Matt Takes His Final Bow (Tie)

Much delayed owing to the inordinate inconvenience of having a mid-week Christmas here are the caps and images for The Time of the Doctor. So many things to say about Matt Smith’s final story, although here at the Tour we fear our own tardiness any lack of original observations might make some of this redundant, but here goes…

Lots of checking of boxes going on here. Some of the answers to long-hold questions were clever (like the Timelords being on the other side of the crack–an option only available since The Day of the Doctor, or that a breakaway sect of the Papal mainframe was responsible for much of the torsions of Season 6) but even for this long-term fan, if you have to watch the episode a second time to get them all, it’s almost a surety that the unwashed masses will not follow anywhere near as well as they could.
It’s not a Christmas story. Hardly a crime or unusual given the sheer variety of Christmas specials we’ve seen over nine (9!) years. Having the story set (mostly) on Trenzalore was far more important.
Tasha Lem is a River stand-in. Full stop.
Having Matt Smith, the youngest Doctor, ‘die’ of old age was a clever conceit. Smith was, as always, up to the challenge.
Any regeneration story relies on the companion, as the eyes of the viewer, to ultimately give the story weight. Happy to say that in the final quarter of the story Jenna Coleman really sold it for us. Even for the companion most familiar with Timelords and regeneration given her own backstory, her reaction, both in sadness and surprise was key.
How great was it to have Smith take off his bow-tie in the final moments.
Unlike the victory lap Tennant took, Smith’s was quick, quiet, and heartfelt.

So now Doctor Who fans enter another dry period waiting for the Autumn run of Peter Capaldi. As for the images from The Time of the Doctor, the ironic part is how many images came from a bit a filming that ultimately went to the cutting room floor. Can’t be helped, but look at it this way, with few exceptions these will be the last production photos the Tour is likely to see of Matt Smith for quite some time.