Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor

In short: I didn't like everything that this special did. But I liked the way they did it.

Before now, every fan had their ideal version of the 50th anniversary special in their head, so Steven Moffat could never have satisfied everyone. He appears to have gone for a version based on The Three Doctors. In that story, three Doctors are brought together to solve a common problem involving Time Lord history, and there was an end to the story arc of the past years. In this tale, three Doctors are drawn together from different timeas a by the Moment, a weapon from Time Lord history. These are the Eleventh, Tenth and the War Doctor played by John Hurt. After solving the problem of a Zygon invasion of Earth they unite with their other selves to save Gallifrey. 

I have to admit, I don't like the idea of the Doctor undoing the destruction of Gallifrey. It feels like a cop out. I wouldn't have minded if a colony of Time Lords had survived and hidden away without the Doctor knowing about it, but the idea that the Doctor’s difficult decisions can be erased through a bit of time travel is weak. There are loads of other planets and civilisations that suffered during the time war, why didn't the Doctor save them as well?Although Steven Moffat has said that he tried to make sure that his work did not undo the Russell T Davies stories, it still undermines them when you know that all the Doctor's talk about killing his people is not true. The drama of the Doctor destroying Pompeii to save the world in Fires of Pompeii is diminished . His actions in the past eight years of the new series have been influenced by an event which now never happened.

There are still good things about this story though. The three main Doctors are fun to watch. Matt Smith is at the top of his game as the Eleventh Doctor, continuing to excel in the role of an old man in a body of a young one. For all the excitement over Peter Capaldi, who also makes a teasing cameo appearance here, this story serves as a good reminder of how lucky we fans are to have had Matt Smith as the lead in the show for four years. He will be sorely missed when he goes. David Tennant has not changed a bit in the role of the Tenth Doctor. It's like he's been preserved since The End of Time and they got him out of the cupboard. We see his more romantic side and his arrogance and coolness. I particularly liked his outrage when he realised that the Eleven had forgotten the number of children who died on Gallifrey. John Hurt does a good job as the new incarnation, the War Doctor. He gives a Doctorish twinkle and getting to say all the things that the old school fans like to complain about, like the "wavy hands" and phrases like "timey wimey". While its easy to see how this role could have worked for Eccleston, Hurt brings an old man's weariness to the part which the Ninth Doctor could not have done.

Thanks to Jenna Louise Coleman, Clara still comes across as a likable companion, even if she is not a particularly well developed one. Since we last saw her, she has moved on from being a nanny to being a teacher at Coal Hill School. While it makes sense that she is still in a role involving children, it seems like a bit of a jolt to find out that time has passed. Like many companions before her, she acts as the conscience for the Three Doctors, which is as it should be. She is also completely comfortable with the Eleventh Doctor. It is understandable that she is not dominating this story. Viewers will have to wait until Series 8 to see if the Clara is going to develop.

Billie Piper was also good at playing the Moment, in the form of Rose Tyler. The idea of a weapon gaining its own sentience was interesting and character has elements of Idris in it, a complex event compressed into a human body. Steven Moffat may have diminished the end of the Time War, but he was wise not ruin Rose Tyler's character arc. The Tenth Doctor and Rose have had enough re-introductions and goodbyes already.

The other characters were less developed. It was great to see Jemma Redgrave back as Kate Stewart. The fangirl scientific advisor, Osgood, was also a nice touch. She was like a female version of Malcolm from Planet of the Dead. The weakest link was Queen Elizabeth I, who came across as too much of a caricature.

The redesign of the Zygons was a success, and their transformation is definite improvement on the one used in Terror of the Zygons. While the Zygon plan to invade Earth by hiding in paintings could could seem like a minor event in an anniversary special, it dovetailed nicely with the main one. Humans having to deal with their Zygon copies reflects the Doctor having to deal with other versions of himself. The Doctors plan to make the humans and Zygons form a peace treaty is inspired and shows their determination to find a third option, as they will when they bring Gallifrey back. Even the stasis cubes used to freeze the Zygons are deployed later as a means to freeze Gallifrey. 

