Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

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.

One piece of praise I can give for Capaldi's final outing is that it isn't the clusterf*** that Matt Smith's was. It's on a smaller scale, with a smaller cast of characters, which means there's no confusion as to what the hell is going on. The main plot serves as little more than a way to get the First and Twelfth Doctors to interact, but the episode knows this so their interactions are what gets the most focus. The First Doctor's sexist jokes and Twelfth's reactions to them are a good laugh, as are their constant attempts to one-up on each other. But on a deeper level, they are fleshed out well with both reluctant to regenerate but helping each other get through it and muster the will to carry on. It's much better than the shallow "I don't want to go" that dominated David Tennant's final episode.Gatiss's soldier adds a lot. I'd worried about his inclusion but it actually serves the story pretty well. So does Bill's return, as she isn't the real Bill but tries to persuade the Doctor that it doesn't matter, that she might as well be the real Bill. So it's good that her return doesn't ruin the way her story arc was tied up at the end of the last season like Russell T Davies did with Rose.It's a shame that Moffat couldn't embrace the smaller scale for what it was though. Lots of unnecessary things are thrown into the episode that dilute the parts that are actually good. The centre of the Universe, strange mutant things, something about a good Dalek... it's like Moffat threw in all the remaining ideas that he hadn't had a chance to use during his time as showrunner. What makes this worse is that these things clearly stretched the budget, giving the sets and monsters a cheap look.The regeneration scene is perfect, Peter Capaldi's final speech as the Doctor does impress. I'm not fully on board with a woman Doctor yet, but let's see how it pans out...

Twice upon a Time is the title of this episode, which sees a nice bit of casting by drawing David Bradley from the depiction of the actor William Hartnell, to here play the character he was most famous for (while Bradley himself is more famous for Game of Thrones now). This is one of the many positive things that this special held out; a final outing for Capaldi, a final appearance for Mackie (somehow), and a regeneration into a new Doctor. Lots on offer, so it is frustrating that it doesn't really hit many high notes as it goes.The plot sees time frozen, but it is the tone that seems the most awkwardly stuck between two stools. It knows it has to be 'important' but at the same time it also kind of knows that it should be entertaining too. Any time it tries to do one, it seems overly conscious not to move too far from the other; the end result is something that is very middle-of-the-road and lacks conviction in what it is doing. Capaldi deserves a stronger bow out than this; he gets his moment on screen but the episode itself doesn't build up as well as previous exits have. Bradley's Doctor isn't used particularly well at all; there is a novelty of seeing him but mostly his character is not great - which is a fairly poor situation if you are going to bring the original Doctor back. As a story there isn't really a pace to it, and I didn't find myself held by it as it unfolded. Returns and references for many characters just felt like they were throwing things at the screen, not that the story made sense to have them all.This weakness meant the more important moments felt fake, or at very least unearned. The use of the WWI setting and famous moment is corny, the references/connections to other characters are clunky as usual, but what bothered me more was the way that themes were not delivered on as they could have been. More could have been made of the two Doctors being there - more could have been done to engage that reflective tone, and to bring it round to be a conclusion and decision to start afresh. At times it seems to be looking for this, but the show doesn't have the determination to go for it.

To me this episode was perfect. I've seen a lot of complaining about the lack of action and no enemy. But they're missing the point. 12 already had his final battle in the doctor falls. This episode was more about the doctor learning about himself and everything he stands for. It showed the evolution of him. I loved the story of how the first doctor left galifrey because he wanted to see how good could ever beat evil and actually the answer to that was himself. David Bradley was a great first doctor and he's a great actor and its a shame he couldn't be his own original doctor. The final shots of the ww1 Christmas truce were beautiful it sums up why the doctor loves the earth so much that these soldiers who are at war could lay down their weapons for one day just to be kind was a brilliant moment and the scene of the 2 doctors standing there watching like ghosts was truly amazing. The cameos were a nice touch. Clara needed to be there in some form and they had a nice moment even if it wwsnt actually her. Also it was obvious Peter and Jenna didn't film the scene together but it was still a lovely moment and while nardoles appearance wasn't necessary it was still a nice and his speech about his battlefield being empty because everyone else had fallen was truly tragic and the last bit where they hugged and disappeared leaving his arms empty truly hit me hard. 12 I feel truly struggled with being alone more than any other.Capaldis 2 final speeches were truly beautiful about kindness. A doctor who had often been criticised as to dark or to cold and ruthless has shown he is the one who values kindness more than most. Say what you want about Moffat but he has truly given the doctor as a whole so much depth, he truly understands what makes him tick. Peter Capaldi you have been amazing both in the role and out of the role you truly are the doctor the universe we all need and have done so much and you deserve a great career ahead still and I may not like it but doctor, I let you go.The only negative I have is Jodie whitakers first scene. It felt lazy to me. This was chibnals debut scene and he did nothing to establish her character, the first words were as cliche and unoriginal as you can get then basically copied the 11th hour opening. Really hoping this isn't a sign to come for his era.But overall a beautiful episode for Peter Capaldi and him and Steven Moffat will truly be missed. Thank you gentleman for the best era of doctor who in my humble opinion.Overall rating: out of 10...12