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."

To add to the celebrations of the Fiftieth Anniversary year, I have decided to post my favourite stories from Doctor Who since its revival in 2005. Every Saturday I will post a list of my favourite stories from each series leading up to the week before the Fiftieth Anniversary. Feel free to also share your thoughts in the comments below.

5. Stolen Earth/Journey's End by Russell T Davies
This gets a place on my list for the soul reason that it was able to bring back ever companion introduced in New Who. We got to catch a glimpse of Captain Jack and his Torchwood team, Sarah-Jane's life without the Doctor again, Martha Jones still doing good and Rose finding a way back to him. Everything about this episode was one big nostalgia trip from the Doctor seeing Rose again to the Daleks returning with Davros. The only let to this was how the solution was resolved namely by Donna pushing a few buttons and the Dalek's just losing control of themselves. And I think that's where RTD loses a point a bit because his resolutions to problems are either really unbelievable or just not canon. Which is a shame because he is such a great writer and you can see that in the really heartfelt scenes and you can see it in the characters, but he has a terrible knack for going big and not being able to pull it off to the end.
Highlight(s) of the episodes: The TARDIS finally being flown by the right amount of people and Rose finally getting a Doctor that she can grow old with.

4. The Doctor's Daughter by Stephen Greenhorn
This episode brought up a subject that the Doctor has been hiding and that's that he was a father. The introduction of Jenny a generated anomaly from the Doctor's stem cells. Throughout the episode he denies the fact that she is his daughter and calls her an "echo" of Timelord. But
deep down he knows that she is true. The end is heartbreaking and completely terrifying when the Doctor holds a gun to general Cobb's head. It shows you just how much he eventually accepted her into his heart and what he would do for her because she is his child. The storyline of the humans and the Hath also parallel with the Doctor and Jenny's as it is also about acceptance and realising that what is true is right in front of you. The Doctor had to accept that Jenny was his daughter and the humans and Haths had to accept that they will have to live together in harmony.
Highlight(s) of the episode: The Doctor's "I never would speech" and the Source bringing Jenny back to life allowing for future stories.
And on a completely related side note, David ended up marrying the woman who played Jenny, Georgia Moffet, who is the daughter of Peter Davison who played the Fifth Doctor. David also starred alongside Peter Davison when they did the Children in Need special for Doctor Who. But you probably knew that already.

3. Planet of the Ood by Keith Temple
What I loved most about this episode is that is shows just how much people don't see and can't understand. We are a likely to become a race that either retaliate against a species or take them as slaves, not realising that they were happy doing other stuff before. This episode was deeply moving and brought up the topic of the treatment of workers. The Ood were used as servants, reprogrammed to talk the way their "owner" wanted them to, but they were still able to communicate with the hive mind. The songs that they sing as communication were just magically beautiful and I also have to give props to Murray Gold for that.
Highlight(s) of the episode: The bit right at the end where they manage to break the circle and the Ood song can be heard by everyone.

2. Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead by Steven Moffat
Oh, River Song, who knew that name would be so important down the line. This was a true Moffat classic and what would pave the way for more
Moffat madness. The idea of having the Doctor meet a future companion on the day she dies is only something that an evil genius could conjure up. Even though we only see River for two episodes and our initial thoughts on her were "Why the hell is she calling him sweetie?" By the time she sacrifices herself and the Doctor saves her, we're (or at least I was) crying. It was utterly beautiful to see the Doctor actually doing something to save someone even when he thought that all hope was lost. And, of course, it would be a Moffat episode without the scary bits and that was greatly provided by the Vashta Nerada. The clever concept of people being "saved" into the computer's hard drive was also a wonderful plot twist. All in all, it was a Moffatsode. It was fulled with horror, heartbreak and intrigue. It's no wonder he was chosen to be the lead show runner after Russell left.
Highlight(s) of the episodes: The Library. Being a bookworm myself I could imagine getting lost on that planet dedicated to books. It would have loved to go there before the Vashta Nerada starting attacking.

1. Midnight by Russell T Davies
Big applause for Russell T Davies who managed to make the scariest episode of Doctor Who without ever showing the monster. Although, one could argue that we did see quite a few monsters in the episode itself. The thing I loved most about this episode was that it was real. These are the things people would do and say if they were pushed to the levels these people were pushed. But it really did shown how much the human race would do to survive. This is, after all, a race that goes to war with themselves. This episode was so thought-provoking and made me question what I would do in a situation like this. Just don't make the mistake of watching it at midnight because you think it would be fun like I did the first time I watched it.
Highlight(s) of the episode: The entire episode. That's it the entire episode was a highlight for me.

