What do you do to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who? How could you possibly condense 50 years of something being on air down into a 75 minute special? Because let's be honest, 'Day Of The Doctor' is probably the best way to do it: just don't try. Ultimately as long as it's a gripping, action packed drama with lot's of flashy special effects that hark's back to both the past and the present of the show in a least some way while also paving the way for the future then you're on pretty good footing. Story should always come first over fanfare, and Moffat delivered on all this in spades. It would've been a fools errand to bring all the old Doctor's back, for starters three of them are dead and can you imagine 10 Doctor's in a room (4 of whom wouldn't look ANYTHING like their original character) arguing with each other? It would be chaos to write and you would then have to form some sort of coherent story large enough to fit them all in. And let's not forget the companions, of which there's like 60 GAZILLION of them who all suffer from the same problems. Sure I would LOVE Captain Jack to return (who wouldn't?), but he's only a small slice of one very, very big pie, to bring him back instead of, say, Ace would feel like favouritism for that particular companion on the writers part. And even the actress he did bring back wasn't even playing her original character anyway. So ultimately the best answer is to bring NO ONE back, and pick character's based on the story you're trying to tell. In this case it's a story about the Time War, a massive event in the Doctor's life that separates the classic series from the new one that's epic enough to be included in the special. Because this event only happened from Doc's 8 onwards it makes sense to only bring those Doctor's back (apart from one notable admission of course, but we'll get into that later).
By the way if you haven't already then you really should watch this mini-episode released two weeks ago. It essentially bridges the classic series with the Hurt Doctor and finally comes full circle on a few *AHEM* unknown elements of the show's lore:
Why they didn't include that at the start of the show I don't know, it would have essentially bookended the special with TWO classic Doctor's, which was more than we were expecting! Anyway it's wonderful stuff, and a dream come true if you're a Who fan to see Paul Mcgann back as the 8th Doctor again.
Getting onto the actual episode....jesus, where do we start?
Basically the entire story revolves around the War Doctor (played by John Hurt) stealing a super weapon from Time Lord archives and participating with his future lives in an adventure with the Zygons to see if he should deploy it, effectively wiping out both the Time Lords and the Daleks. It's a cool premise that borrows heavily from 'A Christmas Carol' and neatly explains the inclusion of other Doctor's. I was surprised by just how much time they spent on the Zygon sub-plot, I mean they're pretty much the main bad guys of the episode, the Dalek's were background enemies and kinda got snubbed in this respect. Yes it definitely subverted expectations there's no denying that the core of the 50th Anniversary episode was essentially a normal 'Who' episode, just one with multiple Doctor's and covered in large Time War wrapping paper. It is a celebration of the show though, so perhaps showing DW in it's truest, purest form (an alien invasion by cheesy looking monsters) is the right way to go rather than making it an outright blockbuster?
And the parts of the Time War that we DID get to see (and not just hinted at or alluded to), were spectacular. Giant Dalek armada's firing down on Gallifrey, Gallifreyan soldiers, Arcadia in flames and just in general lot's of pretty explosions and pretty CGI enviroments. It wasn't a massive part of the episode, but wow props to the production team and director Nick Hurran for some fantastic, movie quality special effect's. And rightly so, as for one time only this special was shown in cinema's worldwide and simultaneously broadcast in over 94 countries! I think it's safe to say that DW literally took over the world that night, and this sequence justified the price of a cinema ticket. It also show's the potential of what the show could do with an increased budget...
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| THAT'S SOME EPICNESS RIGHT THERE! |
Either way I loved everything so I can't complain, but I was scared half way through when it was clear that the Zygon plotline was not going away. And yes, Zygon's, the shape shifting fish people back for the first time since the 70's and still look as goofy as ever. I love that their plot was so meta: 'invading the future through the past' indeed. The rebooted show uses their shape-changing abilities to great comedic effect, particularly the scene involving the two Elizabeth's, I mean this HAS to be the funniest episode of DW ever. Pretty much every single line was killer stuff and handled masterfully by the leads, and I couldn't stop grinning the entire time.The special could have been John Hurt locked in a room with his two other incarnations and I honestly wouldn't have minded one bit, they were THAT good. It's why the Zygon story works, it's both mocking the classic era and celebrating it at the same time, while also poking fun at the new Series using John Hurt's Doctor ('will you two ever learn to grow up?') AND tying into the overall plot with the conclusion.
