Twice Upon a Time: A Six-Month-Late Commentary

This blog post contains spoilers for the Doctor Who 2017 Christmas Special, Twice Upon a Time. If you haven't seen it yet, and you don't want spoilers, don't read this post.

Since I live in America, most of the Doctor Who that I get to watch has usually been out for literal months at minimum before I get my grubby mitts on it. This was a rare exception. I got to watch its cinema premiere with some friends of mine, and had the rare privilege of seeing a new episode completely without preconceptions. Obviously this was very exciting. This isn't exactly relevant, but it does in some ways affect my judgement of the episode.

To start off, let's do a recap, since this episode is half a year old. Twelve is about to regenerate. He don't wanna. One is also about to regenerate. He don't wanna, neither. They meet a World War One soldier in the Arctic and are then set upon by glass aliens. They are abducted, and the Doctors are told to give over the soldier, and in return, Twelve gets Bill back. Hooray! Bill is here! Anyway, all four of them escape to One's TARDIS. They go off to meet Rusty the Dalek to figure out what the hecking heck is up with these glass aliens, and Twelve finds out that there's no evil plot, just a plan to store the memories of the dead. The soldier is returned to the trenches to die, but the Doctor saves him by meddling a little with time to get them all to the Christmas Truce. Also, the soldier is the Brigadier's dad, but you probably could've guessed that. I did. Both Doctors go to regenerate, and Twelve gets to say a last farewell to Bill, Nardole, and Clara.

Overall, I love this episode. It's just... there's no evil plot. There's no plan to doom the world. Just this once, there's no enemy, no monster of the week. I think that's a nice break, and well-suited for the holidays. I absolutely loved seeing Bill again, and the callback to 'Into the Dalek' with Rusty was a nice touch. All the characters were nice and good and sympathetic, and the overall message of hope and growth and peace left me with a good feeling inside.

But there was still one major problem I had with this episode. You can probably guess what it is. Say it with me, everybody, "Trickster Grandpa is not a sexist."

After the episode, this was one of the main things I discussed with my friends. They raised some valid points about why those bits were included. That incarnation was written in the '60s, and those jokes were intended to poke fun at the values of that era. They didn't detract from the overall message of the episode. It was funny to watch Twelve squirm. These are all valid points, I agree. But I'm still mad.

They just kept going on and on about that one point in this episode. If it had been once or twice, I could have ignored it, but there was a lot of stuff in there. And, y'know, sexism wasn't really a part of early Doctor Who. I mean, it was there. Obviously, it was there, it was the '60s. But compare it to some of its contemporaries, and you'll see that it was really very forward-thinking, with lots of social messages. Also, it had Barbara Wright as a companion, and in her very first episode, she stood up to the Doctor. She did a lot of that. And he listened, he always listened. And he obeyed, because nobody in their right mind is going to purposefully try and anger Barbara. She ran over Daleks with a truck and convinced an entire city that she was a goddess.

The actors and crew were very liberal from the start. Verity Lambert, the original producer, was among the first female producers at the BBC. Waris Hussein, one of the first directors of the show, was gay. As for sexist lines, there are records of Bill Hartnell and other actors throwing them out as they felt necessary.

And of course, there's the fact that he is still the Doctor. The character is not tied to the values and beliefs of the early '60s any more than the modern Doctors are tied to modern values. They exist in all of space and time, and the culture on Gallifrey is wildly different than that on Earth. Feeding him lines built around the '60s, when it is... not that time anymore, just feels shoddy to me. It lacks the character and the quirks of the first Doctor, and renders him a much shallower version of himself. I mean, here's a short list of characteristics he had that could have made for much better jokes.

-Cannot remember anybody's name. ("Yes, do come along, Miss Spotts." "It's Potts, actually." "Yes, that's what I said, Miss Potter.")
-Automatically adopts any young females within a ten-meter radius as new granddaughter.
-Literally has no dang clue how the TARDIS works.
-Billy Fluffs.
-Is a Trickster Grandpa. ("Hm-HM! Ho-ho, yes indeed!" *Pokes head out of a Dalek casing and smiles cheekily at camera*)
-Teaches children about science and history in episodes.
-Regularly insults future regenerations. ("So, you're my future self, hm? An aging rock-star wannabe?")

Also, he doesn't drink alcohol (TV: The Gunfighters) and there is no way any incarnation of the Doctor has ever been straight. Ever. Argh.

Overall, though, this was a great episode, I'm just irritatingly fixated on the poor portrayal of Bill Hartnell's Doctor. As the original, he deserved better. I really did love the peaceful conclusion to the episode. The Christmas Truce has always struck me as a particularly Who-ish time and place to explore. I hope that you all had or will have a chance to watch it, because despite its flaws, it really was an enjoyable watch.

Happy Holidays,
-6&7