"The Last Day" is another prequel miniepisode, showing us a (very) small glimpse of what happened just before the Daleks attacked Arcadia, on the last day of the Time War (hence the title). It's, frankly, not terribly exciting -- it lets us know that the Time Lord soldiers were confident nothing could get through their "sky trenches" to attack them, and of course they were wrong, and er, that's it. It's told from a first-person perspective, and that person is exterminated in the opening salvo. But as a taste of what's to come, it works well enough, I suppose.
And now it's time for the main event: the 50th anniversary special, "The Day of the Doctor", broadcast 50 years to the day after
Doctor Who debuted, and emphatically designed to be an Event -- to that end, this was simultaneously broadcast in 94 countries (and even shown in some theatres
252, in 3D!) and set a Guinness World Record as a result. And as is tradition with these sorts of anniversary specials (
Silver Nemesis excepted), we're presented with a multi-Doctor story -- but not just any multi-Doctor story. After eight years of hints and references and little more, Steven Moffat takes us back to the darkest day of the Doctor's life and into the Time War, to the final day when he wiped out both the Daleks and the Time Lords.
Lest you think that that's an awfully BBC Wales-centric premise to base a 50th anniversary special on, it should be noted that "The Day of the Doctor" does an excellent job of encompassing the entire history of the programme. It starts with an abbreviated version of the Hartnell title sequence (although they've superimposed DOCTOR WHO on top right as it's about to spell DOCTOR OHO) and leads into a policeman walking past a sign directing you to the junkyard in Totter's Lane (reminiscent of the opening shot of "An Unearthly Child") as we pan over to Coal Hill School (Chairman of the Governors: I. Chesterton; Headmaster: W. Coburn
253), where Clara is now a teacher. There are lots of loving little references to the past scattered throughout this story, but none of them require a degree in
Doctor Who to understand -- they're just little extras for those who catch them.
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The War, eleventh, and tenth Doctors are surrounded by Queen
Elizabeth I's guards. ("The Day of the Doctor") ©BBC |
No, the main plot is focused on the actions of this new, unknown Doctor between McGann and Eccleston, as he decides to put an end to the Time War with the aid of a special weapon called the Moment (which was first referenced in passing in
The End of Time) -- except the Moment has a conscience and can talk to the War Doctor, taking the form of Rose Tyler/Bad Wolf to do so. This is frankly a really clever way to get Billie Piper in this special without cheapening Rose's departure(s), even if it means she doesn't end up interacting with David Tennant at all. But Piper is very good as the Moment, matching the fun and mystery that the script asks for with ease. And it's the Moment who provides the reason for a multi-Doctor story, as she wants to show the War Doctor the sort of man he'll become if he goes through with destroying them all, which leads to the War Doctor encountering the tenth and eleventh Doctors in 16th-century England, where the tenth Doctor is tracking down a Zygon (finally, another Zygon story!) who he believes to be Queen Elizabeth I (finally, a chance to explain the Doctor's comment about Queen Elizabeth in
The End of Time -- as well as presumably the reason she was angry with him in "The Shakespeare Code").
It's clear that Steven Moffat is using
The Three Doctors as a guide, both of what to do and what to avoid, and the result is very entertaining. Moffat gently pokes fun at the Doctors (there are the quips about "Sandshoes" and "Dick Van Dyke" from Matt Smith about the tenth Doctor, while David Tennant gets in "Chinny" and comments about John Hurt's "posh gravelly" voice), which is much like the bickering between Troughton and Pertwee, but he also is smart enough to rein it in -- so while the tenth and eleventh Doctors toss little barbs back and forth, they seem to generally get along quite well (as opposed to the second and third Doctors).
