My Farewell to Matt Smith – *SPOILERS*

Time of the Doctor Easter Eggs – SPOILER ALERT! If you aren’t caught up DON’T OPEN THIS

I found this awesome YouTube video which had over 30 interesting easter eggs about the 2013 Christmas Special, the farewell to Matt Smith. Some of these things I wouldn’t really call easter eggs but there are about 15 really interesting ones and 10 mind-blowing ones. It’s only 13 minutes long, it’s worth watching!

Here come the spoilers — what I thought was brilliant and what was less so about the final chapter of Matt Smith’s Doctorship. I loved, loved, loved, loved LOVED Trenselore! It was the only planet I’ve come across in this show that I would actually like to live on. Always nighttime and always Christmasy? Yes please! And what I loved even more was the Doctor’s time on the planet. He felt to me, between this Christmas special and ‘the Snowmen’ of 2012, that Matt Smith really was the spirit of Santa Claus that people envision; maybe not in appearance at first, but he developed into it. And his adaptation to being left on the planet of his death is just the biggest testament to his character. He doesn’t let it depress him or for him to live in fear; he continues doing what the Doctor does best — saving people.

My favorite thing about this special had to be that the Doctor aged, and Clara’s reaction wasn’t fear, horror, or even to love him less; she knew that inside it was still him. It makes Clara a fantastic companion, because we know now that she loves the Doctor for who he is inside, not his appearance or characteristics, and no matter what, she’ll save him. I think this was setting up her reactions to him when he actually became old with Capaldi, and that was a brilliant touch.

What I didn’t love? The “give me a rule and I’ll break it” cop out. They can’t use that as an excuse for breaking rule after rule with regeneration and semantics. I’m of course glad he’s going to regenerate and the show won’t go on, I just wish it had been more creative. I did love that they had him explain that those regenerations of John Hurt and Tennant still counted. And Handles was a great character for that little bit of time. And Gallifrey being in the Crack was smart; it made perfect sense, and I like that that story arc was continued.

As for my personal thoughts on the farewell to Matt Smith… I loved him as a Doctor. He didn’t have the posh, dignified manner of the classic Doctors, but personally I separate classic from modern Who for the sake of critiques; they have a whole new fan base, multiple generations older than the original fans, and with such a different audience it’s only natural to have such a different Doctor. On a side note, I liked how in the 50th John Hurt called out Tennant and Smith for their quirky youth, because he is really the last echo of the classic Doctors.

Was Matt Smith my favorite Doctor? I don’t know. David Tennant was my favorite, he’s just got the British comedic flare seen during other shows in during his time, like the IT Crowd or the Inbetweeners, and it’s just the classic british humor I’ve grown up with. He’s corky and witty, wonderfully easy on the eyes, and I loved him with Rose.

Matt Smith’s seasons were much more “American” — for those of you who watch a lot of British television, you’ll know what I mean. There’s more action, things happen faster, it’s more emotional and Matt Smith is less stoic than the average british character, especially in the seventh series.

Smith is definitely better than Eccleston — who gets a bad wrap but we need to remember, he’s the first regeneration after John Hurt, meaning the destruction of Gallifrey is still fresh for him. I blame his boring character on that, but the fact remains that I don’t much care for him.

But is he better than Tennant? It’s too soon to tell. At the moment I’m tempted to say he is, but I think that’s the recency effect — it’s just too fresh. I loved his story arc more than Bad Wolf or any of Tennant’s, however. And Amelia Pond was my favorite companion, no doubt, hands down. Her brash, oh-so-British treatment of Rory was at times unappreciative, but in the end she chose Rory and that’s why I still love her.

My hopes for the new Doctor are not too high, as I’ve gotten so used to these younger Doctors, but Peter Capaldi could be bridging the gap back towards classic Who, which could be great. I think he’ll be fantastic once we get in to the swing of it, and Clara is one of my favorite companions. The Impossible Girl is just so clever a concept.

And without further ado, it would appear that the clock is indeed striking 12. Goodbye, Raggedy-man.