The fifth Christmas Special in this years countdown, #8 overall is a bit of an odd duck. Odd because it sat apart tonally from the season just finished, although as Christmas Specials go that’s not all that unusual.
But a fan just can’t fight the feeling that coming off a triumphant Anniversary story in The Day of the Doctor, The Time of the Doctor just seems a bit rushed in the sense that not only could we as fans have done with more Matt Smith and a better run-up to a regeneration story than what actually happened, the production team could have used the time as well, and for the same reasons.
Concordant with that there was all of the attendant wrapping up of the eras storylines that all had to be interwoven with a bit of Christmas just for day, so as a Christmas tome it just doesn’t work well.
That’s not to say at the end we weren’t any less emotional about the changeover and the beginning of the Capaldi era, but the purposes of being a Christmas story or more importantly a Christmas special, we have to knock it down.
