I saw a CAPALDI!

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

In "Day of the Doctor" he said he was 1,200, but he also said that he lost track and that he might well be lying. Indeed, he said he was so old he forgot whether he was lying about how old he was.

Obviously, we don't know how long there was between "Day" and "Time". In "Time", there's a stated 300-year gap between Clara being sent away the first time and the TARDIS returning. There's then an unknown gap between her being sent away the second time and Tasha Lem returning for her.

The pre-release spoilers said the episode spanned 900 years, which feels about right given the aging of the Doctor in the episode, but it's hardly canonical.

So... my guess would be about 2,000 years. That's a nice round number.

Oh, and also...

On my second watch-through of the episode, I spotted two things:

The prophecy that the Silence were trying to thwart was: "On the fields of Trenzalore, at the fall of the eleventh, when no living creature can speak falsely or fail to answer, a Question will be asked, a question that must never, ever be answered." (Emphasis mine.) So, that one didn't quite link up.

The second thing I noted was a more direct contradiction. Near the end, when the boy who isn't Barnable comes to get the Doctor, he says "don't worry; I have a plan." He then tells Clara that he doesn't have a plan, but that it makes people feel better if they think he does. The only problem is that he's standing right next to the crack in the universe, and so should be affected by the Truth Field, and of course those things can't both be true - he can't both have a plan and not have a plan.

But those are both really just nitpicks. I actually found that I enjoyed the episode a whole lot more on a second viewing, even though I watched it again immediately after watching the (IMO superior) "Day of the Doctor".

I don'T remember when he said this to Clara- he wasn't in the TARDIS or anything, was he?

I figure the Dcotor, after a few centuries, can lie even in a truth field. The Doctor Lies, right?

 

[delericho]

I don'T remember when he said this to Clara- he wasn't in the TARDIS or anything, was he?

No, it was the church - he then left, after which she approached the crack and gave her "you've got it wrong" speech.

I figure the Dcotor, after a few centuries, can lie even in a truth field. The Doctor Lies, right?

That did cross my mind. But it was a truth field set up by the Time Lords - I would expect they would do a better than normal job!

As I said, though, it was a nitpick, so I'm not going to dwell on it over-much.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

No, it was the church - he then left, after which she approached the crack and gave her "you've got it wrong" speech.



That did cross my mind. But it was a truth field set up by the Time Lords - I would expect they would do a better than normal job!

As I said, though, it was a nitpick, so I'm not going to dwell on it over-much.

I would not be surprised if it was actually a plot point that would be used further, though I have to admit that it would be difficult to bring up. But I can't quite believe that they set up the whole truth field thing and forget it so easily.

Of course, one could argue that the doctor always has a plan - fake it until you make it.

 

[delericho]

I would not be surprised if it was actually a plot point that would be used further, though I have to admit that it would be difficult to bring up. But I can't quite believe that they set up the whole truth field thing and forget it so easily.

I actually kind of hope not. To a certain extent, the last two episodes have had a feel of tying up loose ends to them, while also setting up a new set of plots. So, I suspect we won't hear much more about Trenzilore, River Song, the War Doctor, the "Silence will fall" prophecy, etc. Going forward, I expect the major Capaldi arcs will probably be the search for Gallifrey, and probably some more about the Papal Mainframe.

(In some ways, it's a similar feeling I got from "Skyfall" - it's a clearing of the decks in some respects, a re-establishment of a new/old status quo, and then you're set up to move forward. At the end of "Skyfall", I felt the Bond franchise was actually a lot fresher than it had been for years. At the end of the "Day of"/"Time of the Doctor" pairing it feels like the show is again ready to move forward. Which hopefully includes not doing a huge amount of looking back - especially looking back at fairly trivial details.)

I could, of course, be wrong.

 

[Richards]

Of course, one could argue that the doctor always has a plan - fake it until you make it.

That's what I was thinking. "Don't worry, I have a plan" is technically true if the plan is just to wing it and see what happens; "I don't really have a plan" is true if we're talking about specific actions I intend to take. They could both be technically true enough to satisfy the truth field.

Johnathan