Of course, because this is a Steven Moffat story, we get a nice complex story (albeit not ludicrously so) involving Zygons and stasis cubes and multiple time zones, as the Moment shows the War Doctor the man he's become, and how that decision influenced him. And so while we're dealing with Zygons plotting to take over the planet, and Kate Stewart and her aides McGillop and Osgood (who became a fan favorite) trying to stop them, the focus never really leaves the Doctors themselves. When the Zygons and UNIT are in the Black Archive (ooh, a
Sarah Jane Adventures reference!), locked in a stalemate as a nuclear bomb threatens to go off and blow up London (on account of the Black Archive -- which has now been moved to the Tower of London -- having all sorts of stuff the Zygons could use to conquer the planet (as well as lots of references to previous Doctors, companions, and stories)), the three Doctors refuse to let Kate Stewart go through with it. "You're about to murder millions of people," the War Doctor says. "To save billions," Kate replies. "How many times have you made that calculation?" "Once," the eleventh Doctor replies. "Turned me into the man I am now." "You tell yourself it's justified, but it's a lie," the tenth Doctor chimes in. "Because what I did that day was wrong. Just wrong." "And, because I got it wrong," the eleventh Doctor finishes, "I'm going to make you get it right." There's some stuff with removing the memories of the Zygons and the humans (so they don't know who's who), but the focus is squarely on the Doctor. (Actually, this is the one glaring flaw with "The Day of the Doctor": because we're focused so much on the Doctor, they never go back and show us what the results of the Zygon/human negotiations are. Not even a quick line of dialogue to establish things went OK.) The War Doctor watches his future selves maneuver in the Black Archive, while Clara talks to him. "The Doctor, my, my Doctor, he's always talking about the day he did it," Clara says. (Er, he is? Not in anything we've seen...) "The day he wiped out the Time Lords to stop the war. ... He regrets it. I see it in his eyes every day. He'd do anything to change it." "Including saving all these people," the War Doctor replies. "How many worlds has his regret saved, do you think?" And that's when he's sure he's made the right decision, to end the Time War by using the Moment.
That leads to the most emotional part of the episode, as the Moment allows the tenth and eleventh Doctors access to the Time War, to meet with the War Doctor. "All those years, burying you in my memory," the tenth Doctor tells him. "Pretending you didn't exist," the eleventh Doctor adds. "Keeping you a secret, even from myself." "Pretending you weren't the Doctor, when you were the Doctor more than anybody else," the tenth Doctor says, while the eleventh finishes the thought: "You were the Doctor on the day it wasn't possible to get it right." The three Doctors are ready to take responsibility (again, for two of them) for ending the Time War, but happily, gloriously, Clara convinces them that there's another way, that destroying everyone isn't the right way to go about it:
CLARA: You told me the name you chose was a promise. What was the promise?
TENTH DOCTOR: Never cruel or cowardly.
WAR DOCTOR: Never give up, never give in.
TENTH DOCTOR: You're not actually suggesting that we change our own personal history?
ELEVENTH DOCTOR: We change history all the time. I'm suggesting far worse.
WAR DOCTOR: What, exactly?
ELEVENTH DOCTOR: Gentlemen, I have had four hundred years to think about this. I've changed my mind.
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| "No, sir; all thirteen!" ("The Day of the Doctor") ©BBC |
So we go from a tragic moment to a punch-the-air one, as the Doctor comes up with a mad scheme to save Gallifrey, by enlisting the help of all his other selves to shift Gallifrey into a pocket universe, with little cameos from all the other Doctors (including the upcoming twelfth Doctor, Peter Capaldi, in an incredibly thrilling shot -- a bona fide future Doctor!) as they come together to save their home from the Daleks and from the Time War. It's a fantastic scene, watching all the old Doctors in their TARDISes, working the controls and working together to save Gallifrey, even if they don't know for sure if their plan will work. (As the War Doctor later says, "I don't suppose we'll know if we actually succeeded. But at worst, we failed doing the right thing, as opposed to succeeding in doing the wrong.") It's definitely a retcon, but it's a welcome retcon; there was always a slight sense that it was out of character for the Doctor to have destroyed the Time Lords in the War, and for it to be revealed that he did in fact find another way is wonderful. And Moffat gets to have his cake and eat it too, by saying that because this is a multi-Doctor story, none of the earlier Doctors will remember what's happened (as seems to be the case in multi-Doctor stories, in order for things like, say, a traitorous Borusa in
The Five Doctors to be a surprise, even though three Doctors before Davison saw it happen) -- so although they saved Gallifrey, they'll think they destroyed it, and thus we don't have to suddenly say that the last seven years didn't happen the way we saw them happen. It's a really lovely move.
