Thou hast conquered, o pale Gallifreyan...

We watched the Doctor Who season finale with a bowl of chilli and a bottle of Argentine malbec (a good one - I wonder where that came from?), which was definitely the right way to do it: involved enough to enjoy the show, but sufficiently detached to shrug off the disappointments. There was plenty to enjoy, some very neat twists, and the disappointments come down to one big disappointment, that the show will not be allowed to depart from formula, and therefore the neat twists can never be more than just that, never be lines of plot or character development worth exploring. Judicious (and injudicious) use of the reset button will always return us to the status quo.

In some ways this episode had the feel of a Christmas special, presenting one old friend after another to our (presumed) delight: in fact, if they just joined hands for a chorus of Auld Lang Syne, we could call it a New Year Special. I know I'm not the only person - because durham_rambler said exactly the same thing - who, when the continuity announcer promised us that the Christmas Special would feature the return of the Cybermen, thought "Are there no new worlds left to conquer?"

But we'll be there watching, all the same.