As an anniversary story, this managed to include plenty of Easter eggs, large and small, that referenced the past fifty years, from Coal Hill School to the Space/Time Telegraph. Seeing all of the Doctors in their Tardises, uniting to save Gallifrey was a nice touch, even if I didn't like what they were trying to accomplish. 
I only wish William Russell could have made a cameo as Ian Chesterton. This includes Tom Baker's scarf, and finally Tom Baker himself.

Tom Baker may have failed to appear in the 20th anniversary special but at least he is here for the 50th. The Curator is clearly meant to be a future Doctor. It was a great surprise for those of us, like myself, who were fortunate enough to successfully avoid the spoilers about his appearance.

All in all, this is a mixed bag. It has more plot than The Five Doctors but The Three Doctors did not undo its exile.

An Adventure in Space and Time

While the origins of Doctor Who have been well researched and documented, it was not clear how the story would be dramatised. There were a large number of people involved in creating the program, so it would be impossible to list them all. Would the program focus on the creators or the actors? Mark Gatiss'' story focuses on two major individuals. One of them is Verity Lambert, the new female producer who has to prove herself by making a show that nobody at the BBC liked. The other is William Hartnell, the lead actor, who has gone from playing tough guy parts to playing in childrens television. Both of these characters are stepping into an unknown world.

I was unsure how good Jessica Raine would be at playing Verity Lambert, so I was happy to see that she was successful at it. Raine successfully shows the "piss and vinegar" in Verity that Sydney Newman spoke about, while showing her warmer side when talking with Waris Hussein. The development from a stiff, uncertain new producer into a confident controller of people is well presented.

David Bradley is good as William Hartnell, pulling off the grumpy old actor and the kindlier man who develops as the role of Doctor Who brings him closer to his granddaughter. The only problem is that we do not see his portrayal of Doctor Who after it has been a success. Some of these scenes can be seen on the BBC Website, but it is a shame they couldn't have been included on the page itself. He portrays well the scenes of Hartnell developing from a mad old man to a friend of all children, to a grumpy old man with memory faults. 

 The rest of the cast are smaller. The companions serve as an example of how time has passed. As they start to change, you can see William Hartnell's alienation. Brian Cox is great as Sydney Newman, a larger than life character who feels like he was well recreated from the 1966 interview. Waris Hussein is also successfully portrayed. The racism towards Waris is also shown.

The weakest link in the cast is Reece Shearsmith as Patrick Troughton. He seems to be playing the Second Doctor rather than Patrick Troughton, who was not like the impish man on screen. Fortunately he is only on screen for a few minutes and does not get in the way.

The best moment is seeing the Hartnell regeneration, as Hartnell glimpses the Matt Smith incarnation. It shows the legacy that the show will impart. People may, quite rightly, appreciate the work of Russell T Davies or Steven Moffat, but it's good to acknowledge the people who started the whole thing, and didn't get enough plaudits.

Overall, this is a good tribute to the creators of Doctor Who.

8/10

Looking back at the 50th Anniversary celebrations

The 50th anniversary weekend celebrations are over. Looking back, was it all any good? The answer definitely a yes!

The main event programs were all good in their own way. The Day of the Doctor managed to be brilliant and ridiculous at the same time. An Adventure in Space and Time was touching and  The Five(ish) Doctors reboot was a fantastic piece of work by Peter Davison and deserves a DVD release of its own.

Some of the other events were a bit ridiculous, like The Ultimate Guide and the After Party. Others were tie ins, like The Science of Doctor Who and Celebrity Antiques Roadshow, but they all added to the sense that Doctor Who was "taking over television", like the showrunner had promised.

It wasn't just on television that the anniversary was being celebrated. One of my favourite stories this year was the DWM Comic strip story Hunters of the Burning Stone. The Doctor, in his eleventh incarnation, reunites with his very first companions, with Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright in a sequel to the very first Doctor Who serial. It ends with the wedding of Ian and Barbara. A great story.

