3. The Retconned Thirteen Regenerations In 'Time Of The Doctor' Was The Worst Thing Moffat Has Ever Done To The Show!
What gives Steven Moffat more or less right than Russell T Davies or his successor to tackle this story line? The advent of the 50th anniversary year was the perfect opportunity to do this; it closes on the Doctor's run of lives and starts the next 50 years with a new lease of life (and regenerations). The biggest issue with the Eleventh Doctor being the thirteenth regeneration was how quickly this story line was brought up and resolved, though in this aspect Steven Moffat wasn't entirely at fault. There were perhaps two other culprits; Russell T Davies for throwing away a regeneration in Journey's End and Christopher Eccleston for not agreeing to take part in the 50th anniversary. That's not to say that Eccleston had an obligation to be involved (he should have), but had he done so, it might have been the Ninth Doctor to led the charge in the Time War, fulfilling the same role as John Hurt (dialogue and all) in Day Of The Doctor. Considering the way it played out though, John Hurt's War Doctor became the highlight of the 50th anniversary anyway! It looks like Moffat always intended to tackle the 'last regeneration' story, just with Matt Smith's successor instead. He was right to include the second Tenth Doctor in the regeneration limit but making the Eleventh the last does mess with a few plot moments (specifically those in The Impossible Astronaut and Let's Kill Hitler). It came out of nowhere in Time Of The Doctor, but it did allow for one hell of a performance from Matt Smith. In the end, it all kind of made sense, but there's no doubt that some fans would have preferred more of a forbidding build up to what is supposed to be THE END of the Doctor.