Gallifrey One 2018: Twice Upon a Time Episode Commentary

Continuing the story of our experience at Gallifrey One 2018, the annual Doctor Who convention in Los Angeles, Saturday morning came a bit early.

I went to bed shortly after the Idiot’s Lantern sketch comedy show wrapped up on Friday night around 1:00am, but Josh didn’t get back to the hotel room until 2:30am. But the first panel we were planning on going to was at 9:45am, and we figured we should get there a little early to make sure we got decent seats. And we were meeting up with our friends Jason and Diana (also known as Corgi and Mrs. Corgi, or @CorgiKohmander on Twitter) so we needed to make sure we could get 4 seats together. Plus we needed to shower. So, we didn’t get to sleep as late as we might have liked.

Anyway, so we got to the Main Room and found 4 seats together on the side of the room with the screen. Josh and I didn’t have time to go anywhere for breakfast, so we just ate the breakfast snacks we had brought with us.

Soon, the panelists arrived, and they sat on couches right in front of the screen at the front of the room. The panelists included Writer/Showrunner Steven Moffat, Executive Producer Brian Minchin, Director Rachel Talalay, and David Bradley, who played the First Doctor. The episode they would be commenting on was Twice Upon a Time, the 2017 Christmas Special, and Peter Capaldi’s final episode, at the end of which the Twelfth Doctor regenerates into the Thirteenth Doctor, played by Jodie Whitaker.

Steven Moffat recalled that the size of the set was very tiny, and made out of styrofoam. He pointed out that the police box now looks very different from William Hartnell’s police box, so he had to figure out how to handle that. Another thing he had to figure out how to handle was the order of credits, with David Bradley appearing in this episode!

In the opening scene with Mark Gatiss’s character and the other soldier pointing their gun at each other, Steven Moffat joked that this is what it’s like in the Doctor Who writer’s room.

Steven also talked about how much of a fanboy he was on this set, because he had been such a fan of Doctor Who growing up.

He commented that there had been scenes of Mark Gatiss looking at the TARDIS that had been cut out. He also pointed out that the wig David Bradley was wearing had gone yellow since his last appearance, and so it had to be colored in. There was a close up of David Bradley, and when he was asked what he was doing at that moment, he joked, “Counting my close ups!”

In the scene where we first see Bill, Steven revealed that he didn’t know Bill was going to be in this episode until he got to this scene. He realized that he just really wanted Bill to meet the First Doctor — because it would be embarrassing for Twelve! Steven also talked about the fact that William Hartnell’s Doctor did not have a sonic screwdriver. He also tried to fix a point of continuity, making sure it was clear that when the Doctor regenerates, the clothes regenerate too.

The first edit of this episode was long — “longer than Dunkirk,” Steven joked. It was originally 50 minutes over, so the pace needed to be fixed.

Steven pointed out a scene where there was a mistake, and asked if anyone in the audience had caught it. No one had, so he revealed it, asking who had opened the TARDIS doors, pointing out that they don’t open on their own!

Rachel Talalay recalled that she had to ask Steven if she could blow stuff up — to which Steven joked how “American” that was to want to blow stuff up.

Steven told the audience that Peter Capaldi has cut his hair since his final episode, and that as a result he has lost 10 years.

We also learned that the whistle Mark Gatiss was wearing was actually his grandfather’s whistle. Mark had also been very excited to look for fossils in the area where the soldier scenes were shot.

As we neared the end of the episode, there were some technical difficulties, and the episode froze. While that was being fixed, Steven asked if there were any questions. Someone shouted out, “Where were Ben and Polly?” Steven matter-of-factly answered that they were frozen in time, and joked about how some people don’t pay attention.

The episode got going again after a few minutes of suspense as to whether the convention would be able to get it working again, the audience hoping that we weren’t going to have to end the commentary before the big regeneration finale.

Snow had happened on the day of the Christmas Armistice, so they had to add snow throughout the scene. In hindsight, Steven realized that he should have made the First Doctor tell the Twelfth Doctor “Stay warm” as he left, since those were the First Doctor’s actual last words. Steven didn’t feel right making a new last line for the Doctor, and at least he would have gotten the real line in somewhere near his end.

The last thing that Steven did for the show was signing off on Jenna Coleman’s effects shot. David Bradley recalled that he had never gotten to actually meet Matt Lucas. They had merely seen each other coming across the field as David was leaving and Matt was arriving to set, and exchanged hellos from afar.

Commenting about Peter Capaldi’s emotions showing through in the episode, Steven set the record straight: Peter was actually happy that day! So no, you’re not seeing his emotions, that’s just Peter acting!

Regarding the Twelfth Doctor’s last words to “never eat pears,” Steven said that came from Paul Cornell. Steven himself actually likes pears. As for the part about children hearing the Doctor’s name, that was based on a comment Peter Capaldi had made at a press conference.

When the Doctor regenerated, there was thunderous applause.

It was explained that the idea for the final scene was that the TARDIS is shocked by the regeneration, so it is shaking the Doctor out. Steven Moffat joked that the TARDIS is also “sensitive to the need for a cliffhanger.”

This was a really fun episode commentary to sit in on, with a lot of joking going on, especially by Steven Moffat. For Game of Thrones fans, there were also references to that show, as David Bradley had played Walder Frey. David made a comment like, “You saw what I did to the Starks!” and at one point Steven mentioned the Red Wedding.

At this point, we bid farewell to Jason and Diana, and headed over to the “Do You Believe in Ghosts?” panel over in Program E.

To be continued…