Reviews of An Adventure in Space and Time and The Night of the Doctor are coming soon, as soon as I've been able to put my thoughts into a coherent narrative.

My congratulations go to everyone involved in making it all work.

50 Years in the Tardis

The day of Doctor Who's 50th anniversary is finally here. Back in the 40th anniversary year it was difficult to imagine Doctor Who becoming as popular as it is now. I have already enjoyed the 50th Celebration event at the Excel on Friday, especially getting to see the Waris Hussein panel.

I thought I'd list the stories which are currently my top ten favourites. These are in no particular order.

1. The Aztecs
It's great to have a story where every companion is well utilized by the script writer. We also get to see a rare example, in the original series, of the Doctor falling in love, before it became unfashionable in later fandom and then came back in the new series.

2. The War Games
An epic that only sags slightly in the middle and lifts up again pretty quickly. The World War One sections are well directed by David Maloney. The War Chief/Security Chief/War Lord trio are a wonderful group of villains.

3. The Ambassadors of Death
Like the reversal of the "thing in the spacecraft" being ambassadors. This sums up one of the things I like about Doctor Who, which is that he's far more likely to want to chat to the monsters than kill them. It manages to be an action serial while still having a good moral message.

4. The Ribos Operation
This story is a favourite for nostalgic reasons, because it was the first Doctor Who story I ever saw. It's a fun con caper. The Fourth Doctor and Romana I are one of my favourite Tardis teams.

5. Snakedance
It was a choice between this and Kinda and in the end I went with this story.
What makes this story interesting is the way that evil, in this case the Mara, can been trivialized by being merchandised.

6. The Caves of Androzani
Some people find this story very downbeat. To me it's the victory of the small man, the Fifth Doctor, overcoming incredible odds in a cynical world. Peri, the innocent person, is the only one to survive.

7. The Curse of Fenric
This story contains a lot of interesting musings on faith. Ian Briggs' comments on the DVD reveal that this is a story with plenty of layers. We also get a rare example, for the original series, of character development for the companion.

8. The End of the World

People tend to talk about the Russell T Davies era being earthbound, but this story features large amount of crazy aliens. It also has a wonderful note about things not lasting forever. 

9. Midnight
A very creepy Doctor Who story. Although this story sees the Tenth Doctor at his weakest, it is one of his best stories. A great script by Russell T Davies.

10. Vincent and the Doctor
While Steven Moffat's Doctor Who tends to focus on time bending events, this brilliant script focuses on the life of one man, Vincent Van Goth, and the theme of depression.

Doctor Who: The Night of the Doctor

Wow...

I was aware of the rumours that Paul McGann would return as the Eighth Doctor in a minisode showing his regeneration, but I never quite believed it would actually happen. The scene that fans have been hoping to see for eight years has finally come about, as the Doctor crashes on Karn and uses the elixir to regenerate into the War Doctor.

It was great to see Paul McGann playing the Doctor on screen again for the first time since 1996. He is still the romantic, Victorian adventure, with a brilliant new costume that looks like a battle ready version of the original 1996 look. It's a frustrating reminder of what we were deprived of, thanks to the decision not to make a TV series in the late 90s.

It is largely thanks to Big Finish Audios that Paul has been able to keep playing the Doctor, so it was fitting to hear the Eighth  Doctor referring to his companions from the audio  plays on screen. For a certain kind of fan, this screen reference will canonise the audios. It's a delightful bit of fan service that you could only get away with in the anniversary year.

The main reason this exists is to confirm that John Hurt's "War Doctor" is a genuine incarnation of the Doctor, and not a fake or parallel universe version of the character. It  would be strange for the production team to go to the trouble of filming a regeneration for a fake Doctor, but then again, it could all be part of a great deception. It will certainly be interesting to find out the truth.

This kind of thing of makes you wish for much more. Perhaps they could delay Peter Capaldi's entrance and do a series of Paul McGann adventures instead? Seriously though, this is a great present for the fans and makes the anniversary special seem more promising.