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| Image from SciFiPulse.net because I thought it was neat. I hope they don't mind. |
***WARNING:
Here there be SPOILERS!***
Although
honestly, if you haven’t seen “The Day of the Doctor” yet you
probably don’t care.
Okay,
so I already did my intro yesterday about having seen the Doctor
Who
50th
Anniversary special “The Day of the Doctor” three times now.
First during the simulcast on Saturday thirty years to the day after
I first saw Doctor
Who,
next with a huge crowd of Whovians at the TimeGate/Earth Station
Who/Forgotten
Doctor
event, and finally on Monday evening on the big screen in glorious
12D!
No,
wait – it was just 3D. Hardly worth mentioning, really.
But
just wait until the 100th
Anniversary special with all 57 Doctors!
If
you don’t get those references, hang on – I’ll get there.
Side
Note: I am so irritated that there aren’t any good pictures of me
from the event. I looked great.
The
second viewing was at the event itself, later in the night. I had
shed the mask and suit for the sake of comfort. There just weren’t
enough people there in costume – or finery – for me to be able to
justify not changing. I got to sit and enjoy the story for a second
time in the company of friends – Mr. Beau Brown, the Grand Hoff,
Sara, and Sharron – and a whole ballroom full of Whovians, many of
whom (Whom?) had not actually seen the special yet. So I got to feel
their raw reactions to all of those wonderful moments – the gasps,
the cheers, the applause. That many people sharing fifty years of
love and fandom was an experience that I don’t think will be
matched (until the 100th
Anniversary, anyway; I’ll be there – 87 is the new 40).
The
third viewing was a whole different kind of magic. It was Doctor Who
in an actual movie theater, with all of the technology and quality
available therein. The sound was amazing. The picture quality was
unbelievable. And the audience was… young. I was shocked by the
fact that most of the people in the theater with us were under
thirty. It was a very young crowd, but a crowd that obviously had a
knowledge and appreciation for the franchise. Not just because they
paid fifteen bucks to see the special that had aired for free on
television just a couple of days prior. They reacted in all of the
right places. They had their Sonic Screwdrivers. And the gasps and
squeals when Tom Baker’s voice came booming out of the speakers
were magical.
But
the best thing about the theatrical viewing and what made it so
special – aside from the 3D, which I’ll get to in a minute – is
the thing I said up in the intro that I’d get to in a minute.
The
story was preceded by a series of Doctor Who-specific… um…
theater stuff. I don’t know what you call all of the mindless
nonsense that movie theaters throw up on the screen in the endless
minutes preceding a screening – trivia, commercials, trailers –
but this time around it was great because all of that stuff was
Who-related. There were many stills featuring trivia and history
tidbits about the franchise, followed by the greatest PSA I have ever
seen.
After
the lights dimmed for the official start of the presentation, the
screen was filled with a shot of a theater. A theater full of armored
Sontarans. Before I was able to adjust my brain to the fact that I
was sitting in a movie theater looking at a screen depicting a movie
theater full of completely
armored Sontarans,
Strax strode onto the screen and delivered a message about theater
etiquette in the way that only Strax could. I was crying from
laughing so hard.
But
that was not all.
After
Strax finished, another short feature started and none other than the
Eleventh Doctor appeared on the screen to welcome us to the theater,
introduce the story, and instruct us to don our 3D glasses. This is
where 12D for the 100th
Anniversary featuring all 57 Doctors come in, because initially
that’s where Eleven thinks he is. Or when, I suppose.
After
Eleven’s intro, Ten shows up and despite the fact that I knew he
was in the story and had even seen the story already it was a treat.
He did his own bit, had an exchange with Eleven, and then the War
Doctor even made a brief appearance. It was a wonderful little extra
for the theater goers and something that helped make the experience
seem even more worthwhile.
After
the feature there was a behind-the-scenes short about the filming and
production of “The Day of the Doctor”. Lil’ Troublemaker was
ready to go and I had been called into work the next day, so we
didn’t stay for it. I assume it will be on the Blu-Ray, which I
have already preordered from Amazon.
Okay.
Time for that review.
