R

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Car spotting!

          Ah right you are - good to see it's not just sci-fi that has such a depth of knowledge around here. Apologies to the BBC!

    2. Electron Shepherd

      Err.. they didn't. I assume you're referring to the orange saloon car at about 52:30? That's not a Rover 600.

  26. TonyWilk

    The Doctor had to forget

    After 'going too far' I think the Doctor realised he was the one who had to forget, turned the neural block device around and held the 'business end' leaving Clara to push the button end.

    Up to that point he'd been holding it by the button end and was very doubtful about being able to 'reverse its polarity'.

    1. TRT Silver badge

      Re: The Doctor had to forget

      Tuned to human...?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: The Doctor had to forget

        human compatible

        1. Dan 55 Silver badge

          Re: The Doctor had to forget

          He's half human, as was specifically mentioned in the episode.

  27. ShadowDragon8685

    I wish El Reg had a weeping posticon.

    Seriously, coming two days on the end of finishing Life is Strange, this one hurts. And yet...

    Well, Clara's still around. And in a way, she's an absolute immortal, moreso than anyone else since her death is an FPiT (though that probably doesn't mean she should go hopping in front of any Extermination beams any time soon.)

    Ashildr's back, too, and the two of them are now running free throughout all of Time and Space, but...

    I don't imagine the Doctor could have failed to get the hint when Clara said "for all we know, she could be me."

    I think he just realized that he needed to play coy to let them leave.

    So, I'm sad. I loved The Impossible Girl, and Grandpa Doctor. I'm sad to see it end, so very, very sad. On the other hand, they ended this in a way I can actually be glad about:

    Clara's not dead (not really,)

    Clara didn't get memory-wiped,

    Clara didn't somehow "give up the life" and go back to being an absolute mundanity,

    Clara didn't get trapped by a timey-wimey wibbly that the Doctor could fix in about two days if he only gave it a few minutes' thought*.

    Clara exited to have her own adventures. By now, she's the equal of the Doctor; hell, I was half-thinking that the actual Doctor could buy it for real, and Clara could actually assume the name as a title, maybe he'd pass it on.

    *Amy and Rory were sent back to early 1900s New York, and the Doctor noted that he couldn't land the TARDIS anywhere nearby. All he had to do, however, would be to land the TARDIS as nearby on Earth as he could get and take a train/plane to NYC to pick them up and take them back to the TARDIS.

    1. TRT Silver badge

      Re: Weeping posticon.

      Like the IT? icon? What's the IT angle?

      Yes. We could call it "What's the weeping angle?"

    2. Graham Marsden

      @ShadowDragon8685 - Re: I wish El Reg had a weeping posticon.

      > Amy and Rory were sent back to early 1900s New York, and the Doctor noted that he couldn't land the TARDIS anywhere nearby.

      No, the point was that the Time-Lines were so messed up that he couldn't get to that time period, full stop.

  28. scrubber
    FAIL

    After more than 4.5 billion years of the Doctor remembering Clara

    No, he was constantly re-spawned meaning he was only ever a few weeks away from her.

    This also puts lie to the nonsense last week about him being able to taste/feel moving through time when teleported. Unless the prison was in its own time bubble?

    1. tjdennis2

      Re: After more than 4.5 billion years of the Doctor remembering Clara

      He wasn't looping in time, he was repeating the same actions over and over for 4.5 billion years. We joined him after he had already been doing it for 7000 years which is why the stars were different to him. Every time he transported in, it was a fresh copy from the hard drive so he didn't remember the previous attempts. Then he works it out by the end and causes the loop to repeat again.

      The question I have is if every time he repeats a skull falls in the water, why wasn't the pile super high after 4.5 billion years? Only the rooms inside the castle were resetting since the pile was already 7000 years old.

      1. Martin Budden Silver badge

        Re: After more than 4.5 billion years of the Doctor remembering Clara

        Presumably the skulls on the bottom of the pile are decomposing away. Given that a new skull is added every couple of days(?), if the water is cool then at any point in time there will only be a few thousand skulls.

  29. Graham Marsden
    Thumb Up

    Damn, that was a great ending!

    Sure, yes, some of it was a little ropey and wordy and, yes, there were flaws, but overall I loved the last three episodes, not least for the fact that even the Timelords are terrified of the Doctor, even more so than of Rassilon!

