Live from Master Closet Studios, you’re listening to the only podcast on the internet that takes over 900 hundred years to record: It’s the Noobs and the Whovian!
My name is Austin and I’m the Whovian, and these are my sons Corbin and Tripp and we’re the noobs!
This is the podcast that introduces a whole new generation to Doctor Who by watching an episode each week and discussing it from the perspective of a dad who’s seen it before, and two sons who haven’t.
Welcome to Episode 113 covering the christmas special : The Time of The Doctor
This is the one where the Eleventh Doctor defends a town called Mercy, er, Christmas, gives more dramatic speeches than should be allowed by law, becomes an old man, then a young man again, then an old man again… again.
Production notes
- Story # 241
- Originally aired December 25, 2013 to 8.3 million overnight UK viewers 11.14 million Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board (The number includes those who recorded it and watched it within seven days) 2.47 million on BBC America and 1.9 million on BBC iPlayer; the week after transmission.
- Written by: Steven Moffat
- Directed by: Jamie Payne
Misc Trivia
- This was also the 800th episode of the series!
- This is the longest adventure (in universe) up this point, taking place over 900 years
- It’s also the first Christmas special to feature the same main cast as the previous Christmas special
Cast
- Dave Oswald – James Buller
- I only mention this because he was previously played by Michael Dixon in The Rings of Akhaten.
Checklist
- Name of the episode spoken in dialogue?
- Oddly, no
- Creatures of the week
- Judoon, Silurians, Terileptils, and the Raxacoricofallapatorians (referred to as Slitheen) are all in orbit but we don’t see them.
- Sontarans – briefly
- That wasn’t Strax, but it WAS Dan Starkey!
- Cybermen
- Wooden Cyberman!
- Daleks
- They remember the Doctor again, having downloaded info about him from Tasha Lem
- We got Silent Daleks puppets!
- Silents – they are confessional priests. You not only forget THEM, you also forget anything you’ve told them
- Bow ties are cool
- That was the most dramatic taking off of a bowtie ever! You could hear it hit the floor!
- Amy’s reading glasses
- Old Man Doctor wore them!
- Hats
- No hat, no hair!
- Matt Smith buzzed his hair for a movie he was doing, so they made up the whole hide-the-key-in-the-wig thing as a gag.
- Hilariously, Karen Gillan had just shaved HER head for Guardians of the Galaxy. So when you see her at then end, they’re both wearing wigs!
- No hat, no hair!
- Geronimo
- The Wikia says he said it with the kids, but I missed it
- Running count – 16
- Stuff the Doctor loves
- One last bowl of fish fingers and custard
- He does NOT love wine
- Jiggery Pokery
- Sonic
- It doesn’t do turkey! Nothing does turkey!
- It still doesn’t work on wood, but apparently Cybermen don’t know that!
- TARDIS
- Is that it? Are you doing a clever thing?
- Psychic paper
- Random
- He fixed a little girl’s toy, fixed the wheels and the anti-gravs. May have gone a bit far.
- He made a barn bigger on the inside for a farmer!
- Sonic
- Needless sacrificial death
- Surprisingly, no.
- Clara deaths
- Running count – 3
- The Question/Doctor Who?
- The Crack’s back!
- We finally learn that the Crack is what the Doctor saw in his room in The God Complex.
- This is why the whole arc with the Silence Will Fall happened! Madame Kovarian broke away from the Papal Mainframe and tried to blow up the TARDIS to prevent him ever getting to Trenzalore.
- The Destiny Trap – you can’t change history if you’re already a part of it.
- When the Silence went back to stop the Doctor from coming to Trenzalore, they basically cause it all to happen. They caused the Crack to appear by blowing up the TARDIS, so instead of killing the Doctor they opened the door to the Time Lords. They made Melody into a psycho assassin to kill the Doctor, but instead she helps him survive to this very point.
- His name is the Doctor. It’s all the name he needs.
- The Crack’s back!
- The Last Great Time War
- After the last episode dealt so heavily with the Time War, we got a little more here.
- If the Time Lords are released and allowed back into our universe, the Time War would start all over again.
- Corbin seemed to have a problem with this…
- Jammie Dodger sighting
- Running count – 4
Other stuff we noticed
- Holographic clothing. So you’re still naked underneath? We’re all naked underneath.
- Tasha Lem – Boss of the psycho space nuns!
Who’s Who?
- Who is Handles?
- This is weird. He just shows up with no explanation, but I love him.
- Apparently in a piece of prose called The Heist, it’s explained that he was a Cyberman beheaded by Kiz the Head-taker. Not sure if he’s a headless monk or what.
- He also stands as the longest running companion, serving the Doctor for 300 years on Trenzalore.
- Who is Amy?
- Clara didn’t recognize her name!
- Who is Clara?
