Today's viewing marks the eight hundredth episode of Doctor Who to be aired, as well as the end of the Eleventh Doctor era. Holy cow, I only have one Doctor left before I am done with this ridiculous project. In other news, my floppy right arm isn't nearly as floppy as it was. It feels like it is about 90% back up to speed. Tomorrow I will try easing back into some strength training to see what happens. I think I might double up on episodes tomorrow as well, since I have no rehearsal or other time commitment. I need to pick up two days if I want to finish on schedule (and I do want to finish on schedule.)

So let's talk about the End of Eleven before I move on to Twelve.

The Time of the Doctor

(TARDIS Data Core recap)

After so much foreshadowing, the end of Matt Smith's run as the Doctor finally takes him to the Fields of Trenzalore where he makes his last stand. Specifically it takes him to the town of Christmas, a name which both he and Clara find remarkable and unthinkable. It is worth noting that Christmas, Florida is only about 38 miles up the road from my house, so a town named thusly does not strike me as particularly odd. But I digress.

The gist of the setup is that there is one remaining crack left in the universe from Big Bang Two, and the missing Time Lords are on the other side of the crack calling for the Doctor. The problem is, they are calling throughout all space and time, and as such have attracted pretty much every evil species in the universe. If the Doctor speaks his true name then the Time Lords will return, and it will instantly spark the Second Great Time War. But if the Doctor leaves, all of the massed armies will lay waste to the inhabitants of Trenzalore.  And so, the Doctor spends fully nine hundred years standing as the guardian of Christmas, defeating each alien incursion until his body finally succumbs to the ravages of age. Unfortunately, he is in his last regeneration. Once he dies, he dies for good.

Except, of course, he doesn't. In the end Clara pleads with the Time Lords through the Crack in the Universe, and they grant the Doctor an entire new regeneration cycle. The burst of energy wipes out the massed armies, and the Crack closes forever leaving the Time Lords still stranded in some other pocket universe. The Doctor regenerates into a white-haired Scotsman with new kidneys (he doesn't like the color), and Clara is baffled. Roll credits.

Oh, and just before he goes, Karen Gillan makes a surprise cameo as Amy Pond in a hallucination to say goodby. The fun thing about that particular scene is that both Karen Gillan and Matt Smith had to wear wigs when it was shot. Ms. Gillan had her head shaved from filming Guardians of the Galaxy, and Matt Smith still had a buzz cut from filming his role in the movie Lost River. Oops.

Of course there was quite a bit going on in the story to fill out the hour. I particularly appreciated that although Steven Moffat brought back the Weeping Angels yet again, at least this time around they were used faithfully and effectively. Of course it helps that they were only there for one scene and didn't have to carry an entire story, but even so it was nicely done. The wooden Cyberman was also pretty clever, and of course poor old Handles the Decapitated Cyberman Head was nifty and his death was surprisingly poignant. 

After the spectacular fiftieth anniversary special, I think it is pretty remarkable that there was enough gas left in the tank to make this special work, and yet Steven Moffat showed his chops as a writer with this one. It's not necessarily the best Christmas special ever, but it works well and does everything it needs to do. Heck, I even teared up a bit when Smith made his final goodby.

Tomorrow: Did they really cast foul-mouthed Malcolm Tucker from The Thick of It as the Doctor? Seriously?!?

I'm sure it will be fine

STATS:

Doctor(s): Eleventh, Twelfth
Companion(s): Clara Oswald, Amy Pond (briefly)
Episode(s): The Time of the Doctor
Steps Walked: 8,630 today, 3,329,684 total
Distance Walked: 4.53 miles today, 1,740.68 miles total
Push-ups Completed: 0 today, 6,529 total
Sit-ups Completed: 0 today, 929 total
Is Anything Cool?: "Don't be cool, guys. Cool is not cool."
Weight: 248.08 lbs (five day moving average), net change -59.22 lbs