Confused about the Doctor Who Christmas Special...(spoilers warning!)

[svleonard]

I know there are some Doctor Who fans on here, and I want to hear your opinions about the Christmas special.  I myself, am a bit confused. 

How did ten get two regenerations?  Did the episode where he lost and regrew his hand count as a regeneration?  Eleven said something about ten regenerating and keeping his face because he liked it ... I thought that time lords couldn't control the bodies they regenerate into?

Why was there a random Christmas town called Christmas on Trinsalore?  Was that created to attract the doctor?  What was the point of that security church place?  If it was supposed to be protecting the Christmas town, then it wasn't doing a good job.

Did the time lords give the doctor one new regeneration, or a whole new cycle?

Thanks!

[melodys_angel]

Oh goodness, ill have to put a spoiler warning in your thread hun o.o  Not everyones seen that episode yet, including me! (I need to get through a few seasons first)

That said there are an abundance of fans and im sure youll get quite the discussion going

[kaoskat]

Not a clue. Not my thing.

[Shiromisa]

Auuuugh, I was so disappointed in that ep. It's one of the only two episodes I actually regret taking the time to watch. Yes, it did tie up all the loose ends from the big plotlines in the last three seasons, but...the way it did it was mediocre and kind of thrown together.

[Uninu]

For what I gathered, Doctor got a whole new cycle. Other than that I can't help you, it was a rather confusing episode o_o I hated the beginning and the rest didn't much help it. I do want to see it again, to see if I was too harsh to it and it is better than what I give it credit for.

[tikibirds]

i didnt like the episoe much either.

All I know is that he was given another regeneration from the people on the other side of that crack

[Archer]

Urgh, i could rant for hours about it lol. I was really excited to see it, but yeah i wasn't really impressed with it at all. I found Clara to be more annoying than usual, nothing made much sense and i hated seeing Amy at the end who, as a companion, has been just as dull and annoying as Martha was lol.

I felt there were far too many plot holes within the episode itself without even branching out into other episodes and series. The one thing though i was happy with was that the 50th anniversary got mentioned. I thought it'd be one of these things that happened and was never spoken of again lol.

[Shiromisa]

Urgh, i could rant for hours about it lol. I was really excited to see it, but yeah i wasn't really impressed with it at all. I found Clara to be more annoying than usual, nothing made much sense and i hated seeing Amy at the end who, as a companion, has been just as dull and annoying as Martha was lol.

I felt there were far too many plot holes within the episode itself without even branching out into other episodes and series. The one thing though i was happy with was that the 50th anniversary got mentioned. I thought it'd be one of these things that happened and was never spoken of again lol.

I will fight you re: Martha

Other than that, totally agreed.

[lovebeam]

How did matt smith get old?

[Shiromisa]

How did matt smith get old?

Visually, extensive makeup. But that does raise another good question--if the Doctor previously gallivanted around for hundreds of years without aging this regeneration, why did he suddenly decide to get old?

[Jemstar666]

I watched this and also wondered how he got old, but my OH pointed out that he was staying in one place and not 'Time travelling' which probably sped up the aging process, which I thought was a bloody good reply seeing as wee have only watched half of matt smith as the doctor series on and off, left me with the reply 'oh!' x

[Shiromisa]

Ehh, that's kind of a BS excuse imo. It doesn't make sense to me, nothing in the series has indicated time travel works like that before. Even Amy and Rory made a comment that they'd aged ten years (I think) traveling with the Doctor.

[Jemstar666]

Myself and my OH are not Doctor who experts and I thought i would share his reply to my asking said question about the Doctors aging and thought id share it on the thread as I qiute liked his reply as a possible logical reason, it doesnt mean that I meant it to be a fact just speculation lol

[Shiromisa]

Oh gosh, I'm sorry! I thought you meant the show had said that, and I'd missed it somehow. :x I apologize, that was rude of me.

[ZennaBug]

I actually thought it was a fantastic episode.  All the best villains and monsters, tied up some loose ends that were hanging about, I was happy to see Amy (who, along with Rory, is my favorite companion besides Rose), and I thought the poem was fantastic.

I think the town was called Christmas just because it was a Christmas special.  Trenzalore seemed like a sinister place, because we all knew it was where The Doctor was buried, but it makes sense that it would have been a pleasant enough planet at one point.

It makes sense that a Time Lord would age, if you consider that he had to have been a child once and then the first Doctor was an old man before his regeneration.  I imagine they just age much slower than we do.  We don't really know how long he was on Trenzalore, they just said "centuries."  Heck, it could have been a thousand years by the time he regenerated.

We've seen the Papal Mainframe before, in the episode with River, the weeping angels, and the crack in time.  They were the soldiers who were escorting her.  They're like a universal security army of some sort and apparently are responsible for the Silence.  I'm not sure they were there to protect the planet, so much as prevent the Time Lords from returning at any cost.