- What was your name again? Bubbly personality masking bossy control freak!
- I’m not afraid, I’ll leave that up to you.
- THAT. IS. A. WOMAAAAN!
- Who is the Eleventh Doctor?
- Why are they all here if they don’t understand it? You came. Well I’m OCD, what’s their excuse?!
- On your life, you will not cause any trouble down there. When do I? Don’t answer that.
- I’m the Doctor, I’m a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. I stole a TARDIS and ran away and I’ve been flouting the principle law of my own people ever since.
- After all these years, I finally found someone who needs me to stick around.
- Everyone gets stuck somewhere, Clara. Everything comes to an end.
- Every life I save is a victory. Every single one.
- We find out he’s actually the 13th regeneration. He’s still the 11th Doctor because John Hurt wasn’t called the Doctor and the 10th Doctor got two regenerations.
- What are you going to do? I dunno. Talk fast, hope something good happens, take the credit. Usually how it goes.
- You are the Doctor. Yep, and I always will be.
- Who is the Twelfth Doctor?
- I’ve got new kidneys! I don’t like the color. Of your kidneys?
- His kidneys were the first thing to go when Melody poisoned him in Let’s Kill Hitler!
- Apparently, Capaldi’s opening lines as the Doctor were improvised!
- The wikia pointed out an interesting pattern in the regenerations of NuWho. Nine introduced the regeneration energy flames. Ten’s basically blew up the TARDIS console room. Eleven’s blew up the Daleks during the reset, but then the transition to Twelve was relatively mild, being the first of the new cycle.
- I’ve got new kidneys! I don’t like the color. Of your kidneys?
Classic Who Connection
- K9, one of the doctor’s other robotic companions, used to say “Affirmative” just like Handles did
- When the Doctor said that he “nicked” the Seal of the High Council of Gallifrey “off the Mater in the Death Zone.” That is exactly what he did as the Third Doctor in the serial The Five Doctors. Even though he said he would return it, I guess he never did
- The Doctor having 13 lives (12 regenerations) is well established in Classic Who, as is the fact that a Time Lord can be granted a new regeneration cycle. The Master was offered a new regeneration cycle to rescue the Doctors trapped in the Death Zone in the serial The Five Doctors
- Seeing and talking about an appearance reset before regenerating was a new concept, but it harkens back to a never explained phenomenon in Classic Who. When the Fourth and Fifth Doctors regenerated, they both saw The Watcher. Perhaps this was similar to the healing reset action.
- A silent landing of the TARDIS was first seen in the serial The Dalek Invasion of Earth
- Again we have a use of “Reverse the polarity” which was a catch phrase of the Third Doctor
- Classic Who Doctors did comment on their new appearance after a regeneration, but it wasn’t right away like nuWho Doctors do
- As Eleven regenerates he sees Amelia Pond as an adult and child. This is similar to the Fourth and Fifth Doctors who saw their past companions as they regenerated
- Terileptils are mentioned orbiting Trenzalore. This is the only Classic Who species mentioned and they are from the serial The Visitation with the Fifth Doctor
- The puppet show put on in Christmas included a monoid, which the First Doctor encountered in the serial The Ark
- The Daleks and Cybermen saying “the Doctor is required” harkens back to the First Doctor serial The War Machines
- Experiencing short memory loss or confusion after regenerating is quite common.
- The Sixth Doctor saw Azmael start a thirteenth regeneration to defeat a giant slug in the serial The Twin Dilemma which killed him.
Overall impressions
- Overall rating out of 10 –
- Jared – 9.5 towns called Christmas
- Austin – 10 dramatically falling bowties
- Corbin – 9.9 Barnable
- Tripp – 12 new kidneys
- Creep Level – out of 500
- Jared – 150
- Austin – 200
- Corbin – 50
- Tripp – 100
The Game Plan
- As of right now, Bill & Ted 3 is still set to premiere on August 28th, so keep your fingers crossed!
- Next week, we take a look back at the Matt Smith years with an Eleventh Doctor Recap episode.
- Then, we begin a whole new era of Doctor Who with the Peter Capaldi/Twelfth Doctor debut Deep Breath!
Closing
Noobs and the Whovian is a production of Master Closet Studios, where it’s always smaller on the inside. Your Senior Producer is Austin Reason. Our Audio Engineer is Tripp Reason. Corbin Reason is our Production Editor. Special thanks to tardis.wikia.com for the trivia, and to Jared for the Classic Who Connection. Shout outs to Victor, Jared, and James for their Patreon support.
You can find us at facebook.com/noobsandthewhovian or twitter.com/noobswhovian and email us at [email protected]. Consider supporting us at https://www.patreon.com/noobsandthewhovian. Please subscribe and leave a rating wherever you found us, and share us with a friend not because we’re a great show but because we watch one.