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| The War Doctor regenerates. ("The Day of the Doctor") ©BBC |
Of course, the success of this story isn't just the script. One of the better surprises about "The Day of the Doctor" is John Hurt's War Doctor. They'd been spending a lot of the time building up the War Doctor as a dangerous man -- Paul McGann calls for a warrior as he regenerates, while Matt Smith is clearly ashamed of the actions he went through when he fought in the Time War. The general impression is of a dark, almost villainous persona, and so it's a real pleasure to find just how likeable this previously unknown Doctor is. John Hurt plays him as someone with rough edges but still, at heart, decidedly the Doctor. And Moffat uses the War Doctor to stand in as a sort of surrogate for Doctors One through Eight, to pass comments on how things have changed since the 20th century version. "Am I having a mid-life crisis?" he asks upon seeing his future selves. "Why are you pointing your screwdrivers like that?" he adds. "They're scientific instruments, not water pistols." There are also sly comments about things like "timey-wimey" and the increased amount of kissing. "Is there a lot of this in the future?" the War Doctor asks while watching Queen Elizabeth plant a
very enthusiastic kiss on her new husband, the tenth Doctor. "It does start to happen, yeah," the eleventh Doctor replies. But by the end, the War Doctor has come to accept his future selves as much as his future selves have come to accept him (and just in time for him to regenerate, now that the Time War is over), and we get the sense that this is indeed the same show that began fifty years earlier. It may change, but it's still the same at heart.
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The Curator and the eleventh Doctor discuss the true title of
the painting. ("The Day of the Doctor") ©BBC |
That's definitely one of the better surprises, but the
best surprise might be after the other Doctors left, and we're left alone in the gallery with the eleventh Doctor as he looks upon the Time Lord painting
No More, aka
Gallifrey Falls -- only for the Curator to enter, played by none other than fourth Doctor Tom Baker. It's strongly hinted that the Curator is in fact a future Doctor ("I never forget a face," the Doctor says. "I know you don't," the Curator replies. "And in years to come, you might find yourself revisiting a few. But just the old favourites, eh?" And then later, the Curator remarks, "I can only tell you what I would do if I were you. Oh, if I were you. Oh, perhaps I was you, of course. Or perhaps you are me"), but with enough wiggle room to keep things vague. This also launches the series into its next phase, as the Curator confirms that they were successful and that Gallifrey is still out there, waiting for the Doctor to find it. It's a gorgeous cameo and a genuine pleasure to see Tom Baker on the show again, even if he looks older.
254 His voice still sounds as fantastic as ever, and he's so good at delivering enigmatic dialogue that you wish he could have stayed a little longer.
None of this, of course, even begins to touch on how great it is to see David Tennant back in the role like he'd never left, or how fun it is to see Jemma Redgrave back as Kate Stewart, or just how good Jenna Coleman (now having officially dropped the "Louise" from her professional name) is in the presence of these strong actors -- it's nice to see Clara finally starting to develop, now that she's no longer the Impossible Girl, and her interactions with John Hurt in particular are really very good indeed. And we've barely touched on the Zygons, looking as wonderfully horrible as ever (although I still think I like the
Terror of the Zygons shapeshifting effect better, even if this one is more "realistic"). But the fact is that "The Day of the Doctor" is packed full of glorious moments.