First
of all, “The Day of the Doctor” must
be seen in 3D. It is one of the examples of 3D done the right way. It
isn’t intrusive or distracting. It enhances the big action
sequences and gives the visuals more depth. The effect isn’t as
spectacular as Resident
Evil,
but it isn’t overdone, either. Once you see this thing in 3D you
will understand the purpose of the helicopter sequence – holy
shit.
All of the particulates floating around in many of the scenes make
sense now, as well. The Battle of Arcadia looks wonderful. Dalek
eyestalks poking out of the screen – intense. Watching the War
Doctor blast a wall to pieces as the chunks fly out towards you is
phenomenal. There were a couple of times where I actually caught
myself reacting as though a chunk of Gallifreyan masonry was going to
bounce off of my head. So not only was the theatrical experience
magical, seeing the story in 3D was epic.
The
story itself is nearly perfect. It has taken my three viewings for me
to arrive at that conclusion, as I only rated it 4 out of 5 TARDISes
at the event. But now that I have basically experienced this thing in
every way possible I think I have the right perspective and have
caught on to all of the nuances and all of the quite frankly
brilliant storytelling decisions I might have a different score.
Matt
Smith is transcendent as the central Doctor. While Tennant and Hurt
are just as important to the tale (as a matter of fact, Hurt is
technically the main character), timeline-wise this is still an
Eleventh Doctor Story. And Matt Smith owns the screen every time he
is on it. I was very curious beforehand as to how Tennant and Smith
would work together. Both are larger-than-life and have a tendency to
be the center of whatever is going on. I didn’t neccesarily think
they would have issues working together, but it was going to be fun
to see how well they shared. And while Tennant was every bit the fun
and energetic soul he was prior to the latter days of his run, he did
almost seem to tone himself down a tad in deference to Smith. I mean
this in the best way possible – as a credit to Tennant and not a
critique. He still played his role perfectly, but in service to the
story.
I
wasn’t worried one bit about how John Hurt would play. He’s John
Hurt.
The
interactions between the Doctors were the high points of the feature.
That’s the case with every multi-Doctor story, but it’s even
higher praise in this one, as “The Day of the Doctor” is far and
away the strongest multi-Doctor story I have seen. But I’ll get to
that. First I want to talk about the rest of the cast.
I
have been critical of Clara and her character arc, but I have to say
that I am thrilled with how she was portrayed here. While she still
isn’t quite the fiery riffing machine she was in “Asylum of the
Daleks”, she is fun and clever and really feels like a companion.
But I do have to say that I think that the “Asylum” version would
have handled being a Well Witch in a much more entertaining fashion.
Side
Note: An interesting thought about Clara – I believe she will be
the first companion that is familiar with regeneration and is
certainly the one that is most familiar with the Doctor himself. It
will be interesting to see how her relationship with Peter Capaldi’s
Doctor plays out, as well as how she handles the impending
regeneration.
Billie
Piper was gorgeous and fun and awesome. I think using her as the
conscience of the weapon that ended the Time War was a clever move
and she played the role perfectly. I even liked her little “No
More” dance. I look forward to the inevitable Megan Lara Tee Fury
shirt featuring this character.
The
supporting cast ranged from good to awesome. I loved seeing Kate
Stewart again. Queen Elizabeth I was a lot of fun and I appreciate
that they didn’t cast a supermodel. I wasn’t crazy about Osgood
(scarf girl) at first, but I think she’s grown on me. I also think
we’re going to be seeing more of her. That whole thing about her
sister was just too much to be a throwaway. You don’t stick
throwaway plot points in a 50th
Anniversary special.
The
two main Time Lords were very good as well. The military leader
reminded me of one of the classic Doctor Who guests stars that was
there just having a blast and the more government-seeming guy (the
one with the fancy filigreed collar) had a great presence to him.
I
thought the Zygons were perfect. They looked fantastic and were a
smart update on par with the Ice Warrior armor (not so much the
creature within). And they were the exact right aliens for this
story. Recognizable without having all of the expectations of Daleks,
Cybermen, or other major villains attached to them. They were
important to keep the plot going, but not central to the actual
narrative, if that makes sense.
Which
brings me to the story.
I
do believe it was genius. It accomplished an astonishing number of
things in less than ninety minutes.