    To borrow a line from Pratchett: “Sergeant Colon was lost in admiration. He'd seen people bluff on a bad hand, but he'd never seen anyone bluff with no cards.” All the Doctor has is his reputation, but that's all he needs and you *really* don't want him to be angry with you...!

    So we get to the end of the universe, but we still don't find out who the Hybrid is. Is it Who? Is it Me? Is it Him and Clara? Who knows? (Or does he?!) There's got to be more to come on that story...

    Meanwhile, some other great in-references, him possibly being half human, four knocks, telepathic mind-wipes, reversing the polarity, and I also loved the touch of the Diner seeming to the same one that he meets Amy, Rory and River in. Was that one actually a Tardis in disguise? Who knows, but never mind :-) plus a great line from the Doctor when asked if he'd been travelling? "Yeah, from time to time..."

    Finally, of course we have, Run, You Clever Boy, Run, but this time he doesn't Remember...

    Some people may not like it, some may sneer and bitch, but I loved it and that's all that matters!

    1. TRT Silver badge

      Re: Damn, that was a great ending!

      There was some weird arse version of StarTrek:TMP on SciFi channel this weekend. The editing was shit, really, really shit. Does anyone know WTF that was all about? Blurred background characters, non-sensical dialogue, jump cuts, Bones walking on and off the bridge like his underpant elastic was caught in Kirk's chair...

      Editing is very important. I thought it was quite good in this Who, but it could have been a much longer episode. The story did seem to jump between tableau set pieces and never made enough of The Matrix, The Cloisters etc.

      1. illiad

        Re: Damn, that was a great ending!

        The 'blurring' is caused by bandwidth limitation... try taking a movie on you camera at very low resolution , you will see it.. means saving cost in size, a that is why SyFy got it cheap!! they most likely edited lots out to fit in lots of ads, too :(

  30. Anonymous Coward
    Alien

    Doctor Who: stuck in a chronic domestication loop ..

    I think a major defect in the new Doctor Who is the domestication of the series. This has been a problem ever since the Donna companion where we meet the mother, attend a weding, meet the boyfriend, see them at work teaching in some school etc. The doctor and companion should be off on alien planets trying to save the universe not solving some domestic issues. The second major defect is in squeezing the plot into one forty minute episode. Leaving no time for plot development or have the doctor or guest actors do their thing. Apart from the bad special effects the Tom Baker series were the best.

    1. lorisarvendu

      Re: Doctor Who: stuck in a chronic domestication loop ..

      The "domestication" as you call it started with Rose & her mum on the Powell Estate, and that was RTD's decision to take the new series down that route. It's been pretty much the default since then, because it arguably made the series more successful. RTD is very good at writing fully-rounded "real" characters, and this is part of the success of his other work. Watch "Queer as Folk", "Second Coming", and even "Cucumber". The characters live and breathe from their very first appearance, and this in turn brought Doctor Who companions (and their families) to life.

      However from the very start of 2005's Series One, a vocal side of fandom has always complained about this (we also saw the birth of the "gay agenda" at this time). In any other Sci-Fi series focussing on the characters' home life and close relatives or friends is seen as good writing, but in Who it's called "Soap".

      This seems to be a perspective unique to some Doctor Who fans.

      1. Jay 2
        Unhappy

        Re: Doctor Who: stuck in a chronic domestication loop ..

        The problems for (older, like myself) fans from the original era are, I believe, as follows:

        1) We don't give a shit about the domestic arrangements of the various companions. If we wanted to watch a soap, we'd choose from the many available.

        2) Why must everything now seemingly come down to an almost constant will-they/won't-they between The Doctor and his young female companion?

        3) For a vechicle that can go anywhere in space and time, the TARDIS does seem to return to (South) London a lot. A lot of the time to deal with #1 or #2 it seems. I was never a fan of the 3rd Doctor being stuck on Earth, bring back the randomiser!

        It's probably us older fans which are the problem to be honest. What we'd really like is something like the original series, with a bit of a lick of paint and slightly less shoddy effects. But that ship has long sailed, and I don't think it's coming back. We're probably better off watching our copies of the old stuff instead.

        1. lorisarvendu

          Re: Doctor Who: stuck in a chronic domestication loop ..

