Today (March 4) BBC Home Entertainment is releasing the 2013 Doctor Who Christmas Special, “The Time Of Doctor,” in both the DVD and Blu-ray formats. The story is notable for being (spoiler warning!) the end of Matt Smith’s run on the series as the Eleventh Doctor, and the brief start of the Peter Capaldi era of the series.
Is the release any good? Here is our review… please note that we are reviewing the DVD version of this release, not Blu-ray.
The Feature: The #1 reason to want something like this is because you want to have the end of Matt Smith’s run for posterity, right? After nearly four years, Eleventh’s hour is over now, and it’s time for the clock to strike Twelve, as the show says. As an episode, “The Time Of The Doctor” is not one of my favorite stories of the series, and certainly not one of my favorite final stories for a Doctor.
In a way, the plotline, which doesn’t completely work for me, is probably meant to be symbolic for Steven Moffat’s run as showrunner of the series: A lot of time passes, and like Amy Pond and Rory in previous seasons, The Doctor waits. A lot. He gets old. Time changes. It’s a cute fairytale, and the makeup used on Matt Smith is pretty incredible, but what was this all for, ultimately? There are also some moments that feel like they’re out of sequence – for example, why is the whole “naked Doctor” gag done BEFORE they announce they are going to the church of Tasha Lem? Did I miss something? This story also has the misfortune of following the awesome and epic “Day of the Doctor” – can you really give that story a proper encore? I wish there had been more stories between the anniversary special and this one… although that is another nitpick I have, too: Doesn’t the Doctor WANT to find the Time Lords? That’s the vibe I got from the previous story. So what will it be?
The final moments of the story are very emotional and certainly are among the best Doctor Who moments. Then again, aside from perhaps Colin Baker, most Doctors do end up with good send-off tories. I personally can’t wait to see what happens next.
A lot of credit also goes to Matt Smith: Even when the stories weren’t everything I wanted, Matt Smith far exceeded my expectations as The Doctor, perfectly portraying an old man in a very young body.
The Extras: How can they fit so much good stuff onto one disc? BBC Home Entertainment makes sure people get their money’s worth here. In addition to a “Farewell to Matt Smith” hour-long special narrated by Alex Kingston (River Song), there’s a great behind the scenes documentary called “Behind the Lens.” I was also very happy to see that the Doctors Revisited series was edited down into a special encompassing the entire 50-year run of the show, now called “Tales From The TARDIS.” Great for a newcomer, reverent to what came before, and a lot of fun to watch. Even if “The Time Of The Doctor” was not one of my absolute favorites, this collection of extras makes this DVD worthwhile, for sure.
(I might also add that before watching the extras I had NO idea that Clara’s Gran in “Time Of The Doctor” was in “Vengeance Of Varos.” That’s kind of awesome.)
Graphics & Sound: While I’m sure the Blu-ray is even better, the DVD looks and sounds great.
The Packaging: It is what it is. It matches other sets from Matt Smith’s era, and that’s what we need, right? I do prefer the look of the classic series releases, though.
Doctor Who: The Time Of The Doctor is out in stores and is available to order online TODAY. You can even order through our Amazon links and support this site: DVD – Blu-ray
