Episode 251
To Have a Better Ending
Sunday 25 December 2022
Doctor, listen to me. You can’t die, you’re too — you’re too nice, too brave, too kind and far, far too silly. You’re like Father Christmas, the Wizard of Oz, Scooby Doo. And I love you very much. And we all need you, and you simply cannot die.
While Clara undergoes a gruelling Christmas lunch with her family, on Trenzalore, in a town called Christmas, the Doctor is doing what he has always done — protecting, defending and being far, far too silly. Goodbye, Matt Smith — it’s The Time of the Doctor.
Notes and links
The Doctor’s longest running companion, faithful Cyberhead Handles, is voiced by Kayvan Novak, an English comedian who plays ancient vampire Nandor the Relentless in What We Do in the Shadows. Worth a watch.
Even before the fiftieth anniversary, it was widely reported that Matt Smith would be wearing a wig in his final episode as the Doctor. Here’s an article from September 2013 on Digital Spy.
Steven Moffat’s exact quote was that Matt Smith is like “Patrick Moore in the body of an underwear model”.
And finally, it’s Matt Smith’s Doctor who tells Clyde Langer that Time Lords can regenerate 507 times in the Sarah Jane Adventures story Death of the Doctor.
Follow us
Nathan is on Twitter as @nathanbottomley, Todd is @ToddBeilby, and James is @ohjamessellwood. The Flight Through Entirety theme was arranged by Cameron Lam. You can follow the podcast on Twitter at @FTEpodcast.
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And more
You can find Jodie into Terror, our flashcast on the Whittaker Era of Doctor Who, at jodieintoterror.com, at @JodieIntoTerror on Twitter, on Apple Podcasts, and wherever podcasts can be found. We’ll be back with a new flashcast on the second Russell T Davies era in November 2023.
Our James Bond commentary podcast is called Bondfinger, and you can find that at bondfinger.com, at @bondfingercast on Twitter, on Apple Podcasts, and everywhere else as well. In our most recent episode we watched a very silly film called Bullseye!, starring Roger Moore and Michael Cain.
We can also be heard on the Blakes 7 podcast Maximum Power, which is currently covering Series B of the show. In this week’s episode, we find ourselves staring lovingly into the eyes of our cousins in Hostage.
And finally, there’s our Star Trek commentary podcast, Untitled Star Trek Project, featuring Nathan and friend-of-the-podcast Joe Ford. This week, we tackle Star Trek’s only Christmas movie ever, Star Trek: Generations.