They could do a stand-alone or team him up with M. Vastra, Jenny, and Strax.

How much do I want this? Can't even splain...

Oh, while I think of it, Ryan sat down to watch this one with me. About the time Danny took off his face-plate I turned it off. That visual is I think a bit much for a five year old. (Up to that stage he'd been more or less ok by embracing the cliche. Yes, my little boy was watching from behind the couch. Though at one point he demanded that I join him behind said couch.)

So far Ryan's watched The Day of the Doctor and The Three Doctors. I'm not sure what to try him on next. Something in the Tennant era, maybe. (Not The Satan Pit.)

Though at one point he demanded that I join him behind said couch

As is right and true.

I keep watching the coda, hoping it won't give me the giggles and I keep failing. Xmas can't come too soon.

I keep watching the coda, hoping it won't give me the giggles and I keep failing. Xmas can't come too soon.

Now imagine Nick Frost as Santa joining Peter Capaldi as his regular companion. Every week it's an irascible force meeting an affable, metatextual object.

Now imagine Nick Frost as Santa joining Peter Capaldi as his regular companion. Every week it's an irascible force meeting an affable, metatextual object.

I do have a heart condition. This is not helping but better to go out laughing than crying I guess.

Because I am a giant nerd: favourite moments from the Doctor Who finale.

• Kate Stewart tossing a wrecked Invasion-era Cyberman head in front of the new Cybermen.

• The Doctor trying to find out what his salary is.

• "There’s going to be mass panic. Everyone in London can see that." "Everyone in London just clapped and went 'whee!'"

• The look on the Doctor's face on learning that he's President Idiot.

• The look on Missy's face when she asks Osgood to keep her imminent demise as their little secret.

• The Doctor's quiet "He should've asked" in front of the portrait of the Brigadier.

• Danny removing his face-plate. The Cybermen are most effective (read: only effective) when they're about the body horror.

• Missy giving the Doctor the Cyber-army. (That was an excellent twist.)

• The Doctor's console-pounding fit of rage when he finds the Master was lying about Gallifrey.

• "Never trust a hug, it's just a way to hide your face." Very Moffat, but they sold it.

• Yeah, ok, St Nick Frost. (His name is Nick Frost! Why is his entire career not playing Santa Claus?)

Nerrrrrrrrrd.

Missy's teleport destination being just high enough in the air that she could float down the last few feet buoyed by a black umbrella.

Also the very end of the Doctor/Mistress conversation. "You win." "I know."

I mean of course we know that this show is not going to kill as grand a villain as Missy Master off. But this time they told us literally in flashing lights how she survived. The flash when The Doctor 'disintegrated' Miss was *identical* to the flash when she teleported earlier. And the various entendres made it clear that the Doctor was not going to allow Missy to be killed. All that stuff about "All this just to save Clara's soul." Missy knew damn well the Doctor was her life, rather than just Clara's soul. And all that about "If you ever let that creature live, everyone she killed is on your head" is not only a good point about the past, a foreshadowing of the next time Missy returns.

And all that about "If you ever let that creature live, everyone she killed is on your head" is not only a good point about the past, a foreshadowing of the next time Missy returns.

It's true, and pushes the Master even further into Joker territory. (She was full-on Agent of Chaos here.)

Contrast with Roger Delgado's Master. When he escaped, the Third Doctor seemed to relish the prospect of their next battle (no angst about how many lives might be lost due to his failure this time). It seemed to be more of a game to both of them.

That said, Delgado and Gomez aren't worlds apart. No way would Delgado's Master give up a Cyberman army to the Doctor; but right from Terror of the Autons, he gives the impression that his relationship with the Doctor matters more than his scheme du jour. Plus, the rapidity with which he switches sides in Terror of the Autons suggests that even this debonair mastermind incarnation is ultimately in it, at least to some extent, for shits and giggles.

(I should also note that if the Doctor were to be swayed by Clara's reasoning there, his failure to blow up the lab in Genesis of the Daleks is a far more serious moral problem.)

What makes it more of a moral problem is that the Doctor will kill on occasion.

BTW did Missy actually lie about Gallifrey, rather than merely deceive? It looked to me like the planet was there, just in the form of a burned out husk.