Episodes of note: Partners in Crime, the Unicorn and the Wasp and Turn Left
Partners in Crime was a great way to bring back Donna, it was full of good humour and really showed the progression of Donna after her chance encounter with the Doctor.
The Unicorn and the Wasp just missed list because of the odd resolution to it all. I've added it here because I always love a great detective story and the Doctor and Donna meeting Agatha Christie is why this episode is worth watching.
Turn Left deserves a mention because it shows just how much the world actually relies on the Doctor and how much Donna needed him and vice versa.

To add to the celebrations of the Fiftieth Anniversary year, I have decided to post my favourite stories from Doctor Who since its revival in 2005. Every Saturday I will post a list of my favourite stories from each series leading up to the week before the Fiftieth Anniversary. Feel free to also share your thoughts in the comments below.

5. Utopia/Sound of Drums/Last of the Timelords by Russelll T Davies
I remember when I first watched these episodes, I was new to Doctor Who, I hadn't watched the series one and two and I was completely confused when that strange man with the trenchcoat decided to cling on to the TARDIS for dear life. It didn't take me long to warm up to him, though and I'm told that most people felt that way when they first saw Captain Jack Harkness. He has a wonderful charisma about him that allows you to trust him and want to like him. Seeing him return was just amazing. But Captain Jack wasn't the only character to return to the series, the Master also made his comeback in this non-stop three partner. First played by the wonderful Derek Jacobi, then by John Simm when he regenerated, this Master was crazy beyond belief. This episode also highlighted what a magnificent person Martha Jones is as it showed her determination, strength and intelligence. The ending may have been rushed, but the journey to it was fantastic.
Highlight(s) of the episodes: Martha Jones walking the Earth to spread the story of the Doctor and the return of both Captain Jack and the Master.

4. Gridlock by Russell T Davies
This episode set in stone the fact that the Doctor was still hung up on losing Rose. He brings Martha to New New York which, as you already know, is the place where Rose and Ten had their first adventure. It opened

Martha's eyes and made her realise that she had to stop making the Doctor see her as Roses "replacement" and make him see her as Martha Jones. It was also the return of the Face of Boe who revealed something to the Doctor before he died, just as they had said in New Earth. The episode was entertaining and showed how the need for something new isn't always a good thing. I loved the fact that emotions were sold on the streets as if they were drugs and it really highlights the fact that people do take emotions and feelings for granted, trying to control them rather than allowing them to just happen naturally. The only disappointment was the Macra, which I believe are actually from Classic Who. I think that more could have been done with them.
Highlight(s) of the episode: The end when Martha asks the Doctor to tell her about Gallifrey and his face just sort of lights up with the thought of his home. Also, when the Face of Boe sacrificed himself to save all those people trapped in highway.

3. The Shakespeare Code by Gareth Roberts
On Martha's first adventure through time and space, the Doctor decides to take her to see a Shakespearean play in its original format and maybe even meet the genius himself. And, in true Doctor Who fashion, they meet a few witches along the way, or aliens rather. The whole theme of words and patterns within the story line was brilliant and played well with regards to it being a Shakespeare themed episode. It allowed for comic relief as well as the growing trust that the Doctor and Martha have for each other.
Hightlight(s) of the episode: The constant references to Harry Potter and JK Rowling and the nods towards some famous Shakespearean lines.

2. Human Nature/ The Family of Blood by Paul Cornell
These two episodes were two of the most cleverly planned out episodes in
New Who history. The ability for Timelords to change to a human was something that provided the Doctor with so,ething that he never had before: the chance to live the life he never had before. The whole John Smith/Joan Redfern storyline was truly heartwarming and gave us a glimpse of how the Doctor's life could have been if he decided to stay in 1913 with her. It was also a chance for Martha to showcase her talents and prove to the Doctor that she wasn't the rebound and she won't settle for being "the other woman". She was strong, brave and quick to realise what was happening, eventually being the one to convince John Smith to change back into the Doctor.
Highlight(s) of the episodes: Honestly, it's hard to think of one thing that stood out for me. The overall acting in this two-parter was amazing and a special mention has to go out to the supporting cast of Harry Lloyd, Jessica Hayne and Thomas Sangster as Jeremy Baines, Nurse Joan Redfern and Timothy Latimer respectively.

1. Blink by Steven Moffat
I think everyone can agree with me that this episode was by far the best episode of the series. This Doctor-lite episode was so enthralling and mind boggingly scary that we didn't mind that the Doctor wasn't it for more than about ten minutes. The episode is written from the perspective of a person whose life is affected by the Doctor, but doesn't end up travelling with. It shows how the Doctor leaves his mark everywhere he goes, influencing people that he's only met once before. And, like every Moffat story, it's all "wibbly-wobbly" seeing as Sally gets a message from 1969 from a Doctor that she only meets a year into the future. Then there are the Weeping Angels, the seemingly harmless, yet completely terrifying race of aliens that can only move when someone isn't looking at them. I have no idea where Moffat cooked up that, but it worked extremely well for the episode. Overall, the story wasn't rushed, it had the right amount of suspense and Carey Mulligan as Sally Sparrow really was the cherry on top.
Highlight(s) of the episode: The dialogue between the Doctor and Sally Sparrow and his infamous "Don't blink" speech.

