New Who Review for the Day of the Doctor
Nov. 24th, 2013 10:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
puppetmakerWith a short review for the short The Night of the Doctor.
I haven’t done one of these in a while but then we haven’t had a new episode in a while so I am going to repeat my requests. No future spoilers. This is for discussion from the episodes that have aired for the past 50 years. There will be spoilers in the comment section. I will have my spoiler free review above the cut and my spoiler filled review below the cut.
There have been, I believe three occasions where the story is that the Doctor meets the Doctor(s) on the TV show. That being the Three Doctors, The Five Doctors and The Two Doctors. Each was celebrating a milestone in the show being the 10th anniversary, the 20th anniversary, and I honestly don’t know why the last one exists although it is fun.
My short review of the Night of the Doctor, well he should have had a long run on screen as the Doctor. I am glad that the BBC have owned up to him as being cannon rather than being coy about it for which I am most grateful. My more spoilery thoughts will be behind the cut.
My review for The Day of the Doctor.
That's how to do a story for a special occasion. I walked away happy and smiling. There was enough for the original Whovians to be grinning about along with the Newhovians. It was a love letter to fans young and old. It also cleaned up a bit of continuity mess along with creating some possibilities for the future. They were very careful about mixing up the past and the present of Doctor Who but I didn’t feel like it was hammering me over the head.
The acting was aces all the way around. Good chemistry with the Doctors by both the other Doctors and the companion(s).
I didn’t notice how fast the time went which is a good sign for me when watching a show. I was engaged and entertained and in the end isn’t that what we want from our TV shows?
Would it be a show that you could sit someone down with no knowledge of the show? To my mind, not really, there is series knowledge that you need to understand what is going on. They might enjoy it but also be horribly confused by it. This is not a knock on the writing. The writer knew his audience and catered to them.
I am grateful that I got to see this episode with the rest of the world.
Geronimo!!!!
Allons-y!!!!!
Oh for God Sake. …Gallifrey Stands!
Night of the Doctor first. In less than six minutes Paul McGann showed us how much we missed by not having him as the Doctor. Yes I know we had the radio plays and yes I would listen to him read the phone book however it was amazing to see him as the Doctor again. It was all there in a short. There are rumors flying about concerning McGann and a special or some retro episodes with him. I hold no truck with any of it until an official announcement or if I hear something from certain individuals that I know. I give Mr. McGann serious props for changing the minds of so many Whovians who dismiss the film as non-canonical. Also he got his regeneration scene.
Onto the Day of the Doctor
I laughed, I cried, I was moved. Especially the end. The minute, no, the microsecond I heard that voice I knew that this was going to be a magical moment. Not that the rest hadn’t satisfied my inner Whovian because it did but this was just perfection. Tom Baker, even with all his health and memory problems, still has IT. And did you see the ear-to-ear grin on Matt Smith’s face the whole scene? If he was a dog he would have been vibrating with happiness and the tail would have been going at full speed. I loved seeing Mr. Baker as the Curator it was the icing and the cherry on the cake for me.
So Moffat had a go at sorting out the Time War and what happened to get us from 8 to 9. Over all I give him almost full marks for it. He didn’t quite stick the landing for me. Considering how River was handled, I was a little concerned about his pulling back the curtain on this mysterious point in time that has been referenced back to since Rose considering the high council shenanigans with the Master. With a line he solved that timey whimey conundrum so good on him for that.
And yes I loved John Hurt as Doctor 8.5. Honestly I consider him Nine now so Smith is 12 and the next bloke is 13. I know this is going to be an on going discussion in Who fandom for the next 50 years. Mr. Hurt was the right mix for this War Doctor.
That Billie Piper was playing the interface didn’t bother me at all. In fact it kind of makes sense that Nine(10)/Ten(11) would react to her that strongly as they did. And I thought she did a lovely job of it given what she had to do.
I have read some people complaining that the Zygons felt like another episode shoehorned in to this one. Well yes it was and brilliantly. Consider that this was a Smith Doctor story (or Hurt Doctor if you like) and Tennant Doctor was brought into the mix while in the middle of one his stories. So we saw the other story on top of the other with a third story sandwiched in there. Three stories told in one show. Also each piece of each story was needed for the solution of the problem for the Doctor.
For me it was just right. Not too much of any Doctor. Clara was there but she didn’t feel like she was just being added it. The nods to the other characters and companions of the 50 year history of this show were on the mark. The beckon back to the original design of the TARDIS was touching as was the reaction of the Doctor.
So I am a very happy Whovian who is looking forward to both the Christmas Special and to the next 50 years of Doctor Who.
So what did you think?
I haven’t done one of these in a while but then we haven’t had a new episode in a while so I am going to repeat my requests. No future spoilers. This is for discussion from the episodes that have aired for the past 50 years. There will be spoilers in the comment section. I will have my spoiler free review above the cut and my spoiler filled review below the cut.
There have been, I believe three occasions where the story is that the Doctor meets the Doctor(s) on the TV show. That being the Three Doctors, The Five Doctors and The Two Doctors. Each was celebrating a milestone in the show being the 10th anniversary, the 20th anniversary, and I honestly don’t know why the last one exists although it is fun.
My short review of the Night of the Doctor, well he should have had a long run on screen as the Doctor. I am glad that the BBC have owned up to him as being cannon rather than being coy about it for which I am most grateful. My more spoilery thoughts will be behind the cut.