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| All the Doctors together. ("The Day of the Doctor") ©BBC |
As a celebration of fifty years, "The Day of the Doctor" is a great success. Steven Moffat has provided a sterling plot that is full of thrills and fun, but it never strays too far in one direction or the other. This is very well balanced story. I can't comment on how it must have appeared to more casual viewers (although it seems like it's been designed with them at least partially in mind), but to me it's utterly magnificent. It's not just an exercise in nostalgia, although there is some of that on display: "The Day of the Doctor" is careful to keep looking ahead, to recognize that while the past has been good, the future is just as bright. It's a good choice that's emblematic of this whole production. "The Day of the Doctor" hits all the right notes, and it's hard to imagine a better way to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the best show ever made.
Oh, but the party's not over yet. You might have noticed that not every surviving Doctor appeared in "The Day of the Doctor" beyond old footage. But fear not, for Peter Davison has a special treat in store for us: "The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot".
It's a fake documentary (a mockumentary, if you will) chronicling the efforts of the classic Doctors to be a part of the 50th anniversary special, and writer/director Davison has taken a particular delight in gently mocking the three main Doctors involved with this -- Davison, Colin Baker, and Sylvester McCoy -- as they try desperately to become involved. So Davison can't interest his kids in his non-involvement, Colin Baker is holding on to past glories as the Doctor while bringing up his stint on the reality show
I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, and Sylvester McCoy won't shut up about being cast in
The Hobbit. There are lots of good gags in this and a huge number of cameos, including Steven Moffat continually ignoring the classic Doctors' calls and David Tennant propping a door open so that his father-in-law will stop calling him. I also really like the bit where John Barrowman is "outed" as having a wife and kids, so he's willing to drive the three of them to Cardiff in exchange for their silence.
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Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, and Peter Davison come up with a
plan. ("The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot") ©BBC |
It's only half an hour long, but it's full of genuinely funny moments. My particular favorite might be how, as they wander around Cardiff, early '80s
Doctor Who music plays, but when they enter the studios at Roath Lock it suddenly switches to modern Murray Gold music -- and the three of them stop and step back outside to make sure they're not imagining things. But there are also moments like the three of them complaining about the new TARDIS set ("What
the heck are those things?" Sylvester asks, referring to the three spinning circles above the time rotor. "Have they turned it into a helicopter?"), or Steven Moffat being awoken from a dream of swirling companions (just like the regeneration in
The Caves of Androzani) by Matthew Waterhouse ("It's me, isn't it?
(giant explosion) Now I'll never know if I was right!"), or the utterly marvelous scene between Peter Jackson and Ian McKellen, after Sylvester has abandoned
The Hobbit in favor of
Doctor Who ("Ian. There's a problem with Sylvester," Peter Jackson says. "Sylvester... who?" Ian replies, mystified). And, of course, the fabulous cameo from Russell T Davies, where he attempts to beg his way onto "The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot", exactly the way the three of them were trying to beg their way onto "The Day of the Doctor" ("I
could have a great catchphrase, like, my catchphrase could be 'Quel
dommage!' Like, 'Quel dommage, Davros!'").
It's a great piece, and it's
still available on the BBC website to view (since, if you're like me and living in Region 1, you for some unfathomable reason never got a release of the
50th Anniversary Collector's Edition boxset and so never got a chance to buy this on home media (all right, except for the
Complete Matt Smith Years boxset -- but that still doesn't include everything on the other set)), so if you haven't watched it, you really really should. "The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot" is the perfect end to the 50th anniversary celebrations.
252 The US showings were all on Monday, where it took in $4.8 million and was the number two screening that day (just behind the second Hunger Games film). When you take into consideration that a large number of those tickets were bought by people who'd seen the broadcast two days earlier, the feat becomes more impressive.
253 I wonder why they didn't go with A. Coburn (after the late Anthony
Coburn, the first writer for the series) -- perhaps it had something to
do with the rights battle between the BBC and his son over ownership of things like the TARDIS.
254 It probably didn't help that they smuggled him in early in the morning (to avoid ruining the surprise), and that he apparently already wasn't feeling 100% when he shot this scene, which makes him perhaps look older than he actually is.
