Don't listen to the negative reviews

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

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.

I never really understood why DW Christmas specials tend to be so morbid and maudlin until I realized that they were meant to be watched by British extended families who'd been drinking and eating together all day. So you get enslaved tortured whales pulling starships and neurotic millionaires with PTSD and nonstop gut-wrenching encounters with dead loved ones. Except of course for last year's, which was an upbeat superhero spoof designed to please DW's new international fandom. And this year's, which being Moffat's last is less tacky and bombastic than usual, maybe because he's spent so many years having his faults pointed out to him that he's more in the mood to ironically reference them than repeat them. Thus the running gag about the Twelfth Doctor nervously trying to stop the First Doctor from making sexist comments.This year we're back to the traditional DW Christmas themes of death, grief and hauntings (well, maybe I should say the traditional British Christmas themes of....), which gives Moffat one more opportunity to yank the audience's heart strings with unmercifully long rambling scenes in which characters chattily prepare themselves for death/bereavement. Capaldi, mercifully, doesn't milk these scenes for sobs but camps them up so as not to upstage the impending Jodie Whittaker. The transformation is smooth and sweet and we believe it's still him even when we can see it's her. Well done all!

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.

The Doctor should have regenerated at the end of "The Doctor Falls" and that should have been the end of it. While reintroducing the first incarnation of the Doctor was cute, it was nothing more than a way for David Bradley to show that he's got some serious acting chops. The banter between the first Doctor and Capaldi's Doctor had its moments, but then began to wane. And the episode grew stale rather quickly.I loved Bill in the last season. However, she as a collection of memories in this special didn't play well. It felt like she spent every scene trying to convince the Doctor of who she was. Had she come back as a "pilot," which she had been turned into at the end of "The Doctor Falls," it would have made sense and given her and the Doctor closure. The same thing with he predecessor making a cameo. Wrong, wrong, wrong, cheap, and added no value. It was horribly reminiscent of Amy Pond showing up to rattle of her Raggedy Man statement to Matt Smith's incarnation of the Doctor before he regenerated. All of the scenes were pieced together simply for the sake of a Christmas special.The regenerations got to be epic with Eccleston. Many express emotions about Capaldi switching out to Whittaker. I remember when Tom Baker's Doctor regenerated. No special effects. No fanfare. No one man show theatrical dialogue. Plus, Baker's death was acted out as being real from having fallen from a great height, not him at the end of a season as the Doctor. And Baker felt missed, for me, because he was such an outstanding Doctor that you didn't want him to go. Whittaker has some shoes to fill. After so many versions of the Doctor, she has to present a fresh incarnation that doesn't chew lines, give overwrought monologues, and isn't the love interest of someone who is thousands of years her senior. The transition from Capaldi to Whittaker would have sufficed better at the end of "The Doctor Falls."