Apollo's Rebellion

A record number of 77 million people tuned in to watched the 50th anniversary special of Doctor Who on Saturday. 77 million people, that's enough people to fill a country! And I think that this just shows the power of Doctor Who, that it's not just a TV Show. No, it's the longest running TV Show, a show that grips viewers and sometimes inspires others. The review that follows is not a critical analysis of the episode, but rather a breakdown of what happened from a loving fan.

The Day of the Doctor Written by: Steven Moffat Directed by: Nick Hurran

Right from the beginning we get a nod to the first episode of the classic series with not one, but if I'm counting right four references. The episode begins with the title sequence from the very first episode. On a bit of a sidetrack, the effect used for this is called howlround and it is created by pointing a TV camera at a monitor showing its on output. And the result is what we saw here. It's strangely mysterious and gives the impression of something terrifying. Which is what Doctor Who is. The other references were the sign saying 76 Totter's Lane which is a junkyard that the Doctor used park his TARDIS and in its place now is a school that Clara works at. The sign of the school was quite interesting because it
states that the Head of the Governing Body is "I. Chesterton" and the headmaster is "W. Coburn." The former being Ian Chesterton a character played by William Russell and one of the first ever companions, the latter sharing a surname with the writer of An Unearthly Child. And the last reference to An Unearthly Child was when Clara drove past a clock that showed the time to be sixteen minutes past five which was the exact time that An Unearthly Child aired on the 23 November 1963.

The episode moves along pretty quickly and the action starts almost as Clara steps into the TARDIS when an outer space adventure gets interrupted by UNIT. I was excited to see the return of Kate Stewart as her small part in The Power of Three really made me begin to like her. I liked Osgood too, but I felt like the whole "the Doctor will save us" was a bit too much and I would have liked it better if she embodied a fan better. Having said that I do like Ingrid Oliver and it wasn't her fault, the character just fell short for me.

It then transitions to Gallifrey and John Hurt's Doctor stopping a couple of Daleks. He then stills a weapon call the Moment which has it's own conscience. This then takes the form of a very familiar looking woman. I think that the bravest thing for Moffat to was to bring back Billie, but not the Billie we know. I understand that people wanted the return of Rose and this wasn't actually Rose, but the Moment, but honestly? Rose's story is said and done, she has her own Doctor in that parallel universe and I'd like to think that she has time-space adventures of her own. We never really needed Rose back and none of the other companions came back. In a way, it made the story richer, having Billie play the "Bad Wolf" instead because Bad Wolf was Rose's way of sensing that the Doctor needed help and somewhere in his conscience he still sees her as the one who can help and stop him from doing something he will regret. That's a point to you, Moffat.

The episode then moves along to the story of the Tenth Doctor and Queen Elizabeth having a what can only be described as a date. And then some confusion ensues when the Zygons decide to show up. Okay, I thought the whole Queen Elizabeth thing was a nice tie-up to the loose end that was sort of left behind by RTD. The one thing that still confuses me is why did Elizabeth let the Zygons go into the painting. I'll probably have to watch the episode again to see if I missed anything there, but other than that her role was likable. The return of the Zygons was pretty amazing too. Having not watched the Classic Series story yet, I only know the Zygons from the Stephen Cole story The Sting of the Zygons with Martha and Ten. And that is one of my favourite Doctor Who novels to date. So, yes, one could say that I was eagerly anticipating the Zygons. I liked that they didn't play big role in the story as the villains, but I felt like the story of them was forgotten a long the way. I understand that they were negotiating a treaty, but maybe a call of visit from Kate at the end would have helped us see if it was a success and that the people of Earth don't always need the Doctor to help them save the day. Although, I didn't mind because the real stars of the show were the Doctors.

Of course, the return of Gallifrey must have always been in the cards, it's the Fiftieth after all. And thanks to the Moment we got to see all three Doctors in Gallifrey during the last day of the Time War. Someday, I would love to see Gallifrey in all its restored glory. The introduction of John Hurt's Doctor was great and I believe that John Hurt was the only man who could pull off a character like him. Although he looked old, the War Doctor was still quite youthful in some of the things he did. I particularly liked his little interaction with Clara and the sort of grandfatherly caring side he had. And she was so sweet to him too. I would have loved to see more his Doctor.

Talking about interactions, I loved the comedic elements of Ten and Eleven's bickering and teasing of one another and the War Doctor's constant insults about them being younger than him. Particularly love the comment that he made to Matt's Doctor about flapping his hands about. Also liked the interactions between Clara and Ten and between the War Doctor and the Moment. I felt like, although they bickered, they truly did want to stick together.

The episode did have some fan pleasing moments too. Like a certain curator, a certain person's eyes and a certain few somebodies coming to help save the day. As well as the many nods to the Classic Series and the return of the Zygons.

I honestly thought that the episode was not meant to be a nostalgia trip and was meant to be more of a celebration. The subtle hints and the not so subtle hints didn't draw away from the story line. I loved the fact that the end was looking forward rather than looking back because it was a way of saying "Here's to fifty more." I absolutely adored the way it ended with the Doctor telling us about his dream and finally having a definite destination in his future.

"Gallifrey Falls No More."