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Are you ready for the series finale?
1 First, a heads-up. We didn’t get an office preview of this one because, at Steven Moffat’s request, no previews were sent out. Instead, I had to go to the show’s London PR office for a private screening. But one thing’s for sure – if we had had a preview version in our office, I would have watched the whole thing over again straight away. Sadly, I was a little too embarrassed to ask the PR guys if I could do that there and then. Now I wish I’d gone, “Sod professionalism…”
2 The reason I’d want to watch it again straight away is not because it’s massively complicated and you need to rewatch it to make sense of it. In fact, it’s a surprisingly simple tale, though told in a clever way. No, I wanted to watch it again because a) it’s so rich with detail and b) it’s enormous fun.
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3 There is technobabble, but that’s largely a red herring
4 The teaser looks like it was more expensive than the rest of the “back six” put together. It’s a visual and conceptual delight
5 It does answer a lot of questions, but some old ones (from Matt Smith’s first series) are still left open, and some new ones are posed
6 There are many, many glorious special effects sequences
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7 The denouement is bound to cause some debate. If you like the episode, you’ll be able to rationalise it, but if you don’t you’ll be going, “But hang on, in that episode…?” But that’s Doctor Who fandom
8 You’ll discover a whole new meaning to the phrase “Live Chess” that has nothing to do with Harry Potter
9 The Doctor wonders if he could be the fifth member of something
10 Wi-fi comes in handy
11 There’s the return of an old look for the Doctor
12 There are some unexpected (truly unexpected) returning characters
13 There’s a moving tribute to an old friend
14 The Doctor offers and eye for an eye patch
15 A big revelation may remind you of Little Britain
16 There are some peculiar postmen
17 Somebody’s portrait looks nothing like them
18 The episode title may not be as much of a red herring as you might think. But then again…
19 Bow ties are not just cool, they’re useful on occasion
20 It’s a bit of a gamechanger
21 The eye patch is explained
22 I can guarantee that some people will go, “Oh I guessed that all along,” at one point, but considering millions of fans on thousands of websites have been discussing every possible outcome, it’s not surprising that some people will have come across it. I’m happy to say, I was pleasantly surprised. Maybe I’m thick
23 It’s not faultless – I have quibbles – but it’s ambitious, and clever, and unique, and surprising, and funny, and visually stunning, it’s emotionally engaging and it’s unlike anything else on TV. And I can’t wait to see it again
Dave is a TV and film journalist who specializes in the science fiction and fantasy genres. He's written books about film posters and post-apocalypses, alongside writing for SFX Magazine for many years.