Episode(s) of note: Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks
These episodes get a special mention not for the Daleks, but for the setting of New York during the Great Depression. So many movies and TV shows focus on New York during the Jazz Age, choosing to show the glitz and carelessness while forgetting to show the aftermath of it all. I think that this episode really opened people's eyes up to the fact that New York wasn't always the greatest city and the don't-care-a-damn nature of the people really did have hug consequences.

To add to the celebrations of the Fiftieth Anniversary year, I have decided to post my favourite stories from Doctor Who since its revival in 2005. Every Saturday I will post a list of my favourite stories from each series leading up to the week before the Fiftieth Anniversary. Feel free to also share your thoughts in the comments below.

5. New Earth by Russell T. Davies
A newly regenerated Doctor, New New York and the return of an old enemy this episode had everything you needed for a series opener. This episode marked the first time the Doctor and Rose stepped on a different planet together and how fitting was it that it was New Earth? This was reeling with good humour, cat people and the Doctor's compassion that we know and love.
Highlight(s) of the episode: Lady Cassandra possessing the bodies of both Rose and the Doctor and the Doctor swooping in last minute to save all those innoocent people.

4. School Reunion by Toby Whithouse
I think you can all guess why this has made my list. This episode had the return of two of Classic Who's most famous companions, Sarah-Jane Smith
and K-9. It also featured bat people and the contemporary setting of a London school which I bet went down well with most of Doctor Who's fanbase. The overall storyline was basic good guy beats bad guy, but the way in which it was written and executed was fantastic.
Hightlight(s) of the episode: The first time the Doctor sees Sarah-Jane again and he walks around the school with a big smile on his face and the first time Sarah-Jane sees the TARDIS and realises that the Doctor is there.

3. The Girl in the Fireplace by Steven Moffat
This episode ranks high up in my countdown for one reason only and that's concept. The entire premise of this episode was something that the new series has never shown before. The basic concept is that the Doctor, Mickey and Rose find themselves on an alien spaceship that has so called time windows into 18th century France. The question is, what does a spaceship need from 18th century France? That answer is only revealed right at the end with a little dramatic irony seeing as the audience knows, yet the Doctor doesn't. Only reason it didn't rank any higher in my opinion was the storyline of Madame de Pompadour. I found that the episode maybe made her too special like when she was able to see the Doctor's thoughts. I thought maybe it was because she was somehow connected to the Doctor or that it would play a bigger part in the episode, but it was just that she was Madame de Pompadour and she could control clockwork people and do things that others can't because she fancied the Doctor. Another thing that peeved me was when she was telling Rose that one accepts a world of demons for the sake on angel. Rose clearly already knows this seeing as she decided to stay with the Doctor after all those terrible things that happened to her and I honestly think Moffat added that in there to be poetic.
Highlights(s) of the episode: The Doctor inventing the banana daiquiri a few years too soon and the Doctor riding in through the mirror on a horse.

2. Army of Ghosts/Doomsday by Russell T. Davies
I think everyone can agree that this was one of the saddest storylines that Doctor Who has ever aired. I was on the verge of tears at ten o' clock at night. This episode was not only the return of the Daleks, but also the return of the Cyberman from Pete's parallel world. The showdown between the Daleks and Cybermen was also definitely one for the history books. Of course, this episode also brought about the inevitable end to Rose Tyler's own storyline and, although Rose may not be my favourite companion, a heartbreaking end for the Doctor. It's hard to see a companion leave, but it's even harder knowing that they may not return to the show in the future.
Highlight(s) of the episodes: Rose still getting a happy ending, although not the one she wanted. She still gets to see her mum and dad together and she gets to live a happy, stable life in Pete's world.

1. Tooth and Claw by Russell T. Davies
Werewolves, Queen Victoria and David using his native Scottish accent, this episode was definitely my favourite episode of series 2. This episode was the classic Doctor Who formula where the Doctor ends up taking his companion to the wrong time only to get caught up in the events around them. The episode provided Rose with a chance to show that she can get things done without the Doctor, choosing to take the lead when they're faced with the werewolf. The reason I like this episode so much is not so much the story line as the acting and character interactions that happen within it. This was a time when the Doctor and Rose were genuinely happy together and it showed on multiple occasions. This episode was fast-paced and thrilling while also retaining its humour.
Highlight(s) of the episode: Rose trying to get Queen Victoria to say "We are not amused" and the origins of Torchwood.