Now that you’ve all come down from the Day of the Doctor high, it’s time for you to offer up your thoughts and comments about the 50th Anniversary Episode.
Use the comment section below to share your thoughts, comments, and of course spoilers about the episode that is sure to have people taking for the next year.
22 Comments
I have to say that I was incredibly pleased with the special. I thought Smith and Tennant worked very well on screen together and John Hurt was amazing. The inclusion of all the Doctors at the end (including a cameo from the Peter Capaldi Doctor that would have been more powerful if they had not already announced him) made me deliriously happy. The fate of the Time Lords shouldn’t have been such a shock though as Matt Smith pulled the same thing with the Wedding of River Song, where everyone ended up seeing what they needed to see happen to keep time right while the Doctor really pulled a switch-a-roo on the universe. Brilliant way to go.
It would have been really nice to see Christopher Eccleston in it though. I wonder if he had been in it, would he simply be the John Hurt character? The one who pushed the button? Or would he be there as a personification of the “angry Doctor” to contrast with Tennant’s sad “hero Doctor.”
Now I need to re-watch “The End of Time” and figure out how those events line up with what we just saw. I’m assuming what happened there was a plot the High Council tried as the Doctor took the Moment and would have occurred in their entirety just before the Doctors return and are speaking with the military leadership. Not sure if that tracks or not, but from what I remember I think it should. Any one have any other ideas on that?
-Chad
That seems about right, basically Rassalon and his pals are down the corridor doing the patented Time Lord crazy plan thing while the generals are getting on with the serious business of actually fighting the war.
Loved it! Drama, comedy and a madman with a box everything you could ask for in an episode of Dr Who.
I laughed (“The round things! I love the round things!” and “Oh, you’ve redecorated! I don’t like it.”), I cried (the surprise that showed up at the end), I have a new crush on a Doctor Who character (the cute nerdy science girl with asthma).
It wasn’t at all what I expected, and that was a wonderful thing. I thought the story was excellent, they touched on the past in a much better way than I had hoped and they added enough twists that I was genuinely surprised in a way I haven’t been in quite a while.
I won’t say it was flawless, but I do think they crafted a very fitting story for the anniversary and I really can’t complain.
Her Name is Osgood.
She is adorable and should definitely get her own show.
Overall a very fitting 50th anniversary special. Lots of Fan Wank and classic Moffat writing.The addition of Tom Baker as the “Curator” at the end was a nice touch.I especially loved the use of All doctors and the time spent calculating such actions needed to save Gallifrey.
On the downside, I thought there were some pacing issues, some of the situations seemed forced and that some of the Kate Stewart scenes were not quite right.
A solid 4 slices of meatloaf overall.
I absolutely loved the ambiguity of who Tom Baker actually was. I hope they never truly explain it, either, because I like the idea that he really could be anything from a past or future Doctor, a very knowledgeable curator or any other possibility.
“because I like the idea that he really could be anything from a past or future Doctor, a very knowledgeable curator or any other possibility.”
I think that was the point – eventually he’s the curator… (maybe?)
I enjoyed it, I really liked the interactions between Doctors, especially John Hurt against 10&11. The cameo of Capaldi made me really excited for his run. Part of me still wishes we could have had full cameos by 5-7, but so it goes. The story worked for the most part even if the Zygons were only there to jump start things, hopefully they’ll get a full episode soon. Also glad they didn’t waste time getting Clara & 11 out of the timeline thing from the season finale. All in all a really enjoyable episode, that really rejuvenated my excitement in the series.
I see them working to actually find Gallifray in coming series and when Capaldi comes in at Christmas, it is going to be VERY interesting. I was wondering how they were going to link the final episode of last series to this one, cause how 10 was like “You!” at the end of the episode and then this one he acted like he didn’t know whom he really was. It was interesting, the inclusion of all the previous Doctors were done excellently, and the surprise at the end with Tom Baker was funny.
I’d have preferred they not have used John Hurt (Not saying he didn’t do a good job though), and just used the older Paul McGann as 8th as being the Doctor who was in the time war. It would have added some more credit to the 8th doctor being a valid part of the show’s history after all.
That and you could almost see where Christopher Eccleston was meant to be in every shot of the episode if he’d actually signed on. I imagine there were a number of re-writes when they realized they weren’t going to get him.
Other than than it was a good episode. I wouldn’t say it was perfect by any means, but it was still certainly worth watching.
I liked the tie-ins to the End of Time series, as well as the throw backs to The Three Doctors.
I’m now a lot more disappointed in Eccelston for refusing to be involved. For a series with such a storied history, it just feels a little disrespectful.
From what I have read over the years the BBC was not good to Eccelston and there was a lot of bad blood when he left, but I agree that it would have been so nice for him to be there. Just do it for the fans. At least show up for one quick take for the regeneration scene at the end. Kind of upsetting that they had to cut away before Hurt started turning into Eccelston…even if he did have a great crack about the ears.
-Chad
@Tim – That is reminiscent of Tom Baker not wanting to have anything to do with Doctor Who for years.
Speaking of Tom Baker. When the Curator tapped his nose and said “Who Knows”, my mind translated it to “Who’s Nose”
I was hoping they would have used the actor from Adventures in Time and Space as a cameo for the First Doctor.
Overall, it was very good.
I use captions because I’m legally deaf, and the captions even said “Who ‘Nose'” when he said that while touching his nose, which started me on a giggle fit. It wasn’t the sort of choppy captions that type as it goes, either, they were the nice prepared captions similar to having subtitles turned on on a DVD.
Not having Eccelston on board kinda stings a bit because that would have been the cherry on top. I really enjoyed his run.
But…. The was amazing!
I’m kind of the minority here, but I really hated the episode. This is the first time I’ve considered not watching DW anymore, because of the way they messed with the canon of the show. I feel like the entire Russel T. Davies era has been invalidated, on some level.
There were so many inconsistencies that I hardly know where to start, but here are the most significant, imo:
-I don’t remember anyone ever implying that the Doctor “burned” Gallifrey, just locked it away, so to speak (thus making the events in “The end of time” possible). So the whole premise for this episode was strange to begin with.
-It has been referenced several times how corrupt the Timelords were. The Doctor has twice made the choice to keep them away from the rest of space and time. I find it really hard to believe that he would suddenly change his mind, and be all happy to go home again.
-How did the past Doctors all know to turn up at the right moment? Did he cross his own timeline 10 more times to tell them to go there?
-I’m hoping they’ll explain how this special relates to the events of last season finale, but knowing Moffat they probably won’t.
The only thing I liked about this episode was John Hurt. I wish we could see more of his Doctor, because he was amazing. Also, he had way better chemistry with Jenna-Louise Coleman than Matt Smith does.
“It has been referenced several times how corrupt the Timelords were. The Doctor has twice made the choice to keep them away from the rest of space and time. I find it really hard to believe that he would suddenly change his mind, and be all happy to go home again.”
Not all Gallifreyans are Time Lords, as the old series showed, so he wasn’t just saving the Time Lords, but all the beings of Gallifrey. I’m not sure what the ratio of the population is, but the Time Lords were but one divergent evolution of the native beings of the planet.
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Gallifreyan#Gallifreyans_and_Time_Lords
Good point, I didn’t think about that. However, I don’t really understand why he would make that same decision twice, and now suddenly backtrack on it (without any mention of the corrupt Time Lords and the danger they pose).
well also you have to remember that he doesn’t remember not using “the Moment”. A few times during the Tennant years he said that Gallifrey burned. So up til this point in the Matt Smith years he still believes that he used the Moment.
Good to see Tom Baker take up Eccelsons slack.