Since Twice Upon a Time debuted, I haven't enjoyed the Twelfth Doctor's long, rambling pre-regeneration speech. In this edit, I've tried to cut most of the pointless stuff out, fix some of the quite jarring tonal shifts, and generally tighten the whole thing up. I think what's in this video was really all that needed to be said.
I've rescored the scene with a slightly edited (more sombre and downtempo) version of 'This Time There's Three of Us' from The Day of the Doctor - which was, of course, the first appearance of the motif later used in the signature 'The Shepherd's Boy' track from Heaven Sent, and later reused in the actual regeneration scene.
Some further notes on my editing thought process:
- I took out the 'never eat pears' line because it was so bizarre. It was tonally incongruous with the rest of the scene, and is perhaps the most niche joke in Doctor Who history - a callback to a deleted scene from an episode more than ten years prior (or a nod to a twenty+ year old book, whichever you prefer).
- The excision of the line 'always try to be nice and never fail to be kind' was partly collateral damage caused by other edits, but also seemed to me a needless repetition of ideas expressed better elsewhere in the scene (hate is always foolish/be kind etc). I think the repetition of ideas is what really made this scene as broadcast drag on for me.
- I know the reference about only children understanding The Doctor's name comes from comments Peter Capaldi himself made, but I still dislike it. And the line 'you musn't tell anyone your name' is so hilariously on the nose as regards the character of The Doctor that it's ridiculous. His regeneration speech may as well have been 'keep travelling in the TARDIS and don't forget to wear weird clothes. And never, ever stop fighting Daleks!'