It
bridged the gap between classic Who and new Who by using the talents
of John Hurt and the magic of special effects. The way Hurt’s War
Doctor interacted with Tennant and Smith was a very meta interaction
of the classic series with the new. The line he delivers asking why
they are afraid of growing up might be the smartest line in the
history of Doctor Who. And to actually see the classic Doctors
interacting with the modern Doctors is so amazingly powerful. My eyes
welled up each time that scene happened.
Side
Note: I think it’s a shame Christopher Eccleston was not directly
involved in this, but that would have changed the whole dynamic of
the modern Doctors. Ten and Eleven (Eleven and Twelve?) are childish
and silly. Nine (Ten?) was not. But at least we have an unbroken line
of regeneration scenes now. Yes – if McCoy-Baker counts, the CGI
fudging of Hurt-Eccleston counts.
It
established Clara in a way that the last half of Series 7 did not.
“The
Day of the Doctor” satisfied my desire to see the Time War without
going into exhaustive detail. “Oh, it’s Daleks shooting at
Gallifrey. That looks cool.” Because as all things should be with
Doctor Who, it’s about the Doctor, not about the Time War.
We
got to enjoy Billie Piper again without reopening the old Rose/Ten
wound. And she was brilliant.
A
whole new paradigm was established for the future of Doctor Who. The
Doctor has a mission now, which is something he has not often had
before (and almost never willingly). The quest for Gallifrey began
with this story. If my suspicions are correct it will conclude with
the end of Peter Capaldi (and likely Stephen Moffat)’s run.
Because…
There
is now a clean way out of the Doctor’s limited regenerations
without just glossing over previously established rules. I think
Moffat added the War Doctor just so he could get to the issue before
the end of his time on the show and once again noisily insert himself
into Doctor Who history.
And
yes – I do give Moffat a lot of crap. I feel like his run has been
on a steep decline. But I cannot deny that “The Day of the Doctor”
was brilliant. It’s the best thing he’s written – and he has
written great things – and easily the best multi-Doctor story.
And
then Tom Baker.
I’m
still conflicted about this. Tom Baker is My Doctor. He’s the best.
He’s The
Doctor. But I found the way he was used in the story to be so odd.
Yes, I have now heard the line about revisiting old faces three
times. And his performance and dialogue is just weird enough to be a
crazy meta, yet in-canon thing. He could be the Doctor in a new/old
face, retired after thousands of years of adventuring. But as much as
I love Tom Bake, it just seemed odd to include him and not the others
(Davison, Other Baker, McCoy, and McGann). I felt like if you have
one you should have them all. But having watched the scene thrice now
I can accept it a bit more and appreciate it.
Also,
watching Peter Davison’s short film The
Five(ish) Doctors
pretty much made it all better.
If
you haven’t seen it, watch it immediately.
Peter
Davison (the Fifth Doctor) wrote and directed this hilarious and
moving short about himself, Colin Baker, and Sylvester McCoy (and
Paul McGann) attempting to get into the 50th
Anniversary special. It’s one of the best things I have ever seen,
and as good as “The Day of the Doctor” turned out, this is the
real 50th
Anniversary special.
Pretty
much everybody involved with modern Doctor who shows up in this and
it is a non-stop riot. I can’t count the number of times I teared
up – both from laughing and from sentiment. I saw this one for the
first time at the event on Saturday and roughly every three minutes I
would hear an, “Awww…” from behind me as an inebriated Sara in
her femme Fifth Doctor costume would experience new feels.
So,
in closing, the Fiftieth itself ended up being immensely satisfying.
We didn’t get the year-long celebration that I had been hoping for,
but between “The Night of the Doctor”, “The Day of the Doctor”,
and The
Five(ish) Doctors
we got an absolutely incredible level of quality to celebrate our
beloved franchise. It’s a shame there wasn’t more merchandise
ready because I would have spent a
lot of
money on stuff directly related to those specials. As it is I’m
just left frustrated by the fact that I won’t ever own any of these
characters in the proper 5” scale. Although I could see them doing
a new McGann as an Exclusive.
“The
Day of the Doctor”
5
out of 5
The
Five(ish) Doctors
6
out of 5
Also, Episode 55 of Earth Station Who is available now! It's the one we recorded live immediately after watching "The Day of the Doctor"!
-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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