YMMV / Doctor Who 2022 CEN "The Power of the Doctor"

• Awesome Music:
  • Segun Akinola's final episode on the show, and very much serves as The Last Dance for him. His leitmotifs for Cybermen, Daleks and the Master return in far more intense variations, and Thirteen's regeneration music is a version of her theme from her very first episode.
  • The Master dances to Boney M's "Rasputin", as his plan comes together. In addition to it being rather fitting for the historical figure he's taken the place of, the sheer contrast between his wicked and destructive scheme and the amusing sight of him dancing to a rather upbeat tune makes for a rather hilarious moment.
• Character Rerailment: During his cameo, the First Doctor's characterization is more in line with how he was portrayed during his era on the show, rather than the somewhat flanderized way he was portrayed when he appeared in the previous regeneration story (which was said by Steven Moffat to have been One trolling Twelve).
• Funny Moments:
  • The Master, having impersonated Grigori Rasputin, starts dancing to Boney M.'s "Rasputin" while the Doctor, the Daleks, and the Cybermen look on in confusion, and is funny for just how bizarre it is. One of the Cybermen and one of the Daleks surrounding the Master just look at one another in utter and total disbelief. And even though neither of them have expressions, the unspoken thought of "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?!" is unmistakeable.
  • While it's ambiguous in the episode itself if the Master is the actual Grigori Rasputin or is simply pretending to be him, the original script reveals that he was supposed to be the real deal, adding another layer of humour since the Master was dancing to a song that turned out to have been written about him.
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • The return of the previous companions, but most of all Ian Chesterton, one of the original companions all the way back from the very beginning to the franchise. After not appearing on the TV series in 57 years and his actor being almost a century old, he finally makes an appearance in Graham's support group.
  • When the hologram of the Doctor appears to Tegan to guide her through a messy spot, the Doctor assumes the face of the Fifth Doctor to help comfort her. When Tegan angrily challenges him about how he seemingly moves on leaving every Companion behind, the Fifth Doctor responds, "I never forgot any of you."
• I Knew It!: After David Tennant's return for the 60th Anniversary was announced, many fans theorized that he wasn't coming back as the Tenth Doctor, but was going to play a new Doctor between Jodie Whittaker and Ncuti Gatwa's incarnations. The speculation only intensified when location filming photos were revealed and Tennant was spotted in a brand new outfit that was similar to, but noticeably different from, Ten's, along with what appeared to be a new sonic screwdriver, while Gatwa was nowhere to be seen on set. This theory was first confirmed by a Content Leak of this episode's ending before its official airing solidified it.
• Memetic Mutation: The Master dancing to Boney M.^Explanation The Master has revealed that he's been impersonating (or has been all along) Grigori Rasputin and then starts dancing to Boney M.'s "Rasputin" while the Doctor, the Daleks, and the Cybermen all have the understandable WTF reaction. The sheer weirdness instantly turned it into a meme. The fact that, at the time of this episode, there was a trend of setting Rasputin-related media (and sometimes not even related to him) to said song certainly helped.
• Narm Charm: The Rasputin dance sequence comes after such a serious scene, you'll be forgiven for looking like the Daleks and the Cybermen going "WTF". But it's so in character for the Master, and so hilarious, it makes the scene awesome!
• Older Than They Think:
  • The Doctor meeting mental manifestations of their past selves during regeneration has happened before; in the fortieth anniversary audio "Zagreus", the Eighth Doctor spoke with his immediate three predecessors after he was left in a near-death state.
  • Human or near-human companions being able to fly the TARDIS solo is not a new thing. Captain Jack, Clara, Donna, Tasha Lem, Turlough, and Nyssa all showed proficiency in flying the TARDIS either solo or alongside the Doctor.
• Shocking Moments: It had been previously announced that Ncuti Gatwa would be taking over from Jodie Whittaker, so to see her regenerate into David Tennant once again is quite a major shock. However, people had theorized this beforehand, since the specials in 2023 were reported on prior to this episode airing, and filming shots showed Tennant and not Gatwa, but it wasn't yet known whether Whittaker would de-regenerate into Tennant, if the specials would be flashbacks of previously unknown Tenth Doctor adventures, or if it would involve the "clone" of the Tenth Doctor created from his spare hand. The fact Tennant was seen with a different outfit and screwdriver and was standing outside of Thirteen's TARDIS helped add fuel to the fire. Official sources have been referring to Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor and Gatwa as the Fifteenth.
• Tear Dryer: The Thirteenth Doctor's sombre, yet hopeful and fond, final spoken thoughts before giving playful encouragement to her next incarnation is followed up by the Fourteenth's baffled reaction to the all too familiar form he has retaken. It also serves as a transition from Chibnall to Russell T Davies.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • The Master's plan to either ruin the Doctor's reputation or try to be them and utterly borking it up because he's got no idea how to legitimately be good is an interesting one, but doesn't get a lot of breathing time in the special when it could've been a full length story of its own.
  • The introduction of the "Edge of Existence", a.k.a. the Doctor's mindscape where she interacts with echoes of her past incarnations, seems to set up a Fighting from the Inside scenario in order for her to retake her body from the Master, like how she did in "The Timeless Children" to escape the Matrix. Instead, the crisis is solved autonomously by the Doctor AI and the companions, with zero participation from the Doctor herself, except for the previous creation of the AI, and the Edge of Existence ultimately remains as pure Fanservicey Contemplate Our Navels.
• Unexpected Character: When the first trailer dropped, Ace and Tegan were very unexpected characters, but the actual episode has a lot of Classic-Era characters return, more than any episode in the revived era by quite a wide margin. The First, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Doctors return (all but the first being reprised by their original actors), while Jo Grant (last seen in 2011), Mel Bush (last seen in 1987), and Ian Chesterton (last seen in 1965) reappear in the Companions meeting at the end.
• Word of God: At the Companions Anonymous meeting, there's an empty chair between Jo and Tegan with a laptop on it. Word of God is that it's for Polly, because Anneke Wills had to pull out of shooting late on, and the laptop was added to imply Polly was using Zoom to attend the meeting.

---