The Time of the Doctor (TV story)
The Time of the Doctor was the 2013 Doctor Who Christmas special, and the final appearance of Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor. It served as a conclusion to the entirety of the Smith era, bringing back both the Silence and Trenzalore and bringing their stories to a close. The episode tackled the issue of limited regenerations, and had the Doctor regenerate into his twelfth incarnation at the end, properly introducing Peter Capaldi as the Doctor after his surprise cameo in The Day of The Doctor.
Synopsis
Orbiting a quiet backwater planet, the massed forces of the universe's deadliest species gather, drawn to a mysterious message that echoes out to the stars. Among them, the Doctor. Rescuing Clara from a family Christmas dinner, the Time Lord and his companion must learn what this enigmatic signal means for his own fate and that of the universe.
Plot
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The Doctor is among thousands of ships orbiting a planet after hearing a message being broadcast from it, a message that no-one can understand. He visits two of them, first being attacked by the Dalek's, as he was holding a Dalek eyestalk, then being attacked by the Cybermen as he was holding a Cyberman's head (which he calls Handles. He then picks up Clara from her home and takes her to the planets orbit where, when asked to identify the planet, Handles claims it is Gallifrey, a fact the Doctor refutes. They then board the Papal Mainframe, a space church headed by Mother Superious Tasha Lem (Orla Brady). She sends the Doctor and Clara to the planet, to a town called Christmas, surrounded by a truth field, so no-one can lie., Here the Doctor finds a crack in time through which the message is being broadcast. The message is a repeat of the same question; Doctor who? The doctor says this is the Time Lords, trapped in a pocket universe, trying to get out. If the Doctor speaks his name, the Time Lords will know they are in the right place and come through and all the alien species above will descend on the planet and begin the Time War anew. Tasha contacts the Doctor, telling him this cannot happen and the Doctor refuses to withdraw and let her destroy the planet, which she reveals to be Trenzalore. The Doctor tricks Clara into plugging a device into the TARDIS that transports her home and for the next 300 years defends Trenzalore. Clara returns after gripping the sides of the TARDIS and forcing the TARDIS to increase the shields and bring her back through the Time Vortex, slowing it down considerably. She meets a Doctor who is over 1500 years old, having spent 3 centuries defending the town of Christmas and has grown older. He reveals to her he is in his thirteenth and final incarnation; since despite not calling himself the Doctor at the time the War Doctor was still an incarnation and as the Tenth Doctor he actually started regenerating at one point long before becoming the Eleventh Doctor, however instead of fully regenerating he instead healed himself to the point that he put the rest of the regeneration energy that should have changed him into his severed hand at the time, resulting in both the Meta-Crisis Doctor being created and another regeneration used up. He is then transported, with Clara, to the Papal Mainframe, now the Church of the Silence (the Silence creatures are revealed to by genetically engineered senior priests) whose aim is to ensure the Doctor does not release the Time Lords (it is revealed the Kovarian Chapter broke away and travelled back in time to stop the Doctor reaching Tenzalore). After it is revealed that Tasha and her crew have been killed by the Daleks and turned into Dalek puppets, the Doctor (with help from Tasha, who regains her mind and defends the Doctor) escapes from the ship and tricks Clara home for a second time. Clara later hears the TARDIS engines and runs outside, to find the TARDIS piloted by Tasha, claiming; "flying the TARDIS is easy, its flying the Doctor that hard". She returns Clara to Trenzalore to see the Doctor, saying she could not let him die alone. The Doctor is now very old and often acts slow and slightly confused. He still won't release the Time Lords, knowing that it would mean Hell for all the universe. All his enemies have withdrawn save for the Dalek's, whom he has been fighting with the aid of the Silence. The Dalek's launch their final attack and the Doctor, out of ideas, weapons and regenerations, goes to meet them. Clara cannot watch this and returns to the crack, pleading with the Time Lords to save the Doctor, saying; "his name is The Doctor! All the name he needs, everything you need to know about him! And if you love him and you should, help him!". The crack vanishes. At the top of Christmas's clock tower, the Doctor is preparing to die. Then, the Crack appears in the night sky and through it, the Time Lords grant the Doctor a new Cycle of Regenerations. As his thirteenth regeneration starts, the Doctor uses the energy to destroy the Dalek ship. In the Aftermath, Clara finds the Doctor, young again, back in the TARDIS. He states that his new regeneration is taking some time to start up and that it had reset his appearance back to before he grew old, but that soon he will change. The Doctor tell Clara that no matter what he will never forget the time he had as 'this Doctor' as he starts to hallucinate about Amy Pond, the first person"this Face" ever saw. She tells him "Raggedy man, good night" and very suddenly and without warning he regenerates into the Twelfth Doctor, whose first words are; "Kidneys! I've got new kidneys!" as Clara can do nothing but stare in surprise at this new Doctor. The episode ends with the Twelfth Doctor asking Clara if she knows how to fly the TARDIS, implying he might be suffering from partial memory loss.
Cast
- The Doctor - Matt Smith
- Clara - Jenna Coleman
- Tasha Lem - Orla Brady
- Dad - James Buller
- Linda - Elizabeth Rider
- Gran - Sheila Reid
- Colonel Albero - Mark Anthony Brighton
- Abramal - Rob Jarvis
- Marta - Tessa Peake-Jones
- Barnable - Jack Hollington
- Colonel Meme - Sonita Henry
- Handles' Voice - Kayvan Novak
- Young Man - Tom Gibbins
- Cyberman - Aiden Cook
- Voice of the Daleks - Nicholas Briggs
- Dalek 1 - Barnaby Edwards
- Dalek 2 - Nicholas Pegg
- Silent - Ross Mullan
- with Karen Gillan as Amy Pond, and introducing Peter Capaldi as The Doctor.
Crew
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References
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Story notes
- This is the first televised regeneration story in which the Doctor regenerates at the end of the story to end on a shot of a character other than the Doctor and the second since The War Games not to end on the Doctor's new incarnation. In this case, this story's final frame shows Clara's reaction to the newly regenerated Twelfth Doctor, not the Twelfth Doctor himself.
Ratings
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Filming locations
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Production errors
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Continuity
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Home video releases
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External links
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