          I'm an older fan from the original era and I really enjoy the new series. I'm 54 this year, the first Doctor Who story I ever watched was "The Moonbase" with those pesky Cybermen, and I continued to watch all through the Troughton years.

          Doctor Who's viewing audience was pretty poor by the time the 2nd Doctor changed into the 3rd, averaging about 6 milllion. By the time the 3rd Doctor bowed out after 5 series of largely Earth-bound stories, almost 9 million people were watching. Setting most of those stories in mid-1970s Britain seems to have done no harm at all, and made it one of the most popular eras of the show.

        2. TonkaToys
          Joke

          Re: Doctor Who: stuck in a chronic domestication loop ..

          >

          It's probably us older fans which are the problem to be honest. What we'd really like is something like the original series, with a bit of a lick of paint and slightly less shoddy effects

          <

          A bit like the Star Wars movie then.

  31. David Webb

    Bootstrap Paradox

    I thought most of this series was about the Doctor winding up in bootstrap paradoxes, he explained it a few episodes ago and a fair few after that had the paradox in place.

    Last week it was going around the area, finding messages from the previous doctors to hint at what is happening, but how did the 1st doctor discover it to leave the messages for the next doctors to discover?

    This one is the Doctor stealing the tardis which Clara nicks, takes back to Galifrey (eventually) and then gives it to the 1st Doctor, making her the impossible girl and starting Dr Who.

    1. illiad

      Re: Bootstrap Paradox

      you need to see 'bill and teds excellent adventure' where they do all that time travel stuff...

  32. Missing Semicolon Silver badge
    Windows

    Restaurant at the End Of The Universe

    "How did you get here?"

    Marvin: "It's all right for you, I had to come the long way round!

  33. Jason Bloomberg Silver badge
    Pint

    I enjoyed it all.

    I have enjoyed it all since the re-boot. It's not perfect, not the ultimate best, never will be; there's a too diverse audience for it ever to keep everyone entirely happy. It has its highs and lows, there were episodes I have disliked and others which I have really enjoyed. I can easily find fault, but I mostly won't; I'll just accept it for what it is. I have long accepted I have to sit back, be entertained and carried along. This last series was a thoroughly enjoyable ride. And that's good enough for me.

  34. Ugotta B. Kiddingme

    Did I miss that?

    "Another assistant – Donna – briefly made an appearance in this series of Doctor Who."

    When? Where?

  35. Yugguy

    I love these little vignettes

    They save me having to watch the show.

    1. illiad

      Re: I love these little vignettes

      yeah, until you talk to some one who has watched it, and they laugh at you for missing important detail!!! LOL

  36. allyolkedup

    Squidward

    Personally id like to see squidward as the next doctor. Also the teaming of murray gold with an aggressive drum and bass producer, spor perhaps. There would be better catchphrases too, there'd be less of "i am the doctor, fear me" and more "careful, you nearly sat on my plate of chicken, i dont want anus on my chicken". As for companions, thats for squidward to decide, i can only hope that it isnt clara fucking big breast, and moffat, lets face it, thats just an anagram of fafmot. I think he should regenerate to squidward at the start of the christmas episode, before anyone does or says anything, this would be emotional for me. Dont get me wrong i enjoy caplaldidllies nostrils, but dthats justy not the christmas that ive paid for.

    final comments:

    Squidward should be a fixed point in time and pudding

    There would be numerous references to series 5, episode 2

    The show would be called squidward who

    On a series note if anyone finds my lunchbox id like to have it back, if its dirty clean it first please.

  37. People's Poet

    The true identity of the Hybrid.

    I didn't bother to read all the comments on here so someone may have posted something similar to this. If no one else spotted it, my daughter who's a super Dr geek certainly didn't and it blew her mind when I told her, here goes.

    The whole point of the story line about was the hybrid and that's exactly what the episode and series ended with being created. You now have 2 immortals, neither can be killed as Clara is already dead and as for Me we know why, who are flying around time and space in a TARDIS, they are the hybrid. Me alluded that it was The Doctor and Clara, not so but that should have given you your clue.

    I think the next series or 2 will revolve around getting back to the hybrid were the Doctor has to deal with his creation one way or another. How the story will get there is another thing.

    PS I only watched the episode last night hence the late reply.

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