I
feel a weird sort of pressure writing about the 50th
Anniversary special. I already discussed it with the ESW crew at the
TimeGate celebration, but I wasn’t entirely comfortable doing it
then. I don’t like critiquing a Doctor Who story after a single
viewing, but I had no choice in the matter. “The Day of the Doctor”
ended at 4:10 and our panel was scheduled at 5:00. That barely left
time for me to get from the house to the Holiday Inn, let alone fit
in a second viewing. I almost didn’t even have time to stop by the
hotel bar and grab a drink.
Oh, and that panel is now LIVE as Episode 55 of Earth Station Who!
Last
night I took the family to the movie theater to watch it again in 3D.
I went back and forth over whether or not I really wanted to spend
that much money to watch something I had already seen in a format
that I have occasionally described as “nothing more than
distracting”, but it’s not really about the story in this
instance – it’s about the experience. It’s entirely possible
that we will never again have the opportunity to see Doctor Who on
the big screen; especially in 3D. And – much like Pacific
Rim –
this is something I want Lil’ Troublemaker to experience. It could
be one of those important or at least valued childhood memories.
Before
I get to the actual 50th
Anniversary special I want to briefly touch on the two webisodes that
led up to it – “The Night of the Doctor” and “The Last Day”.
Unfortunately
the big surprise of the former was spoiled for me by a thoughtless
Facebook post. I can only imagine the nerd chills that would have
accompanied a huge gasp if I had been able to experience Paul
McGann’s surprise appearance properly. As it was, it was still
thrilling to see the Eighth Doctor in action. It was a brief story
that managed to be critical in many ways. It revealed definitively
where John Hurt’s Doctor fit in, it reintroduced and reinforced the
concept that Time Lords can have control over their regenerations,
and it brought a new level of infamy to the very term “Time Lord”.
It
was a bit odd to see the woman in the story react so negatively to
mention of the Time Lords. While the Doctor has always been at the
very least mistrustful of them and since the relaunch has mostly
viewed them (regretfully) as villains, we have never seen the common
citizenry of the universe express much of an opinion. But this was a
solid starting point for such a universal opinion and I think it will
play strongly in the post-50th
Whoniverse.
Paul
McGann was wonderful. He looked great and he stepped back into the
role of the Doctor comfortably and naturally. Granted, he has been
portraying the Time Lord in Big Finish audio productions (as noted by The Oncoming Josh last Friday),
but this is the first time he has been onscreen in the role since
1996. The new costume was a great update of the one from the TV movie
– still distinctive enough to be the Doctor’s wardrobe, but not
as outlandish as his Wild Bill costume.
“The
Night of the Doctor” was a fantastic treat, but it was also sort of
a bummer. McGann was so
good that it made me want more. And I don’t think that is likely to
happen. While any American drama would be more than happy to launch a
spin-off show starring the
same main character
as the original, I get the feeling that the BBC doesn’t work quite
the same way. But I – and many others – would love to see a show
about the Eighth Doctor’s adventures. And considering that this
webisode made his audio adventures canon, that means the stories are
already there. But who knows if Paul McGann would even be interested?
As
surprised as I was by the release of the McGann regeneration story, I
was even more surprised by “The Last Day”. It was released before
I could even recover from the surprise of the other and was
story-wise not at all what I was expecting. It was an entirely
Doctor-free story about the fall of Arcadia. The day-in-the-life
style felt oddly American to me as the narrative followed a… I just
realized I have no idea what the heck Gallifrey’s army is called.
Or if they were Gallifrey’s army or the Time Lord army.
I
know there was a Gallifreyan Chancellery Guard; is this maybe the
Gallifreyan Planetary Guard? I dunno. But they were soldiers very
reminiscent of Colonial Marines except in uniforms as envisioned by
Niles Crane. The story seemed to have three points – to familiarize
us with “Sky Trenches” as a means of planetary defense, to once
again have a character tell us how terrified we should be of Daleks
(as Eccleston did in “Dalek”), and to establish that the
consciousness of deceased Time Lords could be downloaded in a method
similar to what was seen in the library two-parter (I didn’t attach
significance to this one on my own – I think it was fellow ESW host
Jennifer that pointed out that might be a big deal).
It
was an interesting little story and a neat look at some different
inhabitants of the Whoniverse, but it was definitely a bit of a
letdown after “The Night of the Doctor”. I was expecting another
big surprise (expecting a surprise?) – maybe a brief story about
John Hurt’s Doctor. Heck, right up until the end of “The Last
Day” I was expecting the War Doctor to show up. So this one was an
interesting piece of the story, but hardly impactful. It felt like
part 3 of 5.
And
with that I realize I have hit my 1,000 word minimum and that I may
end up needing to pad this week out a bit. I am expecting one more
Guest Post, but as of this writing it has not arrived and I have
learned not to depend to strongly upon the writings of others. So
come back tomorrow for my review of “The Day of the Doctor” and –
perhaps more importantly – The Five(ish) Doctors.
-Phantom
Yes – Needless
Things is still in the midst of a Whoniversary!
My original plan
had been to take this week off, but there is more Who to be had. So
to speak. I had this review, my review of The
Day of the Doctor and the associated
specials and webisodes, and a very special post from Earth Station
Who’s own “Howdy” Mike Gordon. I think there might be a day
where nothing goes up due to the fact that I just didn’t have time
to write over the weekend, but the Whoniversary will go on for one
more week!
We had Guest
Posts, Toy Reviews, and more. We had a ton of content with lots of
different viewpoints and I think one of the better themed projects
we’ve done. Go back through and check everything out and share the
ones you like on the social media. And if you’re so inclined, throw
a few dollars at the Needless Things family. This is all out of
pocket for me, so anything I receive during this time will got to
site costs, hosting, and possibly new merchandise if I get really
ambitious. Blogger doesn’t facilitate any sort of fundraising, so GO HERE
and click the PayPal box to the right.
Also, you can buy
the Limited Edition NeedlessThingsSite.com Luchador vs. Owlbear
t-shirts here.
I can’t say they’re selling fast, but once this style is gone,
they’re gone forever.
And I do intend on being famous one day, so wouldn’t it be cool to
have the first shirt I ever designed?
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