Twice Upon A Time - the verdict is in!

Well, well, well....

Christmas 2017 has come and gone, and now we can settle back and find out what the 'consensus' opinion was of Steven Moffat's final Doctor Who episode and the forced return of his godawful "Bill" character after he had ALREADY written her out of the show.

Those who have been defending the Moffat era, the worst companion ever, and making excuses for the plummeting ratings from "series 10" can now brace yourselves for what Moffat has wrought.

Here it is, warts and all, the public's reaction to Moffat giving Capaldi his "swan song" for Christmas 2017...

The fans HATED it:

Doctor Who in trouble as viewers SLAM 'boring' Christmas special
www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/747258/Doctor-Who-trouble-viewers-SLAM-boring-Christmas-special

Twice Upon a Time grading and discussion thread
captain crow
Thought it was mediocre bordering on awful.
Moffat stayed true to form and brought nothing new to the table. Testimony is a recycling of part of Missy's plan from series 8 and what the Time Lords did to Clara in series 9 smooshed together. Same old tired "The Doctor is the lit fart at the center of the universe that is the bird poop that lands on your ice cream cone who's known by the names Heart of Shart, The Oncoming BM, and Poopinstien McGee" type grandstanding speech. Tired old fan baiting. And an ending that's a recycling mashup of 12 blowing up the console room in "End of Time Part 2" and 13 falling out of the TARDIS in "The Eleventh Hour" with 15 not bothering to try and grab anything on her way out.
Also it's a shame that Bradley at times seemed to be playing a heavy handed piss take of Hartnell rather than the First Doctor.

The Wormhole
The ending doesn't make a lot of sense, Brigadier's Grandpa was supposed to have died there, that was kind of a key plot point, yet he lives instead and all is good. I assume he still gets killed in the War anyway?
While, the jokes about casual sexism in the past were rather amusing, I find it kind of odd they decided to pick their prejudices. Both the First Doctor and the Captain take make sexist comments about Bill and have reactions when they learn of her sexuality, yet neither of them seem to notice she's black, which to be fair isn't something that was ignored in 1914 or the 1960s. And although Doctor Who has made it a bit of a habit to have black people in unlikely roles in the past, it seemed out of place in this episode that made a point of showcasing other prejudices of the past.
What was with all the reused music in this episode? For the first time in the Capaldi era we hear All the Strange, Strange Creatures and I am the Doctor, which is weird given this is the finale. Also, as it now stands, the "Flavia theme" as it's become known has been used for all the modern Doctors except Matt Smith.
Clara's cameo seemed a bit meh, and really just more or less made the whole memory wipe thing even more pointless. It was nice to see Nardole back and have season 10's TARDIS team reunite for one last good-bye scene. Rusty the Good Dalek was fun if unnecessary.
And oh my cock, for Capaldi's pre-regeneration last words we get a two minute long Moffat Monologue, which to be honest, I zoned out during, and then after all was said and done I realized I missed Capaldi's final words, and re-watched the scene and had to force myself to pay attention. And even now, I still don't remember exactly. I've said it before, but Chibnall really needs to put a "No Monologues" rule in place and strictly enforce it.

starsuperion
My biggest gripe is the writing of the dialogue for Bradley as a chauvinist. Hartnell may have had his moments, but 1960s sensibilities? Come off it. The first Doctor learned more about 1960s sensibilities from Ian and Barbara then anyone else, given their portrayal was decent and upstanding, there were some moments, but they usually weren't where the Doctor was able to witness, so by saying 1960s sensibilities, the only reason in writing the contrast between the Doctor and the 12th is outdated Meninism? Sexism? Come on! Did that really need to be put in there just before the first female appropriation of the 50 year traditionally male character is to happen? That's certainly dubious at best.