Twice Upon A Time

[daibhidc]

(I'm getting this done now because otherwise it'll go the way of my Fringe report and thoughts on every film I saw this year, i.e., not happen.)

Mmmostly liked it? I could have done without the First Doctor being presented as a sexist prat, and I rolled my eyes somewhat at the idea the Doctor is the only reason there's good in the universe because logically evil should always win - I prefer the view that good wins partly because of people like (but not limited to) the Doctor, and partly because evil is actually the flawed choice. The First Doctor is wondering how beings with love and loyalty are able to triumph, when he should be looking at the unlikelihood of anyone managing without them (and realising that they won't for long, because evil contains the seeds of its own destruction). But apart from that...

I guessed the Captain was the father of a much-missed character based on the trailers, and Cromer confirmed it - honestly, if you're going to bring up Cromer, you might just as well have him say "Chap with wings" and be done with it.

Previously stated exceptions excepted, Bradley's Doctor was fun, especially his exasperation (and occasional horror) at Twelfth. Previously, Moffatt had the War Doctor representing the classic series criticising the new, but this was a bit different; Bradley's Doctor represents the series even before most of the "classic" tropes had been established; he may be a mere two years away from having a sonic screwdriver, but at the moment he finds it almost as ridiculous as the sonic sunnies!

And the return of Bill was neat, although when it turned out she was a Testimony I thought "But she did escape with Heather, didn't she?" I suppose she still must have died at some point. (There's a cheery thought for Christmas; from the perspective of the Testimony all your favourite characters are dead! So are you!)

I liked the twist that the Testimony weren't the baddies because there weren't any baddies (unless you count the unshelled Kaled Mutants, but they were more like a wandering monster [roll 2d10 and check the table - on any double it's the Weeping Angels again]).

I didn't see the armistice twist coming, although with a Christmas special set in WWI, I really should have. And the callback to "Doctor of War" in that scene was neat.

Bringing back Clara ... and then Nardole. Well, I'm hardly going to complain about a reappearance by Nardole, even if it did feel a bit self-indulgent. And hey, it's not like he took a quarter of an hour to visit all previous companions ... and the Paternoster Gang ... and the cast of Class ... I mean, that would have been really self-indulgent, right?

And the regeneration scene ... it's sad that one of the legacies of the Moffatt era is that I would happily never hear the phrase "never cruel or cowardly" ever again, but there we go. I did, however, appreciate another reference to his dislike of pears, from Human Nature (both versions). And the bit about kids being able to know his name was cute.

And then we get Jodie! Not really enough time to judge her on anything, but I'm intrigued to see how they resolve the one-upping of Eleventh's first scene.

Final thought: I am really surprised Bradley's Doctor didn't wish a happy Christmas to all of us at home.

Comments

[john_amend_all]

I guessed the Captain was the father of a much-missed character

Grandfather, perhaps? I know UNIT dating is as slippery as finding the soap in the bathtub, but WW1 is, I think, a bit too far in the past.

(Also, thanks to Monty Python, I can't see the caption 'Ypres 1914' without reading it as 'Knickers 1914').

[daibhidc]

Oops, yes. I think I elided how much time there was somewhere. (Twice over - I had a vague idea the Brig started his military career in WWII, which doesn't work twice.)

[john_amend_all]

Perhaps you were thinking of Captain Chapman.

[sabremeister]

Actually, it's the Brigadier's great-uncle

[capri0mni]

Here's what I wrote on Tumblr, right after having watched it:

I’ve noticed, recently, when watching current stories set in our recent past, the writing seems to be at one or the other end of a spectrum.

Either:

• The protagonist (and the protagonist’s best friends) just so happen to agree, morally, with the modern audience’s feelings about things (such as Sydney Chamber’s easy acceptance of homosexuality in Grantchester, back inthe 1950s, even it was very much against the law). So the audience can root for the hero, without having to worry being complicit with problematic beliefs.

Or:

• The writer(s) exaggerate the bigotry of the past, in order to make themselves (and the audience) feel proud about “just how far we’ve come,” rather than face the uncomfortable truth that we haven’t come that far at all.

And I concluded Moffat took the second of those routes.

Now that I've had a few hours for my thoughts to marinate on it, I've realized that even though I liked: a) the fact that the "villain" wasn't a villain, after all, b) that "Rusty" had returned, and c) a tribute to the Christmas Truce, I wish there had been more action... Because I wanted Bill doing something, to prove her worth, as a woman, to the Doctor -- besides sarcastic bantering. That could have been an echo to the Doctor's act of mercy to Davros, at the end of Witch's Familiar, which allowed Daleks to understand the concept.