‘Doctor Who’ Christmas special spoilers: Title, first synopsis of Matt Smith’s farewell
A few short days after the “Doctor Who” 50th Anniversary Special, and the BBC is still being rather generous in giving us some early holiday gifts when it comes to the upcoming Christmas special for the show. The latest one comes to us in the form of not only the title for the spectacular, but also some of the first details pertaining to what we can expect.
The title here is obviously some sort of theme here, at least in that it is starting to feel like a trilogy: “The Time of the Doctor.” This episode follows up “The Day of the Doctor” and “The Name of the Doctor,” which was the last episode of season 7 that first introduced us to John Hurt’s character. This is appropriate given that it marks the end of this chapter starring Matt Smith, and the beginning of Peter Capaldi’s reign as the new Time Lord. While the BBC has not confirmed that he will appear, rumor has it that he shot at least a small scene in preparation for what we are going to see from him when season 8 starts up.
Now, we turn to that full synopsis, which is already a little bit confusing in that it says a couple of paragraphs’ worth of stuff without really saying too much at all:
“Orbiting a quiet backwater planet, the massed forces of the universe’s deadliest species gather, drawn to a mysterious message that echoes out to the stars – and amongst them, the Doctor. Rescuing Clara from a family Christmas dinner, the Time Lord and his best friend must learn what this enigmatic signal means for his own fate and that of the universe.”
This special will reportedly help to resolve a number of burning questions for the series, including how in the world The Doctor is going to be able to regenerate again after seemingly hitting the limit, and what the new dynamic could be like for Clara and the new Doctor. We’ve always felt like Smith’s counterpart had at least a few flirtatious sparks here and there with Clara, but we doubt that will be there at all in Capaldi’s version of the character.
Photo: BBC One