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.

It gets a "C" as a story -as a end of a Doctor aka Regeneration story: D-. The only part of it that brought any emotion to me other than "Oh God, it's awful" was when "the Captain" asks for the Doctor to check in on his family and he gives his name as "Lethbridge-Stewart." And as a YouTuber "Wingy Media" said it is a far better nod to the great Brigadier (Why was he never promoted? Surely between his record and longevity and coming out of retirement, he would have at least made Major-General, if not Lieutenant-General?) than that stupid Cybermen story which was 98% bad. Wingy Media noted that there is no real threat in the story. Compared to the best regeneration stories of "Planet of the Spiders" and "Logopolis" it falls flat. Here are my nit-picky comments. Who were those moderately good looking "actors" who were supposed to be Ben and Polly? Anneke Wills was/is beautiful, the replacement Polly was looked okay but she looked like she had bleached hair. Michael Craze was a handsome chap, this guy was ordinary with an awful haircut. Michael deserved better. Now to David Bradley. He did a good job, I agree with Wingy Media the sexism of him was WAY overdone and completely unnecessary and out of context. He would not have said "smacked bottom" to someone he just met. The problem with Bradley was the way he was written. Bradley should have added some of Hartnell's fluffing to his lines. There have been three First Doctors. Richard Hurndall played him in "The Five Doctors" and was much better written. Well to be fair to Steven Moffat, "The Five Doctors" was written by Terrance Dicks.Finally, the regeneration scene: Long drawn out and a little boring until we blow up the console room again and now the Doctor falls out of the TARDIS -sorry that isn't believable outside of an atmosphere. I mean Doctor Who plays very fast with physics (I can much more readily embrace relative dimensions -I was pretty good at algebra), but falling out side of the space time capsule from at least a high altitude? Not believable: For every action there is an equal and opposite action.Post Script: Jodie Whitaker. I liked her in Broadchurch, she delivered some lines/scenes that were extraordinary. The proof will be in the acting pudding. My initial reaction to her is a bleach-haired woman as the first woman Doctor! That's sexist from the start. At least with Peter Davison they made sure his roots didn't need attention (or as Mrs. Slocombe would say, "Me roots need doin'." I would have like the first woman Doctor to be more exotic looking. I would have cast Emerald Fennell mostly known here in the USA as Nurse Patsy Mount in "Call the Midwife." She is tall and exotic looking whether in her natural blonde hair or the red of Patsy Mount. And the last side note of Jodie's 13th/14th Doctor: The outfit. Oh my God! My brother defends it saying "it's what you would expect of a man newly turned into a woman." At first I kind of agreed with that, but upon reflection: No. The man has traveled for hundreds of years with a whole bunch of beautiful and hot women with him. The wardrobe is full of their various items plus what the original material that the commissioners of this type 40 space time capsule thought it would need. My thoughts were the following top three previous outfits: Wendy Padbury's (Zoe) sparkly catsuit, Sarah Jane Smith's Andy-Pandy outfit, or Leela's skins. Those outfits would be a real nod "to the Dads."PPS: At least this story isn't the worst regeneration story. That award goes to David Tennant's two parter end which was really, really bad.

One thing you may expect from the Doctor Who Christmas special is that it's probably going to be far from special . Not necessarily a criticism because event television up against an event like Christmas might just cancel itself out so as usual keep things light . Set against the backdrop of the first world war we know we're getting something along the lines of Paul McCartney's song the pipes of peaceThis isn't what we got . As someone whose interest in the show has weakened season by season I no longer look up information on upcoming episodes which means this addict of the show comes in to an episode as a casual viewer What we got was an episode slight on plot but was xompensated as a backwards looking love letter to previous decades of the show which is hugely enjoyable. It doesn't always work of course and while David Bradly fills Hartnell's shoes physically his dialogue is unbecoming of the first Doctor. This sums up the problem of the Moffat era , You could cast Daniel Day Lewis in the lead role and he'd be ineffective in the role due to the writing. What makes this more irritating is how good Capaldi is in this episode and once again you're struck how good the Capaldi era could have been. Once again a lost opportunity . Not to be negative as a fan I understood all the in jokes and thoroughly enjoyed the nostalgia bordering on meta-fiction And so we enter a new era for the show . With Chibnall we will probably get traditional linear storytelling with a non traditional -- that is a female - lead in the role as The Doctor . Now the shock of the casting from Summer has worn off I'm not as pessimistic as I was so here's to the future of DOCTOR WHO , the greatest show in the universe

I had seen the trailers and certain online spoilers for this episode and waited with eager anticipation. I finally sat down to watch and man did it live up to the hype. I agree that it was a tiny bit slow in parts but the nostalgia aspect maintained the episode's watchability. Parts of this story were set along the Western front during WW1, 1914... at Christmas time - so if you know your history, you will notice some foreshadowing for the upcoming narrative. Everyone knew, myself included, how the story would end (Unless you have been living under a rock... on Gallifrey!) but it was still nonetheless captivating and goosebump-inducing to witness. Peter Capaldi's Doctor had really grown on me, his delivery of some really laugh-out-loud lines with expert timing endeared himself to this viewer. That said, I am very eager to see where the cliffhanger takes Jodie's incarnation of The Doctor in season 11. 8/10