Review

Modern times London, the Doctor and Clara are unceremoniously deposited in the grounds of the Tower of London where U.N.I.T have a rather surprising sealed order from Queen Elizabeth 1st. Seems an alien menace is stirring and is about to attempt to take over the planet, naturally the Earth is defended and the 11th Doctor is already working on defeating the threat. A large painting named "The Fall of Gallifrey" is the bridge needed to take us to the final day of The Time War with the planet of the Time Lords under assault by an armada of Dalek space ships. Dalek troops have already landed and are exterminating the residents of Gallifrey's second largest city. The original Doctor from the bygone age decides NO MORE and determines to use the ultimate weapon of mass destruction to destroy both the Dalek fleet, but Gallifrey is unfortunately going to be a casualty.

Meanwhile back in England 1562 the tenth Doctor is having a liaison with Queen Elizabeth 1st when the dalliance is disrupted by a Zygon, who had disguised itself as something surprising. The Zygon is launching a plan that will erupt into modern times. So how do the 10th and 11th Doctors tie in with the War Doctor? Surprisingly effective if you get your mind around Rose Tyler being the embodiment of a weapon so powerful it has become sentinel!

The 50th anniversary episode of Dr Who was broadcast simultaneously to over 90 Countries worldwide this morning at 6:50am AEST. For sure the Whovian legions had been anticipating the feature length episode for at least a year prior to broadcast and a lot of theories had built up as to what would be happening. While it was pretty well established that we would be getting multiple Doctors and a lot of people had speculated that the Time War, referenced throughout the new Who years, would be shown I didn't notice anyone getting what we did end up viewing exactly right. Considering my rather poor attempt at summarising the plot, while avoiding spoilers, there are some shocking convoluted plot developments going down.

Primarily the episode focuses on the War Doctor (John Hurt) and his decision to destroy both the Daleks and Gallifrey. Throughout the new Who this has been the three incarnations' greatest regret and something that has driven decisions etc. The Doctor needs to use the ultimate weapon of mass destruction, which has developed its own personality. Alone and having made the decision to use the weapon the Doctor is then confronted with the embodiment of the weapon's consciousness in the form of Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) who basically warns him he will then have to live with his decision as punishment for the action he is about to take. The Doctor then embarks on a journey to the future to meet what he becomes, in the form of Doctors 10 (David Tennant) and 11 (Matt Smith). Pretty much the whole episode then resolves to whether or not the War Doctor does take the decision we have come to believe he will take.

Steven Moffat delivered on expectations, can't wait for the DVD to come out!

However we do naturally get the Who episode "monster of the week", this time seeing the return of the Zygons, shape shifting aliens who have appeared in a single story arc previously, 1975's Terror of the Zygons that featured the great Tom Baker as the Doctor. While I was cool with this aspect, always up for the return of some of the Doctor's former foes, I kind of saw a few too many parallels to the Slitheen incursions in the season one double episode Aliens of London and World War Three, where the 9th Doctor battled aliens able to mimic humans.

Which brings me to perhaps the biggest disappointment of the episode, the lack of Christopher Eccleston's tortured Doctor; I don't know Day of the Doctor simply seemed a bit hollow without the 9th Doctor. Sure we do get a cameo from Eccleston, in the form of inserted footage, but really they couldn't convince Eccleston to reprise just one more time? I'm not even going near some of the characters from the original Who seasons that some fans had demanded, it would have been slightly weird to see Sarah Jane for example, the reason obvious there for fans. But what about K9, Ace, you name it.

On the technical front you can't really fault the production values, there is an epic quality to Day of the Doctor, resulting no doubt from a huge budget and the episode being shown in 3D in some cinemas. From the Dalek assault on Gallifrey to the 3D paintings to the Tatoonie like ecology the War Doctor arrives in, the visuals are working like a brought one. Director Nick Hurran uses everything to good effect with the alien merging with no seams to Elizabethan England's green pastures. If you haven't seen it yet, and detention awaits those who haven't, then get ready to be blown away folks.

For Whovians certainly plenty of references to get all hot and bothered about, I'm not going to list them all, we'd need a bigger review, but some highlights. The scarf Tom Baker wore as the 8th Doctor, David Tennant's most famous line "I don't want to go", all 12 Doctors shoehorned for no logical reason into one quick cut scene, the reference to the season one episode Dalek that allowed for a Cyberman cameo, Captain Jack Harkness, the bad wolf, the list goes on kids. If a Whovian then knocked yourself out there's plenty to decipher and perhaps a wink to what season eight might bring us as the Doctor regenerates again, some excitement around these parts over that, we're not big Matt Smith fans.

We were promised it and they delivered, one of the greatest ever Doctor Who incarnations got screen time, come on down Tom Baker. I was high fiving people in the lounge room, screaming out "hell yeah", and was generally going wow when Baker appeared. Sure the dude has aged and sure the insertion of the character was so far left field that it beggared belief, but are you kidding me David Tennant and Tom Baker in the same episode!

I'm running out of words here and I feel like I have only just scratched the surface of as multilayered Christmas present thingy, shut up! With a view to the future the groundwork is being laid for the 12th Doctor and his quest for home. Not going to say anymore, watch Day of the Doctor to get the good oil there.

I got up 6am, put the coffee on, and gathered the troops for the 50th anniversary episode. We certainly weren't expecting a future length episode, and yes the episode held our attention from opening credits to closing credits. Certainly a wealth of awesome content that had people excited and bouncing as the rather convoluted story unfolded. I was pleased to see the Time War re-visited, we have only ever had hints previously, and yes I was more than satisfied with the chance for redemption the Doctor now has, hey he didn't kill 2.47 billion children, oops spoiler. From the opening theme, a return to the original black and white opening of classic Who, through the TARDIS designs being shown, to John Hurt's amazingly good portrayal of a character forced to the brink of doing the unthinkable, there was magic in about every frame. Yes I know we have a Xmas special first, and I would like to think we get the next regeneration in that outing, but I am now sweating on season eight, it promises to be the best ever. I've got a feeling our journeys with the Doctor are only just beginning, full recommendation, this was indeed the episode we had waited over two years to see!

Email earlier in a week from a young lady up in Queensland enquiring as to our explanation for the Doctor numbering system. She pointed out, correctly, that the War Doctor fits in post Tom Baker (Doctor 8) and pre Christopher Eccelston (Doctor 9) thus throwing things out. I was kind of hoping Day of the Doctor would offer an explanation, it didn't - at one stage William Hurt is even referred to as the "Doctor", a time anamoly perhaps? I'll do some research and get back to you in this one.

One thing that was cool however, the humour was in evidence and no more so than when David Tennant's Doctor has sonic screwdriver envy when Matt Smith's Doctor shows his one. Actually the screwdriver has been used in a similar vein previously. I also dug William Hurt's line about the screwdriver being a screwdriver and not a weapon, one of the critcisms of recent seasons.

ScaryMinds Rates this episode as ...