My review for The Day of the Doctor.
That's how to do a story for a special occasion. I walked away happy and smiling. There was enough for the original Whovians to be grinning about along with the Newhovians. It was a love letter to fans young and old. It also cleaned up a bit of continuity mess along with creating some possibilities for the future. They were very careful about mixing up the past and the present of Doctor Who but I didn’t feel like it was hammering me over the head.
The acting was aces all the way around. Good chemistry with the Doctors by both the other Doctors and the companion(s).
I didn’t notice how fast the time went which is a good sign for me when watching a show. I was engaged and entertained and in the end isn’t that what we want from our TV shows?
Would it be a show that you could sit someone down with no knowledge of the show? To my mind, not really, there is series knowledge that you need to understand what is going on. They might enjoy it but also be horribly confused by it. This is not a knock on the writing. The writer knew his audience and catered to them.
I am grateful that I got to see this episode with the rest of the world.
Geronimo!!!!
Allons-y!!!!!
Oh for God Sake. …Gallifrey Stands!
Night of the Doctor first. In less than six minutes Paul McGann showed us how much we missed by not having him as the Doctor. Yes I know we had the radio plays and yes I would listen to him read the phone book however it was amazing to see him as the Doctor again. It was all there in a short. There are rumors flying about concerning McGann and a special or some retro episodes with him. I hold no truck with any of it until an official announcement or if I hear something from certain individuals that I know. I give Mr. McGann serious props for changing the minds of so many Whovians who dismiss the film as non-canonical. Also he got his regeneration scene.
Onto the Day of the Doctor
I laughed, I cried, I was moved. Especially the end. The minute, no, the microsecond I heard that voice I knew that this was going to be a magical moment. Not that the rest hadn’t satisfied my inner Whovian because it did but this was just perfection. Tom Baker, even with all his health and memory problems, still has IT. And did you see the ear-to-ear grin on Matt Smith’s face the whole scene? If he was a dog he would have been vibrating with happiness and the tail would have been going at full speed. I loved seeing Mr. Baker as the Curator it was the icing and the cherry on the cake for me.
So Moffat had a go at sorting out the Time War and what happened to get us from 8 to 9. Over all I give him almost full marks for it. He didn’t quite stick the landing for me. Considering how River was handled, I was a little concerned about his pulling back the curtain on this mysterious point in time that has been referenced back to since Rose considering the high council shenanigans with the Master. With a line he solved that timey whimey conundrum so good on him for that.
And yes I loved John Hurt as Doctor 8.5. Honestly I consider him Nine now so Smith is 12 and the next bloke is 13. I know this is going to be an on going discussion in Who fandom for the next 50 years. Mr. Hurt was the right mix for this War Doctor.
That Billie Piper was playing the interface didn’t bother me at all. In fact it kind of makes sense that Nine(10)/Ten(11) would react to her that strongly as they did. And I thought she did a lovely job of it given what she had to do.
I have read some people complaining that the Zygons felt like another episode shoehorned in to this one. Well yes it was and brilliantly. Consider that this was a Smith Doctor story (or Hurt Doctor if you like) and Tennant Doctor was brought into the mix while in the middle of one his stories. So we saw the other story on top of the other with a third story sandwiched in there. Three stories told in one show. Also each piece of each story was needed for the solution of the problem for the Doctor.
For me it was just right. Not too much of any Doctor. Clara was there but she didn’t feel like she was just being added it. The nods to the other characters and companions of the 50 year history of this show were on the mark. The beckon back to the original design of the TARDIS was touching as was the reaction of the Doctor.
So I am a very happy Whovian who is looking forward to both the Christmas Special and to the next 50 years of Doctor Who.
So what did you think?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2013-11-24 03:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-11-24 05:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-11-24 05:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-11-24 11:36 pm (UTC)War is hell. There's often no easy fix for it and that's what I feel like happened here. To me that's sloppy writing the "it was all just a dream" answer when you realize you've written your characters into something and you don't want to deal with the fallout of it. Sometimes not everybody lives and the survivors have to go on with the guilt, the pain, and the memories. I feel like this episode just swept it all under the rug to pretend like it never happened.
*shrugs* Maybe I'll change my mind, but right now at the best I feel very meh about it and at the worst I'm seriously disappointed in the episode.
no subject
Date: 2013-11-26 12:53 pm (UTC)For me
Date: 2013-11-26 12:50 pm (UTC)I had a little problem with the continuity with Tom at the end since we were present for his regeneration from 4 to 5, and he was young at that point. So where in the cannon life of 4 did this time period of curating come in?
I LOVED that he was able to still show that he had it and to keep up with the younger crowd. IIRC, he's the actor who has the lowest number Doctor who is still alive. I think that 1, 2 and 3 are all dead now, and I know that 7 is dead (died at MOC in '87 in my neck of the woods).
I wish Eccleston had done more, but from what I was told, the scenes with him are new, but he's onscreen for such a short period of time that it's gone in an instant. It was a wonderful ride and I plan on watching it again. I do know the fandom on Tumblr are seeing a lot of threads from other episodes (like the offhand comment he throws out to the Ood about marrying Queen Bess) and linking them up to this episode, but I loved the show all together.
Tom Baker
Date: 2013-11-30 01:59 pm (UTC)I don't know why you think the actor who played #7 is dead as Sylvester McCoy is very much alive and in the Hobbit films (as mentioned in Peter Davison's beautiful film).