I cannot believe so many people were disappointed with this episode. As someone who either wants to get into either writing or Critical reviews, I thought this episode was masterful. As a huge fan of Matt's seasons (except series 7 part 2) I was delighted to see all of the plot threads of series 5, 6 and 7 very well tied up. We discovered who blew up the TARDIS, who the Silence were, why everything from series 5 and 6 happened with the entire story arc also tying into Gallifrey being saved in The day of the doctor. It was also a great paradox revelation that the Silence, in attempting to stop the siege from happening, ended up causing it themselves, a very nice throwback to Day of the daleks. Matt Smith also owned the whole damn episode, giving the best performance of his entire acting career. As for plot holes in this episode, people complaining were obviously not paying enough attention. Why doesn't the doctor just evacuate all the citizens? Because Tasha was going to blow up the planet anyway, and obviously the doctor doesn't want an entire planet to be destroyed. Why doesn't the doctor just leave? Because if he leaves, they will still blow up the planet because they can't take the risk. Why were the Silence fighting alongside the doctor? Because they were priests that were still loyal to the papal mainframe. Also, it really does depress me how lots of reviewers on here are complaining about it "not being epic enough". Seriously, that's not reviewing, that's just being an idiot. As for Matt's regeneration, it was masterful. HANDS DOWN the best regeneration in the show's history. Matt's final lines were beautiful and managed to stay true to the character of the doctor. And as for his quick change into Capaldi? I loved it. I can't understand all the people who have complained about it being too fast (obviously people who have never watched classic who). One of my favourite YouTubers, Who addicts reviews, put it perfectly when they said "Can you honestly imagine Matt's face morphing into Capaldi's? Also, the quick change was brilliant it gave Capaldi's first appearance more impact". That perfectly sums up my thoughts on the regeneration. By the way, I also have to mention the death of Handles. That is a scene that makes me cry (and I almost never cry at TV) every time I watch it, thanks to a combination of brilliant writing and brilliant acting by Smith. I also found the doctor ageing to death on Trenzalore very tragic and the fact he was about to end his life facing his greatest enemies (The Daleks) was very fitting. I also thoroughly enjoyed the episode. Do I have any criticisms about the episode? Well, Tasha Lem was annoying and was a lazy re-hash of River Song and the episode was a little bit rushed. That's it. Those are the only criticisms I have. Overall, I thought this was a very fitting send-off to Smith and I thought it was even BETTER than Day of the doctor. So yes, 10/10. One of my favourite episodes.

OK so on one hand the Christmas Special of any television show is not going to be the place to come with very high standards and hopes – of course TV can be good over the holidays, but generally it is as bloated and filled with excess as our food. The audience are there but not up to much and as a result you tend not to get the best showing up on the screens – just the biggest; and not too much comes bigger than this show at the moment on the BBC. This Christmas Special is not just that though, it is also the handover from Smith to Capaldi and as such more of a big deal.The plot here tries to set that up with a very big story involving every villain you've seen and even the rift in time and a former companion showing up. The stakes are high with an aging Doctor stuck in a standoff, essentially the only thing preventing another time war, however at the same time it is Christmas so we have turkey being cooked, paper hats and so on. The two sit uncomfortably together because it feels like the plot should be bigger or the Christmas triviality should be the focus, but not both. The "bigger plot" is the one that is main one in the end and this has plenty of noise and explosions but no heart, so it sort of distracts but doesn't engage – it certainly doesn't convince as something going on for hundreds of years at great cost. The problem for me (besides not really caring) was that it is all noise and empty movement, there are very few smaller moments and those that there are seem so isolated and cutoff from everything else that one wonders if they got left in the edit by mistake. So a small moment as the Doctor loses an old friend (albeit a badly explained one) and a scene with Clara's Granny both offer nice moments but they are there in a rather exploitative way, not as part of the story – or at least this is how they feel.The regeneration we've all come from is equally overblown. I cannot say if this was always the case as I can only remember the most recent ones but I would love it to be more of a quiet affair someday. The appearance of Capaldi is encouraging as he has an older intensity but this is tempered by the episode we just watched – Capaldi may be good but ultimately he works with what he is given. Smith's exit is not a great loss – he suited the material of the last few seasons in that he can run and shout and wave his hands around and to be frank this is often the main things being asked of him. Coleman remains brighteyed and flirty; I liked her a great deal for this but I hope they can find a story soon that offers her more to work with as an actress. The supporting cast are fine but the only one that stands out (Brady) just feels like a lazy clone of River Song in terms of writing and subsequent performance.Time of the Doctor isn't awful by any means, it is just very so-so and lacking in a lot. The comedic Christmas moments are decent but feel pushed into the bigger plot because of it being shown at Christmas; meantime the bigger plot is marred by lots of noise but no substance and it doesn't really engage as a result. It is a shame for Smith, but his last episode really does stand as a potted summary of so many of his episodes – lots of running and noise to distract and provide light entertainment, but not a great deal else apart from one or two moments which are good but feel isolated in the middle of all the rest of it.

As others have pointed out, the main problem with The Time of the Doctor is that it is too short. Or perhaps Moffat had too much to put in it. Either way, it leads to an episode with a few frayed ends where it has been stretched too thin. The whole family Christmas dinner, for starters, is basically pointless. What should have been no more than an establishing shot, a starting point for the story, is allotted too much screen time, the loss of which is only compounded in other places. For example, Mother Superious (Tasha) being Dalekified and then un-Dalekified in the space of a minute. That's no way to put us on the edge of our seats, Moffat, you have to build up the tension, then release it, not pop the balloon while you're still blowing it up.Anyway, that can all be forgiven, which I can't say of my main objection: the Time Lords suddenly going all weak in the knees, giving the Doctor a new regeneration cycle and (apparently) just giving up the entire plan of trying to bring back Gallifrey. If that wasn't important, then why go to all the trouble? And hasn't it been established (in The End of Time) that the Time Lords are basically evil now and would rather destroy the universe than remain stuck in the Time Lock? So now we are to believe that all it took was a pretty girl saying "please" and that's that? Suddenly they all love the Doctor, and are okay with not doing the whole "getting back into the universe"-thing if it means helping him out with his bad back? Sorry, but no. I don't buy it.That is, I don't buy the motivation. I accept that it happened. I accept that the Doctor was granted a new regeneration cycle and used it to defeat the Daleks and that it set up an excellent regeneration scene. I also feel that given the number of loose ends that needed to be tied up, we can take this in our stride and just be happy that it isn't Damon Lindelof who's running the show. At least we were given some fairly decent answers and everything mostly came together. I'm sure that had this story been given half an hour more to reach it full potential, it would have done so, and so I'm just going to imagine that it did. The canon stands, and I'm happy to fill in the gaps myself. But please, BBC & Steven Moffat, next time, take your time.

Technically, that was a spoiler, because that's what happened in this episode.It was an over-saturated mess in which everything happened and nothing mattered. People popped in and out without purpose, old props made cameos without consequence. Plot twists clearly marked RECYCLE get tossed in the trash bin after very, very brief use.Pacing was non-existent. Nothing the characters do or have happen to them (and believe me, a lot of things happen to a lot of characters) means anything at all. You can tell Moffat was trying to make it seem tragic, but he glosses over everything so haphazardly that nothing -- absolutely nothing -- sticks.It was like watching an hour-long movie trailer. I'd like to believe the episode was written by the marketing department.