And speaking of John Hurt, wasn't he just amazing? All three of them were of course, but Hurt's character was a new, unseen incarnation and he managed to fit into the role like he had been playing the Doctor for years! 16 years to be exact, as apparently while DW was off the air from 1996 to 2005 we were missing out on some amazing stuff: The adventures of John Hurt, the 'War' Doctor during the Time War! All three Doctor's complemented each other perfectly and while we'll likely never see Hurt's incarnation again I'm sure he'll be remembered for years to come.
David Tennant's return was the thing I was looking forward to the most, and he didn't disappoint. His Doctor could barely go 5 minutes without bursting into tears in his last few adventures so it seemed appropriate to embrace the more, shall we say, subdued side of his Doctor? Of course he was brilliant in the episode and got some great lines but he didn't exactly do much in terms of advancing the plot did he? Most of the solutions were solved by the Hurt and Smith's Doctor's, apart from instigating the Zygon plot David Tennant's 10th Doctor was just there for the ride I guess.
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| Obligatory epic shots of the three Doctor's together? Check. |
Of course Tom Baker's cameo brought the house down, and he still dominated the room with his voice alone. The man has presence, that's for sure, no wonder he's hailed as the best Doctor ever. Just WHO he was though was a bit of a tease, the episode seemed to give the implication that he was a really old incarnation of the Doctor that had chosen to retire as the Museum curator, but then some Baker's lines were done on purpose to make it as vague as possible. Unnecessary and a tad gratuitous yes, but just like Matt Smith's appearance at the end of 'An Adventure In Time And Space', it might not have made much sense but who gives a crap? It was PERFECT and exactly the sort of moment a special like this needs. It also tied into the plot as the Tom Baker Doctor basically set up DW's next big arc: find gallifrey.
YES GALLIFREY LIVES! Well kind of, but we're in a better position that we were a few years ago. I was shocked that the Doctor's were seriously going to push that button if it were not for Clara, it just show's how important companions are to keeping the Doctor(s) in check. I mean granted other episodes in the past have explored this idea, but this is just in the extreme: without Clara the Doctor would have literally killed 2.7 BILLION children! Their decision was for the best of course, it seriously shakes things up for the future of the show and drastically renews the status quo. I should note that the Doctor's didn't actually alter anything, this was how it ALWAYS had happened, it's just that the Doctor had always thought he had pressed the button, so all this survivor's guilt from the past few years was over something that didn't happen! And it explains why there's been so many Dalek's popping up since as they were never truly destroyed, just most of them as per usual. I do find it odd that the Doctor(s) have trapped Gallifrey in a pocket universe but they don't know exactly were. I mean that's a bit odd isn't it? And I'm still confused about that painting, how can it be a slice of the Time War again? How come that's not Gallifrey? Guh, I don't know.
Oh yeah, and let's not forget Peter Capaldi's eyes, I mean just LOOK AT THEM:
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| Those are the eyes of a man you don't want to F*CK with! |
Positives:
+ An amazing performance from all three leads
+ John Hurt
+ The Time War looked spectacular, EXPLOSIONS!
+ Funniest. episode. ever.
+ Tom Baker!
+ Zygon's!
+ ALL of the Doctor's!
+ Peter Capaldi's eyes!
+ Gallifrey's back! Kind of...
+ Brilliant opening, ending
+ Kate Stewart
+ Great direction, visuals
+ Clara
+ Opening titles, Coal Hill school!
Negatives:
- No Eccleston
- No Carol-Ann-Ford
- Only 75 minutes
- Not enough Time War
- Plot got really confusing at points!
- No more John Hurt!
- Not enough Dalek action!
- Was the Zygon plot unnecessary? It's definitely an odd choice.
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| Your eyes do not deceive you, there are indeed 12 Doctor's now, not 11. |
