I suspect the reasoning is based on what one might call The Willow Problem. (Relevantly: another witch.) Once you power someone up so much you have to start reaching for excuses for them to be unable/unwilling/unavailable lest they put a quick and drama-free end to things. That has to be done really well or it ends up…

Martha is the last refuge of the incompetent.

Daniel Larison.

Jamaican a new sled already.

If it’s who I’d guess you’re thinking about, she was paired off pretty much 100% of the time she was on the show, and a lot of it to another actor working for Joss. But perhaps I guess wrong.

Well, the first thing 12 did, in a post-regeneration panic, was ask Clara if she knew how to fly the TARDIS. While he didn’t quite crash it, it certainly wasn’t a controlled descent.

The first thing that 11 did, post-regeneration, was crash the TARDIS.

Given that context, I think it’s pretty safe to say that even if it w…

I really don’t see it with Clara, and as I said before I don’t think Amy’s interest in 11 ever moved beyond a one-off romp. She never showed the slightest interest in actually abandoning Rory, and we know what that interest would look like because of Rose/Mickey. Clara’s relationship with 12 grew destructive, but for…

Perfectly fair.

I’d love another season with Bill as well, because I think she’s a terrific character and really well-played, but I think that even if Mackie had wanted to carry on, it’s in the best interests of the show to not have her as the companion to the first female Doctor. I’m far less bothered by the…

And FWIW, having now slept on it I think that Moffat was probably trying to sketch a picture of a sexist era rather than the First Doctor himself being specifically sexist, given that he passed some of the relevant lines to the Captain as well. While that’s accurate enough — the First Doctor’s better female companions…

I admit to barking at the TV: “park the damned thing! Don’t you remember what happened the last few times?”

I think it was a pretty decent episode of Doctor Who, and a pretty good Christmas episode, but a brilliant sendoff/regeneration episode.

Thin on plot, yes. Very thin. And you’re right that the SFX seemed unusually rough, aside from the WWI scenes. Full of characterization and measured fan service (did you even mention…

He was ultra-conservative to/beyond a fault and destined to hate any modernization of the works, but it’s impossible to conceive of a better steward for his father’s legacy. He will be greatly missed. The opportunities he shunned will come, but probably not until he’s passed.

Presumably, everyone recognizes Uranus.

You sow nothing, Jon Snow.