Hello. This is a guest-review from my friend, brother and geek-counsel, Porle. He loves Doctor Who in the same way I love Star Wars; a fact that I adore more than I can explain, and is the source of frequent cross-franchise conversations on merchandising, continuity and overall canon.
Although I've jotted down my own civilian pov on the 50th Anniversary special, Porle is far more qualified than I am to cast ultimate judgement over it, and since reading the review he submitted to me, I now regret using the term Whovian in my own piece. I'm sure he'll wreak his revenge by insisting to his friends that I am a Star Warrior at some point in the future…
Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor
Cert: PG / 75 mins / Dir. Nick Hurran
It's been quite the year for us 'Doctor Who' fans - (we are not 'Whovians' despite what Bill Turnbull or any other news presenter has told you) - and a "year of treats" (©Moffat, 2013) can mean a hurricane-like storm of hype followed by a catastrophically flat anti-climax. Don't get me wrong, Steven Moffat is a very clever writer, but until this point, his tenure as Executive Producer of Who has been a rocky time as far as my personal feelings towards the show are concerned. Having consumed Season Six with absolute apathy, my heart was heavy at the prospect of this man being at the helm for the explosive 50th Anniversary episode.
Not only was there Moffat's potential cavalier changes to canon to consider, but previous anniversary episodes of Doctor Who have been less than a success. The Five Doctors in 1983 was a total let down to ten year old me as five Doctors meant five Doctors. Not three official Doctors, a man dressed as the first Doctor and some old footage from a shelved episode replacing the fourth Doctor.
And then there was 1993 in Albert Square...
No. I'll leave it there. It's too painful.
So, it was with justified trepidation that I consumed the hype-machine in 2013. Moffat brought Who back on track with Season Seven, ending in April this year with an episode featuring (briefly) appearances by past Doctors. Or at least, images of people dressed as previous Doctors, (there's a pattern here), but done quite successfully none the less. My excitement therefore, began to build. So the question trending in all corners of the internet was; "Who is John Hurt?"
For months we debated and discussed. We waded through Mr Moffat's false internet forum trails and then it happened. Thursday 14th November - The Night of the Doctor burst onto the internet revealing... Paul McGann! Eight glorious minutes of the Eighth Doctor regenerating into John Hurt! I punched the air and cheered like a fangirl when I viewed this for the first time. Not only did we know that John Hurt was The War Doctor but we had the missing regeneration from McGann that we'd waited 17 years for! If Moffat was beside me at that moment, I'd have kissed him. I was now full of faith for The Day of the Doctor. I'd been re-assured that canon and the Whoniverse were indeed in safe hands.
I wasn't disappointed.
From the original theme music at the beginning to a gloriously dramatic and touching ending, I sat entranced. For once, it wasn't like homework. The plot unravelled naturally and at a decent pace never once causing me to question what was occurring on-screen. Or was that the gin? Nods to the past were subtly inter-woven without fawning to itself or approaching the self-congratulatory. Nor were they intrusive to any non-Who fan who was watching. You either got it or you didn't. The plot didn't rely on it. I was a little disappointed with the Zygons. Not seen on Doctor Who since 1975, I was ecstatic that they were making a return. And they did. And then they just seemed to vanish... Ah well. There's only so much you can fit into 75 minutes I suppose. Let's not quibble.
The Tennant-Hurt-Smith dynamic worked really well without seeming contrived, the usual, "you've had the place re-decorated haven't you - I don't like it" line from a previous Doctor to the current was in there too. All boxes ticked. Moffat had said many times that TDOTD would be the closing of one chapter and the beginning of another. It's time for a new era of 'Doctor Who', which is required if the show it to have continued success. But what would that be? well the answer was delivered in a way that we'd hoped but didn't ever think would happen. Tom Baker - famous for his rejection to invites of multi-Doctor stories - was there. Talking to Matt Smith. Wait...is that a tear?
No, something in my eye I think.
Mr Moffat - you did us proud.
Now, is anyone doing anything for the Blake's 7 50th in 2018...?
DISCLAIMERS:
• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.
Looking back at the 50th anniversary year, I don't think one last proper mulit Doctor story (meaning all the official Doctors, whether a War Doctor was created or not) would have been in any way possible. I think anyone who honestly believed we should have seen the Bakers, McCoy or Davison running around in their old costumes fighting aliens in the 50th, was being silly and insensible. They've all visibly aged; they look nothing like what they did when they first played their Doctors, and most aren't in the shape to properly play the character again. By having these aged actors play the Doctor in an actual official special would have only spoiled the atmosphere and pulled us out of it; because the actors may be the same, but the characters certainly wouldn't be; it just wouldn't work. Now, I concede that this doesn't exactly work for McGann, but he reprised his role in some way, so there's that. I think to try to have impressionists playing Hartnell, Troughton and Pertwee's Doctors would have been too much, and it would make one realise having "other" actors would kinda overshadow the original actor (much like how besides Hartnell, we have had Richard Hurndall and David Bradley play the First Doctor) Also, leaving aside the original deceased actors, if we were to have all the living Doctors in a special, that would be eight Doctors. On top of this, many fans often called for the return of classic companions such as Jo Grant, Tegan, Peri or Ace (of course, we had Power of the Doctor, but we are not getting into that). It gets to a point where you have to ask yourself as a true fan; how much and how many people do you actually want in a mulit Doctor special, at most? Every living Doctor and several living companions would fill the whole special up and make it nothing but a convoluted fanwank, as opposed to a brilliant story which celebrates what Doctor Who had (mostly) always thrived in being; an inventive Sci-Fi programme which tells brilliant stories! If it were all taken up by character meeting character, Doctor arguing with Doctor, there be no time for the show to be what the show is actually about. It's great to have a few cameos or small appearances here and there are well as references, but to keep filling and piling on the Doctors and companions who appear in the special and some seem to want to, would make for a pathetic excuse for an episode.
ReplyDeleteAs kids we would have hated the absence of past Doctors and companions returning, but as adults, one has to realise that the past should be the past, that there are more subtle concepts to explore, and some significant character development for new characters and new ideas. As a result, the perfect mulit Doctor story was likely never going to happen. It’s an idea that was never satisfactorily explored in the series, but hey, that’s what fanfiction (and Rich Morris 2007/2009 "10 Doctors" is the best example) is for.