Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special - The Day Of The Doctor - Review

Starring: Matt Smith, David Tennant, John Hurt, Jenna Coleman & Billie Piper

Written By: Steven Moffat

Directed By: Nick Hurran

 

This is it. 23rd November 2013, and Doctor Who, the best show on television, is now fifty years old. After reaching such an important milestone, it's time to celebrate such a wonderful show. Already this year, we’ve had a superb drama looking at the show's origins - An Adventure In Space & Time, documentaries about the science of the show, and a hilarious comedy-short starring Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy. Now we have the actual Anniversary special - The Day Of The Doctor. Steven Moffat has said that its his job to see the show reach its 100th Anniversary, and while I doubt the show will get to that point without some kind of break, there's still a LOT more life left in it yet. But for now, let's take a look at an episode that's been fifty years in the making – The Day Of The Doctor.

 

Gallifrey – the last day of the Time War – the day the Doctor wipes out both the Time Lords and the Daleks. From the vaults of Gallifrey, the War Doctor steals The Moment, a weapon so powerful that the operating system has gained sentience. In a last effort to prevent the destruction the Doctor will unleash, The Moment shows him his future incarnations, and what his actions will turn him into. This leads to the War Doctor and his 10th and 11th incarnations working together to prevent a Zygon invasion of Earth. At the same time, the War Doctor begins to question whether he can really commit double acts of genocide.

 

Following in the footsteps of previous anniversary stories, The Day Of The Doctor is host to more than one Doctor. Here, we’re given the 11th, the return of the 10th, and the introduction of the War Doctor. Matt Smith, David Tennant and John Hurt all worked together wonderfully, and it was refreshing to see the Doctor's different incarnations get on with each other this time. This story is responsible for giving us the War Doctor. While I was initially a bit hostile towards the idea of an "unseen" regeneration, John Hurt has proved that the War Doctor deserves his place in the show's mythos. John Hurt brought real depth and a sense of tragedy to the character, and while the 10th and 11th Doctors may be ashamed of what he did, I really sympathize with him. The War Doctor had no choice but to do what he did, or at least that's how it looked. It was, of course, great to see David Tennant back as one of my favourite Doctors, and he still brings the same energy and wonder to his Doctor that he brought in years gone by.

 

While The Day Of The Doctor is a celebration of the past fifty years of the show, I’m glad that Steven Moffat hasn’t forgotten that, for a lot of people, they only got into the show about eight years ago (myself included). It was so nice to see so many throwbacks to some of my favourite moments of the revived series. I will not hesitate to say that my favourite period of the revival so far, has been the Russell T Davies era, and there was plenty of call-backs to this era. Most notably for me was the return of The Dark & Endless Dalek Night - my favourite piece of music from Murray Gold. Seriously, hearing that piece of music accompanying some spectacular shots of a war-torn Gallifrey - the chills! I was also glad to see that U.N.I.T had quite a large role in this episode, not to mention the return of Kate Stewart - a character I'd really been wanting to appear in the show again. Kate is given a lot more to do here than she had in The Power Of Three and it really benefits the episode. With U.N.I.T's return, we are also introduced to Osgood, the Doctor's No. 1 fan. Osgood is becoming a very popular character, and it's not hard to see why. She's funny, charming and just as big a fan of the Doctor as most of the audience at home.

 

But while there is a lot of fan-service for fans that are more familiar with the revived series, tribute is still paid to the original run. Being the 50th Anniversary of the show, there was no way in this world that its most iconic villains were going to miss out on the celebrations and thus, the Daleks are back. The Daleks didn't have the largest of roles here, but really that's a good thing. The Day Of The Doctor is more about the Doctor, and how such a pacifistic character was able to go through committing mass murder. The Daleks didn't dominate the episode, but when they're needed, they make this special feel grand and entirely cinematic. This is the first time that we get to see any actual conflict between the Daleks and the Time Lords in the Time War, and ... just wow! As the Daleks bring onslaughts of destruction to Gallifrey, it looks stunning, and seeing a Dalek appear from the flames of an explosion screaming "Exterminate!" is sheer delight. I really envy anyone who got to see this episode in cinemas, as Nick Hurran has done a fantastic job in making it look amazing. In perhaps greater tribute to the classic series, this episode also saw the return of the Zygons, last seen in 1975. This was a surprising but very welcome decision, and like the Ice Warriors from earlier this year, they haven't been that heavily redesigned. But while I love the fact that they're back, they sadly weren't handled anywhere near as well as the Daleks. If anything, they feel out of place here, as though a regular episode of the show has been intercut with this one. The Zygons and their invasion of Earth from the past feels entirely disconnected from the bigger, more interesting and important story at play here, as does the appearance of Queen Elizabeth I

 

(MAJOR SPOILER WARNING!) For me, the moment that genuinely made The Day Of The Doctor worthy of being called the 50th Anniversary special, is when the three Doctors figured out and chose a different way of putting an end to the Time War. As they explain to the Time Lords what they are about to do, only for it to be followed by brief appearances of every single Doctor coming to help ... my poor fan-boy heart! When I watched this for the first time, I didn't think I could have a Squee! moment that strong, and even when I was brought back down to Earth, I realized it was a beautiful tribute to every single Doctor and every single moment of the show. While The Day Of The Doctor may not be perfect overall, that one scene on its own, was perfection.

 

(MAJOR SPOILER WARNING!) Once the special had finished, the most prominent thing I took away from it, was how much it changes the direction in which the show is heading. Before broadcast, Steven Moffat said that this episode would “change the narrative of the show”. He certainly wasn’t lying. For the last eight years, we've followed a Doctor full of regret and shame for his actions in the Time War, but it seems this won't be the case anymore. The Daleks ended up destroying themselves and Gallifrey was safely moved to another dimension. I'd imagine from this, that we'll now follow a more hopeful Doctor as he searches for his home. I have to admit, I was at first very confused at Steven Moffat's decision to change Gallifrey's fate. If the Doctors all agreed to save Gallifrey, rather than burn it, then why had we seen him grieving for so many years? On first viewing, I missed the line that explained this massive plot hole, and while I did later pick up on it, it could have been explained a lot better than that. However, I really welcome the change in dynamic for the show – it'll shake things up and hopefully make the feeling of future series a very different one. I'm aware that a number of people weren't happy with the decision to change what was established about the Doctor's actions in the Time War. While I understand why some people are upset, I personally think it works, largely due to the fact that the War, 9th and 10th Doctors still believe it happened. When you go back and watch any episodes from Series 1 through to Series 7, the Doctor that you're watching genuinely believes that he burned Gallifrey, rather than saved it, and as a result, the drama and sorrow you feel for him shouldn't change.

 

To conclude, The Day Of The Doctor is a worthy celebration of this awe-inspiring fifty year-old show. It isn't by any means perfect, and it isn't the best ever episode of the show. The Zygons' story feels massively out of place, changes in continuity are poorly explained and … Clara? Well, the reason I haven’t mentioned Clara at all, is because she literally does nothing in this episode, and is still suffering with the same lack of development she endured in Series 7. However, compared to all the good stuff, these problems are tiny and this episode gets so much more right than wrong, with great tributes to some of my favourite past elements of the show, the effective use of the Daleks, the return of Kate Stewart, the introduction of the War Doctor and Osgood, the daring change in narrative, and just for how well the Doctor is understood in this script. The Doctor is off to find his home again, and I can’t wait to see what future years have to tell …

 

The Day Of The Doctor



8/10